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Excuse

A Dictionary of Law · William C. Anderson · 1889

A Dictionary of Law

A reason for doing or not doing a thing.

Excusable. 1.

Admitting of excuse; exempting from liability or responsibility: as, an excusable default, an excusable misdelivery by a carrier.

2.

Done under circumstances of accident or necessity, and without legal malice: as, an excusable homicide, q. v. Ignorance of a fact may excuse; ignorance of the law never excuses. Infants, lunatics, married women, and persons under duress or necessity are sometimes excused for acts done or sought to be enforced.

See Ignorance; Knowledge, 1; Notice.