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Terms
- Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex
- Latin: the welfare of an individual yields to that of the community.
Expanded Legal Definition of Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex
- Salvage
- The rescue of vessels or cargo in peril at sea, and the reward thereof.
Expanded Legal Definition of Salvage
- Sanction
- To sanction can mean to ratify or to approve but it can also mean to punish. The sanction of a crime refers to the actual punishment, usually expressed as a fine or jail term.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sanction
- Sanctuary
- A special criminal law option available in Medieval times to persons who had just committed a crime, allowing them to seek refuge in a church or monastery.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sanctuary
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act
- An American federal law, 2002, which substantially revised and strengthened securities laws and their administration in the aftermath of high profile corporate accounting scandals such as that involving Enron.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sarbanes-Oxley Act
- Satisfaction Guaranteed
- A term in a sales or services contract in which the seller defers to the buyer the sole and unilateral discretion as to whether or not the goods or services tendered are acceptable. In the event the price is not paid, no cause of action exists unless the buyer acting in good faith is satisfied, no matter how good the goods or services are in terms of quality.
Expanded Legal Definition of Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Scenes A Faire
- Elements of an original work that are so trite or common that they are not captured by copyright.
Expanded Legal Definition of Scenes A Faire
- School Law
- The law as it relates to education.
Expanded Legal Definition of School Law
- Scienter
- Latin for actual or guilty knowledge; knowingly.
Expanded Legal Definition of Scienter
- Scott v Avery Clause
- A contract between two parties that they will submit any dispute between them to arbitration before taking any court action.
Expanded Legal Definition of Scott v Avery Clause
- Scrivener
- A literate person who sells his reading or writing services to illiterate others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Scrivener
- Scrutineer
- A person enlisted to assist in the conduct of a vote.
Expanded Legal Definition of Scrutineer
- Search Warrant
- A court order that gives a police the permission to enter private property and to search for evidence of the commission of a crime, for the proceeds of crime or property that the police suspect may be used to commit a crime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Search Warrant
- Secret Trust
- A trust where, to a stated beneficiary, the donor secretly communicates that he/she holds title in trust for another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Secret Trust
- Securities
- Negotiable instruments which yield dividends or interest.
Expanded Legal Definition of Securities
- Security
- Something given to ensure the payment of a loan.
Expanded Legal Definition of Security
- Security Deposit
- Money paid to another to be held as security for the occurence of a specified event.
Expanded Legal Definition of Security Deposit
- Sedition
- The speaking or publishing of words which excite public disorder or defiance of lawful authority.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sedition
- Seisin
- The legal possession of property.
Expanded Legal Definition of Seisin
- Self-Benefit Trust
- A trust created by a settlor and to the settler's exclusive benefit during his or her lifetime.
Expanded Legal Definition of Self-Benefit Trust
- Self-Defence
- A person is not responsible for an act if the conduct is carried-out in self-defence of self or of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Self-Defence
- Semayne's Case
- A 1604 English case that established the right of a home-owner to defend his premises against intrusion ("every man's house is his castle") yields to those seeking to enter with lawful authority such as to make an arrest.
Expanded Legal Definition of Semayne's Case
- Sentence
- The punishment given to a person who has been convicted (i.e. found to be guilty) of a crime. It may be time in jail, community service or a period of probation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sentence
- Sentencing Circle
- A sentencing opportunity at which an accused hopes to favourably influence the court passing sentence, by convening a conciliatory pre-sentence meeting between offender and victim.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sentencing Circle
- Separate Property
- A marital property regime wherein property acquired or owned by a married person and which, notwithstanding the marriage or, where recognized, a marriage-like relationship, remains the separate property of the spouse who acquired or to whom was gifted the item of property.
Expanded Legal Definition of Separate Property
- Separation Agreement
- A private contract between separating spouses resolving issues of joint, family or marital property or assets, support and child responsibilities.
Expanded Legal Definition of Separation Agreement
- Sequestration
- The taking of someones property, voluntarily (by deposit) or involuntarily (by seizure), by court officers or into the possession of a third party, awaiting the outcome of a trial in which ownership of that property is at issue.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sequestration
- Servient Tenement
- The land which suffers or has the burden of an easement.
Expanded Legal Definition of Servient Tenement
- Servitude
- From Roman law and now a feature of civil law; equivalent to ther common law's easement: access rights over the property of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Servitude
- Set-Off
- An alleged cross claim by a defendant against the plaintiff which, if successful, would result in the reduction of elimination of the plaintiff's claim.
Expanded Legal Definition of Set-Off
- Settlement
- An agreement, or the document which articulates the agreement, which sets or resolves rights.
Expanded Legal Definition of Settlement
- Settlor
- The person who actually creates a trust by donating property to be managed and administered by a trustee but from which all profits would go to a beneficiary.
Expanded Legal Definition of Settlor
- Severance Pay
- An amount of money an employer owes to an employee in lieu of notice, in exchange for the employee's agreement to sever an employment contract forthwith.
Expanded Legal Definition of Severance Pay
- Sex
- Gender, as in male or female. Also refers to sexual intercourse.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sex
- Sexual Assault
- A sexual act upon or directed to another which is unwanted and not consented to by the other.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sexual Assault
- Sexual Harassment
- A term used in human rights legislation and referring primarily to harassment in employment situations, related to sex or gender, which detrimentally affects the working environment.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sexual Harassment
- Sexual Intercourse
- Penetration by the penis of a woman's labia.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sexual Intercourse
- Sexual Orientation
- An individual's preference in terms of sexual relationship with others - whether homosexual or heterosexual.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sexual Orientation
- Share
- A portion of a for-profit corporation bought by cash.
Expanded Legal Definition of Share
- Shared Custody
- A family law support or maintenance term referring to a situation where a child spends about an equal amount of time in the care and home of each of the two separated or divorced parents, and the parents share the legal rights in regards to the child.
Expanded Legal Definition of Shared Custody
- Shareholder
- Persons who own a share(s) of a for-profit corporation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Shareholder
- Shareholder agreement
- A contract between the shareholders of the company and the company itself, in which certain things which would otherwise be the purview of the board of directors, are predetermined.
Expanded Legal Definition of Shareholder agreement
- Sharia Law
- Muslim or Islamic law, both civil and criminal justice as well as regulating individual conduct both personal and moral. The custom-based body of law based on the Koran and the religion of Islam. Because, by definition, Muslim states are theocracies, religious texts are law, the latter distinguished by Islam and Muslims in their application, as Sharia or Sharia law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sharia Law
- Sharp Practice
- Prohibited conduct by a licensed lawyer in taking, or attempting to take advantage of a slip or overlooked technical matter by the other side to litigation, and to agree to reasonable requests which either prejudice his client or the interests of justice.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sharp Practice
- Sheriff
- Individuals empowered to ensure the security of courthouses generally and courtrooms especially, to keep prisoners secure whilst in the courthouse, to secure jurors during trials and to assist in the execution of court orders.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sheriff
- Sherman Antitrust Act
- American federal statutes that defines and prohibits contracts or conspiracies which are designed to restrain trade.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sherman Antitrust Act
- Ship
- A boat or any vessel used in navigation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ship
- Ship Mortgage
- The pledging and charge upon title of a ship and its machinery as security for a loan.
Expanded Legal Definition of Ship Mortgage
- Shock Probation
- A sentencing strategy: a brief period of incarceration followed by release under supervision.
Expanded Legal Definition of Shock Probation
- Shotgun Clause
- A buy-sell agreement where a shareholder wishes to sell his or her shares, or an irreconcilable disagreement on a fundamental issue in regards to the corporation breaks out between shareholders, the sale can be forced by the sell of the holdings of one shareholder to the other.
Expanded Legal Definition of Shotgun Clause
- Sick Leave
- Time off from work, paid or unpaid, on account of an employee's temporary inability to perform duties because of sickness or disability.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sick Leave
- Sic Utera Tuo Ut Alienam Non Laedas
- Latin: use your property in such a fashion so as to not disturb others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sic Utera Tuo Ut Alienam Non Laedas
- Silent Partner
- A person who invests in a company or partnership but does not take part in administering or directing the organization; he or she just shares in the profits or losses.
Expanded Legal Definition of Silent Partner
- Simony
- The crime of corruption for the purpose of a Church or religious benefit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Simony
- Sine Die
- Adjourned indefinitely - without setting any future date of meeting or hearing.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sine Die
- Sister Ship Arrest
- Maritime law: In the context of a legal claim against a particular ship, and in certain circumstances, the law allows the arrest of another ship belonging to the same owner, called a sister ship.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sister Ship Arrest
- Sixth Amendment
- A 1791 amendment to the American Constitution guaranteeing fundamental rights in criminal proceedings such as speedy trial, impartiality, public evidence of witnesses and a right to a lawyer.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sixth Amendment
- Slander
- Verbal or spoken defamation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Slander
- Slander of Title
- Intentionally casting aspersion on someones property including real property, a business or goods (the latter might also be called slander of goods).
Expanded Legal Definition of Slander of Title
- Slavery
- When a person (called master) has absolute power over another (called slave) including life and liberty.
Expanded Legal Definition of Slavery
- Slip Rule
- A rule by which a Court can very exceptionally reopen a published order but only to correct a accidental slip or omission such as a clerical error.
Expanded Legal Definition of Slip Rule
- Small Claims
- A regular court but which has simplified rules of procedure and process to deal with claims of a lesser value.
Expanded Legal Definition of Small Claims
- Socage
- A term of the feudal land ownership system which referred to the tenure which was exchanged for certain goods or services which were not military in nature.
Expanded Legal Definition of Socage
- Socialism
- A form or system of government which champions the equal sharing of land and equal return of the product of the land and industry to all citizens.
Expanded Legal Definition of Socialism
- Society
- A group of people formed as a separate organization and which has as a stated purpose some charitable or benevolent purpose either in regards to the public at-large or in regards to the common interests of the members, and which operates as nearly as possible at cost.
Expanded Legal Definition of Society
- Sodomy
- Synonymous with buggery and referring to unnatural sex acts, including copulation, either between two persons of the same sex or between a person and an animal (the latter act is known as bestiality).
Expanded Legal Definition of Sodomy
- SOLAS - Safety of Life at Sea Treaty
- International treaty promoting the safety of life at sea.
Expanded Legal Definition of SOLAS - Safety of Life at Sea Treaty
- Sole Proprietorship
- A business by a single individual which is not formally organized and for which the individual and the business are indistinguishable in law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sole Proprietorship
- Solicitor
- A lawyer that restricts his or her practice to the giving of legal advice and preparation of formal legal documents, and does not normally litigate.
Expanded Legal Definition of Solicitor
- Solicitor's Lien
- A lawyer’s right to retain client’s document and property pending payment of the lawyer’s bill.
Expanded Legal Definition of Solicitor's Lien
- Solidary Obligation
- Civil law: a legal relationship where one or more of several debtors are each liable to pay the entire amount, or one or more of several creditors each able to collect the whole.
Expanded Legal Definition of Solidary Obligation
- Son Of A Bitch
- A derogatory and possibly defamatory reference to another person suggesting that they are of substandard lineage.
Expanded Legal Definition of Son Of A Bitch
- Sovereign
- Has two meanings. The first one is a technical word for the monarch (king or queen) of a particular country as in the Sovereign of England is Queen Elizabeth. The other meaning of the word is to describe the supreme legislative powers of a state: that they are totally independent and free from any outside political control or authority over their decisions.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sovereign
- Sovereignty
- A state's ability to legislate without legal limitation save as set by themselves and the reach of international law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sovereignty
- Spam
- Unsolicited email transmitted through the Internet.
Expanded Legal Definition of Spam
- Special Resolution
- A vote on a resolution presented to a corporate body which has obtained the assent of a number of the members present greater than a majority.
Expanded Legal Definition of Special Resolution
- Specific Deterrence
- Deterrence, as an objective of sentencing, which is fit to a particular offender.
Expanded Legal Definition of Specific Deterrence
- Specific Performance
- A remedy in the event of breach of contract, whereby the Court orders a party found in breach of his/her contractual obligations to perform their specific duty as set out in the contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Specific Performance
- Split Custody
- A child custody decision which results in the splitting up of the children; that legal custody of one or more of the children is with the father, and that of one or more of the other children are with the mother.
Expanded Legal Definition of Split Custody
- Spoliation
- The intentional destruction of evidence.
Expanded Legal Definition of Spoliation
- Spousal Support
- Payments to an ex-spouse which are temporary or indefinite, lump sum or periodic, designed to pool and share the income of both spouses for that period of time necessary for the lower-income spouse to become economically self-sufficient.
Expanded Legal Definition of Spousal Support
- Spouse
- To be married or as if married.
Expanded Legal Definition of Spouse
- Springing Power of Attorney
- A power of attorney that takes effect only upon the occurrence of a specified event.
Expanded Legal Definition of Springing Power of Attorney
- Sprinkling Trust
- Discretion given to a trustee to distribute income from a trust fund disproportionately between beneficiaries.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sprinkling Trust
- Spy / Spies
- A person who acts clandestinely or on false pretenses to endeavor to obtain information of or within another state with the intention of communicating or selling it to others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Spy / Spies
- Standing Committee
- A term of parliamentary law which refers to those committees which have a continued existence; that are not related to the accomplishment of a specific, once-only task as are ad hoc or special committees.
Expanded Legal Definition of Standing Committee
- Star Chamber
- An elitist, secretive and abusive court convened from time to time by British kings from at least King Henry VII (1457-1509) to 1641.
Expanded Legal Definition of Star Chamber
- Stare Decisis
- Latin: stay with what has been decided.
Expanded Legal Definition of Stare Decisis
- Starr
- Medieval English law term for legal transactions involving a Jewish person.
Expanded Legal Definition of Starr
- State
- A term of international law: those groups of people which have acquired international recognition as an independent country and which have four characteristics; permanent and large population with, generally, a common language; a defined and distinct territory; a nations to refer to what international law calls states.
Expanded Legal Definition of State
- Statement of Claim
- The document which sets out the plaintiff's allegations of fact and thus, engages the judicial process by seeking trial.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statement of Claim
- Statement of Defence
- A defendant's written answer or reply to a statement of claim, admitting or denying each and every one of the facts contained in the statement of claim and alleging such facts as the defendant wishes to assert at trial in opposition to the plaintiff's case.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statement of Defence
- Statute of Frauds
- A statute that set a minimum standard for enforceable contracts, usually requiring at a minimum something in writing or the actual exchange of reciprocal obligations, at least in part.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statute of Frauds
- Statute of Uses
- A 1535 English law that prevented, for a time, the legal structure of a use.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statute of Uses
- Statutes
- The written laws approved by legislatures, parliaments or elected or appointed houses of assembly. Also known as legislation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statutes
- Statutory Rape
- A statutory definition of rape which allows for conviction regardless of the consent, such as with a minor.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statutory Rape
- Statutory Trust
- A trust created by the effect of a statute.
Expanded Legal Definition of Statutory Trust
- Stay
- To stop; to suspend; also known as a stay of proceedings; when a law suit is suspended either indefinitely or until the occurrence of a condition imposed by the court.
Expanded Legal Definition of Stay
- Steal
- The taking of something from another without any legal right to do so.
Expanded Legal Definition of Steal
- Stirpes
- Latin: the offspring of a person; his or her descendants.
Expanded Legal Definition of Stirpes
- Stock
- Available merchandise or the aggregate of a person's share holdings in a corporation.
Expanded Legal Definition of Stock
- Strata
- Title in a prescribed part of a building coupled with a tenant in common interest in common areas.
Expanded Legal Definition of Strata
- Streaking
- Dashing through a public area in the nude.
Expanded Legal Definition of Streaking
- Strict Liability
- Tort liability which is set upon the defendant without need to prove intent, negligence or fault; as long as you can prove that it was the defendant's object that caused the damage.
Expanded Legal Definition of Strict Liability
- Strike
- A common stopping of work by a group of employees.
Expanded Legal Definition of Strike
- Strip Search
- The removal of all or part of an individual's clothing so as to visually inspect private areas or undergarments.
Expanded Legal Definition of Strip Search
- Striptease
- Removal of clothing in a manner so as to arouse sexual desire.
Expanded Legal Definition of Striptease
- Subinfeudation
- The process whereby, under the feudal system of tenure, a person receiving a grant of land from a lord, could himself become a landlord by subdividing and subletting that land to others.
Expanded Legal Definition of Subinfeudation
- Sub Judice
- Latin: under judicial consideration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sub Judice
- Sublease
- The subsequent lease of property that is itself leased; with the primary tenant retaining an interest in the original lease.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sublease
- Sublicense
- The grant by a licensee of certain licensed rights to a third party.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sublicense
- Subordination
- To be subject to the orders or direction of another; of lower rank.
Expanded Legal Definition of Subordination
- Subpoena
- Latin: an order of a court which requires a person to be present at a certain time and place or suffer a penalty (subpoena means, literally, under penalty).
Expanded Legal Definition of Subpoena
- Subrogation
- The substitution of one person to the rights of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Subrogation
- Substantial Awareness Test
- The realization by a person of the harmful nature of a crime or a tort perpetrated against him/her.
Expanded Legal Definition of Substantial Awareness Test
- Substantive Law
- Core law which determines rights and obligations, as opposed to procedural law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Substantive Law
- Substituted Service
- A method of delivery of a court document on a person other than in-person and generally subject to pre-authorization by the Court.
Expanded Legal Definition of Substituted Service
- Successor
- A person who takes over the rights of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Successor
- Sue and Labour Clause
- A standard clause in a maritime insurance policy which allows the insured to recover from the insurer any reasonable expenses incurred by the insured in order to minimize or avert a loss to the insured property, for which loss the insurer would have been liable under the policy.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sue and Labour Clause
- Suicide
- To intentionally take one's own life.
Expanded Legal Definition of Suicide
- Sui Generis
- Latin: of its own kind.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sui Generis
- Sui Juris
- Latin: one's own law.
Expanded Legal Definition of Sui Juris
- Summary Conviction Offence
- In Canada, a less serious offence than indictable offences and for which both the procedure and punishment tends to be less onerous.
Expanded Legal Definition of Summary Conviction Offence
- Summary Judgment
- A court order dismissing a claim summarily, upon application, and based on the allegation that there is no claim or defence with a reasonable prospect of success.
Expanded Legal Definition of Summary Judgment
- Summary Trial
- The trial of an action by way of affidavit evidence only or by use of truncated process.
Expanded Legal Definition of Summary Trial
- Summons
- In the USA, this is one of the initial documents issued in a civil suit; giving the defendant notice of the claim and an opportunity to defend it.
Expanded Legal Definition of Summons
- Surety
- The person who has pledged him or herself to pay back money or perform a certain action if the principal to a contract fails, as collateral, and as part of the original contract.
Expanded Legal Definition of Surety
- Surety Bond
- A three party bond contract in which a third party (the "surety") backs up a principal by agreeing to honour the principal's obligation(s) towards the obligee of a bond in the event of the latter's default.
Expanded Legal Definition of Surety Bond
- Suspended Sentence
- A judicial prerogative retained by a sentencing judge on a person convicted of a crime by which the full sentencing of a convicted person is suspended or deferred until some future time commensurate with the convicted person’s compliance with the terms of the interim probation order.
Expanded Legal Definition of Suspended Sentence
- Suspicious Circumstances
- Circumstances in the preparation or signing of a document that give rise to suspicion as to mental capacity of, or fraud or duress upon the signatory.
Expanded Legal Definition of Suspicious Circumstances
- Synallagmatic Contract
- A civil law term for a reciprocal or bilateral contract: one in which both parties provide consideration.
Expanded Legal Definition of Synallagmatic Contract
- Syndicate
- A formal, informal or secret group of individuals or, more usually, corporations, formed to carry on a specified purpose.
Expanded Legal Definition of Syndicate
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