To CASHIER, punishment. To break; to deprive a military man of his office. Example: every officer who shall be convicted, before a general court martial1, of leaving signed a false certificate relating to the absence of either officer or private soldier, or relative to his daily pay, shall be, cashiered. Articles of war, art. 14.
CASSATION, French law. A decision which emanates2 from the sovereign authority, and by which a sentence or judgment3 in the last resort is annulled4., Merl. Rep. h. t. This jurisdiction5 is now given to the Cour de Cassation.
2. This court is composed of fifty-two judges, including four presidents, an attorney-general, and six substitutes, bearing the title of advocates general; a chief clerk, four subordinate clerks, and eight huissiers. Its jurisdiction extends to the examination and superintendence of the judgments6 and decrees of the inferior court, both in civil and criminal cases. It is divided into three sections, namely, the section des requetes, the section civile, and the section criminelle. Merl. Rep. mots Cour de Cassation.
CASSETUR BREVE, practice. That the writ7 be quashed. This is the name of a judgment sometime sentered against a plaintiff when he cannot prosecute8 his writ with effect, in consequence of some allegation on the defendant's part. The plaintiff, in order to put an end to any further proceeding10 in the action,enters on the roll cassetur breve, the effect of which is to quash his own writ,which exonerates11 him from the liability to any future costs, and allows him to sue out new process. A cassetur bill a may be entered with like effect. 3 Bl. Com. 340; and vide 5 T. R. 634; Gould's Plead. c. 5, 139; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2913-14. Vide To quash.
CASTIGATORY12, punishments. An engine used to punishwomen who have been convicted of being common scolds it is sometimes called the trebucket, tumbrel, ducking stool, or cucking stool. This barbarous punishment has perhaps never been inflicted13 in the United States. 12 S. & It. 225. Vide Common Scold.
CASTING VOTE, legislation. The vote given by the president or speaker of a deliberate assembly; when the votes of the other members are equal on both sides, the casting vote then decides the question. Dane's Ab. h. t.
CASTRATION, crim. law. The act of gelding. When this act is maliciously14 performed upon a man, it is a mayhem, and punishable as such, although the sufferer consented to it.
2. By the ancient law of England this crime was punished by retaliation15, membrum pro9 membro. 3 Inst. 118. It is punished in the United States generally by fine and imprisonment16. The civil law punished it with death. Dig. 48, 8, 4, 2. For the French law, vide Code Penal17, art. 316. 3. The consequences ofcastration, when complete, are impotence and sterility18. 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 72.