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Dead Man S Statute - Law Dictionary Search Results

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dead man's statute

dead man's statute : a law barring the testimony of a person with an interest in an estate regarding any conversation with or any event taking place in the presence of the decedent called also dead man act dead man's act ...


Magna Carta

Magna Carta, [Latin 'great charter'] The English charter that King John granted to the barons in 1215 and Henry III and Edward I later confirmed. It is generally regarded as one of the great common-law documents and as the foundation of constitution liberties. The other three great charters of English Liberty are the Petition of Right (3 Car. (1628)), the Habeas Corpus Act (31 Car. 2 (1679)), and the Bill of Rights (1 Will. SM. (1689)). Also spelled Magna charta, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 963.This Great Charter is based substantially upon the Saxon Common Law, which flourished in this kingdom until the Normaninvasion consolidated the system of feudality, still the great characteristic of the principles of real property. The barons assembled at St.Edmund's Bury, in Suffolk, in the later part of the year 1214, and there solemnly swore upon the high alter to withdraw their allegiance from the Crown, and openly rebel, unless King John confirmed by a formal charter the ancient li...


Inheritance

Inheritance, or hereditary succession, is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate by right of representation as his heir t law.The 'canons of inheritance' are the rules directing the descent of real property throughout the lineal and collateral consanguinity of the owner dying intestate.These rules have been abolished in the case of deaths after January 1st, 1926, with a few exceptions (see HEIR), by the (English) Administration of Estates Act, 1925, s. 51, but they still affect the devolution before 1926 of all titles to estates of inheritance.Inheritance Act.--The Inheritance Act, 1833 (3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 106), materially altered the old canons of real property descent, but because the Act does not extend to any descent which took place on the death of any person who died before the 1st of January, 1834, it is deemed expedient to give both old and new:-Old Canons.--The old Canons, which obtain in cases of ancestors dying before the 1st of January, 1834...


Religion

Religion, in a wide sense, therefore, is those fundamental principles which sustain life and without which life will not survive, Aruna Roy v. Union of India, (2002) 7 SCC 368.Religion, in Australia, the Constitution gives right to a person to follow his own religious belief and can freely exercise his religion, A Commentary on the Constitution of India, Durga Das Basu, Vol. D, p. 198.Religion, in Sri Lanka, the Constitution guarantees a citizen freedom of religion subject to the restrictions prescribed by law in the interest of national unity, integrity and security, A Commentary on the Constitution of India, Durga Das Basu, Vol. D, p. 200.Religion, in U.K., the Protestant Church headed by the Crown is by law established and built into the fabric of the English Constitution. The State has accepted the Protestant Church as a religious body reflecting the Christian faith, A Commentary on the Constitution of India, Durga Das Basu, Vol. D, p. 200.Religion, is a matter of faith stemming fr...


Widow

Widow, a woman whose husband is dead and who has not remarried, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1592.A widow is entitled equally with next of kin to administration of her deceased husband's estate subject to the discretion of the Court [see In the Estate of Paine, A.J., (1916) 115 LT 935]In regard to deaths after 1925, by the Administration of Estates Act, 1925, s. 46:-(1) The residuary (real and personal) estate of an intestate shall be distributed in the manner or be held on the trusts mentioned in this s., namely:-(i) If the intestate leaves a husband or wife (with or without issue) the surviving husband or wife shall take the personal chattels (q.v.) absolutely and in addition the residuary estate of the intestate shall stand charged with the payment of a net sum of 1000l. free of death duties and costs to the surviving husband or wife (with interest from date of death at 5 per cent. per annum until paid or appropriated and subject thereto as provided).(a) If the intestate lea...


Estate

Estate [fr. status, Lat.; etat, Fr.], the condition and circumstance in which an owner stands with regard to his property. The word is used in several senses and may denote either an estate in land; or an estate in property other than land; a legal estate or an equitable estate, land being an immovable is capable of being the subject of many estates existing concurrently with each other, thus the absolute ownership or fee simple may be leased and sub-leased, mortgaged and charged, each of the holders of these estates having a good legal or equitable estate at the same time; again, estates may be in possession, or in futuro; personal property may also be subject concurrently to a variety of ownerships, according to its nature; technically, in regard to land, the word is used to denote the quantity of interest, e.g., estate in fee simple, for life, for years, etc., in either legal or equitable estates. In practice its most important division is into real estate and personal estate, altho...


Actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea.

Actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea. 3 Inst. 307; Co. Litt. 247 b.--(An act does not make a man guilty, unless there be guilty intention.) This is one of the most important rules of criminal law. 'As a general rule of our law, a guilty mind is an essential ingredient of crime, and this rule ought to be borne in mind in construing all penal statutes', Broom's Leg. Max. Applied by 9 Judges to 5 in Reg. v. Tolson, (1889) 23 QBD 168, so as to acquit on trial for bigamy a woman reasonably believing her first husband (whom she had lost sight of for less than 7 years) to be dead; see the elaborate judgment of Stephen, J., pp. 184 et seq., who, however, described the maxim as most unfortunate and misleading. An intention to offend against the penal provisions of a statute constitutes mens rea (Bank of New South Wales v. Piper, 1897 AC 383).The trend of modern legislation in regard to the health or security of the public is to attach the offence to the person who possesses, at least hypothe...


Family

Family, in relation to a person, includes the ascend-ant and descendant of such person. [Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (19 of 1976), s. 2(h)]. A group consisting of parents and their children; a group of person connected by blood by affinity, or by law, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 620.In relation to an occupier, means the individual, the wife or husband, as the case may be, of such individual, and their children, brother or sister of such individual. [Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (61 of 1986), s. 2 (v)]In relation to an operator, means his wife and dependant children and includes his dependent parents. [Dangerous Machines (Regulation) Act, 1983 (35 of 1983), s. 3 (g)]Means:(i) In the case of a male-subscriber the wife or wives, parents, children, minor brothers, unmarried sisters, deceased son's widow and children and where no parent of the subscriber is alive, a paternal grandparent: Provided that if a subscriber proves that his wife has be...


Short-ford

Short-ford. The ancient custom of the city of Exeter is, when the lord of the fee cannot be answered rent due to him out of his tenement, and no distress can be levied for the same, he is to come to the tenement, and there take a stone, or some other dead thing of the said tenement, and bring it before the mayor and bailiffs; and this he must do seven quarter-days successively; and if, on the seventh quarter-day, the lord is not satisfied his rent and arrears then the tenement shall be adjudged to the lord to hold the same a year and a day; and forthwith proclamation is to be made in the Court, that if any man claim any title to the tenement, he must appear within the year and a day next following, and satisfy the lord of the said rent and arrears. But if no appearance be made, and the rent not paid, the lord comes again to the Court and prays that according to the custom the tenement be adjudged to him in his demesne as of fee, which is done, and the lord from thenceforth has it to hi...


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