Competency

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Competence \Com"pe*tence\, Competency \Com"pe*ten*cy\, n. [Cf.
     F. comp['e]tence, from L. competentia agreement.]
     1. The state of being competent; fitness; ability; adequacy;
        power.
        [1913 Webster]
  


              The loan demonstrates, in regard to instrumental
              resources, the competency of this kingdom to the
              assertion of the common cause.        --Burke.
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              To make them act zealously is not in the competence
              of law.                               --Burke.
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     2. Property or means sufficient for the necessaries and
        conveniences of life; sufficiency without excess.
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              Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
              Lie in three words -- health, peace, and competence.
                                                    --Pope.
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              Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but
              competency lives longer.              --Shak.
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     3. (Law)
        (a) Legal capacity or qualifications; fitness; as, the
            competency of a witness or of a evidence.
        (b) Right or authority; legal power or capacity to take
            cognizance of a cause; as, the competence of a judge
            or court. --Kent.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. the quality of being adequately or well qualified
        physically and intellectually, especially possession of
        the skill and knowledge required (for a task).
        [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  competency
       n : the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically
           and intellectually [syn: {competence}] [ant: {incompetence}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  COMPETENCY, evidence. The legal fitness or ability of a witness to be heard 
  on the trial of a cause. This term is also applied to written or other 
  evidence which may be legally given on such trial, as, depositions, letters, 
  account-books, and the like. 
       2. Prima facie every person offered is a competent witness, and must be 
  received, unless Lis incompetency (q.v.) appears. 9 State Tr. 652. 
       3. There is a difference between competency and credibility. A witness 
  may be competent, and, on examination, his story may be so contradictory and 
  improbable that he may not be believed; on the contrary he may be 
  incompetent, and yet be perfectly credible if he were examined. 
       4. The court are the sole judges of the competency of a witness, and 
  may, for the purpose of deciding whether the witness is or is not competent, 
  ascertain all the facts necessary to form a judgment. Vide 8 Watts, R. 227; 
  and articles Credibility; Incompetency; Interest; Witness. 
       5. In the French law, by competency is understood the right in a court 
  to exercise jurisdiction in a particular case; as, where the, law gives 
  jurisdiction to the court when a thousand francs shall be in dispute, the 
  court is competent if, the sum demanded is a thousand francs or upwards, 
  although the plaintiff may ultimately recover less.