Peer - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: peerPeer
Peer, an equal; one of the same rank; a member of the House of Lords, as either Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, or Baron, or Scots or presumably Irish representative peer, although the status of Irish representative peers is apparently undecided owing to the establishment of the Irish Free State. The king cannot create a dignity with a mesne between baron and baronets (Co. Litt. 16, b, Hargrave note 8).A member of the House of Lords cannot become a member of the House of Commons, nor can be vote at an election to that House, Earr Beauchamp v. Madresfield, (1872) LR 8 CP 245, although an Irish non-representative peer (Lord Rendlesham v. Haward, (1873) LR 9 CP 252); but an Irish non-representative peer may, presumably, be elected a member of the House of Commons for any seat in Great Britain. A peer cannot surrender his dignity to the king so as to affect the rights of his descendants therein (The Norfolk Earldom, 1907, AC 10). See Jac. Law Dict.; Co. Litt. 160.Under the rule, established...
Peers of fees
Peers of fees, vassals or tenants of the same lord, who were obliged to serve and attend him in his courts, being equal in function; these were termed peers of fees because holding fees of the lord, or because their business in court was to sit and judge, under their lords, of disputes arising upon fees; but if there were too many in one lordship, the lord usually chose twelve, who had the title of peers, by way of distinction; whence, it is said, we derive our common juries and other peers, Cowel....
Scots Peers
Scots Peers, peers of the kingdom of Scotland; of these, sixteen are elected by the rest and represent the whole body. They are elected for one Parliament only. See the Union with Scotland Act, 1706 (6 Anne, c. 11), sometimes numbered 23, amended by 10 & 11 Vict. c. 52; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 87; and 15 & 16 Vict. c. 35....
High Steward, Court of the Lord
High Steward, Court of the Lord, a tribunal instituted for the trial of peers or peeresses indicted for treason or felony, or for misprision of either, but not for any other offence. The office of Lord High Steward is very ancient, and was formerly hereditary, or held for life, or dum bene se gesserit; but it has been for many centuries granted pro hac vice only, and always to a lord of Parliament. When, therefore, such an indictment is found by a grand jury of freeholders in the King's Bench, or at the assizes before a judge of oyer and terminer, it is removed by a writ of certiorari into the Court of the Lord High Steward, which alone has power to determine it.The sovereign, in case a peer be indicted for treason, felony, or misprision, appoints a Lord High Ste-ward pro vice, by commission under the Great Seal, which, reciting the indictment so found, gives him power to receive and try it secundum legem et consuetudinem Angli'. When the indictment is regularly removed by certiorari, ...
Felony
Felony [fr. felonie, Fr.; felonia, Lat.; some deduce it fr. Gk., a deceiver, and fallo, Lat., to deceive; Spelman derives it fr. the Teutonic or German fee, a fieu or fiet, and lon, price or value; Coke says, 'Ex vi termini significat quodlibet capitale crimen felleo animo perpetratum,' Co. Litt. 391 a], originally the state of having forfeited lands and goods to the Crown upon conviction for certain offences, and then, by transition, any offence upon conviction for which such forfeiture followed, in addition to any other punishment prescribed by law, as distinguished from misdemeanour, upon conviction for which to forfeiture followed. All indictable offences are either felonies or misdemeanours, but a material part of the distinction is taken away by the Forfeiture Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 23), which abolishes forfeiture for felony, and provides for the administration of the estates of felons while undergoing sentence; see Carr v. Anderson, (1903) 2 Ch 279.The only remaining distin...
House of Lords
House of Lords, a constituent part of Parliament, being composed of the lords spiritual and temporal.The upper chambers of British parliament, of which the 11 member judicial committee provides judge who serve as the final court of appeal in most civil cases, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.The lords temporal are dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons. The number of British peerages of different ranks has been greatly augmented from time to time, and there is no limitation to the power of the Crown to add to it by fresh creation.The lords temporal consist of: (1) peers of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain, and of England; (2) the representative peers of Scotland and Ireland; (3) life peers, i.e., Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. The Lord High Chancellor presides.Bankrupts are disqualified from sitting or voting by s. 32 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883.The assent of the House of Lords was formerly essential to the passing of any act of Parliament, but its powers in this respect had b...
Impeachment
Impeachment, a prosecution by the House of Commons before the House of Lords of any person, either peer or commoner, for treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanours, or of a peer for any crime; in modern times rarely been resorted to, though informer periods of our history of frequent occurrence. The last memorable cases are those of Warren Hastings, in 1788, and Lord Melville, in 1805.As to the procedure, see May's Parliamentary Practice.Means bringing a public official before a proper tribunal on a charge of wrong doing, Webster American Dictionary, p. 959.Is the prosecution of President by Parliament for violation of the Constitution. (Constitution of India, Art. 61)In U.K. by the Law of Parliament, all persons, whether peers or commoners can be impeached for any crimes; but it is generally resorted to in respect of extraordinary crimes and extraordinary offen-ces, Parliamentary Practice, Erskine, May, 22nd Edn., 1997, p. 63.Means the accusation of treason or other crimes is bro...
Privilege
Privilege, a privilege is the opposite of a duty, and the correlative of 'no-right', Isha Valimohamad v. Haji Gulam Mohamad and Haji Dada Trust, AIR 1974 SC 2061 (2065): (1974) 2 SCC 484: (1975) 1 SCR 720. [Bombay Rents Hotels and Lodging House Rates (Control) Act, 1947 s. 51(1)(ii)]An exceptional or advantage; an exemption from some duty, or attendance, to which certain persons are entitled, from a supposition of law, that the stations they fill or the offices they are engaged in, are such as require all their care; and that, therefore, without this indulgence, it would be impracticable to execute such offices so advantageously as the public good requires.The separate privileges of either House of Parlia-ment are extensive, but they are at the same time uncertain and indefinite. Amongst those privileges are, the power of committing persons to prison; the power of publishing matters which, if not issuing from such high authority, might become the subject of proceedings in a Court of la...
Appellate Jurisdiction Acts, 1876, 1887, 1913 and 1929
Appellate Jurisdiction Acts, 1876, 1887, 1913 and 1929 (English) (19 Geo. 5, c. 8). These Acts modernize the procedure of the House of Lords as a Court of Appeal. An appeal lies to the House of Lords from any judgment or order of the Court of Appeal in England, and also from certain Courts in Scotland and Ireland. But Administration of Justice (Appeals) Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 40) provides that no appeal shall lie from the Court of Appeal to the House of Lords except with the leave of that Court or the House of Lords. Three members of the House, having held high judicial office, form a quorum, but any member of the House, whether having held high judicial office or not, has still a technical right to take part in a judgment; but peers not being law lords have not taken such part since 1783 (in Bishop of London v. Fytche, (1783) 1 East 487), except in Bradlaugh v. Clarke, (1883) 48 LT 681, in which Lord Denman took part in a hearing and voted with Lord Blackburn against three othe...
Black Rod, Gentleman Usher of
Black Rod, Gentleman Usher of, a chief officer of the king, deriving his name from the Black Rod of office which he carries, and on the top of which reposes a golden lion. During the session of Parliament he attends on the peers, and to his custody all peers impeached for any crime or contempt are first committed, Consult May, Parl. Pr....
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