Legal Term Dictionary

In criminal law. A voluntary statement made by a person charged with the commission of a crime or misdemeanor, communicated to another person, wherein he acknowledges himself to be guilty of the offense charged, and discloses the circumstances of the act or the share and participation which he had in More...

In criminal law. A voluntary statement made by a person charged with the commission of a crime or misdemeanor, communicated to another person, wherein he acknowledges himself to be guilty of the offense charged, and discloses the circumstances of the act or the share and participation which he had in it Spicer v. Com. (Ky.) 51 S. W. 802; People v. Parton, 49 Cal. 637; Lee v. State, 102 Ga. 221. 29 S. E. 264; State v. Heidenreich, 29 Or. 381, 45 Pac. 755. Also the act of a prisoner, when arraigned for a crime or misdemeanor, in acknowledge ing and avowing that he is guilty of the offense charged. Classification. Confessions are divided in- • to judicial and extrajudicial. The former are such as are made before a magistrate or court in the due course of legal proceedings, while the latter are such as are made by a party elsewhere than in court or before a magistrate. Speer v. State, 4 Tex. App. 479. An, implied confession is where the defendant, in a case not capital, does not plead guilty but indirectly admits his guilt by placing himself at the mercy of the court and asking for a light sentence. 2 Hawk. P. C. p. 4459; State v. Conway, 20 R. I. 270, 38 Atl. 656. An indirect confession is one inferred from the conduct of the defendant State v. Miller, 9 Houst. (Del.) 564, 32 Atl. 137. A naked confession is an admission of the guilt of the party, but which is not. supported by any evidence of the commission of the crime. A relative confession, in the older crim inal law of England, "is where the accused con-fesseth and appealeth others thereof, to become an approver," (2 Hale, P. C. c 29,) or in other words to "turn king's evidence." This is now obsolete, but something like it is practiced in modern law, where one of the persons accused or supposed to be involved in a crime is put on the witness stand under an implied promise of pardon. Com. v. Knapp, 10 Pick. (Mass.) 477; 20 Am. Dec. 534; State v. Willis, 71 Conn. 293, 41 Atl. 820. A simple confession Is merely a plea of guilty. State v. Willis, 71 Conn. 298, 41 Atl. 820; Bram v. TJ. S., 168 IT. S. 532, 18 Sun. Ct. 183, 42 L. Ed. 568. A voluntary confession is one made spontaneously by a person accused of crime, free from the influence of any extraneous disturbing cause, and in particular, not influenced, or extorted by violence, threats, or promises. State v. Clifford, 86 Iowa, 550, 53 N. W. 299, 41 Am. St. Rep. 518; Roesel v. State, 62 N. J. Law, 216. 41 Atl. 408; State v. Alexander, 109 La. 557, 33 South. 600: Com. v. Sego, 125 Mass. 213; Bullock v. State, 65 N. J. Law, 557, 47 AtL 62. 86 Am. St. Rep. 668; Colburn v. Groton, 66 N. H. 151. 28 Atl. 95, 22 L. R. A. 763. —Confession and avoidance. A plea in confession and avoidance is one which avows and confesses the truth of the averments of fact in the declaration, either expressly or by implication, but then proceeds to allege new matter which tends to deprive the facts admitted of their ordinary legal effect, or to obviate, neutralise, or avoid them.—Confession of defense. In English practice. Where defendant alleges a ground of defense arising since the commencement of the action, the plaintiff may deliver confession of such defense and sign judgment for his costs up to the time of such pleading, unless it be otherwise ordered. Jud. Act 1875, Ord. XX, r. 3.—Confession of Judgment. The act of a debtor in permitting Judgment to be entered against him by his creditor, for a stipulated sum, by a written statement to that effect or by warrant of attorney, without the institution of legal proceedings of any kind. —Oonf esstnar error. A plea to an assignment of error, admitting the same. Less...

In equity practice. An order which the court of chancery makes when the defendant floes not file an answer, that the plaintiff may take such a decree as the case made by his bill warrants.

In equity practice. An order which the court of chancery makes when the defendant floes not file an answer, that the plaintiff may take such a decree as the case made by his bill warrants. Less...

An ecclesiastic who receives auricular confessions of sins from persons under his spiritual charge, and pronounces absolution npon them. The secrets of the confessional are not privileged communications at common law, but this has been changed by statute in some states. Sea 1 Greenl. Ev. |§ 247, 248.

An ecclesiastic who receives auricular confessions of sins from persons under his spiritual charge, and pronounces absolution npon them. The secrets of the confessional are not privileged communications at common law, but this has been changed by statute in some states. Sea 1 Greenl. Ev. |§ 247, 248. Less...

Lat. In the civil law. An action for enforcing a servitude. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 824. Oonf ossns in Judicio pro Jndioato habe-tmr, et quodammodo sua sententiA dam-nntur. 11 Coke, 30. A person confessing his guilt when arraigned is deemed to have been found guilty, and is, as it were, More...

Lat. In the civil law. An action for enforcing a servitude. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 824. Oonf ossns in Judicio pro Jndioato habe-tmr, et quodammodo sua sententiA dam-nntur. 11 Coke, 30. A person confessing his guilt when arraigned is deemed to have been found guilty, and is, as it were, condemned by his own sentence. Less...

Trust; reliance: ground of trust In the construction of wills, this word is considered peculiarly appropriate to create a trust "It is as applicable to the subject of a trust, as nearly a synonym, as the English language Is capable of. Trust is a confidence which one man reposes in More...

Trust; reliance: ground of trust In the construction of wills, this word is considered peculiarly appropriate to create a trust "It is as applicable to the subject of a trust, as nearly a synonym, as the English language Is capable of. Trust is a confidence which one man reposes in another, and confidence is a trust" Appeal of Coates, 2 Pa. 133. ' Less...

In trusted with the confidence of another or with his secret affairs or purposes; intended to be held in confidence or kept secret —Confidential oommnnioations. See COMMUNICATION.—Confidential creditor. This term has been applied to the creditors of a failing debtor who furnished him with the means of obtaining credit to More...

In trusted with the confidence of another or with his secret affairs or purposes; intended to be held in confidence or kept secret —Confidential oommnnioations. See COMMUNICATION.—Confidential creditor. This term has been applied to the creditors of a failing debtor who furnished him with the means of obtaining credit to which he was not entitled, involving in loss the unsuspecting and fair-dealing creditors. Gay v. Strickland, 112 Ala. 567, 20 South. 921.—Confidential relation. A fiduciary relation. These phrases are used as convertible terms. It is a peculiar relation which exists between client and attorney, principal and agent principal and surety, landlord and tenant parent and child, guardian and ward, ancestor and heir, husband and wife, trustee and cestui que trust, executors or administrators and creditors, legatees, or distributees, appointer and appointee under powers, and partners and part owners. In these and like cases, the law, In order to prevent undue advantage from the unlimited confidence or sense of duty which the relation naturally creates, requires the utmost degree of good faith in all transactions between the parties. Robins v. Hope, 57 Cal. 498: People v. Palmer, 152 N. Y. 217, 46 N. E. 828; Scattergood v. Kirk, 192 Pa. 263, 43 Atl. 1080; Brown v. Deposit Co., 87 Md. 377, 40 Ati. 256. Less...

Confinement may be by either a moral or a physical restraint by threats of violence with a present force, or by physical restraint of the person. TJ. S. v. Thompson, 1 §umn. 171, Fed. Cas. No. 16,492; Ex parte 48nodgrass, 43 Tex. Cr. R. 8{59, 65 S. W. 1061.

Confinement may be by either a moral or a physical restraint by threats of violence with a present force, or by physical restraint of the person. TJ. S. v. Thompson, 1 §umn. 171, Fed. Cas. No. 16,492; Ex parte 48nodgrass, 43 Tex. Cr. R. 8{59, 65 S. W. 1061. Less...

To complete or establish that which was Imperfect or uncertain; to ratify what has been done without authority or insufficiently. Boggs v. Mining Co., 14 Cal 305; Railway Co. v. Ransom, 15 Tex. Civ. App. 689, 41 S. W. 826. Conflrmaro est id flrmum faoere qnod prius infirmum fuit. Co. More...

To complete or establish that which was Imperfect or uncertain; to ratify what has been done without authority or insufficiently. Boggs v. Mining Co., 14 Cal 305; Railway Co. v. Ransom, 15 Tex. Civ. App. 689, 41 S. W. 826. Conflrmaro est id flrmum faoere qnod prius infirmum fuit. Co. Litt 295. To confirm is to make firm that which was before infirm. Confirmaro nemo potest prius quam jus el accident. No one can confirm before the right accrues to him. 10 Coke, 48. Confirmat usum qui tollit abusum. He confirms the use [of a thing! who removes the abuse, [of it] Moore, 764. Less...

The conveyance of an estate, or the communication of a right that one hath in or unto lands or tenements, to another that hath the possession thereof, or some other estate therein, whereby a voidable estate is made sure and unavoidable, or whereby a particular estate is increased or enlarged. More...

The conveyance of an estate, or the communication of a right that one hath in or unto lands or tenements, to another that hath the possession thereof, or some other estate therein, whereby a voidable estate is made sure and unavoidable, or whereby a particular estate is increased or enlarged. Shep. Touch. 311; 2 Bl. Comm. 325. —Conflrmatio oreseens. An enlarging confirmation ; one which enlarges a rightful estate. Shep. Touch. 811.—Conflrmatio diminuens. A diminishing confirmation. A confirmation which tends and serves.to diminish and abridge the services whereby a tenant doth hold, operating as a release of part of the services. Shep. Touch. 311.—Conflrmatio pernciena. A confirmation which makes valid a wrongful and defeasible title, or makes a conditional estate absolute. Shep. Touch. 311. Less...

Lat. Confirmation of the charters. A statute passed in the 25 Edw. I., whereby the Great Charter is declared to be allowed as the common law; all judgments contrary to it are declared void; copies of it are ordered to be sent to all cathedral churches and read twice a More...

Lat. Confirmation of the charters. A statute passed in the 25 Edw. I., whereby the Great Charter is declared to be allowed as the common law; all judgments contrary to it are declared void; copies of it are ordered to be sent to all cathedral churches and read twice a year to the people; and sentence of excommunication is directed to be as constantly denounced against all those that, by word or deed or counsel, act contrary thereto or in any degree infringe it 1 Bl. Comm. 128. Conflrmatio est nulla ubl donum prse-oodens est invalidum. Moore, 764; Co. Litt 295. Confirmation is void where the preceding gift is invalid Conflrmatio omnes supplet defectus, licet id quod actum est ab initio non valuit. Co. Litt 295b. Confirmation supplies all defects, though that which had been done was not valid at the beginning. Less...