Guilty - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: guilty Page: 2 Page 2 of about 256 results ( seconds)Guilty
Guilty. Having committed a crime or tort; the word used by a prisoner in pleading to an indictment when he confesses the crime of which he is charged, and by the jury in convicting....
verdict
verdict [alteration (partly conformed to Medieval Latin veredictum) of Anglo-French veirdit statement, finding, verdict, from Old French veir true (from Latin verus) + dit saying, from Latin dictum] 1 : the usually unanimous finding or decision of a jury on one or more matters (as counts of an indictment or complaint) submitted to it in trial that ordinarily in civil actions is for the plaintiff or for the defendant and in criminal actions is guilty or not guilty compare judgment compromise verdict : a verdict produced not by sincere unanimous agreement on guilt or liability but by an improper surrender of individual convictions ;specif : an impermissible verdict by a jury that is unable to agree on liability and so compromises on an award of damages that is less than what it should be if the plaintiff has a right of recovery free from any doubts di·rect·ed verdict 1 : a verdict granted by the court when the party with the burden of proof has failed to present sufficie...
arraign
arraign [Anglo-French arrainer, from Old French araisnier to address, call to account, from a-, prefix stressing goal of an action + raisnier to speak] : to bring (a defendant) before a judge or magistrate to hear the charges and to plead usually either guilty or not guilty compare indict NOTE: For a person to be formally arraigned, he or she must be called by name before a judge or magistrate. The judge or magistrate makes sure that the defendant is the person named in the complaint, indictment, or information, which is then read to formally notify the defendant of the charges. The defendant may then enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or another plea allowed by law such as nolo contendere. In some cases, as when the defendant is not yet represented by a lawyer, the judge or magistrate may enter a plea of not guilty on the defendant's behalf. ar·raign·ment n ...
Culprit
Culprit. The prisoner at the Bar awaiting his trial after a plea of not guilty. 'Its first recorded use is in the trial of the Earl of Pembroke for murder in 1678. Its original force was formerly to join issue with the defendant's plea of Not guilty and to demand trial and judgment.'-Oxf. Dict., art. 'Culprit,' where see discussion of the disputed derivations of the word. It is thus derived by Donaldson. The clerk asks the prisoner, 'Are you guilty or not guilty ?' Prisoner, 'Not guilty.' Clerk, 'Qu'il paroit [may it prove so]; how will you be tried ?' Prisoner, 'By God and my country.' These words, being hurried over, came to sound, 'Culprit, how will you be tried ?' Blackstone's derivation is entirely different; see 4 Bl. Com. 339....
False pretence, obtaining property
False pretence, obtaining property, this offence, though allied to larceny, is distinguishable from it, as being perpetrated through the medium of a mere fraud; it is a misdemeanour at Common Law. By the Larceny Act, 1916, s. 32:-Every person who, by any false pretence:(1) with intent to defraud, obtains from any other person any chattel, money or valuable security, or causes or procures any money to be paid or any chattel or valuable security to be delivered to himself or to any other person for the use or benefit or on account of himself or any other person; or(2) with intent to defraud or injure any other person fradulently causes or induces any other person:(a) to execute, make, accept, endorse or destroy the whole or any part of any valuable security; or(b) to write, impress or affix his name or the name of any other person, or the seal of any corporate body or society, upon any paper or parchment in order that the same may be afterwards made or converted into, or used or dealt wi...
Arraign
Arraign [fr. arraisonner, aresner, aregnir, arraigner, Old Fr., i.e., ad rationem ponere, Lat., to call one to account], to bring a prisoner to the bar of the Court to answer the matter charged upon him in the indictment. The arraignment of a prisoner consists of calling upon him by name, reading to him the indictment, demanding of him whether he be guilty or not guilty, and entering his plea. The pleas upon arraignment are either the general issue, i.e., not guilty, or a plea in abatement or in bar, or the prisoner may demur to the indictment, or he may confess the fact, upon which the Court proceeds immediately to judgment. But, if the prisoner 'shall stand mute or malice, or will not answer directly to the indictment or information,' the Court, if it shall so think fit, may 'order the proper officer to enter a plea of 'not guilty' on behalf of such a person, and the plea so entered shall have the same force and effect as if the person had so pleaded the same.'-Crim. Law Act,1827 (7 ...
Defence
Defence [fr. defensio, Lat.], popularly a justification, protection, or guard; in law, a denial by the defendant of the truth or validity of the plaintiff's complaint.In Civil matters, a defence (which is always in writing or printed) is either (1) by statement of defence, which may be a denial of the plaintiff's right, or may be an allegation of a set-off or counterclaim by the defendant which will cover wholly or in part the claim of the plaintiff; or (2) by a statement of defence raising a point of law, so as to show that the facts alleged by the plaintiff do not disclose any cause of action to which effect can be given by the Court; see R.S.C., Ord. XXV., sub-stituted for the old 'demurrer.' See STATEMENT OF DEFENCE DEMURRER.In certain cases, e.g., where the plaintiff's claim is for a liquidated sum only, he may specially indorse his writ, and in such case leave must be obtained to defend (R.S.C. 1883, Ord. III., R. 6; Ord. XIV.).In Criminal matters (which is always by word of mout...
Mens rea
Mens rea, a guilty mind. See ACTUS NON FACIT REUM, NISI MENS SIT REA. Although prima facie and as a general rule there must be a mind at fault before there can be a crime, it is not an inflexible rule, and a statute may relate to such a subject-matter and may be so framed as to make an act criminal, whether there has been any intention to break the law or otherwise to do wrong or not. There is a large body of municipal law at the present day which is so conceived. Bye-laws are constantly made regulating the width of thoroughfares, the height of buildings, the thickness of walls and a variety of other matters necessary for the general welfare, health or commerce, and such bye-laws are enforced by the sanctions of penalties; the breach of them constitutes an offence and is a criminal matter.... and in such a case the substance of the enactment is that a man shall take care that the statutory direction is obeyed and that if he fails to do so he does so at his peril--WILLS, J., R. v. Tolso...
Public meeting
Public meeting, a meeting which any person may attend. Any number of persons may meet in any place for any lawful purpose with the consent of the owner of that place; but without such consent, and in any case in the public streets, which are lawfully used for the purpose of passing and repassing only (see the ruling of Charles, J., in the Trafalgar Square case in 1887, and Ex parte Lewis, (1888) 21 QBD 191), there is no 'right of public meeting' known to English law.Political meetings within a mile of Westminster Hall during the session of Parliament are prohibited by the Seditious Meetings Act, 1817. As a result of disturbances created by persons advocating the extension of the parliamentary franchise to women there was passed the Public Meeting Act, 1908, which by s. 1 provides as follows:-1.-(1) Any person who at a lawful public meeting acts in a disorderly manner for the purpose of preventing the transaction of the business for which the meeting was called together shall be guilty ...
Murder
Murder [fr. morthor, morthen, Sax.; murdrum, Low Lat.]. It is thus defined by Coke (3 Inst. 47): 'When a person of sound memory and discretion unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in being, with malice aforethought, either express or implied'; see 4 Bl. Com. 195. Consult Russell on Crimes; Arch. Cr. Pl.; Steph. Dig.(1) The person committing the offence must be conscious of doing wrong, and able to discern between good and evil. See IDIOT; LUNATIC; DRUNKENNESS AND MACNAUGHTON'S CASE.(2) Death must result within a year and a day after the cause of death administered, see R. v. Dyson, (1908) 2 KB 454.(3) The person killed must be a reasonable creature in being, and under the king's peace.(4) The killing must be with malice aforethought, express or implied, and malice is implied from the perpetration of any felony, however absent from the mind of the perpetrator any intention to kill may be. When the act by which death is caused is done with the intention of causing death (See Indian...
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