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Corpus Delicti
(Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proven to have occurred before a person could be convicted of having committed that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen. Likewise in order for a person to be tried for arson, it must be proven that a criminal act resulted in the burning of a property. '' Black's Law Dictionary'' (6th ed.) defines "''corpus delicti'' as: "the fact of a crime having been actually committed". In common law systems, the concept has its outgrowth in several principles. Many jurisdictions hold as a legal rule that a defendant's out-of-court confession alone, is insufficient evidence to prove the defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. A corollary to this rule is that an accused cannot be convicted solely upon the testimony of an accomplice. Some jurisdictions also hold that without first showing independent corroboration th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Law
Western law comprises the legal traditions of Western culture, with roots in Roman law and canon law. As Western culture shares a Graeco-Roman Classical and Renaissance cultural influence, so do its legal systems. History The rediscovery of the Justinian Code in the early 10th century rekindled a passion for the discipline of law, initially shared across many of the re-forming boundaries between East and West. Eventually, it was only in the Catholic or Frankish west that Roman law became the foundation of all legal concepts and systems. Its influence can be traced to this day in all Western legal systems, although differing in kind and degree between the common (Anglo-American) and the civil (continental European) legal traditions. The study of canon law, the legal system of the Catholic Church, fused with that of Roman law to form the basis for the refounding of Western legal scholarship. It was the first modern Western legal system and is the oldest continuously functi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt
Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of the evidence) commonly used in civil cases, reflecting the principle that in criminal cases the stakes are significantly higher: a person found guilty can be deprived of liberty or, in extreme cases, life itself, in addition to the collateral consequences and social stigma attached to conviction. The prosecution bears the burden of presenting compelling evidence that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; if the trier of fact is not convinced to that standard, the accused is entitled to an acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes the punishment and Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of people who violate such laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from Civil law (common law), civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation. Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the Criminal, offender. History The first Civilization, civilizations generally did not distinguish between Civil law (area), civil law and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder Conviction Without A Body
It is possible to convict someone of murder without the purported victim's body in evidence. However, cases of this type have historically been hard to prove, often forcing the prosecution to rely on circumstantial evidence, and in England there was for centuries a mistaken view that in the absence of a body a killer could not be tried for murder. Developments in forensic science in recent decades have made it more likely that a murder conviction can be obtained even if a body has not been found. In some such cases, the resurfacing of the victim in a live state has ensured the re-trial and acquittal, or pardon, of the alleged culprit, including posthumously, such as the case of the Campden Wonder or the case of William Jackson Marion. History For centuries in England there was a mistaken view that without a body there could be no trial for murder, a misconception that arose following the The Campden Wonder, Campden Wonder case of 1660. A local man had vanished, and after an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Element (criminal Law)
In most common law jurisdictions, an element of a crime is one of a set of facts that must all be proven to convict a defendant of a crime. Before a court finds a defendant Verdict, guilty of a criminal offense, the prosecution must present evidence that, even when opposed by any evidence the defense may choose, is credible and sufficient to prove Legal burden of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed each element of the particular crime charged. The component parts that make up any particular crime vary now depending on the crime. The basic components of an offense are listed below; generally, each element of an offense falls into one or another of these categories. At common law, conduct could not be considered criminal unless a defendant possessed some level of intentioneither purpose, knowledge, or recklessnesswith regard to both the nature of his alleged conduct and the existence of the factual circumstances under which the law considered that conduct c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corroboration In Scots Law
The importance of corroboration is unique to Scots criminal law. A long-standing feature of Scots law, the requirement for corroborating evidence means at least two independent sources of evidence are required in support of each crucial fact before an accused can be convicted of a crime. This means, for example, that an admission of guilt by the accused is insufficient evidence to convict in Scotland, because that evidence needs to be corroborated by another source. History Corroboration had, in some way, already been established by the time the earliest Institutional Writers had begun to illustrate Scots criminal law. MacKenzie described the 'singularity' of witnesses, and their 'contrariety', as insufficient proof – subsequently repeated by Hume, '...no one shall in any case be convicted on the testimony of a single witness'. A similar statement appears in Alison. Corroboration also has origins in Roman law (). The Code of Justinian The Code of Justinian (, or ) is on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sovereign Citizen Movement
The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose group of anti-government activists, conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorists, vexatious litigants, tax protesters and financial scammers found mainly in English-speaking common law countries—the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Sovereign citizens have their own Pseudolaw, pseudolegal belief system based on misinterpretations of common law, and claim not to be subject to any government statutes unless they consent to them. The movement appeared in the U.S. in the early 1970s and has since expanded to other countries; the similar freeman on the land movement emerged during the 2000s in Canada before spreading to other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI has called sovereign citizens "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Hale (jurist)
Sir Matthew Hale (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise ''Historia Placitorum Coronæ'', or ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. Born to a barrister and his wife, who had both died by the time he was 5, Hale was raised by his father's relative, a strict Puritan, and inherited his faith. In 1626 he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford (now Hertford College), intending to become a priest, but after a series of distractions was persuaded to become a barrister like his father, thanks to an encounter with a Serjeant-at-Law in a dispute over his estate. On 8 November 1628, he joined Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar on 17 May 1636. As a barrister, Hale represented a variety of Royalist figures during the prelude and duration of the English Civil War, including Thomas Wentworth and William Laud; it has been hypothesised that Hale was to represent Charles I at his state trial, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John George Haigh
John George Haigh ( ; 24 July 1909 – 10 August 1949), commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his victims and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid before forging their signatures so he could sell their possessions and collect large sums of money. His actions were the subject of the television film ''A Is for Acid''. Early life John Haigh was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and raised in the village of Outwood, West Yorkshire, Outwood, West Riding of Yorkshire. His parents were engineer John Robert Haigh and his wife Emily (née Hudson), members of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative Protestantism, Protestant sect. They had married late in life and Haigh was their only child. Haigh later claimed that he suffered from recurring religious nightmares in his childhood. He developed great proficiency at the piano, which he lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exsanguination
Exsanguination is the loss of blood from the circulatory system of a vertebrate, usually leading to death. The word comes from the Latin 'sanguis', meaning blood, and the prefix 'ex-', meaning 'out of'. Exsanguination has long been used as a method of animal slaughter. Humane slaughter must ensure the animal is rendered insensible to pain, whether through a captive bolt or other process, prior to the bloodletting. Depending upon the health of the individual, a person usually dies from losing half to two-thirds of their blood; a loss of roughly one-third of the blood volume is Critical condition, considered very serious. Even a single deep cut can warrant Surgical suture, suturing and Inpatient care, hospitalization, especially if Trauma (medicine), trauma, a vein or artery, or another comorbidity is involved. In the past, bloodletting was a common medical procedure or therapy, now rarely used in medicine. Slaughtering of animals Exsanguination is used as a Animal slaughter, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidental, Reckless homicide, reckless, or Negligent homicide, negligent acts even if there is no Intent (law), intent to cause harm. It is separate from suicide. Homicides can be divided into many overlapping legal categories, such as murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, assassination, killing in war (either following the laws of war or as a war crime), euthanasia, and capital punishment, depending on the circumstances of the death. These different types of homicides are often treated very differently in human Society, societies; some are considered crimes, while others are permitted or even Court order, ordered by the Law, legal system. Criminality Criminal homicide takes many forms, including accidental killing and murder. Criminal ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law (also statutory law), where in many cases it remains in force. The crime of larceny has been abolished in England, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, broken up into the specific crimes of burglary, robbery, fraud, theft, and related crimes. However, larceny remains an offence in parts of the United States, Jersey, and in New South Wales, Australia, involving the taking (caption) and carrying away (asportation) of personal property without the owner's consent and without intending to return it. Etymology The word "larceny" is a late Middle English word, from the French word ''larcin'', "theft". Its probable Latin root is ''latrocinium'', a derivative of ''latro'', "robber" (originally mercenary). By nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
