This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help >>>> Classifications of Laws, Crimes, and Punishments >>>> Types of Punishments:
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fine:
1. A pecuniary criminal punishment or civil penalty payable to the public treasury. — fine, vb. [1]
1. A sum of money exacted of a person guilty of an offense as a pecuniary punishment, the amount of which may be fixed by law or left to the discretion of the court. 21 Am J2d Crim § 599. [2]
1. A monetary penalty imposed as punishment upon a person convicted of a crime.
verb: To sentence a person convicted of a crime to pay a monetary penalty as punishment. [3]
Excerpt from 1 Edward Hilliard, Sheppard’s Touchstone of Common Assurances 23 (Richard Preston ed., 7th ed. 1820):
“This word is ambiguously taken in our law; for sometimes it is taken for a sum of money or mulct imposed or laid upon an offender for some offence done, and then it is also called a ransom. And sometimes it is taken for an income, or a sum of money paid at the entrance of a tenant into his land: [sometimes as a sum paid for the renewal of a lease, and denominated a fine for renewal:] and sometimes it is taken for a final agreement or conveyance upon record, for settling and securing of lands and tenements.” [4]
day fine – A fine payable over time, usually as a percentage of the defendant’s earnings on a weekly or monthly basis.
excessive fine – (16c) 1. Criminal law. A fine that is unreasonably high and disproportionate to the offense committed. * The Eighth Amendment proscribes excessive fines. An example of an excessive fine is a civil forfeiture in which the property was not an instrumentality of the crime and the worth of the property was not proportional to the owner’s culpability. 2. A fine or penalty that seriously impairs one’s earning capacity, especially from a business.
fresh fine – (1832) Hist. A fine levied within the past year. [1]
References:
Disclaimer: All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use.
[1]: Black’s Law Dictionary Deluxe Tenth Edition by Henry Campbell Black & Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-62130-6
[2]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary with Pronunciations
Third Edition by James A. Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Edited by William S. Anderson. © 1969 by THE LAWYER’S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931
[3]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary Legal Assistant Edition
by Jack Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949). Doctored by Jack G. Handler, J.D. © 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.
[4]: 1 Edward Hilliard, Sheppard’s Touchstone of Common Assurances 23 (Richard Preston ed., 7th ed. 1820) (brackets in original).
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