Guilty - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: guilty Page: 3Wrongful detention and wrongful confinement
Wrongful detention and wrongful confinement, the cause of action in wrongful detention is based on a wrongful withholding or to the plaintiff's goods. It depends on the defendant being in possession of the plaintiff's goods. If such a defendant, without any right so to do, withholds the goods from the plaintiff after the plaintiff had demanded their return, he is, for such time as he so withholds them, guilty of wrongful detention. This is the trot of which a bailee or finder is guilty who is in possession of the goods and fails to deliver them a reasonable time after demand, though it may also, in the case of a bailee, be a breach of contract. If the bailee or finder subsequently disposes of the goods, he is guilty of conversion, but the wrongful detention then comes to an end and is swallowed up in the conversion, Dhian Singh Sobha Singh v. Union of India, AIR 1958 SC 274....
Restitution of stolen goods
Restitution of stolen goods. By the Common Law there was no restitution of goods upon an indictment, because it is at the suit of the Crown only; therefore the party was enforced to bring an appeal of robbery in order to have his goods again; but a writ of restitution was authorized to be granted by 21 Hen. 8, c. 11, and it became the practice of the court, upon the conviction of a felon, to order, without any writ, immediate restitution of such goods as were brought into Court to be made to the several prosecutors. The Larceny Act, 1916, s. 45, gives power to the court to award from time to time writs of restitution for stolen property, or to order the restitution thereof in a summary manner, upon a conviction of the guilty party. This restitution reaches the stolen goods (unless they be negotiable instruments) notwithstanding that the guilty party may have sold them for value to an innocent purchaser [see s. 24 (1), Sale of Goods Act, 1893], but see MARKET OVERT; a sum not exceeding ...
nolo contendere
nolo contendere [Latin, I do not wish to contend] : a plea by a defendant in a criminal prosecution that without admitting guilt subjects the defendant to conviction as in the case of a guilty plea but that does not bar denial of the truth of the charges in another proceeding (as a civil action based on the same acts) called also no contest non vult contendere compare guilty, not guilty ...
General issue
General issue, a plea simply traversing modo et forma the allegations in the declaration, as the plea of 'not guilty' in torts; 'never indebted' to money counts, or 'nunquam assumpsit' to actions on simple contract (English) C.L.P. Act, 1852, Sched. B, 37). Pleading the general issue was abolished by the (English) Judicature Acts, R.S.C. 1883, Ord. XIX., r. 4, providing that every pleading shall contain, and contain only, a statement in a summary form of the facts on which the party pleading relies; and the particular form of pleading the general issue by pleading ''not guilty by statute' (see that title) is abolished by the (English) Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, as regards any proceeding to which that Act applies.In criminal proceedings the general issue is 'not guilty,' which is pleaded viva voce by the prisoner at the bar....
Fox's Act
Fox's Act, 32 Geo. 3, c. 60 [the (English) Libel Act, 1792], which secured to juries, upon indictments for libel, the right of pronouncing a general verdict of guilty or not guilty upon the whole matter in issue, and no longer bound them to find a verdict of guilty on proof of the publication of the paper charged to be a libel, and of the sense ascribed to it in the indictment. See LIBEL. Consult Odgers on Libel....
Embezzlement
Embezzlement, the appropriation to his own use by a clerk or servant of money, valuable securities or chattels received by him for and on account of his master or employer. Embezzlement differs from larceny in this, that in the former the property misappropriated is not at the time in the actual or legal possession of the owner, whilst in the latter it is. The distinctions between larceny and embezzle-ment are often extremely nice and subtle, and it is sometimes difficult to say under which head the offence ranges. Unless the offender is a clerk or servant whose business it is to receive money for his master, he is not guilty of embezzlement. But if he have been employed to receive it in a single instance, he need not be a general servant. Partners stealing or embezzling money, etc., belonging to the co-partnership may be convicted and punished as if they had not been such partners. [(English) Larceny Act, 1916, s. 40 (4)]The fraudulent taking of personal property with which one has be...
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...
Lunatic
Lunatic. By the (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), s. 20, the word 'lunatic,' except in the phrase 'criminal lunatic' and in relation to persons detained as lunatics outside England, shall cease to be used in relation to any person of or alleged to be of unsound mind, and the words ''person of unsound mind,' 'person,' 'patient of unsound mind,' or 'of unsound mind,' or such other expression as the context may require are to be substituted in any enactment or document thereunder. See PERSON OF UNSOUND MIND. Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23).The general principle governing contracts entered into by insane persons is laid down in The Imperial Loan Co. v. Stone, (1892) 1 QB 559. 'Where a person enters into a contract, and afterwards alleges that he was so insane at the time that he did not know what he was doing and proves the allegation, the contract is as binding on him in every respect, whether it is executory or executed, as if he had been sa...
Sessions of the peace
Sessions of the peace, sittings of justices of the peace for the execution of those powers which are confided to them by their commission, or by charter, and by numerous statutes. They are of three descriptions:-I. Petty Sessions.--Metropolitan Police magistrates can act alone (see that title), with that exception, every meeting of two or more justices in the same place, for the execution of some power vested in them by law, whether had on their own mere motion, or on the requisition of any party entitled to require their attendance in discharge of some duty, is a petty or petit session. The occasions for holding petty sessions are very numerous, amongst the most important of which is the bailing persons accused of felony, which may be done after a full hearing of evidence on both sides, where the presumption of guilt shall either be weak in itself, or weakened by the proofs adduced on behalf of the prisoner. See PETTY SESSIONS.As to right of the public to attend petty sessions, see OP...
Sentence
Sentence, denotes 'A person who is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment is deemed to have been awarded that punishment even in the case where the sentence is suspended for some reason or other, State of Maharashtra v. Chandrabhan Tale, AIR 1983 SC 803: (1983) 3 SCC 387.Sentence, denotes the action of the court before which the trial is held, declaring the consequences to the convict of the fact thus ascertained. Any consequence which flows after conviction can be looked upon as sentence, Mohammad Shabir Maulamaiya v. State of Maharashtra, (1977) Mah LJ 338.Means the judgment that a court formally pronoun-ces after finding a criminal defendant guilty, the punishment imposed on a criminal wrongdoer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1367.The expression 'sentence' must be restricted to a sentence which is final, conclusive and ultimate so far as the judicial remedies are concerned. The alternate interpretation is likely to lead to confusion, inconsistency and contradiction and in pr...
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