| Terms- Abbacinare
- A barbaric form of corporal punishment meted out in the middle ages where persons would be permanently blinded by the pressing of hot irons to the open eyes.
Expanded Legal Definition of Abbacinare
- Abduction
- To take someone away from a place without that person's consent, or by fraud.
Expanded Legal Definition of Abduction
- Abet
- Encouraging or inciting another to do a certain thing, such as a crime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Abet
- Ab Initio
- Latin: from the start; from the beginning.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ab Initio
- Acceptance
- The final and unequivocal expression of assent to another's offer to contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Acceptance
- Acceleration Clause
- A clause in a contract that states that if a payment is missed, or some other default occurs (such as the debtor becoming insolvent), then the contract is fully due immediately.
Expanded Legal Definition of Acceleration Clause
- Accord and Satisfaction
- The act of one party, having complied with its contractual obligation, accepting some type of compensation from the other party (usually money and of a lesser value) in lieu of enforcing the contract and holding the other party to their original obligation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Accord and Satisfaction
- Accretion
- The addition to land by the action of water.
Expanded Legal Definition of Accretion
- Acquiescence
- Action or inaction which binds a person legally even though it was not intended as such.
Expanded Legal Definition of Acquiescence
- Act
- A bill which has passed through the various legislative steps required for it and which has become law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Act
- Act of God
- An event which is caused solely by the effect of nature or natural causes and without any interference by humans whatsoever.
Expanded Legal Definition of Act of God
- Ad Colligendum Bona
- A person appointed by Court order and for the limited and sole purpose of collecting, inventorizing and preserving the assets of the deceased until another administrator can be found or appointed.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ad Colligendum Bona
- Ad Damnum
- Latin: refers to the parts or sections of a Court application that speaks to the damages that were allegedly suffered and claimed by the plaintiff.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ad Damnum
- Addendum
- An attachment to a written document.
Expanded Legal Definition of Addendum
- Ademption
- When property identified in a will cannot be given to the beneficiary because it no longer belonged to the deceased at the time of death.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ademption
- Adhesion Contract
- A fine-print consumer form contract which is generally given to consumers at point-of-sale, with no opportunity for negotiation as to it's terms, and which, typically, sets out the terms and conditions of the sale to advantage the seller.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adhesion Contract
- Ad Hoc
- Latin: for this purpose; for a specific purpose.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ad Hoc
- Ad Infinitum
- Latin: forever; without limit; indefinitely.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ad Infinitum
- Administrative Law
- That body of law which applies for hearings before quasi-judicial or quasi-judicial organizations such as administrative tribunals, or the underlying regulatory agency.
Expanded Legal Definition of Administrative Law
- Administrative Tribunal
- Hybrid adjudicating authorities which render judicial decisions.
Expanded Legal Definition of Administrative Tribunal
- Administrator
- A person who manages (administers) the assets of another, such as an estate administrator or the administrator of an insurance plan.
Expanded Legal Definition of Administrator
- ADR
- Abbreviation for alternative dispute resolution.
Expanded Legal Definition of ADR
- Adultery
- Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not their married spouse.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adultery
- Adverse Possession
- The possession of land, without legal title, for a period of time sufficient to become recognized as legal owner.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adverse Possession
- Affidavit
- A statement which before being signed, the person signing takes an oath that the contents are, to the best of their knowledge, true.
Expanded Legal Definition of Affidavit
- Agent
- A person who has received the power to act on behalf of another, binding that other person as if he or she were themselves making the decisions.
Expanded Legal Definition of Agent
- Aggravated Damages
- Damages awarded by a court to reflect the exceptional harm done to a plaintiff of a tort action.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aggravated Damages
- Alimony
- An amount given to one spouse to another while they are separated.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alimony
- Alliance
- A military treaty between two or more states, providing for a mutually-planned offensive, or for assistance in the case of attack on any member.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alliance
- Alienate
- To sell or give completely and without reserve; to transfer title to somebody else.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alienate
- Allodial
- Land ownership that is unfettered, outright and absolute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Allodial
- Allonge
- A piece of paper which has been attached to a contract, a check or any promissory note, on which to add signatures because there is not enough room on the main document.
Expanded Legal Definition of Allonge
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Also known as 'ADR'; methods by which legal conflicts and disputes are resolved privately and other than through litigation in the public courts, usually through one of two forms: mediation or arbitration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Amalgamation
- The merging of two things together to form one such as the amalgamation of different companies to form a single company.
Expanded Legal Definition of Amalgamation
- Ambassador
- A citizen that has been officially asked by their country to live in another country in order to legally represent it.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ambassador
- Ambulatory
- Something which is not cast in stone; which can be changed or revoked, such as a will.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ambulatory
- Amend
- To change, to revise; to formally change a statement on the record or the wording of a written document, such as a statute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Amend
- Amicus Curiae
- Latin: friend of the court.
Expanded Legal Definition of Amicus Curiae
- Animus Contrahendi
- Latin: an intention to contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Animus Contrahendi
- Annulment
- To make void forever; to cancel an event or judicial proceeding both retroactively and for the future so that in the eyes of the law, it never occurred.
Expanded Legal Definition of Annulment
- Antedate
- To date back; retroactively.
Expanded Legal Definition of Antedate
- Antenuptial
- An event or document which pre-dates a marriage.
Expanded Legal Definition of Antenuptial
- Anti-trust
- Prohibited trade, marketplace or merchant activities as defined in a relevant anti-trust or such other restraint of trade statute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Anti-trust
- Appeal
- To ask a more senior court or person to review a decision of a subordinate court or person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Appeal
- Appearance
- The act of showing up in court as either plaintiff, defendant, accused or any other party to a civil or criminal suit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Appearance
- Apportionment
- The division and distribution of something into proportionate parts; to each according to their share.
Expanded Legal Definition of Apportionment
- Appurtenance
- Something that, although detached, stands as part of another thing.
Expanded Legal Definition of Appurtenance
- Arbitration
- An agreement to submit a dispute for a hearing and binding decision by a third-party, an arbitrator(s), who is neither a judge or a Court
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitration
- Arraignment
- In USA criminal law, the formal appearance of an accused person to hear, and to receive a copy of, the charge against him or her, in the presence of a judge, and to then enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arraignment
- Arrears
- A debt that is not paid on the due date adds up and accumulates in arrears.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arrears
- Arson
- The intentional setting of a fire to a building.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arson
- Assault
- The touching of another person with an intent to harm, without that person's consent.
Expanded Legal Definition of Assault
- Assign
- To sell, give or otherwise transfer some legal right or responsibility to another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Assign
- Attorn or Attornment
- To consent, implicitly or explicitly, to a transfer of a right.
Expanded Legal Definition of Attorn or Attornment
- Attorney
- An alternate word for lawyers or barrister and solicitor, used mostly in the USA.
Expanded Legal Definition of Attorney
- Audi Alteram Partem
- Latin; literally 'hear the other side'.
Expanded Legal Definition of Audi Alteram Partem
- Autrefois Acquit
- Previously acquitted; an accused cannot be tried for a crime because the record shows he has already been subjected to trial for the same conduct and was acquitted.
Expanded Legal Definition of Autrefois Acquit
- A Vinculo Matrimonii
- Latin: of marriage.
Expanded Legal Definition of A Vinculo Matrimonii
- Avunculus
- Latin: a mother's brother.
Expanded Legal Definition of Avunculus
- Authentic Act
- Civil law: a contract or other legal document which has been properly prepared or authenticated by a court officer, such as a notary, and thereafter given enhanced evidentiary status of its authenticity.
Expanded Legal Definition of Authentic Act
- And/Or
- Any combination of two options; one, the other (either), or both.
Expanded Legal Definition of And/Or
- Actus Reus
- Latin: a prohibited act.
Expanded Legal Definition of Actus Reus
- Actus Reus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea
- Latin: conviction of a crime requires proof of a criminal act and intent.
Expanded Legal Definition of Actus Reus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea
- Anarchy
- Absence of law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Anarchy
- Abatement
- A reduction in some amount that is owed, usually granted by the person to whom the debt is owed. In the law of torts, the summary removal of a nuisance.
Expanded Legal Definition of Abatement
- Assumpsit
- Medieval era action for breach of contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Assumpsit
- Absolute Privilege
- An absolute defence to an otherwise defamatory statement because of the venue or context which the statement was made.
Expanded Legal Definition of Absolute Privilege
- Absolute
- Final, perfected, complete and unconditional.
Expanded Legal Definition of Absolute
- Adoption
- To take as one's own.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adoption
- Acquittal
- A decision by a judge that a person accused of a crime is not guilty.
Expanded Legal Definition of Acquittal
- Adverse Witness
- The right of a party calling a witness to show that the witness made a prior inconsistent statement.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adverse Witness
- Age of Majority
- An age generally specified by statute, at which time, upon an individual is given the full gamut of legal rights and responsibilities generally available to an adult of sound mind.
Expanded Legal Definition of Age of Majority
- Affreightment
- A transportation contract whereby a transportation company, shipowner or operator agrees to carry goods in return for a sum of money, the sum being paid called freight.
Expanded Legal Definition of Affreightment
- Admiralty
- Law or judicial body having to do with, or jurisdiction over, shipping and use of the sea.
Expanded Legal Definition of Admiralty
- Affray
- A fight between two or more persons in a public place so as to cause terror to the public.
Expanded Legal Definition of Affray
- Alien
- A citizen of a state in transit, working, residing or otherwise within the territory of another state.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alien
- Armchair Rule
- A rule of interpretation that a judge, called upon to interpret an otherwise unclear legal document, shall take into account the circumstances in which the document was created.
Expanded Legal Definition of Armchair Rule
- Affirmative Action
- A reverse discrimination law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of individuals who are socially or economically disadvantaged.
Expanded Legal Definition of Affirmative Action
- Association
- A form of organizational structure which is institutionally operated on a cost recovery basis, for which incorporation is extended by the government or, in some jurisdictions, as an unincorporated association of individuals, for a set of purposes set out in statute such as religious, scientific, social, literary, educational, recreational or benevolent purposes, and generally operated as nearly as possible at cost.
Expanded Legal Definition of Association
- Ancillary Relief
- Secondary relief claimed by a litigant which is subordinate or subservient to a principal claim.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ancillary Relief
- Apostacy
- The ancient criminal offence of not being Christian or atheism, or of denying the doctrines of a state religion.
Expanded Legal Definition of Apostacy
- Adjourn
- The postponement, suspension and interruption of an ongoing hearing or meeting to resume at some future date; to break off for later resumption.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adjourn
- Agenda
- A term of parliamentary law and procedure referring to a program, written notice and order of business at an upcoming meeting.
Expanded Legal Definition of Agenda
- Automatism
- An act done by a person who is not conscious of what he is doing.
Expanded Legal Definition of Automatism
- Affiant
- A person that is sworn to an affidavit; who gives evidence by way of an affidavit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Affiant
- Ad Litem
- Latin: for the suit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ad Litem
- Access
- A non-custodian parent's bundle of rights or times and days during which he/she has exclusive time with the child of the separated parents.
Expanded Legal Definition of Access
- Aboriginal
- Pertaining to things or land or person or members of a race, which are indigenous to, or first occupied a specified territory.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aboriginal
- Adjective Law
- Procedural law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adjective Law
- Alternative Measures
- Canada; a much lighter disposition of a criminal charge regarding an adult accused who would be prepared to plead guilty and which does not result in a criminal record or incarceration but instead usually results in a mild penalty such as community service, an apology to the victim or counseling.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alternative Measures
- Absolute Discharge
- A sentence of a person guilty of a crime in which the accused is deemed to have not been convicted; no criminal record issues as regards the offense for which an absolute discharge is granted.
Expanded Legal Definition of Absolute Discharge
- Actual Total Loss
- Property that is completely destroyed, or lost and irretrievable; a term of insurance and maritime law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Actual Total Loss
- Athens Passenger Convention
- Formally, the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea (PAL), 1974, an international treaty which establishes a regime of liability for damage suffered by passengers carried on a seagoing vessel.
Expanded Legal Definition of Athens Passenger Convention
- Appraisal
- The informed and objective inspection and estimation of a thing's worth.
Expanded Legal Definition of Appraisal
- Appraisement
- The inspection and appraisal or valuation of property, especially vessels, such as by a court-appointed surveyor, before its judicial sale, thus allowing the court to make an informed decision as to whether the judicial sale price is fair to the parties, particularly where there are competing claims for the proceeds of sale.
Expanded Legal Definition of Appraisement
- Armed Robbery
- Robbery committed while the person accused is armed with a dangerous weapon.
Expanded Legal Definition of Armed Robbery
- Arrest
- The detainment or restraint of a person or thing for the purposes of determining legal rights as regards a thing, or suspicion of criminal activity as regards a person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arrest
- Accounts
- The written, detailed or summary, record of a person's managament or administration of an estate or of a particular matter.
Expanded Legal Definition of Accounts
- Animal
- A creature or living thing, other than human, being able to move of its own accord.
Expanded Legal Definition of Animal
- Assisted Suicide
- An attempt to take one's own life with the intentional assistance of another person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Assisted Suicide
- Arbuckle Rights
- The right of an accused to be sentenced by the judge who took his guilty plea.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbuckle Rights
- Award
- The decision of an arbitrator.
Expanded Legal Definition of Award
- Arbitration Act
- A statute that sets out default terms for the conduct of arbitration between parties to a dispute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitration Act
- Arbitration Agreement
- A contract between two or more parties to refer a dispute to arbitration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitration Agreement
- Arbitration Clause
- A clause in a contract which requires a party to refer a dispute to arbitration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitration Clause
- Arbiter
- An alternate term for arbitrator; preferred in some jurisdictions such as Scotland.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbiter
- Arbitrator
- The adjudicating and presiding officer of a dispute submitted to arbitration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitrator
- Arbitration Rules
- The rules of procedure that govern a particular arbitration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arbitration Rules
- Antichresis
- Civil law: the pledge of real property as security for a debt.
Expanded Legal Definition of Antichresis
- Ab Absurdo
- Latin: an evidentiary suggestion or statutory interpretation that is, or leads to, an absurdity.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ab Absurdo
- Air of Reality Test
- A pre-requisite test against which a proposed defence to a criminal charge is weighed; that any proposed defence must at least have an evidential foundation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Air of Reality Test
- Alibi
- A defence to a criminal charge to the effect that the accused was elsewhere than at the scene of the alleged crime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alibi
- Aberemurder
- A spontaneous and gratuitous murder.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aberemurder
- Adoption of Convenience
- An adoption of a child not for the sake of the child but to the convenience, usually financial, of the adopting parent(s).
Expanded Legal Definition of Adoption of Convenience
- Ancient Lights
- An opening through which light has flowed uninterrupted for twenty years and which can, in some circumstances, support a claim for nuisance if blocked.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ancient Lights
- Averment
- Pleadings; official allegations of fact made by a party to a lawsuit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Averment
- Adult
- An individual who has reached, or is over the age of majority.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adult
- Adult Child
- A son or daughter who has reached the age of majority.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adult Child
- Aircraft
- An object used for flight through the air.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aircraft
- Air Law
- The law of aircraft, their passengers and cargo, and their transit above states and other governed territory.
Expanded Legal Definition of Air Law
- Aleatory Contract
- Civil law: a contract which depends on an uncertain event.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aleatory Contract
- Alluvion
- The gradual increase of land by the action of water such as by tides or currents.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alluvion
- Avulsion
- The removal of land from one real property and its deposit on the property of another, by the sudden action of nature (eg. water or volcano).
Expanded Legal Definition of Avulsion
- Agreement in Principle
- An agreement as to the terms of some future contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Agreement in Principle
- Adult Interdependent Partner
- A statutory term for individuals within a common-law relationship.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adult Interdependent Partner
- Asset
- A thing of value.
Expanded Legal Definition of Asset
- As Is
- That a product is sold in the condition in which it then exists.
Expanded Legal Definition of As Is
- Ambiguity
- Where a word or phrase is capable of two or more meanings and which, in the context, raises doubt or uncertainty as to which is intended.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ambiguity
- Anton Piller Order
- A court order allowing a party to litigation to enter the premises of another to search for and, if found, remove specified documents or items.
Expanded Legal Definition of Anton Piller Order
- Absolute Liability
- Offences in which it is not open to a person to avoid liability on the ground that she or he acted under a reasonable mistake of fact which, if the facts had been as the accused believed them to be, would have made his act innocent.
Expanded Legal Definition of Absolute Liability
- Adminiculum
- Latin: some evidence tendered to support something else
Expanded Legal Definition of Adminiculum
- Amnesty
- A general pardon extended by the government to those persons facing prosecution for, or convicted of specified criminal offences.
Expanded Legal Definition of Amnesty
- Alia Enormia
- Latin: The catch-all phrase in trespass pleadings to refer to all such other harms and damages that may have been caused by the alleged trespasser other than those specified.
Expanded Legal Definition of Alia Enormia
- Agnatio
- Latin: members of a group having a common male ancestor.
Expanded Legal Definition of Agnatio
- Action
- A formal demand to a court of law and of justice to resolve a dispute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Action
- Anticipatory Breach
- When a party to a contract receives an indication from the other party that they intend on not performing their contractual obligations.
Expanded Legal Definition of Anticipatory Breach
- Animus Furandi
- Latin: an intent to do wrong.
Expanded Legal Definition of Animus Furandi
- Arm's Length
- A transaction or relationship where there is an absence of control the one over the other.
Expanded Legal Definition of Arm's Length
- Automatic Stay
- In bankruptcy law; a stay of collection and other similar debt enforcement proceedings against a bankrupt.
Expanded Legal Definition of Automatic Stay
- Auditor
- A private person who examine, inspects or verifies the accounts of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Auditor
- Adult Guardianship
- The body of law as related to the investigation into the ability of an adult to manage his or her person or affairs, and the resultant guardianship.
Expanded Legal Definition of Adult Guardianship
- Abandonment
- The leaving behind of property; an indifference as to the fate of a chatttel.
Expanded Legal Definition of Abandonment
- Administration of Justice
- The personnel, activity and structure of the justice system - courts and police - in the detection, investigation, apprehension, interviewing and trial of persons suspected of crime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Administration of Justice
- Asylum
- A secure place of refuge.
Expanded Legal Definition of Asylum
- Asylum Shopping
- The practise by an individual given asylum by one state as a refugee, to then use that status to attempt to migrate to another country.
Expanded Legal Definition of Asylum Shopping
- Accident
- An unlooked for mishap or occurrence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Accident
- Accardi Doctrine
- An agency must abide by its own regulations.
Expanded Legal Definition of Accardi Doctrine
- Aggression
- Unjustified use of force against the territorial integrity of another state.
Expanded Legal Definition of Aggression
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Anchorage
- The temporary imobolization of a vessel near land through the use of some fixing of the boat to the land under the water bed.
Expanded Legal Definition of Anchorage
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