Arraign

Arraign [fr. arraisonner, aresner, aregnir, arraigner, Old Fr., i.e., ad rationem ponere, Lat., to call one to account], to bring a prisoner to the bar of the Court to answer the matter charged upon him in the indictment. The arraignment of a prisoner consists of calling upon him by name, reading to him the indictment, demanding of him whether he be guilty or not guilty, and entering his plea. The pleas upon arraignment are either the general issue, i.e., not guilty, or a plea in abatement or in bar, or the prisoner may demur to the indictment, or he may confess the fact, upon which the Court proceeds immediately to judgment. But, if the prisoner 'shall stand mute or malice, or will not answer directly to the indictment or information,' the Court, if it shall so think fit, may 'order the proper officer to enter a plea of 'not guilty' on behalf of such a person, and the plea so entered shall have the same force and effect as if the person had so pleaded the same.'-Crim. Law Act,1827 (7 ...

arraign

arraign [Anglo-French arrainer, from Old French araisnier to address, call to account, from a-, prefix stressing goal of an action + raisnier to speak] : to bring (a defendant) before a judge or magistrate to hear the charges and to plead usually either guilty or not guilty compare indict NOTE: For a person to be formally arraigned, he or she must be called by name before a judge or magistrate. The judge or magistrate makes sure that the defendant is the person named in the complaint, indictment, or information, which is then read to formally notify the defendant of the charges. The defendant may then enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or another plea allowed by law such as nolo contendere. In some cases, as when the defendant is not yet represented by a lawyer, the judge or magistrate may enter a plea of not guilty on the defendant's behalf. ar·raign·ment n ...

arraignment

arraignment a proceeding in which a person accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty. Source: Federal Judicial Center ...

arraignment on the warrant

arraignment on the warrant :initial appearance ...

Arraignment

Arraignment, means the initial step in a criminal prosecution whereby the defendant is brought before the court to hear the charges and to enter a plea, Black Law Dictionary 7th Edn., p. 104....

Arraigns, Clerk of

Arraigns, Clerk of, an assistant to the clerk of assize....

Clerk of Arraigns

Clerk of Arraigns, an assistant to the Clerk of Assize. His duties are in the Crown Court on circuit....

indict

indict [alteration of earlier indite, from Anglo-French enditer, from Old French, to write down, ultimately from Latin indicere to proclaim, from in- toward + dicere to say] : to charge with a crime by the finding or presentment of a grand jury in due form of law compare accuse, arraign, charge ...

Lunatic

Lunatic. By the (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), s. 20, the word 'lunatic,' except in the phrase 'criminal lunatic' and in relation to persons detained as lunatics outside England, shall cease to be used in relation to any person of or alleged to be of unsound mind, and the words ''person of unsound mind,' 'person,' 'patient of unsound mind,' or 'of unsound mind,' or such other expression as the context may require are to be substituted in any enactment or document thereunder. See PERSON OF UNSOUND MIND. Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23).The general principle governing contracts entered into by insane persons is laid down in The Imperial Loan Co. v. Stone, (1892) 1 QB 559. 'Where a person enters into a contract, and afterwards alleges that he was so insane at the time that he did not know what he was doing and proves the allegation, the contract is as binding on him in every respect, whether it is executory or executed, as if he had been sa...

Sus. Per coll

Sus. Per coll. When indictments were in Latin, this abbreviation for suspendatur per collum-'let him be hanged by the neck'-was the usual indorsement by the clerk of arraigns in the case of a capital sentence. At the present day indorsements are in English, and no special form of words is used....

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