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pardon
(redirected from pardonably)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Idioms, Wikipedia 0.04 sec.
pardon, in law, exemption from punishment for a criminal conviction granted by the grace of the executive of a government. A general pardon to a class of persons guilty of the same offense (e.g., insurrection) is an amnesty amnesty (ăm`nəstē), in law, exemption from prosecution for criminal action.
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. A pardon (at least in the United States) absolutely terminates criminal liability, including any restrictions that result from a criminal conviction (though the pardoned person is not exonerated from the civil liability that a crime may have incurred). A pardon is thus to be distinguished from alleviation of punishment (such as commutation of sentence commutation of sentence, in criminal law, reduction of a sentence for a criminal act by action of the executive head of the government. Like pardon , commutation of sentence is a matter of grace, not of right; it is distinguished from pardon, however, in that the
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, reprieve, and parole parole (pərōl`), in criminal law, release from prison of a convict before the expiration of his term on condition that his
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), which does not nullify the conviction and all of its effects. The Constitution of the United States gives the president power to grant reprieves and pardons for all federal crimes, but he may not release a person from the effects of impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow.
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; pardons issued by the president are unreviewable. In most of the states the governor has nearly the same power in respect to state crimes. Usually, the governor may not pardon those convicted of treason or criminal contempt of court. In canon law the pardon is the absolution granted in penance penance (pĕn`əns), sacrament of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern churches.
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; in the Middle Ages the word was used commonly to mean an indulgence indulgence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the pardon of temporal punishment due for sin. It is to be distinguished from absolution and the forgiveness of guilt. The church grants indulgences out of the Treasury of Merit won for the church by Christ and the saints.
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 (hence pardoner, a dispenser of indulgences).

pardon

In law, release from guilt or remission of punishment. The power to pardon is generally exercised by the state's chief executive officer. A pardon may be full or conditional. A conditional pardon imposes a lesser punishment or some other obligation. Some states still bar pardoned offenders from holding public office or obtaining professional licenses.



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