Legal terms in Police

Accomplice

It refers to a person who is party to crime, either as a perpetrator or as an accessory. The evidence of an accomplice must be correlated.

Act of State

It is an act committed by an agent of a sovereign power with its prior approval or subsequent ratification that affects adversely a person who does not own allegiance to that power.

Actus reus

It is a Latin Word which means a guilty act. The essential element of a crime that must be proved to secure a conviction, as opposed to the mental state of the accused. In most cases the actus reus will simply be an act accompanied by specified circumstances. Sometime, it may be an omission to act. For e.g. failure to prevent death may be the actus reus of murder.

Adjournment

In court procedure, the postponement or suspension of the hearing of a cause until a future date.

Affidavit

It denotes to a sworn written statement used mainly to support certain applications as evidence in court proceedings. The person who makes the affidavit must swear or affirm that the contents are true before a person authorized to take oaths in respect of the particular kind of affidavit.

Alibi

The word Alibi is derived from Latin Word which means elsewhere. A defense to a criminal charge alleging that the defendant was not at the place at which the crime was committed and so could not have been responsible for it.

Alimony

It refers to financial provision made by a husband to his wife when they are living apart. It is now known as maintenance or financial provision.

Arbitration

Arbitration is the determination of a dispute by one or more independent third parties (the arbitrators) rather than by a court.

Bail

Bail refers to the release by the Police, Magistrates or Court of person held in legal custody while awaiting trial or appealing against a criminal conviction. A person granted bail undertakes to pay a specified sum to the court, if he fail to appear on the date set by the court.

Bailable offence

According to section 2(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a bail able offence means an offence which is shown as bailable in the first schedule or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force.

Bench

Bench, literally meant the seat of a judge in Court. It is usually in an elevated position at one side of the court room facing the seats of counsel. It also refers to a group of judges or magistrates sitting together in a court or all judges, collectively.

Burden of Proof

It refers to the duty of a part to litigation to prove a fact or facts in issue. Generally the burden of proof falls upon the party who substantially asserts the truth of a particular fact.

Cause of action

It denotes to the grounds that entitle a person to sue. The cause of action may be a wrongful act such as trespass or harm resulting from a wrongful act as in the case of negligence.

Caveat

The word Caveat is derived from a Latin Word which means let him beware. A notice usually in the form of an entry in a register, to the effect that no action of a certain kind may be taken without first informing the person. Who gave the notice

Cognizable offence

Cognizable offence means an offence for which, a police officer may arrest any person without warrant under any other law for the time being in force.

Non-Cognizable offence

It means an offence for which, a Police Officer has no authority to arrest without warrant.

Defamation

Defamation is the publication of a statement about a person that tends to lower his reputation in the opinion of right thinking members of the community. It is usually in words, but pictures, gestures and other acts can be defamatory.

Double Jeopardy

It denotes to the possibility of repeated prosecution for the same offence.

Dying Declaration

It is an oral or written statement by a person on the point of death concerning the cause of his death. It is admissible at a trial for the murder or manslaughter of the declarant as an exception to the rule against hearsay, provided that he would have been a competent witness had he survived.

Estoppel

The word Estoppel is derived from normal French Word `estouper' which means to stop us. It is a rule of evidence or a rule of law that prevents a person from denying the truth of a statement he has made or from denying facts that he has alleged to exist.

Functus officio

It means having discharged his duty. Once a magistrate has convicted a person charged with an offence before him, he is functus officio and cannot rescind the sentence and re-try the case.

In Camera

It is derived from a Latin Word which means in the chamber or in private. A Court hearing must usually be public but the public may be barred from the court or the hearing may continue in the Judge's private room in certain circumstances.

Jurisdiction

It denotes to the power of a court to hear and decide a case to make a certain order. It also refers to the territorial limits within which the Jurisdiction of a court may be exercised.

Locus Standi

It is a Latin Word which means a place of stand. It is the right to bring an action or challenge a decision. Questions of Locus Standi must offend arise in the proceedings for judicial review.

Mens rea

It is a Latin Word which means a guilty mind. The state of mind that the prosecution must prove a defendant to have had at a time of committing a crime in order to secure a conviction

Mortgage

It is an interest on property created as a form of security for a loan or payment of a debt and terminated on payment of the loan or debt

Negotiable Instrument

It is a document that constitutes an obligation to pay a sum of money and is transferable by delivery. The transferee can enforce the obligation even if the transferor's title is defective, provided that he accepted the document in good faith and for value and had no notice of the defect. The most important classes of negotiable instruments are bills of exchange (including cheque) and promissory notes.

Original Jurisdiction

It denotes the authority of a court to initiate legal action at the first instance. It includes the power to give the decision on the legal issues involved in the case.

Appellate Jurisdiction

The power of a court to reconsider the decision taken by a court inferior to it is called appellate jurisdiction, while exercising the appellate jurisdiction, the court can either affirm or reverse the decision of the inferior Court.

Parole

It means a release on license. It is a conditional release of a prisoner from prison.

Pleading

It is a formal written statement in a civil action served by each party on the other, containing the allegations of fact that the party proposes to prove at trial and stating the remedy that the party claims in action.