Interpretation

(1) In this Code20 “act” means any act or any omission, or any series of acts or any series of omissions, or any combination of acts or any combination of acts and omissions; “administer”, when used with reference to administering any substance to a person, means causing the substance to be taken or introduced into any part of a person’s body, whether with or without his knowledge or consent; “corporation” does not include a corporation sole; “court” includes any court whether consisting of one or of several judges, magistrates or arbitrators, and “the court” means the court before whom an accused person is tried, or which has jurisdiction for the purposes of the provision in which the expression is used; “crime” includes an offence punishable under this Code or under any other statute; “dangerous” means likely or calculated to cause dangerous harm; “deadly” means likely to cause death or which causes death; “deliver” includes causing a person to receive a thing and permitting a person to take a thing, whether directly or by any “document” includes– (a) any writing which, whether alone or in conjunction with any other writing or matter, creates or assures or is evidence of any right, obligation, liability, acquaintance or authority; (b) any writing made or issued by any public officer in pursuance of any duty or authority as such officer; 21 (c) any writing verified on oath or attested by a witness; or (d) any writing which by the law for the time being in force requires a stamp, whether or not such writing is in fact stamped according to law; “document of title to goods” includes any bill of lading, India warrant, dock warrant, warehouse-keeper’s certificate, warrant or order for the delivery or transfer of any goods or valuable thing, bought or sold note, or any other document used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to authorise, either by endorsement or by delivery, the possessor of such document to transfer or receive any goods thereby represented or therein mentioned or referred to; “gaoler” includes the keeper of any prison; “judicial proceeding” includes any civil or criminal trial, and any inquiry or investigation held by a judicial officer in pursuance of any duty or authority; “jury” includes a judge in cases where a judge tries a case without a jury; “magistrate” includes a justice of the peace; “night” means the time between the hour of eight in the evening of any day and the hour of six in the following morning; “property” includes any description of real and personal property, money, debts and legacies, and all deeds and instruments relating to or evidencing the title or right to any property, or giving a right to recover or receive any money or goods, and also includes not only such property as has been originally in the possession or under the control of any person, but also any property into or for which the same has been converted or exchanged, and anything acquired by such conversion or exchange, whether immediately or otherwise; “send” includes causing, or attempting in any manner to cause, a thing to be received by a person; “trustee” means a trustee on some express trust created by some deed, will or instrument in writing, and includes the heir or personal representative of any such trustee, and any other person upon or to whom the duty of such trust has devolved or come, and also an executor and administrator, and an official receiver, assignee, liquidator or other like officer acting under any present or future Act or other law relating to limited liability companies or bankruptcy; “valuable security” includes any writing entitling, or evidencing the title of, any person to any share or interest in any public stock, annuity, fund or debt of any country or in any stock, annuity, fund or debt of any body corporate, company or society, whether within or without the Commonwealth, or to any deposit in any bank, and also includes any scrip, debenture, bill, note, warrant, order or other security for the payment of money, or any authority or request for the payment of money or for the delivery or transfer of goods or chattels or any accountable receipt, release or discharge or any receipt or other instrument evidencing the payment of money, or the delivery of any chattel personal; “will”, when used with respect to a document, means any testamentary document, whether the same is formal or informal, complete or incomplete. (2) Any definition or explanation of a word shall be applied to the derivatives or different grammatical forms of that word so far as it is applicable thereto, and shall also be applied in construing any provision of this Code to the matter of which that definition or explanation is relevant, although neither that word nor any of its derivatives or different grammatical forms occur in such provision. 23 Standard Tests for Questions of Criminal Liability