death penalty : death as punishment for a crime called also capital punishment see also cruel and unusual punishment Gregg v. Georgia in the Important Cases section NOTE: The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the death penalty is not inherently violative of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, provided that the method is not deemed cruel and that the punishment is not excessive in relation to the crime. A statute mandating the death penalty is unconstitutional, however. A sentencing judge is required to consider any mitigating circumstances before imposing the death penalty for a crime. ...
reservation 1 : the act or an instance of reserving [ of rights] 2 : the creation by and for a grantor of a new right or interest (as an easement) in real property granted to another ;also : the right or interest so created or the clause creating it in a deed compare exception 3 a : public land reserved for a special purpose (as conservation) b : a tract of land reserved for use by an American Indian tribe see also Indian Removal Act of 1830 in the Important Laws section compare Indian title at title NOTE: The federal government has jurisdiction over certain serious felonies committed on American Indian reservations, and a member of a tribe is vested with the rights of an American citizen even if in a tribal court proceeding. Prior to the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, states could obtain civil and criminal jurisdiction over a reservation or other American Indian lands by legislative action, but that Act created the requirement that such jurisdiction be acquired with the cons...
Amnesty [fr. auvnorla, Gk., non-remembrance], an act of pardon or 'oblivion' (see, e.g., the Act of Oblivion, 12 Car. 2, c. 11, and 20 Geo. 2, c. 52), by which crimes against the Government up to a certain date are so obliterated that they can never be brought into charge. All acts of amnesty originate with the Crown.As understood in common parlance, the word 'amnesty' is appropriate only where political prisoners are released and not in cases where those who have committed felonies and murders are pardoned, State (Govt of NCT of Delhi) v. Prem Raj, (2003) 7 SCC 121 (126): 2003 SCC (Cri) 1586. (Constitution of India, Arts. 72, 161)Means a pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offence; act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted, e.g. the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act provided amnesty for undocumented aliens already present in the country, B...
Any person not being the accused, the words 'any person not being the accused' in s. 319 would cover any person who is not already before the Court in the case in which order under s. 319 is passed. It is the duty of the Court to bring before it any person who appears to have committed an offence and to convict and pass an appropriate order of sentence on proof of such person having committed the offence, Jarnail Singh v. State of Haryana, (2003) 9 SCC 328 (332). (Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 s. 319)...
As well as, used in sub-section (1) of section 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 has some importance. The said phrase would embroil the persons mentioned in the first category within the tentacles of the offence on a par with the offending company, Anil Hada v. Indian Acrylic Ltd., (2001) 1 SCC 1....
Beset. S. 7 of the (English) Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 86), makes it an offence to beset the house or place where another resides or works with a view to compel him to abstain from doing or to do any act which he has a legal right to do or abstain from doing. The effect of this section in the case of a trade dispute has been mitigated by s. 2 of the (English) Trade Disputes Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 47), which legalizes 'peaceful picketing,' but by the (English) Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5. C. 22), s. 3, attending in such numbers or manner as is declared to be unlawful by the Act shall be deemed to be a watching or besetting within s. 7 of the 1875 Act....
Board of Control. The (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), established five Commissioners, including the Chairman, all of whom are paid. The Commissioners are styled senior Commissioners-including the Chairman-one at least shall be a practising barrister or solicitor of five years' standing, two shall be medical commissioners, and one, at least, a woman. The Commissioners have the powers specified in the 2nd and 3rd Schedules to the Mental Treatment Act, 1930, under s. 14 of that Act, together with other powers mentioned in that section, and also the powers and duties of the Lunacy Commissioners which were transferred to the (English) Board by the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 28), s. 25....
Breach of peace, is the criminal offence of creating a public disturbance or engaging in disorderly conduct particularly by making an unnecessary or distracting noise, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 183.Breach of peace, takes place when either an assault is committed on an individual or public alarm and excitement is caused. Mere annoyance or insult is not enough; thus at common law a householder could not give a man into custody for violently and persistently ringing his door-bell. It is the particular duty of a Magistrate or Police Officer to preserve the peace unbroken, hence if he has reasonable cause to believe that a breach of the peace is imminent he may be justified in committing an assault or effecting an arrest; R.F.V. Heuston, Salmond on the Law of Torts, 131 (17th Edn., 1977).Means a disturbance of public peace order, Webster's Dictionary of Law, Indian Edn. (2005), p. 59.Breach of peace, offences against the public, which are either actual violations of the peace, or c...
Chance, misfortune, accident, deficiency of will. Where a man commits an unlawful act by misfortune and chance, and not by design, his will not co-operating with the deed, such act wants one main ingredient of a crime. If an accidental mischief should follow from the performance of a lawful act, the party stands excused from all guilt; but if the act be felonious, and a consequence ensues not foreseen or intended, as the death of a man or the like, his want of foresight shall be no excuse, for, being guilty of one offence, in doing antecedently what is in itself unlawful, he is criminally guilty of whatever consequence may follow.But a very important distinction is made in such cases, viz., whether the unlawful act is als in its original nature wrong and mischivous; for a person is not answerable for the incidental consequences of an unlawful act which is merely malum prohibitum; as, where any unfortunate accident happens from an unqualified person being in pursuit of game, he is amena...
Charged, the word 'charged' does not, in the Notification No. 878-F, dt. 21st March, 1922, mean the mere statutory liability to pay tax but goes further and includes the actual charge or levy, Commissioner of Income Tax v. M.K. Kirtikar, AIR 1960 SC 186 (189).Charged, is the official notification given to an individual by the competent authority of an allegation that he has committed a criminal offence, A.-G.s Ref. (No. 2 of 2001) (CA) (2001) 1 WLR 1869. [Human Rights Act, 1998, Art. 6(1)]Means brought before a court having jurisdiction to determine the matter, i.e. where examining justices commit an accused for trial, there is no charge until he is tried on indictment, R. v. Rider, [1954] 1 All ER 5....