Not Guilty By Statute - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: not guilty by statute Page: 2Maintenance
Maintenance, an officious intermeddling in a suit which in no wise concerns one, by assisting either party with money or otherwise to prosecute or defend it; both actionable and indictable [see Bradlaugh v. Newdegate, (1883) 11 QBD 1], and invalidates contracts involving it. By the Roman Law it was a species of crimen falsi to enterin to any confederacy, or do any act to support another's law-suits, by money, witnesses, or patronage, 4 Bl. Com. 134.It is either ruralis, in the country as where one assists another in his pretensions to lands, by taking or holding the possession of them for him; or where one stirs up quarrels or suits in the country; or it is curialis, in a Court of justice, where one officiously intermeddles in a suit depending in any court, which does not belong to him, and with which he has nothing to do, 2 Rol. Abr. 115. Maintaining suits in the spiritual courts is not within the statutes relating to maintenance, Cro. Eliz. 549. A man may, however, maintain a suit in...
commitment
commitment 1 : an act of committing: as a : placement in or assignment to a prison or mental hospital [petition for ] compare incompetent, interdiction NOTE: Commitment to a mental health facility is called civil commitment when it is not part of a criminal proceeding. Civil commitment proceedings are initiated by the patient, in the case of voluntary commitment, or by someone (as a family member or government agent) authorized by statute to petition for the patient's involuntary commitment. Some form of a hearing and periodic review is required in involuntary commitment proceedings. A criminal defendant may be committed to a mental hospital as a result of being found incompetent to stand trial, not guilty by reason of insanity, or incompetent to be sentenced. b : an act of referring a matter to a legislative committee c : a warrant committing someone to a prison 2 : an agreement or promise to do something in the future ;esp : a promise to assume a financial obligation at a fu...
Penalty
Penalty, is a liability under the taxing statute, Khemka & Co. v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1975 SC 1549.Penalty, is legal or official punishment such as a term of imprisonment, N.K. Jain v. C.K. Shah, AIR 1991 SC 1289. [Employees' Provident Fund Act, 1952, s. 14]Means recovery of an amount as a penal measure in civil proceedings, or an exaction which is not compensatory in character, Jagjit Cotton Textile Mills v. Chief Commercial Superintendent, N.R., (1998) 5 SCC 126.1. A sum agreed to be paid on non-performance of the condition of a bond. See BOND.2. A sum agreed to be paid on breach of an agreement or any stipulation of it. See LIQUIDATED DAMAGES, and NOMINE PEN'. The fact that the parties state expressly in their contract that the sum named is 'liquidated damages' will not prevent the Court from deciding that it is a penalty. 'The cases upon the subject of penalty or liquidated damages are very numerous. The result of them seems to be this, that what the Courts look at is the rea...
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...
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...
Marriage
Marriage. Marriage as understood in Christendom is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others, Hyde v. Hyde, 1866 LR 1 P&D 130. Where a marriage in a foreign country complies with these requirements it is immaterial that under the local law dissolution can be obtained by mutual consent or at the will of either party with merely formal conditions of official registration, and it constitutes a valid marriage according to English law, Nachimson v. Nachimson, 1930, P. 217. Previous to 1753 the validity of marriage was regulated by ecclesiastical law, not touched by any statutory nullity but modified by the Common law Courts, which sometimes interfered with the Ecclesiastical Courts, by prohibition, sometimes themselves decide on the validity of a marriage, presuming a marriage in fact as opposed to lawful marriage. A religious ceremony by an ordained clergyman was essential to a lawful marriage, at all events for dower and heirship; but if in an i...
Drunkenness
Drunkenness, intoxication with strong liquor; habit-ual inebriety. A contract made by a person when so drunk as to be unable to understand what he is doing is voidable if the person with whom the contract was made was aware of the fact, but it is not void, and may be ratified when he becomes sober, Matthews v. Baxter, (1873) LR 8 Ex 132. Mere drunknness was punishable by statutes 4 Jac. 1, c. 5, and 21 Jac. 1, c. 7, ss. 1, 3, by a fine of five shillings and confinement in the stocks in default of distress. Under the Licensing Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 94), which repeals various previous enactments, drunkenness in a public place or licensed house is punishable by fine (s. 12). Disorderly drunkenness is punishable by fine or imprisonment, and refusal by drunken persons to quit licensed premises is punishable by fine. [(English) Licensing Consolidation Act, 1910, s. 80]The 1st s. of the (English) Licensing Act, 1902 (2 Edw. 7, c. 28), enacts that--If a person is found drunk in any highw...
Perjury
Perjury, telling lie in a court, Swaran Singh v. State of Punjab, (2005) 5 SCC 668. [Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Ch 26]The offence committed when a lawful oath or affirmation (see OATHS and AFFIRATION) is administered and the witness swears or affirms falsely in a matter material to the issue.The law on this subject is now contained in the (English) Perjury Act, 1911, 'an Act to consolidate and simplify the law relating to perjury and kindred offences'; it repeals the whole of the Acts 5 Eliz. c. 9 and 2 Geo. , c. 25 [the (English) Perjury Act, 1728] and portions of one hundred and thirty other statutes. The Act may be briefly summarised as follows: If any person lawfully sworn as a witness or as an interpreter in a 'judicial proceed-ing' wilfully makes a statement material in that proceeding, which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he will be guilty of perjury and liable to penal servitude for not exceeding seven years, or imprisonment with or without hard labo...
Piracy
Piracy [fr. pirata, Lat.], the commission of those acts of robbery and violence upon the sea, which if committed upon land wold amount to felony. Pirates hold no commission or delegated authority from any sovereign or State, empowering them to attack others. They can, therefore, be only regarded in the light of robbers. They are, as Cicero has truly stated, the common enemies of all (communes hostes omnium); and the law of nations gives to every one the right to pursue and exterminate them without any previous declaration of war (see Piracy Jure Gentium, 1934, AC 586, where a frustrated attempt was held to be piracy by that law); but it is not allowed to kill them without trial, except in battle. Those who surrender or are taken prisoners must be brought before the proper magistrates, and dealt with according to law. By the ancient Common Law of England, piracy, if committed by a subject, was held to be a species of treason, being contrary to his natural allegiance; if by an alien, to ...
Animals
Animals may be divided into--(1) Domestic animals, such as dogs, horses, cows, etc., sometimes called animals mansuet' natur'. See White v. Fox, 48 TLR 641.(2) Animals that are naturally dangerous, i.e., wild beasts, such as lions, bears, etc.(3) Animals fer' natur', butharmless, such as hares, pheasants, partridges, etc. see FER' NATUR' and GAME.Animals of the first or second class are ordinary subjects of property in this country. But there is no property in those of the third class until they are caught or reclaimed. As to the liability of the owner for mischief done by a wild beast, or by a vicious domestic animal, see MISCHIEVOUS ANIMAL.Dogs. As to injury by dogs and seizure of stray dogs, see DOG.Malicious Damage. By the Malicious Damage Act, 1861, s. 40, the unlawful and malicious killing, maiming, or wounding of cattle is made a felony. And by s. 41, the unlawful and malicious killing or wounding any animal not being cattle, but being the subject of larceny at Common Law, or be...
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