impeachment
impeachment 1. in the CONSTITUTIONAL LAW of the UK, the process by which a person in some way beyond the reach of the law could be brought to justice in respect of an offence against the state. The HOUSE OF COMMONS accuses and the HOUSE OF LORDS judges both fact and law. The most famous cases are those of Francis Bacon, who was suc- cessfully impeached when he was Lord Chancellor, and of Warren200
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Hastings, who was impeached when Governor-General of India and was acquitted.
The same term is used in the USA in relation to the President. In relation to US high officials, impeachment is the first step in a process; only after there is a vote in favour of impeachment is there a trial on the articles of impeachment. President Richard Milhouse Nixon resigned before impeachment could take its course. President William Jefferson Clinton was acquitted after a full impeachment process. The prosecutors did not establish that his reprehensible con- duct constituted a high crime and misdemeanour.
2. more loosely, a challenge, e.g. of a witness or a judgment.
- issue of shares
- J.
- JCT
- jeopardy
- jetsam
- joint and several liability
- joint tenancy
- joint tortfeasors
- joint venture
- JP
- judge advocate
- judge advocate-general
- judgment creditor
- judgment debtor
- Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- judicial knowledge
- judicial precedent
- judicial review
- judicial separation
- judicial trustee
- junior
- jurat
- jurimetrics
- jurisdiction
- jurisprudence