Pardon - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition pardon

Definition :

Pardon, forgiveness of a crime; remission of punis-hment.

The pardoning of criminals is the peculiar preroga-tive of the sovereign. See 4 Steph. Com., 7th Edn.

The sovereign may pardon all offences merely against the Crown and the public, excepting: (1) That to preserve the liberty of the subject, the committing any man to prison out of the realm is, by the Habeas Corpus Act (31 Car. 2, c. 2), made a pr'munire (see that title), unpardonable even by the Crown; and (2) that the sovereign cannot pardon where private justice is principally concerned in the prosecution of offenders--'non potest rex gratiam facere cum injuria et damno aliorum.'

Neither at Common Law could the sovereign pardon an offence against a penal statute after information brought; for thereby the informer had acquired private property in his part of the penalty. But the Remission of Penalties Act, 1859, enables the Crown to remit penalties for offences, although payable to parties other than the Crown; and a special power of a similar character, limited to offences against the (English) Sunday Observance Act, 1781, is conferred by the (English) Remission of Penalties Act, 1875. By the (English) Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Wm. 3, c. 2), no pardon under the Great Seal of England is pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament. But after the impeachment has been solemnly heard and determined, the prerogative of pardon may be extended to the person impeached.

A pardon may be conditional; see (English) Criminal Justice Act, 1827, s. 13.

The effect of a pardon is to make the offender a new man (novus homo), to acquit him of all corporal penalties and forfeitures annexed to the offence pardoned, and not so much to restore his former as to give him new credit and capacity. Nevertheless the judgment remains formally unreserved, and therefore it was proposed by Sir F. Pollock, A.-G., that when the Crown pardons any adjudged guilty on the ground that the evidence rightly viewed does not warrant the judgment, the prisoner should assign and the Attorney-General should confess error on the record, whereby the judgment would be reversed and a similar suggestion was made by the Committee appointed in 1904 by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas to inquire into the circumstances of the two convictions of offences (for which he had been doubly pardoned) of Mr. Adolf Beck, a remarkable case of mistaken identity. The Committee suggested quashing the conviction on motion by the Attorney-General and entering an acquittal as of record. In the Beck case the first of the two 'pardons' granted was in the following form:-

Edward R. & I.

Whereas Adolf Beck was at the Sessions of the Central Criminal Court commencing on the 24th day of February, 1896, convicted on certain charges of obtaining rings and other Articles by false pretences with intent to defraud, and was sentenced to seven years penal servitude;

We in consideration of some circumstances humbly represented unto us, are Graciously pleased to extend our Grace and Mercy unto him, and to grant him our Free Pardon for the offences of which he stands convicted;

Our Will and Pleasure, therefore, is that yo do take due notice hereof.

And for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at St. James's, the twenty sixth day of July, 1904, in the fourth year of our Reign.

Signed A. Akers-Douglas.

To our Trusty and Well-Beloved

The Justices of the Central Criminal Court, The Clerk of the said Court, and all others whom it may concern.}

By his Majesty's Commons.

In modern times pardons have only been granted upon the advice of a Secretary of State. The Home Secretary in effect grants the pardon. As to consulting the Court of Criminal Appeal, see (English) Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, s. 19. See PREROGATIVE OF MERCY.

Pardon is one of the many prerogatives which have been recognised since time immemorial as being vested in the sovereign, wherever the sovereignty might lie. It is open to the Governor to grant a full pardon at any time even during the pendency of the case in this Court in exercise of what is ordinarily called 'mercy jurisdiction'. Such a pardon after the accused person has been convicted by the Court has the effect of completely absolving him from all punishment or disqualification attaching to a conviction for a criminal offence. That power is essentially vested in the head of the Executive, because the judiciary has no such 'mercy jurisdiction'. But the suspension of the sentence for the period when this Court is in seizin of the case, K.M. Nanavati v. State of Bombay, AIR 1961 SC 112 (118): (1961) 1 SCR 497.

The power of pardon can be exercised by the Governor of a State, Constitution of India, Art. 161.

The power of pardon can be exercised by the Governor of a State, Constitution of India, Art. 72.