head money. 1. A tax on people who fit within a designated class; a poll tax. See capitation tax, poll tax under TAX. [Cases: Taxation 106. C.J.S. Taxation §§ 1671–1672.] 2. A bounty offered by a government for a prisoner taken at sea during a naval engagement. • This bounty is divided among the officers […]
Sergeant Schultz defense. Slang. An assertion by a criminal or civil defendant who claims that he or she was not an active participant in an alleged scheme or conspiracy, and that he or she knew nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing. • This defense is named after a character from the television series Hogan’s Heroes,
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Geneva Conventions of 1949 (j[schwa]-nee-v[schwa]). Four international agreements dealing with the protection of wounded members of the armed forces, the treatment of prisoners of war, and the protection of civilians during international armed conflicts. • Common Article 3 of the Conventions proclaims certain minimum standards of treatment that are applicable to noninternational armed conflicts. The
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Court of the Lord High Constable and Earl Marshal. Hist. A court having jurisdiction over diverse military matters, such as treason, prisoners of war, and disputed coats of arms. • The Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal were the top military officials of the Norman kings. After the office of Lord High Constable was
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Time that does not count for a particular purpose, such as time not included in calculating an employee’s wages or time not credited toward a prisoner’s sentence. • The time during which a prisoner has escaped, for example, is not credited toward the prisoner’s sentence. — Also termed nonrun time.
arms, law of. 1. Rules concerning conditions of war, such as the treatment of prisoners. 2. The law relating to the right to bear arms. [Cases: Weapons 1. C.J.S. Weapons §§ 1–8, 61–62.] 3. The law relating to armorial bearings, i.e., coats of arms granted by the College of Heralds in England, Lord Lyon King
time. 1. A measure of duration. 2. A point in or period of duration at or during which something is alleged to have occurred. 3. Slang. A convicted criminal’s period of incarceration. dead time. Time that does not count for a particular purpose, such as time not included in calculating an employee’s wages or time
garnish, n. Hist. Money exacted from a new prisoner by other prisoners or as a jailer’s fee. • This practice was banned in England in 1815. garnish, vb. [Old French garnir “to warn”; “to prepare”] 1. Hist. To serve an heir with notice (i.e., to warn) of certain debts that must be paid before the
jailer. A keeper, guard, or warden of a prison or jail. — Also spelled (esp. in BrE) gaoler. [Cases: Prisons 5. C.J.S. Prisons and Rights of Prisoners § 14.]
culprit. 1. A person accused or charged with the commission of a crime. 2. A person who is guilty of a crime. • Culprit may be a running together of cul, shortened from the Latin culpabilis (“guilty”), and prit, from Old French prest (“ready”), two words formerly used to orally plead at the outset of