IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE A test applied in a criminal prosecution to deter-mine whether a person accused of a crime was compelled by a mental disease to commit it and therefore cannot be hel
Trang 1A DIVORCE premised on the ground of irreconcilable differences is considered a no-fault divorce since there is no need to establish that one party is more responsible or at fault for the end of the marriage than the other
IRREGULARITY
A defect, failure, or mistake in a legal proceeding
or lawsuit; a departure from a prescribed rule or regulation
An irregularity is not an unlawful act, how-ever, in certain instances, it is sufficiently serious to render a lawsuit invalid For example,
a number of states have statutes that require the appointment of a guardian to represent the interests of a child who is being sued The failure to do so is an irregularity that can be used as a ground for invalidating and setting aside a judgment entered against the child
In other cases, however, the flaw might be a simple HARMLESS ERROR that can be easily rectified, and, therefore, does not render the proceeding invalid
IRRELEVANT Unrelated or inapplicable to the matter in issue
Irrelevant evidence has no tendency to prove
or disprove any contested fact in a lawsuit
IRREPARABLE INJURY Any harm or loss that is not easily repaired, restored, or compensated by monetary damages A serious wrong, generally of a repeated and con-tinuing nature, that has an equitable remedy of injunctive relief
IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE
A test applied in a criminal prosecution to deter-mine whether a person accused of a crime was compelled by a mental disease to commit it and therefore cannot be held criminally responsible for her or his actions; in a wrongful death case, a compulsion to commit suicide created by the defendant
In most jurisdictions, a person may defend criminal charges on a ground of insanity The
INSANITY DEFENSE comes in two main forms
First, a DEFENDANT may argue that because of mental disease or defect, he or she lacked the capacity to distinguish right from wrong This is cognitive insanity
Second, a defendant may argue that because
of mental disease or defect, she or he was unable
to act in conformance with the law This is volitional insanity, and it is known as the irresistible impulse defense Under this defense,
a defendant may be found not guilty by reason
of insanity even though she or he was capable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the offense
The success of an irresistible impulse defense depends on the facts of the case For example, assume that a child has been molested If the child’s mother shoots and kills the suspected molester, the mother could argue that she was so enraged by the violation of her child that she was unable to control her actions The mother need not have been diagnosed as mentally ill Rather, she would need to show that she was mentally ill
at the time of the shooting, and that the illness impaired her self-control
Irresistible impulse emerged as a defense in the nineteenth century, when psychoanalysts formulated the concept of moral insanity to describe the temporary inability of otherwise sane persons to resist criminal behavior Courts began
to recognize the condition as one that rendered conduct involuntary and therefore not suitable for punishment For the better part of a century, many states allowed both cognitive insanity and irresistible impulse insanity as defenses
Congress and most states abolished the irresistible impulse defense after John Hinckley was acquitted on grounds of insanity for the attempted ASSASSINATION of President RONALD REAGANin 1981 Only a handful of states currently allow irresistible impulse as a defense to criminal charges These states permit it as a supplement to the cognitive insanity defense, which is the only insanity defense recognized in most jurisdictions
On the federal level, Congress abolished the irresistible impulse defense in the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 (18 U.S.C.A §§ 1 note, 17)
In some states, the irresistible impulse defense has never been adopted In others, it has been adopted and subsequently withdrawn Where it has been rejected, the reasons are generally the same: to prevent sane persons from escaping liability simply because they were unable to control their actions In the words of one court, “There are many appetites and passions which by long indulgence acquire a mastery over men but the law is far from
528 IRREGULARITY
Trang 2excusing criminal acts committed under the
impulse of such passions” (State v Brandon, 53
N.C 463[1862])
Under the MODEL PENAL CODE definition of
irresistible impulse, a person may be found not
guilty by reason of insanity if, at the time of the
offense, he or she lacked “substantial capacity
either to appreciate the criminality of [the]
conduct or to conform [the] conduct to the
requirements of law” (§ 4.01(1) [1962]) The
“lacked substantial capacity” language creates a
low threshold for the defendant: in some states,
the defendant must allege complete impairment
in order to invoke the defense
Irresistible impulse is also a factor in civil
actions When a person commits suicide,
sur-vivors may sue for damages with a WRONGFUL
DEATH claim or similar action if they can show
that the suicide was caused by the actions of
another person In such a case, the plaintiffs
must prove that the defendant caused a mental
condition that caused the decedent to
experi-ence an irresistible impulse to commit suicide
FURTHER READINGS
Falk, Patricia J 1996 “Novel Theories of Criminal Defense
Based upon the Toxicity of the Social Environment:
Urban Psychosis, Television Intoxication, and Black
Rage ” North Carolina Law Review 74.
Gresham, Anne C 1993 “The Insanity Plea: A Futile
Defense for Serial Killers ” Law & Psychology Review 17.
Kahan, Dan M 1996 “Two Conceptions of Emotion in
Criminal Law ” Columbia Law Review 96 Available
online at
http://www.pennumbra.com/issues/pdfs/156-3/Kahan.pdf; website home page:
http://www.pennum-bra.com (accessed August 2, 2009).
IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN
OF MARRIAGE
The situation that exists when either or both
spouses no longer are able or willing to live with
each other, thereby destroying their husband and
wife relationship with no hope of resumption of
spousal duties
The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage
provides the ground for a no-fault DIVORCE in
many jurisdictions
IRREVOCABLE
Unable to cancel or recall; that which is unalterable
or irreversible
IRS
SeeINTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
ISLAND
A land area surrounded by water and remaining above sea level during high tide
Land areas exposed only during low tide are called low-tide elevations or drying rocks, reefs,
or shoals The existence of islands has generated numerous disputes, centering primarily on the size of the territorial sea surrounding an island and the determination of what state has sover-eignty over a particular island The size of the territorial sea has become an important question affecting fishing rights and the right of
unrestrict-ed passage for foreign vessels Although the territorial sea of an island is usually determined
by reference to its coastal baseline, some adjust-ments have been recognized in the cases of archipelagoes and islands located close to the mainland
Determination of what state has title to an island has traditionally depended upon an open and continuous assertion of sovereignty over the island, which is usually, but not always, accompanied by physical presence of some representative of the state
CROSS REFERENCE Territorial Waters.
ISSUE
To promulgate or send out In a lawsuit, a disputed point of law orQUESTION OF FACT, set forth
in the pleadings, that is alleged by one party and denied by the other
In the law governing the transfer or distribution
of property, a child, children, and all individuals who descend from a common ancestor or descend-ents of any degree
As applied to notes or bonds of a series, date
of issue means the day fixed as the start of the period for which they run, with no reference to
a specific date when the bonds or notes are to be sold and delivered With regard to bonds only, bonds are issued to the purchaser when they are delivered
When an issue of fact arises, the court or jury must consider and evaluate the weight of the evidence in order to reach a decision An issue of law exists thereby providing a ground for aSUMMARY JUDGMENTsought by a party to the action when only one conclusion can be drawn
by the court from the undisputed evidence, obviating the need for deliberation by a jury
ISSUE 529
Trang 3The term issue is frequently found in provisions of a deed In TESTAMENTARY matters, the meaning of issue is derived from the intent
of theTESTATOR, a maker of a will The intent is determined from the provisions of the will
ISSUE PRECLUSION
A concept that refers to the fact that a particular question of fact or law, one that has already been fully litigated by the parties in an action for which there has been a judgment on the merits, cannot be relitigated in any future action involving the same parties or their privies (persons who would be bound by the judgment rendered for the party)
The term issue preclusion is synonymous with COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL, a doctrine which bars the relitigation of the same issue that was the basis of a finding orVERDICTin an action by the
same parties or their privies in subsequent lawsuits involving the same or different causes
of action It is not, however, the same as the doctrine ofRES JUDICATAwhich bars the relitiga-tion of an entire CAUSE OF ACTION, claim or demand, as opposed to an issue that makes up a cause of action, claim, or demand
ITEMIZE
To individually state each item or article Frequently used in tax accounting, an item-ized account or claim separately lists amounts that add up to the final sum of the total account
on claim
ITEMIZED DEDUCTION See INCOME TAX
530 ISSUE PRECLUSION