Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Chance
n. 1. A hazard or risk. 2. The unforeseen, uncontrollable, or unintended consequences of an act. 3. An accident.
Chancellor
Lord. See LORD CHANCELLOR.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In England, a government minister who controls revenue and expenditures. ( Formerly, the Chancellor sat in the Court of Exchequer.
Chancery Court of York
Eccles. law. The ecclesiastical court of the province of York, responsible for appeals from provincial diocesan courts. Cf. COURT OF ARCHES.
Clerk of the Crown in Chancery
The head of the permanent staff of the Crown Office in Chancery (of the Central Office), responsible for reading the title of Bills in the House of Lords, sending out writs of summons to peers, and issuing election writs.
Court of Appeal in Chancery
Hist. An English court of intermediate appeal in equity cases, established in 1851 and abolished in 1873-1875, when its jurisdiction was transferred to the Court of Appeal.
Inn of Chancery
Hist. Any of nine collegiate houses where students studied either to gain entry into an Inn of Court or to learn how to frame writs in order to serve in the chancery courts. 9 Over time, the Inns - Clement's, Clifford's, Lyon's, Furnival's, Thavies', Symond's, Barnard's, Staples', and the New Inn - became little more than dining clubs, and never exercised control over their members as the Inns of Court did. The Inns of Chancery were all dissolved in the 19th century. Cf. INN OF COURT.
Lord Chancellor
The highest judicial officer in England. ( The Lord Chancellor sits as speaker of the House of Lords, is a member of the Cabinet, and presides at appellate judicial proceedings. - Also termed Lord High Chancellor; Keeper of the King's Conscience.
Lord High Chancellor
See LORD CHANCELLOR.
Master in Chancery
A senior official or clerk of a court of chancery who assists the Chancellor in various duties such as inquiring into matters referred by the court, examining cases, taking oaths and affidavits, hearing testimony, and computing damages. 0 There were many Masters in Chancery at the same time. The office was abolished in 1897 and was replaced by the office of Master of the Supreme Court. - Also termed master of the chancery. See MASTER OF THE SUPREME COURT.
certificate into chancery
English law. The decision of a common-law court on a legal question submitted by the chancery court.
chance verdict
See VERDICT.
chance verdict.
A now-illegal verdict, arrived at by hazard or lot. - Also termed gambling verdict; verdict by lot.
chance-medley
[fr. Anglo-Norman chance medlee "chance scuffle"] A spontaneous fight during which one participant kills another participant in self-defense. - Also termed chaudmedley; casual affray. Cf. MEDLEY."But the self-defence, which we are now speaking of, is that whereby a man may protect himself from an assault, or the like, in the course of a sudden brawl or quarrel, by killing him who assaults him. And this is what the law expresses by the word chance-medley, or (as some rather choose to write it) chaud-medley; the former of which in its etymology signifies a casual affray, the latter an affray in the heat of blood or passion: both of them of pretty much the same import; but the former is in common speech too often erroneously applied to any manner of homicide by misadventure; whereas it appears . . . that it is properly applied to such killing, as happens in self-defence upon a sudden rencounter." 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 184 (1769).
chance-of-survival doctrine
The principle that a wrongful-death plaintiff need only prove that the defendant's conduct was a substantial factor in causing the death - that is, that the victim might have survived but for the defendant's conduct.
chancellor of the diocese.
Eccles. law. The sole judge of the consistory court of a diocese.
chancellor's foot
A symbol of the variability of equitable justice. ( John Selden, the 17th-century jurist, is thought to have coined the phrase in this passage, from his best-known book: "Equity is a roguish thing. For law we have a measure, know what to trust to: equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. 'Tis all one as if they should make the standard for the measure the Chancellor's foot. What an uncertain measure would this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot;'tis the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience." Table Talk (1689).
chancer
ub. To adjust according to equitable principles, as a court of chancery would. ( The practice arose in parts of New England when the courts had no equity jurisdiction, and were compelled to act on equitable principles. "The practice of 'chancering' is a very old one. A forfeiture could be 'chancered' under a law of 1699 . . . . Adjudged cases in 1630-1692 may be found in the Records of the Court of Assistants of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The early laws of Massachusetts provided for 'chancering' the forfeiture of any penal bond .... In Rhode Island an act of 1746 provided for 'chancerizing' the forfeiture 'where any penalty is forfeited, or conditional estate recovered, or equity of redemption sued for, whether judgment is confessed or otherwise obtained.' " 1 John Bouvier, Bouvier's Law Dictionary 456-57 (8th ed. 1914).
chancery
1. A court of equity; collectively, the courts of equity. - Also termed court of chancery; chancery court."Chancery's jurisdiction was complementary to that of the courts of common law - it sought to do justice in cases for which there was no adequate remedy at common law. It had originated in the petition, not the writ, of the party who felt aggrieved to the
chancery guardian
A guardian appointed by a court of chancery to manage both the person and the estate of the ward.
clear chance
See LAST-CLEAR-CHANCE DOCTRINE,
court of chancery
See CHANCERY (1),
game of chance
A game whose outcome is determined by luck rather than skill. Cf. GAMBLING DEVICE.
last-clear-chance doctrine
Torts. The rule that a plaintiff who was contributorily negligent may nonetheless recover from the defendant if the defendant had the last opportunity to prevent the harm but failed to use reasonable care to do so (in other words, if the defendant's negligence is later in time than the plaintiff's). ( This doctrine allows the plaintiff to rebut the contributory-negligence defense in the few jurisdictions where contributory negligence completely bars recovery. - Also termed discovered peril doctrine; humanitarian doctrine; last-opportunity doctrine; subsequent-negligence doctrine; supervening-negligence doctrine.
levance and couchance
Hist. The state or condition of being levant and couchant. See LEVANT AND COUCHANT.
loss-of-chance doctrine
A rule in some states providing a claim against a doctor who has engaged in medical malpractice that, although it does not result in a particular injury, decreases or eliminates the chance of surviving or recovering from the preexisting condition for which the doctor was consulted. - Also termed lost-chance doctrine; increased-risk-of-harm doctrine.
lost-chance doctrine
1 LOSS-OF-CHANCE DOCTRINE. 2. A rule permitting a claim, in limited circumstances, against someone who fails to come to the aid of a person who is in imminent danger of being injured or killed. Cf. GOOD SAMARITAN DOCTRINE.
master of the chancery
See MASTER IN CHAN. CERY.
sworn clerks in chancery
Hist. Certain officers in the Court of Chancery who assist the six principal clerks by performing clerical tasks, including keeping records and making copies of pleadings. ( The offices were abolished in 1842 by the Court of Chancery Act. St. 5 & 6 Viet., ch. 103. - Also termed sixty clerks.
vice-chancellor
A judge appointed to act for the chancellor, esp. in a chancery court. -Abbr. VC.
ward-in-chancery
Hist. An infant under the superintendence of the chancellor.