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Wagner Act
A 1935 American federal statute which recognized employee rights to collective bargaining, protected the right to belong to a union, prohibited many anti-union tactics then used by employers, and set up the National Labor Relations Board.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wagner Act

Waiver
An intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege.
Expanded Legal Definition of Waiver

Warranty
A guarantee given on the performance of a product or the doing of a certain thing.
Expanded Legal Definition of Warranty

Waste
The abuse, destruction or permanent change to property by one who is merely in possession of it as in the case of a tenant or a life tenant.
Expanded Legal Definition of Waste

Wedlock
Being married.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wedlock

Will
A written statement, usually signed, made by an individual, which directs the distribution of their property when they die.
Expanded Legal Definition of Will

Wire-tapping
An electronic surveillance device which secretly listens in and records conversations held over a phone line.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wire-tapping

Without Prejudice
A reservation made on a statement or an offer that it is not an admission or cannot otherwise be used against the issuing party in future dealings or litigation with any determinative legal effect.
Expanded Legal Definition of Without Prejudice

Witness
A person who perceives an event (by seeing, hearing, smelling or other sensory perception).
Expanded Legal Definition of Witness

Words of Limitation
Words in a conveyance or in a will which set the duration of an estate.
Expanded Legal Definition of Words of Limitation

Words of Purchase
Words which specifically name the person to whom land is being conveyed.
Expanded Legal Definition of Words of Purchase

Writ
An official court document, signed by a judge or bearing an official court seal, which commands the person to whom it is addressed, to do something specific.
Expanded Legal Definition of Writ

Wrongful Death
A law action which claims damages from any person who, through negligence or direct act or omission, caused the death of certain relatives (eg. spouse, children or parent).
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Death

Wrongful Dismissal
Being fired from a job without an adequate reason or without any reason whatsoever. Can also be referred to as wrongful termination, wrongful discharge or dismissal without just cause.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Dismissal

War Crimes
Excessive brutality during war, in contravention of an international treaty or convention.
Expanded Legal Definition of War Crimes

Wild Horse Annie Act
A 1959 American law that sought to restrict the use of motorized vehicles by cowboys rounding-up wild horses on public land.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wild Horse Annie Act

Witchcraft
According to law books of the Middle Ages, the act of invoking evil spirits or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding, or rewarding any evil spirit.
Expanded Legal Definition of Witchcraft

Want of Prosecution
An application to a judge to dismiss a law suit alleging that the litigant has inexcusably delayed moving the litigation along and that under the circumstances, the litigation ought to be dismissed.
Expanded Legal Definition of Want of Prosecution

Waterboarding
A criminal investigation interrogation technique whereby a person suspected of having or withholding relevant information is blindfolded and bound on their back, sometimes with the fact covered with porous or nonporous material, and subjected to water poured over their mouth and nose such as to simulate drowning and to thus, under duress, elicit information.
Expanded Legal Definition of Waterboarding

Wergeld
A fine set for injury or death of certain animals or person and upon which, the perpetrator was required to pay to the family of the deceased. Also spelled wergild.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wergeld

Wreck
An abandoned vessel, or something abandoned off a vessel, which is either afloat, stranded, aground or sunken.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wreck

With Prejudice
A statement or order that is conclusive between the parties as to the dispute between them.
Expanded Legal Definition of With Prejudice

Waiver By Conduct
The abandonment of a right implied from a person's conduct.
Expanded Legal Definition of Waiver By Conduct

Welsh Mortgage
A unique, now archaic species of common law mortgages where a person collects rents or profits in regards to specified real property, until the loan and any interest, is paid off.
Expanded Legal Definition of Welsh Mortgage

Women's Court
An in camera court set up to hear cases involving women.
Expanded Legal Definition of Women's Court

War
The use of violence and force between two or more states to resolve a matter of dispute.
Expanded Legal Definition of War

Wallace Damages
Increased damage award in a wrongful dismissal case because of the manner in which the dismissal was handled by the employer.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wallace Damages

Wager of Law
An ancient English law defence to a claim of contractual debt.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wager of Law

Watered Stock
Shares in a corporation which is stated to be, or issued as fully paid but which in fact, has not been paid for.
Expanded Legal Definition of Watered Stock

Witenagemote
An assembly of local elders in medieval England.
Expanded Legal Definition of Witenagemote

Wrongful Conviction
A conviction of a person accused of a crime which, in the result of subsequent investigation, proves erroneous.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Conviction

Waqf
Muslim law: property dedicated to charitable purposes.
Expanded Legal Definition of Waqf

Wrongful Life
A child's tort claim for bringing the child to birth where the person so doing knew or ought to have known that the child would be born into a life of painful and debilitating disease.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Life

Wrongful Birth
A mother's claim in tort that she would not to have given birth to the child with serious genetic defects but for the defendant's negligence in testing or counselling.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Birth

Wrongful Pregnancy
A tort claim alleging that the defendant's negligence has caused an unwanted pregnancy and birth.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Pregnancy

Withdrawal
A cancellation of a statement of defence or counterclaim by a defendant.
Expanded Legal Definition of Withdrawal

Weapon of Mass Destruction
Device designed to kill humans through the use of atomic or nuclear energy or the release of chemicals, poisons, biological agents or radioactivity.
Expanded Legal Definition of Weapon of Mass Destruction

Whiplash
Soft tissue (nerves and muscles) damage to the neck or lower brain area, often caused by a rear-end motor vehicle collision.
Expanded Legal Definition of Whiplash

Wobbler
An offense known to American criminal law which offers to the district attorney the option of charging as a misdemeanor or as a felony.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wobbler

Wrongful Invasion
In the context of the tort of nuisance, the enjoyment of property rights of another.
Expanded Legal Definition of Wrongful Invasion