Habeas Corpus: Latin: a court petition which orders that a person being detained be produced before a judge for a hearing to decide whether the detention is lawful. See the complete Legal Definition of Habeas Corpus

Habitual Offender: A person who is convicted and sentenced for crimes over a period of time and even after serving sentences of incarceration, demonstrates a propensity towards future criminal conduct. See the complete Legal Definition of Habitual Offender

Harassment: Unsolicited words or conduct which tend to annoy, alarm or abuse another person. See the complete Legal Definition of Harassment

Hearsay: Evidence that is offered by a witness of which they do not have direct knowledge but, rather, their testimony is based on what others have said to them. See the complete Legal Definition of Hearsay

Holograph Will: A will written entirely in the testator’s handwriting and not witnessed. See the complete Legal Definition of Holograph Will

Homicide: The act or omission of one human being, which ends the life of another. See the complete Legal Definition of Homicide

Hostile Witness: A party's witness who demonstrates such adversity to answering questions that the trial judge allows leading questions to be put to that witness. See the complete Legal Definition of Hostile Witness

Hung Jury: A jury which is unable to arrive at a required unanimous or near unanimous verdict. See the complete Legal Definition of Hung Jury

Husband-Wife Privilege: A special right that married persons have to keep communications between them secret and even inaccessible to a court of law. See the complete Legal Definition of Husband-Wife Privilege

Homosexuality: Sexual contact between two persons of the same sex. See the complete Legal Definition of Homosexuality

Habitual Residence: Ordinary residence. See the complete Legal Definition of Habitual Residence

Hotchpot: The mixing of property for the purposing of effecting a proportionate division. See the complete Legal Definition of Hotchpot

Heir: A beneficiary of a will or an intestacy. See the complete Legal Definition of Heir

Hatch Act: An American statute which controls political activity of government employees. See the complete Legal Definition of Hatch Act

Hodge's Case: A rule limiting the use of circumstantial evidence in the trial of a criminal offence. See the complete Legal Definition of Hodge's Case

Hue and Cry: A community fugitive containment strategy of medieval England where a yell went up denouncing a crime and the offender and all within earshot took up the chase. See the complete Legal Definition of Hue and Cry

Home Invasion: A break and enter of occupied residential premises with forced confinement, assault or battery of occupants. See the complete Legal Definition of Home Invasion

Halliday Order: A special Court order in regards to document disclosure where, in special cases, a lawyer for a litigant, as an officer of the Court, first review documents from specified sources, or at large, and identifies and proposes to set aside and distinguish documents weighed relevancy, for reasons of privilege, privacy, confidentiality, or the potential personal embarrassment of the party given the personal nature of the information in a document. See the complete Legal Definition of Halliday Order

Heresy: A historic criminal offence comprised of the act of public denial of Christian doctrines. See the complete Legal Definition of Heresy

Hereditament: Something which can be inherited. See the complete Legal Definition of Hereditament

Himalaya Clause: A clause in a transportation contract purporting to extend liability limitations which benefit the carrier, to others who act as agents for the carrier such as stevedores or longshoremen. See the complete Legal Definition of Himalaya Clause

High Seas: A term of international and maritime law; the open ocean, not part of the exclusive economic zone, territorial sea or internal waters of any state. See the complete Legal Definition of High Seas

Human Right: An individual's statutory right to equal treatment and free from discrimination prohibited by statute and which, generally, provides a civil remedy to provide compensation or to punish such discrimination when it is reported. See the complete Legal Definition of Human Right

Hitman Scam: A consumer scam usually conducted by email in which the recipient is approached by an alleged assassin who seeks money in lieu of completing his task. See the complete Legal Definition of Hitman Scam

Hybrid Offence: A criminal offence for which the prosecutor has the option of charging as an offence punishable by summary conviction or as an indictable offence. See the complete Legal Definition of Hybrid Offence

Hockey: A game played on ice in which opposing teams of six players each, try to drive a small black hard rubber disk called a puck into the oppising goal by hitting it with a curved stick. See the complete Legal Definition of Hockey

Home-Country Rule: A form of international agreement in which a host country allows a foreign national to continue to fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of his country of origin even as regards acts or commerce in the host country. See the complete Legal Definition of Home-Country Rule

Heritable Obligation: A legal obligation or right which is not extinguished by the death of the person who held those rights, or was liable for the obligation, but are transfered to the estate. See the complete Legal Definition of Heritable Obligation

Hypothec: A charge on property upon which an unpaid creditor may enforce payment of the debt. See the complete Legal Definition of Hypothec

Henson Trust: A discretionary trust for a person in receipt of social assistance or disability benefits designed to top-up that person's income but without making them ineligible. See the complete Legal Definition of Henson Trust

House Arrest: The judicial obligation upon an individual, as either part of a pre-trial order or a sentence following conviction of a crime, that the individual be forbidden to leave his or her place of residence except at specified hours. See the complete Legal Definition of House Arrest

Half-Secret Trust: A secret trust in which the donor announces the trust but not the objects or the beneficiaries. See the complete Legal Definition of Half-Secret Trust

Heriot: A right in ancient common law of a land lord, upon the death of his tenant, to pick any beast belonging to the estate of the deceased tenant. See the complete Legal Definition of Heriot

Hereditas Jacens: Latin: an unclaimed estate. See the complete Legal Definition of Hereditas Jacens

Hereditas: Latin: the estate of a deceased person. See the complete Legal Definition of Hereditas

Hereditas Damnosa: Latin: an inheritance that is more of a burden than a benefit. See the complete Legal Definition of Hereditas Damnosa

Hiraba: Muslim law: organized crime such as highway robbery. See the complete Legal Definition of Hiraba

Hudud: Muslim law: divine punishments; the category of crimes most egregious and therefore most severely punished. See the complete Legal Definition of Hudud

Humanitarian Doctrine: A principle of tort law which requires an individual to take every action at hand to avoid an accident where peril to another human being is otherwise imminent. See the complete Legal Definition of Humanitarian Doctrine

Hadley v Baxendale, Rule in: A rule of contract law which limits the defendant of a breach of contract case to damages which can reasonably be anticipated to flow from the breach. See the complete Legal Definition of Hadley v Baxendale, Rule in

Hostis Humani Generis: Latin: the enemy of mankind. See the complete Legal Definition of Hostis Humani Generis

Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds: A criteria of immigration law; an unusual, undeserved or disproportionate hardship caused to a person seeking consideration. See the complete Legal Definition of Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds

Hissing: A common law right given to the audiences of public performances to openly express their opinion of the performance. See the complete Legal Definition of Hissing

Hostile Work Environment: A pattern of ongoing and persistent harassment severe enough to alter the conditions of employment. See the complete Legal Definition of Hostile Work Environment

Heart Attack: Damage to the heart muscle by occlusion of blood supply. See the complete Legal Definition of Heart Attack

Heart Attack Standard: A finding or allegation that conditions of employment are so unusual or extraordinary conditions as to have the potential to cause mental disorder or a heart attack. See the complete Legal Definition of Heart Attack Standard

Hired Gun: An expert with a bias or who adapts his or her expert evidence to the requirements of the party that calls him/her as a witness. See the complete Legal Definition of Hired Gun