Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Death
The ending of life; the cessation of all vital functions and signs. - Also termed decease; demise.
Death on the High Seas Act
A federal law, enacted in 1920, permitting a wrongful-death action to be filed in U.S. district court for a death occurring on the high seas (i.e., seas beyond any state or territory's waters). 46 USCA app. §§ 761-767 - Abbr. DOHSA.
Deathsman
An executioner; a hangman.
accidental-death benefit
An insurance-policy provision that allows for a payment (often double the face amount of the policy) if the insured dies as a result of some mishap or sudden external force. - Abbr. ADB.
brain death
The bodily condition of showing no response to external stimuli, no spontaneous movements, no breathing, no reflexes, and a flat reading (usu. for a full day) on a machine that measures the brain's electrical activity. - Also termed legal death.
civil death
See CIVIL DEATH.
compensable death
Workers' compensation. A death that, because it occurred in the course of employment, entitles the employee's heirs to compensation.
contemplation of death
The thought of dying, not necessarily from an imminent danger, but as the compelling reason to transfer property to another. See gift causa mortis under GIFT.
death action
See WRONGFUL . DEATH ACTION.
death benefits
An amount paid to a henefici<try on the death of an insured.
death by misadventure
See :uVIDFNTAI. KILLING.
death case
1. A criminal case in which the death penalty may be or h;ts been imposed. 2. WRONGFUL-DEATH ACTION
death certificate
An official document issued by a public registry verifying that a person ha. died, with information such as the date ani time of death, the cause of death, and tht signature of the attending or examining physician.
death penalty
1 State-imposed death as punishment for a serious crime. - Also termed capital punishment. 2. A penalty that makes a person or entity ineligible to participate in an activity that the person or entity previously participated in. ( The penalty is usu. imposed because of some type of gross misconduct.
death penalty sanction. Civil procedure.
A court's order dismissing the suit or entering a default judgment in favor of the plaintiff because of extreme discovery abuses by a party or because of a party's action or inaction that shows an unwillingness to participate in the case. ( Such a sanction is rarely ordered, and is usu. preceded by orders of lesser sanctions that have not been complied with or that have not remedied the problem.
death row
The area of a prison where those who have been sentenced to death are confined.
death sentence
See SENTENCE.
death statute
A law that protects the interests of a decedent's family and other dependents, who may recover in damages what they would reasonably have received from the decedent if the death had not occurred. Cf. SURVIVAL STATUTE.
death tax
An estate tax or inheritance tax.
death trap
1. A structure or situation involving an imminent risk of death. 2. A situation that is seemingly safe but actually quite dangerous.
death warrant
A warrant authorizing a warden or other prison official to carry out a death sentence. ( A death warrant typically sets the time and place for a prisoner's execution.
death's part
See DEAD MAN'S PART.
death, contemplation of
See CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH.
death-knell doctrine
A rule allowing an interlocutory appeal if precluding an appeal until final judgment would moot the issue on appeal and irreparably injure the appellant's rights. Once recognized as an exception to the finaljudgment rule, the doctrine was limited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Coopers & Lybrand u. Liuesay, 437 U.S. 463, 98 S.Ct. 2454 (1978). There, the Court held that the death-knell doctrine does not permit an immediate appeal of an order denying class certification. But the doctrine still applies in some contexts. For example, the doctrine allows an immediate appeal of the denial of a temporary restraining order when the lack of an appeal would leave nothing to be considered in the trial court. Woratzeck v. Arizona Bd. of Executive Clemency, 117 F.3d 400 (9th Cir. 1997). - Also termed death-knell exception. See FINAL-JUDGMENT RULE.
death-penalty sanction
See SANCTION.
death-qualified jury
Criminal law. A jury that is fit to decide a case involving the death penalty because the jurors have no absolute ideological bias against capital punishment. Cf. life-qualified jury.
deathbed declaration
See dying declaration under DECLARATION t8).
declaration of a desire for a natural death
See LIVING WILL.
gift in contemplation of death
See gift causa mortis under GIFT. gift inter vivos. See inter vivos gift under GIFT. gift in trust. See GIFT, gift over. See GIFT, gift splitting. See split gift under GIFT gift-splitting election. See split gift under GIFT.
immediate death
1 See instantaneous death. 2. A death occurring within a short time after an injury or seizure, but not instantaneously. "A distinction has been made between 'instantaneous' and 'immediate' death As an example of 'immediate' rather than 'instantaneous' death the situation in which a blow on the head produces unconsciousness and renders the victim incapable of intelligent thought, speech, or action for several minutes until he dies." 22A Am. Jur. 2d Death § 43, at 159 (1988).
in contemplation of death
See CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH.
inquisition after death.
See INQUEST (1).
instantaneous death
Death occurring in an instant or within an extremely short time after an injury or seizure. ( It is a factor in determining an award of damages for the victim's pain and suffering. - Sometimes also termed immediate dearth. "Although the possibility of a death that is truly simultaneous with the injury that caused it has been pointed out that death may be so contemporaneous with the fatal injury as to be instantaneous in the sense that there could be no recovery for the victim's pain and suffering. Ordinarily, death is not regarded a, instantaneous if an appreciable length of time elapsed between the injury and the death. Indeed, even where the injury causing the death is necessarily fatal and death results therefrom in a few moments, it has been held that although it would commonly be called an instantaneous death, still if the injured person survive.; the injury for a brief period, it may not be said that the death is instantaneous . . . . In such case it is immaterial that the period of time between the injury and death is short." 22A Am. Jur. 2d Death § 43, at 158 (1988)
legal death
See brain death.
natural death
1. Bodily death, as opposed to civil death. 2. Death from causes other than accident or violence; death from natural causes. - Also termed mors naturalis. Cf. violent death. See NATURAL-DEATH ACT.
natural-death act
A statute that allows a person to issue a written directive instructing a physician to withhold life-sustaining procedures if the person should become terminally ill.
presumption of death
A presumption that arises on the unexpected disappearance and continued absence of a person for an extended period, commonly seven years. presumption of fact See PRESUMPTION.
presumptive death
Death inferred from proof of the person's long, unexplained absence, usu. after seven years.
simultaneous death
The death of two or more persons in the same mishap, under circumstances that make it impossible to determine who died first. See SIMULTANEOUS-DEATH ACT; COMMORIENTES.
simultaneous-death act
A statute providing that when two persons die under circumstances making it impossible to determine the order of their deaths (as in a common disaster), each person is presumed to have survived the other for purposes of distributing their respective estates. ( Many states' simultaneous-death acts have been amended to require that a person survive the decedent by at least 120 hours to qualify as an heir or beneficiary. See COMMORIENTES.
simultaneous-death clause
A clause in a will providing for the disposition of property in the event of a simultaneous death. See simultaneous death under DEATH.
suggestion of death
A pleading filed by a party, or the party's representatives, by which the court is notified that a party to a suit has died.
transfer in contemplation of death
See gift causa mortis under GIFT.
violent death
See DEATH.
wrongful-death action
A lawsuit brought on behalf of a decedent's survivors for their damages resulting from a tortious injury that caused the decedent's death. - Also termed death action; death case. Cf. SURVIVAL ACTION.
wrongful-death statute
A statute authorizing a decedent's personal representative to bring a wrongful-death action for the benefit of certain beneficiaries