What is CUSTODY? Definition of CUSTODY in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms.
The care and keeping of anything; as when an article is said to be "in the custody of the court." People V. Burr, 41 How.Prac., N.Y., 296; Emmerson v. State, 33 Tex.Cr.R. 89, 25 S.W. 290; Roe v. Irwin, 32 Ga. 39. Also the detainer of a man's person by virtue of lawful process or authority; actual imprisonment. In a sentence that the defendant "be in custody until," etc., this term imports actual imprisonment. Smith v. Com., 59 Pa. 320; Turner v. Wilson, 49 Ind. 581; Ex parte Powers, D.C.Ky., 129 F. 985. Detention; charge; control; possession. The term is very elastic and may mean actual imprisonment or physical detention or mere power, legal or physical, of imprisoning or of taking manual possession. Jones v. State, 26 Ga.App. 635, 107 S.E. 166; J. 0. Nessen Lumber Co. v. Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co., 223 Mich. 349, 193 N.W. 789, 790; State ex rel. Bricker v. Griffith, Ohio App., 36 N.E.2d 489, 491; Willoughby v. State, 87 Tex.Cr.R. 40, 219 S.W. 468, 470; Carpenter v. Lord, 88 Or. 128, 171 P. 577, 579, L.R.A.1918D, 674; Little v. State, 100 Tex.Cr.R. 167, 272 S.W. 456, 457; Randazzo U. S., C.C.A.Mo., 300 F. 794, 797.
The word is defined as the care and possession of a thing, and means the keeping, guarding, care, watch, inspection, preservation or security of a thing, and carries with it the idea of the thing being within the immediate personal care and control of the person to whose custody it is subjected; charge ; immediate charge and control, and not the final, absolute control of ownership, implying responsibility for the protection and preservation of the thing in custody. Southern Carbon Co. v. State, 171 Misc. 566, 13 N.Y.S.2d 7, 9.
"Custody" of property means such a relation towards it as would constitute possession if the person having custody had it on his own account. State v. Columbus State Bank, 124 Neb. 231, 246 N.W. 235, 238. "Custody" means a keeping, guardianship, the state of being held in keeping or under guard, restraint of liberty, imprisonment, and "fetter" is a synonym. Browder v. Cook, D.C.Idaho, 59 F.Supp. 225, 231.
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That's the definition of CUSTODY in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.