Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Neutralization

1. The act of making something ineffective. 2. The process by which a country's integrity has been permanently guaranteed by international treaty, conditionally on its maintaining a perpetual neutrality except in its own defense. ( Switzerland is the only remaining example, having been neutralized by the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 - a provision reaffirmed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. 3. The act of declaring certain persons or property neutral and safe from capture. See NEUTRAL PROPERTY. 4. Evidence. The cancellation of unexpected harmful testimony from a witness by showing, usu. by cross-examination, that the witness has made conflicting statements. ( For example, a prosecutor may attempt to neutralize testimony of a state witness who offers unexpected adverse testimony. See IMPEACHMENT.