KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

242

CONDUCTUS

CONFESSION

CONFERENCE. A meeting of several persons for deliberation, for the interchange of opinion, or for the removal of differences or disputes. Thus, a meeting between a counsel and solicitor to advise on the cause of their client. In the practice of legislative bodies, when the two houses cannot agree upon a pending measure, each appoints a committee of "con ference," and the committees meet and con sult together for the purpose of removing differences, harmonizing conflicting views, and arranging a compromise which will be accepted by both houses. In international law. A personal meet ing between the diplomatic agents of two or more powers, for the purpose of making statements and explanations that will obvi ate the delay and difficulty attending the more formal conduct of negotiations. In French law. A concordance or iden tity between two laws or two systems of laws. CONFESS. To admit the truth of a charge or accusation. Usually spoken of charges of tortious or criminal conduct CONFESSIO. Lat. A confession. Con fessio in judicio, a confession made in or be fore a court. Confessio facta in judicio omul pro batione major est. A confession made in court is of greater effect than any proof. Jenk. Cent 102. CONFESSION. In criminal law. A vol untary statement made by a person charged with the commission of a crime or misde meanor, communicated to another person, wherein he acknowledges himself to be guilty of the offense charged, and discloses the circumstances of the act or the share and participation which he had in it Spicer v. Com. (Ky.) 51 S. W. 802; People v. Parton, 49 Cal. 637; Lee v. State, 102 Ga. 221. 29 S. E. 264; State v. Heidenreich, 29 Or. 381, 45 Pac. 755. Also the act of a prisoner, when arraigned for a crime or misdemeanor, in acknowledg ing and avowing that he is guilty of the offense charged. Classification. Confessions are divided in to judicial and extrajudicial. The former are such as are made before a magistrate or court in the due course of legal proceedings, while the latter are such as are made by a party else where than in court or before a magistrate. Speer v. State, 4 Tex. App. 479. An implied confession is where the defendant, in a case not capital, does not plead guilty but indirectly admits his guilt by placing himself at the mercy of the court and asking for a light sentence. 2 Hawk. P. O. p. 469; State v. Conway, 20 R. I. 270, 38 Atl. 656. An indirect confession is one inferred from the conduct of the defend ant State v. Miller, 9 Houst. (Del.) 564, 32 Atl. 137. A naked confession is an admission of the guilt of the party, but which is not sup ported by any evidence of the commission of the crime. A relative confession, in the older crim-

CONDUCTUS. A thing hired. CONE AND KEY. In old English law. A woman at fourteen or fifteen years of age may take charge of her house and receive cone and hey; that is, keep the accounts and keys. Cowell. Said by Lord Coke to be cover and keye, meaning that at that age a woman knew what in her house should be kept under lock and key. 2 Inst. 203. CONFARREATIO. In Roman law. A sacrificial rite resorted to by marrying per sons of high patrician or priestly degree, for the purpose of clothing the husband with the manus over his wife; the civil modes of ef fecting the same thing being coemptio, (form al,) and usus mulieris, (informal.) Brown. CONFECTIO. The making and comple tion of a written instrument. 5 Coke, 1. CONFEDERACY. In criminal law. The association or banding together of two or more persons for the purpose of commit ting an act or furthering- an enterprise which is forbidden by law, or which, though law ful in itself, becomes unlawful when made the object of the confederacy. State v. Crow ley, 41 Wis. 284, 22 Am. Rep. 719; Watson v. Navigation Co., 52 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 35JJ. Conspiracy is a more technical term fdi this offense. The act of two or more who combine to gether to do any damage or injury to an other, or to do any unlawful act. Jacob. See Watson v. Navigation Co., 52 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 353; State v. Crowley, 41 Wis. 284, 22 Am. Rep. 719. In equity pleading. An improper com bination alleged to have been entered into between the defendants to a bill in equity. In international law. A league or agree ment between two or more independent states whereby they unite for their mutual welfare and the furtherance of their common aims. The term may apply to a union so formed for a temporary or limited purpose, as in the case of an offensive and defensive alli ance; but it is more commonly used to de note that species of political connection be tween two or more independent states by which a central government is created, in vested with certain powers of sovereignty, (mostly external,) and acting upon the sev eral component states as its units, which, however, retain their sovereign powers for domestic purposes and some others. See FEDEBAL GOVERNMENT. CONFEDERATION. A league or com pact for mutual support, particularly of princes, nations, or states. Such was the colonial government during the Revolution. —Articles of Confederation. The name of the instrument embodying the compact made between the thirteen original states of the Un ion, before the adoption of the present constitu tion.