castle doctrine. Criminal law. An exception to the retreat rule allowing the use of deadly force by a person who is protecting his or her home and its inhabitants from attack, esp. from a trespasser who intends to commit a felony or inflict serious bodily harm. — Also termed dwelling defense; defense of habitation. See […]
outcome responsibility. The view that those who cause harm are responsible for it even in the absence of fault. Cf. strict liability under LIABILITY. “Outcome responsibility serves to foster a sense of identity because it does not stretch indefinitely into the future but enables each of us to claim for ourselves, or to share with
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A mentally incompetent person who seems reasonably likely to harm himself or herself, another person, or property.
securitate pacis (si-kyoor-i-tay-tee pay-sis), n. [Law Latin “of security of the peace”] Hist. A writ for someone fearing bodily harm from another, as when the person has been threatened with violence. — Also termed securitatis pacis; writ of threats.
A justification defense available when an aggressor has threatened harm to the particular interest that is the subject of the defense — usu. to the actor (self-defense), to other persons (defense of others), or to property (defense of property).
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Liability arising from the tortious acts of two or more parties — when the plaintiff proves that one of the defendants has caused harm but cannot prove which one caused it — resulting in a shifting of the burden of proof to each defendant. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 433B(3) (1965). [Cases: Products Liability 23;
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Larceny in which the perpetrator obtains property by threatening to (1) inflict bodily harm on anyone or commit any other criminal offense, (2) accuse anyone of a criminal offense, (3) expose any secret tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or impair one’s credit or business reputation, (4) take or withhold action
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child labor. The employment of workers under the age of majority. • This term typically focuses on abusive practices such as exploitative factory work; slavery, sale, and trafficking in children; forced or compulsory labor such as debt bondage and serfdom; and the use of children in prostitution, pornography, drug-trafficking, or anything else that might jeopardize
A person’s ideals, character, and private conduct, which are not valid governmental concerns if the individual is to be considered sovereign over body and mind and if the need to protect the individual’s physical or moral well-being is insufficient to justify governmental intrusion. • In his essay On Liberty (1859), John Stuart Mill distinguished between