Defence - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: defence Page: 3Criminal Evidence Act
Criminal Evidence Act, 1898 (English) (61 & 62 Vict. c. 36), the general Act by which every person charged with an offence and his or her wife or husband became a competent, but not a compellable, witness for the defence at every stage of the proceedings.The Evidence Acts, 1851 and 1853, whichmade parties and spouses admissible witnesses (they having been previously incompetent on the groundof interest), expressly excepted criminal proceedings from its opertion; but a series of enactments dealing with particular offences, from the Licensing Act, 1872, downto the Chaff Cutting Machines Accidents Act, 1897 (of which s. 20 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, was by far the most important), did away with this exception, in particular cases and in varying phraseology, but without qualifications except that against compellability, and enabled accused persons to give evidenceon oath in their own defence.The Act of 1898, superseding [see Charnock v. Merchant, (1900) 1 QB 474] but not expr...
Criminal Law Amendment Acts, 1885 to 1928 (English)
Criminal Law Amendment Acts, 1885 to 1928 (English). By the Act of 1885 the procuration of women under twenty-one, and illicit though un-resisted intercourse with girls between thirteen and sixteen, are made misdemeanours, brothel-keepers are made liable to summary proceedings, and prisoners charged with sexual offences are allowed to give evidence on their own behalf. The Act is amended by the Criminal Law Amendment Act,1912, which empowers a constable to arrest without a warrant any person offending against the Act of 1885, provides the flogging offenders, and maks better provision for the suppression of brothels and prostitution. The Act of 1922 provides that the consent to an act of indecency by a child or young person under sixteen shall be no defence to a charge of indecent assault (s. 1). Reasonable cause to believe that a girl was over sixteen shall notbe a defence to a charge undr ss. 5 and 6 of the Act of 1885 (i.e., defilement of a girl between thirteen and sixteen, or permi...
Payment of Money into Court
Payment of Money into Court, i.e., the deposit of money with the official of or banker to the Court for the purpose of proceedings commenced in that Court. Payment into Court is not strictly a defence; it is rather an attempt at a compromise. No such plea was known to the Common Law; it is entirely the creature of Statute (Odgers on Pleading). By the (English) C.L.P. Act, 1852, s. 70, the defendant in all actions (except for assault and battery false imprisonment, libel, slander, malicious arrest or prosecution or seduction) might pay into Court a sum of money by way of compensation or amends, and by the Libel Act, 1843, money might be paid into Court in actions of libel, but this provision was repealed by the (English) Statute Law Revision Act, 1879.Payment into court is now regulated by (English) R.S.C. 1883, Ord. XXII, by which, where any action is brought to recover a debt or damages, any defendant may, before or at the time of delivering his defence, or by leave of the Court or a ...
Enemy or 'enemy subject' or 'enemy firm'
Enemy or 'enemy subject' or 'enemy firm' means a person or country who or which was an enemy, an enemy subject or an enemy firm, as the case may be, under the Defence of India Act, 1962 (51 of 1962), and the Defence of India Rules, 1962 2[or the Defence of India Act, 1971 (12 of 1971), and the Defence of India Rules, 1971], but does not include a citizen of India. [Enemy Property Act, 1968 (34 of 1968), s. 2(b)]...
Alibi
Alibi (elsewhere). It is a defence restored to where the party accused, in order to prove that he could not have committed the crime with which he is charged, offers evidence that he was in a different place at the time the offence was committed.Else ware, in law this term is used to express that defence in a criminal prosecution, where the party-accused, in order to prove that he could not have committed the crime charged against him, offers evidence that he was in a different place at that time. The plea taken should be capable of meaning that having regard to the time and place when and where he is alleged to have committed the offence, he could not have been present. The plea of alibi postulates the physical impossibility of the presence of the accused to the scene of offence by reason of his presence at another place. Denial by an accused of an assertion made by his employer that the accused was on leave of absence from duty on the date of offence does not, by any stretch of reaso...
Equitable claims and defences at Common Law
Equitable claims and defences at Common Law; The (English) Common Law Procedure Act, 1854 (ss 83-86), enabled any defendant to plead the facts which would entitle him, if judgment were obtained against him, to relief in Equity from such judgment on equitable grounds, by way of defence, and also enabled the plaintiff to avoid such defence by a replication upon equitable grounds. A plea on equitable grounds was good at Law only where an absolute and unconditional injunction wold be granted in Equity.The (English) Judicature Act, 1925, s. 36, and follow-ing sections, reproducing s. 24 of the (English) Judicature Act, 1873, has combined the jurisdiction of the Courts of Common Law and Equity so that legal and equitable remedies may be granted in the same Court but without affecting the nature of the rights. The object is to avoid multiplicity of actions and it does not confer a new jurisdiction (The James Westall, 1905, P., p. 51), and if there is any conflict or variance between the rules...
Fair comment
Fair comment. Fair comment on a matter of public interest is a good defence to an action of libel for words prima facie defamatory; but the defence will be of no avail if express malice is established, Thomas v. Bradbury, Agnew & Co., (1906) 2 KB 627. When the defence is one of fair comment the plaintiff is not entitled to particulars, Digby v. Financial News Ltd., (1907) 1 KB 502; but the defendant can administer interrogatories to the plaintiff, Walkr v. Hodgson, (1909) 1 KB 239. Whether words exceed the limit of 'fair comment' or not is a question for the jury, Dakhyl v. Labouchere, (1908) 2 KB 325 n. consult Odgers on Libel.A statement based on writers or speakers honest opinion about a matter of public concern; Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 616....
Master and servant
Master and servant, a relation whereby a person calls in the assistance of others, where his own skill and labour are not sufficient to carry out his own business or purpose. See LABOURERS.Servants are of several descriptions:- 1st Servants in husbandry. These are very generally hired by the year, as from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, and this is an entire hiring for a year; and, unless otherwise stipulated, no wages are payable until the end of the year. Consult Burn's Justice, tit. 'Servants.'2nd Servants in particular trades. These (who are now more frequently termed 'workmen,' their masters being termed 'employers') are subject to the control of the magistrates under the (English) Employers and Workmen Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 90), and by the Truck Acts (see that title) their wages must be paid in coin.3rd Apprentices. These are placed with the master to learn his trade, with a view hereafter of following it themselves. See APPRENTICE.4th Menial or domestic servants. If no terms be ...
Plene administravit
Plene administravit (he has fully administered). A defence by an executor or administrator that he has fully administered all the assets that have come to his hands. If the defendant simply pleads plene administravit without any other defence, the plaintiff may apply under Ord. XXXII., Rule 6, to have judgment for his debt and costs of future assets quando acciderint; or he may take issue on the defence, and if successful obtain judgment to the extent of the existing assets against the defendant and of future assets quando acciderint for the residue of his debt. Bullen and Leake, Pr. Pl....
Merits, affidavit of
Merits, affidavit of. This instrument is necessary when a defendant seeks to set aside, for irregularity, a judgment signed or other proceeding. The term 'merits,' in an affidavit of this nature, is to be read in a technical sense, and is not to be understood to be confined to strictly moral and conscientious defences; and defences of the Statute of Frauds or Limitations, and of Bankruptcy and Infancy, are defences on the merits, 2 Chit. Arch. Prac....
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