Four Coroners - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: four coronersKing's Bench
King's Bench. The Court of King's or Queen's bench (so called because the King used formerly to sit there in person (though the judges determined the causes), the style of the Court still being coram ipso rege, or coram ipsa regina) was a Court of record, and the Supreme Court of Common Law in the kingdom, consisting of a chief justice and four puisne justices, who were by their office the sovereign conservators of the peace and supreme coroners of the land.This court, which was the remnant of the aula regia, was not, nor could be, from the very nature and constitution of it, fixed to any certain place, but might follow the King's person wherever he went, for which reason all process issuing out of this Court in the King's name was returnable 'ubicunque fuerimus in Anglia.' For some centuries, and until the opening of the Royal Courts, the court usually sat at Westminster, being an ancient palace of the Crown, but might remove with the King as he thought proper to command.The jurisdict...
Felo de se
Felo de se (a felon with respect to himself); one who feloniously commits suicide. The barbarous mode of burying such persons, in a place where four roads met, with a stake driven through their bodies, was abolished by 4 Geo. 4, c. 52, which directed burial in the churchyard or other burial ground (without divine service) between the hours of nine and twelve at night. The (English) Interments (Felo de se) Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 19), repealed and re-enacted the above Act, omitting the provisions as to the hours of burial, and allowing, by permission of the ordinary, a religious service, the Prayer Book expressly forbidding the use of the Burial Service therein contained in the case of those who die 'laying violent hands on themselves,' Escheat or forfeiture for felony is abolished by the (English) Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23). A coroner's inquest (see CORONER) must beheld in every case of suicide, and in the absence of evidence of unsoundness of mind a verdict of felo...
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...
Arrest
Arrest [fr. restae, Lat.; arrestare, It.; arrester, Fr., to bring one to stand], the restraining of the liberty of a man's person in order to compel obedience to the order of a Court of Justice, or to prevent the commission of a crime, or to ensure that a person charged or suspected of a crime may be forthcoming to answer it. Arrests are either in civil or (see APPREHENSION) criminal cases; civil arrests must be affected, in order to be legal, by virtue of a precept or writ issue out of some Court. The law of civil arrest (see MESNE PROCESS), so far as it still exists, is regulated by the Debtors Act, 1869 (see that title),which abolished imprisonment for debt except in special cases, as where a debtor has the means to pay his debt but refuses to do so, and s. 218 of the Companies Act, 1929, as to the power to arrest an absconding contributory in case of winding up by the Court. see also CONTEMPT OF COURT. The two great statues for securing the liberty of the subject against unlawful a...
Impossibility
Impossibility. If a man contract to do a thing which is absolutely impossible by its nature, such contract will not bind him--lex non cogit ad impossibilia, e.g., where the subject-matter has perished before date of contract, or never existed [see (English) Sale of Goods Act, 1893, s. 6; and Conturier v. Hastie, (1852) 8 Ex 43 & HLC 673]; but where the contract operating as a transfer of real property, e.g., as a demise, is to do a thing which is possible in itself, but which becomes impossible, he will be liable for the breach; thus, where a lessee covenants to repair and to leave in repair the demised premises he is not discharged from his liability because they happen to be destroyed [see Bullock v. Dommitt, (1796) 6 TR 650]; or requisitioned by the military, Whitehall Court Ltd. v. Etlinger, (1920) 1 KB 680.The non-performance of a contract which arises from an act of the law having rendered performance impossible is excused, see Baily v. De Crespigny, (1869) LR 4 QB 180; Re Shipto...
Masters of the Supreme Court
Masters of the Supreme Court, in the King's Bench Division, officials, seven in number, deriving their title from the (English) Jud. (Officers) Act, 1879 (see now Jud. Act, 1925, ss. 106, 122, Sched. III., Part I.), and filling the places of the Masters of the Common Law Courts, the King's Coroner and Attorney, the Master of the Crown Office, the two Record and Writ Clerks, and the three Associates. Their jurisdiction is mainly to hear summonses for directions (see DIRECTIONS, SUMMONS FOR), to supervise pleadings, and decide as to discovery. There are also Masters in the Chancery Division who have succeeded to the position and powers of the Chief Clerks of the Chancery judges, the title of 'Master of the Supreme Court' having been substituted for that of 'Chief Clerk in 1897. Under the present system there are three sets of Chancery Chambers, each with four Masters and attached to two judges. The duties of the Masters are to hear summonses for directions, take accounts and answer inqui...
Poursuivant
Poursuivant, a king's messenger; those employed in martial causes were called Poursuivants-at-Arms.There are, at present, in the Heralds' Office four poursuivants, distinguished by the names following:-(1) Rouge Croix.--Instituted at an uncertain period, but generally considered to be the most ancient. The title was doubtless derived from the cross of St. George.(2) Blue Mantle..--An office instituted by Edward III. or Henry V., and named either in allusion to the colour of the arms of France or to that of the robes of the Order of the Garter.(3) Rouge Dragon.--This poursuivancy was founded by Henry VII. on the day before his coronation, the name being derived from the ensign of his ancestor, Cadwaladyr. He also assumed a red dragon as the dexter supporter of his arms.(4) Portcullis.--This office was instituted by the same monarch, from one of whose badges the title was derived. See HERALD. As to the office of Paurguivant of the Great seal, ss. 37 & 38, Vict. C. 81....
Solicitor
Solicitor, an officer of the Supreme Court of Judicature, who, and who only, is entitled to 'sue out any writ or process, or commence, carry on, solicit, or defend any action, suit or other proceeding' in any Court whatever (see (English) Solicitors Act, 1932, s. 45). 'Solicitor of the Supreme Court' was the title given by the (English) Judicature Act, 1843, s. 87, to all attorneys, solicitors, and proctors, and continued by (English) Solicitors Act 1932, s. 81. Prior to that Act, 'attorneys' conducted business in the Common Law Courts, 'solicitors' business in the Court of Chancery and 'proctors' ecclesiastical and Admiralty business; but it was the general practice, although any person might be admitted to practise as an attorney or solicitor only, to be admitted to practise as an attorney and solicitor also.Solicitors practise as advocates before magistrates at petty sessions and quarter sessions where there is no bar, in County Courts, at Arbitrations, at Judges' Chambers, Coroners...
- << Prev.
- Next >>
Sign-up to get more results
Unlock complete result pages and premium legal research features.
Start Free Trial