What is CONSCIENCE? Definition of CONSCIENCE in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms.
The moral sense; the faculty of judging the moral qualities of actions, or of discriminating between right and wrong; particular. ly applied to one's perception and judgment of the moral qualities of his own conduct, but in a wider sense, denoting a similar application of the standards of morality to the acts of others. The sense of right and wrong inherent in every person by virtue of his existence as a social entity; good conscience being a synonym of equity. Van Graa- fieland v. Wright, 286 Mo. 414, 228 S.W. 465, 469. In law, especially the moral rule which requires probity, justice, and honest dealing between man and man, as when we say that a bargain is "against conscience" or "unconscionable," or that the price paid for property at a forced sale was so inadequate as to "shock the conscience." This is also the meaning of the term as applied to the jurisdiction and principles of decision of courts of chancery, as in saying that such a court is a "court of conscience," that it proceeds "according to conscience," or that it has cognizance of "mat- ters of conscience." See 3 Bl.Comm. 47-56; People v. Stewart, 7 Cal. 143; Miller v. Miller, 187 Pa. 572, 41 A. 277.
As an element of equitable jurisdiction it is not the private opinion of an individual court, but is rather to be regarded as a metaphorical term, designating the common standard of civil right and expediency combined, based upon general principles and limited by established doctrines, to which the court appeals and by which it tests the conduct and rights of suitors. National City Bank of New York v. Gelfert, 284 N.Y. 13, 29 N.E.2d 449, 452.
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That's the definition of CONSCIENCE in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
