Common Sense - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: common senseCommon sense
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Common Law
Common Law [lex communis, Lat.]. 'The phrase 'common law' is used in two very different senses. It is cometimes contrasted with equity; it then denotes the law which, prior to the Judicature Act, was administered in the three ' superior ' Courts of law at Westminster, as distinct from that administered by the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn. At other times it is used in contradistinction to the statute law, and then denotes the unwritten law, whether legal or equitable in its origin, which does not derive its authority from any express declaration of the will of the Legislature. This unwritten law has the same force and effect as the statute law. It depends for its authority upon the recognition given by our Law Courts to principles, customs, and rules of conduct previously existing among the people. This recognition was formerly enshrined in the memory of legal practitioners and suitors in the Courts; it is now recorded in the voluminous series of our law reports which embody the d...
Reasonable doubt
Reasonable doubt, does not mean some light, airy, insubstantial doubt that may fit through the minds of any of us about almost anything at some time or other; it does not mean a doubt begotten by sympathy out of reluctance to convict; it means a real doubt, a doubt founded upon reasons, K. Gopal Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1979 SC 387 (391): (1979) 2 SCR 363: (1979) 1 SCC 355.The doubt that prevents one from being firmly convinced of a defendant's guilt, or the belief that there is a real possibility that a defendant is not guilty, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1272.If a reasonable doubt arises in the mind of the court after taking into consideration the entire material before it regarding the complicity of the accused the benefit of such doubt should be given to the accused but the reasonable doubt should be a real and substantial one and a 'well founded actual doubt arising out of the evidence existing after consideration of all the evidenced. 'Hence a mere whim or a...
Charities, or Public Trusts
Charities, or Public Trusts. One of the earliest fruits of the Emperor Constantine's zeal, or pretended zeal, for Christianity, was a permission to his subjects to bequeath their property to the Church. This permission was soon abused to so great a degree as to induce the Emperor Valentinian to enact to Mortmain Act by which it was restrained. But this restraint was gradually relaxed; and in the time of Justinian it became a fixed maxim of civil law that legacies to pious uses (which included all legacies destined to works of charity, whether they related to spiritual or temporal concerns) were entitled to peculiar favour, and to be deemed privileged testaments.Lord Thurlow was clearly of opinion that the doctrine of charities grew up from the civil law; and Lord Eldon, in assenting to that opinion, has judiciously remarked, that at an early period that ordinary had the power to apply a portion of every man's personal estate to charity; and when afterwards the statute compelled a distr...
Raw material
Raw material, as commonly understood, is used in the process of manufacture. Printing machinery will certainly not come under the category of 'raw material', Re KI Kosalram, AIR 1968 Mad 113.Raw material, defined one of the valid tests could be that the ingredient should be so essential for the chemical process culminating in the emergence of the desired end product, that having regard to its importance in and indispensability for the process, it could be said that its very consumption on burning up is its quality and value as raw materials, Collector of Central Excise, New Delhi v. Ballarpur Industries Ltd., AIR 1990 SC 196.Raw material, is something from which another new or distinct commodity can be produced. When it is used in a taxing statute, it may have related meaning depending on the context in which it has been used, Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd. v. State of Bihar, (1996) 6 SCC 479.The expression 'raw-material' is not a defined term. The meaning to be given to it...
Cognizance
Cognizance (Judicial), knowledge upon which a judge is bound to act without having it proved in evidence: as the public statutes of the realm, the ancient history of the realm, the order and course of proceedings in Parliament, the privileges of the House of Commons, the existence of war with a foreign state, the several seals of the King, the Supreme Court and its jurisdiction, and many other things. A judge is not bound to take cognizance of current events, however notorious, nor of the law of other countries. See Roscoe's Evidence at Nisi Prius.Means 'jurisdiction' or 'the exercise jurisdiction' or 'power to try and determine to causes'. In common sense taking notice of, Rakesh Kumar Mishra v. State of Bihar, (2006) 1 SCC 557.Means 'jurisdiction' or the exercise or jurisdiction or power to try and determine causes, K. Kalimuthu v. V. State By DSP, (2005) 4 SCC 512.Means 'taking notice of', S.K. Zutshi v. Bimal Debnath, (2004) 8 SCC 31.Means exercising jurisdiction if it is in respec...
Justified by law
Justified by law, 'justified' according to Black's Legal Dictionary means: Done on adequate reasons sufficiently supported by credible evidence, when weighed by unprejudiced mind, guided by common sense and by correct rules of law. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary assigns this meaning for 'justification': The showing in court that one had sufficient reason for doing that which he is called to answer; the ground for such a plea. Lexically, the sense is clear. An act is justified by law if it is warranted, validated and made blameless by law, Raj Kapoor v. Laxman, AIR 1980 SC 605 (960): (1980) 2 SCC 175: (1980) 2 SCR 512. (Indian Penal Code, s. 79)...
Proved
Proved, there is no difference between the general rules of evidence in civil and criminal cases, and the definition of 'proved' in s. 3 of the Evidence Act does not draw a distinction between civil and criminal cases. Nor does this definition insist on perfect proof because absolute certainty amounting to demonstration is rarely to be had in the affairs of life. Nevertheless, the standard of measuring proof prescribed by the definition, is that of a person of prudence and practical good sense. 'Proof' means the effect of the evidence adduced in the case, Ch. Razik Ram v. Ch. Jaswant Singh Chouhan, AIR 1975 SC 667: (1975) 4 SCC 769.(ii) S. 3 of the Evidence Act, a fact is said to be 'proved' when, after considering the matters before it, the court either believes it to exist, or considers its existence so probable than a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it exists. This definition of 'proved' does not draw any distinctio...
Moral turpitude
Moral turpitude, 'Moral turpitude' is an expression which is used in legal as also societal parlance to describe conduct which is inherently base, vile, depraved or having any connection showing depravity, Pawan Kumar v. State of Haryana, AIR 1996 SC 3300: (1996) 4 SCC 17 (21). See also AIR 1959 All 71.One of the most serious offences involving 'moral turpitude' would be where a person employed in a banking company dealing with money of the general public, commits forgery and wrongfully withdraws money which he is not entitled to withdraw, Allahabad Bank v. Deepak Kumar Bhola, (1997) 4 SCC 1 (4).Moral turpitude, whether an offence involves moral delinquency is question of fact depending on the public morals of the time; common sense of community and context and purpose for which the character of offence is to be determined. In common parlance 'moral turpitude' means baseness of character. Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'moral' - 'Concerned with goodness or badness of character or di...
levelheaded
exercising or showing good judgment or common sense sensible...
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