Sentence (law)
Encyclopedia : S : SE : SEN : Sentence (law)
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| Criminal procedure |
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| Criminal investigation |
| Arrest warrant · Search warrant |
| Probable cause · Knock and announce |
| Exigent circumstance |
| Search and seizure · Arrest |
| Right to silence · Miranda warning (U.S.) |
| Grand jury |
| Criminal prosecution |
| Statute of limitations |
| Bill of attainder · Ex post facto law |
| Criminal jurisdiction · Extradition |
| Inquisitorial system · Adversarial system |
| Arraignment · Indictment |
| Nolo contendere (U.S.) · Plea bargain |
| Rights of the accused |
| Right to a fair trial |
| Presumption of innocence |
| Jury trial · Speedy trial |
| Habeas corpus · Bail |
| Exclusionary rule (U.S.) |
| Self-incrimination · Double jeopardy |
| Verdict and sentencing |
| Acquittal · Conviction (law)>Conviction |
| Not proven (Scot.) |
| Mandatory sentencing |
| Suspended sentence |
| Parole · Probation |
| Tariff (UK) · Life licence (UK) |
| Dangerous offender (Can.) |
| Cruel and unusual punishment |
| Capital punishment · Execution warrant |
| Related areas of law |
| Criminal law · Evidence |
| Civil procedure |
| Portals: · |
The first use of this word with this meaning was in Roman law, where it indicated the opinion of a jurist on a given question, expressed in written or in oral responsa. It was also the opinion of senators (that was translated into the senatus consultus). It finally was also the decision of the judging organ (both in civil and in penal trials), as well as the decision of the Arbiter (in arbitration).
In modern Latin systems the sentence is mainly the final act of any procedure in which a judge, or more generally an organ is called to express his evaluation, therefore it can be issued practically in any field of law requiring a function of evaluation of something by an organ.
Sentences are variously classified depending on:
- the legal field, or kind of action, or system it refers to:
- *civil, penal, administrative, canon, ..., sentence.
- *sentences of mere clearance, of condemnation, of constitution.
- the issuing organ (typically a monocratic judge or a court, or other figures that receive a legitimation by the system).
- the jurisdiction and the legal competence: single judges, courts, tribunals, appeals, supreme courts, constitutional courts, etc., meant as the various degrees of judgment and appeal.
- the content:
- *partial, cautelar, interlocutory, preliminar (sententia instructoria), definitive sentences.
- *sentence of absolutio (discharge) or condemnatio (briefly damnatio, also for other meanings - condemnation). The sentences of condemnation are also classified by the penalty they determine:
- **sentence of reclusion,
- **sentence of fee,
- **sententia agendi, sentence that impose a determined action (or a series of action) as a penalty for the illegal act. This kind of sentence became better developed and remained in wider use in common law systems.
A sentence (even a definitive one) can be annulled in some given cases, that many systems usually pre-determine. The most frequent case is related to irregularities found ex-post in the procedure, the most éclatant is perhaps in penal cases, when a relevant (often discharging) proof is discovered after the definitive sentence.
In most systems the definitive sentence is unique, in the precise sense that no one can be judged more than once for the same action (apart, obviously, from appeal resistance).
Sentences are in many systems a source of law, as an authoritative interpretation of the law in front of concrete cases, thus quite as an extension of the ordinary formal documental system.
The sentence is generally issued by the judge in the name of (or on the behalf of) the superior authority of the State.
See also
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