Charge (i) the instructions of a judge to a jury; the judge's summing up of the evidence at a trial by jury; the periodical address of a bishop or archdeacon to his clergy; the taking proceedings against a prisoner; a commission.
To lay a duty upon any one, to acquaint any with the nature of their duty. See CHARGE SHEET. The clerk of arraigns gives te prisoner 'in charge' to the jury, by reading an abstract of the indictment, and they are bound to proceed to deliver him until they are discharged. To prefer an accusation against any one.
A burden, duty, or trust, when attached to property; see MORTGAGES AND CHARGES, DEBENTURE, LAND CHARGES, ADMINISTRATION, REGISTRATION OF LAND.
Includes any head of charge when the charge contains more heads than one. [Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), s. 2 (b)]
Means expenditure, H.H. Maharajadhiraja Madhav Rao Jivaji Rao Scindia Bahadur of Gwalior v. Union of India, (1971) 1 SCC 85: AIR 1971 SC 530: (1971) 3 SCR 9.
See also K. Muthuswami Gounder v. N. Palaniappa Gounder, AIR 1998 SC 3118 (3123): (1998) 7 SCC 327. [Transfer of Property Act, (4 of 1882), s. 100]
It is the precise formulation of the specific accusation made against a person who is entitled to know its nature at the earliest stage. A charge is not an accusation made or information given in abstract, but an accusation made against a person in respect of an act committed or omitted in violation of penal law forbidding or commanding it. In other words, it is an accusation made against a person in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by him. A charge is formulated after inquiry as distinguished from the popular meaning of the word as implying inculpation of a person for an alleged offence as used in s. 224 of IPC, Seher Singh v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 2004 SC 3030 (3038): (2004) 11 SCC 585. [Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, s. 2(b) and ss. 211 to 224]