| Terms- Damages
- A cash compensation ordered by a court to offset losses or suffering caused by another’s fault or negligence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Damages
- Death Penalty
- Also known as capital punishment, this is the most severe form of corporal punishment as it is requires law enforcement officers to kill the convicted offender.
Expanded Legal Definition of Death Penalty
- De Bonis Non
- Latin: assets not yet administered.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Bonis Non
- Debtor
- A person who owes money, goods or services to another, the latter being referred to as the creditor.
Expanded Legal Definition of Debtor
- Decapitation
- The act of beheading a person, usually instantly such as with a large and heavy knife or by guillotine, as a form of capital punishment.
Expanded Legal Definition of Decapitation
- Decree Absolute
- The name given to a final and conclusive court order after the condition of an interim or intervening order (decree nisi) is met.
Expanded Legal Definition of Decree Absolute
- Decree Nisi
- A provisional decision of a court which does not have force or effect until a certain condition is met such as another petition brought before the court or after the passage of a period time.
Expanded Legal Definition of Decree Nisi
- Deed
- A written and signed document which sets out the things that have to be done or recognitions of the parties towards a certain object.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deed
- Deem
- To accept a document or an event as conclusive of a certain status in the absence of evidence or facts which would normally be required to prove that status.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deem
- De Facto
- Latin: as a matter of fact; something which, while not necessarily lawful, exists in fact.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Facto
- Defalcation
- 1. Defaulting on a debt or other obligation such to account for public or trust funds. Usually used in the context of public officials. 2. The setting-off of two debts owed between two people by the agreement to a new amount representing the balance.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defalcation
- Defamation
- An attack on the good reputation of a person, by slander or libel.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defamation
- Defeasance
- A side-contract which contains a condition which, if realized, could defeat the main contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defeasance
- Defendant
- The individual, company or organization who defends a legal action taken by a plaintiff and against whom the court has been asked to order damages or specific corrective action redress some type of unlawful or improper action alleged by the plaintiff.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defendant
- Dehors
- French for outside. In the context of legal proceedings, it refers to that which is irrelevant or outside the scope of the debate.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dehors
- De Jure
- Latin: of the law.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Jure
- Delegatus Non Potest Delegare
- Latin: a delegate cannot delegate.
Expanded Legal Definition of Delegatus Non Potest Delegare
- Demarche
- A word coined by the diplomatic community and referring to a strongly worded warning by one country to another and often, either explicitly or implicitly, with the threat of military consequence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Demarche
- De Minimis Non Curat Lex
- Latin: a common law principle whereby judges will not sit in judgment of extremely minor transgressions of the law.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Minimis Non Curat Lex
- Demurrer
- A mostly obsolete motion put to a trial judge after the plaintiff has completed his or her case, in which the defendant, while not objecting to the facts presented, and rather than responding by a full defence, asks the court to reject the petition right then and there because of a lack of basis in law or insufficiency of the evidence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Demurrer
- De Novo
- Latin: new.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Novo
- Deportation
- The removal of a foreign national under immigration laws for reasons such as illegal entry or conduct dangerous to the public welfare.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deportation
- Deposition
- The official statement by a witness taken in writing (as opposed to testimony which where a witnesses give their perception of the facts verbally).
Expanded Legal Definition of Deposition
- Descendant
- Those person who are born of, or from children of, another are called that person’s descendants.
Expanded Legal Definition of Descendant
- Detinue
- A common law action similar to conversion and also involving the possession of property by the plaintiff may also ask for damages for the duration of the possession.
Expanded Legal Definition of Detinue
- Devastavit
- Latin for 'he has wasted.'
Expanded Legal Definition of Devastavit
- Devise
- The transfer or conveyance of real property by will.
Expanded Legal Definition of Devise
- Dicta or Dictum
- Latin: an observation by a judge on a matter not specifically before the court or not necessary in determining the issue before the court.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dicta or Dictum
- Diplomat
- An official representative of a state, present in another state for the purposes of general representation of the state-of-origin or for the purpose of specific international negotiations on behalf of the diplomat's state-of-origin.
Expanded Legal Definition of Diplomat
- Disbursement
- Miscellaneous expenses other than lawyer fees and court costs (i.e. filing fees) which paid on behalf of another person and for which reimbursement will eventually be demanded of that person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Disbursement
- Discretionary Trust
- A trust in which the settlor has given the trustee full discretion to decide which (and when) members of a group of beneficiaries is to receive either the income or the capital of the trust.
Expanded Legal Definition of Discretionary Trust
- Disrate
- A term of maritime law where an officer or other seaman is either demoted in rank or deprived of a promotion.
Expanded Legal Definition of Disrate
- Dissent
- To disagree.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dissent
- Dissolution
- The act of ending, terminating or winding-up a company or state of affairs.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dissolution
- Distraint
- The right of a landlord to seize the property of a tenant which is in the premises being rented, as collateral against a tenant that has not paid the rent or has otherwise defaulted on the lease, such as wanton disrepair or destruction of the premises.
Expanded Legal Definition of Distraint
- Dividend
- A proportionate distribution of profits made in the form of a money payment to shareholders, by a for-profit corporation. Dividends are declared by a company's board of directors.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dividend
- Divorce
- The final, legal ending of a marriage, by Court order.
Expanded Legal Definition of Divorce
- DNA
- Abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid. A chromosome molecule which carries genetic coding unique to each person with the only exception of identical twins (that is why it is also called 'DNA fingerprinting').
Expanded Legal Definition of DNA
- Docket
- An official court record book which lists all the cases before the court and which may also note the status or action required for each case.
Expanded Legal Definition of Docket
- Doctrine
- A rule or principle or the law established through the repeated application of legal precedents.
Expanded Legal Definition of Doctrine
- Domicile
- The permanent residence of a person; a place to which, even if he or she were temporary absent, they intend to return.
Expanded Legal Definition of Domicile
- Dominant Tenement
- Used when referring to easements to specify that property (i.e. tenement) or piece of land that benefits from, or has the advantage of, an easement.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dominant Tenement
- Dominium Directum
- Latin: qualified ownership of a land: not having possession or use of property but retaining ownership.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dominium Directum
- Dominion Utile
- Latin: the property rights of a tenant.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dominion Utile
- Donatio Mortis Causa
- A death-bed gift, made by a dying person, with the intent that the person receiving the gift shall keep the thing if death ensues.
Expanded Legal Definition of Donatio Mortis Causa
- Donee
- The recipient of a trust; either the trustee or the beneficiary.
Expanded Legal Definition of Donee
- Donor
- The person who donates property to the benefit of another, usually through the legal mechanism of a trust.
Expanded Legal Definition of Donor
- Duces Tecum
- Latin: bring with you.
Expanded Legal Definition of Duces Tecum
- Due Process
- Fundamental procedural legal safeguards of which every citizen has an absolute right when a state or court purports to take a decision that could affect any right of that citizen.
Expanded Legal Definition of Due Process
- Dum Casta
- Latin: for so long as she remains chaste.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dum Casta
- Dum Sola
- Latin: for so long as she remains unmarried.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dum Sola
- Dum Vidua
- Latin: for so long as she remains a widow.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dum Vidua
- Duplex
- A house which has separate but complete facilities to accommodate two families as either adjacent units or one on top of the other.
Expanded Legal Definition of Duplex
- Duress
- Where a person is prevented from acting (or not acting) according to their free will, by threats or force of another, it is said to be 'under duress'.
Expanded Legal Definition of Duress
- Dower
- A widow's life estate interest in her husband's real property if he died intestate.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dower
- Dangerous Offender
- A person convicted of serious crimes and who is likely to re-offend.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dangerous Offender
- Diplomatic Immunity
- Immunity extended to diplomat officers from criminal and civil jurisdiction of their host state.
Expanded Legal Definition of Diplomatic Immunity
- Diplomacy
- Peaceful representations between states.
Expanded Legal Definition of Diplomacy
- Decedent
- An individual who has died.
Expanded Legal Definition of Decedent
- Disability Insurance
- An insurance contract in which the insurer agrees to pay money or to other benefits in the event that the person insured becomes disabled.
Expanded Legal Definition of Disability Insurance
- Directed Verdict
- When the Court stops a trial determining that an essential fact has not been proven.
Expanded Legal Definition of Directed Verdict
- Double Jeopardy
- A prohibition against being tried or sentenced twice for the same offense.
Expanded Legal Definition of Double Jeopardy
- Defense Attorney or Defence Counsel
- Lawyers who represent persons facing criminal charges.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defense Attorney or Defence Counsel
- District Attorney
- A lawyer in the USA charged with prosecution of criminal charges on behalf of the government.
Expanded Legal Definition of District Attorney
- Diversity Jurisdiction
- Jurisdiction of a US federal court to dispose of a matter meeting a monetary threshold even though it involves residents of different states.
Expanded Legal Definition of Diversity Jurisdiction
- Direct Evidence
- Evidence tendered in trial in the form of recounting of personal observations or a document which directly establishes a fact sought to be proven.
Expanded Legal Definition of Direct Evidence
- Death
- Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions and of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.
Expanded Legal Definition of Death
- Divorce a Mensa et Thoro
- An obselete form of divorce order which did not end the marriage but allowed the parties to reside separate; in effect, a legal or judicially-sanctioned separation of two married persons.
Expanded Legal Definition of Divorce a Mensa et Thoro
- Demurrage
- A term of maritime law which refers to the damages payable by a ship charterer, to the ship owner, as compensation for lost time; where a chartered ship is not returned to the owner on a specified date.
Expanded Legal Definition of Demurrage
- Delict
- A civil law term which imposes liability on a person who causes injury to another, or for injury caused by a person or thing under his custody.
Expanded Legal Definition of Delict
- Deadbeat Dad
- A father who ignores a Court order to pay child support.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deadbeat Dad
- Debt
- An amount of money due and payable, from one person to another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Debt
- Democracy
- A form of government in which the people freely govern themselves; where the executive (or administrative) and law-making (or legislative) power is given to persons chosen by the population; the free people.
Expanded Legal Definition of Democracy
- Dictatorship
- A form of government with a single person as decision-maker; a single ruler.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dictatorship
- Defamatory Libel
- Deliberate publication of defamatory lies which the publisher knows to be false.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defamatory Libel
- Deterrence
- A principle or objective of sentencing a person guilty of a crime which ensures that the punishment is sufficient to deter the guilty person, and others, from committing the same crime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deterrence
- Detention
- The exercise of an element of physical constraint of an individual.
Expanded Legal Definition of Detention
- Diligence
- The degree of attention or care required of a person in a given situation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Diligence
- Discharge
- A sentence of a person found guilty of a crime in which that person does not receive a criminal record of conviction, either absolutely or conditionally.
Expanded Legal Definition of Discharge
- Dunnage
- Materials used by ships to secure and protect cargo.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dunnage
- Derelict
- Property that has been abandoned; especially in maritime law: a ship that is floundering or in peril and which the crew has been abandoned without hope for recovery or with no intention of saving the ship or of returning thereto.
Expanded Legal Definition of Derelict
- De Bene Esse
- To take something for what it is worth, such as evidence collected for the time being, in the absence of, but in anticipation of, litigation, admissibility to be determined when such thing is sought to be used against another at trial.
Expanded Legal Definition of De Bene Esse
- Domestic Animal
- A pet; dogs, cats or other tame animals or birds and which serve some purpose for its owner or others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Domestic Animal
- Domitae Naturae
- Animals which are of a nature easily tamed and may be readily domesticated.
Expanded Legal Definition of Domitae Naturae
- Distress
- A common law remedy available to landlords to hold the tenant's belongings while the tenant is behind on rent but continues to occupy the premises.
Expanded Legal Definition of Distress
- Death Duties
- Tax payments due to the state, incurred and payable as a result of the death of the tax-payer.
Expanded Legal Definition of Death Duties
- Direct Tax
- A tax demanded from the very persons who it is intended or desired should pay it.
Expanded Legal Definition of Direct Tax
- Discrimination
- A distinction based on the personal characteristics of an individual resulting in some disadvantage to that individual.
Expanded Legal Definition of Discrimination
- Delusion
- A firm yet irrational belief and which may affect an individual's capacity to contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Delusion
- Deceptive Trade Practice
- An intentional act or omission in the course of trade or commerce that has the tendency or capacity to mislead or create the likelihood of deception.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deceptive Trade Practice
- Derivative Work
- Intellectual property (copyright): a work that builds on, or reassembles, with some degree of originality, existing works.
Expanded Legal Definition of Derivative Work
- Debenture
- A document which creates or acknowledges a debt or loan.
Expanded Legal Definition of Debenture
- Divine Right of Kings
- A doctrine of absolute right of a monarch premised on the belief that an individual's tenure as monarch was an act of God, and thus the king can set the law, or to ignore or change the law as may have been set by a representational parliament.
Expanded Legal Definition of Divine Right of Kings
- Disclaimer
- A renunciation or refusal of rights or liability which might otherwise fall upon the person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Disclaimer
- Discontinuance
- A formal notice filed with the Court and served on the defendant, ending active litigation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Discontinuance
- Dereliction
- The enlarging of land adjacent to water by the gradual retreat of the water line.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dereliction
- Decree
- A decision or order of government or judicial body.
Expanded Legal Definition of Decree
- Day
- A consecutive period of 24 hours.
Expanded Legal Definition of Day
- Due Diligence
- Reasonable verifications and precautions taken to identify or prevent forseeable risks.
Expanded Legal Definition of Due Diligence
- Director
- Senior manager(s) selected by shareholders to manage a corporation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Director
- Dummy Corporation
- A corporation created solely for the purpose of insulating an individual or another corporation from liability in either contract or import.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dummy Corporation
- Defunct Company
- A corporation which has been cancelled by the jurisdiction which initially created it.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defunct Company
- Discovery
- The making known to the other side of a law suit, of all relevant evidence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Discovery
- Dedimus Potestatem de Attornato Faciendo
- Latin: An ancient common law exemption from the requirement to attend any court summons in person allowing, instead, representation by an attorney.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dedimus Potestatem de Attornato Faciendo
- Damnum Absque Injuria
- Latin: harm absent a wrong.
Expanded Legal Definition of Damnum Absque Injuria
- Damnum Injuria Datum
- Latin: wrongful injury to the property of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Damnum Injuria Datum
- Dhimmi
- Muslim law: non-Muslims.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dhimmi
- Diyya
- Muslim law: the payment by an aggressor to his victim of a sum of money to thus avoid a retaliation punishment (kisas).
Expanded Legal Definition of Diyya
- Djabr
- Muslim law: a father's right to constrain his son or daughter into a marriage of the father’s choosing.
Expanded Legal Definition of Djabr
- Deponent
- A person who gives evidence verified by oath, as within an affidavit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deponent
- Derivative Action
- A class action brought for a wrong done to a corporation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Derivative Action
- Demand Letter
- A letter from a lawyer, on behalf of a client, that demands payment or some other action, which is allegedly due or in default.
Expanded Legal Definition of Demand Letter
- Dangerous Driving
- The operating of a motor vehicle in a manner which has as one of its inherent qualities the exposure of the public to harm or injury.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dangerous Driving
- Deceit
- Willful or reckless misrepresentation or concealment of material facts with an intent to mislead.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deceit
- Deliberative Secrecy
- The intentional concealment of the process of cogitating, consulting or other private methods of arriving at a judicial decision.
Expanded Legal Definition of Deliberative Secrecy
- Denunciation
- A principle of sentencing in criminal law; that the sentence send a clear message to the general public that the offence is serious and the punishment just.
Expanded Legal Definition of Denunciation
- Dementia
- A chronic impairment of cognitive and intellectual functioning including memory impairment, which interferes with the activities of daily living.
Expanded Legal Definition of Dementia
- Delirium
- A sudden onset of acute confusion and hyperactivity.
Expanded Legal Definition of Delirium
- DSM-IV
- The American Psychiatric Association mental disorder manual and classification.
Expanded Legal Definition of DSM-IV
- Defence of Habitation
- The right to use lethal force to prevent a felony committed within a person's home.
Expanded Legal Definition of Defence of Habitation
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