英文法律词典 J-22

JUSTIFICATION¹. The act by which a party accused shows and maintains a good and legal reason in court, why he did the thing he is called upon to answer.

2. The subject will be considered by examining, 1. What acts are justifiable². 2. The manner of making the justification. 3. Its effects.

3. - §1. The acts to be justified³ are those committed with a warrant, and those committed without a warrant. 1. It is a general rule, that a warrant or execution, issued by a court haviug jurisdiction⁴, whether the same be right or wrong, justifies⁵ the officer to whom it is directed and who is by law required to execute it, and is a complete justification to the officer for obeying its command. But when the warrant is not merely voidable, but is absolutely void, as, for want of jurisdiction in the court which issued it, or by reason of the privilege of the defendant⁶, as in the case of the arrest of an ambassador, who cannot waive⁷ his privilege and immunities⁸ by submitting to be arrested on such warrant, the officer is no longer justified. 1 Baldw. 240; see 4 Mass. 232; 13 Mass. 286, 334; 14 Mass. 210. 2. A person may justify⁹ many acts, while acting¹⁰ without any authority from a court or magistrate¹¹. He may justifiably¹², even, take the life of an aggressor, while acting in the defence of himself, his wife, children, and servant, or for the protection of his house, when attacked with a felonious intent, or even for the protection of his personal property. See Self-defence. A man may justify what would, otherwise, have been a trespass¹⁴, an entry on the land of another for various purposes; as, for example, to demand a debt due to him by the owner of the land to remove chattels¹⁵ which belong to him, but this entry must be peaceable; to exercise an incorporeal¹⁶ right; ask for lodging's at an inn. See 15 East, 615, note e; 2 Lill. Ab. 134; 15 Vin. Ab. 31; Ham. N. P. 48 to 66; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Entry. It is an ancient principle of the common law, that a trespass may be justified in many cases. Thus: a man may enter on the land of another, to kill a fox or otter¹⁷, which are beasts against the common profit. 11 H. VIII. 10. So, a house may be pulled down if the adjoining one be on fire, to prevent a greater destruction. 13 H. VIII. 16, b. Tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet. So, the suburbs of a city may be demolished¹⁸ in time of war, for the good of the commonwealth¹⁹. 8 Ed. IV. 35, b. So, a man may enter on his neighbor to make a bulwark²⁰ in defence of the realm. 21 H. VIII. b. So, a house may be broken to arrest a felon¹³. 13 Ed. IV. 9, a; Dodd. Eng. Lawy. 219, 220. In a civil action, a man may justify a libel, or slanderous²² words, by proving their truth, or because the defendant had a right, upon the particular occasion, either to write and publish the writing, or to utter the words; as, when slanderous words are found in a report of a committee of congress, or in an indictment²³, or words of a slanderous nature are uttered in the course of debate in the legislature by a member, or at the bar, by counsel, when properly instructed by his client on the subject. See Debate; Slander²¹; Com. Dig. Pleader, 2 L 3 to 2 L 7.

4.- §2. In general, justification must be specially²⁴ pleaded, and it cannot be given in evidence under the plea of the general issue.

5. - §3. When the plea of justification is supported by the evidence, it is a complete bar to the action. Vide Excuse.

JUSTIFICATORS. A kind of compurgators, or those who, by oath, justified the innocence²⁵ or oaths of others, as in the case of wagers²⁶ of law.

JUSTIFYING²⁷ BAIL²⁸, practice. The production of bail in court, who there justify themselves Against the exception of the plaintiff.