Confess - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: confessConfession
Confession, a statement in order to amount to a 'confession' must either admit in terms the offence, or at any rate substantially all the facts which constitute the offence. An admission of an incriminating fact, howsoever grave, is not byitself a confession. A statement which contains an exculpatory assertion of some fact, which if true, would negative the offence alleged cannot amount to a confession, Veera Ibrahim v. State of Maharashtra, (1976) 2 SCC 302: AIR 1976 SC 1167 (1171): (1967) 3 SCR 672. [Evidence Act (1 of 1987), s. 24]'Confession' in common acceptation means and implies acknowledgment of guilt--its evidentiary value and its acceptability however shall have to be assessed by the Court having due regard to the credibility of the witnesses. In the event, however, the Court is otherwise in a position having due regard to the attending circumstances believes the witness before whom the confession is made and is otherwise satisfied that the confession is in fact voluntary and...
confession
confession 1 : an act of confessing 2 : an acknowledgment of a fact or allegation as true or proven ;esp : a written or oral statement by an accused party acknowledging the party's guilt (as by admitting commission of a crime) compare admission declaration against interest at declaration, self-incrimination NOTE: Courts differ on how a confession establishes the accused's guilt; for example, in some jurisdictions the confession has to establish all the necessary elements of the crime. In order to be admissible as evidence, a confession must be voluntary. A guilty plea is considered a judicial confession. ...
interlocking confession
interlocking confession : a confession of a defendant in a joint trial that agrees in important respects with that of a codefendant NOTE: The use of interlocking confessions at trial can pose difficult problems when a defendant's confession incriminates a codefendant. If the first defendant does not testify, the other may be deprived of the right to confront an accuser. ...
Auricular confession
Auricular confession. Confession to the private ear of a priest, as distinguished from public confession to a congregation. As to its privilege in a Court of Law, see CONFESSION TO A PRIEST....
confess
confess : to admit (as a charge or allegation) as true, proven, or valid [unless you answer, the petition shall be taken as confessed] vi : to make a confession con·fes·sor [kən-fe-sər] n ...
judicial confession
judicial confession : a confession made in a legal proceeding (as in a trial) [a guilty plea supported by a judicial confession] ...
Confession by culprit
Confession by culprit, the acknowledgment by a criminal of the offence charged against him when charged by any person or called upon to plead to the indictment. A confession before trial, if given without any inducement of favour or threat of punishment, is evidence against the person charged even though he may be in custody (R. v. Best, (1909) 1 KB 692), and by the Criminal Justice Act, 1925 (c. 86), s. 12, replacing Indictable Offences Act, 1848, s. 18, and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, s. 13 (2), justices of the peace are directed to give an accused person 'clearly to understand that he has nothing to hope from any promise of favour, and nothing to fear from any threat which may have been held out to him' to make any confession of guilt. See ACCUSED....
Confession to a priest
Confession to a priest. The English law does not recognise the duty of a priest (whether Roman Catholic or Anglican) to keep secrets revealed to him in his religious character, Normanshaw v. Normanshaw, (1893) 69 LT 468; Wheeler v. Le Marchant, (1881) 17 Ch D 681; but some judges have disapproved of extorting such secrets [see, e.g., per Best, C.J., in Broad v. Pitt, (1828) 3 C&P 518]. The practice of the law on this subject is very uncertain, and in Phillimore's Ecclesiastical Law as edited by Phillimore, L.J., when at the bar, the view is taken that it is not improbable that an English Court would decide the question in favour of the inviolability of confession and expand the law into harmony with that of other Christian states. See Best, Ev.; Taylor, Ev. The 113th Canon provides that 'if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him,' he 'do not reveal to any person who...
confession and avoidance
confession and avoidance : a common-law plea in which a party confesses an allegation but alleges additional facts to avoid the intended legal effect of the original allegation compare demurrer ...
Confession and avoidance, plea of
Confession and avoidance, plea of, a plea in bar, admitting the facts alleged in the declaration to be true, but showing some new facts, tending to obviate their legal effect. All matters in confession and avoidance had before the Judicature Acts to be specially pleaded (Reg. Gen. H.T. 1853, r. 8), and must be so still under the present system of pleading. See STATEMENT OF DEFENCE; CIR-CUITY OF ACTION....
- << Prev.
- Next >>
Sign-up to get more results
Unlock complete result pages and premium legal research features.
Start Free Trial