Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Assize of northampton
Hist. A decree issued in 1176 by henry ii as an expansion and reissue of the assize of clarendon, instructing judges esp. On questions of tenure, relief, and dower.3. The procedure provided for by such an enactment. 4. The court that hears cases involving that procedure. 5. A jury.
Benthamism.
See hedonistic utilitarianism under UTILITARIANISM.
Benthamite,
adj. Of or relating to the utilitarian theory of Jeremy Bentham. See hedonistic utilitarianism under UTILITARIANISM.
Chamber
n. 1. A room or compartment <gas chamber>. 2. A legislative or judicial body; the hall or room where such a body conducts business <the senate chamber>. - chamber, adj.
Chamber, ub.
to sit in one's chambers at a given location <Judge Kaye chambers sometimes in New York and sometimes in Albany .
Champertor
n. A person who engages in champerty; one who supports and promotes another person's lawsuit for pecuniary gain.
Code of Hammurabi
The oldest known written legal code, produced in Mesopotamia during the rule of Hammurabi (who reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C.). ( The code consisted of nearly 300 provisions, arranged under headings such as family, trade, real property, personal property, and labor.
Court of Exchequer Chamber
Hist. 1. An informal assembly of common-law judges who (sometimes with the Lord Chancellor) gathered to discuss important cases that have adjourned pending an opinion from the Court. 0 This body never became a court of law in a technical sense, but judges gave great weight to its decisions. The last reported decision of this body is from 1738. "Earlier than these two statutory courts was the practice, which apparently originated about the time of Edward I, of informal meetings of the judges in the Exchequer Chamber to decide matters connected with litigation .... The purpose of the meeting was to bring before the judges a point of law which caused difficulty and which had arisen in a case being heard before one or other of the courts. Any resolution passed did not constitute a judgment; it was left to the court concerned to make the appropriate decree, and the official record made no reference to the informal decision .... Civil cases were debated in the Exchequer Chamber as late as the seventeenth century, and criminal cases continued to be 'reserved' for full discussion by all the common law judges until the nineteenth century." A.KR. Kiralfy, Potter's Outlines of English Legal History 202-04 (5th ed. 1958). 2. A court created by statute in 1357 to hear appeals from the Court of Exchequer. 3. A court created by statute in 1585 to hear appeals from the King's Bench. 0 This court consisted of all the justices of the Common Pleas and the Barons of Exchequer who were serjeants. At least six judges were necessary to render a judgment. "Parliament was only occasionally summoned in the sixteenth century; and as Parliament was the only court which could amend errors of the King's Bench, the want of a court which could hold regular sessions was much felt. To supply this want a new court of Exchequer Chamber was created in 1585 for the purpose of amend- ing the errors of the King's Bench." 1 William Holdsworth, A History o/ English Law 244 (7th ed. 1956). 4. A court charged with hearing appeals from the common-law courts of record. 0 This court was created in 1830 by combining the courts created by the statutes of 1357 and 1585. Appeals from one common-law court were heard by judges from the other two courts. "This complicated system of appellate courts was abolished in 1830, when a new Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up as the court of error from each of the three common law courts. It was composed of the judges of the two common law courts other than those of the court appealed from. At the same time the right of the King's Bench to hear error from the Common Pleas was abolished. From the judgment of this new court a further appeal still lay to the House of Lords. This court was thus, until the Judicature Act, 1873, a court of intermediate appeals. Its jurisdiction after the Judicature Act passed to the Court of Appeal which was then created." W.J.V. Windeyer, Lectures on Legal History 144 (2d ed. 1949).
Court of Star Chamber
See STAR CHAMBER (1).
Durham
One of the three remaining county palatines in England; the others being Chester and Lancaster. ( Its jurisdiction was vested in the Bishop of Durham until the statute 6 & 7 Will. 4, ch. 19 vested it as a separate franchise and royalty in the Crown. The jurisdiction of the Durham Court of Pleas was transferred to the Supreme Court of Judicature by the Judicature Act of 1873, but Durham continued to maintain a Chancery Court according to the Palatine Court of Durham Act of 1889. See COUNTY PALATINE.
Durham rule
Criminal lain. A test for the insanity defense, holding that a defendant is not criminally responsible for an act that was the product of mental disease or defect (Durham u. United States, 214 F.2d 862 (D.C. Cir. 1954)). 0 Formerly used in New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, the Durham rule has been criticized as being too broad and is no longer accepted in any American jurisdiction. - Also termed product test. See INSANITY DEFENSE.
Exchequer Chamber
An English court of intermediate appeal from the common-law courts, namely, the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer. ( It was established in 1822.
Gresham's law.
The principle that inferior products or practices tend to displace superior ones. ( This economic principle is popularly attributed to Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), even though earlier writers such as Oresme and Copernicus discussed it earlier.
Hamleta
See HAMLET.
Hammer
n. Slang. A forced sale; a sale at public auction <her jewelry was brought to the hammer. See forced sale under SALE.
Hammurabi, Code of.
See CODE OF HAMMURABI.
King's Chambers
In the United Kingdom, waters lying within an imaginary line drawn from headland to headland around the coast of Great Britain.
Lanham Act
A federal trademark statute, enacted in 1946, that provides for a national system of trademark registration and protects the owner of a federally registered mark against the use of similar marks if any confusion might result. ( The Lanham Act's scope is independent of and concurrent with state common law. 15 USCA ยงยง 1051 et seq.
Lord Chamberlain
The second officer of the royal household in ngland, who serves as a peer, a privy councilor, and a member of the ruling government. - Also termed lord chamberlain of the household.
Sham
n. 1. Something that is not what it seems; a counterfeit. 2. A person .who pretends to be something that he or she is not; a faker. -sham, vb. - sham, adj.
Star Chamber
1 Hist. An English court having broad civil and criminal jurisdiction at the king's discretion and noted for its secretive, arbitrary, and oppressive procedures, including compulsory self-incrimination, inquisitorial investigation, and the absence of juries. 0 The Star Chamber was abolished in 1641 because of its abuses of power. - Also termed Court of Star Chamber. 2. (usu. l.c.) Any secretive, arbitrary, or oppressive tribunal or proceeding.
chamber business.
A judge's official business that is conducted outside the courtroom.
chamber of accounts. French law
A court responsible for adjudicating disputes concerning public-revenue collection. Cf. COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
chamber of commerce
An association of merchants and other business leaders who organize to promote the commercial interests in a given area and whose group is generally affiliated with the national organization of the same name.
chamberlain
A treasurer; originally, the keeper of the royal treasure chamber. ( The term has been used for several high offices in England, such as the Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and Chamberlain of the Exchequer.
chamberlaria
[Law Latin] Chamberlainship; the office of chamberlain.
champertous
adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by champerty; constituting champerty <a champertous contract>.
champerty
n. 1. An agreement between a stranger to a lawsuit and a litigant by which the stranger pursues the litigant's claim as consideration for receiving part of any judgment proceeds. 2. The act or fact of maintaining, supporting, or promoting another person's lawsuit. Cf. MAINTENANCE (6)."There is disagreement in the American courts as to what constitutes champerty. (1) Some courts hold that an agreement to look to the proceeds of the suit for compensation is champerty .... (2) Some courts hold that in addition the attorney must prosecute
de champertia
n. [Law Latin "about champerty"] Hist. A writ ordering justices of the bench to enforce the champerty laws. See CHAMPERTOR; CHAMPERTY.
gas chamber
A small, sealed room in which capital punishments are carried out by strapping the prisoner into a chair and releasing poisonous fumes.
ham
1. A place of dwelling; a village. ( This word now usu. appears in compound form at the end of place names, such as Buckingham. 2. A small (esp. enclosed) pasture; a piece of land. - Also spelled hamm. Cf. HAMLET.
hamel.
See HAMLET.
hameleta.
See HAMLET
hamesucken
n. Hist. The crime of housebreaking or burglary accompanied by violence. - Also spelled hamesecken; hamesoken."Burglary, or nocturnal housebreaking, burgi latrocinium, which by our ancient law was called hamesecken, as it is in Scotland to this day, has always been looked upon as a very heinous offence ...." 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 223 (1769).
hamlet.
A small village; a part or member of a vill. ( A hamlet in a rural community might consist of no more than a store, a church, and a few residences. - Also termed hamel; hameleta; hamlets. See VILL. Cf. HAM.
in chambers
See IN CAMERA (1).
judge's chamber
1. The private room or office of a judge. 2. Any place that a judge transacts official business when not holding a session of the court. See IN CAMERA.
la chambre des esteilles
n. [French] Hist. The Star Chamber. See STAR CHAMBER, COURT OF.
lower chamber
In a bicameral legislature, the larger of the two legislative bodies, such as the House of Representatives or the House of Commons.
sham affidavit
an affidavit that contradicts clear testimony previously given by the same witness, usu. used in an attempt to create an issue of fact in response to a motion for summary judgment.
sham defense
A fictitious, untrue defense, made in bad faith.2. A defendant's method and strategy in opposing the plaintiff or the prosecution; a doctrine giving rise to such a method or strategy <the lawyer advised her client to adopt a passive defense and to avoid taking the witness stand>.
sham exception
An exception to the Noerr-Pennington doctrine whereby a company that petitions the government will not receive First Amendment protection or an exemption from the antitrust laws if its intent in petitioning the government is really an effort to harm its competitors rather than to obtain favorable governmental action. - Also termed sham petitioning; sham litigation. See NOERR~PENNINGTON DOCTRINE.
sham litigation
See SHAM EXCEPTION,
sham marriage
A marriage in which a U.S. citizen marries a foreign citizen for the sole purpose of allowing the foreign citizen to become a permanent U.S. resident. ( Sham marriages are illegal if made with an intent to circumvent immigration law. - Also termed green-card marriage.
sham petitioning
See SHAM EXCEPTION,
sham plea
See sham pleading under PLEADING
sham pleading
An obviously frivolous or absurd pleading that is made only for purposes of vexation or delay. - Also termed sham plea; false plea.
sham prosecution
A prosecution that seeks to circumvent a defendant's double jeopardy protection by appearing to be prosecuted by another sovereignty, when it is in fact controlled by the sovereignty that already prosecuted the defendant for the same crime. ( A sham prosecution is, in essence, a misuse of the dual-sovereignty rule. Under that rule, a defendant's protection against double-jeopardy does not provide protection against a prosecution by a different sovereignty. For example, if the defendant was first tried in federal court and acquitted, that fact would not forbid the state authorities from prosecuting the defendant in state court. But a sham prosecution - for example, a later state-court prosecution that is completely dominated or manipulated by the federal authorities that already prosecuted the defendant, so that the state-court proceeding is merely a tool of the federal authorities - will not withstand a double jeopardy challenge. See DUAL-SOVEREIGNTY DOCTRINE. 3. The government attorneys who initiate and maintain a criminal action against an accused defendant <the prosecution rests>.
sham transaction
An agreement or exchange that has no independent economic benefit or business purpose and is entered into solely to create a tax advantage (such as a deduction for a business loss). ( The Internal Revenue Service is entitled to ignore the purported tax benefits of a sham transaction.
shame sanction
See SANCTION.