criminal law and procedure

Definition

A concerted action: (1) made in furtherance of an express common purpose; (2) through the use or threat of violence, disorder, or terror to the public; and (3) resulting in a disturbance of the peace. Under common law, the crime of riot requires the assemblage of three or more actors.

Definition

[Latin: “things done” or “thing transacted”] The events or circumstances at issue, as well as other events that are contemporaneous with or related to them. Courts previously employed this term in order to admit otherwise inadmissible hearsay. The term has since been put to disuse by scholars and legislators.

Definition

A civil proceeding that may result in a penalty akin to a criminal penalty, e.g. imprisonment. Little v. Streater, 452 U.S. 1, 10 (1981). The U.S. Supreme Court has described punitive damages as a "quasi-criminal punishment." Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 19 (1991).

Definition

Latin for "as if." Commonly used as a prefix to show that one thing resembles, but is not actually, another thing. For example, a quasi-contract resembles, but is not actually, a contract.

Illustrative caselaw

See, e.g. Humphrey's Ex'r v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935).

See also

• Quasi-community property

• Quasi contract

• Quasi-corporation

• Quasi-criminal (proceeding)

Definition

Under the business records exception to hearsay, a witness who lays the foundation for the admission of a company's business records into evidence. 

Definition

To offer or present for immediate acceptance or rejection, usually evidence at trial.

Definition

A type of investment fraud in which investors are promised artificially high rates of return with little or no risk; original investors and the perpetrators of the fraud are paid off by funds from later investors, but there is little or no actual business activity that produces revenue.

Definition

A jail or correctional facility that confines convicted criminals for an extended period of time.

Definition

Factors that lessen the severity or culpability of a criminal act, including, but not limited to, defendant's age or extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time the crime was committed, mental retardation, and lack of a prior criminal record. Recognition of particular mitigating circumstances varies by jurisdiction. 

Illustrative caselaw

See, e.g. Magwood v. Patterson, 130 S.Ct. 2788 (2010).

Definition

1. A local official whose authority is limited to whatever has been granted by statute or specified in the appointment.

2. In local or state courts, a justice of the peace or other judicial officer who has strictly limited authority and jurisdiction to hear certain cases, often criminal cases or small claims.

3. In U.S.