Nolle Prosequi

An entry made on the record, by which the prosecutor or plaintilt* declares that he will proceed no further. See Tr. & II.

Pr. 500.

A nolle prosequi may be entered either in a criminal or a civil case.

— In criminal cases, before a jury is impanelled to try an indictment, and also after conviction, the attorneygeneral has power (o enter a nolle prosequi without the consent of the defendant; hut after a jury is impanelled a nolle prosequi cannot be entered without the consent of the defendant; State v. Roe, 12 Yt. 93; State v. Fleming, 7 Ilumphr. (Tenn.) 152, 4(1 Am. Dec. 73; Durham v. State, 9 Ga. 300. See Com. v. Cain, 102 Mass. 4S7; State v. Smith, 49 N. II. 155, 6 Am. Rep. 480. It is for the prosecuting officer to enter a nol. pros, in his discretion; State v. Thompson, 10 N. C. 013; but in some states leave must be obtained of the court; Anonymous, 1 Ya. Cas. 139; State v. Roe, 12 Yt. 93. It may be entered as to one of several defendants; 11 East 307. The effect of a nolle prosequi, when obtained, is to put the defendant without day; but it does not operate as an acquittal;

— for he may be afterwards reindicted, and, it is said, even upon the same indictment fresh process may be awarded; 6 Mod. 201; Com. Dig. Indictment (K); Com. v. Wheeler, 2 Mass. 172; State v. Thornton, 35 N. C. 250. See 3 Cox, C. C. 93; Williams v. State, 57 Ga. 478; State v. Primm, 61 Mo. 173. A nolle prosequi as to some of the counts in an indictment works no acquittal, but leaves the prosecution just as though such counts had never been inserted in the indictment; Dealy v. U. S., 152 U. S. 539, 14 Sup. Ct. G80, 3S L. Ed. 545. In civil cases, a nolle prosequi is considered not to be of the nature of a retraxit or release, as was formerly supposed, but an agreement only not to proceed either against some of the defendants, or us to part of the suit. See 1 Wins. Saund. 207; 1 Chitty, PI. 546. A nolle prosequi is now held to be no bar to a future action for the same cause, except in those cases where, from the nature of the action, judgment and execution against one is a satisfaction of all the damages sustained by the plaintiff; 3 Term 511. In civil cases, a nolle prosequi may be entered as to one of several counts; Brown v. Feeter, 7 Wend. (N. Y.) 301;

— or to one of several defendants; Minor v. Bank, 1 Pet. (U. S.) 80, 7 L. Ed. 47; as in the case of a nolle prosequi as to him and proceed against the other; Woodward v. Nevvhall, 1 Pick. (Mass.) 500. See, generally, Beidman v. Vanderslice, 2 Rawle (Pa.) 334; Grahanie v. Harris, 5 Gill. & J. (Md.) 489; Judson v. Gibbons, 5 Wend. (N. Y.) 224. An entry of nolle prosequi does not amount to a retraxit; it may be entered by plaintiff as to a part of the suit or as to one of the defendants whore the action is joint and several, or where the defendants sever in their pleas; but not as to a defendant in assumpsit where the action is joint (unless it be for some matter which may be pleaded for his personal discharge); Beidman v. Vanderslice, 2 Rawle (Pa.) 331. It rather resembles a continuance; 1 Troub. & Haly Pr. § 500. NOLO CONTENDERE (Lat. I do not wish to contest). A plea sometimes accepted in criminal oases not capital whereby the defendant does not directly admit himself to be guilty, but tacitly admits it by throwing himself upon the mercy of the court and desiring to submit to a small fine, which pica the court may either accept or decline. Chitty, Grim. L. 431. The difference in effect between this “implied confession” and a plea of guilty is that, after the latter, not guilty cannot be pleaded in an action of trespass for the same injury, whereas it may be pleaded at any time after The former. The defendant making this plea may take exception in arrest of judgment for faults apparent on the record; id. The acceptance of the plea is said to rest entirely upon the discretion of the trial judge; State v. ITenson, 66 N. J. L. 601, 50 Atl. 468, 616; State v. La Rose, 71 N. II. 435, 52 Atl. 943; Com. v. Ingersoll, 145 Mass. 381, 14 N. E. 449. This plea has the same effect in a criminal case as the plea of guilty, to the extent that judgment and sentence may be pronounced as if upon a verdict of guilty; Com. v. Ingersoll, 145 Mass. 381, 14 N. E. 449; Clark, Crim. Proc. 374; Com. v. Holstine, 132 Pa. 301, 19 Atl. 273. The legal effect of the plea is the same as that of a plea of guilty so far as all the proceedings on the indictment are concerned; U. S. v. Hartwell, 3 Cliff. 221, Fed. Cas. No. 15,318; State v. Siddall, 103 Me. 144, 08 Atl. 634; State v. Judges, 46 N. J. L. 112; a sentence thereon is a “conviction”; it is a waiver of all formal defects; Com. v. Hinds, 101 Mass. 210; but defendant may still move in arrest of judgment; Com. v. Northampton, 2 Mass. 116. It is not admissible in a civil proceeding on the same facts to show that the defendant was guilty; White v. Creamer, 175 Mass. 567, 56 N. E. 832. The plea, if accepted, cannot be withdrawn and a plea of not guilty entered except by leave of the court held the plea to be equivalent to a confession which may be withdrawn at any time before sentence. That it was, at one time, accepted in England only where a fine was to be imposed, see Tucker v. U. S„ 100 Fed. 200, 110 C. C. A. 02, 41 L. R. A. (N. S.) 70, holding that it cannot be accepted where the punishment must be imprisonment, but may be, in an internal revenue case, where, under some counts, the punishment must he imprisonment and under others a fine alone. (The subject was here much discussed.) The cases are collected in 41 L. R. A. (N. S. ) 70. In recent prosecutions under the Sherman act in the district court for the southern district of New York, Arelibald, J., in accepting such plea, said: “This plea is a well recognized one and results in a sentence, and in that respect entirely fulfills the law. I have received this plea in other courts.” N0MEN (Lat.). In Civil Law. A name of a person or thing. In a stricter sense, the name *whicli declared the yens or family: as, Porcius, Cornelius; the cognomen being the name which marked the individual: as Cato, Marcus; agnomen a name added to the cognomen for the purpose of description. The name of the person himself: c. g. no men euriis addei'e. The name denoting the condition of a person or class: e. g. nomen liberorum, condition of children. Cause or reason ( pro causa aut rationc): c. g. nomine culpa\ by reason of fault. A mark or sign of anything, corporeal or incorporeal. Nomen supremum, i. e. God. Debt or obligation of debt. A debtor. See Calvinus, Lex. In Old English Law. A name. The Christian name, c. g. John, as distinguished from the family name; it is also called prccnomen. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 10, §§ 7, 9; Law Fr. & Lat. Diet. N0MEN C0LLECTIVUM (Lat). A word in the singular number which is to be understood in the plural in certain cases. Misdemeanor, for example, is a word of this kind, and when in the singular may be taken as nomen collectivum and including several offences. 2 B. & Ad. 75. Heir, in the singular, sometimes includes all the heirs. Felony is not such a term. N0MEN GENERALI SSIMUM (Lat.). A most universal or comprehensive term: e. g. land. 2 Bla. Com. 19; 3 id. 172; Tayl.

Law Gloss

So goods.

2 Will. Ex. 1014.