A type of defense that is good against any possible claimant, so that the maker or drawer of a negotiable instrument can raise it even against a holder in due course. • The ten real defenses are (1) fraud in the factum, (2) forgery of a necessary signature, (3) adjudicated insanity that, under state law, […]
infant n. (1)幼儿；新生儿；婴儿 (2)未成年人 指未满法定成年年龄之人。其在行为能力等方面受诸多限制，如合同能力、结婚能力。美国普通法成年年龄为21岁，现一般为18岁，在某些州法律中规定可因结婚而成年；英国成年年龄为21岁，但1969年《家庭法改革法》〔Family Law Reform Act〕将之降低到18岁，该法同时规定任何未达法定成年年龄的人都称「minor」以替代「infant」。所以，在指未成年人时，用「minor」更为准确，不易产生混淆。 (→child; minor; infancy; emancipation; legal capacity; majority; natural infancy)
special defence 〈英〉特别答辩；特别辩护 在以前郡法院的诉讼中，如果被告人所要提出的答辩理由是以下几种之一时：债务抵销〔set-off〕、反请求〔counterclaim〕、未成年〔infancy〕、妻子的地位〔coverture〕、诉讼时傚法〔statute of limitations〕、破产〔bankruptcy〕、衡平法上的答辩〔equitable defence〕、1677年《防止欺诈法》〔Statute of Frauds〕第4条，他必须通知原告，否则在以后的诉讼中不允许他再提出。自1936年之后，特别答辩已不复存在，被告人在所有的情况下都应将其答辩理由告知原告，但是他也可以不提供答辩理由而在出庭时进行答辩，不过法院可能会要其支付由此而产生的费用。在苏格兰的刑事诉讼中，这种特别的辩护理由包括不在犯罪现场〔alibi〕、被卷入犯罪〔incrimination〕、自卫〔self-defence〕或犯罪时精神错乱〔insanity at the time of the crime〕。如果被告人要使用上述理由之一，就必须在庭审之前特别告知国王，否则将不许提出支持该理由的证据。
legal excuse 合法理由；免责理由 １可以证明某一行为或疏忽是正当的或者免除某一义务的理由；２在刑法上指被告人可免予承担刑事责任的理由，如果没有这种理由，被告人的行为将被认为是犯罪。通常这些理由包括：受胁迫〔duress〕、诱骗〔entrapment〕、年幼〔infancy〕、精神失常〔insanity〕、非自愿醉酒〔involuntary intoxication〕等。
statutory period. 1. A time limit specified in a statute; esp., the period prescribed in the relevant statute of limitations. • This period includes, in addition to a fixed number of years, whatever time local law allows because of infancy, insanity, coverture, and other like circumstances. 2. Patents. The time available to a patent applicant
legal fiction. An assumption that something is true even though it may be untrue, made esp. in judicial reasoning to alter how a legal rule operates; specif., a device by which a legal rule or institution is diverted from its original purpose to accomplish indirectly some other object. • The constructive trust is an example
pupillarity (pyoo-pi-lair-[schwa]-tee).Scots & civil law. The stage of a person’s life that spans infancy through puberty.
period of prescription. The period fixed by local law as sufficient for obtaining or extinguishing a right through lapse of time. • In addition to a fixed number of years, the period includes whatever further time is allowed by local law because of infancy, insanity, coverture, and other like circumstances. See PRESCRIPTIVE RIGHT; PRESCRIPTION(3), (4),
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