Treason - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: treason Page: 2Sedition
Sedition, an offence against the Crown and govern-ment, not capital, and not amounting to treason. It cannot be tried at Quarter Sessions. See the (English) Unlawful Assemblies Act, 1799 (39 Geo. 3, c. 79); the (English) Seditious Meetings Act, 1817 (57 Geo. 3, c. 19), jointly called the '(English) Corresponding Societies Acts,' and much resembl-ing one another. Registered friendly societies are exempted by s. 32 of the (English) Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 25), if transact-ing no business not relating to the objects of the societies; and the (English) Criminal Libel Act, 1819 (60 Geo. 3 & 1 Geo. 4, c. 8). By the (English) Act of 1817, s. 23, which has no parallel in the Act of 1799, political meetings of more than fifty persons within one mile of Westminster Hall, except for parliamentary election purposes, are declared unlawful on any day on which Parliament is sitting. By s. 25 of the Act of 1817, and s. 2 of the Act of 1799, every society or club, the members of...
attainder
attainder [Anglo-French atteinder, from ateindre to convict, sentence, literally, to reach, attain, ultimately from Latin attingere to reach, from ad to + tangere to touch] : the termination of the civil rights of a person upon a sentence of death or outlawry for treason or a felony see also bill of attainder at bill, corruption of blood NOTE: In English law up to the nineteenth century, attainder was the harsh consequence of conviction for treason or a felony. It resulted in the forfeiture of the convicted person's property. It also involved corruption of blood, which barred the person from inheriting, retaining, or passing title, rank, or property. A person outlawed lost the right to seek protection under the law. Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits corruption of blood or forfeiture upon a conviction for treason “except during the life of the person attainted,” and Article I, Section 9 prohibits bills of attainder. Attainder was abolished in Engl...
Husband and wife
Husband and wife. the Common Law treated them, for most purposes, as one person, giving, with exceptions comparatively unimportant, the whole of a woman's property to her husband for his absolute use, and a husband could not make a grant to his wife at the Common Law, though he might do so: (1) under the Statute of Uses, by granting an estate to another person for her use; (2) by creating a trust in her favour; (3) by the custom of particular places; (4) by surrendering copyholds to her use; and (5) by will.Equity, however, from very early times, by the doctrines of 'separate use,' 'trusts,' and 'equity to a settlement,' very largely modified the Common Law in favour of the wife; and the statute law has, by s. 1 of the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors Act), 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5, c. 30), almost completely abolished the property distinction between an unmarried and a married woman. See MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY.At Common Law, a gift of either realty or personal-ity to a husband a...
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...
Traitor
Traitor [fr. traditor, Lat.], one who, being trusted, betrays; one guilty of treason. See TREASON....
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...
Prerogative of mercy
Prerogative of mercy. In early times the operation of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy was far wider than at the present day, as it was not only extended to some persons who in later ages would not be considered to have incurred any criminal respon-sibility, e.g., persons who had committed homicide by misadventure or in self-defence (Pollock and Maitland's Hist. Engl. Law, vol. ii., pp. 476 et seq.), but was even extended to jurors who had been attained for an oath that, though not false, was fatuous: ibid. p. 661. The power of pardoning offences is stated by Blackstone to be one of the great advantages of monarchy in general above every other form of government, and which cannot subsist in democracies. Its utility and necessity are defended by him on all those principles which do honour to human nature: see 4 Bl. Com. c. 31, p. 397. In early times, again, there were fewer offences that did not admit of being pardoned. In appeals (i.e., private accusations of felony) which were not the s...
Majestas
Majestas is defined by Ulpian (Dig. 48, tit. 4, s. 1) to be 'crimen illud quod adversus populum Romanum vel adversus securitatem ejus committitur.' He then gives various instances of the crime of majestas, some of which pretty nearly correspond to treason in English law; but all the offences included under majestas comprehend more than our term treason. One of the offences included in majestas was the effecting, aiding in, or planning the death of a magistratus popli Romani, or of one who had imperium or potestas. Though the phrase 'crimen majestatis' was used, the complete expression was crimen l's' majestatis.Majestas, The majesty, sovereign authority, or supreme prerogative of the State or sovereign; supreme power of the people, especially as represented by their highest representative, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 966....
Jury
Jury [fr. jurata, Lat.; jure, Fr.], a number of persons sworn to deliver a verdict upon evidence delivered to them touching the issue.Trial by jury may be traced to the earliest Anglo-Saxon times. One of the judicial customs of the Saxons was that a man might be cleared of an accusation of certain crimes, if an appointed number of persons (juratores, or more properly compurgatores) came forward and swore to a veredictum, that they believed him innocent. It is remarkable that for accusations of any consequence among the Saxons on the continent, twelve juratores was the number required for an acquittal. Similar customs may be observed in the laws of Athens and Rome, where dikaotai and judices answer to jurors, an of the continental Angli and Frisiones, though the number of jurors varied.See, as to the introduction and growth of trial by jury in England, Forsyth's History of Trial by Jury; and for comments on and proposed amendments of the law, see Erle's Jury Laws and their Amendment, pu...
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...
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