right against self-incrimination. A criminal defendant’s or a witness’s constitutional right — under the Fifth Amendment, but waivable under certain conditions — guaranteeing that a person cannot be compelled by the government to testify if the testimony might result in the person’s being criminally prosecuted. • Although this right is most often asserted during a […]
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Easter-offerings. Eccles. law. Small sums of money paid as personal tithes to the parochial clergy by the parishioners at Easter. • Under the Recovery of Small Tithes Act (1695), Easter-offerings were recoverable before justices of the peace. St. 7 & 8 Will. 3, ch. 6. — Also termed Easter-dues.
minimum contacts. A nonresident defendant’s forum-state connections, such as business activity or actions foreseeably leading to business activity, that are substantial enough to bring the defendant within the forum-state court’s personal jurisdiction without offending traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154 (1945). —
feudalism (fyood-[schwa]l-iz-[schwa]m). 1. A landholding system, particularly applying to medieval Europe, in which all are bound by their status in a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations of service and defense. • The lord was obligated to give the vassal (1) some land, (2) protection, and (3) justice. The lord guaranteed the quiet occupation of the land
Court of Common Pleas. 1. Hist. A superior court having jurisdiction of all real actions and common pleas (i.e., actions between subjects). • The Court was presided over by a chief justice with four (later five) puisne judges. In 1873 it became the Common Pleas Division of the High Court of Justice. In 1881 it
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pardon, n. The act or an instance of officially nullifying punishment or other legal consequences of a crime. • A pardon is usu. granted by the chief executive of a government. The President has the sole power to issue pardons for federal offenses, and state governors have the power to issue pardons for state crimes.
Palace Court. Hist. A court having jurisdiction over all personal actions arising within 12 miles of Whitehall. • This court was created by James I in response to complaints about the inconvenience of using the itinerant Court of the Marshalsea; its jurisdiction was similar, but the court remained in Whitehall. It was abolished along with