UK legal jargon? -- "to plead guilty with full credit"

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

T. Z. - 07 Sep 2004 18:07 GMT

Thanks so much for the quick responses.
I'd appreciate comments on the following.

"to plead guilty with full credit"

1. Is this phrase immediately recognizable to an
average, literate Brit (who reads, say, The Economist
or FT)?

2. This phrase doesn't seem to be recognizable to
an average, literate American (who reads, say, TIME or
Newsweek).

Reply to this Message

Tom - 07 Sep 2004 19:43 GMT

T. Z. wrote...

>
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> average, literate Brit (who reads, say, The Economist
> or FT)?

My guess? About half will recognise it. Most of these will recognise that the
phrasing it is actually incorrect - you do not plead with credit - but will
guess what it means.

> 2. This phrase doesn't seem to be recognizable to
> an average, literate American (who reads, say, TIME or
> Newsweek).

Well, there you go.

Reply to this Message

Keeper - 07 Sep 2004 22:14 GMT

The rule of Law of England and Wales is that the judge/bench should give
the defendant credit for a guilty plea when deciding on the appropriate
sentence. (Because, amongst other things, of the distress that might
have been caused to witnesses who would otherwise have had to attend
court and give evidence.)

Phrases might include something like

"In setting the period of the custodial sentence I have taken into
account your early guilty plea and given you full credit for it."

A newspaper report might say

"The court gave the defendant full credit for his guilty plea."

I do not understand the concept of "pleading with credit" and as I
pointed out before the original source was from Canada. Perhaps
somebody there will be able to explain that.

Signature

Keeper

Reply to this Message

Discussion Groups / British English / September 2004

UK legal jargon? -- "to plead guilty with full credit"