Sanction Definition:

This is a very unusual word with two contradictory meanings.

To sanction can mean to endorse, to ratify or to approve but confusingly, it can also mean to reprimand or punish.

The sanction of a crime refers to the actual punishment, usually expressed as a fine or jail term.

In Re National Bank of Wales, Justice Lindley noted that:

"Sanction ... means approval and implies a power of disapproval."

Or Justice Biggs of the United States District Court (Delaware) Johns v Allen, at Footnote #5:

"To sanction can mean and we use the phrase here to mean to give approval to, to give countenance to."

Conversely, in R. v Frederickson, Judge Saunderson of the British Columbia Provincial Court adopted these words to describe sanction:

"... the specific penalty enacted in order to enforce obedience to a law (and) the part or clause of a law which declares the penalty attached to infringement thereof."

REFERENCES:

• Johns v. Allen, 231 F. Supp. 852 (1964)
• Re National Bank of Wales, 66 Ch. 222 (1897)
• R. v. Frederickson, 2002 BCPC 134