Terms beginning with A
2,020 headwords
- aA stand-in name for an imaginary person in a legal example. In older Latin and law-French usage it also served as a p…
- a aver et tenerTo have and to hold.
- a bon droitWith good reason; justly.
- a ceFor this purpose.
- a cel jourAt this day.
- a fine forceOf sheer necessity.
- a forceOf necessity.
- a force et armesWith force and arms.
- a fortioriAll the more so: if the weaker case holds, the stronger one certainly does.
- a issueAt issue: in dispute between the parties and awaiting decision.
- a la grande grevaunceTo the great grievance.
- a largeFree; at large.
- a lour foyIn their allegiance.
- a lui et a ses heritiers pour toujoursTo him and his heirs forever.
- a meFrom me. Feudal grants used the phrase for land held directly of the chief lord, shortening a longer expression meani…
- a mensa et thoro(Of a divorce decree) separating a couple without ending the marriage.
- a paisFormerly, to the country, meaning at issue and ready for a jury.
- a quoFrom which.
- A reorganizationIn bankruptcy, a financial restructuring of a company, usually a plan for repaying its debts, drawn up by a trustee a…
- a rubro ad nigrumFrom the red to the black: reading a statute's title, once printed in red, together with the body of the text, printe…
- a termeFor a term.
- a terme de sa vieFor the term of his life.
- a terme que passe estFor a term that has already run out.
- a tort et a traversCarelessly, without thinking it through.
- a tort ou a droitRight or wrong; whether justified or not.
- A.A.CShort for anno ante Christum, meaning in the year before Christ.
- A.DShort for anno Domini, meaning in the year of the Lord.
- A.O.CThe year the world was created. The same letters are also used to mean and other consideration.
- A.RShort for anno regni, meaning in the year of the reign.
- A.U.CShort for ab urbe condita, meaning from the founding of the city.
- AAAA national body that keeps a panel of arbitrators on hand to hear labor and commercial disputes. The same initials al…
- AALSAn association of law schools, each of which has graduated at least three yearly classes of students.
- ABAn experienced sailor qualified for all seaman's duties and certified by an inspecting authority.
- ab invitoFrom an unwilling party; against someone's will.
- ab iratoBy someone acting in anger. The phrase usually describes a gift or bequest made to spite an heir. At common law, a su…
- ABAA voluntary national organization of lawyers that works on law reform, accredits law schools, and runs continuing leg…
- abacinateTo blind someone by holding a red-hot iron or metal plate in front of their eyes.
- abactionIn Roman law, stealing cattle by driving them away. Later civil law called this abaction.
- abactorSomeone who steals cattle, especially in large numbers; a cattle rustler.
- abalienateTo transfer ownership of property to someone else.
- abalienationThe transfer of an interest or title in property to someone else. Roman law called it abalienatio, which English rend…
- abandoned propertyProperty the owner has given up voluntarily, intending never to reclaim it.
- abandoneeSomeone to whom property rights are given up; the person to whom something is formally abandoned.
- abandonmentGiving up a right or interest for good, with no intention of ever claiming it again. In contracts for the sale of lan…
- abandumSomething that has been forfeited.
- abarnareTo uncover a secret crime, or to bring it before a court.
- abatable nuisanceA nuisance so easily removed that the person harmed may lawfully fix it without notifying whoever is responsible, suc…
- abatamentumDoing away with something or cancelling it. It can also mean halting or defeating a pending lawsuit for a reason that…
- abatareTo do away with or cancel.
- abatementDoing away with something or cancelling it. It can also mean halting or defeating a pending lawsuit for a reason that…
- abatement clauseA clause in a lease that frees the tenant from paying rent when a natural disaster makes the property impossible to o…
- abatorSomeone who removes a nuisance. Formerly it also meant someone who wrongfully takes over a freehold before the rightf…
- abatudaFormerly, something reduced in value, such as coins clipped to make them lighter.
- abbacyAn abbot's authority, or the period during which he holds office.
- abbessThe woman who heads a convent.
- abbeyA monastery headed by an abbot, or a convent headed by an abbess.
- abbotThe man who heads an abbey.
- abbreviated term sheetA term sheet giving two things: the description of the securities required by Item 202 of SEC Regulation S-K, or a fa…
- Abbreviatio PlacitorumA digest of pleadings drawn from the rolls of the Curia Regis, Parliament, and the common-law courts between the 12th…
- abbreviatorSomeone who shortens or condenses something. In church law it was an officer of the papal court who helped the vice-c…
- abbroachmentFormerly, cornering a market by buying goods wholesale so as to be the only one selling them at retail.
- ABC testA rule denying unemployment benefits to a worker who is free from the employer's control, works away from the employe…
- ABC transactionIn oil-and-gas law, a sale in which an owner (A) sells a working interest to an operator (B) for cash plus the right…
- abdicationFormally giving up a power or duty, usually one attached to a high office.
- abditoryA hiding place used to conceal and protect goods or money.
- abducteeA person who has been abducted.
- abductionLeading someone away by force or by deception. Some states add further requirements: that the abductor meant to marry…
- abearanceBehavior or conduct.
- aberrant behaviorA single, unplanned or thoughtless criminal act. Many courts have treated it as grounds for a lighter sentence than t…
- abesseIn Roman and civil law, to be absent: to be away from somewhere one is required to be, such as a court.
- abetTo encourage and help someone, especially in committing a crime; also, to support a crime by actively helping it along.
- abetmentEncouraging or helping someone commit a crime.
- abettatorSomeone who encourages or helps another commit a crime.
- abettorSomeone who encourages or helps another commit a crime.
- abeyanceA temporary pause or suspension. In property law, a gap in the chain of succession during which nobody holds title.
- abeyantIn abeyance: temporarily held in suspension, with no one currently holding title.
- abiaticusA grandson through the male line; a son's son.
- abideTo put up with or withstand. It can also mean to obey, to wait for, to carry out an order or judgment, or to live som…
- abide byTo act in line with something; to comply with it.
- abiding convictionA firm belief, settled after examining the whole case thoroughly.
- abigeatusIn Roman law, stealing cattle by driving them away. Later civil law called this abaction.
- abigeusSomeone who steals cattle, especially in large numbers; a cattle rustler.
- abilityThe capacity to do something, especially the legal power to carry out a valid act.
- abisheringFreedom from being fined by a court.
- abjudgeTo take something away from someone by a court's decision.
- abjudicatioStripping someone of something by a court's decision.
- abjurationGiving something up under oath.
- abjuration of the realmAn oath to leave the country and never return.
- abjureTo give something up formally or under oath; also, to keep away from something.
- ablative factA fact that causes rights to be lost; an act or event that changes or ends a legal relationship.
- able seamanAn experienced sailor qualified for all seaman's duties and certified by an inspecting authority.
- able to work(Of a worker) discharged from medical care and fit to work, and so not entitled to unemployment benefits on the groun…
- able-bodied seamanAn experienced sailor qualified for all seaman's duties and certified by an inspecting authority.
- ablegateA papal envoy sent on a special errand, such as delivering the insignia of office to a newly appointed cardinal.
- ablocationRenting out property for money.
- abnormal lawThe law as it applies to people under a legal disability, such as children, foreign nationals, people found insane, c…
- abnormally dangerous activityAn activity that cannot be made safe however carefully it is carried out, and for which the person doing it can be he…
- abodeA home; a fixed place of residence.
- abogadoIn Spanish law, an advocate or lawyer.
- abolishTo do away with something entirely, especially an established practice.
- abolitionDoing away with something, or the state of having been done away with. Capitalized, it refers to the legal ending of…
- aboriginal costWhat an asset cost the first company that put it to public-utility use.
- aboriginal titleA right of occupancy the federal government recognizes in an American Indian tribe, based on the tribe's possession o…
- aborteeA woman who undergoes an abortion.
- abortifacientA drug or device meant to bring about an abortion.
- abortionThe ending of a pregnancy, whether naturally or by deliberate procedure. In Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court first recog…
- aboveIn a higher court.
- above-mentionedMentioned earlier.
- above-statedMentioned earlier.
- above-the-line(Of a tax deduction) subtracted after working out gross income but before working out adjusted gross income. Contribu…
- abridgeTo cut down or reduce; also, to shorten a piece of writing.
- abridgment of damagesA court's power to reduce the damages awarded in certain cases.
- abroadOutside the country, especially somewhere other than the country where the case is being heard.
- abrogateTo do away with a law or custom by formal action; to repeal it.
- abrogationThe repeal or cancellation of a law, in whole or in part, usually by passing a later one.
- ABSAn experienced sailor qualified for all seaman's duties and certified by an inspecting authority.
- abscondTo leave suddenly and secretly, or to go into hiding, especially to avoid being served with legal papers.
- absconding debtorA debtor who runs from creditors to avoid paying what is owed.
- absenceBeing away from where one normally lives. It can also mean failing to turn up when expected.
- absenteIn the absence of. Law reports once used this phrase to record that a judge was not sitting.
- absenteeSomeone who is away from where they normally live, or who is not present when expected.
- absentee ballotA ballot cast before election day, often by mail, by a voter who cannot attend in person.
- absentee landlordA landlord who does not live on the rented property, and usually lives a long way from it.
- absentee managementRunning a property or business from a distance, by people who are not on site.
- absentee votingVoting by someone who is entitled to vote but cannot get to the polling place on election day; also, the practice of…
- absoluteFree of any restriction, qualification, or condition. It can also mean final and not open to revision, or, of governm…
- absolute assigneeSomeone who receives an unrestricted interest in property when some or all of the rights of ownership are transferred…
- absolute assignmentThe outright transfer of rights or property to someone else.
- absolute auctionAn auction with no reserve price: the property goes to the highest bidder, the owner cannot withdraw it once bidding…
- absolute contrabandGoods used mainly for waging war, such as weapons and ammunition, along with military clothing and equipment.
- absolute conveyanceA transfer of property or rights passed on outright, with no conditions attached and not as security for anything.
- absolute covenantA promise in a deed that is not limited by any condition.
- absolute deedA deed that passes title free of any condition or encumbrance. It can also mean a document transferring property owne…
- absolute defenseA defense good against anyone at all, so that whoever made or drew a negotiable instrument can raise it even against…
- absolute deliveryA delivery that takes full effect the moment the document leaves the grantor's hands. It does not usually depend on t…
- absolute disparityThe gap between a group's share of the general population and its share of the pool of possible jurors. If African-Am…
- absolute dutyA duty with no matching right on anyone else's side. John Austin identified four kinds: duties not owed to persons at…
- absolute estateA complete and unqualified estate that cannot be taken away.
- absolute giftA gift made during the giver's lifetime and handed over with the intention of giving up control of it for good.
- absolute guarantyA guarantee under which the guarantor must pay as soon as the main debtor defaults, without the creditor having to pu…
- absolute immunityComplete freedom from civil liability, given to officials while they carry out especially important duties, such as a…
- absolute interestAn interest that carries no conditions.
- absolute lawA supposed law of nature, taken to be fixed in principle even though circumstances may change how it applies.
- absolute legacyA gift in a will that carries no condition and is meant to take effect immediately.
- absolute liabilityLiability that does not turn on carelessness or intent to harm, but on breaking an absolute duty to make something sa…
- absolute majorityA majority of everyone entitled to vote in an election, counting those who stayed away as well as those who voted.
- absolute martial lawGovernment carried on entirely by the military, with civil authority set aside.
- absolute nuisanceInterference with a property right the court treats as fixed, such as a riverside owner's right to the stream in its…
- absolute nullityAn act that is void because it runs against the law or public policy; also, the condition of being void in that way.
- absolute obligationAn obligation that must be carried out exactly as agreed, leaving the person bound no alternative way of performing.
- absolute pardonA pardon that lifts the punishment and restores the offender's civil rights completely, with no strings attached.
- absolute pollution exclusionA clause in some commercial general liability policies that rules out cover for injury or property damage caused by c…
- absolute presumptionA presumption that no further evidence or argument can displace.
- absolute privilegeA protection that shields someone from being sued no matter how wrongful their conduct, even where they acted from a…
- absolute propertyProperty to which someone holds complete title and over which they have full control.
- absolute rightA right every person has simply as a human being, such as personal liberty; a natural right.
- absolute saleA sale in which possession and title pass to the buyer as soon as the bargain is struck.
- absolute titleSole ownership of land, to the exclusion of every claim inconsistent with it.
- absolute vetoA veto that cannot be overridden.
- absolute-bar ruleThe rule that a creditor who sells collateral without giving the debtor reasonable notice cannot then sue for whateve…
- absolute-priority ruleIn bankruptcy, the rule that a reorganization plan cannot be approved unless a dissenting class of unsecured creditor…
- absolutionRelease from a penalty; the act of clearing someone. In civil law it meant acquittal of a criminal charge, and in chu…
- absolutismRule by a dictator whose power faces no limits, checks, or balances; also, belief in that kind of rule.
- absolveTo release someone from an obligation, debt, or responsibility, or to clear them of the penalties for wrongdoing.
- absolvitorIn Scots law, a judgment for the defendant, whether by dismissing the claim or by acquitting.
- absorbable riskA possible loss a company reckons it could cover out of its own capital or through self-insurance.
- absorptionTaking one thing into another. It most often describes applying rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to what th…
- absque impetitione vastiAnother term for without impeachment of waste.
- absque tali causaWithout such cause. In common-law pleading it formed part of the longer phrase de injuria sua propria, absque tali ca…
- abstainTo hold back from doing something; of a federal court, to decline to exercise jurisdiction over a case.
- abstentionHolding something, or oneself, back. It also describes a federal court giving up jurisdiction to avoid needless clash…
- abstinenceGoing entirely without something, especially sex or alcohol.
- abstractA short statement of what a text says, especially a legal document; a summary.
- abstract compromisAn agreement by which countries send all their disputes, or a defined class of them, to an arbitral body, a court, or…
- abstract of a fineIn English law, a stage in the court process for transferring land: a court officer's summary of the proceedings, pre…
- abstract of convictionA summary of what a court found on an offense, usually a traffic violation.
- abstract of judgmentA copy or summary of a judgment which, once filed at the right public office, puts a lien on property of the losing p…
- abstract of recordA shortened history of a case, full enough to show an appeal court that the questions raised on appeal were properly…
- abstract of titleA summary of a plot of land's history, usually prepared for a buyer or mortgage lender, listing every transfer, inter…
- abstract questionA trial technique that asks an expert witness for an opinion built on assumptions treated as facts already proved by…
- abstracterSomeone who prepares abstracts of title.
- abstractionThinking about something in general terms rather than as a particular case; also, a theoretical idea not tied to any…
- abstraction-filtration-comparison testA test for deciding whether the non-literal elements of two computer programs are substantially similar. The program…
- abstractions testIn copyright law, a way of comparing a protected work with one said to infringe it, asking whether the substance itse…
- abstractorSomeone who prepares abstracts of title.
- abuseUsing something wrongly or beyond what is reasonable; also, physical or mental mistreatment.
- abuse excuseThe argument that a defendant cannot tell right from wrong because they were physically or mentally abused as a child…
- abuse of discoveryMisusing the discovery process, typically by demanding information that is far wider than the case needs or that the…
- abuse of discretionA decision-maker's failure to decide soundly, reasonably, and within the law. It is also the standard an appeal court…
- abuse of processUsing a validly issued court process for an improper purpose, to get a result that is unlawful or outside what the pr…
- abuse of rightsIn international law, a country using a right in a way that blocks other countries from enjoying their own rights, or…
- abuse of the elderlyPhysical or psychological mistreatment of an older person by a carer, such as withholding food or medication, beating…
- abuse-of-rights doctrineThe principle that someone can be liable for harm caused by doing something they are entitled to do, if they did it m…
- abuse-of-the-writ doctrineThe rule that a habeas corpus petition may not raise claims that could have been made in an earlier petition but were…
- abusiveInvolving wrongful or improper use; of a person, treating someone badly.
- abutTo touch along a border; to share a boundary with.
- abutmentThe point at which one piece of land or structure meets another; in building, the support that takes the thrust at th…
- abuttalsThe boundary lines of a piece of land, described in relation to the land next to it.
- abutterThe owner of neighboring land; someone whose property shares a boundary with another's.
- abutting footA unit for measuring land by the foot along its street frontage, used to work out each owner's share of the cost of a…
- ac etiamAnd also. These words introduced the genuine claim in a common-law pleading where a fictitious claim had to be allege…
- academicTo do with a school or a field of study, especially one that is scholarly rather than vocational, such as the liberal…
- academic freedomThe right, especially of a university teacher, to speak freely on political or ideological questions without risking…
- academic lawyerA law professor, usually one who also keeps a practice on the side.
- academyAn institution of higher learning. It can also mean a society devoted to advancing knowledge in a particular field, s…
- accedeTo agree or consent.
- accelerateTo make something happen sooner; in a loan agreement, to make the whole outstanding balance fall due at once.
- Accelerated Cost Recovery SystemAn accounting method for working out depreciation that lets costs be recovered faster by treating an asset as having…
- accelerated depreciation methodA way of calculating depreciation that gives bigger deductions in an asset's early years and smaller ones later on.
- accelerated remainderA remainder that has reached the person entitled to it early, as where the gift to the beneficiary ahead of them fails.
- accelerationBringing forward a loan's maturity date so the whole debt falls due at once. It also means shortening the wait before…
- acceleration clauseA clause in a loan agreement requiring the borrower to repay the balance ahead of the due date if something specified…
- acceleration of remainderThe shortening of the wait before an expected future interest takes effect.
- acceptanceAgreeing to the terms of an offer, either in so many words or by conduct, so that a binding contract comes into being…
- acceptance au besoinAn acceptance by someone who has agreed to pay a draft if the party it is drawn on does not.
- acceptance by silenceAcceptance of an offer through saying nothing, where the relationship between the parties makes it fair for the offer…
- acceptance companyA finance company that does not lend to consumers directly but buys up the installment contracts created when shops s…
- acceptance creditA letter of credit honored by the issuer accepting drafts drawn under it.
- acceptance doctrineIn construction law, the rule that once an owner accepts a contractor's work, the contractor is no longer liable to o…
- acceptance for honorAn undertaking given not by a party to the instrument but by an outsider, to protect the credit or reputation of one…
- acceptance samplingChecking only a few items out of a shipment to judge whether the whole shipment is acceptable.
- acceptance supra protestAn undertaking given not by a party to the instrument but by an outsider, to protect the credit or reputation of one…
- acceptance-of-the-benefits ruleThe rule that a party who has willingly taken the benefit of a judgment cannot then appeal against it.
- acceptareTo accept or agree to something, such as a promise made by someone else.
- accepted-work doctrineIn construction law, the rule that once an owner accepts a contractor's work, the contractor is no longer liable to o…
- acceptilationA spoken release from an obligation even though it has not been paid in full; a complete discharge.
- acceptorA person or firm that accepts a negotiable instrument and takes on primary responsibility for paying it.
- acceptor supra protestSomeone who accepts a bill after it has been protested, to protect the reputation of the drawer or an indorser.
- accessThe chance or ability to get in, get to, pass back and forth, or make contact. In copyright law it means the opportun…
- access easementA right to cross someone else's land to reach somewhere nearby, such as a road. It is a common form of easement by ne…
- access to counselA criminal defendant's right under the Sixth Amendment to be represented by a lawyer appointed by the court if they c…
- accessorial(Of a promise) given to shore up someone else's credit. In criminal law, to do with an accessory to a crime.
- accessorial obligationA liability taken on by someone who makes themselves answerable for another person's debt.
- accessorySomething of secondary importance. It also means a person who helps in committing a crime, who is normally liable onl…
- accessory after the factSomeone who knows a crime has been committed and helps the offender avoid arrest or punishment. Most penal codes stil…
- accessory at the factSomeone who helped the offender at the moment the crime was committed.
- accessory before the factSomeone who helps or encourages another to commit a crime but is not there when it happens. Most states have abolishe…
- accessory contractA contract made mainly to give effect to a principal contract. The main kinds are suretyship, indemnity, pledge, warr…
- accessory obligationAn obligation that exists to support another one. A mortgage securing payment of a bond is an example: paying the bon…
- accessory rightAn extra right attached to a main right held by the same owner. The right in a security is accessory to the debt it s…
- accessory useIn zoning law, a use of land that depends on or goes along with the main use.
- accessoryshipThe position or role of being an accessory to a crime.
- accidentSomething harmful that happens unintentionally and without warning, outside the ordinary run of events or beyond reas…
- accident and health insuranceInsurance covering medical costs arising from illness or injury.
- accident insuranceAn agreement to cover expenses, lost time, suffering, or death resulting from an accident.
- accident policyA business or personal policy covering loss caused directly by bodily injury suffered during the policy term purely b…
- accidental injuryAn injury caused by some outside, violent, and unexpected force, especially bodily harm brought about by something ac…
- accidental killingA killing that results from a lawful act done lawfully, in the reasonable belief that no harm could come of it.
- accidental strandingA ship running aground because of natural forces such as wind and waves. How the stranding came about determines how…
- accidental-death benefitA clause in an insurance policy providing an extra payment, often double the face value, if the insured dies through…
- accipitareTo pay a lord in order to become his vassal, especially to pay the fee due on inheriting an estate.
- accolaIn Roman law, someone living or working on land near a particular place, such as a person dwelling beside a river. Fo…
- accomendaIn maritime law, a contract between a cargo owner and a shipmaster to sell the cargo and split the profits after the…
- accommodated partyThe party who gets the benefit when someone else signs an instrument and takes on liability for them.
- accommodationA loan or other financial favor; also, signing an instrument as surety for someone else. More generally, making a cha…
- accommodation acceptanceAccepting an order for goods meant for immediate shipment by sending goods that do not match the order, having first…
- accommodation billA negotiable instrument that one party co-signs as surety, getting nothing in return, while another party remains pri…
- accommodation indorsementAn indorsement added by an outsider who acts as surety for another party, who stays primarily liable.
- accommodation indorserAn indorser who acts as surety for someone else.
- accommodation landLand bought by a builder or speculator who puts houses or other improvements on it and then leases it out at a higher…
- accommodation lineIn insurance, a policy or policies an insurer writes to keep the business of a valued agent, broker, or customer, eve…
- accommodation loanA loan for which the lender gets nothing in return.
- accommodation makerSomeone who signs a note as surety.
- accommodation noteA note that someone has signed as surety, taking on secondary liability for it.
- accommodation paperA negotiable instrument that one party co-signs as surety, getting nothing in return, while another party remains pri…
- accommodation partySomeone who signs a negotiable instrument, without payment or benefit, purely to stand surety for another party to it…
- accommodation suretyA surety who gets nothing in return for promising to stand behind someone else's debt.
- accommodatumIn Roman and civil law, a free loan of goods for the borrower to use and then give back. It benefits the borrower alo…
- accompanyTo go along with someone. In car-accident cases, an unlicensed driver counts as accompanied by a licensed one only if…
- accompliceSomeone involved with another in committing a crime, whether as a principal or as an accessory. The term covers an ac…
- accomplice liabilityCriminal responsibility falling on someone who acts together with another before, during, or after a crime.
- accomplice witnessAn accomplice who testifies. A co-defendant cannot be convicted on such testimony alone.
- accordA friendly settlement between parties, especially between peoples or nations; a compact or treaty. It also means an o…
- accord and satisfactionAn agreement to settle an existing debt by some substitute performance, together with actually carrying that performa…
- accordantIn agreement.
- accountAn itemized statement of what each side owes the other under a contract or a position of trust; a reckoning of money…
- account bookA book in which a business records its transactions.
- account debtorSomeone who owes money on an account, chattel paper, or general intangible.
- account executiveSomeone who buys and sells shares as another person's agent.
- account forTo give a good reason or convincing explanation for something. It can also mean to give a reckoning of funds held, es…
- account in trustAn account someone opens to hold assets on trust for another person.
- account partyThe customer in a letter-of-credit transaction.
- account payableMoney a business owes a supplier or other creditor in the ordinary course of trading.
- account receivableMoney owed to a business by a customer for goods or services already supplied.
- account renderA lawsuit to make a defendant account for and hand over money that belongs to the claimant but is being held by the d…
- account renderedAn account drawn up by the creditor and put to the debtor to examine and accept.
- account representativeSomeone who buys and sells shares as another person's agent.
- account settledAn account whose balance has been paid off.
- account statedA balance the parties to a transaction or settlement agree on, whether in so many words or by implication. The phrase…
- account statementA report a bank sends a customer, usually monthly, setting out the checks drawn and cleared, deposits made, charges t…
- accountabilityBeing answerable for one's actions or decisions.
- accountableResponsible; answerable.
- accountable receiptA written acknowledgment of having received money or property, carrying with it a duty to account for it.
- accountantSomeone licensed to practice public accounting, or whose business is keeping accounts, auditing, designing and runnin…
- accountant-client privilegeA protection, recognized in some states, that keeps confidential communications between an accountant and a client fr…
- accountant's lienAn accountant's right to keep a client's papers until the fees owed have been paid.
- accountingSetting up or settling financial accounts, especially recording a business's transactions and periodically sorting an…
- accounting for profitsA claim in equity against someone in a position of trust, to recover profits they made by breaching that trust.
- accounting methodA system for working out income and expenses for tax purposes.
- accounting periodA fixed span of time used for accounting, especially the period a taxpayer uses to work out income and the tax due on…
- Accounting Research BulletinA publication setting out accounting practices recommended by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
- Accounting Series ReleaseA bulletin setting out the Securities and Exchange Commission's requirements for the accounting and auditing procedur…
- accounts-receivable insuranceInsurance against losses from being unable to collect outstanding debts because the records of them were damaged or d…
- accreditTo give official authorization or standing to something. It also means recognizing a school as meeting the academic s…
- accredited investorAn investor the Securities Act of 1933 treats as financially knowledgeable and sophisticated, usually because of thei…
- accredited law schoolA law school approved either by the state and the Association of American Law Schools, or by the state and the Americ…
- accredited representativeSomeone given authority to act for another person, group, or organization, usually under a law or the organization's…
- accretionLand building up gradually through natural forces, especially silt deposited on a riverbank or shore. In civil law it…
- accroachTo exercise power one has no authority to exercise; to usurp.
- accrual accounting methodAn accounting method that records debits and credits when the liability arises, rather than when money actually chang…
- accrual bondA bond, usually the last in a series of collateralized mortgage obligations, on which no principal or interest is pai…
- accrual, clause ofA clause, usually in a gift by will or a deed between tenants in common, passing a beneficiary's share to the survivi…
- accrueTo come into existence as a claim or right that can be enforced.
- accrued assetAn asset arising from revenue that has been earned but not yet received.
- accrued compensationPay that has been earned but not yet handed over.
- accrued depreciationThe total depreciation recorded against an asset so far. On a balance sheet, its cost less that figure gives the asse…
- accrued dividendA dividend that has been declared but not yet paid out.
- accrued expenseAn expense incurred in a given period but not yet paid.
- accrued incomeIncome that has been earned but not yet received.
- accrued interestInterest that has been earned but not yet paid, such as interest building up on a property that will be settled when…
- accrued liabilityA debt properly charged to a given accounting period but not yet paid.
- accrued rightA right that has matured and is ready to be enforced, for instance by suing on it.
- accrued salarySalary that has been earned but not yet paid.
- accrued taxA tax that has been incurred but is not yet due or paid.
- accruerA clause, usually in a gift by will or a deed between tenants in common, passing a beneficiary's share to the survivi…
- accruing costsCosts that arise after judgment, such as the expense of enforcing it.
- accumulated depreciationThe total depreciation recorded against an asset so far. On a balance sheet, its cost less that figure gives the asse…
- accumulated dividendA dividend that has been declared but not yet paid out.
- accumulated incomeIncome kept in an account rather than paid out, especially income a trust retains instead of distributing it to the b…
- accumulated legacyA legacy that has not yet been paid over to the person entitled to it.
- accumulated profitProfit that has built up but has not yet been distributed; earned surplus.
- accumulated surplusEarnings above what a company needs to cover its capital and liabilities.
- accumulated taxable incomeA company's taxable income, with adjustments, that it has held back rather than paid out, and on which the accumulate…
- accumulated-adjustments accountIn tax law, an entry in an S corporation's books, usually on the equity side of the balance sheet, tracking taxable i…
- accumulated-earnings creditIn tax law, a deduction used in working out a company's accumulated taxable income. It cuts the base the tax is charg…
- accumulated-earnings taxA penalty tax on a company that hoards its earnings to spare shareholders the income tax they would owe once the mone…
- accumulationThe growth of something by repeated additions, especially the growth of a fund as the income it produces is added bac…
- accumulation trustA trust whose trustee must build up income and the proceeds of selling trust assets, to be handed over when the trust…
- accumulations, rule againstA rule voiding any accumulation of income that runs beyond the perpetuity period.
- accumulativeGrowing by successive additions; cumulative.
- accumulative damagesDamages a statute allows on top of what is available at common law.
- accumulative dividendA dividend that builds up year on year while it goes unpaid. It usually attaches to preferred shares and must be paid…
- accumulative judgmentA further judgment against someone already convicted, which does not take effect until any earlier sentence has been…
- accumulative legacyA second legacy left to the same person, but under a different will.
- accumulative sentencesTwo or more prison sentences served one after the other. Consecutive sentences of 20 years and 5 years mean 25 years…
- accusationA formal charge of criminal wrongdoing, usually put before a court or magistrate with power to look into the alleged…
- accusatorIn Roman law, the person bringing a criminal prosecution.
- accusatorial systemA system, like the Anglo-American one, in which the parties argue the case out freely against each other before an in…
- accusatoryAccusing; in the nature of an accusation.
- accusatory bodyA body, such as a grand jury, whose job is to hear evidence and decide whether someone should be charged with a crime.
- accusatory instrumentA formal document, usually an indictment or an information, setting out a criminal charge.
- accusatory partThe part of an indictment that names the offense.
- accusatory pleadingThe indictment, information, or complaint with which the government starts a criminal prosecution.
- accusatory procedureA system, like the Anglo-American one, in which the parties argue the case out freely against each other before an in…
- accusatory stageThe point in a criminal case when the suspect's right to a lawyer begins, usually after arrest and once questioning s…
- accuseTo charge someone with an offense, in court or publicly.
- accusedSomeone blamed for wrongdoing; more precisely, someone whose liberty has actually been restrained by arrest, or again…
- accuserSomeone who accuses another of a crime.
- accusing juryA body, often of 23 people, chosen to sit for a month or sometimes a year, which decides in closed proceedings whethe…
- acid-test ratioThe ratio of a business's liquid assets, such as cash and receivables, to its current liabilities, used to test wheth…
- acknowledgeTo recognize something as true. It can also mean to accept responsibility for something, to confirm having received i…
- acknowledgmentRecognizing something as true; accepting responsibility; confirming receipt of something. It also means a formal decl…
- acknowledgment moneyMoney once paid by a tenant to a new lord on the lord taking over a manor, as an acknowledgment of the tenancy.
- acquaintance rapeRape committed by someone the victim knows, especially a social companion.
- acquestIn civil law, property got by purchase, gift, or any route other than inheritance; also, gains in property made betwe…
- acquetIn civil law, property got by purchase, gift, or any route other than inheritance; also, gains in property made betwe…
- acquiesceTo accept something without objecting; to consent to it by implication.
- acquiescenceAccepting something without objection, or consenting to it by implication. In international law it means staying sile…
- acquietoAnother term for adquieto.
- acquireTo get possession or control of something.
- acquired allegianceA citizen's duty of loyalty and obedience to the state in return for its protection. It may be permanent and absolute…
- acquired corporationThe company that ceases to exist after a merger or takeover.
- acquired rightA right nobody has naturally but which has to be obtained, such as the right to own particular property.
- acquired servitudeA servitude that only comes into being once a particular method of acquiring it has been followed.
- acquired surplusThe surplus a business gains by buying another business.
- acquisitionGetting possession or control of something; also, the thing obtained.
- acquisition costWhat an asset actually cost to buy, after discounts.
- acquisitive offenseAn offense whose essence is taking someone else's property unlawfully. It is a general label covering crimes such as…
- acquisitive prescriptionGaining a right by holding or using something for long enough, and correspondingly losing rights by letting time pass.
- acquitTo clear someone of a criminal charge; also, to pay off a debt or settle a claim.
- acquittalA formal finding, usually by a jury's verdict, that the accused is not guilty of the offense charged.
- acquittanceA document releasing someone from a debt or other obligation; a receipt showing payment in full.
- acquittedCleared of an accusation by a court; also, released from a debt.
- acreAn area of land of 43,560 square feet.
- acre rightIn New England, a citizen's share in the town's common land. Its value differed from town to town but was fixed withi…
- acre-footAn irrigation measure: enough water to cover one acre to a depth of one foot, about 325,850 gallons.
- across-the-boardApplying to every class, category, or group alike.
- ACRSShort for the Accelerated Cost-Recovery System.
- actSomething done, especially deliberately; a deed.
- act in paisSomething done outside court, without any formal legal proceedings.
- act in the lawAn act meant to create, transfer, or end a right, and legally effective in doing so; the exercise of a legal power.
- act of attainderA special act of the legislature imposing the death penalty on someone for a serious offense such as treason, without…
- act of bankruptcyAn event, such as a debtor fraudulently transferring property away, that allowed creditors to force a debtor into ban…
- act of commissionA positive act: actually doing something, as opposed to failing to act.
- act of CongressA law properly enacted under the legislative power the Constitution gives Congress. To become law, a bill or resoluti…
- act of GodAn overwhelming event caused purely by natural forces and impossible to prevent, such as an earthquake, flood, or tor…
- act of graceAn act of mercy, especially one granted at the start of a monarch's reign or on some other notable occasion.
- act of honorIn commercial law, a transaction recorded in a document drawn up by a notary, showing that an outsider has agreed to…
- act of natureAn overwhelming event caused purely by natural forces and impossible to prevent, such as an earthquake, flood, or tor…
- act of omissionFailing to do something the law requires: a breach of a legal duty to act, taking the form either of holding back or…
- act of ParliamentA law made by the British sovereign with the advice and consent of the Lords and the Commons; a British statute.
- act of Parliament of ScotlandA law passed by the Parliament of Scotland between its beginnings and 1707, or, from 1999 onward, by the new Scottish…
- act of petitionA short-form proceeding in which the parties put in brief statements backed by affidavit. The English High Court of A…
- act of possessionConduct showing an intention to claim property as one's own, especially conduct supporting a claim of adverse possess…
- act of providenceAn overwhelming event caused purely by natural forces and impossible to prevent, such as an earthquake, flood, or tor…
- act of saleAn official record of a sale of property, especially a document drawn up by a notary, signed by the parties, and witn…
- Act of SettlementAn act of Parliament of 1700 that settled the question of royal succession left open by the Glorious Revolution of 16…
- Act of SupremacyA statute of 1534, in Henry VIII's reign, making the English sovereign supreme head of the Church of England. It was…
- act of the lawThe creation, ending, or transfer of a right brought about by the law itself, without anyone concerned having to agre…
- act of the partyAn act meant to create, transfer, or end a right, and legally effective in doing so; the exercise of a legal power.
- Act of UniformityAny of several 16th- and 17th-century acts requiring uniform religious practice in England and Ireland, particularly…
- Act of UnionAny of several acts of Parliament joining parts of Great Britain together. It properly covers the Laws in Wales Act o…
- act-of-state doctrineThe common-law principle stopping U.S. courts from questioning whether a foreign government's acts within its own ter…
- acte authentiqueA deed executed with set formalities in front of a notary or other official.
- acte de francisationA certificate confirming that a ship is French.
- acte extrajudiciaireA document served by a court officer at one party's request on another, outside any legal proceedings.
- actingHolding a position temporarily, standing in for the permanent holder.
- acting executorSomeone who takes on an executor's role, usually for the time being, without being the properly appointed executor.
- acting officerSomeone carrying out the duties of an office, usually temporarily, with no claim to hold the office itself.
- actio arbitrariaAn action in which the judge orders the defendant to do something, such as return property to the claimant, on pain o…
- actio bonae fideiOne of a class of actions in which the judge could weigh considerations of fairness in reaching a decision.
- actio commodatiAn action to recover something lent free of charge and not given back.
- actio commodati contrariaAn action by someone who borrowed something free of charge against the lender, to enforce the agreement or claim dama…
- actio de communi dividendoIn Roman and civil law, an action to divide up jointly owned property.
- actio de dolo maloAn action for fraud, used widely in cases of deceitful behavior.
- actio de in rem versoIn Roman and civil law, a claim for unjust enrichment. The claimant must show that a benefit was conferred, that it l…
- actio de peculioAn action against a head of household or slave owner concerning the separate fund held by a child or slave.
- actio de pecunia constitutaAn action on a promise to pay a debt that already existed.
- actio ex conductoAn action by someone who has rented a thing or hired another's services, to enforce the contract or claim damages for…
- actio ex contractuAn action arising out of a contract. Common law used the term in much the same way.
- actio familiae erciscundaeAn action to divide an inheritance among the heirs.
- actio legis AquiliaeAn action under the Aquilian law, to recover damages for damaging another's property deliberately or carelessly.
- actio locatiIn Roman law, an action available to someone who had rented a thing out, against the hirer.
- actio negatoriaAn action by a landowner against anyone claiming a servitude over their land.
- actio negotiorum gestorumAn action either by someone who has looked after another's property, to recover what they spent, or against them for…
- actio PublicianaAn action letting someone who had acquired a lesser form of ownership recover the property, so that in time they woul…
- actio quod jussuAn action against a master to enforce a debt a slave had contracted on the master's behalf.
- actio quod metus causaAn action to punish someone who had wrongfully forced the claimant into an obligation. The claimant could recover fou…
- actio servianaAn action allowing a landlord to seize a tenant's belongings brought onto the premises, to make good unpaid rent.
- actio stricti jurisA class of personal actions enforced exactly as the formula stated, without any allowance for fairness; an action of…
- actio utilisAn action allowed on grounds of usefulness rather than strict right, available especially to people with an interest…
- actio venditiAn action by which a seller could enforce a contract of sale.
- actio vi bonorum raptorumA penal action to recover goods taken by force. A successful claimant also recovered three times their value.
- actionDoing something; conduct or behavior. It also means a thing done, and a civil or criminal case brought in court.
- action de die in diemAn action arising day after day; a continuing right to sue, such as an action in trespass for every day the injury go…
- action de in rem versoIn Roman and civil law, a claim for unjust enrichment. The claimant must show that a benefit was conferred, that it l…
- action ex contractuA personal action arising out of a contract.
- action ex delictoA personal action arising out of a tort.
- action for money had and receivedAt common law, an action to recover money paid to the defendant, usually because it was paid by mistake or under pres…
- action for money paidAt common law, an action to recover money the claimant paid to someone else, not to the defendant, where the defendan…
- action for poindingIn Scots law, a creditor's action to have the debtor's land rents and goods seized to satisfy the debt.
- action for the loss of servicesA husband's claim against someone who took away, imprisoned, or injured his wife, where the act wronged her and cost…
- action for the recovery of landTurning an owner or occupier out of property; also, the claim by which someone wrongfully turned out seeks to recover…
- action in equityAn action seeking an equitable remedy, such as an injunction or an order to perform a contract, rather than damages.
- action in personamAn action settling the rights of the parties themselves in the subject matter of the case.
- action in remAn action settling title to property and the rights in it, binding not just the parties but anyone who might ever cla…
- action of assizeA real action in which the claimant proves title to land simply by showing that an ancestor held it.
- action of book debtAn action to recover money owed on an open account for goods sold or services supplied.
- action of reprobatorIn Scots law, formerly a proceeding to disqualify a witness or throw out the evidence of an objectionable one.
- action on accountAn action to recover money owed on an open account for goods sold or services supplied.
- action on decisionA memorandum from lawyers in the Internal Revenue Service's litigation division to the Chief Counsel, advising whethe…
- action on expenditureAn action for payment of the main debt by someone who stood surety personally.
- action on the caseAt common law, an action for damage that was not the immediate result of a wrongful act but followed on from it later…
- action per quod servitium amisitFormerly, an action for the loss of a servant's services.
- action quasi in remAn action brought against the defendant personally, where the court's power rests on an interest in property, the aim…
- action to quiet titleA proceeding to establish the claimant's title to land by forcing a rival claimant either to prove their claim or to…
- action, cause ofThe set of facts that gives someone a basis for suing; a situation entitling one person to a remedy in court against…
- action, form ofThe common-law procedural machinery tied to a particular writ, each with its own rules of process, pleading, trial, a…
- action, right ofThe right to bring a particular case to court; also, a right enforceable by legal action, known as a chose in action.
- actionableGiving legal grounds for a lawsuit or other legal step.
- actionable negligenceFailing to take the care a reasonably careful person would have taken in the same situation; conduct falling below th…
- actionable nuisanceA condition, such as persistent noise or a foul smell, that interferes with the use or enjoyment of property. Whether…
- actionable wordA word that is defamatory in itself, without needing further explanation.
- actiones legisIn Roman law, actions at law that had to be brought using fixed forms of words.
- actiones nominataeFormerly, actions for which the Chancery had settled forms.
- actiones poenalesIn Roman law, actions in which the claimant sued for a penalty.
- active breach of contractPerforming a contractual duty so carelessly that one steps outside the contract's terms. Louisiana law contrasts it w…
- active caseA case that is still going on.
- active concealmentHiding something one has a duty to disclose, whether by words or by conduct.
- active debtA debt owed to someone.
- active dutyIn military law, full-time service in any of the U.S. armed forces.
- active euthanasiaEuthanasia in which the person helping, usually a doctor, not only supplies the means of death but performs the final…
- active incomeIncome from wages, salary, or a business the taxpayer actively takes part in, as opposed to passive or investment inc…
- active inducementDeliberately getting someone else to infringe a valid patent. It has to be proved that the inducement was actually in…
- active negligenceNegligence arising from something the person did, such as driving through a barrier, rather than something they faile…
- active supervisionIn antitrust law, part of the test for whether a private body can claim the state-action exemption: the state must be…
- active trustA trust in which the trustee has real duties of management or administration, beyond simply handing the property over…
- active wasteDamage to property caused by something the tenant actually did, rather than by neglect.
- active-control-of-vessel dutyA shipowner's duty to keep the areas under their control safe for the stevedores and longshoremen loading or unloadin…
- active-operations dutyA shipowner's duty to keep the areas under their control safe for the stevedores and longshoremen loading or unloadin…
- activityThe volume of trading on a stock exchange in a single day, either overall or in one particular stock.
- activity incident to serviceSomething a service member does as part of a military operation or because of their military status. If a service mem…
- actorSomeone who acts; the person whose conduct is in question. In older usage it meant a male claimant, and formerly an a…
- acts of assemblyThe body of statutes a legislature passes in a given yearly or two-yearly session; also, the paperback volumes contai…
- actualExisting in fact; real.
- actual agencyA relationship of trust created by agreement or by law, in which one person, the agent, may act for another, the prin…
- actual allegianceA citizen's duty of loyalty and obedience to the state in return for its protection. It may be permanent and absolute…
- actual authorityThe power actually given by a principal to an agent to act on their behalf.
- actual bailmentA bailment arising when property is genuinely handed over to the bailee, or treated by law as handed over.
- actual capitalMoney raised by selling shares.
- actual cash valueIn insurance, what it would cost to replace the item, less normal depreciation.
- actual causeThe cause without which the event would not have happened.
- actual change of possessionA real handing-over of property, as opposed to one the law merely treats as having happened. A creditor of the transf…
- actual controversyA real dispute a court can decide. In constitutional law, a case needing a definite ruling on the law as applied to t…
- actual damagesMoney awarded to make good a loss or injury that has actually been proved.
- actual deliveryHanding real and immediate possession to the buyer or the buyer's agent.
- actual escapeLeaving legal custody unlawfully, without using force.
- actual evictionPhysically putting someone out of land or rented property.
- actual forceForce that takes the form of a physical act, especially violence directed at the victim of a robbery.
- actual fraudHiding something, or misrepresenting it in words or conduct, so as to injure someone who relies on it.
- actual innocenceThe absence of the facts needed to justify the sentence a defendant received. In death-penalty cases it is an excepti…
- actual knowledgeDirect and definite knowledge, as opposed to knowledge the law merely attributes to someone. It also covers knowing e…
- actual lossThe loss a party has genuinely suffered, measured by the real harm done rather than by any figure fixed in advance.
- actual maliceIn defamation law, publishing something knowing it was false, or with reckless disregard for whether it was true. Mor…
- actual market valueThe price a willing seller would take and a willing buyer would pay on the open market, neither being under pressure;…
- actual noticeNotice given directly to a party, or received by them personally.
- actual physical controlDirect bodily command over something, especially a vehicle. Many states require proof of it before a driver can be co…
- actual possessionPhysically occupying or controlling property.
- actual reduction to practiceActually using an idea or invention, for instance by testing it, to show that it will do what it is meant to do.
- actual seisinActually holding a freehold estate in land, whether personally or through a tenant or agent, as opposed to merely hol…
- actual serviceActually delivering the notice or court papers to the person they are meant for.
- actual takingA physical taking of an owner's property by a body with the power of eminent domain.
- actual total lossIn marine insurance, the complete loss of an insured vessel: where it is genuinely destroyed, damaged so badly that i…
- actual valueThe price a willing seller would take and a willing buyer would pay on the open market, neither being under pressure;…
- actual-evidence testA test of whether the facts alleged in one case are essentially the same as those alleged in an earlier one. If they…
- actual-injury triggerIn insurance, the moment the insured actually suffers damage or injury, such as the instant of a car crash, which is…
- actual-risk testThe rule that an injured worker can claim compensation only by showing the injury both arose out of the job and happe…
- actuarial equivalentThe amount of accrued pension to be paid at regular intervals so that the whole entitlement is paid out over the reci…
- actuarial methodA way of working out interest on a loan: the annual percentage rate is used to calculate the finance charge separatel…
- actuarial present valueThe sum needed today to buy an annuity that would produce the payments the pension plan promises for the rest of the…
- actuarial surplusAn estimate of how far a pension plan's assets exceed everything it is expected to owe, including what will be needed…
- actuarial tableA chart of statistical data showing life expectancy for people in different categories, such as age, family history,…
- actuarially sound retirement systemA retirement plan holding enough money to meet what it will owe in future, funded by contributions from employees and…
- actuariusA notary or clerk; a shorthand writer. It also meant a keeper of public records.
- actuaryA statistician who works out the present-day effect of future uncertain events, especially one who sets insurance and…
- actus reusThe wrongful deed that makes up the physical side of a crime. It normally has to be paired with a guilty mind before…
- ad commune nocumentumTo the common nuisance.
- ad communem legemA writ available after a life tenant's death, to recover a reversionary interest in land the tenant had disposed of.
- ad comparendumTo appear. It formed part of the longer phrase meaning to appear and to submit to the law.
- ad computum reddendumTo render an account.
- ad hocFor this particular purpose: set up or done to deal with one specific situation rather than as a general arrangement.
- ad judicium provocareTo summon someone to court; to start an action.
- ad jura regisA writ available to the holder of a royal benefice against anyone trying to eject them from it.
- ad libitumAt pleasure. The modern ad-lib, borrowed from drama and music, means much the same: at the performer's pleasure.
- ad litemFor the purposes of the lawsuit; for as long as it lasts.
- ad quaerimoniamOn complaint of.
- ad quemTo whom. It pairs with a quo in reckoning time or distance: the terminus a quo is the starting point, the terminus ad…
- ad quod damnumA writ from the Chancery directing the sheriff to have jurors decide, on oath, what harm granting a franchise such as…
- ad quod non fuit responsumTo which there was no answer. Law reports used the phrase to flag an argument or objection nobody had answered.
- ad testificandumTo testify.
- ad tunc et ibidemFormerly, then and there being found: a phrase once used in indictments.
- ad usum et commodumTo the use and benefit.
- ad valorem(Of a tax) charged in proportion to the value of the thing taxed.
- ad valorem taxA tax laid in proportion to the value of a thing, above all land, rather than on its quantity.
- ADAA federal statute banning discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public services, and public…
- adaptation rightIn copyright law, the copyright holder's exclusive right to make new works based on the protected one. A studio must…
- ADBA clause in an insurance policy providing an extra payment, often double the face value, if the insured dies through…
- adcordabilis denariiFormerly, money a vassal paid the lord when a feudal holding was sold or exchanged.
- add-on clauseA clause in an installment contract that turns things already bought into security for new purchases.
- add-on interestInterest worked out on the original face amount of a loan, which stays the same even as the principal is paid down. A…
- add-on loanA loan on which interest is calculated at the stated rate on the full principal for the whole term, then added to the…
- added damagesDamages awarded on top of actual damages where the defendant acted recklessly, maliciously, or deceitfully. Such dama…
- addendumSomething added, especially to a document; a supplement.
- addicereTo adjudge, allot, or condemn.
- addictSomeone who habitually uses a substance, especially a narcotic drug.
- addictioIn Roman law, a magistrate's award of a person or thing to another, as where a debtor's property was made over to a c…
- addictionBeing physically or psychologically dependent on a substance, to the point of being unable to stop using it.
- addictive drugA drug, such as heroin or nicotine, that after repeated use creates physical dependence and produces recognizable sym…
- additionA structure attached to or joined with an existing building; an extension or annex. A few courts have said the struct…
- additional damagesDamages a statute allows on top of direct damages. They can cover expenses flowing from the injury, consequential los…
- additional extended coverageIn insurance, an endorsement adding cover to a home policy for a range of risks, including vandalism, damage from fal…
- additional grand juryA further grand jury empanelled alongside an existing one, sitting in closed session to decide whether to return indi…
- additional instructionA direction to the jury given after the original instructions, usually in answer to a question the jury has raised ab…
- additional insuranceInsurance bought to supplement cover already in place under an existing policy.
- additional insuredSomeone covered by an insurance policy who is not the main insured. They may or may not be named in the policy.
- additional legacyA further legacy left to the same person in the same will, or in a codicil to it, as the first legacy.
- additional servitudeA servitude placed on land that was taken by eminent domain for a different kind of use, as where a highway is built…
- additional standard deductionThe extra amount a taxpayer may deduct for turning 65 or becoming blind before the tax year ends.
- additional termA separate further term added to an existing one.
- additional workWork arising from a change to the plans, usually under a building contract; extra work needed to meet what the contra…
- additional-consideration ruleIn employment law, an exception to employment at will: an employee with no written contract who takes on real hardshi…
- additurA trial court's order, usually made with the defendant's agreement, raising the damages a jury awarded so as to avoid…
- addoneGiven to.
- addressWhere mail or other communication is sent. In some states it also means a legislature's formal request to the executi…
- address to the CrownAfter a royal speech to Parliament, the ceremonial resolution thanking the sovereign for it. Two members of each hous…
- adduceTo put something forward for consideration as evidence or authority.
- ADEAA federal law banning job discrimination on grounds of age, aimed at unfair employment decisions affecting people age…
- adeemTo cancel a legacy by disposing of the property left in the will before death, so that there is nothing for the gift…
- ademptioIn Roman law, the revocation of a legacy.
- ademptionIn the law of wills, the cancelling of a legacy because the thing left is no longer part of the estate when the testa…
- ademption by extinctionAdemption that happens because the property described in the will is not in the estate when the testator dies.
- ademption by satisfactionAdemption that happens because the testator gave the property to the beneficiary while still alive, meaning the gift…
- adequacy testThe principle that an equitable remedy such as an injunction is available only where no adequate remedy at law, such…
- adequateLegally sufficient.
- adequate assuranceIn bankruptcy, evidence that a debtor will probably be able to meet its obligations under a contract, such as posting…
- adequate careFor the purposes of negligence, the degree of care a careful and competent person in the same line of work would take…
- adequate causeSomething, such as the heat of passion, that overcomes a person's reason and self-control and leads them to commit a…
- adequate compensationUnder the Fifth Amendment, fair payment by the government for property taken by eminent domain, usually its fair mark…
- adequate considerationSomething of value, such as an act, a forbearance, or a promise in return, given by one party to another. A contract…
- adequate noticeNotice that is proper and sufficient, meant and likely to reach the particular person or the public, and legally good…
- adequate protectionIn bankruptcy, the safeguards given to someone holding a secured claim against the debtor, such as regular cash payme…
- adequate provocationSomething, such as the heat of passion, that overcomes a person's reason and self-control and leads them to commit a…
- adequate remedy at lawA remedy at law, such as an award of damages, that gives the claimant enough relief, and so rules out equitable relief.
- adequate representationA close enough match between the interests of the actual parties and those of people not before the court, so that th…
- adequate-state-grounds doctrineA judge-made principle stopping the Supreme Court from reviewing a state-court decision that rests partly on state la…
- adeuWithout day. A common phrase in the Year Books marking a final dismissal from court, in the form go hence without day.
- adhesionAnother term for accession.
- adhesion contractA standard-form contract drawn up by one side and put to the weaker party, usually a consumer, who has little say ove…
- adhesionary contractA standard-form contract drawn up by one side and put to the weaker party, usually a consumer, who has little say ove…
- adhesory contractA standard-form contract drawn up by one side and put to the weaker party, usually a consumer, who has little say ove…
- adieuFarewell. Though it comes from a different root, it sometimes appears in the Year Books in place of adeu.
- adjacentLying near or close to, though not necessarily touching.
- adjective lawThe body of rules governing procedure and practice, as opposed to the rules that create rights and duties.
- adjoining ownerSomeone whose land shares a boundary with another's.
- adjournTo break off or postpone.
- adjourn sine dieTo adjourn without fixing a date to resume.
- adjournaturIt is adjourned. The word once appeared at the end of reported decisions.
- adjourned termA continuation of an earlier or regular court term rather than a new one; the same term carried on.
- adjournmentPutting off a court session or other meeting to a later time; also, the interval during which it stands put off.
- adjournment dayThe day a body such as a court or legislature adjourns. Formerly it also meant a later day the judges fixed at the as…
- adjournment day in errorA day set aside to finish business left over from the affirmance day of the term.
- adjudgeTo rule on something judicially; to declare something to be so; to award by judgment.
- adjudicateTo rule on something judicially; to declare something to be so; to award by judgment.
- adjudicateeIn civil law, a buyer at a court-ordered sale.
- adjudicatioIn Roman and civil law, the part of the praetor's formula directing the judge to divide up property in an action for…
- adjudicationThe legal process of settling a dispute; deciding a case in court. It also means the court's final ruling on the part…
- adjudicativeTo do with adjudication; able to judge.
- adjudicative factA fact that actually decides the matter rather than merely providing background: one about the parties themselves tha…
- adjudicative lawAnother term for caselaw.
- adjudicative-claims arbitrationArbitration of a dispute that has already arisen, decided by one or more neutral outsiders whom the parties usually c…
- adjudicatorSomeone whose job is to make binding decisions; someone who gives judicial rulings.
- adjudicatoryTo do with adjudication; able to judge.
- adjudicatory hearingA session, usually open to the public, held to decide questions of fact or law, sometimes with witnesses giving evide…
- adjudicatory proceedingA proceeding in which a tribunal decides questions of fact or law affecting particular parties, as opposed to one tha…
- adjunctAdded as an accompanying thing or circumstance; attached in a subordinate or temporary role.
- adjunct accountAn account that gathers up additions made to another account.
- adjureTo charge or beg someone solemnly.
- adjustTo work out how much an insurer will pay an insured for a loss; also, to reach a fresh agreement with a creditor abou…
- adjustable-rate mortgageA mortgage whose interest rate the lender may change from time to time, in step with movements in some outside market…
- adjusted basisBasis increased by capital improvements and reduced by depreciation already claimed.
- adjusted book valueInventory value adjusted to reflect what the stock is actually worth now.
- adjusted cost basisThe original cost of an item, plus later capital additions, less depreciation already claimed.
- adjusted gross estateWhat a deceased person's property is worth after deducting administration costs, funeral expenses, creditors' claims,…
- adjusted gross incomeGross income less the specific deductions the tax code allows before itemized deductions are taken into account.
- adjusted ordinary gross incomeA company's gross income less capital gains and certain expenses. The IRS uses the figure to decide whether a company…
- adjusted present valueAn asset's value found by adding its present value to the value contributed by the way it is financed.
- adjusterSomeone appointed to work out or settle a matter, especially an independent agent or insurance-company employee who n…
- adjusting entryAn accounting entry made at the end of a period to record revenue and expenses not yet booked, along with changes in…
- adjustment boardAn administrative body whose job is to hear and decide zoning appeals.
- adjustment bondA bond issued when a company is reorganized.
- adjustment securityA share or bond issued during a corporate reorganization, in the course of which the holders' relative interests are…
- adjutant generalThe officer who runs the administration of a military unit with a general staff; also, the officer in charge of a sta…
- adlegiareTo clear oneself of a crime by swearing an oath.
- admanuensisSomeone who takes an oath with a hand laid on the Bible.
- admeasurementWorking out, assigning, or dividing something by a fixed quantity, value, or limit. It also means a writ obtained for…
- admeasurement of dowerA writ to recover property from a widow holding more than she was entitled to.
- admeasurement of pastureA writ against someone whose cattle have overgrazed common pasture.
- admensuratione dotisA writ to recover property from a widow holding more than she was entitled to.
- adminicleProof that supports or explains something else.
- adminicularSupporting; auxiliary.
- adminiculateIn Scots law, to give supporting evidence.
- adminiculumLegal or evidentiary means of shoring up one's case.
- administerTo manage or carry out something, such as an estate, a trust, or the running of an organization; also, to give or dis…
- administrationManaging or carrying out the executive duties of a government, institution, or business; in public law, the practical…
- administration cum testamento annexoAn administration granted where the will names no executor, or where the named executor is unfit, has died, or refuse…
- administration de bonis nonAn administration granted to settle the part of an estate that a previous executor or administrator left unfinished.
- administration durante absentiaAn administration granted while the executor, or whoever has the first claim to administer, is absent.
- administration durante minore aetateAn administration granted while a child executor, or whoever has the first claim to administer, is still under age.
- administration expenseIn tax law, a necessary cost an administrator incurs in managing and distributing an estate. Such costs are deductibl…
- administration lettersA formal document a probate court issues to appoint the administrator of an estate. They date from the Probate of Tes…
- administration of justiceUpholding rights within a political community through the physical power of the state; the state putting its force be…
- administration pendente liteAn administration granted while a lawsuit about a will's validity is going on.
- administration with the will annexedAn administration granted where the will names no executor, or where the named executor is unfit, has died, or refuse…
- administrativeTo do with the running of an organization, or with government agencies and the rules they make.
- administrative actAn act done in a managerial capacity, especially one outside the person's usual sphere, as where a judge supervises c…
- administrative adjudicationThe process by which an administrative agency decides a particular case, in a proceeding resembling a trial.
- administrative agencyA government body with authority to carry out and enforce the law in a particular field, and usually to make rules wi…
- administrative collateral estoppelEstoppel arising from a decision an agency made while acting in a judicial capacity.
- administrative convenience classA provision letting a bankruptcy plan put small unsecured claims in a class of their own, where doing so helps the es…
- administrative crimeAn offense consisting of breaking an administrative rule or regulation that carries a criminal penalty.
- administrative deviationA trustee's departure from the terms of the trust without authority to do so.
- administrative dischargeA discharge from military service given administratively rather than by court-martial.
- administrative discretionThe room a public official or agency has to exercise judgment in carrying out its duties.
- administrative expenseBusiness costs such as rent, utilities, or support-staff pay that cannot be traced to any one product or service; ord…
- administrative freezeIn bankruptcy, a bank's refusal to let a debtor withdraw from their account once it learns the debtor has filed for b…
- administrative hearingA proceeding before an administrative agency at which evidence is put forward for argument or decision.
- administrative interpretationThe meaning an administrative agency gives to a law or regulation.
- administrative lawThe law governing how the executive branch, including independent agencies, is organized and operates, and how it dea…
- administrative officerAn officer of the executive branch of government, usually one carrying out policy rather than making it.
- administrative orderAn order an agency issues after a hearing; also, an agency regulation interpreting or applying a statute.
- administrative procedureThe rules governing how an administrative agency goes about its business, including how it makes rules and decides ca…
- Administrative Procedure ActA federal statute setting out the procedures agencies must follow in making rules and deciding cases. It was designed…
- administrative proceedingA hearing, inquiry, investigation, or trial before an administrative agency, usually deciding a case but sometimes cl…
- administrative processThe procedure followed before administrative agencies; also, the means of compelling witnesses to attend an agency he…
- administrative remedyA remedy provided by an administrative agency rather than a court. If one is available it must normally be used up be…
- administrative reviewA court's review of an administrative proceeding; also, review of such a proceeding within the agency itself.
- administrative ruleA generally applicable statement by an agency that interprets a law or policy, or sets out what the agency requires.
- administrative rulemakingThe process an agency follows to make, change, or repeal a rule or regulation.
- administrative searchA search of public or business premises by a regulator, to check compliance with health, safety, or security rules. L…
- administrative tribunalAn administrative agency before which a matter can be heard or tried, as opposed to a purely executive one; an agency…
- administrative warrantA warrant a judge issues at an agency's request, so that an administrative search can be carried out.
- administrative-control ruleIn tax law, the rule making the person who set up a trust liable for tax where they keep control that can be used mai…
- administrative-law judgeAn official who presides at an agency hearing, with power to administer oaths, take evidence, rule on questions of ev…
- administratorSomeone the court appoints to manage the assets and debts of a person who died without a will. The word once applied…
- administrator ad litemA special administrator the court appoints to represent an estate's interest in a lawsuit, usually because the estate…
- administrator ad prosequendumAn administrator appointed to bring or defend a lawsuit on an estate's behalf, such as a claim for wrongful death.
- administrator cum testamento annexoAn administrator the court appoints to carry out a will where the testator named no executor, or where those named re…
- administrator de bonis nonAn administrator the court appoints to deal with goods of the deceased that an earlier administrator or executor left…
- administrator pendente liteA temporary administrator appointed to look after an estate while a will contest or other suit about it is going on.
- administrator with the will annexedAn administrator the court appoints to carry out a will where the testator named no executor, or where those named re…
- administratrixA female administrator.
- admiralitasAdmiralty, or an admiralty court.
- admiraltyA court with jurisdiction over maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offenses. The federal courts are called this…
- Admiralty ClauseThe clause of the U.S. Constitution giving the federal courts jurisdiction over maritime cases.
- admiralty courtA court with jurisdiction over maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offenses. The federal courts are called this…
- admiralty lawThe law governing sea commerce and navigation, the carriage of people and goods by sea, and maritime affairs generall…
- Admiralty, First LordIn Britain, the minister who headed the board of commissioners running the navy, assisted by other commissioners know…
- admissibilityWhether a piece of evidence may be put before a court in a hearing or trial. It has two sides: whether the fact-finde…
- admissibleAllowable; permissible. It can also mean worthy of being let in.
- admissible evidenceEvidence that is relevant and of a kind the court ought to receive, being neither unfairly prejudicial nor barred as…
- admissionVoluntarily acknowledging a fact that matters to the other side's case.
- admission against interestA statement admitting a material fact that damages the speaker's own position in a lawsuit. It must come from a party…
- admission by employee or agentAn admission made by the other side's agent during their employment, about something within the scope of the agency o…
- admission by party-opponentA statement by the opposing party, not treated as hearsay when offered against them. It covers the party's own words,…
- admission by silenceA party's failure to respond when the other side asserts a fact that, if untrue, anyone would naturally have denied.
- admission in judicioA formal waiver of proof, which frees the other side from having to prove the admitted fact and stops the party who m…
- admission on motionPermanent admission to a state's bar for a lawyer already in good standing in another state, without sitting the full…
- admission pro hac viceTemporary permission for a lawyer from another jurisdiction to appear before a court in a particular case or group of…
- admission taxA tax included in the price of getting into an event.
- admission to sufficient factsConceding facts that are enough to support a finding of guilt.
- admitTo allow evidence to be received by the court; also, to concede a fact, or to let a lawyer practice before a court.
- admittanceGetting into a building or place; also, permission to enter. Formerly it meant the act of giving possession of a copy…
- admitted assetIn insurance, an asset that state law lets an insurer count when its financial condition is assessed.
- admitted corporationA company licensed or authorized to do business in a particular state.
- admittendo clericoA writ ordering a bishop to accept someone nominated to a vacant church living. The patron of the living could enforc…
- admixtureThe mixing of things together; also, the substance produced by mixing.
- admonitio trinaFormerly, a warning given three times to a defendant charged with a capital crime, telling them that refusing to answ…
- admonitionAuthoritative advice or caution from the court to the jury about their duties or about how they may use particular ev…
- admortizationThe turning of land or buildings over into mortmain.
- adnotatioA note written in a document's margin, especially an emperor's handwritten reply to a petition addressed to him.
- adoptionIn family law, the legal process that ends a child's rights and duties towards their birth parents and replaces them…
- adoption by estoppelAn adoption treated as effective in equity because someone's promises and conduct stop them, and their estate, from d…
- adoption by referenceMaking one document part of another by stating in the main document that the second is to be treated as though writte…
- adoptive admissionConduct by a party showing they accept what someone else has said, and so accept it as true.
- adoptive fatherA parent by virtue of a legal adoption.
- adoptive motherA woman who becomes a child's parent by legal adoption.
- adoptive parentA parent by legal adoption.
- adpromissionA contract of suretyship. Roman law recognized five kinds: sponsion, fidepromission, fidejussion, mandatum, and pactu…
- ADRSettling a dispute by some route other than a lawsuit, such as arbitration, mediation, or a minitrial. The same initi…
- adrogate(Of a man) to adopt a son or daughter who is not already under another father's authority.
- adrogationThe adoption of someone who is legally independent into another family.
- adscendentesIn civil law, ascendants: a person's parents, grandparents, and so on up the line.
- adscriptitiusA soldier over and above the regular establishment; also, a tenant tied to the land.
- adscriptusIn Roman law, added, annexed, or bound in writing; enrolled or registered. It appears in phrases such as a tenant bou…
- adsessorIn Roman law, a legally qualified assistant or adviser to a judge. It was later used as a title for a master in chanc…
- adstipulatorAn extra party to a contract who could enforce it alongside the main promisee, and who then had to hand over what the…
- adultSomeone who has reached the age of majority, generally 18, though in criminal cases it is often 17.
- adult correctional institutionA state or federal institution for holding convicted criminals, especially felons.
- adult offenderSomeone who committed a crime after reaching the age of majority, or who committed one as a minor but was convicted a…
- adulterIn Roman law, a man guilty of adultery.
- adulteraIn Roman law, a woman guilty of adultery.
- adulterateTo debase something or make it impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance.
- adulterated drugA drug that lacks the strength, quality, or purity claimed for it or expected of it.
- adulteratorA corrupter, forger, or counterfeiter.
- adulterineAdulterated. It can also mean illegal or unlicensed, born of adultery, or having to do with adultery.
- adulterine guildA group of traders acting like a corporation without any charter, paying a yearly fine for leave to go on exercising…
- adulteriumThe crime of adultery; also, the punishment imposed for it.
- adulterousInvolving or amounting to adultery.
- adulteryVoluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their spouse.
- advanceHanding over money or goods before getting anything in return; also, the money or goods handed over.
- advance billA bill of exchange drawn before the goods have been shipped.
- advance directiveA durable power of attorney that comes into force if one becomes incapable, naming someone to make healthcare decisio…
- advance paymentA payment made ahead of a future liability, whether fixed or contingent.
- advance premiumA payment made before the period the insurance policy covers has begun.
- advance sheetsA paperback pamphlet carrying recently reported opinions of a court or group of courts, published in the gap between…
- advance-decline indexA stock-market indicator tracking the running difference between the number of shares rising in price and the number…
- advancementA payment or gift made to an heir, usually a child, during the giver's lifetime as an early share of the estate, mean…
- advancing marketA securities market in which prices rise steadily over a long period.
- advenaSomeone who has come from abroad, especially for a short stay.
- adventitia bonaIn Roman law, goods a free person acquired otherwise than through the head of their household, or a slave acquired ot…
- adventureA commercial undertaking carrying an element of risk. In marine insurance it means a voyage involving financial risk…
- adventurerSomeone who takes on a risky undertaking; someone with a stake in a commercial venture.
- adversariusAn opponent in a lawsuit.
- adversaryAn opponent, especially the lawyer on the other side.
- adversary procedureA system, like the Anglo-American one, in which the parties argue the case out freely against each other before an in…
- adversary proceedingA hearing in which opposing parties contest a dispute. In bankruptcy it means a self-contained lawsuit brought inside…
- adversary systemA system, like the Anglo-American one, in which the parties argue the case out freely against each other before an in…
- adverse authorityLegal authority that runs against the position a lawyer is arguing. A lawyer must disclose controlling adverse author…
- adverse dominionThe rule that time does not run on claims against wrongdoing directors and officers while those same people control t…
- adverse easementAn easement created by open, hostile, and continuous use over the period the statute lays down.
- adverse employment actionAn employer's decision that seriously harms an employee's position, such as dismissal, demotion, or a cut in pay.
- adverse enjoymentPossessing or using land under a claim of right, against the owner of the land the easement is carved out of.
- adverse impactThe harmful effect of a practice that looks neutral on its face, especially in employment, but which in fact discrimi…
- adverse interestAn interest opposed to someone else's.
- adverse job actionAn employer's decision that seriously harms an employee's position, such as dismissal, demotion, or a cut in pay.
- adverse opinionAn outside auditor's conclusion that a company's accounts do not follow generally accepted accounting principles or d…
- adverse partyA party whose interests run against those of another party in the case.
- adverse possessionAcquiring title to land by occupying it for the period the statute sets, on certain conditions: the use must be witho…
- adverse titleTitle obtained by adverse possession.
- adverse useUse without licence or permission.
- adverse witnessA witness who is biased against the party questioning them, or who will not testify willingly. Such a witness may be…
- adverse-agent doctrineThe rule that an agent's knowledge is not attributed to the principal where the agent is running a fraud and conceali…
- adverse-domination doctrineThe equitable principle that time does not run on a claim against officers and directors for breach of their duties f…
- adverse-inference ruleThe principle that where a party could have called a witness and should have done so but did not, the judge may tell…
- adverse-interest ruleThe principle that where a party could have called a witness and should have done so but did not, the judge may tell…
- adversusAgainst. Law reports once used its first letter in place of the now usual v.
- adversus bonos moresAnother term for contra bonos mores.
- advertent negligenceNegligence in which the person is aware of the unreasonable risk they are creating; recklessness.
- advertisingDrawing the public's attention to something in order to sell it; also, the business of making and placing advertiseme…
- advertising substantiationA Federal Trade Commission doctrine making it an unfair and deceptive practice to run an advertisement unless the adv…
- adviceGuidance given by one person to another, especially by a lawyer to a client. It also means notice that a draft has be…
- advice and consentThe Senate's constitutional role in the making of treaties and the appointment of federal officers. For treaties this…
- advice of counselThe guidance lawyers give their clients. In a malicious-prosecution case it is a defense requiring the defendant to h…
- advice of creditNotice from an advising bank that a letter of credit has been issued.
- advisareTo consult, deliberate, or consider.
- adviseTo give someone guidance or a recommendation about what to do; also, to give formal notice of something.
- advisementCareful consideration; deliberation.
- advising bankA bank that tells the beneficiary a letter of credit has been opened in their favor, without itself undertaking to pay.
- advisory committeeA committee set up to make suggestions to another body or official, particularly any of the five committees that prop…
- advisory counselA lawyer engaged only to advise on a particular question, as opposed to one such as trial counsel who takes an active…
- advisory juryA jury empanelled to hear a case in which the parties have no right to jury trial. The judge is free to accept or rej…
- advisory opinionA court's opinion on a legal question put to it outside any actual case. Such opinions bind nobody, and the federal c…
- advocacyThe work or profession of an advocate; also, pleading for or actively supporting a cause.
- advocareTo advocate, defend, or protect; also, to acknowledge something openly, such as acknowledging a child.
- advocataA patroness; a woman entitled to nominate a clergyman to a church.
- advocateSomeone who assists, defends, pleads, or prosecutes on another's behalf.
- advocate-witness ruleThe rule that a lawyer likely to be called as a witness of fact at trial cannot also act as an advocate in the case.…
- advocati ecclesiaeChurch patrons entitled to nominate a clergyman to a living; also, lawyers retained to argue cases concerning a church.
- advocatioA subordinate's management of a business for a superior; also, the defense of a religious house. In civil law it mean…
- advocatorSomeone who calls on another to make good a title; a warrantor. It also meant the patron of a church living.
- advoutrerAn adulterer.
- advoutryAdultery between two people who are each married.
- advowson appendantA right of presentation attached to a manor, which passes with the manor whenever it is conveyed, even if the grant s…
- advowson collativeA right of presentation where no separate presentation to the bishop is needed because the bishop is also the patron.…
- advowson donativeA right of presentation letting the patron install a clergyman by outright gift or deed, without presenting anyone to…
- advowson in grossA right of presentation that has been detached from the manor and attached to a person. Every advowson separated from…
- advowson presentativeThe usual kind of advowson, where the patron presents a nominee to the bishop and can insist on their being installed…
- aedesA building, especially a temple.
- aedificareIn Roman law, to put up a building.
- aequitasEquity, as opposed to the strict letter of the law.
- aequusEqual; even. A will might, for instance, divide the residue in equal shares among the legatees.
- aerariumThe treasury.
- aesIn Roman law, metallic money, gold included.
- aes alienumIn Roman law, debt: money owed to somebody else.
- aes suumIn Roman law, money owed to a person; a debt due to one.
- aesneciaSeniority; the right of the eldest. It applied particularly to the eldest coparcener's privilege of choosing first wh…
- aesthetic functionalityThe doctrine that the design of a product or its packaging gets no protection where the design is needed for the prod…
- aesthetic zoningDividing an area, especially a municipality, into districts with different rules on land use and building size, with…
- affectation doctrineThe principle that Congress may regulate activity within a single state where that activity substantially affects com…
- affectionFond attachment or love. Formerly it also meant pawning or mortgaging something to secure payment of money or perform…
- affects doctrineThe principle allowing Congress to regulate activity inside a state that has a substantial effect on interstate comme…
- affeerorAn official who assessed fines in cases where no statute fixed the penalty.
- affermerTo let out to farm; also, to make sure of something, or to confirm it.
- affianceIn older usage, the act of confiding in someone; also, pledging one's faith, particularly a promise to marry.
- affiantSomeone who makes an affidavit.
- affidareTo swear faith to someone, especially a tenant's pledge of loyalty to a lord.
- affidavitA voluntary statement of facts, written down and sworn to by the maker before an officer with power to administer oat…
- affidavit of defenseAn affidavit in which a defendant states that they have a defense with merit.
- affidavit of increaseAn affidavit listing the extra costs a party ran up in taking a case through trial, over and above the filing and oth…
- affidavit of inquiryAn affidavit required in some states before process may be served on an absent defendant by substituted means, in whi…
- affidavit of meritsAn affidavit in which a defendant states that they have a defense with merit.
- affidavit of noticeAn affidavit stating that proper notice of a hearing has been given to the other parties.
- affidavit of serviceAn affidavit certifying that a notice, summons, writ, or other process has been served.
- affilareTo put on record; to file.
- affiliateA company connected to another through shareholdings or some other means of control: a subsidiary, parent, or sister…
- affiliated directorA director who is not an employee and who has little or no direct stake in the company.
- affiliated groupA chain of companies entitled to file a single consolidated tax return because each is at least 80% owned by others i…
- affiliated purchaserIn securities law, someone who acts in concert with a participant in a securities distribution when the shares are ac…
- affiliationThe state of being connected with or attached to an organization, or the act of forming that connection.
- affineA relative by marriage.
- affinitasIn Roman law, relationship by marriage.
- affinitas affinitatisIn civil law, the connection between parties created by marriage; a remote relationship by marriage.
- affinityClose agreement between things. It also means the relationship one spouse has to the other's blood relatives, and any…
- affirmTo uphold a judgment on appeal; also, to declare something solemnly instead of swearing to it on oath.
- affirmanceRatifying, re-accepting, or confirming something.
- affirmance day generalIn the Court of Exchequer, a day fixed after the start of each term for affirming or reversing judgments.
- affirmantSomeone who gives evidence on affirmation rather than on oath.
- affirmationA solemn pledge with the same force as an oath, but making no reference to God or to swearing. An oath is sworn to; a…
- affirmativeSupporting the existence of a fact.
- affirmative actionMeasures designed to end existing discrimination, undo the lingering effects of past discrimination, and put systems…
- affirmative chargeA direction taking an issue away from the jury, such as a direction that whatever the evidence shows, the defendant c…
- affirmative conditionA condition requiring something to be done, such as paying rent.
- affirmative converse instructionA direction setting out a hypothetical which, if the jury finds it true, requires a verdict for the defendant.
- affirmative covenantA promise binding a party to do something, especially an undertaking that land will be used in a particular way. It g…
- affirmative defenseA defense raising new facts and arguments which, if made out, defeat the claim even if everything alleged against the…
- affirmative dutyA duty to take a positive step, rather than merely to refrain from acting.
- affirmative easementAn easement compelling the owner of the burdened land to allow the easement holder to do something, such as discharge…
- affirmative injunctionAn injunction ordering someone to take a positive step or follow a specified course of conduct.
- affirmative instructionA direction taking an issue away from the jury, such as a direction that whatever the evidence shows, the defendant c…
- affirmative misconductA deliberate misrepresentation or concealment of a material fact, or intentional wrongdoing. Some courts require a su…
- affirmative pleaAn equitable plea raising new matters outside the bill which, if proved, end the dispute by having the suit dismissed…
- affirmative pregnantA positive statement that ambiguously implies a negative: one that does not deny the charge outright but answers a qu…
- affirmative proofEvidence establishing the disputed fact on the balance of probabilities.
- affirmative reliefAnother term for relief.
- affirmative representationA statement asserting that certain facts about a subject are so.
- affirmative statuteA law requiring something to be done; one that directs an act rather than forbidding it.
- affirmative testimonyEvidence about whether something happened, based on what the witness saw or heard at the relevant time and place.
- affirmative warrantyA warranty, express or implied, that the facts are as stated when the policy period begins. It is usually a condition…
- affirmative wasteDamage to property caused by something the tenant actually did, rather than by neglect.
- affirmatoryAffirming; expressing agreement or confirmation.
- affixTo attach or fasten something on permanently.
- affixationAttaching something to land or a building so firmly that it becomes part of the property itself.
- afforceTo strengthen a jury by adding new members to it.
- afforcementA reinforcement, especially the strengthening of a court for a solemn or extraordinary occasion; also, a fortress.
- afforcing the assizeA way of getting a verdict out of a deadlocked jury, either by withholding food and drink until they agreed or by add…
- afforestTo turn land into forest, especially by bringing it under forest law.
- affranchirIn older usage, to set free; to release from servitude or an obligation.
- affranchiseIn older usage, to set free; to release from servitude or an obligation.
- affrayTwo or more people fighting by mutual consent in a public place, to the alarm of onlookers. The fighting must be mutu…
- affrectamentumThe hiring of a ship to carry cargo.
- affreightmentThe hiring of a ship to carry cargo.
- affretementThe hiring of a ship to carry cargo.
- AFL-CIOShort for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
- aforesaidMentioned earlier.
- aforethoughtPlanned in advance; deliberate.
- after costA cost that falls due later, such as the cost of a repair under warranty, incurred after the main transaction is comp…
- after the factOccurring after an event that matters in law.
- after-acquired domicileA home established after the facts in dispute arose. It cannot be used to found jurisdiction or to determine which la…
- after-acquired propertyIn secured-transactions law, property a debtor acquires after granting security, which then becomes further security…
- after-acquired titleTitle held by someone who bought property from a seller who only obtained title after purporting to sell it.
- after-acquired-evidence doctrineIn employment law, the rule that an employee dismissed for an unlawful reason cannot get their job back if the employ…
- after-acquired-property clauseA mortgage clause bringing any land the borrower acquires later within the mortgage.
- after-acquired-title doctrineThe principle that title passes automatically to a buyer where the seller obtained title only after purporting to sel…
- after-born childA child born after the parent made their will, or after some other event that matters, such as the death of a relativ…
- after-born heirAnother term for heir.
- afterborn childA child born after a will was made, or after the time when a class gift closes.
- aftercareThe release of a young offender from custody on conditions.
- aftermarketThe market in goods or services that have already been bought and sold once, especially the market in which shares al…
- AGThe chief law officer of a state or of the United States, who advises the government on legal questions and represent…
- against the form of the statuteContrary to what the statute requires. The phrase traditionally closes an indictment, marking the conduct alleged as…
- against the willAgainst a person's wishes. Indictments use the phrase to show the defendant acted without the victim's consent.
- agardAn award.
- agarderTo award, adjudge, or determine; also, to sentence or condemn.
- ageA span of time, especially the length of a person's life so far.
- age discriminationTreating someone worse because of their age. Federal law forbids it in employment against people aged 40 or over.
- Age Discrimination in Employment ActA federal law banning job discrimination on grounds of age, aimed at unfair employment decisions affecting people age…
- age of capacityThe age, usually fixed by statute at 18, at which someone can validly make a contract, make a will, bring a lawsuit,…
- age of consentThe age, usually fixed by statute at 16, at which someone can lawfully agree to marry without a parent's permission,…
- age of majorityThe age, usually fixed by statute at 18, at which someone gains full legal rights, including civil and political righ…
- age of reasonThe age at which someone can tell right from wrong and so becomes capable in law of committing a crime or a tort. It…
- agencyA relationship of trust created by agreement or by law, in which one person, the agent, may act for another, the prin…
- agency adjudicationAnother term for an administrative proceeding.
- agency by estoppelAn agency arising by operation of law, where a principal has behaved in a way that would lead an outsider reasonably…
- agency by necessityAn agency arising in an emergency, where the agent must act without the principal's authority; the relationship forme…
- agency by operation of lawAn agency arising by operation of law, where a principal has behaved in a way that would lead an outsider reasonably…
- agency coupled with an interestAn agency in which the agent has not only power to act for the principal but also a legal interest in the property in…
- agency from necessityAn agency arising in an emergency, where the agent must act without the principal's authority. It is created by rules…
- agency in factAn agency created deliberately, as by contract, rather than one imposed by law such as agency by estoppel.
- agency of necessityAn agency arising in an emergency, where the agent must act without the principal's authority. It is created by rules…
- agency recordsUnder the Freedom of Information Act, documents a government agency created or obtained and still controls when the r…
- agency regulationA rule an agency adopts to carry out or apply the law it administers.
- agency securityAnother term for a government security.
- agency shopA workplace where the union bargains for all the employees, whether or not they belong to it.
- agendaA list of things to be dealt with, such as the items for discussion at a meeting.
- agensSomeone who acts or does something; an agent. It also meant a claimant.
- agentSomeone authorized to act for another; a representative. It can also mean something that produces an effect.
- agent provocateurAn undercover operative who sets up or joins in a crime, often by infiltrating a group suspected of illegal activity,…
- agent's lienA lien over property of an estate securing an agent's compensation and the necessary expenses incurred under the agency.
- agerLand or territory, especially a piece of land within fixed boundaries.
- aggravated(Of a crime) made worse by circumstances such as violence, a deadly weapon, or an intention to commit another crime;…
- aggravated arsonAt common law, deliberately setting fire to someone else's dwelling house, or to an outbuilding attached to it or wit…
- aggravated assaultAn assault made worse by an aggravating factor, such as the use of a deadly weapon or an intention to commit a furthe…
- aggravated batteryA battery made worse by aggravating circumstances, such as the use of a deadly weapon or the infliction of serious bo…
- aggravated damagesDamages awarded on top of actual damages where the defendant acted recklessly, maliciously, or deceitfully.
- aggravated kidnappingKidnapping made worse by some further factor, such as a ransom demand or injury to the victim.
- aggravated larcenyLarceny made worse by some further factor, such as stealing directly from a person.
- aggravated robberyRobbery by someone who carries a dangerous weapon or injures somebody in the course of it.
- aggravated sodomyCriminal sodomy involving force, or causing serious bodily injury on top of mental and emotional harm. Some statutes…
- aggravating circumstanceA fact or situation that increases how blameworthy a tort or crime is. It also means a fact about the offense or the…
- aggravation ruleIn workers' compensation, the rule that where an injury at work combines with an earlier one to leave the worker more…
- aggregateMade up of parts combined into a single whole.
- aggregate conceptA way of taxing business organizations that treats the organization as no more than the collection of its owners, rat…
- aggregate corporationA company made up of many members, having a legal personality of its own, separate from the shareholders who own it,…
- aggregate demandThe total spent on goods and services across an economy in a given period; also, the total demand for one firm's prod…
- aggregate incomeThe combined income of a married couple filing a joint tax return.
- aggregate sentenceA sentence arising from convictions on several counts of an indictment.
- aggregate supplyThe total quantity of goods and services an economy produces in a given period.
- aggregate theory of partnershipThe view that a partnership has no legal existence separate from its partners, and is simply all of them taken together.
- aggregationIn patent law, a claim combining two or more elements that are unrelated and work separately without cooperating, so…
- aggregation doctrineThe rule stopping a party from adding all its claims together to reach the minimum sum needed for federal diversity j…
- aggressionIn international law, one country using armed force against another's sovereignty, territory, or political independen…
- aggressor corporationA company seeking control of a publicly held company, whether by a direct cash tender offer, a public offer to exchan…
- aggressor doctrineThe principle denying tort recovery to a claimant who behaved in a way that would lead a reasonable person to use phy…
- aggrieved partyA party whose personal, financial, or property rights have been harmed by someone else's actions or by a court's order.
- AGIGross income less the specific deductions the tax code allows before itemized deductions are taken into account.
- agillariusA keeper of cattle grazing in a common field.
- aging of accountsSorting money owed to a business according to how long it has been outstanding, so as to estimate how much will prove…
- agioThe premium paid to exchange one form of money for another, such as paper for coin or one country's currency for anot…
- agiotageThe business of dealing in foreign exchange; also, speculative trading in securities.
- agistTo let animals graze on one's pasture for a fee.
- agisterSomeone who takes in animals to graze for a fee. Such a person is a kind of bailee for hire.
- agister's lienA lien over animals taken in for grazing, securing payment of the keeper's fee.
- agistmentAn arrangement under which someone lets animals graze on their pasture for a fee, charged per animal. The word also m…
- agistment of sea-banksA charge on land to pay for keeping up the dikes that hold back the sea.
- agnateRelated through the male line, on the father's side.
- agnatusSomeone related through the male line.
- agrarianTo do with land, land tenure, or the division of landed property.
- agrarian lawIn Roman and civil law, the body of law governing who owns land and how it is used and distributed.
- agrariumA tax on land, or a payment made out of it.
- agreed judgmentA settlement that becomes a judgment of the court once the judge approves it.
- agreed priceA price for a sale, especially of goods, reached by agreement between the parties.
- agreed statement of factsA written account of the facts that both parties accept as accurate and put before a court for a ruling. Filed on app…
- agreed statement on appealA written account of the facts, agreed by both parties, filed on appeal in place of a transcript of the trial proceed…
- agreed valueA value the parties have fixed by agreement rather than by valuation, such as the schedule of property values written…
- agreed-amount clauseA clause in an insurance policy under which the insured undertakes to carry a stated amount of cover.
- agreed-boundary doctrineThe principle that neighboring owners may settle the boundary between their land by agreement, provided the true line…
- agreementA shared understanding between two or more people about their rights and duties towards each other, whether about wha…
- agreement of imperfect obligationAn agreement the law recognizes but will not enforce, such as one barred by the limitation period.
- agreement of rescissionAn agreement by the parties to a contract to release each other from what remains to be done and bring the contract t…
- agreement of saleAn agreement binding someone to sell, and sometimes binding another to buy.
- agreement to agreeAn unenforceable arrangement purporting to bind two parties to negotiate and then enter a contract, especially where…
- agreement to sellAn agreement binding someone to sell.
- agribusinessFarming carried on as an occupation or for profit, taking in labor, land-use planning, and financing the cost of land…
- Agricultural Adjustment ActA federal statute of 1933 that paid farmers not to grow crops, in order to push crop prices up. The Supreme Court str…
- agricultural laborWork done on a farm or ranch, or connected with producing commodities, such as harvesting crops, raising livestock, o…
- agricultural lienA statutory lien protecting the seller of farm equipment by giving them a lien over crops grown with it. In secured-t…
- agricultureThe science and practice of cultivating soil, harvesting crops, and raising livestock.
- ahupuaaA traditional Hawaiian land division of variable size, running from the sea up to the mountains so that the people li…
- AICPAThe professional body of certified public accountants in the United States, which sets auditing standards and issues…
- aidA payment or tax granted to the king for some extraordinary purpose.
- aid and abetTo help or encourage the commission of a crime, or to help bring it about. Doing so is itself a crime in most jurisdi…
- aid and comfortHelp given to a national enemy of a kind that amounts to treason.
- aid of the kingA tenant's request to the king for relief from someone else's demand for rent.
- aid or abetTo help or encourage the commission of a crime, or to help bring it about. Doing so is itself a crime in most jurisdi…
- aid prayerA request by a life tenant, or anyone holding less than a fee simple, to bring into the case someone else with an int…
- aiderThe act of helping, or the curing of a defect; also, a person who helps another.
- aider by pleading overThe curing of a defect in a pleading because the other side answered it without objecting, so waiving the objection.
- aider by verdictThe curing of a defect in a pleading by the verdict at trial, on the assumption that the necessary facts must have be…
- aiding an escapeThe crime of helping a prisoner get away from custody.
- aidsA payment or tax granted to the king for some extraordinary purpose.
- aielA grandfather; also, a writ by which an heir recovered a grandfather's estate that a stranger had wrongfully taken.
- aimable compositeurIn international law, a neutral outsider, often a king or emperor, who proposes a solution that the countries in disp…
- air lawThe part of the law, especially international law, dealing with civil aviation.
- air piracyThe crime of using force or threats to seize an aircraft; hijacking, especially of an aircraft in flight.
- air pollutionAny harmful substance or energy released into the air, directly or indirectly, particularly where it damages the envi…
- air rightThe right to use all or part of the airspace above a piece of land.
- air-quality criteriaIn environmental law, the limits the Environmental Protection Agency sets for pollutants in a given area at a given t…
- air-quality-control regionIn environmental law, an area designated by the federal government where communities share an air-pollution problem,…
- air-services agreementA contract governing the running of air services, especially one between governments covering international services…
- air-transport agreementA contract governing the running of air services, especially one between governments covering international services…
- airbillA document acting as a bill of lading for goods carried by air, including air consignment notes and air waybills.
- aircraft piracyThe crime of using force or threats to seize an aircraft; hijacking, especially of an aircraft in flight.
- aisneAnother term for eigne.
- al barreAt the bar.
- albanusSomeone who has come from abroad, especially for a short stay.
- album breveA blank writ; one with a gap left in it.
- alcaldeIn Spanish law, formerly a judicial officer whose duties were much like those of a justice of the peace. In modern us…
- alcoholometerA device that measures the alcohol in a person's breath to estimate the level in their blood, used especially where p…
- aldermanA member of a city council or other local governing body.
- aldermannus civitatis vel burgiAn alderman of a city or borough.
- aldermannus hundredi seu wapentachiiAn alderman of a hundred or wapentake.
- aldermannus regisAn alderman of the king, so called because the king appointed him or because he delivered the king's judgment in the…
- alderwomanA female member of a city council or other local governing body.
- ale silverA yearly payment made to the Lord Mayor of London by those who sold ale in the city.
- aleaA game of chance; also, the chance of gain or loss under a contract.
- aleatoryDepending on something uncertain.
- aleatory contractA contract in which what at least one party must do depends on an uncertain event outside the parties' control. Most…
- aleatory promiseA promise that takes effect only if some chance event happens, or an event the parties believe to be a matter of chance.
- alegalOutside the reach of law altogether, being neither legal nor illegal.
- aler a dieuTo go to God: a phrase asking for the case to be dismissed.
- aler sans jourTo go without day: a phrase asking for the case to be dismissed for good.
- alez adeuWithout day. A common phrase in the Year Books marking a final dismissal from court.
- Alford pleaA guilty plea entered as part of a plea bargain by a defendant who does not actually admit guilt. It is not treated a…
- algorithmIn patent law, a statement or conclusion reached through a set sequence of steps applying mathematical, logical, or n…
- ALIAn organization of lawyers, judges, and academics that works towards consistency and simplicity in American law, publ…
- ALI testThe Model Penal Code's test for insanity: a person is not criminally responsible if, because of a mental disease or d…
- aliamentaA right of way or passage, such as a path through another's hedge or a channel for draining water.
- aliasOtherwise called or named; also, at another time.
- alias executionA second writ of execution issued where the first did not satisfy the judgment in full.
- alias subpoenaA subpoena issued after an earlier one failed to take effect.
- alias summonsA second summons issued after the first failed for some reason.
- alias writA further writ of the same kind issued later in the same case. The name comes from a Latin phrase once used in such w…
- alibiA defense that the defendant cannot be guilty because they were somewhere other than the scene of the crime when it h…
- alibi witnessA witness who testifies that the defendant was somewhere other than the scene of the crime at the relevant time.
- alienSomeone living in a country without being one of its citizens or subjects, and owing it no allegiance. In the United…
- alien amiAn alien who is a citizen or subject of a friendly power.
- alien amyAn alien who is a citizen or subject of a friendly power.
- Alien and Sedition ActsFour statutes of 1798 aimed at silencing critics of the Federalist party. They lengthened the residence needed for ci…
- alien corporationA company formed and chartered under the laws of another state or country.
- alien enemyA citizen or subject of a country at war with the one where they are living or traveling.
- alien friendAn alien who is a citizen or subject of a friendly power.
- alien immigrantAn immigrant who has not yet been naturalized.
- alienabilityThe quality of being capable of being transferred to someone else.
- alienableCapable of being transferred to another's ownership.
- alienageThe condition of being an alien.
- alienateTo transfer property or a property right to someone else.
- alienationBecoming estranged, or withdrawing from a former attachment; also, transferring property to someone else.
- alienation clauseA clause in a deed either allowing or forbidding further transfer of the property; also, a clause in an insurance pol…
- alienation of affectionsA tort claim against an outsider for deliberately or maliciously interfering with a marriage, without justification.…
- alienation officeAn office for collecting fines levied on writs of covenant and entry.
- alienativeCausing a right to pass out of one person's hands into another's.
- alienative factA fact that strips someone of a right by transferring it to somebody else.
- alieneeThe person to whom property is transferred.
- alieni generisOf another kind; of a foreign kind.
- alieni jurisIn Roman law, under the authority of another person.
- alienigenaAn alien.
- alienismThe condition or character of being an alien.
- alienistA psychiatrist, especially one who assesses whether a criminal defendant is sane or fit to stand trial.
- alienorThe person who transfers property to another.
- alienusBelonging to somebody else.
- alimentaThe things needed to live, such as food and clothing.
- alimonyA court-ordered payment by one spouse to the other for maintenance and support, whether during separation, while matr…
- alimony in grossAlimony fixed as a single definite sum, which cannot later be varied.
- alimony pendente liteTemporary alimony ordered while a divorce or separation case is pending.
- alimony trustA trust into which one spouse transfers property so that the other, as beneficiary, will be supported after divorce o…
- alio intuituIn a different light; with reference to another case or set of circumstances.
- aliquotDividing into a larger whole an exact number of times; fractional.
- aliquot-part ruleThe principle that someone must have intended to acquire a definite fractional share of property before a court will…
- aliundeFrom another source; from elsewhere.
- aliunde ruleThe rule that a verdict cannot be attacked by a juror's evidence unless the ground for admitting that evidence has fi…
- ALJAn official who presides at an agency hearing, with power to administer oaths, take evidence, rule on questions of ev…
- all faults, withIn whatever condition it happens to be, with no repairs or adjustments. A seller can exclude all implied warranties b…
- all foursMatching another case exactly on both facts and law.
- All Writs ActA federal statute empowering the Supreme Court and all courts created by Congress to issue writs in aid of their juri…
- all-events testIn tax law, the requirement that everything fixing an accrual-basis taxpayer's right to receive income, or duty to pa…
- all-holders ruleAn SEC rule barring an issuer from offering shares to only some holders of a class, and requiring anyone making a ten…
- all-inclusive mortgageA mortgage covering both the existing debt on a property and new money advanced, with the new lender taking over the…
- all-or-none offeringAn offering that lets the issuer call the whole distribution off unless the entire block of securities is sold.
- all-or-none orderAn order to buy a security that must be filled in full or not at all.
- all-or-nothing ruleA gloss on the rule against perpetuities: a class gift fails entirely if it fails in part. The effect is to strike do…
- all-risk insuranceInsurance covering every kind of insurable loss except those specifically excluded.
- all-the-estate clauseA clause in a conveyance passing to the buyer the whole of whatever interest the seller had in the property.
- allegationDeclaring something to be true; also, the thing asserted, especially in a pleading: a party's formal statement that a…
- allegation of facultiesIn family law, a statement of the husband's property put forward by the wife in support of a claim for alimony.
- allegations-of-the-complaint ruleAnother term for the eight-corners rule.
- allegatumA fact alleged in a pleading.
- allegeTo assert something as true without having yet proved it, especially in a pleading.
- allegedSaid to be true as described; also, accused but not yet tried.
- allegianceA citizen's duty of loyalty and obedience to the state in return for its protection. It may be permanent and absolute…
- Allen chargeIn criminal procedure, an extra direction a judge gives a deadlocked jury after long deliberation, urging them to try…
- aller a dieuTo go to God: a phrase asking for the case to be dismissed.
- aller sans jourTo go without day: a phrase asking for the case to be dismissed for good.
- allianceA bond or union between people, families, or states. In international law it means an association of two or more stat…
- allideTo collide, as where two vessels crash into each other.
- allied offensesTwo or more crimes whose elements overlap so closely that committing one automatically amounts to committing the other.
- allisionSetting aside or apportioning something for a particular purpose, especially crediting a receipt or charging a paymen…
- allocationSetting aside or apportioning something for a particular purpose, especially crediting a receipt or charging a paymen…
- allocatione faciendaAnother term for de allocatione facienda.
- allocaturIt is allowed. The word once marked a writ, bill, or pleading as permitted, and is still used in Pennsylvania for per…
- allocuteTo deliver a formal address in court, as a judge does before passing sentence.
- allocutionIn criminal procedure, the judge's formal invitation to a convicted defendant to speak before sentence is passed, so…
- allocutoryTo do with an allocution.
- allodialHeld in absolute ownership, free of any superior lord.
- allodiumLand held in absolute ownership, owing no service to any superior.
- allogaturIt is allowed. The word once marked a writ, bill, or pleading as permitted, and is still used in Pennsylvania for per…
- allographWriting or a signature made by an agent on the principal's behalf.
- allongeA slip of paper attached to a negotiable instrument to carry further indorsements once the original has no room left.
- allotmentA share or portion of something, such as land formerly held in common or shares in a company. In American Indian law…
- allotment certificateIn securities law, a document recording the essentials of a share subscription: how many shares are to be bought, the…
- allotment noteA sailor's written assignment of part of their wages to a spouse, parent, grandparent, or sibling.
- allotment systemThe practice of dividing land into small plots for farm laborers and others to cultivate.
- allotteeThe person to whom an allotment is made.
- allowanceA share or portion, especially of money granted to someone.
- allowance pendente liteTemporary alimony ordered while a divorce or separation case is pending.
- alloynourSomeone who conceals, steals, or makes off with something on the sly.
- allurementIn tort law, something attractive enough to tempt a trespassing child to interfere with it when they ought to leave i…
- alluvial miningTaking sand and gravel out of a riverbed.
- alluvionStrictly, the wash of water against a shore or riverbank. It is also used of the soil or silt that running water depo…
- alluviumSoil, clay, or similar material laid down by running water. In land law it means the land so added, which belongs to…
- allyA nation bound to another by treaty or alliance; also, a citizen of such a nation.
- almariaThe archives of a church or library.
- almoignAlms, a church treasury, or property held by a church. It also means a form of tenure by which a religious house held…
- almoinA form of tenure by which a religious house held land in return for an unenforceable duty to pray for the donor, diff…
- almonerSomeone responsible for distributing the alms of a monarch, religious house, or other institution. The post began in…
- almshouseA house for the poor of a city or county, supported publicly or by charity.
- alnagerA royal officer who collected the tax on woolen cloth. The tax was abolished in 1699.
- alodLand held in absolute ownership, owing no service to any superior.
- alodeLand held in absolute ownership, owing no service to any superior.
- alodiumLand held in absolute ownership, owing no service to any superior.
- altarageOfferings made at an altar or to a church; also, a payment a priest receives for services performed at the altar.
- alter egoA company someone uses to carry on their own personal business, with the result that a court may hold the individual…
- alter-ego ruleIn company law, the doctrine that shareholders will be treated as owning the company's property, or as the real parti…
- alterationA substantial change to land or a building that does not add to or take away from the outside dimensions of its struc…
- altering or amending a judgmentA trial court's correction of a substantive error in its own judgment, such as a plain mistake of law or fact.
- alternatThe rotation of precedence among states or diplomats, especially when treaties are signed, so that each takes away a…
- alternate legacyA gift in a will that lets the beneficiary choose one of two or more items.
- alternate valuation dateThe date six months after a death. An estate may generally choose to value the deceased's property either at the date…
- alternative constituencyA group with a stake in a company's business other than its shareholders, such as employees or the public, whose inte…
- alternative contractA contract letting the performing party choose between two or more specified ways of discharging the obligation.
- alternative dispute resolutionSettling a dispute by some route other than a lawsuit, such as arbitration, mediation, or a minitrial.
- alternative judgmentA judgment giving the losing party a choice of ways to satisfy it.
- alternative liabilityLiability arising where two or more people acted tortiously and the claimant proves one of them caused the harm but c…
- alternative mandamusA mandamus granted on the first application, ordering the defendant either to do what is asked or to appear at a set…
- alternative minimum taxA flat tax that may fall on companies and higher-income individuals, to stop them escaping income tax altogether thro…
- alternative obligationAn obligation that can be discharged in either of two ways, at the debtor's choice.
- alternative orderAn order to buy a security by either of two routes, such as at a limited price or on a stop order.
- alternative pleadingPleading two or more separate claims or defenses that do not necessarily sit consistently with each other, such as al…
- alternative promiseA promise to do one of two or more things, where any of them would have to satisfy the promisee for the promise to co…
- alternative reliefAnother term for relief.
- alternative remainderA remainder that takes effect only if some other disposition of the property does not.
- alternative writA common-law writ ordering the person it is issued against either to do a specified thing or to show why the court sh…
- alternative-means doctrineThe principle that where a crime can be committed in more than one way, the jury must be unanimous that the defendant…
- alterum non laedereIn Roman and civil law, to harm no one by word or deed. Justinian treated it as a foundation of law generally, and it…
- altius non tollendiIn Roman and civil law, a servitude forbidding a landowner to build above a certain height.
- alto et bassoThe submission of every difference between parties, large or small, to arbitration.
- altum mareThe high seas; the deep sea.
- alveusThe bed or channel a stream runs along in its ordinary course.
- AMAThe national professional association of physicians in the United States, which sets standards of medical practice an…
- amalgamationThe combining of things into one; a merger or consolidation.
- amalgamatorSomeone who combines or merges things, especially businesses.
- Amalphitan CodeA code of maritime law drawn up late in the 11th century at the port of Amalfi near Naples. It was treated as a leadi…
- ambactusA messenger; also, a servant whose work the master hires out.
- ambasciatorSomeone sent about on another's business; an ambassador.
- ambassadorA diplomat of the highest rank, usually a government's resident representative in a foreign country. Ambassadors stan…
- ambiguitas latensAn ambiguity not obvious from the words of a document, which emerges only when its terms are applied to the facts.
- ambiguitas patensAn ambiguity obvious on the face of a document, arising from its own wording.
- ambiguityUncertainty about what a term means or what was intended, as in a contract clause or a statute.
- ambiguity amanuensisSomeone who writes from dictation; a scribe or secretary.
- ambiguity doctrineThe rule that an ambiguity in a document is construed against whoever drafted it.
- ambiguity on the factumAn ambiguity going to the very foundation of a document, such as whether the testator meant a particular clause to fo…
- ambitThe space around a house or town; also, a boundary or limit.
- ambitusObtaining public office by money or gifts; the unlawful buying and selling of office.
- ambulance chaserA lawyer who approaches accident victims hoping to persuade them to sue; also, an agent who does this on a lawyer's b…
- ambulatoryAble to walk about; also, capable of being changed or revoked.
- ambulatory automatismConduct occurring without will or conscious purpose, such as sleepwalking; behavior carried out while unconscious or…
- ambulatory dispositionA judgment or sentence that can still be amended or revoked.
- ambulatory willA will that can be changed at any time during the testator's life.
- ameliorateTo make something better, or to become better.
- ameliorating wasteA tenant's unauthorized alteration to the landlord's property which is technically waste but in fact improves it. Equ…
- ameliorationMaking something better, or the state of having been improved; also, the improvement itself.
- ameliorative wasteA tenant's unauthorized alteration to the landlord's property which is technically waste but in fact improves it. Equ…
- amenableAnswerable in law; liable to be brought to judgment.
- amend, vdTo put right or correct; also, to change the wording of something, particularly to alter a statute or constitution fo…
- amendatoryIntended to amend something; corrective.
- amende honorableA formal reparation for an offense, made by an open and usually humiliating admission and apology to restore the vict…
- amended complaintA complaint that replaces the original one, adding relevant matters that arose before or when the case began. Permiss…
- amended pleadingA pleading that replaces an earlier one, covering matters left out of it or unknown when it was filed.
- amended returnA tax return filed after the original, usually to correct a mistake in it.
- amendmentA formal change or addition proposed or made to a statute, constitution, or other document.
- amendment of indictmentChanging the charges in an indictment, whether in terms or in substance, after the grand jury has acted on it. It gen…
- amendsCompensation given for a loss or injury; reparation.
- amerceTo impose a fine whose amount is not fixed but left to the court's discretion; more loosely, to punish in any way.
- amercementA court's imposition of a discretionary fine, especially on an official for misconduct; also, the fine itself.
- AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ACTUARIESThe professional body of actuaries in the United States, which sets qualification and conduct standards for the profe…
- American Accounting AssociationAn association of accounting practitioners, teachers, and students, founded in 1916, which promotes accounting as an…
- American Arbitration AssociationA national body that keeps a panel of arbitrators on hand to hear labor and commercial disputes.
- American Bankers AssociationA trade association of banks, trust companies, and savings institutions, founded in 1875, whose members hold most of…
- American Bar AssociationA voluntary national organization of lawyers that works on law reform, accredits law schools, and runs continuing leg…
- American Bar FoundationA body growing out of the American Bar Association, which sponsors and funds research, education, and social studies…
- American Civil Liberties UnionA national organization whose main purpose is to enforce and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed…
- American clauseIn marine insurance, a clause stopping an insurer from claiming a contribution from a policy the insured takes out la…
- American depository receiptA receipt an American bank issues in place of shares in a foreign company. These are the usual way foreign companies…
- American Inns of Court FoundationAn American organization of judges, practicing lawyers, teachers, and students, modeled on the English Inns of Court,…
- American Law InstituteAn organization of lawyers, judges, and academics that works towards consistency and simplicity in American law, publ…
- American Law Institute testThe Model Penal Code's test for insanity: a person is not criminally responsible if, because of a mental disease or d…
- American ruleThe rule that each side pays its own lawyers' fees, even the winner, subject to exceptions for bad faith and to those…
- American Stock ExchangeAn organized stock exchange and self-regulating body under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, based in New York and…
- Americans with Disabilities ActA federal statute banning discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public services, and public…
- AMEXAn organized stock exchange and self-regulating body under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, based in New York and…
- amiable compositorIn international law, a neutral outsider, often a king or emperor, who proposes a solution that the countries in disp…
- amicable actionA lawsuit brought to settle an important point of principle, often by the parties' agreement on facts they both accep…
- amicable compounderIn Louisiana law, an arbitrator the parties choose to settle their dispute amicably.
- amicus curiaeSomeone who is not a party to a case but who asks the court, or is invited by it, to file a brief because they have a…
- amnestyA pardon granted by government to a whole group or class of people, usually for a political offense; a sovereign's of…
- amnesty clauseA clause, especially in a peace treaty, wiping out past offenses such as treason, sedition, rebellion, and even war c…
- Amnesty InternationalAn international non-governmental organization founded in the early 1960s to defend human rights worldwide, campaigni…
- amortizationPaying off a debt such as a mortgage by degrees, usually by paying down some of the principal each time interest fall…
- amortization reserveAn account kept for bookkeeping purposes to write off an obligation gradually.
- amortization scheduleA table of the periodic payments of interest and principal due on a debt, showing how much of each falls due at each…
- amortizeTo pay off a debt by degrees, often through a sinking fund. Formerly it also meant transferring land to a corporation…
- amortized loanA loan repaid by periodic payments applied first to interest and then to principal, as the note provides.
- amortized mortgageA mortgage repaid by regular installments that cover both interest and principal, so that the debt is cleared by the…
- amotionA turning out, such as the eviction of a tenant or the removal of someone from office. It also means the common-law p…
- amount in controversyThe damages claimed or the relief sought by the injured party. For a federal court to have diversity jurisdiction, th…
- amount realizedIn tax law, what a taxpayer receives on selling or exchanging an asset, whether cash, property, services, or debts th…
- amoveTo remove someone from an office or position.
- ampliatioPutting off or reserving judgment; also, in a criminal trial, going back over the evidence at the jury's request.
- ampliusMore; further. A praetor used the word to put a case off to a later date where some obscurity stopped the judge from…
- AMTA flat tax that may fall on companies and higher-income individuals, to stop them escaping income tax altogether thro…
- amusement taxA tax on tickets to concerts, sporting events, and the like, usually charged as a percentage of the ticket price.
- anaconda clauseAnother term for a mother hubbard clause.
- anacrisisAn investigation or inquiry, especially one carried out by torture.
- analogous artIn patent law, earlier work in the same field, or in a related field a skilled person would naturally consult, which…
- analytical jurisprudenceA way of studying law that concentrates on its logical structure, the meaning and use of its concepts, and how it ope…
- anarchistSomeone who argues for overthrowing organized government by force, or who holds the absence of government to be the p…
- anarchyThe absence of government; lawlessness.
- anathemaA church curse barring someone from receiving communion and cutting them off from contact with members of the church.
- anatomical giftA donation of one's body, or of an organ or tissue, to take effect on death, for transplant, research, or teaching.
- ancestorSomeone from whom a person is descended, such as a parent or grandparent.
- ancestral debtA debt of an ancestor that an heir can be made to pay.
- ancestral estateAn estate obtained by descent or by operation of law, on no consideration other than blood relationship.
- anchorageA charge paid by shipowners for the use of a port; a toll for anchoring.
- ancientIn the law of evidence, having existed for a long time, usually at least 20 to 30 years. Such items are generally pre…
- ancient demesneA manor held by the Crown at the time of William the Conqueror and recorded in the Domesday Book.
- ancient documentIn the law of evidence, a document presumed genuine because its condition suggests authenticity, it is at least 20 ye…
- ancient houseAnother term for house.
- ancient lawThe law of antiquity, studied either anthropologically or to trace the origins of modern law.
- ancient readingsLectures on old English statutes, which once carried substantial legal authority.
- ancient rentThe rent fixed when the lease was granted, where the property was not already let at that time.
- ancient serjeantIn English law, the most senior of the Crown's serjeants. The last holder of the office died in 1866.
- ancient wallA party wall that has stood twenty years or more, so that each owner has an easement entitling them to prevent the ot…
- ancient watercourseA watercourse running in a channel that has existed from time out of mind.
- ancient-lights doctrineThe common-law principle by which a landowner who had enjoyed light through a window for 20 uninterrupted years acqui…
- ancientsSenior members of the Inns of Court and Chancery. At Gray's Inn the society consisted of benchers, ancients, barriste…
- ancillarySupplementary; subordinate to something else.
- ancillary administrationAn administration carried on alongside the main one at the place where the deceased lived, for instance in another st…
- ancillary administratorA court-appointed administrator who deals with the part of an estate lying outside the place where the deceased lived…
- ancillary attachmentThe seizure of someone's property to secure a judgment, or to be sold to satisfy one.
- ancillary billA proceeding, at law or in equity, that grows out of another suit and is brought to assist it, to enforce an earlier…
- ancillary claimA claim that is dependent on or subsidiary to another, such as a state-law claim closely enough connected to a federa…
- ancillary jurisdictionA court's power to decide claims that arise out of a claim already properly before it. If a claimant sues in federal…
- ancillary legislationLegislation subsidiary to a main piece of legislation.
- ancillary proceedingA proceeding, at law or in equity, that grows out of another suit and is brought to assist it, to enforce an earlier…
- ancillary processA proceeding, at law or in equity, that grows out of another suit and is brought to assist it, to enforce an earlier…
- ancillary receiverA receiver appointed in one area to help a receiver elsewhere collect the assets of an insolvent company or other body.
- ancillary suitA proceeding, at law or in equity, that grows out of another suit and is brought to assist it, to enforce an earlier…
- ancipitis ususGoods that can serve either peaceful or warlike purposes, and so are treated as contraband only if destined for use i…
- and his heirsAnother term for heir.
- and other good and valuable considerationFurther things of value to be given under a contract, left unspecified in the deed or bill of sale either because the…
- Anders briefIn criminal procedure, a brief filed by a court-appointed defense lawyer who wishes to withdraw on appeal because the…
- androlepsyOne nation seizing the citizens of another, either in reprisal or to force a claim, such as the surrender or punishme…
- aneciusThe eldest; the firstborn; the senior, as opposed to the younger.
- angariaIn international law, a country's right in war or other emergency to seize neutral merchant ships in its waters, and…
- angaryIn international law, a country's right in war or other emergency to seize neutral merchant ships in its waters, and…
- Anglo-Saxon lawThe royal decrees and customary law developed by the Germanic peoples who ruled England from the 5th century until 1066.
- anhloteA single payment or tax made according to custom, such as scot and lot.
- aniente(Of a law) having no force or effect; void.
- animoAnother term for animus.
- animo felonicoWith felonious intent; meaning to commit a felony.
- animus deserendiThe intention to desert, usually a spouse or child.
- animus differendiThe intention to cause delay.
- animus dominiIn Roman law, the intention to exercise control over something as its owner.
- animus et factumThe intention and the deed together. The phrase is used of someone's intention to live in a country permanently or in…
- animus felonicusThe intention to commit a felony.
- animus furandiThe intention to steal.
- animus injuriandiThe intention to injure, especially to insult.
- animus manendiThe intention to stay; the intention to make somewhere a permanent home.
- animus morandiThe intention to stay. It means much the same as animus manendi, but suggests something less permanent.
- animus revocandiThe intention to revoke a will.
- animus signandiThe intention to sign.
- animus testandiThe intention to make a will.
- annatesIn church law, the first year's revenue from a spiritual living, paid at first to the Pope and later, under Henry VII…
- annexSomething attached to something else, such as a document appended to a report or an extension built onto a building.
- annexationAttaching one thing to another, or the state of being attached. In property law it marks the point at which a fixture…
- anniversary dateIn insurance, the yearly recurring date on which a policy was first issued.
- anno orbis conditiThe year the world was created.
- annotationA short summary of the facts and decision in a case, especially one printed alongside a reported opinion or a statute.
- annotatorSomeone who writes notes or commentary on a text, such as the case notes printed with law reports.
- announceTo make something publicly known; to proclaim it formally.
- annoyanceSomething, such as persistent noise or a foul smell, that interferes with the use or enjoyment of property. Whether i…
- annua pensioneAnother term for de annua pensione.
- annual depreciationThe yearly loss in a property's value through ordinary wear and tear.
- annual exclusionThe amount a person may give away each calendar year without incurring gift tax. It serves both as an estate-planning…
- annual gift-tax exclusionThe amount a person may give away each calendar year without incurring gift tax. It serves both as an estate-planning…
- annual meetingA yearly meeting of a company's shareholders to elect directors and deal with other routine business. The time and pl…
- annual messageA message from the President or a governor delivered at the opening of a legislative session.
- annual percentage rateWhat borrowing actually costs, expressed as an interest rate for a year.
- annual permitA permit some states require a company doing business there to pay for each year. In some states the fee depends on h…
- annual reportA company's yearly financial report to shareholders and others. Registered companies must file one with the SEC on Fo…
- annual valueThe net yearly income a piece of property produces; also, a year's rent for it, less costs and expenses.
- annuitantSomeone entitled to receive payments under an annuity.
- annuityAn obligation to pay a set sum at regular intervals, usually monthly or yearly, to a named person, the payments endin…
- annuity bondA bond with no maturity date, which goes on paying interest indefinitely.
- annuity certainAn annuity payable for a fixed period whether or not the annuitant lives that long.
- annuity depreciation methodA depreciation method that allows a notional return of interest on the part of an asset's value not yet written off.…
- annuity dueAn annuity whose payments fall due at the start of each period rather than the end.
- annuity insuranceAn agreement to make payments to the insured for a fixed period or for life.
- annuity policyAn insurance policy providing regular payments to the insured, beginning on a set date and continuing for life.
- annuity trustA trust whose trustee must pay a fixed sum each year to one or more beneficiaries, for their lives or for a set numbe…
- annulTo make something legally void, as though it had never taken effect.
- annulmentMaking something void. It also means a court or church declaration that a marriage is void. Unlike a divorce, it esta…
- annum luctusThe year after a married man's death, during which his widow could not remarry. The rule avoided confusion over the p…
- anomalous indorsementAn indorsement by someone outside the chain of title, who is therefore neither a holder nor a transferor of the instr…
- anomalous jurisdictionJurisdiction no statute confers, but which is inherent in a court's power over the lawyers and officers who serve it,…
- anomalous pleaAn equitable plea containing both positive and negative matter, part confession and avoidance and part denial. It sui…
- anomalous pleadingA pleading whose allegations are partly positive and partly negative.
- anomalous ruleThe principle that an appeal court has provisional power to review the refusal of an application to intervene, but th…
- anomalous-jurisdiction ruleThe principle that an appeal court has provisional power to review the refusal of an application to intervene, but th…
- anonymousNot named or identified.
- anoysanceAn annoyance or nuisance.
- answerThe defendant's first pleading dealing with the substance of the case, usually denying what the claimant alleges. It…
- answer dateThe last day on which a defendant may file and serve a responsive pleading. Under the federal rules a defendant gener…
- answer dayThe last day on which a defendant may file and serve a responsive pleading. Under the federal rules a defendant gener…
- antapochaIn Roman and civil law, the debtor's counterpart to a receipt, signed by the debtor and handed to the creditor.
- ante exhibitionem billaeBefore the bill was exhibited, that is, before the suit began.
- antecedentEarlier; already existing.
- antecedent claimA claim that already existed.
- antecedent debtIn contract law, an old debt that can support a fresh promise even though the limitation period has run on it. In ban…
- antecessorIn Roman law, a professor of law. It formerly also meant an ancestor, or a predecessor in an office.
- antedateTo put an earlier date on something than the true one; to backdate. It can also simply mean to come before in time.
- antenuptialMade or happening before a marriage.
- antenuptial giftA gift made before marriage, often in contemplation of it.
- antenuptial willA will made before marriage. At common law marrying automatically revoked a will, but modern statutes generally provi…
- anthropometryA system of measuring the human body, especially the proportions between its parts. Before fingerprinting, detailed b…
- Anti-Injunction ActA federal statute barring a federal court from enjoining state court proceedings unless the injunction is expressly a…
- anti-john lawA criminal statute punishing the customers of prostitutes.
- antichresisIn Roman and civil law, a mortgage under which the lender keeps possession of the property and takes its income, such…
- anticipated compromisAn agreement by which countries send all their disputes, or a defined class of them, to an arbitral body, a court, or…
- anticipationIn patent law, the earlier use, knowledge, publication, or patenting of an invention. Any of these destroys its novel…
- anticipatory breachA breach caused by one party making clear, before performance is due, that they will not perform. The other party may…
- anticipatory nuisanceA state of affairs that is not yet a nuisance but is very likely to become one, so that a court may grant an injuncti…
- anticipatory offenseA step towards committing another crime, serious enough in itself to deserve punishment. The three such offenses in c…
- anticipatory replicationIn equity pleading, a denial in the original bill of the defenses the defendant might raise. A defendant relying on a…
- anticipatory repudiationRepudiating a contractual duty before performance falls due, which gives the injured party an immediate right to dama…
- anticipatory search warrantA search warrant granted on an affidavit showing probable cause that evidence of a crime, such as illegal drugs, will…
- anticompetitive conductIn antitrust law, conduct that harms or is meant to harm the market or the process of competition, and which serves n…
- antideficiency legislationLegislation raising revenue to cover a budget shortfall; also, legislation limiting how far secured creditors may rec…
- antidestruction clauseA provision in a security protecting a shareholder's right to convert if the company merges, by allowing conversion i…
- antidilution provisionA provision in a convertible security protecting the conversion right against share splits, share dividends, and othe…
- antidumping lawA statute protecting domestic businesses by preventing foreign goods from being sold below fair value, for instance b…
- antidumping tariffA tariff equal to the difference between what a product sells for in the exporting country and what the importer will…
- antifraud ruleThe SEC rule forbidding deceptive or manipulative practices, such as material misstatements or omissions, in the buyi…
- antigraphusAn officer responsible for keeping account of tax revenues; a comptroller.
- antilapse statuteIn the law of wills, a statute passing a gift to the beneficiary's own heirs where the beneficiary dies before the te…
- antimanifestoIn international law, a proclamation in which a country at war asserts that the war is a defensive one on its part.
- antimarital-facts privilegeThe privilege allowing someone not to give evidence against their spouse in a criminal case, whatever the evidence is…
- antinomiaA conflict between two laws or legal rules.
- antinomicInvolving a contradiction between two laws or principles.
- antinomyA contradiction in law or logic, especially a conflict of authority such as two decisions that cannot stand together.
- antiqua custumaFormerly, a tax on wool, woolfells, and leather. The distinction between the old and the new custom arose when the ki…
- antiqua statutaThe older statutes, as distinguished from the newer ones.
- antiquareIn Roman law, to reject a proposed law. Those voting against a proposal marked their ballots with the letter A.
- antisubrogation ruleIn insurance, the principle that an insurer has no right of subrogation against its own insured for a risk the policy…
- antitakeover statuteA state law protecting companies based in the state from hostile takeovers.
- Antitrust Civil Process ActA federal law setting out the procedure for bringing an antitrust action by petition in a U.S. District Court.
- antitrust lawThe body of law protecting trade and commerce against restraints, monopolies, price-fixing, and price discrimination.
- AODA memorandum from lawyers in the Internal Revenue Service's litigation division to the Chief Counsel, advising whethe…
- AOGIAdjusted ordinary gross income: a company's gross income less capital gains and certain expenses, used to decide whet…
- AOGLA company's gross income less capital gains and certain expenses, used by the IRS to decide whether it counts as a pe…
- apartheidRacial segregation, particularly the former South African policy of discriminating against and segregating black people.
- apertum breveAn open writ, one not sealed shut, so that its contents could be read without breaking a seal.
- apertum factumAn overt act.
- apertura testamentiIn Roman law, a way of proving a will: the witnesses acknowledged their signatures and seals before a magistrate, and…
- apex depositionThe deposition of someone at the very top of a company. Courts often refuse to allow one unless the person has partic…
- apex ruleIn mining law, the rule that a vein of ore may be followed and mined even where it runs beyond the vertical boundarie…
- apochae oneratoriaeBills of lading.
- apocrisariusAn ambassador or messenger, such as a papal legate. It also meant someone who answers on another's behalf, particular…
- apographaIn civil law, an examination and listing of what someone possesses; an inventory. It also means copies or transcripts.
- apostasyA crime against religion consisting in wholly renouncing Christianity after having professed it.
- apostleA letter from a trial court to an appeal court setting out the case on appeal; also, the record and papers sent up wi…
- apostolusA messenger, ambassador, legate, or nuncio.
- apparentVisible; obvious.
- apparent agencyAn agency arising by operation of law, where a principal has behaved in a way that would lead an outsider reasonably…
- apparent agentSomeone who reasonably appears to have authority to act for another, whether or not that authority was actually given.
- apparent authorityAuthority that a principal's own conduct leads an outsider reasonably to believe an agent has, even though it was nev…
- apparent dangerDanger that is obvious. In criminal law it means the danger created when someone openly shows an intention to kill or…
- apparent defectA defect a normally observant person would notice, especially a buyer making a reasonable inspection.
- apparent easementAn easement that can be seen on the ground, such as a made path or a sidewalk.
- apparent heirAn heir certain to inherit unless they die first or are cut out by a valid will.
- apparent servitudeA servitude over land that shows itself in visible signs or works, such as a roadway.
- apparent titleTitle that looks good on the face of the records but may in fact be defective.
- apparitorIn Roman law, an officer attached to a court as secretary, messenger, or herald. In civil law it meant an officer att…
- apparlementLikelihood, as in the likelihood of war.
- apparuraFurniture, clothing, implements, or tackle.
- appealA proceeding to have a decision reconsidered by a higher authority, especially putting a lower court's or an agency's…
- appeal as of rightAn appeal that may be brought without first obtaining the higher court's permission.
- appeal bondA bond an appeal court may require from an appellant in a civil case to secure the costs of the appeal, or as a condi…
- appeal by applicationAn appeal that may be brought only with the reviewing court's permission.
- appeal by leaveAnother term for an appeal by application.
- appeal by rightAn appeal that may be brought without first obtaining the higher court's permission.
- appeal courtA court with power to review the decisions of lower courts or administrative agencies.
- appeal de novoAn appeal in which the higher court works from the trial record but reconsiders both the evidence and the law for its…
- appeal in forma pauperisAn appeal by a party too poor to pay, for whom the court costs are waived.
- appeal of felonyA procedure by which one person accused another of a crime and could demand that guilt or innocence be settled by tri…
- appeal of rightAn appeal that may be brought without first obtaining the higher court's permission.
- appealabilityWhether a decision is of a kind that can be appealed.
- appealable decisionAn order final enough to be reviewed on appeal, such as one granting summary judgment, or an interim order that a sta…
- appeals councilA body that hears appeals from the rulings of administrative-law judges in social-security cases.
- appeals courtA court with power to review the decisions of lower courts or administrative agencies.
- appearTo come before a court, whether as a party or as a lawyer acting for one.
- appearanceIn civil procedure, coming before the court as a party or interested person, or as a lawyer acting for one.
- appearance bondA bond securing a defendant's promise to appear in court when required.
- appearance dateThe last day on which a defendant may file and serve a responsive pleading. Under the federal rules a defendant gener…
- appearance dayThe last day on which a defendant may file and serve a responsive pleading. Under the federal rules a defendant gener…
- appearance de bene esseA defendant's pleading arguing that the court has no personal jurisdiction over them, or objecting to the way process…
- appearance docketA list of the parties and lawyers in a case, together with a brief note of each step taken in it.
- appearance doctrineIn the law of self-defense, the rule that a defendant's use of force is justified if they reasonably believed it to be.
- appearance pro hac viceA lawyer from another jurisdiction appearing in a case by the court's special permission.
- appellantThe party who appeals against a lower court's decision, usually seeking to have it reversed.
- appellateTo do with appeals.
- appellate counselA lawyer who acts for a party on appeal, as opposed to trial counsel.
- appellate courtA court with power to review the decisions of lower courts or administrative agencies.
- appellate divisionA division of a superior court that hears appeals; in some states, such as New York and New Jersey, an intermediate a…
- appellate jurisdictionA court's power to review and revise the decision of a lower court.
- appellate recordThe record of the trial proceedings as put before the appeal court for review.
- appellate reviewA higher court's examination of a lower court's decision, which it may uphold, reverse, or vary.
- appellate rulesThe body of rules governing appeals from lower courts.
- appellatorAn appellant; also, the judge to whom an appeal is taken.
- appelleeThe party against whom an appeal is brought, whose role is to answer it, usually asking that the decision below be up…
- appelloI appeal. This was the form of words used to appeal in the judge's presence.
- appellorIn English law, someone who formally accuses another of a crime, challenges a jury, or informs against an accomplice.
- appellum de feloniaA procedure by which one person accused another of a crime and could demand that guilt or innocence be settled by tri…
- appendant easementAn easement created for the benefit of another piece of land, the right to use it going with ownership of that land.
- appendant powerA power letting the holder appoint estates carved out of their own interest; a power held by someone who already owns…
- appenditiaThe appendages or appurtenances belonging to an estate.
- appendixA supplementary document attached to the end of a piece of writing.
- appensuraPaying money by weight rather than by counting it.
- applicantSomeone who asks for something, such as a person seeking letters of administration; also, the customer in a letter-of…
- applicationA request, written or spoken, asking a court to make a particular ruling or order; also, a proposal made under formal…
- application for leave to appealA request asking an appeal court to hear an appeal where the party has no right of appeal, or where the time for exer…
- applied costA cost charged to a project before it has actually been incurred.
- applyTo make a formal request or motion; also, to put something to use for a particular purpose or subject.
- appointeeSomeone who is appointed; also, someone who takes the benefit of a power of appointment.
- appointive assetProperty that someone holds a power of appointment over.
- appointive propertyA property interest subject to a power of appointment.
- appointmentDesignating someone, such as a public official who is not elected, for a job or duty.
- Appointments ClauseThe clause of the U.S. Constitution giving the President power to nominate federal judges and other officials, subjec…
- apportA tax, expense, tribute, or payment.
- apportionTo divide something into proportionate shares.
- apportionmentDividing something into proportionate shares. It also means allocating money or expenses in a particular way, as wher…
- apportionment clauseIn insurance, a clause dividing the proceeds in proportion to the total cover in place.
- apportionment of liabilityIn tort law, the dividing up of liability for an injury among several wrongdoers, and sometimes the claimant too. It…
- apportumFormerly, the revenue or profit something brought its owner, often used of a pension.
- apposerAn Exchequer officer who checked the sheriff's book of fines against the court records and questioned the sheriff abo…
- appraisalWorking out a fair price or value for something; also, the report setting out that valuation.
- appraisal clauseA clause in an insurance policy letting either side call for an independent valuation of a claimed loss.
- appraisal remedyThe statutory right of shareholders who oppose an extraordinary corporate step, such as a merger, to have their share…
- appraisal trinityThe three usual ways of valuing real property: the market approach, the cost approach, and the income approach.
- appraiseTo estimate what something is worth.
- appraisementWorking out a fair price or value for something, and the report of it. It is also a form of dispute resolution used t…
- appraiserAn impartial person who estimates the value of something, such as land, jewelry, or rare books.
- appreciateTo grasp the significance of something; also, to rise in value.
- appreciationA rise in an asset's value, usually through inflation.
- appreciation surplusThe increase in a company's surplus arising from revaluing its assets upward.
- appreciation testA test for the insanity defense requiring clear and convincing proof that at the time of the offense the defendant ha…
- apprehendTo seize someone and take them into custody; also, to grasp the meaning of something, or to fear it.
- apprehensioSeizure in the name of the law; arrest. In civil law it also meant a way of acquiring things belonging to nobody, by…
- apprehensionSeizure in the name of the law; arrest. It also means understanding, and fear or anxiety.
- apprenticeFormerly, someone bound by indenture to work for an employer for a set period in order to learn a craft, trade, or pr…
- apprentice of the lawA law student; also, a barrister.
- apprenticius ad legemA law student; also, a barrister.
- approach, right ofIn international law, a warship's right on the high seas to come close to another vessel in order to establish its na…
- appropriated retained earningsRetained earnings a company's board has set aside for a particular purpose, so that they cannot be used to pay divide…
- appropriated surplusThe part of a surplus earmarked for a particular purpose.
- appropriationTaking control or possession of property. It also means a legislature setting aside a sum of money for a public purpo…
- appropriation billA bill authorizing government spending. The federal government cannot spend money unless Congress has appropriated it.
- appropriatorSomeone who takes something for their own use, particularly a person who diverts water under a system of prior-approp…
- approvalFormal agreement or sanction given to something.
- approval saleA sale that goes through only if the buyer is satisfied, whether or not the goods match the contract. Title and the r…
- approveTo give formal sanction to something; to confirm it authoritatively.
- approved indorsed noteA note indorsed by someone other than the maker, to give the holder additional security.
- approved listA list of investments that institutions and fiduciaries such as banks and insurance companies may lawfully put money…
- approvementIn English law, the right of an owner of common land to enclose part of it and take the income from it. The right, fi…
- approverSomeone who offers proof, especially a criminal who confesses and gives evidence against an accomplice.
- approximation, doctrine ofA doctrine allowing a court to vary the details of how a trust is administered, so as to preserve it and give effect…
- appruareTo get a benefit from land by improving it.
- appurtenanceSomething belonging or attached to something else.
- appurtenantAttached to something more important.
- appurtenant easementAn easement created for the benefit of another piece of land, the right to use it going with ownership of that land.
- APRWhat borrowing actually costs, expressed as an interest rate for a year.
- apud iudicemBefore the judge. In Roman procedure it described the second stage of a trial, heard by a private judge known as a ju…
- APVAn asset's value found by adding its present value to the value contributed by the way it is financed.
- aquaWater; a watercourse.
- aqua aestivaSummer water: water used only during the summer.
- aqua currensFlowing or running water.
- aqua friscaFresh water; a running watercourse.
- aqua profluensFlowing or running water.
- aqua quotidianaDaily water: water that may be drawn at any time of year.
- aquae immittendaeA servitude allowing someone whose house is hemmed in by other buildings to discharge wastewater onto neighboring roo…
- aquaehaustusA servitude giving the right to draw water from a well, pool, spring, or stream on someone else's land.
- aquagiumA channel for draining water, especially off marshy ground; also, a payment for supplying water to a mill or for carr…
- aquatic rightAnother term for a water right.
- Aquilian lawAnother term for the lex aquilia.
- arabantThey plowed. The word was applied to those who held land by the tenure of plowing and tilling the lord's fields withi…
- arable landLand fit for growing crops.
- ARBA publication setting out accounting practices recommended by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
- arbiterSomeone with power to decide disputes, such as a judge.
- arbitrageBuying and selling the same securities at the same time in different markets, hoping to profit from the difference in…
- arbitrage bondA municipal bond whose proceeds are invested in bonds yielding more than the municipality pays on its own. Under the…
- arbitralTo do with arbitration or an arbitrator.
- arbitramentThe power to decide, for oneself or for others, finally and absolutely. It also means the act of settling a dispute r…
- arbitrament and awardA plea that the same matter has already been settled by arbitration.
- arbitraryLeft to individual discretion, particularly settled by a judge rather than by fixed rules or law. It also describes a…
- arbitrary markA trademark made up of ordinary words that neither describe nor hint at any quality of the product they are used on.
- arbitrary trademarkA trademark made up of ordinary words that neither describe nor hint at any quality of the product they are used on.
- arbitrationSettling a dispute through one or more neutral outsiders, usually chosen by the parties, whose decision binds them.
- arbitration actA federal or state statute providing for disputes to be sent to arbitration.
- arbitration and awardA defense asserting that what the case is about has already been settled by arbitration.
- arbitration boardA panel of arbitrators appointed to hear and decide a dispute under the rules of arbitration.
- arbitration clauseA contract clause requiring disputes about the parties' rights and duties to go to arbitration rather than to court.
- arbitration of exchangeBuying and selling bills of exchange at the same time in different international markets, hoping to profit from the d…
- arbitratorA neutral person who settles disputes between parties, especially through formal arbitration.
- arbitratorshipThe office or role of an arbitrator.
- arbitrementThe power to decide, for oneself or for others, finally and absolutely. It also means the act of settling a dispute r…
- ArchaicBelonging to an earlier time and no longer in ordinary use.
- ArchaionomiaA Latin translation of the Saxon laws, published in 1568 by William Lambarde.
- archdeaconryThe district over which an archdeacon has jurisdiction; also, the office or rank of archdeacon.
- Archdiaconal CourtIn church law, a lower ecclesiastical court dealing with cases arising in the archdeaconry, including probate. Appeal…
- Arches Court of CanterburyThe church court for the province of Canterbury, which heard various appeals from the diocesan courts. It dealt with…
- archicapellanusA chief or high chancellor.
- architect's lienA statutory lien on land in favor of an architect who drew the plans for improvements there and supervised the buildi…
- architectural reviewA process under which a building permit is withheld until the proposed building meets the architectural standards set…
- architectural workIn copyright law, the design of a building as fixed in any tangible form, whether in plans and drawings, protected as…
- arcifinious(Of land) bounded by natural features such as rivers or mountains rather than by artificial markers.
- area bargainingA union's negotiation of collective-bargaining agreements with several employers across a particular area.
- area varianceA variance allowing a departure from zoning rules about how and where a building may be put up, but not from rules ab…
- area-standards picketingPicketing a union carries out to protect its members in a region, aimed at employers who might undercut the market by…
- Areeda-Turner testIn antitrust law, an economic test for predatory pricing: a price below average variable cost is presumed predatory a…
- arentareTo rent out; to let at a fixed rent.
- arereBehind with a payment such as rent; in arrears.
- argentariusIn Roman law, a moneylender or banker.
- argentumSilver, especially silver coin.
- argentum deiGod's penny: a small token payment made to seal a bargain.
- arguendoFor the sake of argument; also, in the course of argument.
- argumentAn attempt to persuade, especially counsel's remarks drawing out or knocking down an inference for the decision-maker…
- argumentativeTo do with argument or persuasion; also, setting out not just facts but the inferences and conclusions drawn from them.
- argumentative instructionA direction that assumes facts not in evidence, singles out or overstresses a particular issue or defense, or otherwi…
- argumentative questionA question in which the examiner slips in a point of view under cover of asking something. It is treated as an abuse…
- argumentum a similiAn argument from analogy or similarity.
- argumentum ad verecundiamAn argument that appeals to the listener's deference, resting on the opinions of people regarded as authorities.
- ariseTo originate or stem from something; also, to come to one's attention.
- arising-in jurisdictionA bankruptcy court's power over questions of administering the bankruptcy estate and over matters that can arise only…
- aristocracyA privileged class, especially a hereditary nobility; also, government by such a class.
- aristodemocracyA government combining democratic and aristocratic elements, with power divided between the nobility, or the more pow…
- Arkansas ruleIn secured-transactions law, the rule that collateral is presumed worth at least as much as the outstanding loan, so…
- ARMA mortgage whose interest rate the lender may change from time to time, in step with movements in some outside market…
- arm of the seaThe stretch of a river or bay where the tide rises and falls, extending inland as far as the tide pushes the water back.
- arm of the stateA body a state has created that operates as an extension of the state itself, such as a state university or departmen…
- arm-in-armDescribing a transaction between parties whose own personal interests are bound up in it.
- arma reversataReversed arms: a punishment inflicted on a felon or traitor.
- armariaThe archives of a church or library.
- armedCarrying a weapon; also, involving the use of one.
- armed neutralityA state of neutrality that the neutral country is prepared to defend by military force.
- armed peaceA situation in which countries at peace with each other are nonetheless armed for hostilities they think possible or…
- armed robberyRobbery by someone carrying a dangerous weapon, whether or not the weapon is shown or used. Most states treat it as a…
- armigerSomeone who bears arms; an armor-bearer or esquire. It also meant a servant who carried a knight's armor, a tenant by…
- armiscaraA punishment consisting of carrying a saddle on one's back as a mark of submission; also, a fine.
- armisticeIn international law, a suspension of hostilities agreed between warring powers.
- arms controlIn international law, a policy of reducing instability in military affairs by making war less likely and cutting the…
- arms, law ofThe rules governing the conduct of war, such as the treatment of prisoners. The phrase also covers the law about the…
- arms, right to bearThe constitutional right of individuals to own firearms.
- armyA military force, especially of ground troops; more loosely, any large body of people armed for combat, or any vast o…
- arraIn Roman and civil law, earnest money given as proof that a bargain has been struck.
- arraignTo bring a defendant before the court to hear the charges and enter a plea.
- arraignmentThe first step in a criminal prosecution, at which the defendant is brought before the court to hear the charges and…
- arrangement with creditorsIn bankruptcy, a debtor's agreement with creditors to settle the debts, satisfy them in part, or extend the time for…
- arranger for disposalIn environmental law, a body that owns or holds hazardous substances and either disposes of them or is responsible fo…
- arrayA panel of potential jurors; also, the jurors actually empanelled, or the list of them. More generally it means an ar…
- arrearageMoney that is overdue and still unpaid.
- arrentTo let at a fixed rent; particularly, royal permission to enclose part of the public land in return for an annual rent.
- arrestSeizing or forcibly restraining someone.
- arrest in executionArrest in a civil case after the trial has ended.
- arrest in quartersIn military law, a non-judicial punishment that may be imposed on officers and warrant officers only by a general, a…
- arrest of inquestA plea that the matter put forward for inquiry has already been investigated and should not be gone into again.
- arrest of judgmentHolding up a judgment after it has been entered, particularly a court's refusal to give or enforce judgment because o…
- arrest on final processArrest in a civil case after the trial has ended.
- arrest on mesne processArrest in a civil case before the trial takes place.
- arrest recordA form a police officer completes when someone is arrested; also, the running list of a person's arrests.
- arrest warrantA warrant, issued only on probable cause, directing an officer to arrest someone and bring them before the court.
- arrestable offenseAn offense whose punishment is fixed by law, or for which a statute allows five years' imprisonment, together with at…
- arrestandis bonis ne dissipenturA writ to seize a party's goods so that they do not disappear while a lawsuit is going on.
- arrestando ipsum qui pecuniam recepitFormerly, a writ ordering the arrest of someone who took the king's money for war service and then went into hiding t…
- arretA judgment, sentence, or decree of a court with jurisdiction to give it.
- arretted(Of an accused person) brought before a judge and charged with a crime.
- arriage and carriageA king's proclamation summoning vassals to military service; also, the body of vassals so called up.
- arriere feeA fee held of a superior fee; a subfief.
- arriere fiefA fief held of an intermediate lord rather than directly of the sovereign.
- arriere vassalSomeone granted a fief or fee; a feudal tenant.
- arrogateTo claim or take something one has no right to.
- arrogationClaiming or taking something without any right to it. In Roman and civil law it also meant adopting an adult who was…
- arser in le mainFormerly, a punishment of burning or branding a lay offender's left thumb where they had falsely claimed and been all…
- arsonAt common law, deliberately setting fire to someone else's dwelling house, or to an outbuilding attached to it or wit…
- arson clauseA clause in an insurance policy excluding cover for fire damage where the insured started the fire deliberately.
- arsonable(Of property) of a kind that could support an arson charge if maliciously burned.
- arsonousTo do with arson.
- arsuraTesting coined money by heating it; also, the weight lost in that process.
- artThe methodical use of knowledge or skill to make something; also, a trade or occupation requiring skill. In patent la…
- artful pleadingA claimant's dressing up what is really a federal claim as a purely state-law one, so as to stop the defendant moving…
- articleA particular item or thing. It also means a distinct part of a document, such as a clause in a contract, statute, or…
- Article 15In military law, a procedure by which someone subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice is punished officially…
- Article I courtA court created by statute rather than established by the Constitution.
- Article II judgeA U.S. bankruptcy judge or magistrate judge appointed for a fixed term under Congress's legislative power, rather tha…
- Article III CourtA federal court that takes its jurisdiction from Article III of the Constitution and hears cases arising under the Co…
- Article III judgeA judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, a Court of Appeals, or a District Court, appointed for life under Article III of t…
- article of manufactureIn patent law, something made or built by a person or a machine, as opposed to something occurring in nature. Manufac…
- articled clerkA clerk who works for a solicitor in return for being taught the profession, bound by articles of apprenticeship.
- articles of amendmentA document filed to make a change to a company's articles of incorporation.
- articles of apprenticeshipA contract under which a young person agrees to work for a master for a set period in return for learning a trade.
- articles of associationA document setting out the essentials of a company's existence, including the number and classes of shares and the co…
- Articles of ConfederationThe instrument that governed the union of the 13 original states from 1 March 1781 until the Constitution was adopted…
- articles of dissolutionA document a company being wound up must file with the appropriate government office, usually the secretary of state,…
- articles of impeachmentA formal document setting out the specific charges against a public official and the grounds for removing them from o…
- articles of incorporationA document setting out the essentials of a company's existence, including the number and classes of shares and the co…
- articles of organizationA document setting out the essentials of a company's existence, including the number and classes of shares and the co…
- articles of partnershipA contract setting out the partners' rights and duties towards one another, as distinct from their dealings with outs…
- Articles of the ClergyA statute of 1315 settling the boundary between the jurisdiction of the church courts and that of the temporal courts…
- articles of the peaceA sworn complaint alleging that a named person is a threat to the complainant, their family, or their property.
- articles of unionThe 25 articles the English and Scottish parliaments agreed in 1707 to unite the two kingdoms.
- Articles of WarThe body of law and procedure that governed the U.S. military until the Uniform Code of Military Justice replaced it…
- articulated pleadingA pleading that sets out each allegation in its own numbered paragraph.
- articuliArticles or items. The word was applied to several English statutes and treatises.
- articulo mortisAt the point of death.
- artificeA clever device or plan, especially one meant to deceive.
- artificerA skilled worker such as a mechanic or craftsman; also, someone who builds or contrives something, an inventor.
- artificial conditionA feature of land brought about by something a person did, rather than by natural forces.
- artificial dayThe period from sunrise to sunset.
- artificial forceIn patent law, a natural force so changed in character or energy by human effort that it amounts to something new.
- artificial personA body such as a company, created by law and given some of the legal rights and duties of a human being; anything, re…
- artificial presumptionAn assumption a court must make once certain facts are established and no evidence to the contrary is produced.
- artificial successionSuccession in which an artificial person takes over another's rights and duties, as where one corporation succeeds to…
- artificial watercourseA channel for water made by human effort rather than formed naturally.
- as isIn whatever condition it happens to be, with no repairs or adjustments. A seller can exclude all implied warranties b…
- as ofOn, or at. The phrase marks the date a document is to take effect, as where it is backdated or the parties sign at di…
- as of rightBy virtue of a legal entitlement, without needing anyone's permission.
- as perIn accordance with.
- as their interests may appearA phrase in an insurance policy giving each person named cover only to the extent of their own stake in the property.
- as-applied challengeA claim that a law or policy, though valid on its face, is unconstitutional in the way it has been applied, usually b…
- as-extracted collateralOil, gas, or other minerals subject to a security interest granted by a debtor who held an interest in them before ex…
- as-is warrantyA warranty that goods are sold with whatever faults they already have.
- ascendantSomeone from whom a person is descended, such as a parent or grandparent.
- ascentThe passing of an estate upwards to an heir in the ascending line.
- ascriptitiusAn alien registered and naturalized in the colony where they lived.
- ASEAn organized stock exchange and self-regulating body under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, based in New York and…
- Ashwander rulesA set of principles describing the Supreme Court's practice of deciding constitutional questions only when it must, a…
- asked priceThe lowest price a seller will take for a security at a given moment.
- asking priceThe price a seller advertises property at, often with the implication that they would take less.
- asportationCarrying or moving something away. Some movement of the goods is a necessary element of larceny.
- ASRA bulletin setting out the Securities and Exchange Commission's requirements for the accounting and auditing procedur…
- assartGrubbing up trees and bushes in a forest to turn the land over to crops. Doing so without a licence was an offense.
- assassinationKilling someone deliberately, especially a public figure, usually for payment or for political reasons.
- assaultThreatening or using force against someone so as to put them in reasonable fear of immediate harmful or offensive con…
- assault and batteryThe combination of a threat of force and the unlawful touching that follows it.
- assault to rapeAn assault committed with the further purpose of raping the victim.
- assault with a deadly weaponAn aggravated assault in which the defendant, holding a deadly weapon, threatens the victim with death or serious inj…
- assault with intentAny of several assaults committed with a further criminal purpose in mind, such as intent to murder, to rob, to rape,…
- assault with intent to commit rapeAn assault committed with the further purpose of raping the victim.
- assaulterSomeone who assaults another.
- assaultiveInvolving or tending towards assault.
- assayTesting the purity of metals, especially gold and silver, by chemical experiment; also, an examination of weights and…
- assayator regisAn officer of the royal mint who received and tested bullion brought in for coining.
- assayerSomeone who assays precious metals.
- assayer of the kingAn officer of the royal mint who received and tested bullion brought in for coining.
- assecurareTo make something secure, as by giving pledges.
- assecurationIn marine insurance, the insurance itself.
- assecuratorIn marine insurance, the insurer.
- assemblyA group of people organized and joined together for some shared purpose.
- assembly, right ofThe First Amendment right of people to gather peacefully to express themselves publicly on religion, politics, or gri…
- assentAgreement, approval, or permission.
- assented stockShares an owner deposits with a third person under an agreement by which the owner accepts a change in the company's…
- assenting-silence doctrineThe principle that an accusation is taken as true despite the accused saying nothing, where the circumstances make si…
- assertionA declaration or allegation.
- assertive conductIn the law of evidence, non-verbal behavior meant as a statement, such as pointing to identify a suspect in a lineup.…
- assertive questionA question put to a witness at a criminal trial that seeks inadmissible material, in order to put details of another…
- assertory covenantA covenant that positively states certain facts to be true; an affirming promise under seal.
- assertory oathAn oath by which someone swears to a matter of fact rather than promising future conduct. A witness in court normally…
- assessable insuranceInsurance under which the insured must pay further premiums if a loss turns out to be unusually large.
- assessable policyA policy under which the holder can be made liable for the insurer's losses beyond its reserves.
- assessable securityA security on which a charge may be levied to meet the issuing company's obligations. Bank and insurance-company shar…
- assessable stockShares the issuer may sell on if the holder fails to pay an assessment levied on them.
- assessed valuationThe value a taxing authority puts on property, to which the tax rate is then applied.
- assessmentWorking out the rate or amount of something such as a tax or damages; also, imposing it at an established rate, and t…
- assessment bondA municipal bond repaid out of property assessment taxes.
- assessment companyAn association that provides its members with life insurance and meets death claims by levying a charge on the surviv…
- assessment contractA contract under which a benefit is payable only out of what is collected from a charge levied on holders of similar…
- assessment districtIn tax law, usually a municipal subdivision within which taxable property is separately assessed.
- assessment for benefitsA charge levied on property that gains some significant benefit from a public improvement.
- assessment fundWhat is left of a mutual benefit association's assessments after expenses, out of which beneficiaries are paid.
- assessment insuranceA form of mutual insurance in which policyholders are charged as losses arise, so that payments to an insured are not…
- assessment listA record of taxable people and property, drawn up by a tax assessor.
- assessment periodA taxable period.
- assessment ratioFor property tax, the ratio between assessed value and fair market value.
- assessment rollA record of taxable people and property, drawn up by a tax assessor.
- assessment workIn mining law, the yearly work that must be done on an unpatented mining claim to keep it alive.
- assessorSomeone who values property, especially for tax purposes; also, someone who advises a judge on scientific or technica…
- assetSomething owned that has value. In the plural it means the items of property shown on a balance sheet, such as cash,…
- asset acquisitionTaking over a company by buying its assets directly from the company itself, rather than buying shares from its share…
- asset allocationSpreading money across different kinds of investment to reduce risk and improve return.
- asset dividendA dividend paid in property, usually the company's own product, rather than in cash or shares.
- asset purchaseTaking over a company by buying its assets directly from the company itself, rather than buying shares from its share…
- asset under managementA portfolio of securities that an investment adviser looks after on a continuing basis.
- asset valueThe market value of a share in a mutual fund, found by taking the fund's liabilities from its total assets and dividi…
- asset-backed securityA debt security, such as a bond, backed by a pool of assets, typically loans or receivables, whose income services th…
- asset-based financingLending in which the lender or investor looks mainly to the cash a particular asset generates for repayment.
- asset-coverage testIn accounting, a restriction in a bond indenture permitting further borrowing only while the ratio of assets to debt…
- asset-depreciation rangeThe IRS's range of permitted depreciation lifetimes for assets put into service between 1970 and 1980, and for assets…
- assets by descentThe part of an estate passing to an heir, sufficient to make the heir answerable for the deceased's specialty debts.
- assets entre mainThe part of an estate an executor or administrator holds for paying debts they are answerable for.
- assets in handThe part of an estate an executor or administrator holds for paying debts they are answerable for.
- assets per descentThe part of an estate passing to an heir, sufficient to make the heir answerable for the deceased's specialty debts.
- asseverateTo state something solemnly or positively.
- asseverationA solemn declaration that something is true.
- assignableCapable of being assigned, so that the person it passes to has the same rights as the person who transferred it.
- assignable leaseA lease the tenant is permitted to transfer to someone else.
- assigned accountA receivable pledged to a bank or factor as security for a loan.
- assigned counselA lawyer the court appoints to represent someone, usually a person who cannot afford to pay.
- assigned riskSomeone who is a poor insurance risk but whom an insurer must nonetheless cover because state law requires it, such a…
- assigneeSomeone to whom rights or powers are transferred. The word is used so widely that courts often look to what the trans…
- assignee ad interimAn assignee appointed for the interval between a bankruptcy and the appointment of a regular assignee.
- assignee clauseA provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 stopping a litigant who lacked diversity of citizenship from assigning a cla…
- assignerAnother term for assignor.
- assignmentThe transfer of rights or property to someone else.
- assignment for the benefit of creditorsA transfer of a debtor's property to someone as trustee, so that the assets can be gathered in and sold to pay credit…
- assignment in grossA transfer of a company's trademark on its own, separately from the goodwill of the business. Courts often hold that…
- assignment of accountAn assignment giving the assignee the right to money in an account, usually to meet a debt.
- assignment of dowerSetting apart a widow's share of her late husband's land.
- assignment of errorA statement of the errors the appellant says the trial court made, relied on in asking the appeal court to reverse, s…
- assignment of incomeA transfer to a creditor of the right to collect the wage earner's pay.
- assignment of leaseAn assignment in which a tenant transfers the whole of the remaining term, as opposed to a sublease, which passes onl…
- assignment of rightsIn contract law, the transfer of a contracting party's rights to an outsider.
- assignment of wagesA transfer to a creditor of the right to collect the wage earner's pay.
- assignment pro tantoAn assignment arising where an order is drawn on a third party and made payable out of a particular fund belonging to…
- assignment-of-rents clauseA mortgage clause, or separate agreement, entitling the lender to collect the rents from the mortgaged property if th…
- assignor estoppelIn patent law, the rule stopping someone who has assigned a patent from later challenging its validity.
- assisa armorumFormerly, a statute requiring arms to be kept for the common defense.
- assisa cadereFormerly, to lose an assize, as by being nonsuited.
- assisa continuandaFormerly, a writ to the justices of assize directing that a case be continued.
- assisa de forestaFormerly, a statute laying down the rules to be observed in the royal forest.
- assisa de mensurisFormerly, a common standard of weights and measures, established by Richard I in the eighth year of his reign.
- assisa de morte antecessorisAn assize by which a claimant recovered land of which an ancestor died seised.
- assisa de nocumentoAn assize of nuisance.
- assisa de utrumAn assize to determine whether land was held on lay or church tenure.
- assisa forestaeAnother term for the assize of the forest.
- assisa friscae fortiaeAn assize of fresh force, brought promptly after a recent dispossession.
- assisa novae disseysinaeAn assize of novel disseisin, to recover land from which the claimant had recently been put out.
- assisa panis et cerevisiaeThe assize of bread and ale, fixing the price and quality of those goods.
- assisa prorogandaFormerly, a writ ordering justices to put off an assize because a party is engaged on the Crown's business.
- assisa ultimae praesentationisAn assize of darrein presentment, deciding who last presented a clergyman to a church living.
- assisa venaliumFormerly, the assize of goods offered for sale.
- assiseA session of a court or council.
- assiserA member of a grand assize; in Scots law, a juror. It also meant someone keeping the standard weights and measures, e…
- assistance of counselRepresentation by a lawyer, especially in a criminal case.
- assistance, writ ofA writ enforcing a court's decree transferring land whose title has already been decided. It formerly also meant a wr…
- assisted self-determinationHelping someone bring about their own death, as by providing the means; assisted suicide.
- assisted suicideThe giving to a person of the means or the medical knowledge to end their own life.
- assizeA session of a court or council; also, the jury summoned to such a session, and the writ that began the proceeding.
- Assize of ClarendonA decree Henry II issued in 1166 to the travelling justices and sheriffs, dealing with criminal procedure. It widened…
- assize of fresh forceA writ available in towns and cities by which someone recently put out of their land could recover it, provided they…
- Assize of NorthamptonA decree Henry II issued in 1176, expanding and reissuing the Assize of Clarendon, with directions to judges particul…
- assize of novel disseisinA writ for a tenant who has recently been put out of their lands and buildings, to recover possession.
- assize of nuisanceA writ directing the sheriff of the county where a nuisance is alleged to summon a jury to inspect the premises and d…
- assize utrumA writ to decide whether land claimed by a church was held on lay or spiritual tenure. It is named after the Latin wo…
- assizerA member of a grand assize; in Scots law, a juror. It also meant someone keeping the standard weights and measures, e…
- assizorA member of a grand assize; in Scots law, a juror. It also meant someone keeping the standard weights and measures, e…
- associateA colleague or companion. It also means a junior member of a profession, particularly a lawyer in a firm who has prac…
- associate judgeAn appeal judge who is neither the chief judge nor the presiding judge.
- associate justiceA justice of an appeal court other than the chief justice.
- associated personA partner, officer, director, or branch manager of a broker or dealer, anyone doing similar work or holding similar s…
- associationLinking ideas, memories, or sensations in the mind. It also means a gathering of people for a shared purpose, or the…
- Association of American Law SchoolsAn association of law schools, each of which has graduated at least three yearly classes of students.
- association-in-fact enterpriseUnder RICO, a group of people or bodies who have not formed a legal entity but share a common purpose and keep up an…
- assoilTo acquit or absolve; also, to release from excommunication.
- assultus premeditatusA premeditated assault, planned in advance rather than committed on impulse.
- assumed bondA bond issued by one company and guaranteed by another, common among railroads; also, a bond issued by a subsidiary w…
- assumed nameThe name a business trades under or is commonly known by. Many states require anyone operating under one to file a ce…
- assumpsitA promise, express or implied and not under seal, by which one person undertakes to do something or pay something to…
- assumptionSomething taken for granted; a supposition. It also means taking on someone else's debt or obligation, or agreeing to…
- assumption clauseA mortgage clause forbidding anyone to take over the mortgage without the lender's consent; also, a clause by which t…
- assumption feeA lender's charge for handling the paperwork when a new buyer takes over an existing mortgage.
- assumption of the riskTaking on the risk of loss, injury, or damage oneself; also, the principle that someone who has done so cannot then s…
- assuranceSomething that gives confidence, or the state of feeling secure; also, a pledge or guarantee. In English law it furth…
- assuredIn insurance, the person protected against loss; the insured.
- assurerSomeone who agrees by contract to take on the risk of another's loss and to make good that loss.
- astrariusThe owner or occupier of a house.
- astronomical dayThe 24-hour period running from noon to noon.
- asyleeSomeone seeking asylum as a refugee.
- asylumA place of sanctuary or shelter. It also means protection of political refugees from arrest by a foreign country, and…
- at barNow before the court.
- at benchNow before the court.
- at equityAccording to equity; by or in equity.
- at issueIn dispute; the point on which the parties take opposite sides.
- at largeFree or unrestrained; not confined to any particular place, person, or question. It also means chosen by the voters o…
- at lawAccording to law; by or in law.
- at law was insufficientAt common law, burglary required a breaking, so an occupant who had left an opening was treated as not having secured…
- at par(Of a stock or bond) issued or trading at its face value.
- at the barBefore the court; in court and under consideration.
- at willAt one's own discretion, particularly a legal relationship either party may end at any time without giving a reason.
- at-issue waiverAn exception to the attorney-client privilege, where a litigant is treated as having given it up by taking a position…
- at-large electionAn election in which an official is chosen by the whole district rather than by one of its subdivisions.
- at-risk rulesStatutory rules capping a taxpayer's deductible losses at what they could actually lose, to stop them sheltering income.
- at-the-market priceThe retail price shopkeepers in the same area generally charge.
- at-will employmentEmployment held without a contract for any fixed period, which either the employer or the employee may end at any tim…
- at-will tenancyA tenancy in which the tenant occupies with the landlord's consent but on no fixed terms as to length or rent. Either…
- atamitaA great-great-great-grandfather's sister.
- ataviaIn Roman and civil law, a great-great-great-grandmother.
- atavunculusA great-great-great-grandfather's brother.
- atavusIn Roman and civil law, a male ancestor in the fifth degree: the grandfather of a great-grandparent.
- Atilian lawAnother term for the lex atilia.
- ATIMAAs their interests may appear. Insurance policies use the phrase to show that the named insured has an interest, usua…
- Atinian lawAnother term for the lex atinia.
- Atlantic ReporterA set of regional lawbooks in the West Group's National Reporter System, carrying every published decision from Conne…
- atmaterteraIn civil law, a great-great-great-grandmother's sister.
- ATSAt the suit of.
- attachTo annex, bind, or fasten; also, to seize under legal authority, or to come into effect and adhere to something.
- attachiamenta bonorumFormerly, goods and chattels seized by bailiffs as security for answering an action for debt.
- attachiamentumAn attachment.
- attaching creditorA creditor who has had an attachment issued and levied on the debtor's property.
- attachmentThe seizure of someone's property to secure a judgment, or to be sold to satisfy one.
- attachment bondA bond a defendant gives to get attached property back. The claimant then looks to the bond issuer to meet any judgme…
- attachment lienA lien on property seized by attachment before judgment. It starts out incomplete and becomes final once judgment is…
- attachment of earningsA court order requiring an employer to deduct a set sum from a debtor's pay and hand it over towards the debt.
- attachment of riskThe moment when the risk of loss of goods sold passes from seller to buyer.
- attachment of wagesA claimant's attachment of the defendant's pay. In some places the order requires the defendant's employer to deduct…
- attainderAt common law, the loss of a person's civil rights on being sentenced to death or outlawed for a felony or treason.
- attaintFormerly, to convict someone, especially of treason or felony, with the loss of civil rights that followed; also, a p…
- attemptMaking an effort to do something, especially without succeeding. In criminal law it means an overt act done intending…
- attempt to assaultAn attempt to commit an assault.
- attempted assaultAn attempt to commit an assault.
- attempted monopolizationAn effort to monopolize part of interstate or foreign commerce, requiring a specific intent to control prices or dest…
- attempted suicideAn unsuccessful effort to kill oneself.
- attendance officerAn official responsible for enforcing the laws requiring children of specified ages, usually up to 16, to attend school.
- attendantAccompanying something, or resulting from it.
- attendant termA long period, such as 1,000 years, set as the length of a mortgage, used to protect the interests of the borrower's…
- attenuation doctrineIn criminal procedure, an exception to the fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree rule: evidence obtained through illegality may…
- atterminareTo put something off to a later term; to adjourn. It also meant extending the time to pay a debt.
- atterminementThe granting of a delay, especially extra time to pay a debt.
- attestTo bear witness or testify; also, to confirm something as true or genuine by signing as a witness.
- attestationThe act of witnessing a document and signing it to confirm that it is genuine.
- attestation clauseA clause at the end of a document, especially a will, signed by the witnesses and reciting the formalities the releva…
- attested copyA copy certified by a witness or officer as a true reproduction of the original.
- attesterSomeone who attests to or vouches for something.
- attesting witnessSomeone who vouches for the genuineness of another's signature by signing the document the other has signed.
- attornTo agree to become the tenant of a new landlord; also, to transfer money or goods to another.
- attornatusSomeone put in another's place to act for them; an attorney.
- attorneyStrictly, someone appointed to transact business for another; a legal agent. In ordinary use, a lawyer.
- attorney feesAnother term for attorney's fees.
- attorney generalThe chief law officer of a state or of the United States, who advises the government on legal questions and represent…
- attorney in chargeThe more senior lawyer where two or more are engaged; the one who runs the case, especially in class actions or multi…
- attorney malpracticeA lawyer's failure to act with the skill, care, and diligence an ordinary competent lawyer would have used in the sam…
- attorney of recordThe lawyer who appears for a party in a case and is entitled to receive, on that party's behalf, all pleadings and ot…
- attorney work productMaterial, whether written or not, prepared by or for a lawyer, or prepared for litigation that is planned or under wa…
- attorney-at-lawA person who practices law; a lawyer.
- attorney-client privilegeThe client's right to refuse to disclose confidential communications with their lawyer, and to stop anyone else discl…
- attorney-in-factSomeone appointed to transact business for another under a power of attorney, without necessarily being a lawyer.
- attorney-witness ruleThe rule that a lawyer likely to be called as a witness of fact at trial cannot also act as an advocate in the case.…
- attorney, power ofA document giving someone authority to act as the grantor's agent; also, the authority so given.
- attorney's lienA lawyer's right to keep a client's money or property, or to charge money the court holds for the client, until the f…
- attornmentA tenant's agreement to hold the land as the tenant of a new landlord. It also means a form of constructive delivery…
- attractive nuisanceA dangerous thing or condition likely to draw children onto land and put them at risk.
- attractive-nuisance doctrineIn tort law, the rule that someone whose land holds a dangerous thing or condition foreseeably likely to tempt childr…
- attributionThe process, set out in the tax code, by which shares owned by one person or body are treated as owned by a related f…
- attribution rightIn copyright law, an author's right to be named as the author of their work.
- Atwood doctrineThe principle that where an ERISA plan and its summary description conflict about when benefits may be refused, the s…
- au besoinA note on a bill of exchange naming who is to pay if the drawee will not or cannot.
- auctionA sale of property to whoever bids highest.
- auction marketA market, such as the New York Stock Exchange, in which securities are bought and sold by competitive bidding through…
- auction saleA sale of property to whoever bids highest.
- auction with reserveAn auction in which the property will not be sold unless the highest bid clears a minimum price.
- auction without reserveAn auction with no reserve price: the property goes to the highest bidder, the owner cannot withdraw it once bidding…
- auctioneerSomeone authorized to sell other people's goods or land at public auction for a commission. The auctioneer acts as th…
- audienceA hearing before judges.
- auditA formal examination of someone's accounting records, financial position, or compliance with a set of standards.
- audit letterA client's written request asking its lawyer to give the financial auditors information about matters such as pending…
- audit of returnThe IRS's review of a taxpayer's return, including examination of the books, vouchers, and records behind it.
- audit opinionA certified public accountant's opinion on an organization's audited financial statements.
- audit reportAn outside auditor's written statement, usually accompanying a company's accounts, giving their opinion on how accura…
- audit responseA letter a lawyer sends a client's auditors, usually at the client's request, about matters such as pending or threat…
- audit trailThe chain of evidence linking account balances back to the original transactions and calculations.
- audit-letter responseA letter a lawyer sends a client's auditors, usually at the client's request, about matters such as pending or threat…
- auditorSomeone who examines an organization's accounts and reports on whether they are accurate and properly kept.
- augmented estateA surviving spouse's statutory share of an estate, enlarged to take in transfers the deceased made during the marriage.
- Aunt Jemima doctrineIn trademark law, the principle that a mark is protected not only against direct copying but against any similar mark…
- aural acquisitionUnder the Federal Wiretapping Act, listening to or recording a communication, as opposed to merely tracing where it c…
- Australian ballotA ballot with safeguards designed to keep voting secret. Various forms of it are widely used in the United States.
- authentic actA document signed before a notary or other public officer; also, a certified copy of such a document.
- authentic interpretationInterpretation reached by asking the drafter, or the body that drafted the text, what was meant.
- authenticateTo prove that something is genuine, or to give it authority, as by attestation or some other legal formality.
- authenticationProving that something such as a document is genuine, especially so that it can be admitted in evidence; also, the st…
- authenticumAn original document; also, a collection of Justinian's laws made between AD 535 and 556.
- authoritative precedentA precedent a court is bound to follow, as a lower court is bound by a relevant holding of a higher court in the same…
- authorityThe right or power to act on another's behalf, particularly the power a principal gives an agent.
- authority by estoppelAuthority a principal is treated as having given because their own conduct led an outsider reasonably to believe it e…
- authority coupled with an interestAuthority given to an agent for valuable consideration, which the principal cannot revoke unilaterally.
- authorizeTo give legal power to someone; also, to approve or sanction something formally.
- authorized capitalThe minimum value of shares a company's constitution permits it to issue.
- authorized capital stockThe total number of shares, common and preferred, a company may issue under its charter or articles. The figure can b…
- authorized committeeIn company law, a committee of independent directors appointed to consider whether a shareholder's derivative action…
- authorized sharesThe total number of shares, common and preferred, a company may issue under its charter or articles. The figure can b…
- authorized stockThe total number of shares, common and preferred, a company may issue under its charter or articles. The figure can b…
- autocracyGovernment by one person holding unlimited power; an absolute monarchy.
- autolimitationAn authority's making of rules that in practice restrict its own power.
- automated transactionA contract made or performed, wholly or partly, by electronic means, where at least one side's actions or messages fo…
- automatic perfectionThe automatic perfection of a purchase-money security interest without any filing or possession of the collateral. Th…
- automatic stayIn bankruptcy, a bar on all attempts, in court or out of it, to collect from the debtor or against the debtor's prope…
- automatic suspensionIn bankruptcy, a bar on all attempts, in court or out of it, to collect from the debtor or against the debtor's prope…
- automatic-adjustment clauseA clause in a utility's rate schedule letting it raise charges without a public hearing or state review when certain…
- automatismConduct occurring without will or conscious purpose, such as sleepwalking; behavior carried out while unconscious or…
- automobile exceptionAn exception to the warrant requirement, allowing police to search a vehicle without a warrant where there is probabl…
- automobile exclusionA clause in some commercial general liability policies excluding cover for damage arising from the use, including loa…
- automobile guest statuteA law barring a non-paying passenger in a private vehicle from suing the driver for ordinary negligence. Once common,…
- automobile insuranceAn agreement to indemnify against losses connected with using a car, including damage to the vehicle and liability fo…
- autonomic lawLaw made under the limited legislative powers that private persons and bodies possess, such as company bylaws, univer…
- autonomous tariffA tariff fixed by legislation rather than settled by commercial treaty.
- autonomyThe right of self-government; also, a self-governing state.
- autopsyAn examination of a dead body to establish the cause of death, especially in a criminal investigation. The word also…
- autoptic evidencePhysical evidence that can be seen and examined, such as a model or photograph, which helps explain testimony but pla…
- autoptic proferenceProducing an item so that the court can inspect it for itself.
- autrefois acquitA plea barring arraignment on the ground that the defendant has already been acquitted of the offense.
- autrefois attaintA plea that the defendant has already been attainted for one felony and so cannot be prosecuted for another.
- autrefois convictA plea barring arraignment on the ground that the defendant has already been convicted of the offense.
- auxiliary covenantA covenant concerning not the main subject of the agreement but something connected with it.
- auxiliumAid, especially the compulsory payments a vassal owed a lord as an incident of tenure by knight's service.
- auxilium curiaeFormerly, a court order summoning someone to appear and assist a party already before the court.
- availUse or advantage; also, profits or proceeds, especially from selling property.
- avail of marriageAnother term for valor maritagii.
- available for work(Of a person) ready, willing, and able to take up temporary or permanent work when it is offered.
- availmentMaking use of something, or taking advantage of it for oneself.
- averTo assert something positively, especially in a pleading.
- averageA single figure standing for a whole set of values, such as the mean, median, or mode; also, the ordinary or typical…
- average bondIn marine insurance, a bond given to a ship's captain by cargo owners liable to general average, promising to pay the…
- average costThe cost of opening inventory plus the cost of later additions, divided by the total number of units available.
- average daily balanceThe average sum held in an account over a given period, used as the basis for working out interest or a finance charge.
- average gross salesTotal sales divided by the number of transactions in a given period.
- average tax rateA taxpayer's tax bill divided by their taxable income.
- average variable costThe average cost of producing each unit, found by dividing total cost, fixed and variable, by the number of units pro…
- averaging downBuying further shares in the same company at successively lower prices, so that the average cost per share falls belo…
- averaging upBuying further shares in the same company at successively higher prices to build a larger holding at an average cost…
- avermentA positive statement of fact, especially an allegation in a pleading.
- averment of noticeA statement in a pleading that someone has been properly notified of some fact.
- aviation easementAn easement allowing aircraft to fly over the burdened land without obstruction.
- aviation insuranceInsurance against losses connected with using an aircraft, which can be written to cover risks including bodily injur…
- avigation easementAn easement allowing aircraft to fly over the burdened land without obstruction.
- avigational easementAn easement allowing aircraft to fly over the burdened land without obstruction.
- avoidTo make something void or of no effect.
- avoidable costA cost that can be escaped by keeping production below a certain level, so that the extra expense is never incurred.
- avoidable-consequences doctrineThe rule that after an injury or a breach of contract the claimant must take ordinary care to limit the harm. If the…
- avoidanceEvading or escaping something, or refraining from it; also, annulling or cancelling something. In pleading it means a…
- avoucherA tenant's calling on someone who warranted the title to help defend it.
- avowTo acknowledge having taken goods and to justify the taking, as a defendant does in an action of replevin.
- avowalAn open declaration. In civil procedure it also means putting evidence on the record outside the jury's hearing, usua…
- avowantSomeone who makes an avowry in an action of replevin.
- avoweeAnother term for advocatus.
- avowryIn common-law pleading, an admission in answer to a replevin action that one took the property, together with a justi…
- avulsionA forcible tearing away or separation. In land law it means the sudden loss of land when a river shifts course or a f…
- avunculusIn Roman and civil law, a mother's brother; a maternal uncle.
- avunculus maximusAnother term for abavunculus.
- avusIn Roman and civil law, a grandfather.
- awardA final decision, especially one made by an arbitrator or a jury assessing damages.
- AWOLAbsent without leave; away without notice or permission.
- axiomA principle so well established that it is accepted without proof within a given way of reasoning.
- ayelA grandfather; also, a writ by which an heir recovered a grandfather's estate from someone wrongfully holding it.