Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

claim of right

Hist. A criminal plea, usu. to a theft charge, by a defendant asserting that the property was taken under the honest (but mistaken) belief that the defendant had a superior right to the property. 0 The claim of right could ' to be raised in defense against bigamy if a fendant honestly believed that an earlier marriage had been legally dissolved. It has been superseded by a defense of honesty.