Capital Offences - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: capital offences Page: 2Westminster the First, Statute of
Westminster the First, Statute of (3 Edw. 1, AD 1275). This statute, which deserves the name of a Code rather than an Act, is divided into fifty-one chapters. Without extending the exemption of churchmen from civil jurisdiction, it protects the property of the Church from the violence and spoliation of the king and the nobles, and provides for freedom of popular elections, because sheriffs, coroners, and conservators of the peace were still chosen by the freeholders in the county Court, and attempts had been made to influence the election of knights of the shire, from the time when they were instituted. It contains a declaration to enforce the enactment of Magna Charta against excessive fines, which might operate as perpetual imprisonment; enumerates and corrects the abuses of tenures, particularly as to marriage of wards; regulates the levying of tolls, which were imposed arbitrarily by the barons, and by cities and boroughs; corrects and retrains the power of the king's escheator and...
Abortion
Abortion, a miscarriage, or the premature expulsion of the contents of the womb before the term of gestation is completed.By the (English) Offences against the Person Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. C. 100), s. 58, the unlawful administration of drugs or unlawful use of instruments, by a pregnant woman to herself, or (whether she be with child or not) by any person to her, with intent to procure miscarriage, is made felony, punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court. A person charged under this s. may be convicted under the (English) Infant Life (Preservation) Act, 1929 (19 & 20 Geo 5, c. 34). By s. 59 of the Act of 1861, the unlawful procuring of drug or instrument with the intent that it may be used to procure miscarriage is a misdemeanour whether the woman be with child or not. Earlier Acts (see, e.g., 43 Geo. 3, c. 59) made the offence a capital felony, but applied only in case of the woman being quick with child. A woman can be convicted of conspiracy t...
Murder
Murder [fr. morthor, morthen, Sax.; murdrum, Low Lat.]. It is thus defined by Coke (3 Inst. 47): 'When a person of sound memory and discretion unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in being, with malice aforethought, either express or implied'; see 4 Bl. Com. 195. Consult Russell on Crimes; Arch. Cr. Pl.; Steph. Dig.(1) The person committing the offence must be conscious of doing wrong, and able to discern between good and evil. See IDIOT; LUNATIC; DRUNKENNESS AND MACNAUGHTON'S CASE.(2) Death must result within a year and a day after the cause of death administered, see R. v. Dyson, (1908) 2 KB 454.(3) The person killed must be a reasonable creature in being, and under the king's peace.(4) The killing must be with malice aforethought, express or implied, and malice is implied from the perpetration of any felony, however absent from the mind of the perpetrator any intention to kill may be. When the act by which death is caused is done with the intention of causing death (See Indian...
Rape
Rape, extends also to the forcible sexual intercourse by a woman with a man, as well as the offence of rape as defined in the Indian Penal Code speaks only of forcible sexual intercourse by a man with a woman, Anil Kumar Mahsi v. Union of India, (1994) 5 SCC 704.Rape, is the carnal knowledge of any woman, above the age of particular years, against her will; or of a woman child, under that age, with or against her will' (Hale PC 628).Rape, or 'raptus' is when a man hath carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will (Co-Litt. 123-b).The offence of rape in its simplest term is 'the ravishment of a woman, without her consent, by force, fear or fraud', or as 'the carnal knowledge of a woman by force against her will'. 'Rape' or 'raptus' is when a man hath carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will (Co. Litt. 123-b); or as expressed more fully, 'rape is the carnal knowledge of any woman, above the age of particular years, against her will; or of a woman child, unde...
Misprision
Misprision [fr. mepris, Fr.], neglect, negligence, or oversight.All such high offences as are under the degree of capital, but nearly bordering thereon, are misprisions; and it is said that a misprision is contained in every treason and felony whatsoever, and that, if the Crown so please, the offender may be proceeded against for the misprision only. And upon the same principle, while the court of Star Chamber existed, it was held that the sovereign might remit a prosecution for treason, and cause the delinquent to be censured in that Court, merely for a high misdemeanour; as in the case of Roger, Earl of Rutland, in 43 Eliz., concerned in Essex's rebellion. Every great misdemeanour, according to Coke, which has no certain term appointed by the law, is sometimes called a misprision.Misprisions are divided in the text-books into two kinds:-(1) Negative, the concealment of what ought to be revealed; such is misprision of treason, the bare knowledge and concealment of treason without any ...
Sacrilege
Sacrilege, larceny from a church. By s. 24, Larceny Act, 1916, breaking and entering any church, chapel, meeting-house, or other place of divine worship and committing any felony therein, or being therein and committing any felony therein, and breaking out of the same, is felony punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment. The offence was for a long time capital, the last execution having taken place in 1819.The act or an instance of desecrating or profaning a sacred thing, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1336....
Sedition
Sedition, an offence against the Crown and govern-ment, not capital, and not amounting to treason. It cannot be tried at Quarter Sessions. See the (English) Unlawful Assemblies Act, 1799 (39 Geo. 3, c. 79); the (English) Seditious Meetings Act, 1817 (57 Geo. 3, c. 19), jointly called the '(English) Corresponding Societies Acts,' and much resembl-ing one another. Registered friendly societies are exempted by s. 32 of the (English) Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 25), if transact-ing no business not relating to the objects of the societies; and the (English) Criminal Libel Act, 1819 (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4, c. 8). By the (English) Act of 1817, s. 23, which has no parallel in the Act of 1799, political meetings of more than fifty persons within one mile of Westminster Hall, except for parliamentary election purposes, are declared unlawful on any day on which Parliament is sitting. By s. 25 of the Act of 1817, and s. 2 of the Act of 1799, every society or club, the members of...
Sessions of the peace
Sessions of the peace, sittings of justices of the peace for the execution of those powers which are confided to them by their commission, or by charter, and by numerous statutes. They are of three descriptions:-I. Petty Sessions.--Metropolitan Police magistrates can act alone (see that title), with that exception, every meeting of two or more justices in the same place, for the execution of some power vested in them by law, whether had on their own mere motion, or on the requisition of any party entitled to require their attendance in discharge of some duty, is a petty or petit session. The occasions for holding petty sessions are very numerous, amongst the most important of which is the bailing persons accused of felony, which may be done after a full hearing of evidence on both sides, where the presumption of guilt shall either be weak in itself, or weakened by the proofs adduced on behalf of the prisoner. See PETTY SESSIONS.As to right of the public to attend petty sessions, see OP...
Forgery
Forgery [fr. forger, Fr.; or fingo, Lat.], the crimen falsi, or the false making or alteration of an instrument, which purports on the face of it to be good and valid for the purposes for which it was created, with a design to defraud. The forged instrument must be false in itself. The mere subscribing a note, given as the party's own, by a fictitious name, was held not to be forgery, Reg. v. Martin, (1879) 5 QBD 34.The act of fraudulently making a false document or altering a real one to be used as if genuine, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 661.Forgery at Common Law was a misdemeanour but most forgeries have been made felony by statute. Many of these statutes were consolidated by 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Wm. 4, c. 66, repealed and replaced by the Forgery Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 98), but the law now principally depends on the Forgery Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 27, 'an Act to consolidate, simplify and amend the law relating to forgery and kindred offences.' It repeals such portions of s...
Piracy
Piracy [fr. pirata, Lat.], the commission of those acts of robbery and violence upon the sea, which if committed upon land wold amount to felony. Pirates hold no commission or delegated authority from any sovereign or State, empowering them to attack others. They can, therefore, be only regarded in the light of robbers. They are, as Cicero has truly stated, the common enemies of all (communes hostes omnium); and the law of nations gives to every one the right to pursue and exterminate them without any previous declaration of war (see Piracy Jure Gentium, 1934, AC 586, where a frustrated attempt was held to be piracy by that law); but it is not allowed to kill them without trial, except in battle. Those who surrender or are taken prisoners must be brought before the proper magistrates, and dealt with according to law. By the ancient Common Law of England, piracy, if committed by a subject, was held to be a species of treason, being contrary to his natural allegiance; if by an alien, to ...
- << Prev.
- Next >>
Sign-up to get more results
Unlock complete result pages and premium legal research features.
Start Free Trial