Capital Punishment - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: capital punishmentCapital punishment
Capital punishment, inflicted in pursuance of the (English) Capital Punishment Amendment Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 24) (before which executions were public), within the prison in which the offender is confined at the time of execution, in the compulsory presence of the sheriff, gaoler, chaplain, and surgeon, and such other officers of the prison as the sheriff requires, and also in the discretionary presence of any justice of the peace for the county, etc., and of such 'relatives of the prisoner, or other persons as it seems to the sheriff or visiting justices proper to admit within the prison.'-Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Criminal Law,' where see the Rules of 1888 under the Act. See SENTENCE OF DEATH.The mode in the United Kingdom is hanging, but for high treason the Crown may alter it to beheading: see the (English) Treason Act, 1814 (54 Geo. 3, c. 146), as amended by s. 31 of the Forfeiture Act, 1870....
capital punishment
capital punishment : death penalty ...
Capital offences (Scotland)
Capital offences (Scotland). The Criminal Pro-cedure (Scotland) Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 35), by s. 56 enacts that 'a capital sentence shall no longer be competent except on conviction of murder or of offences against the Act (10 Geo 4, c. 38), which statute by s. 1 makes it a capital crime either to attempt to discharge any kind of loaded firearms at a person or maliciously to stab with intent to murder or maim, or to administer poison, with intent to murder, disable or do grievous bodily harm, or (by s. 2) to throw any sulphuric acid, etc., with intent to murder or maim....
Capital offences
Capital offences, those crimes upon conviction of which the offender is condemned to be hanged. The only crimes now punishable with death are high treason; murder; destruction of H. M. Ships, arsenals, etc. (12 Geo. 3, c. 24); piracy when accompanied by attempted murder [(English) Piracy Act, 1837 (7 Wm. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 88) s. 2]. See PIRACY.Originally all felonies were capital, but early in the 19th century, mainly through the exertions of Sir Samuel Romilly, the severity of the law was mitigated by rapid steps in this respect. Larceny in a dwelling-house up to the value of 40s. was long a capital offence, with the result that juries, to save a prisoner's life, would often falsely find that valuable goods stolen were of the value of 39s.Sentence of death cannot be pronounced on or recorded against a young person under 18. [Children and Young Persons Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 12), s. 53]...
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...
Age
Age, the criminal responsibility of males and females, and their power to do certain acts, depends upon their age. A child under 7 cannot commit any offence; between the ages of 7 and 14 is presumed to be doli incapax, but this presumption may be rebutted by evidence of the infant's capacity to discern good from evil (malitia supplet 'tatem-malice supplies age). The old rule in criminal matters was that a person of the age of 14 might be capitally punished for any capital offence, but under the age of 7 he could not. A male under the age of 14 years is presumed impotent as well as doli incapax, and since the presumption of impotence cannot be rebutted, R. v. Phillips, 8 C& P 736, he cannot be convicted of an offence involving carnal knowledge, except as a principal in the second degree in a rape, or the like, where if he has a mischievous discretion, the presumption of impotence will not excuse him from aiding and assisting in the commission of the offence. He may, it seems, be convict...
death penalty
death penalty : death as punishment for a crime called also capital punishment see also cruel and unusual punishment Gregg v. Georgia in the Important Cases section NOTE: The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the death penalty is not inherently violative of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, provided that the method is not deemed cruel and that the punishment is not excessive in relation to the crime. A statute mandating the death penalty is unconstitutional, however. A sentencing judge is required to consider any mitigating circumstances before imposing the death penalty for a crime. ...
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 ...
Sentence of death, Recording of
Sentence of death, Recording of. See the disused but still unrepealed Judgment of Death Act, 1823 (4 Geo. 4, c. 48), 'to enable Courts to abstain from pronouncing sentence of death in certain capital felonies,' and enter judgment on the record instead--which had the effect of a reprieve.The (English) Children Act, 1933, s. 53(1), provides as follows:-Sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or recorded against a person under the age of eighteen, but in lieu thereof the Court shall sentence him to be detained during His Majesty's pleasure, and, if so sentenced, he shall, notwithstanding anything in the other provisions of this Act, be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the Secretary of State may direct....
Death penalty
Death penalty, means death by hanging. The punishment only for high treason and piracy with violence. The capital punishment for murder was abolished by the murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act, 1965 and a sentence of life imprisonment substituted, Dictionary of Law, L.B. Curzon, 4th Edn., 1993, p. 53 [Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act, 1965 (UK)]....
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