Majority Opinion - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: majority opinion Page: 5Macnaughton's Case, Rules in
Macnaughton's Case, Rules in [4 St. Tr. (N.S.) 847]. A discussion took place in the House of Lords upon the direction to the jury by Tindal, C.J., in the trial of Macnaughton, and as a result a series of questions were put to the judges. The answers of the majority constitute 'the rules in Macnaughton's case,' and have been accepted as laying down the law as to insanity with reference to criminal responsibility. See Archbold, Crim. Pleading, etc., 25th Edn., p. 15 et seq. The rules have been the subject of much discussion and criticism by political, medical, and legal writers (see, for example, Lord Birkenhead's letter to The Times, May 26th, 1924). The main rule which is laid down is, that in order to establish a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be proved that, at the time of the committing of the act, the person accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or, if he did know it,...
majoritarian
majoritarian : characterized by the rule or decisions of a majority [ politics] ...
Association
Association, a writ or patent sent by the Crown to the justices appointed to take assizes to have others associated with them; it is usual where a judge becomes unable to attend to his circuit duties, or dies-Reg. Brev. 201. Also a company or partnership, q.v., and see SOCIETY.Means an association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, having an office in India and includes a society, whether registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or not, and any other organisation, by whatever name called. [Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 (49 of 1976), s. 2 (1) (a)]Means any combination or body of individuals. [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), s. 2 (a)]Two vital elements of an association are members and a common purpose for which they associate. If an association is constituted under a statute; it can be dissolved only in accordance with that statute; if it is organised on the basis of a contract, then it can be dissolved only in accordance wi...
Law
Law [fr. lage, lagea, or lah, Sax.; loi, Fr.; legge, Ital.; lex, fr. ligo, Lat., to bind], a rule of action to which men are obliged to make their conduct conformable. A command, enforced by some sanction, to acts or forbearances of a class: see Austin's Jurisprudence; 1 Bl. Com. 38. A principle of conduct may be observed habitually by an individual or a class. When sufficiently formulated or defined to be observed uniformly by the whole of a class it may become a custom; or it may be imposed on all individuals who consent or are unable to resist its application and the sanction or penalty which is imposed for non-compliance, and in that case it becomes a law. If, in addition, the law and its sanction are imposed by, or by authority of a sovereign, the law becomes 'positive' (see Austin's Jurisprudence). Short of positive law the principle may be called a moral or social law. Generally speaking, jurisprudence is concerned only with positive law, and law in its ordinary legal sense mean...
Parliament
Parliament, British Parliament consists of sovereign, House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Power of Parliament is transcendent and its Acts bind every subject; no authority other than Parliament can create, amend or abrogate a statute, Office of the Speaker in the Parliaments of Commonwealth Wilding and Philip Laundry, p. 429.Parliament, consists of the President, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha; each of its branches has peculiar powers in connection with their joint legislative function, Constitution of India, Art. 79, Parlia-mentary Practice, Erskine May, 22nd Edn., 1997.Parliament, has power to amend Constitution. (Constitution of India, Art. 368)Parliament, has power to make any law for the whole or any part of the territory of India for implementing any treaty, agreement or convention with any other country or countries or any decision made at any international conference, association or other body, Constitution of India, Art. 253.Parliament, like the British Parliament, the Par...
Rules of Court
Rules of Court, orders regulating the practice of the Courts; or orders made between parties to an action or suit.(1) General rules regulating the practice of the Courts, both of Common Law and Equity, have from time to time been made by the Courts in pursuance of the powers of various Acts of Parliament. See as to the Common Law Courts, which promulgated consecutive Rules without any division into Orders, Day's Common Law Procedure Acts; and as to the Court of Chancery, which promulgated Orders subdivided into Rules, Morgan's Chancery Acts and Orders. The scheme of the Chancery Procedure Acts was that the Orders made thereunder should come into force as soon as made, subject to the power of Parliament to annul them afterwards (see, e.g., Chancery Procedure Act, 1858, s. 12), while that of the Common Law Procedure Acts, was that Rules made thereunder should not come into force until they had lain before Parliament for three months (see 13 & 14 Vict. c. 16, and Common Law Procedure Act,...
Trade Union
Trade Union. The Acts 30 & 31 Vict. cc. 8, 74, provided for facilitating the proceedings of a commission appointed by Queen Victoria to inquire into and report on the organization and rules of trade unions, and other associations of employers and workmen. The (English) Trade Union Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 31), provides:-S. 2. 'The purposes of any trade union shall not, by reason merely that they are in restraint of trade, be deemed to be unlawful, so as to render any member of such trade union liable to criminal prosecution for conspiracy or otherwise.'S. 3. 'The purposes of any trade union shall not, by reason merely that they are in restraint of trade, be unlawful so as to render void or voidable any agreement or trust.'S. 4. 'Nothing in this Act shall enable any court to entertain any legal proceeding instituted with the object of directly enforcing or recovering damages for breach of any of the following agreements, namely,(1) Any agreement between members of a trade union as su...
Uses
Uses (History). A use is the intention or purpose, express or implied, upon which property is to be held. The Common Law treated the actual possessor for all purposes as the owner of the property. It was not difficult to find him out, since the possession of his estate was conferred upon him by a formal and notorious ceremony, technically called livery of seisin, which was performed openly and in the presence of the people of the locality.It soon became evident that the simple rules of the Common Law were stumbling-blocks to the complicated wants of an enterprising people.Hence ingenuity was sharpened to hit upon a device which should set at nought the rigidity of existing law and formalities.A system was found by the monastic jurists upon a model furnished by the Civil Law, which, by a nice adaptation, evaded, without overturning, the Common Law. Two methods of transferring realty began to co-exist in this country-the ancient Common Law system, and the later invention, which is denomi...
Wager
Wager, a contract by A. to pay money to B. on the happening of a given event, in consideration of B. paying money to him on the event not happening; and see the elaborate definition of 'wagering contract' in Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co., (1892) 2 QB 490, by Hawkins. J.1. Money or other consideration risked on an uncertain event; a bet or gamble 2. A promise to pay money or other consideration on occurrence of an uncertain event, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1573.At Common Law a wager was a legal contract, which the courts were bound to enforce, so long as it was not against morality, decency, or sound policy, Johnson v. Lumley, (1852) 12 CB 468. But by the (English) Gaming Act, 1845, s. 18:All contracts or agreements, whether by parol or in writing, by way of gaming or wagering, shall be null and void; and no suit shall be brought or maintained in any court of law or equity for recovering any sum of money or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager, or which shall ...
squeezeout
squeezeout : a corporate action or series of actions (as a refusal to declare dividends or the restricting of decision-making power in corporate governance) through which majority shareholders deprive minority shareholders of the benefit of stock ownership usually as part of an attempt to force sale of minority shares compare freezeout NOTE: Freezeout and squeezeout are sometimes used as synonyms. ...
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