Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Commission of Oyer and Terminer
[Law French oyer et terminer "to hear and determine"] Hist. A royal appointment authorizing a judge (often a serjeant-at-law) to go on the assize circuit and hear felony and treason cases. Cf COMMISSION OF GAOL DELIVERY; COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER."[U]nder the commission of Oyer and Terminer, as the judges are directed to inquire as well as to hear and determine the same, they can only proceed upon an indictment found at the same assize, and before themselves; for they must first inquire by means of the grand jury or inquest, before they are empowered to hear and determine by the intervention of the petit jury." 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 142 (2d ed. 1826).
Court of Oyer and Terminer
1. Hist. An assize court commissioned by the Crown to pass through the counties two or more times a year and hear felonies and treason cases. * The judges sat by virtue of several commissions, each of which, strictly speaking, created a separate and distinct court. A judge with an oyer and terminer commission, for example, was allowed to hear only cases of felony and treason; he could not try persons charged with other criminal offenses. But if the judge also carried a commission of gaol delivery (as most did), he could try all prisoners held in gaol for any offense; in this way most Courts of Oyer and Terminer gathered full criminal jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the assize courts was taken over by the Crown Court in 1971. See ASSIZE (1); COMMISSION OF OYER AND TERMINER; COMMISSION OF GAOL DELIVERY. 2. In some states, a court of higher criminal jurisdiction.
Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery
Hist. 1. A court that carries the commissions of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery. 2. In Pennsylvania, a court of criminal jurisdiction.
oyer and terminer
. [Law French oyer et terminer "to hear and determine"] 1. See COMMISSION OF OYER AND TERMINER. 2. COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER (2).
terminer
See OYER AND TERMINER.