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52 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
actus reus
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An illegal act. The actus reus can be an affirmative act, such as taking money or shooting someone. or a failure to act, such as failing to take proper precautions while driving a car.
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bot
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Under Anglo-Saxon law, the restitution paid for killing someone in an open fight.
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case law
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When judicial decisions began to be written and published, judicial precedents were established, and more concrete examples of common-law decisions began to emerge. Together these cases and decisions filtered through the national court system and eventually produced a fixed body of legal rule and and principles, or case law.
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circuit judges
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Traveling judges appointed by King Henry of England.
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civil law
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All law that is not criminal, including torts (personal wrongs), contract, property, maritime, and commercial law.
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community notification laws
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Recent legislative efforts that require convicted sex offenders to register with local police when they move into an area or neighborhood.
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compurgation
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In early English law, a process whereby an accused person swore an oath of innocence while being backed up by a group of 12 to 25 oathhelpers, who would attest to his character and claims of innocence.
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contract law
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The law of personal agreements.
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criminal attempt law
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The intent may make an act, innocent in itself, criminal; also called inchoate crimes.
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embezzlement
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A type of larceny that involves taking the possessions of another (fraudulent conversion) that have been placed in the thief's lawful possession for safekeeping, such as a bank teller misappropriating deposits or a stockbroker making off with a customer's account.
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felony
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A serious offense that carries a penalty of incarceration in a state prison, usually for one year or more. Persons convicted of felony offenses lose the right to vote, hold elective office, or maintain certain licenses.
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fine
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A dollar amount usually exacted as punishment for a minor crime; fines may also be combined with other sentencing alternatives, such as probation or confinement.
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folkways
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Generally followed customs that do not have moral values attached to them, such as not interrupting people when they are speaking.
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hali-gemot
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The manorial court of the local nobleman in England in the eleventh century.
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holy-motes
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Acts of a spiritual nature were judged by clergymen and church officials in these courts in England in the eleventh century; also called ecclesiastics.
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hundred
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In medieval England, a group of 100 families who were responsible for maintaining the order and trying minor offenses.
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hundred-gemot
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Literally, the hundred group, whose courts tried petty cases of criminal conduct.
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inchoate crimes
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Incomplete or contemplated crimes such as criminal solicitation or criminal attempts.
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justification
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A defense to a criminal charge in which the accused maintains that his or her actions were justified by the circumstances and therefore he or she should not be held criminally liable.
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larceny
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Taking for one's own use the property of another, by means other than force or threats on the victim or forcibly breaking into a person's home or workplace; theft.
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legal code
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The specific laws that fall within the scope of criminal law.
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lex talionis
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Physical retaliation; an eye for an eye.
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libel
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False and injurious writings.
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mala in se crimes
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Acts that are outlawed because they violate basic moral values, such as rape, murder, assault, and robbery.
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mala prohibitum crimes
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Acts that are outlawed because they clash with current norms and public opinion, such as tax, traffic, and drug laws.
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manorial courts
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The local hundred who dealt with most secular violations in eleventh century England.
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mens rea
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Guilty mind. The mental element of a crime or the intent to commit a criminal act.
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morals
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Universally followed behavior based on societal codes of conduct; society norms.
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natural law
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Laws rooted in the core values inherent in Western civilization; also called mala in se crimes.
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norms
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Unwritten rules of conduct and universally followed behavior.
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pedophiles
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Sexual offenders who target children.
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preponderance of the evidence
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The level of proof in civil cases; more than half the evidence supports the allegations of one side.
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property law
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The law governing transfer and ownership of property.
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reeve
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In early England, the senior law enforcement figure in a county, the forerunner of today's sheriff.
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royal prosecutors
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Representatives of the Crown who submitted evidence and brought witnesses to testify before the jury in the reign of King Henry II.
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sexual predator law
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Law that allows authorities to keep some criminals convicted of sexually violent crimes in custody even after their sentences are served.
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shire
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Counties in England and much of Europe in the eleventh century.
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shire-gemot
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During the Middle Ages, an assemblage of local landholders who heard more serious and important criminal cases.
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slander
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False and injurious statements.
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stare decisis
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To stand by decided cases; the legal principle by which the decision or holding in an earlier case becomes the standard by which subsequent similar cases are judged.
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statute of limitations
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Specifies the amount of time by which action must be taken by the state in a criminal matter.
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statutory crimes
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Crimes defined by legislative bodies in response to changing social conditions, public opinion, and custom.
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strict-liability crimes
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Illegal acts whose elements do not contain the need for intent, or mens rea; they are usually acts that endanger the public welfare, such as illegal dumping of toxic wastes.
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substantive criminal law
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A body of specific rules that declare what conduct is criminal and prescribe the punishment to be imposed for such conduct.
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tithings
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During the Middle Ages, groups of about 10 families who were responsible for maintaining order among themselves and dealing with disturbances, fires, wild animals, and so on.
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tort
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The law of personal wrongs and damage. Tort actions include negligence, libel, slander, assault, and trespass.
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tort law
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The law of personal wrongs and damage; most similar in intent and form to the criminal law.
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treasonous acts
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Siding with an enemy in a dispute over territory or succession.
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vagrancy
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The crime of being a vagrant or homeless person. The first vagrancy laws were aimed at preventing workers from leaving their estates to secure higher wages elsewhere. They punished migration and permissionless travel.
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vagrant
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A person who goes from place to place without visible means of support and who, though able to work for his or her maintenance, refuses to do so.
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wergild
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Under medieval law, the money paid by the offender to compensate the victim and the state for a criminal offense.
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wite
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The portion of the wergild that went to the victim's family.
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