Penal Servitude - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: penal servitudePenal Servitude
Penal Servitude, a punishment in the United King-dom which by the Penal Servitude Act, 1853, has superseded transportation (see that title) beyond the seas; but is in all respects as to hard labour, etc., similar to it. It ranges in duration from three years to the life of the convict.The (English) Criminal Law Consolidation Act of 1861 frequently authorise a minimum term of three years' penal servitude. This minimum of three years was altered to five by the (English) Penal Servitude Act, 1864, s. 2, but altered back to three by the (English) Penal Servitude Act, 1891, that very important Act providing as follows by s. 1:-(1) where under any enactment in force when this section comes into operation [5th Aug., 1891] a Court has power to award a sentence of penal servitude, the sentence may, at the discretion of the Court, be for any period not less than 3 years, and not exceeding either 5 years, or any greater period authorized by the enactment.(2) where under any Act now in force or un...
Forgery
Forgery [fr. forger, Fr.; or fingo, Lat.], the crimen falsi, or the false making or alteration of an instrument, which purports on the face of it to be good and valid for the purposes for which it was created, with a design to defraud. The forged instrument must be false in itself. The mere subscribing a note, given as the party's own, by a fictitious name, was held not to be forgery, Reg. v. Martin, (1879) 5 QBD 34.The act of fraudulently making a false document or altering a real one to be used as if genuine, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 661.Forgery at Common Law was a misdemeanour but most forgeries have been made felony by statute. Many of these statutes were consolidated by 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Wm. 4, c. 66, repealed and replaced by the Forgery Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 98), but the law now principally depends on the Forgery Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 27, 'an Act to consolidate, simplify and amend the law relating to forgery and kindred offences.' It repeals such portions of s...
Imprisonment
Imprisonment, 'imprisonment' shall mean imprisonment of either description as defined in theIndian Penal Code. [General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), s. 3(27)]The restraint of a person's liberty under the custody of another. It extends in law to confinement not only in a gaol, but in a house, or stocks, or to hold-ing a man in the street, etc.; for in all these cases the person so restrained is said to be a prisoner, so long as he has not his liberty freely to go about his business as at other times, Co. Litt. 253. See FALSE IMPRISONMENT.Imprisonment for Crime.--Any common law mis-demeanour is punishable after conviction on indictment by fine or imprisonment or both, at the discretion of the court. Imprisonment for not more than two years is very frequently authorised, as an alternative to penal servitude, by the (English) Offences against the Person Act, 1861, and other Acts set out in Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Criminal Law.' As to the right of any person convicted by a Court of Summ...
Poison
Poison (poison, Fr.; fr. potio, Lat., a drink--applied originally to a medicated drink or draught].The administration of poison or other destructive thing, if done with intent to commit murder, is a felony, punishable with penal servitude for life, or any term not exceeding three years, or with imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years [(English) Offences against the Person Act, 1861, s. 11], and so is the attempt to administer with like intent, whether bodily injury be effected or not (s. 14).On a trial for murder of A, by poisoning, evidence of a subsequent poisoning of other persons is admissible against the prisoner, Reg. v. Geering, (1849) 18 LJMC 215; Rex v. Armstrong, (1922) 38 TLR 631; as also of antecedent poisoning, Reg. v. Garner, (1863) 3 F&F 681.Unlawful and malicious administering of poison so as to endanger life or to inflict grievous bodily harm is a felony, punishable by penal servitude up to ten years, or imprisonment; and such adminis-tration with intent to i...
Transportation
Transportation, means the movement of goods or persons from one place to another by a carrier, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1505.Transportation, the banishing or sending away a criminal into another country.This punishment was introduced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 39 Eliz. c. 4. The word is first used in the 14 Car. 2, c. 23. The punishment was chiefly regulated by 5 Geo. 4, c. 84. Returning from transportation before the expiration of the term of punishment was an offence against public justice, and punishable by transportation for life.-4 & 5 Wm. 4, c. 67. Transportation has been superseded by penal servitude under the Penal Servitude Act, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 99), as amended by subsequent Acts. See PENAL SERVITUDE.Also the carriage of passengers of property....
Firearms
Firearms. This word comprises all sorts of guns, fowling-pieces, blunderbusses, pistols, etc. Their discharge in a street is penal.A weapon that expels a projected (such as ballets or pallets) by combustion of gunpowder or other explosive, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.For the purposes of the (English) Fire Arms Act, 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 43), 'firearm' means 'any lethal firearm or other weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged, or any part thereof, and the expression 'ammunition' means ammunition for any such firearms, and includes grenades, bombs, and other similar missiles, whether such missiles are capable of use with a firearm or not. The (English) Firearms Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 16), amends the definition by including smoothbore shot gun, air gun, or air rifle and ammunition, if deemed a lethal weapon. A person under seventeen shall not purchase or hire, nor shall anyone sell to such person, a firearm or ammunition. A pe...
Larceny
Larceny [fr. larcin, Fr.; latrocinium, Lat.], contracted from latrociny, the unlawful taking and carrying away of things personal, with intent to deprive the rightful owner of the same. Larceny is a felony, and is either simple or accompanied with circumstances of aggravation:(1) Simple larceny at Common Law, or plain theft. To constitute the offence there must be an unlawful taking, which implies that the goods must pass from the possession of a true owner (including one who has a qualified property only in the goods, as a bailee), and without his consent; where there is, then, no change of possession, or a change of it by consent, or a change from the possession of a person without title to that of the true owner, there cannot be a larceny. As to the difference between property parted with by the owner of his own free will, however fradulently influenced, in other words, between property 'entrusted' and 'possession by a trick,' see Oppenheimer v. Frazer, (1907) 2 KB 50, and Lake v. S...
Unnatural offence
Unnatural offence, the infamous crime against nature, either with man or beast, punishable by the Offences against the Person Act, 1861, by penal servitude for life or any term not less than ten years, but this minimum punishment was abolished by the Penal Servitude Act, 1891.Unnatural offences, whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.Explanation.-Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section. (Penal Code, 1860, s. 377)...
Rape
Rape, extends also to the forcible sexual intercourse by a woman with a man, as well as the offence of rape as defined in the Indian Penal Code speaks only of forcible sexual intercourse by a man with a woman, Anil Kumar Mahsi v. Union of India, (1994) 5 SCC 704.Rape, is the carnal knowledge of any woman, above the age of particular years, against her will; or of a woman child, under that age, with or against her will' (Hale PC 628).Rape, or 'raptus' is when a man hath carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will (Co-Litt. 123-b).The offence of rape in its simplest term is 'the ravishment of a woman, without her consent, by force, fear or fraud', or as 'the carnal knowledge of a woman by force against her will'. 'Rape' or 'raptus' is when a man hath carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will (Co. Litt. 123-b); or as expressed more fully, 'rape is the carnal knowledge of any woman, above the age of particular years, against her will; or of a woman child, unde...
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...
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