Dictionary Search: "Confess" - Pakistan Law Portal

Confess

vb. To admit (an allegation) as true; to make a confession. - confessor, n. confessed judgment See CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT.

Confessio facta in judicio amni probatione major est

A confession made in court is of greater effect than any proof.

Confession

n. A criminal suspect's acknowledgment of guilt, usu, in writing and often including details about the crime. Cf. ADMISSION; STATEMENT."A confession is an acknowledgment in express words, by the accused in a criminal case, of the truth of the main fact charged or of some essential part of it." 3 John H. Wigmore, Evidence in Trials at Common Lam § 821, at 308 (James H. Chadbourn ed., 4th rev. ed. 1970)."The distinction between admissions in criminal cases and confessions by the accused is the distinction in effect between admissions of fact from which the guilt of the accused may be inferred by the jury and the express admission of guilt itself." William P. Richardson, The Law of Evidence § 394, at 268 (3d ed. 1928).

Confessus in judicio pro judicato habetur et quodammodo sua sententia damnatur

A person who has confessed his guilt when arraigned is considered to have been tried and is, as it were, condemned by his own sentence.

Westminster Confession

A document containing a statement of religious doctrine, originating at a conference of British and continental Protestant divines at Westminster in 1643, and becoming the basis of the Scottish Presbyterian Church.

actio confessoria

[Latin "action based on an admission"] Roman law. 1. See vindicatio servitutis under VINDICATIO. 2. An action in which the defendant admits liability but does not express it in a fixed sum. 0 A judge therefore assesses the damages.

bill taken pro confesso

[Latin "as if admitted"] Hist. An order issued by a court of equity when a defendant fails to file an answer.

coerced confession

A confession that is obtained by threats or force.

confessing error

A plea admitting to an assignment of error. See ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR.

confession and avoidance

A plea in which a defendant admits allegations but pleads additional facts that deprive the admitted facts of an adverse legal effect. * For example, a plea of contributory negligence (before the advent of comparative negligence) was a confession and avoidance. - Also termed avoidance; plea in confession and avoidance; plea of confession and avoidance.

confession of judgment

1. A person's agreeing to the entry of judgment upon the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event, such as making a payment. 2. A judgment taken against a debtor by the creditor, based on the debtor's written consent. 3. The paper on which the person so agrees, before it is entered. - Also termed confessed judgment; cog-nouit judgment; statement of confession. See COGNOVIT. Cf. WARRANT OF ATTORNEY.

confession of judgment.

See CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT.

decree pro confesso

Equity practice. A decree entered in favor of the plaintiff as a result of the defendant's failure to timely respond to the allegations in the plaintiff's bill. "A decree pro confesso in equity is similar to a default judgment in an action at law. If a defendant in an equity suit fails to answer the plaintiffs petition within the prescribed time period, the bill will be taken pro confessors, and a decree entered in favor of the plaintiff However, whereas a default judgment in an action at law effects an admission of pleaded facts and conclusions of law ... a decree pro confesso in an equity action admits only the material and well pleaded facts in the petition and does not admit the legal claims upon which the plaintiff seeks relief." 27A Am. Jur. 2d Equity § 249, at 733-34 (1996).

direct confession

A statement in which an accused person acknowledges having committed the crime.

extrajudicial confession

See CONFESSION.

extrqjudicial confession

A confession made out of court, and not as a part of a judicial examination or investigation. ( Such a confession must be corroborated by some other proof of the corpus delicti, or else it is insufficient to warrant a conviction. Cf. judicial confession.

implied confession

A confession in which the person does not plead guilty but invokes the mercy of the court and asks for a light sentence.

indirect confession

A confession that is inferred from the defendant's conduct.

indirect confession.

See CONFESSION

interlocking confessions

See CONFESSION

involuntary confession

A confession induced by the police or other law-enforcement authorities who make promises to, coerce, or deceive the suspect.

judicial confession

A plea of guilty or some other direct manifestation of guilt in court or in a judicial proceeding. Cf extrajudicial confession.

leges Edwardi Confessoris

n. [Latin "Laws of Edward the Confessor"] Hist. A legal treatise written between 1130 and 1135, of dubious authority, compiling English law as it stood at the end of the reign of HenryI. "[Me have a book [leges Edwardi Confessoris] written in Latin which expressly purports to give us the law of Edward as it was stated to the Conqueror in the fourth year of his reign by juries representing the various parts of England It is a private work of a bad and untrustworthy kind. It has about it something of the political pamphlet and is adorned with pious legends. The author, perhaps a secular clerk of French parentage, writes in the interest of the churches, and, it is to be feared, tells lies for them." 1 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward 1103 (2d ed. 1898).

naked confession