139-488: In the terminology of law , an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution , civil liability , or both. Additionally, assault is a criminal act in which a person intentionally causes fear of physical harm or offensive contact to another person. Assault can be committed with or without
278-592: A business enterprise over a rolling three-year period. For businesses in the land transport sector, the de minimis ceiling is €100,000. If a business receives more than the de minimis ceiling amount of aid, it is subject to a different set of regulations. Under European Union competition law , some agreements infringing Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly Article 81(1) of
417-401: A constitution , written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics , economics , history and society in various ways and also serves as a mediator of relations between people. Legal systems vary between jurisdictions , with their differences analysed in comparative law . In civil law jurisdictions, a legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates
556-625: A federal system (as in Australia, Germany or the United States) or different voting configuration in a unitary system (as in France). In the UK the upper house is appointed by the government as a house of review . One criticism of bicameral systems with two elected chambers is that the upper and lower houses may simply mirror one another. The traditional justification of bicameralism is that an upper chamber acts as
695-417: A parliamentary system , as with Britain, Italy, Germany, India, and Japan, the executive is known as the cabinet, and composed of members of the legislature. The executive is led by the head of government , whose office holds power under the confidence of the legislature. Because popular elections appoint political parties to govern, the leader of a party can change in between elections. The head of state
834-652: A ruler ') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority , for the government of a Christian organisation or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church , the Oriental Orthodox Churches , and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion . The way that such church law
973-451: A usable quantity of the substance in question before charges can be brought, known as the minority rule . In Canada, de minimis is often used as a standard of whether a criminal offence is made out at a preliminary stage. For a charge of second degree murder, the test being: "could the jury reasonably conclude that accused actions were a contributing cause, beyond de minimis , of the victim's death." In risk assessment , it refers to
1112-440: A "common law" developed during the reign of Henry II during the late 12th century, when Henry appointed judges who had the authority to create an institutionalised and unified system of law common to the country. The next major step in the evolution of the common law came when King John was forced by his barons to sign a document limiting his authority to pass laws. This "great charter" or Magna Carta of 1215 also required that
1251-495: A certain maximum value without the need to competitively tender (the de minimis limits). There was also a maximum value that de minimis contracts could be let with any one operator in any one year." Under the de minimis provision of the World Trade Organization 's Agreement on Agriculture there is no requirement to cap trade-distorting domestic support in any year during which the value of support does not exceed
1390-527: A complete or partial defense to assault. In some jurisdictions, most notably England, it is not a defense where the degree of injury is severe, as long as there is no legally recognized good reason for the assault. This can have important consequences when dealing with issues such as consensual sadomasochistic sexual activity , the most notable case being the Operation Spanner case. Legally recognized good reasons for consent include surgery, activities within
1529-467: A crime in classical Athens. It was also considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world. That was so because it not only was proof of excessive pride, but also resulted in violent acts by or to those involved. The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to mutilation of a corpse, or a humiliation of a defeated foe, or irreverent, "outrageous treatment", in general. The meaning
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#17328410146641668-524: A de minimis rule, so everything gets taxed; other countries do not have customs duties, so nothing gets taxed. The principle of de minimis non curat Lex has been commonly used in defence of the historical reliability of the Gospels . F. W. Upham used the term when speaking of "the [...] minor differences that make up the larger part of the current argument against the Gospels ." Simon Greenleaf's Testimony of
1807-415: A fine, imprisonment, or even death. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and tort law . Traditionally, common law legal systems have separate definitions for assault and battery . When this distinction is observed, battery refers to the actual bodily contact, whereas assault refers to a credible threat or attempt to cause battery. Some jurisdictions combined the two offenses into
1946-442: A house of review. This can minimise arbitrariness and injustice in governmental action. To pass legislation, a majority of the members of a legislature must vote for a bill (proposed law) in each house. Normally there will be several readings and amendments proposed by the different political factions. If a country has an entrenched constitution, a special majority for changes to the constitution may be required, making changes to
2085-440: A matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the art of justice. State-enforced laws can be made by a legislature , resulting in statutes ; by the executive through decrees and regulations ; or by judges' decisions, which form precedent in common law jurisdictions. An autocrat may exercise those functions within their realm. The creation of laws themselves may be influenced by
2224-474: A number of offences of assault. Assault is defined by section 252 of that Act. Assault is a misdemeanor punishable by one year imprisonment; assault with "intent to have carnal knowledge of him or her" or who indecently assaults another, or who commits other more-serious variants of assault (as defined in the Act) are guilty of a felony, and longer prison terms are provided for. Marshall Islands The offence of assault
2363-411: A percentage of total income derived from work in the state, still others using a combination of methods. These inconsistencies have led to repeated attempts to pass the so-called Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act without success. According to European Union regulations, de minimis "state aid" is any amount of aid up to the de minimis ceiling of €200,000 provided from state funds to
2502-430: A person to apprehend the imminent infliction of unlawful force, whilst battery refers to the actual infliction of force. Each state has legislation relating to the act of assault, and offences against the act that constitute assault are heard in the magistrates' court of that state or indictable offences are heard in a district or supreme court of that state. The legislation that defines assault of each state outline what
2641-460: A police officer . Assault may overlap with an attempted crime; for example, an assault may be charged as attempted murder if it was done with intent to kill. Battery is a criminal offense that involves the use of physical force against another person without their consent . It is a type of assault and is considered a serious crime. Battery can include a wide range of actions, from slapping someone to causing serious harm or even death. Depending on
2780-581: A previous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit . A de minimis threshold is a value set by a country to apply customs duty and tax rates on imported goods. De minimis refers to the minimum value of the goods below which no duties and taxes are collected by the Customs . The low-value of such items makes it counterproductive to apply normal customs procedures. The threshold varies from country to country. In addition, some countries do not have
2919-525: A process of reform, at least in terms of economic, if not social and political, rights. A new contract code in 1999 represented a move away from administrative domination. Furthermore, after negotiations lasting fifteen years, in 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization . In general, legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems. Modern scholars argue that the significance of this distinction has progressively declined. The numerous legal transplants , typical of modern law, result in
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#17328410146643058-413: A shop assistant by simply jumping over a counter while wearing a ski mask . The court said: [A]n assault may be constituted by threatening gestures sufficient to produce alarm Scots law also provides for a more serious charge of aggravated assault on the basis of such factors as severity of injury, the use of a weapon, or Hamesucken (to assault a person in their own home). The mens rea for assault
3197-426: A single crime called "assault and battery", which then became widely referred to as "assault". The result is that in many of these jurisdictions, assault has taken on a definition that is more in line with the traditional definition of battery. The legal systems of civil law and Scots law have never distinguished assault from battery. Legal systems generally acknowledge that assaults can vary greatly in severity. In
3336-615: A specific intent: In Scots law , assault is defined as an "attack upon the person of another". There is no distinction made in Scotland between assault and battery (which is not a term used in Scots law), although, as in England and Wales, assault can be occasioned without a physical attack on another's person, as demonstrated in Atkinson v. HM Advocate wherein the accused was found guilty of assaulting
3475-410: A weapon and can range from physical violence to threats of violence. Assault is frequently referred to as an attempt to commit battery , which is the deliberate use of physical force against another person. The deliberate inflicting of fear, apprehension, or terror is another definition of assault that can be found in several legal systems. Depending on the severity of the offense, assault may result in
3614-462: Is legislated , interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council ; these canons formed the foundation of canon law. The Catholic Church has the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the western world , predating the evolution of modern European civil law and common law systems. The 1983 Code of Canon Law governs
3753-495: Is a code of Jewish law that summarizes some of the Talmud's interpretations. A number of countries are sharia jurisdictions. Israeli law allows litigants to use religious laws only if they choose. Canon law is only in use by members of the Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion . Canon law ( Ancient Greek : κανών , romanized : kanon , lit. 'a straight measuring rod;
3892-432: Is a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. The name of the doctrine is a Latin expression meaning "pertaining to minimal things" or "with trifles", normally in the terms de minimis non curat praetor ("The praetor does not concern himself with trifles") or de minimis non curat lex ("The law does not concern itself with trifles"). Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1633–1654) favoured
4031-458: Is a system of rules, divided into primary (rules of conduct) and secondary ones (rules addressed to officials to administer primary rules). Secondary rules are further divided into rules of adjudication (to resolve legal disputes), rules of change (allowing laws to be varied) and the rule of recognition (allowing laws to be identified as valid). Two of Hart's students continued the debate: In his book Law's Empire , Ronald Dworkin attacked Hart and
4170-608: Is a wide range of the types of assault that can occur. Generally, an assault occurs when a person directly or indirectly applies force intentionally to another person without their consent. It can also occur when a person attempts to apply such force, or threatens to do so, without the consent of the other person. An injury need not occur for an assault to be committed, but the force used in the assault must be offensive in nature with an intention to apply force. It can be an assault to "tap", "pinch", "push", or direct another such minor action toward another, but an accidental application of force
4309-668: Is about to use criminal force to that person, is said to commit an assault. The Code further explains that "mere words do not amount to an assault. But the words which a person uses may give to their gestures or preparation such a meaning as may make those gestures or preparations amount to an assault". Assault is in Indian criminal law an attempt to use criminal force (with criminal force being described in s.350). The attempt itself has been made an offence in India, as in other states. The Criminal Code Act (chapter 29 of Part V; sections 351 to 365) creates
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4448-472: Is an "authority" to mediate people's interests. Oliver Wendell Holmes defined law as "the prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious." In his Treatise on Law , Thomas Aquinas argues that law is a rational ordering of things, which concern the common good, that is promulgated by whoever is charged with the care of the community. This definition has both positivist and naturalist elements. Definitions of law often raise
4587-706: Is apart from the executive, and symbolically enacts laws and acts as representative of the nation. Examples include the President of Germany (appointed by members of federal and state legislatures ), the Queen of the United Kingdom (an hereditary office ), and the President of Austria (elected by popular vote). The other important model is the presidential system , found in the United States and in Brazil . In presidential systems,
4726-513: Is authority, identifiable purely through social sources and without reference to moral reasoning. In his view, any categorisation of rules beyond their role as authoritative instruments in mediation is best left to sociology , rather than jurisprudence. The history of law links closely to the development of civilization . Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, was based on the concept of Ma'at and characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality and impartiality. By
4865-576: Is created by section 113 of the Criminal Code. A person is guilty of this offence if they unlawfully offer or attempt, with force or violence, to strike, beat, wound, or do bodily harm to, another. Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997 creates the offence of assault, and section 3 of that Act creates the offence of assault causing harm . South African law does not draw
5004-420: Is equivalent to £1. Inflation has since rendered $ 2 trivial. Courts will occasionally not uphold a claim to copyright on modified public domain material if the changes are deemed to be de minimis . Similarly, courts have dismissed copyright infringement cases on the grounds that the alleged infringer's use of the copyrighted work (such as sampling ) was so insignificant as to be de minimis . For example,
5143-475: Is intended and caused (R v Paice; R v Jobidon). A person cannot consent to serious bodily harm. Assault in Ancient Greece was normally termed hubris . Contrary to modern usage, the term did not have the extended connotation of overweening pride , self-confidence or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, "hubris" referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated
5282-467: Is law?" There have been several attempts to produce "a universally acceptable definition of law". In 1972, Baron Hampstead suggested that no such definition could be produced. McCoubrey and White said that the question "what is law?" has no simple answer. Glanville Williams said that the meaning of the word "law" depends on the context in which that word is used. He said that, for example, " early customary law " and " municipal law " were contexts where
5421-474: Is not an assault. The potential punishment for an assault in Canada varies depending on the manner in which the charge proceeds through the court system and the type of assault that is committed. The Criminal Code defines assault as a dual offence (indictable or summary offence). Police officers can arrest someone without a warrant for an assault if it is in the public's interest to do so notwithstanding S.495(2)(d) of
5560-413: Is not legally considered to be assault unless it is deemed to be excessive or unreasonable. What constitutes "reasonable" varies in both statutory law and case law . Unreasonable physical punishment may be charged as assault or under a separate statute for child abuse . In English law , s. 58 Children Act 2004 limits the availability of the lawful correction defense to common assault. This defence
5699-466: Is simply "evil intent", although this has been held to mean no more than that assault "cannot be committed accidentally or recklessly or negligently" as upheld in Lord Advocate's Reference No 2 of 1992 where it was found that a "hold-up" in a shop justified as a joke would still constitute an offence. It is a separate offence to assault on a constable in the execution of their duty, under section 90 of
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5838-472: Is some debate over whether the touching must also be hostile. The terms "assault" and "common assault" often encompass the separate offence of battery, even in statutory settings such as section 40(3)(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33). A common assault is an assault that lacks any of the aggravating features which Parliament has deemed serious enough to deserve a higher penalty. Section 39 of
5977-537: Is stronger in civil law countries, particularly those with a separate system of administrative courts ; by contrast, the public-private law divide is less pronounced in common law jurisdictions. Law provides a source of scholarly inquiry into legal history , philosophy , economic analysis and sociology . Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, and justice . The word law , attested in Old English as lagu , comes from
6116-627: Is such as seriously to interfere with health". The common law crime of indecent assault was repealed by the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 , and replaced by a statutory crime of sexual assault . Abolished offences: English law provides for two offences of assault: common assault and battery . Assault (or common assault ) is committed if one intentionally or recklessly causes another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful personal violence. Violence in this context means any unlawful touching, though there
6255-441: Is that law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behaviour. In The Concept of Law , H. L. A. Hart argued that law is a "system of rules"; John Austin said law was "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction"; Ronald Dworkin describes law as an "interpretive concept" to achieve justice in his text titled Law's Empire ; and Joseph Raz argues law
6394-946: Is the Supreme Court ; in Australia, the High Court ; in India, the Supreme Court of India ; in the UK, the Supreme Court ; in Germany, the Bundesverfassungsgericht ; and in France, the Cour de Cassation . For most European countries the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg can overrule national law, when EU law is relevant. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg allows citizens of
6533-486: Is the legal systems in communist states such as the former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China . Academic opinion is divided on whether it is a separate system from civil law, given major deviations based on Marxist–Leninist ideology, such as subordinating the judiciary to the executive ruling party. There are distinguished methods of legal reasoning (applying the law) and methods of interpreting (construing)
6672-563: Is to make laws, since they are acts of the general will ; nor whether the prince is above the law, since he is a member of the State; nor whether the law can be unjust, since no one is unjust to himself; nor how we can be both free and subject to the laws, since they are but registers of our wills. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract , II, 6. The philosophy of law is commonly known as jurisprudence. Normative jurisprudence asks "what should law be?", while analytic jurisprudence asks "what
6811-634: The Manusmriti (c. 100–300 AD) were foundational treatises in India, and comprise texts considered authoritative legal guidance. Manu's central philosophy was tolerance and pluralism , and was cited across Southeast Asia. During the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent , sharia was established by the Muslim sultanates and empires, most notably Mughal Empire 's Fatawa-e-Alamgiri , compiled by emperor Aurangzeb and various scholars of Islam. In India,
6950-548: The NBA 2K video games that included copyrighted tattoos in the recreation of the players' likenesses were found to be in de minimis and not copyright-violating. However, in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films , such a ruling was overturned on appeal, the US appeals court explicitly declining to recognize a de minimis standard for digital sampling. "De minimis" was also invoked in
7089-454: The "is" and what "ought to be" problem. Bentham and Austin argued for law's positivism ; that real law is entirely separate from "morality". Kant was also criticised by Friedrich Nietzsche , who rejected the principle of equality, and believed that law emanates from the will to power , and cannot be labeled as "moral" or "immoral". In 1934, the Austrian philosopher Hans Kelsen continued
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#17328410146647228-434: The 2000 Transport Act ) introduced the provisions which govern the duties of local passenger transport authorities to secure local bus services where these would not otherwise be met. In the majority of cases these services have to be secured through competitive tender. The Service Subsidy Agreements (Tendering) Regulations provided local authorities with the scope to let any individual bus subsidy contract in any one year up to
7367-497: The Codex Hammurabi . The most intact copy of these stelae was discovered in the 19th century by British Assyriologists , and has since been fully transliterated and translated into various languages, including English, Italian, German, and French. The Old Testament dates back to 1280 BC and takes the form of moral imperatives as recommendations for a good society. The small Greek city-state, ancient Athens , from about
7506-591: The Council of Europe member states to bring cases relating to human rights issues before it. Some countries allow their highest judicial authority to overrule legislation they determine to be unconstitutional . For example, in Brown v. Board of Education , the United States Supreme Court nullified many state statutes that had established racially segregated schools, finding such statutes to be incompatible with
7645-519: The EC Treaty ) are considered to be de minimis and therefore accepted. Horizontal agreement, that is one between competitors, will usually be de minimis where the parties' market share is 10% or less, and a vertical agreement, between undertakings operating at different levels of the market, where it is 15% or less. Procurement of low value contracts is subject to limited regulation when its value falls below certain low thresholds. In criminology ,
7784-478: The Early Middle Ages , Roman law was rediscovered around the 11th century when medieval legal scholars began to research Roman codes and adapt their concepts to the canon law , giving birth to the jus commune . Latin legal maxims (called brocards ) were compiled for guidance. In medieval England, royal courts developed a body of precedent which later became the common law . A Europe-wide Law Merchant
7923-559: The English Court of Common Pleas had five. This powerful and tight-knit judiciary gave rise to a systematised process of developing common law. As time went on, many felt that the common law was overly systematised and inflexible, and increasing numbers of citizens petitioned the King to override the common law. On the King's behalf, the Lord Chancellor started giving judgments to do what
8062-1218: The Enlightenment . Then, in the 19th century, both France, with the Code Civil , and Germany, with the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch , modernised their legal codes. Both these codes heavily influenced not only the law systems of the countries in continental Europe but also the Japanese and Korean legal traditions. Today, countries that have civil law systems range from Russia and Turkey to most of Central and Latin America . In common law legal systems, decisions by courts are explicitly acknowledged as "law" on equal footing with legislative statutes and executive regulations . The "doctrine of precedent", or stare decisis (Latin for "to stand by decisions") means that decisions by higher courts bind lower courts to assure that similar cases reach similar results. In contrast , in civil law systems, legislative statutes are typically more detailed, and judicial decisions are shorter and less detailed because
8201-551: The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution . A judiciary is theoretically bound by the constitution, just as all other government bodies are. In most countries judges may only interpret the constitution and all other laws. But in common law countries, where matters are not constitutional, the judiciary may also create law under the doctrine of precedent . The UK, Finland and New Zealand assert
8340-645: The French , but mostly the German Civil Code. This partly reflected Germany's status as a rising power in the late 19th century. Similarly, traditional Chinese law gave way to westernisation towards the final years of the Qing Dynasty in the form of six private law codes based mainly on the Japanese model of German law. Today Taiwanese law retains the closest affinity to the codifications from that period, because of
8479-527: The Hindu legal tradition, along with Islamic law, were both supplanted by common law when India became part of the British Empire . Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Hong Kong also adopted the common law system. The Eastern Asia legal tradition reflects a unique blend of secular and religious influences. Japan was the first country to begin modernising its legal system along Western lines, by importing parts of
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#17328410146648618-654: The Latin Church sui juris . The Eastern Catholic Churches, which developed different disciplines and practices, are governed by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches . The canon law of the Catholic Church influenced the common law during the medieval period through its preservation of Roman law doctrine such as the presumption of innocence . Roman Catholic canon law is a fully developed legal system, with all
8757-474: The Old Norse word lǫg . The singular form lag meant ' something laid or fixed ' while its plural meant ' law ' . But what, after all, is a law? [...] When I say that the object of laws is always general, I mean that law considers subjects en masse and actions in the abstract, and never a particular person or action. [...] On this view, we at once see that it can no longer be asked whose business it
8896-534: The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (asp 8) (previously section 41 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (c. 77)) which provides that it is an offence for a person to, amongst other things, assault a constable in the execution of their duty or a person assisting a constable in the execution of their duty. Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition
9035-608: The Quran has some law, and it acts as a source of further law through interpretation, Qiyas (reasoning by analogy), Ijma (consensus) and precedent . This is mainly contained in a body of law and jurisprudence known as Sharia and Fiqh respectively. Another example is the Torah or Old Testament , in the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses. This contains the basic code of Jewish law, which some Israeli communities choose to use. The Halakha
9174-663: The Trevor Newton v. Beastie Boys copyright infringement lawsuit, where a 6-second sample of Newton's piece Choir was used in Pass the Mic ; Newton lost the case. The principle of de minimis non curat lex can be used as defense in India in cases of copyright infringement. The important issue is that whether de minimis principle could be used as separate defence than fair use under section 52 of Indian Copyright Act. In India TV Independent News Service Pvt. Ltd. and Ors. v Yashraj Films Pvt. Ltd. ,
9313-436: The United States , an assault can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony . In England and Wales and Australia , it can be charged as either common assault , assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) or grievous bodily harm (GBH). Canada also has a three-tier system: assault, assault causing bodily harm and aggravated assault . Separate charges typically exist for sexual assaults , affray and assaulting
9452-676: The absolutist theory of Thomas Hobbes ' Leviathan . Sun Yat-sen 's Five Power Constitution for the Republic of China took the separation of powers further by having two additional branches of government—a Control Yuan for auditing oversight and an Examination Yuan to manage the employment of public officials. Max Weber and others reshaped thinking on the extension of state. Modern military, policing and bureaucratic power over ordinary citizens' daily lives pose special problems for accountability that earlier writers such as Locke or Montesquieu could not have foreseen. The custom and practice of
9591-485: The de minimis or minimalist approach is an addition to a general harm principle . The general harm principle fails to consider the possibility of other sanctions to prevent harm, and the effectiveness of criminalization as a chosen option. Those other sanctions include civil courts, laws of tort and regulation . Having criminal remedies in place is seen as a "last resort" since such actions often infringe personal liberties – incarceration , for example, prevents
9730-426: The de minimis rule can also apply to any benefit, property, or service provided to an employee that has so little value that reporting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable; for example, use of a company photocopier to copy personal documents – see de minimis fringe benefit . Cash is not excludable, regardless of the amount. Specifically in U.S. State income tax , de minimis refers to
9869-597: The "basic pattern of legal reasoning is reasoning by example"—that is, reasoning by comparing outcomes in cases resolving similar legal questions. In a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding procedural efforts taken by a debt collection company to avoid errors, Justice Sotomayor cautioned that "legal reasoning is not a mechanical or strictly linear process". Jurimetrics is the formal application of quantitative methods, especially probability and statistics , to legal questions. The use of statistical methods in court cases and law review articles has grown massively in importance in
10008-417: The 1870s and Montana by the 1890s—as well as to other states such as North Dakota. The general term has come to have a variety of specialized meanings in various contexts as shown below, which indicate that beneath a certain low level a quantity is regarded as trivial, and treated commensurately. Under U.S. tax rules , the de minimis rule governs the treatment of small amounts of market discount. Under
10147-424: The 22nd century BC, the ancient Sumerian ruler Ur-Nammu had formulated the first law code , which consisted of casuistic statements ("if … then ..."). Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian law , by codifying and inscribing it in stone. Hammurabi placed several copies of his law code throughout the kingdom of Babylon as stelae , for the entire public to see; this became known as
10286-467: The 6th century, which were rediscovered by 11th century Italy. Roman law in the days of the Roman Republic and Empire was heavily procedural, and lacked a professional legal class. Instead a lay magistrate , iudex , was chosen to adjudicate. Decisions were not published in any systematic way, so any case law that developed was disguised and almost unrecognised. Each case was to be decided afresh from
10425-431: The 8th century BC was the first society to be based on broad inclusion of its citizenry, excluding women and enslaved people . However, Athens had no legal science or single word for "law", relying instead on the three-way distinction between divine law ( thémis ), human decree ( nomos ) and custom ( díkē ). Yet Ancient Greek law contained major constitutional innovations in the development of democracy . Roman law
10564-453: The Code. This public interest is usually satisfied by preventing a continuation or repetition of the offence on the same victim. Some variations on the ordinary crime of assault include: An individual cannot consent to an assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, or any sexual assault. Consent will also be vitiated if two people consent to fight but serious bodily harm
10703-594: The Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that common assault, like battery, is triable only in a magistrates' court in England and Wales (unless it is linked to a more serious offence, which is triable in the Crown Court ). Additionally, if a defendant has been charged on an indictment with assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), or racially/religiously aggravated assault, then a jury in the Crown Court may acquit
10842-709: The European Union and South Africa have proposed the elimination of duty-free de minimis exemptions. Since 2021, there has been no de minimis exemption for imports from value-added tax in the EU. In environmental planning in New Zealand, the use of the term 'de minimis' is common in the legal and planning professions. While not defined under the Resource Management Act 1991, it is commonly used in case law in relation to an assessment of environmental effect, e.g. "the potential adverse effect of one additional road user on
10981-593: The Evangelists is perhaps the most famous application of legal rules to the Christian Gospels. Following bus deregulation in Great Britain in 1986, small contracts for supplementary local bus services could be let by local authorities without competitive tendering. The Department for Transport's "Guidance on New De Minimis Rules for Bus Subsidy Contracts" (2005) notes that "The Transport Act 1985 (as amended by
11120-488: The King's entourage of judges hold their courts and judgments at "a certain place" rather than dispensing autocratic justice in unpredictable places about the country. A concentrated and elite group of judges acquired a dominant role in law-making under this system, and compared to its European counterparts the English judiciary became highly centralised. In 1297, for instance, while the highest court in France had fifty-one judges,
11259-502: The Quran as its constitution , and is governed on the basis of Islamic law. Iran has also witnessed a reiteration of Islamic law into its legal system after 1979. During the last few decades, one of the fundamental features of the movement of Islamic resurgence has been the call to restore the Sharia, which has generated a vast amount of literature and affected world politics . Socialist law
11398-1262: The Sharia: the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt may invalidate such laws, and in Iran the Guardian Council ensures the compatibility of the legislation with the "criteria of Islam". Prominent examples of legislatures are the Houses of Parliament in London, the Congress in Washington, D.C., the Bundestag in Berlin, the Duma in Moscow, the Parlamento Italiano in Rome and the Assemblée nationale in Paris. By
11537-430: The U.S. , the two systems were merged . In developing the common law, academic writings have always played an important part, both to collect overarching principles from dispersed case law and to argue for change. William Blackstone , from around 1760, was the first scholar to collect, describe, and teach the common law. But merely in describing, scholars who sought explanations and underlying structures slowly changed
11676-515: The U.S. daily under the de minimis provision, and their shipments could be greatly reduced since Section 301 tariffs cover approximately 70% of textile and apparel imports from China. According to a congressional report, Shein and Temu paid no import duties in 2022, while bricks-and-mortar rivals H&M and Gap paid $ 205 million and $ 700 million, respectively. Other countries are reviewing their tax and duty-free exemptions so as to avoid providing an advantage to low-value imports. For example,
11815-567: The adjudicator is only writing to decide the single case, rather than to set out reasoning that will guide future courts. Common law originated from England and has been inherited by almost every country once tied to the British Empire (except Malta, Scotland , the U.S. state of Louisiana , and the Canadian province of Quebec ). In medieval England during the Norman conquest , the law varied shire-to-shire based on disparate tribal customs. The concept of
11954-732: The ancient Greek concepts of honor (timē) and shame. The concept of timē included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honor, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honor is akin to a zero-sum game. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence". The Indian Penal Code covers the punishments and types of assault in Chapter 16, sections 351 through 358. Whoever makes any gesture, or any preparation intending or knowing it to be likely that such gesture or preparation will cause any person present to apprehend that he who makes that gesture or preparation
12093-417: The court discussed the applicability of de minimis principle at length. Before this case the position was not very clear with regard to the applicability. The facts of the case were that five words were copied from a song of five stanzas. After applying the five well-known factors commonly considered by courts in applying de minimis , the court reached the conclusion that the infraction is trivial and attracts
12232-440: The court that they felt threatened by the intruder's presence. The below table shows the rate of reported serious assault for individual countries according to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the last available year. The term 'assault', when used in legislation, commonly refers to both common assault and battery, even though the two offences remain distinct. Common assault involves intentionally or recklessly causing
12371-531: The crossing is considered to be de minimis ." It is used when an actual or potential effect may exist, but is so minor it is close to negligible or zero in nature. In Endrew v. Douglas County School District , the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled, on March 22, 2017, that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires more than de minimis efforts to provide equivalent educational opportunity to students with disabilities. The decision reversed
12510-519: The defence of de minimis . The de minimis threshold is the value of a shipment that can be imported without payment of custom duties (import tariffs ) or taxes (such as the value-added tax in the EU). In the United States, the de minimis import threshold is $ 800 per person per day. The exemption was raised from $ 200 in 2016 to facilitate trade and to save on enforcement costs. The U.S. has one of
12649-417: The defendant of the more serious offence, but still convict of common assault if it finds common assault has been committed. An assault which is aggravated by the scale of the injuries inflicted may be charged as offences causing "actual bodily harm" (ABH) or, in the severest cases, " grievous bodily harm " (GBH). Other aggravated assault charges refer to assaults carried out against a specific target or with
12788-575: The defining features of any legal system. Civil law is the legal system used in most countries around the world today. In civil law the sources recognised as authoritative are, primarily, legislation —especially codifications in constitutions or statutes passed by government—and custom . Codifications date back millennia, with one early example being the Babylonian Codex Hammurabi . Modern civil law systems essentially derive from legal codes issued by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in
12927-400: The distinction between assault and battery. Assault is a common law crime defined as "unlawfully and intentionally applying force to the person of another, or inspiring a belief in that other that force is immediately to be applied to him". The law also recognises the crime of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm , where grievous bodily harm is defined as "harm which in itself
13066-529: The elements are that make up the assault, where the assault is sectioned in legislation or criminal codes, and the penalties that apply for the offence of assault. In New South Wales, the Crimes Act 1900 defines a range of assault offences deemed more serious than common assault and which attract heavier penalties. These include: Assault is an offence under s. 265 of the Canadian Criminal Code . There
13205-406: The executive acts as both head of state and head of government, and has power to appoint an unelected cabinet. Under a presidential system, the executive branch is separate from the legislature to which it is not accountable. Although the role of the executive varies from country to country, usually it will propose the majority of legislation, and propose government agenda. In presidential systems,
13344-446: The executive often has the power to veto legislation. Most executives in both systems are responsible for foreign relations , the military and police, and the bureaucracy. Ministers or other officials head a country's public offices, such as a foreign ministry or defence ministry . The election of a different executive is therefore capable of revolutionising an entire country's approach to government. De minimis De minimis
13483-545: The freedom of movement. In this sense, law making that places a greater emphasis on human rights , such as the European Convention on Human Rights , falls into the de minimis category. Most crimes of direct action ( murder , rape , assault , for example) are generally not affected by such a stance, but do require greater justification in less clear cases. The de minimis rule in North American drug law requires
13622-870: The golden age of Roman law and aimed to restore it to the peak it had reached three centuries before." The Justinian Code remained in force in the East until the fall of the Byzantine Empire . Western Europe, meanwhile, relied on a mix of the Theodosian Code and Germanic customary law until the Justinian Code was rediscovered in the 11th century, which scholars at the University of Bologna used to interpret their own laws. Civil law codifications based closely on Roman law, alongside some influences from religious laws such as canon law , continued to spread throughout Europe until
13761-480: The highest de minimis levels in the world. By comparison, the duty-free threshold is $ 673 in Australia, $ 166 in the EU, and $ 71 in Japan (measured in U.S. dollars). In September 2024, the U.S. took executive action following an "exponential" increase in the number of de minimis shipments over the previous decade, from approximately 140 million to over one billion a year. New regulations require additional data (such as
13900-592: The highest level of risk that is still too small to be concerned with. Therefore, only risk levels above this de minimis level must be addressed and managed. Some refer to this as a "virtually safe" level. It has application in the fields of auditing, modeling, and engineering, and may refer to situations of low (negligible) risk. It can be verified in ASA 1. In Australia donations to charities are tax deductible if they equal or exceed $ 2. The amount hasn't changed since decimal currency replaced pounds, shilling and pence in 1966. $ 2
14039-524: The idea of the rule of law because he did not accept the primacy of abstract normative principles over concrete political positions and decisions. Therefore, Schmitt advocated a jurisprudence of the exception ( state of emergency ), which denied that legal norms could encompass all of the political experience. Later in the 20th century, H. L. A. Hart attacked Austin for his simplifications and Kelsen for his fiction in The Concept of Law . Hart argued law
14178-428: The ideal of parliamentary sovereignty , whereby the unelected judiciary may not overturn law passed by a democratic legislature. In communist states , such as China, the courts are often regarded as parts of the executive, or subservient to the legislature; governmental institutions and actors exert thus various forms of influence on the judiciary. In Muslim countries, courts often examine whether state laws adhere to
14317-574: The identity of the person claiming the exemption, and the 10-digit tariff classification number), and exclude products subject to tariffs under Sections 201 (mostly solar panels), 232 (steel/aluminum), and 301 (includes textiles, apparel and footwear). The surge in de minimis shipments was largely attributed to e-commerce platforms, particularly those based in China such as Shein and Temu , which ship directly to U.S. consumers. Shein and Temu are likely responsible for more than 30% of all packages shipped to
14456-564: The last few decades. It is a real unity of them all in one and the same person, made by covenant of every man with every man, in such manner as if every man should say to every man: I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou givest up, thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan , XVII The main institutions of law in industrialised countries are independent courts , representative parliaments, an accountable executive,
14595-446: The law more difficult. A government usually leads the process, which can be formed from Members of Parliament (e.g. the UK or Germany). However, in a presidential system, the government is usually formed by an executive and his or her appointed cabinet officials (e.g. the United States or Brazil). The executive in a legal system serves as the centre of political authority of the State . In
14734-622: The law. In common law systems, judges may make binding case law through precedent, although on occasion this may be overturned by a higher court or the legislature. Religious law is in use in some religious communities and states, and has historically influenced secular law. The scope of law can be divided into two domains: public law concerns government and society, including constitutional law , administrative law , and criminal law ; while private law deals with legal disputes between parties in areas such as contracts , property , torts , delicts and commercial law . This distinction
14873-686: The law. The former are legal syllogism , which holds sway in civil law legal systems, analogy , which is present in common law legal systems, especially in the US, and argumentative theories that occur in both systems. The latter are different rules (directives) of legal interpretation such as directives of linguistic interpretation, teleological interpretation or systemic interpretation as well as more specific rules, for instance, golden rule or mischief rule . There are also many other arguments and cannons of interpretation which altogether make statutory interpretation possible. Law professor and former United States Attorney General Edward H. Levi noted that
15012-577: The laws of the State, which mirrors the (theoretical) unimportance of judges' decisions for future cases in civil law systems today. From 529 to 534 AD the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I codified and consolidated Roman law up until that point, so that what remained was one-twentieth of the mass of legal texts from before. This became known as the Corpus Juris Civilis . As one legal historian wrote, "Justinian consciously looked back to
15151-426: The legal profession is an important part of people's access to justice , whilst civil society is a term used to refer to the social institutions, communities and partnerships that form law's political basis. A judiciary is a number of judges mediating disputes to determine outcome. Most countries have systems of appeal courts, with an apex court as the ultimate judicial authority. In the United States, this authority
15290-472: The mid-1940s, efforts have been made, in country after country, to bring Sharia law more into line with modern conditions and conceptions. In modern times, the legal systems of many Muslim countries draw upon both civil and common law traditions as well as Islamic law and custom. The constitutions of certain Muslim states, such as Egypt and Afghanistan, recognise Islam as the religion of the state, obliging legislature to adhere to Sharia. Saudi Arabia recognises
15429-510: The military and police, bureaucratic organisation, the legal profession and civil society itself. John Locke, in his Two Treatises of Government , and Baron de Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws , advocated for a separation of powers between the political, legislature and executive bodies. Their principle was that no person should be able to usurp all powers of the state , in contrast to
15568-669: The most influential. In contrast to English common law, which consists of enormous tomes of case law, codes in small books are easy to export and easy for judges to apply. However, today there are signs that civil and common law are converging. EU law is codified in treaties, but develops through de facto precedent laid down by the European Court of Justice . Ancient India and China represent distinct traditions of law, and have historically had independent schools of legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra , probably compiled around 100 AD (although it contains older material), and
15707-505: The necessary elements: courts , lawyers , judges, a fully articulated legal code, principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties, though it lacks civilly-binding force in most secular jurisdictions. Until the 18th century, Sharia law was practiced throughout the Muslim world in a non-codified form, with the Ottoman Empire 's Mecelle code in the 19th century being a first attempt at codifying elements of Sharia law. Since
15846-538: The notion of justice, and re-entered the mainstream of Western culture through the writings of Thomas Aquinas , notably his Treatise on Law . Hugo Grotius , the founder of a purely rationalistic system of natural law, argued that law arises from both a social impulse—as Aristotle had indicated—and reason. Immanuel Kant believed a moral imperative requires laws "be chosen as though they should hold as universal laws of nature". Jeremy Bentham and his student Austin, following David Hume , believed that this conflated
15985-420: The point at which withholdings should be initiated for a nonresident working in a state which taxes personal income. Not all U.S. states levy income taxes, and there is little consistency among nonresident de minimis standards for those that do. Some states base de minimis on the number of days worked (although the definition of what counts as a workday has been controversial ), others on the dollars earned or
16124-564: The positivist tradition in his book the Pure Theory of Law . Kelsen believed that although law is separate from morality, it is endowed with "normativity", meaning we ought to obey it. While laws are positive "is" statements (e.g. the fine for reversing on a highway is €500); law tells us what we "should" do. Thus, each legal system can be hypothesised to have a ' basic norm ' ( German : Grundnorm ) instructing us to obey. Kelsen's major opponent, Carl Schmitt , rejected both positivism and
16263-483: The positivists for their refusal to treat law as a moral issue. Dworkin argues that law is an " interpretive concept" that requires judges to find the best fitting and most just solution to a legal dispute, given their Anglo-American constitutional traditions. Joseph Raz , on the other hand, defended the positivist outlook and criticised Hart's "soft social thesis" approach in The Authority of Law . Raz argues that law
16402-528: The preceding classes of defense in that a threat or attempt to damage property might be considered a crime (in English law, under s5 Criminal Damage Act 1971 it may be argued that the defendant has a lawful excuse to damage property during the defense and a defense under s3 Criminal Law Act 1967 ) subject to the need to deter vigilantes and excessive self-help. Furthermore, some jurisdictions, such as Ohio, allow residents in their homes to use force when ejecting an intruder. The resident merely needs to assert to
16541-416: The principle of representative government people vote for politicians to carry out their wishes. Although countries like Israel, Greece, Sweden and China are unicameral , most countries are bicameral , meaning they have two separately appointed legislative houses. In the 'lower house' politicians are elected to represent smaller constituencies . The 'upper house' is usually elected to represent states in
16680-406: The purpose of causing a harmful or offensive contact with another person or under circumstances that make such contact substantially certain to occur, and which causes such contact. Aggravated assault is a violent crime that involves violence or the threat of violence. It is generally described as an intentional act that causes another person to fear imminent physical harm or injury. This can include
16819-543: The purpose of performing an arrest or generally carrying out their official duties. Thus, a court officer taking possession of goods under a court order may use force if reasonably necessary. In some jurisdictions such as Singapore , judicial corporal punishment is part of the legal system . The officers who administer the punishment have immunity from prosecution for assault. In the United States, England, Northern Ireland, Australia and Canada, corporal punishment administered to children by their parent or legal guardian
16958-469: The question of the extent to which law incorporates morality. John Austin 's utilitarian answer was that law is "commands, backed by threat of sanctions, from a sovereign, to whom people have a habit of obedience". Natural lawyers , on the other hand, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau , argue that law reflects essentially moral and unchangeable laws of nature. The concept of "natural law" emerged in ancient Greek philosophy concurrently and in connection with
17097-423: The range and precise application of defenses varies between jurisdictions, the following represents a list of the defenses that may apply to all levels of assault: Exceptions exist to cover unsolicited physical contact which amount to normal social behavior known as de minimis harm. Assault can also be considered in cases involving the spitting on, or unwanted exposure of bodily fluids to others. Consent may be
17236-457: The rule, if a bond is purchased with a small amount of market discount (an amount less than 0.25% of the face value of a bond times the number of complete years between the bond's acquisition date and its maturity date) the market discount is considered to be zero and the discount on the bond will be considered to be a capital gain upon the bond's disposition or redemption rather than ordinary income . Under Internal Revenue Service guidelines,
17375-424: The rules of a game ( mixed martial arts , wrestling , boxing , or contact sports ), bodily adornment ( R v Wilson [1996] Crim LR 573), or horseplay ( R v Jones [1987] Crim LR 123). However, any activity outside the rules of the game is not legally recognized as a defense of consent. In Scottish law, consent is not a defense for assault. Police officers and court officials have a general power to use force for
17514-399: The severity of the offense, it can carry a wide range of punishments, including jail time, fines, and probation. In jurisdictions that make a distinction between the two, assault usually accompanies battery if the assailant both threatens to make unwanted contact and then carries through with this threat. See common assault . The elements of battery are that it is a volitional act, done for
17653-402: The sharing of many features traditionally considered typical of either common law or civil law. The third type of legal system is religious law, based on scriptures . The specific system that a country is ruled by is often determined by its history, connections with other countries, or its adherence to international standards. The sources that jurisdictions adopt as authoritatively binding are
17792-420: The similar Latin adage , aquila non capit muscās (the eagle does not catch flies). The legal history of de minimis dates back to the 15th century in the civil law, although there are earlier antecedents. It was incorporated into David Dudley Field's Maxims of Jurisprudence of New York by the 1800s which was later exported by migrants such as John Chilton Burch to newer states such as California by
17931-404: The speeches of Demosthenes , a prominent statesman and orator in ancient Greece . These two examples occurred when first, in addition to other acts of violence, Meidias allegedly punched Demosthenes in the face in the theater ( Against Meidias ), and second (Against Konon), when the defendant allegedly severely beat him. Hubris, though not specifically defined, was a legal term and was considered
18070-454: The split between Chiang Kai-shek 's nationalists, who fled there, and Mao Zedong 's communists who won control of the mainland in 1949. The current legal infrastructure in the People's Republic of China was heavily influenced by Soviet Socialist law , which essentially prioritises administrative law at the expense of private law rights. Due to rapid industrialisation, today China is undergoing
18209-546: The use of a weapon, or the threat of using a weapon. It is usually considered a felony offense and can carry severe penalties. Aggravated assault is often considered a very serious crime and can lead to long-term prison sentences. Aggravated assault is, in some jurisdictions, a stronger form of assault, usually using a deadly weapon . A person has committed an aggravated assault when that person attempts to: Aggravated assault can also be charged in cases of attempted harm against police officers or other public servants. Although
18348-409: The victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. Violations of the law against hubris included, what would today be termed, assault and battery; sexual crimes ranging from forcible rape of women or children to consensual but improper activities; or the theft of public or sacred property. Two well-known cases are found in
18487-614: The way the law actually worked. Religious law is explicitly based on religious precepts. Examples include the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Sharia —both of which translate as the "path to follow". Christian canon law also survives in some church communities. Often the implication of religion for law is unalterability because the word of God cannot be amended or legislated against by judges or governments. Nonetheless, most religious jurisdictions rely on further human elaboration to provide for thorough and detailed legal systems. For instance,
18626-418: The word "law" had two different and irreconcilable meanings. Thurman Arnold said that it is obvious that it is impossible to define the word "law" and that it is also equally obvious that the struggle to define that word should not ever be abandoned. It is possible to take the view that there is no need to define the word "law" (e.g. "let's forget about generalities and get down to cases "). One definition
18765-598: Was abolished in Wales in 2022. Many countries, including some US states, also permit the use of controversial corporal punishment for children in school or home. This may or may not involve self-defense in that, using a reasonable degree of force to prevent another from committing a crime could involve preventing an assault, but it could be preventing a crime not involving the use of personal violence. Some jurisdictions allow force to be used in defense of property , to prevent damage either in its own right, or under one or both of
18904-417: Was equitable in a case. From the time of Sir Thomas More , the first lawyer to be appointed as Lord Chancellor, a systematic body of equity grew up alongside the rigid common law, and developed its own Court of Chancery . At first, equity was often criticised as erratic. Over time, courts of equity developed solid principles , especially under Lord Eldon . In the 19th century in England, and in 1937 in
19043-467: Was eventually further generalized in its modern English usage to apply to any outrageous act or exhibition of pride or disregard for basic moral laws. Such an act may be referred to as an "act of hubris", or the person committing the act may be said to be hubristic. Atë , Greek for 'ruin, folly, delusion', is the action performed by the hero, usually because of their hubris, or great pride, that leads to their death or downfall. Crucial to this definition are
19182-490: Was formed so that merchants could trade with common standards of practice rather than with the many splintered facets of local laws. The Law Merchant, a precursor to modern commercial law, emphasised the freedom to contract and alienability of property. As nationalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Law Merchant was incorporated into countries' local law under new civil codes. The Napoleonic and German Codes became
19321-461: Was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, but its detailed rules were developed by professional jurists and were highly sophisticated. Over the centuries between the rise and decline of the Roman Empire , law was adapted to cope with the changing social situations and underwent major codification under Theodosius II and Justinian I . Although codes were replaced by custom and case law during
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