A defense that fails to meet all legal requirements and usu. results only in a reduction in grade or sentence rather than an acquittal, as when a defendant is charged with manslaughter rather than murder because the defendant, while defending another, used unreasonable force to repel the attack. See imperfect self-defense under SELF-DEFENSE. Cf. perfect […]
The use of force by one who makes an honest but unreasonable mistake that force is necessary to repel an attack. • In some jurisdictions, such a self-defender will be charged with a lesser offense than the one committed. [Cases: Homicide 687.]
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self-defense, n. 1. The use of force to protect oneself, one’s family, or one’s property from a real or threatened attack. • Generally, a person is justified in using a reasonable amount of force in self-defense if he or she believes that the danger of bodily harm is imminent and that force is necessary to
A defense that meets all legal requirements and results in the defendant’s acquittal. See perfect self-defense under SELF-DEFENSE. Cf. imperfect defense.
A valid contract that, because of some technical defect, cannot be fully enforced; a contract that has some legal consequences but that may not be enforced in an action for damages or specific performance in the face of certain defenses, such as the statute of frauds. Cf. illegal contract; void contract. — Also termed agreement
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war. 1. Hostile conflict by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers, or sometimes between parties within the same nation or state; a period of such conflict (the Gulf War). • A state of war may also exist without armed conflict; for example, the treaty formally ending the World War II