Terms beginning with E
1,327 headwords
- e pili anaAdjoining. The phrase usually describes land that runs alongside a stream.
- e pluribus unumOne out of many: the motto on the official seal of the United States and on several of its coins.
- E reorganizationA reorganization consisting of a recapitalization of the company.
- e-commerceThe buying and selling of goods and services through online services on the Internet. The letter e, short for electro…
- e-mailA message exchanged between people by computer, whether over a local network or the Internet.
- E.D.Eastern District, used in naming U.S. judicial districts.
- E.O.M.End of month: a payment term used in some sales contracts.
- EAJAA federal statute of 1980 allowing the winning party in certain actions against the government to recover lawyers' or…
- earlA title of nobility, once the highest in England but now third, ranking between a marquess and a viscount. It matches…
- Earl Marshal of EnglandA great officer of state who historically had jurisdiction over several courts, including the court of chivalry and t…
- earldomThe rank and former jurisdiction of an earl. Only the rank remains, the jurisdiction having passed to the sheriff.
- earles-pennyMoney given as part payment; earnest.
- earmarkOriginally, a mark cut in the ear as a way of identifying sheep and other animals; also, any mark put on something, s…
- earmarking doctrineIn bankruptcy law, the rule that where a new lender advances money so that the debtor can pay off a named creditor, t…
- earnTo acquire something by labor, service, or performance; also, to do something that entitles one to a reward, whether…
- earned incomeMoney coming from one's own labor or active involvement, as opposed to income from investments.
- earned premiumThe part of an insurance premium covering the period of cover that has already run. On a $1,200 annual policy, $300 h…
- earned surplusA company's accumulated income after dividends have been paid out.
- earned timeIn criminal procedure, credit toward a shorter sentence given to a prisoner who takes part in activities meant to red…
- earned-income creditA refundable federal tax credit on the earnings of a low-income worker with dependent children. It is paid to the tax…
- earnerSomeone who produces income through their own efforts, their property, or both; also, an asset that produces income f…
- earnestA nominal payment or token act serving as a pledge or sign of good faith, especially as part of the purchase price. I…
- earnest moneyA deposit a prospective buyer pays, usually into escrow, to show a genuine intention to complete the purchase, and wh…
- earning assetAn asset that produces income for its owner, such as a bank's loans or a landlord's rented property.
- earning capacityA person's ability to earn money, given their talents, skills, training, and experience. It is one of the things weig…
- earningsMoney gained from labor or services, from invested capital, or from assets.
- earnings and profitsIn corporate taxation, the measure of a company's capacity to make a distribution to shareholders that is not simply…
- earnings per shareA measure of a company's value found by dividing its net income by the number of common shares outstanding. Investors…
- earnings reportA statement of all the revenues, expenses, gains, and losses a business had over a given period.
- earnings yieldA company's earnings per share expressed as a percentage of the share price, the inverse of the price-earnings ratio.
- earnings-price ratioA company's earnings per share expressed as a percentage of the share price, the inverse of the price-earnings ratio.
- earnout agreementAn agreement for the sale of a business under which the buyer pays a sum up front and the rest of the price is fixed…
- earwitnessA witness who testifies to something they heard but did not see.
- easementA right to use or control land belonging to someone else, or the space above or below it, for a particular limited pu…
- easement appurtenantAn easement created for the benefit of another piece of land, its use going with the ownership of that land.
- easement by estoppelAn easement a court imposes where someone, wrongly believing a permission to be permanent, reasonably acted in relian…
- easement by implicationAn easement the law creates where an owner of two parcels used one for the benefit of the other so plainly that, when…
- easement by necessityAn easement the law creates because it is indispensable to any reasonable use of nearby land, such as one linking a p…
- easement by prescriptionAn easement created by open, hostile, and continuous use over the period the statute fixes.
- easement in grossAn easement benefiting a particular person rather than a particular piece of land. The holder need not, and usually d…
- easement of accessAn easement letting one or more people cross another's land to reach somewhere nearby, such as a road. It is the comm…
- easement of convenienceAn easement that makes the dominant land, or some right attached to it, easier or more comfortable to enjoy, without…
- easement of natural supportThe right to have one's land held up by the land next to it.
- easement of necessityAn easement the law creates because it is indispensable to any reasonable use of nearby land, such as one linking a p…
- easement properAn easement created for the benefit of another piece of land, its use going with the ownership of that land.
- East GreenwichA royal manor in Kent. Royal grants and patents once named it to show that land was held in free socage.
- East India CompanyThe company first set up to hold a monopoly of trade between England and India, which in time became more concerned w…
- Easter sittingsA term of court beginning on April 15 each year and usually ending on May 8, though sometimes running to May 13. Unti…
- Easter-offeringsSmall sums paid as personal tithes to the parish clergy by parishioners at Easter. Under a statute of 1695 they could…
- EATEarnings after taxes.
- eat inde sine dieLet him go without a day: words used on a defendant's acquittal or a prisoner's discharge, meaning that the matter is…
- eaves-dripThe dripping of water from the eaves of a house onto neighboring land; also, an easement letting the holder allow wat…
- eavesdroppingSecretly listening to other people's private conversation without their consent.
- ebb and flowThe coming in and going out of the tide. The phrase was once used to mark the limits of admiralty jurisdiction.
- ebdomadariusAn officer or member of a religious house who served in turn for a week at a time.
- EBITEarnings before interest and taxes.
- ECEthical consideration; also, European Community.
- ecclesiaA place of religious worship; also, a Christian congregation or a church.
- ecclesiasticA clergyman; someone set apart for the service of the church.
- ecclesiasticalTo do with the church, especially as an institution.
- ecclesiastical authoritiesThe hierarchy of the church, answerable to the Crown but set apart from other citizens, responsible for overseeing pu…
- ecclesiastical commissionersIn English law, a body empowered to propose measures for improving the efficiency of the established church, to be co…
- ecclesiastical corporationA corporation set up for religious purposes or to manage property held for religious use, made up entirely of clergy.
- ecclesiastical courtA religious court hearing matters concerning a particular faith. In England it means a court dealing with matters con…
- ecclesiastical jurisdictionJurisdiction over church cases and disputes, such as that exercised by the ecclesiastical courts.
- ecclesiastical lawThe body of law drawn largely from canon and civil law and administered by the church courts; also, the law governing…
- ecclesiastical matterA matter concerning church doctrine, creed, or form of worship, or the making and enforcing within a religious body o…
- ecclesiastical sentenceThe judgment given in a case before a church court.
- ecclesiastical thingsProperty, such as buildings and cemeteries, given to a church to support the poor or for some other pious purpose.
- ecdicusThe attorney, proctor, or advocate acting for an organization, as a church's advocate was called the bishops' ecdicus.
- echevinIn French law, a municipal officer corresponding roughly to an alderman or burgess, sometimes with power to hear and…
- echouementIn French marine law, the running of a ship aground.
- ECJThe European Court of Justice.
- econometricsThe branch of economics that expresses economic theory in mathematical terms and tests it by statistical methods.
- economic coercionPressure applied by threatening someone's finances or livelihood, so that their apparent agreement is not truly free.
- economic discriminationAny kind of discrimination in commerce, such as boycotting a particular product or fixing prices.
- economic duressUnlawful pressure to perform, applied by threatening financial harm at a moment when the other party cannot act freely.
- economic frustrationAn excuse for not performing a contract where an unforeseeable event outside the parties' control has destroyed the v…
- economic indicatorA statistical measure, such as the number of housing starts, used to describe the state of the economy or to predict…
- economic lifeThe period over which an asset remains profitable, usually shorter than the time it physically lasts.
- economic lossA loss of money, such as lost wages or lost profits, and usually referring to what may be recovered in a lawsuit. In…
- economic obsolescenceLoss of value caused by outside economic conditions, such as falling demand or changes in government regulation.
- economic rentThe return an economic resource, such as a worker or a piece of land, earns above the least it would take to keep it…
- economic strikeA strike over an economic dispute with the employer, such as one about wages, rather than over unfair labor practices…
- economic substantive due processThe doctrine that certain social policies, such as freedom of contract or the right to enjoy property free of governm…
- economic warfareA hostile relationship in which at least one country tries to damage another's economy for economic, political, or mi…
- economic wasteOverproduction, or the drilling of more oil or gas wells than the field warrants.
- economic-harm ruleIn tort law, the rule that a claimant cannot sue in tort for purely financial loss, as opposed to physical injury or…
- economic-loss ruleIn tort law, the rule that a claimant cannot sue in tort for purely financial loss, as opposed to physical injury or…
- economic-realities testA way of working out the true nature of a business arrangement by looking at all the commercial circumstances togethe…
- economicsThe social science dealing with how goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed.
- economistSomeone who studies economics and the economy as a profession.
- economyThe management of a community's wealth and resources, and the way that wealth is organized; also, thrifty or sparing…
- economy of scaleA fall in the cost of producing each unit as output rises, because large-scale processes work more efficiently than s…
- ECUA unit of account whose value was worked out as a weighted average of the currencies of member states of the European…
- ecumenicalGeneral or universal; also, involving more than one religion or denomination.
- edge leaseIn oil-and-gas law, a lease lying on the edge of a field.
- edictA formal decree or proclamation issued by a country's sovereign, having the force of a statute.
- edictal interdictAn interdict by which the praetor announced that he would give a remedy in certain cases, usually so as to preserve o…
- Edicts of JustinianThe thirteen constitutions of Justinian appended to the Greek collection of the Novels. They dealt only with policing…
- edictumIn Roman law, a law the emperor enacted on his own initiative without the senate. It differed from a rescript in not…
- edictum annuumThe yearly edict a Roman praetor issued on taking office, setting out the principles by which he would decide cases a…
- edictum perpetuumThe settled part of the urban praetor's edict, put into its final form by Julian in A.D. 131.
- edictum provincialeAn edict setting out rules for administering justice in the provinces of the Roman Empire, much like the praetor's ed…
- edictum tralatitiumA praetor's edict keeping all or most of his predecessor's, with only such additions as changing social conditions or…
- edileAnother name for an aedile, a Roman officer with charge of public buildings, streets, and markets.
- editorial privilegeThe protection a publisher or broadcaster claims for its decisions about what to publish, shielding the editorial pro…
- editusOf a statute or rule, enacted or issued; of a child, born.
- Edmunds-Tucker ActAn 1882 federal law passed to punish polygamy.
- educational expenseThe cost of tuition, books, and related items, which may be deductible where the study maintains or improves skills n…
- educational institutionA school, seminary, college, university, or other place of education, chartered or not. In a zoning ordinance it take…
- educational trustA trust set up to found, endow, or support a school.
- EECThe European Economic Community.
- EEOCThe federal agency created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to end discriminatory employment practices and promote…
- effectWhat is produced by a cause; a result or consequence. The word also means the operation a document has on the parties…
- effective assignmentAn assignment that ends the assignor's interest in the property and passes it to the assignee.
- effective assistance of counselConscientious and meaningful representation, in which the defendant is advised of all their rights and the lawyer has…
- effective causeThe last event in a chain, which is not necessarily the proximate cause of what follows.
- effective dateThe day on which a statute, contract, insurance policy, or other document becomes enforceable, which is sometimes lat…
- effective possessionControl over property without actually holding or keeping it.
- effective rateThe true annual rate of interest, worked out with compounding taken into account, rather than the rate stated on the…
- effectsMovable property; goods.
- effects doctrineThe principle allowing Congress to regulate activity within a single state that has a substantial effect on interstat…
- effetsBills of exchange; also, goods, movables, or chattels.
- efficient adequate causeA cause direct enough to give rise to liability; one that produces an event and without which the event would not hav…
- efficient breachA deliberate breach of contract, with damages paid, by a party who would lose more economically by performing than by…
- efficient causeA cause direct enough to give rise to liability; one that produces an event and without which the event would not hav…
- efficient intervening causeAnother name for an intervening cause.
- efficient proximate causeThe cause that sets the chain of events in motion and remains the dominant one, so that the loss is treated as flowin…
- efficient-breach theoryIn contract law, the view that a party should be free to break a contract and pay damages where doing so is more econ…
- effigyA figure or image representing someone, especially a crude one of a person who is disliked. Effigies are sometimes ha…
- effluentLiquid waste discharged into a river, lake, or other body of water.
- effluxion of timeThe ending of a lease through the simple passing of the agreed term, rather than through any particular act or event.
- efforcialiterForcibly: an adverb used chiefly of military force.
- effractionA breach made by using force.
- effractorSomeone who breaks in; a burglar.
- EFTElectronic funds transfer.
- eggshell-skull ruleIn tort law, the rule that a defendant is liable for a claimant's unforeseeable and unusual reaction to a negligent o…
- egregiousExtremely bad; flagrant.
- egressThe act of going out or leaving; also, the right or ability to leave, or a way out.
- eight-corners ruleIn insurance law, the rule that whether a liability insurer must defend its insured is judged by comparing the claims…
- eight-hour lawA law, such as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, fixing the standard working day for certain kinds of employment…
- Eighteenth AmendmentThe constitutional amendment, ratified in 1919 and repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933, that banned the ma…
- Eighth AmendmentThe constitutional amendment, ratified as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, forbidding excessive bail, excessive fi…
- eignesseSeniority; the right or privilege of the eldest born, especially the eldest co-heir's right to choose first among the…
- eineciaEldership; the standing of the eldest.
- EIRAn environmental-impact report.
- eireFormerly, a journey, route, or circuit.
- eirenarchaIn Roman law, a justice of the peace; an officer charged with keeping order.
- EISIn environmental law, the document the National Environmental Policy Act requires a federal agency to prepare for a m…
- eisneFormerly, eldest or firstborn.
- eisnetiaThe eldest son's share; the portion of an estate taken by right of being firstborn.
- either-or orderAn order to buy a security by either of two routes, such as at a limited price or on a stop order, whichever comes fi…
- eiusdem generisThe rule of interpretation that where a general word follows a list of specific things, the general word covers only…
- ejectTo throw or cast out; also, to put someone out of possession, or to remove them forcibly, as with disorderly customers.
- ejectionA turning out, whether by legal process or by actual or threatened force.
- ejectione custodiaeAnother name for the writ de ejectione custodiae, by which a guardian recovered a ward taken away.
- ejectione firmaeAnother name for the writ de ejectione firmae, by which a leaseholder ejected from the land recovered possession.
- ejectmentThe turning out of an owner or occupier from property; also, the action by which someone wrongly turned out recovers…
- ejectment billIn equity practice, a bill brought to recover land together with an account of the rents and profits, without setting…
- ejectmente de gardeAnother name for the writ de ejectione custodiae, by which a guardian recovered a ward taken away.
- ejectumSomething cast out, especially by the sea.
- ejectusA whoremonger or pimp.
- ejercitoriaIn Spain, an action against a shipowner on contracts the master made for repairs or supplies, corresponding to the Ro…
- ejidosIn Spain, land used in common by the inhabitants of a city or town for such purposes as pasture, wood, and threshing;…
- ejurationThe renouncing or resigning of one's position.
- ejusdem generisThe rule of interpretation that where a general word follows a list of specific things, the general word covers only…
- elaborareTo gain or acquire something by labor and industry.
- elaboratusProperty acquired by one's own labor.
- Elastic ClauseThe clause of the U.S. Constitution allowing Congress to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying its enumerat…
- elder abusePhysical or psychological mistreatment of an older person by a carer, such as withholding food or medication, beating…
- elder brethrenA body of men elected as masters of Trinity House, a corporation created in the reign of Henry VIII with wide duties…
- elder lawThe field of law dealing with older people, covering matters such as estate planning, retirement benefits, social sec…
- elder titleA title of earlier date which, though it takes effect at the same moment as a later one, prevails over it.
- elected domicileA domicile the parties agree on by contract for the purposes of that contract.
- electeeSomeone chosen or elected; also, someone whom the law allows to choose their own status.
- electionThe making of a choice, especially a choice among rights or remedies that rules out the others. It also names the rul…
- election at largeAn election in which an official is chosen by the whole of a large district rather than by one of its subdivisions.
- election boardA board of inspectors appointed in each voting precinct to check voters' qualifications, oversee the polling, and oft…
- election by spouseA surviving spouse's statutory right to choose, on the other spouse's death, between what the will gives them and the…
- election contestA challenge by the loser of an election against the winner, calling for the returns to be examined, which may involve…
- election districtA subdivision of a state, county, or city set up to make an election manageable or to elect representatives for that…
- election dowerThe name sometimes given to a statute setting a widow's share of her late husband's estate if she chooses to reject w…
- election fraudUnlawful conduct in an election, usually fraudulent voting, such as voting twice, voting in another person's name, of…
- election judgeSomeone appointed to oversee an election at a particular precinct, acting as the local representative of the election…
- election of remediesA claimant's choice between two or more available but inconsistent remedies arising from the same facts. It also name…
- election petitionA petition asking for an inquiry into whether a member of Parliament was validly elected, where the return is said to…
- election returnsThe report those counting the votes make to the canvassers or the election board, stating how many votes were cast fo…
- election, doctrine ofThe rule that where someone contracts with an agent without knowing there is a principal, and later learns who the pr…
- election, estoppel byThe deliberate choosing between inconsistent alternatives, which bars the chooser from the benefits of the one not ta…
- elective franchiseThe right to vote.
- elective officeAn office filled by popular election rather than by appointment.
- elective shareThe percentage of a deceased spouse's estate, fixed by statute, that a surviving spouse, and sometimes a child, may t…
- electorA member of the electoral college chosen to elect the President and Vice President; also, a person qualified to vote,…
- electoral collegeThe body of electors chosen in each state who formally cast the votes electing the President and Vice President, foll…
- electoral processThe method by which someone is elected to public office; also, the taking and counting of the votes.
- electric chairA chair wired so that electrodes can be fastened to a condemned person's head and one leg and a lethal current passed…
- electronic chattel paperChattel paper recorded in electronic form rather than on paper.
- Electronic Data Interchange agreementAnother name for an EDI agreement, governing the exchange of business documents between computer systems.
- electronic funds transferA payment of money from one person or organization to another, especially one made through a chain of transactions be…
- electronic surveillanceThe secret monitoring of private conversations or activity by electronic means, without the consent of those involved.
- electronic transactionA transaction made by electronic messages where the messages of one or both parties are not expected to be looked at…
- eleemosynariaThe place in a religious house where alms were kept for the almoner to distribute to the poor; also, the office of al…
- eleemosynariusAn almoner: the officer who received rents and gifts given for charity and applied them to pious and charitable uses.…
- eleemosynaryTo do with charity; supported by charity rather than run for profit.
- eleemosynary corporationA corporation set up for charitable purposes.
- eleemosynary defenseThe immunity a charitable organization once had from liability in tort. Most states have abolished or cut it back.
- eleganterAccurately, with discrimination, or neatly.
- elegitFormerly, a writ of execution on a judgment for debt or damages, or on a forfeited recognizance. Under it the defenda…
- elementA constituent part of a claim that must be proved for the claim to succeed. In patent law it means a separately claim…
- elemental factA fact essential to the claim or to the defense.
- elements of crimeThe constituent parts of a crime, usually the guilty act, the guilty state of mind, and the resulting harm, all of wh…
- Eleventh AmendmentThe constitutional amendment, ratified in 1795, barring a federal court from hearing a case brought against a state b…
- eligibleFit and proper to be chosen or to receive a benefit; legally qualified for an office, privilege, or status.
- eliminationThe turning out of someone or something; rejection.
- elinguateTo cut out a person's tongue as a punishment.
- elinguationThe punishment of cutting out a person's tongue.
- elisorSomeone a court appoints to summon a jury, serve a writ, or carry out other duties of the sheriff or coroner where ei…
- Elkins ActA federal law of 1903 that strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act by forbidding rebates and other favors to large c…
- eloignTo move a person or property beyond the reach of a court or sheriff; also, to carry something off to a distance or co…
- eloignmentThe removing of a thing or person out of the way, or to a distance, so as to put them beyond reach.
- elongataCarried away to a distance; also, a sheriff's return to a writ de homine replegiando stating that the person to be re…
- elongatusA sheriff's return to a writ de homine replegiando stating that the person to be released has been carried out of the…
- elongavitIn a proceeding by foreign attachment, the officer's return that the garnishee has removed the goods so that they can…
- elopeTo run away secretly in order to marry, often without a parent's consent; in older usage, for a married person to lea…
- elsewhereIn another place. In a ship's articles, the word following the named port of destination is either void for uncertain…
- eluviationThe movement of soil caused by too much water in it.
- emanationThe flowing forth of something from a source; also, the thing that flows forth.
- emancipateTo set someone free from legal, social, or political restraint, especially from slavery; also, to release a child fro…
- emancipated minorA young person who supports themselves and is free of parental control, usually by court order.
- emancipationThe freeing of someone who was under another's power and control. In family law it means the giving up by a parent of…
- embargoA government's detention, in war or peace, of an offending nation's private ships lying in its ports; also, a nation'…
- embassadorA diplomatic officer of the highest rank, usually a government's resident representative in a foreign state. Ambassad…
- embassyThe building housing a diplomatic mission, especially the ambassador's residence; also, the body of diplomats headed…
- Ember DaysIn church usage, the days the early fathers called the four seasons of fasting, kept on the Wednesday, Friday, and Sa…
- embezzlementThe dishonest taking of property entrusted to one's care, especially as a fiduciary. Unlike larceny or false pretense…
- emblemA flag, coat of arms, or other symbol of a country, organization, or movement; loosely, anything used to stand for so…
- emblementsThe crop a tenant has produced by their own labor, as opposed to one growing naturally. Emblements count as personal…
- emblers de gentzA theft from the people, a phrase found in the old rolls of Parliament.
- embossed sealA notary's seal pressed into a document so that the impression stands above the surface. Because it reproduces only f…
- embraceeThe person who takes the bribe in the offense of embracery.
- embracerThe person who gives the bribe in the offense of embracery.
- embraceryThe attempt to corrupt or steer a jury toward a particular verdict by means other than evidence and argument in court…
- embryoA developing but unborn animal, especially an unborn human from conception until the organs form, that is, until abou…
- embryo formatusAn embryo shaped as a human and, on the older view, endowed with a soul. Though the early church rejected the distinc…
- emendTo correct or revise something, especially to edit a text.
- emendaThings given to make amends for a trespass.
- emendatioThe power to amend and correct abuses, according to settled rules and measures.
- emendationCorrection or revision, especially of a text; formerly, the putting right of a wrong, or atonement for an offense. As…
- Emergency Court of AppealsA temporary court set up during the Second World War to review disputes about wage and price controls.
- emergency doctrineA rule excusing a person from the ordinary standard of reasonable care where they acted on instinct to meet a sudden…
- emergency-employment doctrineThe rule that an employee may call on someone else's help to deal with an emergency that falls within their duties an…
- emergency-treatment doctrineThe rule that consent to medical treatment is inferred in a dire situation where neither the patient nor anyone respo…
- emigrantSomeone who leaves their country, for whatever reason, meaning to settle permanently elsewhere.
- emigrant agentSomeone whose business is hiring laborers for work outside the country or state.
- emigrateTo leave one's country meaning to settle permanently in another.
- emigrationThe leaving of a country with no intention of returning and with the intention of living elsewhere.
- eminenceIn church usage, an honorary title given to cardinals of the Catholic Church. Until the pontificate of Urban VIII the…
- eminent domainThe government's inherent power to take privately owned property, especially land, for public use, on payment of reas…
- Eminent Domain ClauseThe Fifth Amendment provision that private property may not be taken for public use without just compensation.
- emissarySomeone sent on a special mission as another's agent or representative, especially to promote a cause or gather infor…
- emitTo give off or discharge into the air; also, to issue something with authority.
- emolumentAny advantage, profit, or gain received from one's employment or from holding an office.
- Emolument ClauseThe clause of the U.S. Constitution, in article I, section 9, forbidding titles of nobility and barring officeholders…
- emotional distressA severely unpleasant mental reaction, such as anguish, grief, fright, humiliation, or rage, brought on by another's…
- emotional insanityInsanity produced by violent excitement of the emotions, though the reasoning faculties may be untouched; a passion t…
- empanelTo swear in a jury to try a case.
- emparnoursFormerly, people who took on the conduct of lawsuits for others.
- emperorThe title of the sovereign ruler of an empire, or the head of a confederation of states whose members are kings. The…
- emphasis addedA signal in a citation showing that the writer has italicized or otherwise stressed some of the words being quoted.
- emphyteusisIn Roman and civil law, a hereditary leasehold: the right of someone other than the owner to use land forever, subjec…
- emphyteutaIn Roman and civil law, the person to whom an emphyteusis is granted; the tenant under such a contract.
- emphyteuticIn civil law, founded on or having the character of an emphyteusis, or held under one.
- empireThe dominion of an emperor; the territory over which that dominion extends.
- empiricalBased on experience, experiment, or observation.
- emplazamientoIn Spanish law, a summons issued by a judge requiring the person addressed to appear before the court at a set time.
- emploiIn French law, the reinvestment of the proceeds of property held under the dotal regime. When such property is sold,…
- employTo make use of something; also, to hire someone, or to entrust a person with carrying out certain acts or managing on…
- employeeSomeone who works in another person's service under a contract of hire, express or implied, in which the employer has…
- employee benefit planA written stock-purchase, savings, option, bonus, profit-sharing, pension, or similar scheme set up solely for a comp…
- employee givebacksConcessions employees give back to the employer, such as reduced wages or benefits, usually to help a struggling busi…
- employee pro hac viceAn employee whose services are lent, with their consent, to another employer who takes temporary control of their wor…
- employee stock optionAn option letting a company's employee buy shares at a fixed price or within a fixed period. It is usually given as a…
- employee-liability exclusionA clause in a liability policy excluding cover for injury to the insured's own employees arising out of their work, o…
- employee-stock-ownership planA profit-sharing scheme meant chiefly to give employees retirement benefits and a stake in the company, and sometimes…
- employerSomeone who controls and directs a worker under a contract of hire, express or implied, and who pays that worker's wa…
- employmentThe employing of someone, or the state of being employed; also, the work a person is hired and paid to do.
- employment agencyA business that finds work for people and workers for employers, for a fee. Whether the employer or the worker pays d…
- employment at willEmployment held without a fixed term, which either the employer or the employee may end at any time and without cause.
- employment contractA contract between an employer and an employee setting out the terms and conditions of the job.
- employment-practices liability insuranceInsurance covering claims arising out of the way an employer treats its workers, such as discrimination, defamation,…
- employment-related-practices exclusionA clause in some commercial general liability policies excluding cover for damages arising out of the insured's emplo…
- emporiumA place for wholesale trade in goods brought by sea. The word is sometimes applied to a whole seaport town, though st…
- empresarioFormerly, someone granted extensive land in Mexico, especially in what became Texas, in return for bringing in settle…
- emptio bonorumA kind of forced assignment for creditors, in which an insolvent debtor's estate was sold publicly and the buyer took…
- emptio et venditioA contract of sale.
- emptio rei sperataeThe purchase of something not yet in existence or not yet in the seller's hands, such as a future crop. The price com…
- emptio venditioA contract of sale.
- emptorA buyer.
- emptor familiaeAnother name for the familiae emptor, the person who took a Roman family estate by formal sale as part of making a will.
- empty-chair defenseA tactic in a case with several parties, by which one defendant tries to lay all the blame on a defendant who settled…
- empty-chair doctrineThe rule that where a party fails to call a witness it could have called and should have called, the judge may tell t…
- emtioAnother name for emptio, a purchase.
- emtorA buyer.
- emtrixIn civil law, a female buyer.
- en arereIn time past.
- en autre droitIn the right of another, as where an executor sues on the estate's behalf.
- en bancWith all the judges present and taking part; in full court.
- en banc sittingA sitting in which all the judges of a court, or a quorum of them, take part.
- en blocAs a whole; as a single unit.
- en faitIn fact; actually.
- en grosIn gross; in total, or by wholesale.
- en juicioJudicially; in a court of law.
- en masseIn a mass; all together at once.
- en mort mayneIn mortmain: held by a corporate body, and so incapable of passing by inheritance or being sold.
- en recouvrementIn French law, an endorsement on a bill of exchange that does not pass ownership of the bill but merely authorizes th…
- en routeOn the way; in the course of transport or travel.
- en ventre sa mereIn the mother's womb: the phrase for an unborn child, used chiefly when discussing that child's rights.
- en vieAlive.
- enableTo give someone the power to do something; to make them able.
- enablement requirementIn patent law, the rule that the specification must describe the invention well enough for someone with ordinary skil…
- enabling actFormerly, the Lease Act of 1540, which allowed tenants in tail, husbands holding in right of their wives, and others…
- enabling clauseThe part of a statute or constitution giving officials the power to put the law into effect and enforce it.
- enabling powerA power given by will or deed allowing the holder to choose who is to receive the donor's estate or income.
- enabling sourceIn patent law, a document that defeats the patentability of an invention because what it disclosed already made it po…
- enabling statuteFormerly, the Lease Act of 1540, which allowed tenants in tail, husbands holding in right of their wives, and others…
- enactTo make something into law by an authoritative act; also, of a statute, to provide something.
- enacted lawLaw whose source is legislation; written law.
- enacting clauseThe part of a statute stating by what authority it is made and when it takes effect. In codifications these clauses u…
- enactmentThe making of something into law; also, a statute.
- enbancworthinessThe quality in a case that makes it fit to be heard by the full court rather than a panel.
- enbancworthyInformally, fit to be heard by the full court rather than a panel.
- enbreverTo abbreviate; also, to set out in a schedule.
- enchesonThe occasion, cause, or reason for which something is done.
- enclaveIn international law, a piece of one country's territory entirely surrounded by another country, so that reaching the…
- encloseTo surround or fence in on all sides; also, to put something into a parcel or envelope.
- enclosed landLand actually surrounded by fences.
- enclosed please findA phrase traditionally opening a letter sending documents. Plain wording such as Enclosed is, or simply Here is, work…
- enclosureSomething enclosed in a parcel or envelope; also, land surrounded by a visible boundary, or the fence itself.
- encomiendaA royal grant to a private person of territory in the Spanish colonies, together with a number of the native inhabita…
- encourageTo incite someone to action, to embolden them, or to help them.
- encroachTo move by degrees or stealth into another's possessions or rights; to trespass or intrude; also, to gain unlawfully…
- encroachmentAn infringement of another's rights, or an intrusion onto another's property.
- encumberTo burden property with a claim or liability, such as a lien or mortgage.
- encumbranceA claim or liability attached to property that may reduce its value, such as a lien or mortgage; any property right s…
- encumbrancerSomeone holding a legal claim against property, such as a lien or mortgage.
- endAn object, goal, or purpose; also, a result or a stopping point.
- end linesIn mining law, the lines marking a claim's shorter dimension, where the claim crosses the vein, as opposed to the sid…
- end positionA party's legal and financial position once a contract is signed, including the choices then open to them, such as re…
- end userThe consumer a product is ultimately designed for.
- endangerTo put someone in a position that exposes them to danger to life or health.
- endangered speciesA species at risk of dying out, and under federal law one in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant par…
- endangermentThe putting of someone or something in danger; exposure to peril or harm.
- endeavorA systematic or sustained effort to reach some goal.
- endenizenTo recognize someone as a lawful resident; to naturalize them.
- endless-chain schemeA scheme in which a participant pays for the chance to be rewarded for bringing in new members, and again when those…
- endnoteA note that appears at the end of a book, chapter, or paper rather than at the foot of the page.
- endorsed bondA bond issued by one company and guaranteed by another, common among railroads.
- endorseeThe person to whom a negotiable instrument is transferred by endorsement.
- endorsementThe placing of a signature, sometimes with a further note, on the back of a negotiable instrument to transfer or guar…
- endorserSomeone who transfers a negotiable instrument by endorsement.
- endowTo give money or property to something, especially as a source of lasting income; formerly, to provide a woman with a…
- endowmentA gift of money or property to an institution such as a university for a particular purpose, especially where the cap…
- endowment insuranceLife insurance payable either to the insured at the end of the policy period or to the insured's beneficiary if the i…
- endowment policyA life policy payable at the end of a set period even if the insured is still alive, or on the insured's death if tha…
- Enelow-Ettelson ruleThe now-defunct rule that an order staying federal proceedings while an equitable defense such as arbitration was det…
- enemySomeone who opposes or injures another; also, an opposing military force, a state one is at war with, a national of s…
- enemy alienA citizen or subject of a country at war with the one in which they are living or travelling.
- enemy subjectA national of the state with which one's own country is at war.
- Energy, Department ofThe federal department overseeing national energy policy, including research and development of energy technology, en…
- enfeoffTo put someone in legal possession of a freehold interest; to transfer a fief to them.
- enfeoffmentAt common law, the transferring of possession and ownership of an estate in land; also, the property so transferred,…
- enforceTo give force or effect to a law and compel obedience to it; loosely, to make a person pay damages for not keeping a…
- enforcementThe compelling of compliance with a law, order, or command.
- Enforcement of Foreign Judgments ActA uniform law, adopted in several states, giving the holder of a judgment from another state essentially the same rig…
- enforcement powerThe power by which Congress may give effect to a particular constitutional amendment through appropriate legislation.…
- enfranchiseTo grant voting rights or other rights of citizenship to a person or class; also, to set free, as from slavery.
- enfranchisementThe granting of voting rights or other rights of citizenship to a class of people; also, the setting free of someone,…
- enfranchisement of copyholdThe turning of copyhold land into freehold, whether by the lord of the manor conveying the fee simple to the copyhold…
- engageTo involve oneself in something, take part in it, or embark on it.
- engagementA contract or agreement involving promises on both sides; also, an agreement to marry, and the period between that ag…
- engagement slipA note a lawyer sends a court explaining that they are due in another court that day and so cannot appear as schedule…
- engenderTo cause or bring something about.
- England procedureA procedure by which, once a federal court has sent a case to state court under the Pullman abstention doctrine and t…
- English ruleThe rule that a losing litigant must pay the winner's costs and lawyers' fees.
- Englishry, presentment ofProof that a slain person was English rather than, before the Conquest, a Dane, or after it, a Norman. The conquering…
- engrossFormerly, to write out a document, especially a deed, by hand in large formal letters. The style came from the old co…
- engrossed billA bill that has passed one house of the legislature.
- engrosserSomeone who engages in engrossing.
- Engrosser of the Great RollAn Exchequer officer responsible for the Pipe Rolls. The office was abolished in 1833.
- engrossingThe buying up of large quantities of goods so as to corner the market and sell at a very high price. It was a misdeme…
- engrossmentThe preparing of a legal document, such as a deed, for signature; also, the drafting of a bill or resolution just bef…
- enhancedMade greater; increased.
- enhanced damagesIn patent law, damages for infringement that the court may raise to as much as three times the compensatory amount, a…
- enhancementThe increasing of something, or the state of having been increased.
- enheritanceProperty received from an ancestor under the rules of intestacy, or under a will.
- enjoinTo forbid or restrain by injunction; also, to direct or urge strongly.
- enjoinableCapable of being forbidden by injunction.
- enjoyTo have, possess, and use something with satisfaction; to occupy property or take its benefit.
- enjoymentPossession and use, especially of rights or property; also, the exercise of a right.
- enlargeTo increase in size or extend in scope or duration; also, to release someone from custody.
- enlargement of timeAn extension, usually ordered by the court, of the time allowed for taking a step, especially a procedural one.
- enlistTo enroll voluntarily in one of the armed services.
- enlisted memberIn military law, someone holding an enlisted grade; a member of the forces below the rank of officer or warrant officer.
- enlistmentVoluntary entry into a branch of the armed services.
- Enoch Arden lawA statute allowing a divorce, or excusing liability, so that someone may remarry when their spouse has been missing w…
- enormiaIn common-law pleading, unlawful or wrongful acts, used especially in the phrase and other outrages, which closed a l…
- enormiousMade without rule, or against the law.
- enormousAggravated; excessively large.
- enpleetTo implead; to bring someone into a suit as a party.
- enrichmentBeing made better off, especially at someone else's expense.
- enrollTo enter or transcribe a legal document, such as a deed, into an official record when it is signed; also, to prepare…
- enrolled agentSomeone who is neither a certified public accountant nor a lawyer but has been admitted to practice before the IRS, e…
- enrolled billA bill passed by both houses of the legislature and signed by their presiding officers.
- enrolled-bill ruleThe conclusive presumption that a statute, once in final form, says exactly what the legislature meant, so that no ch…
- enrollment of vesselsThe recording and certifying of vessels used in coastal or inland navigation, as opposed to registration for foreign…
- Enrollment OfficeA department of the Court of Chancery that held enrolled deeds and judgments. It was abolished in 1879 and its work p…
- enscheduleTo enter something in a list, account, or document.
- enserverTo make land subject to a service or servitude.
- entailAn interest in land limited to the owner's descendants, or to a particular class of them, rather than passing to all…
- entailedSettled or limited to particular heirs; held in tail.
- entailed estateAnother name for a fee tail, an estate limited to a particular line of descendants.
- entailmentThe settling of an estate in tail; also, the estate so settled.
- entendmentThe sense in which the law understands something; also, a decision-maker's conclusion about the true meaning or inten…
- ententeAn understanding between two or more nations to pursue a common policy. It is looser than an alliance but closer than…
- enterTo go into somewhere, especially to go onto land by right of entry so as to take possession; also, to put something f…
- enterceurA party claiming goods; someone who has placed goods in a third party's hands.
- enterpriseAn organization or venture, especially a business one.
- enterprise liabilityLiability placed on each maker in an industry responsible for a harmful or defective product, apportioned according t…
- entertainTo consider something, especially to give it judicial consideration; also, to amuse someone, or to receive them as a…
- entertainment expenseThe cost of entertaining clients or customers, which may be deductible as a business expense within the limits the ta…
- entertainment lawThe field of law dealing with the legal and business side of the entertainment industry, such as film, music, and the…
- enticeTo lure or induce someone, especially to persuade them wrongfully to do something.
- enticementThe wrongful luring or persuading of a person to do something.
- enticement of a childThe offense of inviting or persuading a child, or trying to, to enter a vehicle, building, room, or secluded place, i…
- entireWhole and complete in all its parts; not divisible.
- entire benefitA use of property solely for a married woman's benefit. Placed in the habendum of a trust deed for her, the phrase ke…
- entire bloodThe relationship between people who have the same two parents.
- entire dayA whole day, rather than parts of two or more days added together to make 24 hours. It must have a fixed beginning an…
- entire interestA whole interest or right, undiminished by any share in another.
- entire tenancyA tenancy held by one person alone, as opposed to a joint tenancy or tenancy in common.
- entire useA use of property solely for a married woman's benefit. Placed in the habendum of a trust deed for her, the phrase ke…
- entire-contract clauseA clause stating that the contract is the parties' complete and final agreement and displaces all earlier understandi…
- entire-controversy doctrineThe rule that a party who fails to raise all their claims or defenses arising out of a dispute in one proceeding cann…
- entire-output contractA contract in which the buyer promises to take all the goods or services the seller can produce in a set period at a…
- entiretyThe whole of something, as opposed to a part; also, something, such as certain judgments and contracts, that the law…
- entirety, tenancy by theA joint tenancy arising between husband and wife where one document conveys land to both without saying how they are…
- entitleTo give someone a legal right, or to qualify them for something; in church law, to ordain someone as a minister.
- entitlementAn absolute right to a benefit, usually money, such as social security, which arises as soon as the legal requirement…
- entityAn organization, such as a business or government body, with a legal identity separate from its members.
- entity assumptionThe assumption in accounting that a business is a unit separate from its owners and from other firms.
- entity theory of partnershipThe view that a partnership has a legal existence of its own, apart from the partners who make it up.
- entrapmentA law-enforcement officer's or government agent's inducing of someone to commit a crime by trickery or undue persuasi…
- entrebatAn intruder or interloper.
- entrepreneurSomeone who starts a new business, takes its financial risks, and usually runs it.
- entrustTo place something in a person's care, usually where there is a relationship of confidence between them.
- entrustingIn commercial law, the handing of goods to a merchant who deals in goods of that kind, who may then pass the goods an…
- entrustmentThe leaving of a dangerous article, such as a gun or a car, with someone the lender knows or should know is likely to…
- entryThe act, right, or privilege of going onto land.
- entry ad communem legemA writ of entry available at common law after a life tenant's death, to recover a reversion in land the tenant had di…
- entry ad terminum qui praeteriitA writ of entry brought where a tenant held over after the term of the lease had expired.
- entry for marriage in speechAnother name for the writ causa matrimonii praelocuti, by which land given in expectation of a marriage was recovered…
- entry in casu consimiliA writ of entry available where land was alienated in a way that the law treated as similar to an earlier recognized…
- entry of judgmentThe formal recording of a court's final decision, usually by noting it in a judgment book or on the civil docket.
- entry on the rollA clerk's note on a parchment roll of the proceedings and issues in a case. Before written pleadings, the parties app…
- entry, right ofA future interest a grantor keeps after conveying a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, so that the grantee…
- entry, writ ofA writ allowing someone wrongly put out of land to enter and take it back.
- enumerateTo count off or list things one by one.
- enumerated powerA power specifically given to a branch of government by a constitution.
- enumeratorSomeone appointed to collect census forms.
- enunciateTo state something publicly; to announce or proclaim it.
- enureTo take effect or come into use; also, to accustom someone to something unpleasant.
- environmental effectIn environmental law, a disturbance, whether natural or human-made, of the physical, chemical, or biological parts th…
- environmental lawThe field of law dealing with keeping and protecting the environment, taking in preventive requirements such as envir…
- Environmental Protection AgencyA federal agency created in 1970 to coordinate government action to protect the environment.
- environmental-impact statementIn environmental law, the document the National Environmental Policy Act requires a federal agency to prepare for a m…
- envoyA senior diplomat sent to a foreign country on a special mission or as a permanent representative; also, any messenge…
- envoy extraordinaryIn international law, someone who heads a legation rather than an embassy. The title is now honorary and carries no s…
- EOEErrors and omissions excepted: a phrase sometimes added to a statement of account to allow for small mistakes.
- EPAA federal agency created in 1970 to coordinate government action to protect the environment.
- EPC contractA fixed-price, tightly scheduled construction contract, typically used for single-purpose projects such as power plan…
- epiqueyaIn Spanish law, an equitable principle calling for the law to be read kindly and sensibly according to the time, plac…
- episcopacyThe office of a bishop; also, church government by diocesan bishops.
- episcopateA bishopric; also, the office or dignity of a bishop.
- episcopusIn Roman law, an overseer or inspector, such as the town officer responsible for the bread and other daily provisions…
- epistolaA charter; a written document conveying land or evidencing a contract.
- epistolaeRescripts: opinions the emperors gave in cases submitted to them. The word also covers the opinions of jurists, given…
- EPL insuranceEmployment-practices liability insurance: cover protecting an employer against claims by employees over matters such…
- epochA period marked by distinctive features or notable events; also, a point from which time is reckoned.
- EPSA measure of a company's value found by dividing its net income by the number of common shares outstanding. Investors…
- Equal Access to Justice ActA federal statute of 1980 allowing the winning party in certain actions against the government to recover lawyers' or…
- equal and uniform taxationA tax system in which no person or class within the taxing district, whether a state, city, or county, is taxed at a…
- Equal Credit Opportunity ActA federal statute forbidding a creditor to discriminate against an applicant on grounds of race, color, religion, nat…
- equal degreeThe relationship between relatives who stand the same number of steps away from a common ancestor.
- Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionThe federal agency created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to end discriminatory employment practices and promote…
- Equal Pay ActA federal law requiring that people doing substantially the same work be paid the same.
- equal protectionThe guarantee under the Fourteenth Amendment that government must treat a person or class the same as others in like…
- Equal Protection ClauseThe Fourteenth Amendment provision requiring states to treat similarly situated people or classes alike under the law.
- equal protection of the lawsThe guarantee under the Fourteenth Amendment that government must treat a person or class the same as others in like…
- equal protection under the lawThe guarantee under the Fourteenth Amendment that government must treat a person or class the same as others in like…
- Equal Rights AmendmentA proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred discrimination on grounds of sex. Congress passed it in 19…
- Equal Time ActA federal law requiring a broadcaster who lets one legally qualified candidate for public office use its facilities t…
- equal-access ruleThe rule that contraband found on a defendant's premises will not support a conviction if other people had the same a…
- equal-dignities ruleIn agency law, the rule that an agent may do acts requiring a signed writing from the principal only if the agent's o…
- equal-footing doctrineThe principle that a state admitted to the Union after 1789 comes in with the same rights, sovereignty, and jurisdict…
- equal-opportunity employerAn employer who undertakes not to discriminate against any applicant or employee on grounds of race, color, religion,…
- equal-shares clauseIn insurance law, a clause requiring an insurer to pay its proportionate share of a claimed loss.
- equal-time doctrineThe rule that a broadcaster who gives one legally qualified candidate for public office airtime must offer the same o…
- equalityThe state of being equal, especially alike in power or political standing.
- equality before the lawBeing treated fairly according to settled standards of justice. In British constitutional thinking it means that ever…
- equality of statesIn international law, the doctrine that all fully independent nations stand equal before the law. It does not mean th…
- equalizationThe raising or lowering of assessed values so that property across a district is valued on the same footing.
- equalization boardA local agency responsible for adjusting tax rates across districts so that the burden of tax falls fairly.
- equalization of taxesThe adjusting of assessments or rates so that the burden of tax is spread evenly across a district.
- equalizeTo make equal; to bring things to the same amount or degree.
- equally dividedOf property, shared out per capita rather than per stirpes among the heirs on the testator's death, so that each take…
- equinoxOne of the two times in the year when day and night are of equal length. The spring equinox falls about March 21 and…
- equipTo fit something out; to supply whatever is needed for it to work properly.
- equipmentThe articles or implements used for a particular purpose, especially in business. Under the Uniform Commercial Code,…
- equipment trustA financing arrangement common among railroads, in which a trustee and the railroad together buy equipment, with the…
- equipment trust bondA bond secured by tangible property such as an aircraft. A trustee usually holds title to the equipment, which is lea…
- equipment trust certificateA security, usually issued by a railroad, to pay for new equipment. A trustee holds title to the equipment until the…
- equitableJust and in keeping with the principles of justice; also, existing in equity, and enforceable by an action in equity…
- equitable abstentionA federal court's refusal to interfere with a state agency's decision on a local matter where the aggrieved party has…
- equitable actionAn action seeking equitable relief, such as an injunction or specific performance, rather than damages.
- equitable adoptionAn arrangement the law treats as an adoption because a person promised to adopt a child and acted accordingly, so tha…
- equitable assetAn asset that can be reached only through a court of equity.
- equitable assignmentAn assignment that is not valid at law but which equity will recognize and enforce, such as an assignment of a chose…
- equitable constructionReading a document in the light of the situation it faces, so as to carry out its spirit and purpose.
- equitable conversionThe treating of land as personal property, or personal property as land, in certain circumstances. Courts most often…
- equitable defenseA defense once available only in a court of equity but now available at law as well, such as mistake, fraud, illegali…
- equitable distributionIn family law, a court's division of marital property on divorce under statutory guidelines calling for a fair, thoug…
- equitable doctrine of approximationA rule letting a court vary the details of how a trust is run so as to preserve it and carry out what the donor inten…
- equitable easementAn easement equity implies where neighboring parcels have been carved out of a larger tract, usually so that privileg…
- equitable ejectmentA proceeding brought to compel specific performance of a contract for the sale of land. Though cast in the form of an…
- equitable electionThe rule requiring a person to choose between taking a benefit under a document and keeping some property right they…
- equitable estateAn interest in property that equity recognizes and protects, such as a trust beneficiary's interest, as opposed to th…
- equitable estoppelA bar preventing someone from asserting a claim or right that contradicts what they have said or done before, or what…
- equitable foreclosureA method of foreclosure in which the court orders the property sold and the proceeds applied first to the costs of th…
- equitable fraudDeception or misrepresentation that injures someone even though it was not meant to deceive.
- equitable interestAn interest held under an equitable title or claimed on equitable grounds, such as that of a beneficiary under a trust.
- equitable lienA right, enforceable only in equity, to have a claim met out of a particular fund or piece of property without holdin…
- equitable life estateAn interest in property lasting for the holder's life which arises in equity rather than at law, such as a life inter…
- equitable life tenantA life tenant not automatically entitled to possession, but who makes an election the law allows to someone in that p…
- equitable mortgageA transaction that equity treats as a mortgage because the parties plainly intended property to stand as security for…
- equitable ownerSomeone equity recognizes as the owner because the use and benefit belong to them, even though the legal title is in…
- equitable recoupmentA rule letting a taxpayer set tax previously overpaid against tax now due, even though the time for claiming a refund…
- equitable reliefA remedy other than money, such as an injunction or specific performance, given where damages would not adequately ma…
- equitable remedyA remedy other than money, such as an injunction or specific performance, given where damages would not adequately ma…
- equitable rescissionRescission ordered by a court of equity.
- equitable reversionThe interest that returns to a grantor by operation of law where they have granted a lesser estate, such as a life es…
- equitable rightA right recognized in a court of equity. Where a legal and an equitable right conflict, the legal right ordinarily pr…
- equitable right to setoffThe right to cancel opposing demands, used above all by a bank to take from a customer's deposit account a sum equal…
- equitable seisinThe right to take immediate possession of a freehold estate, as where an heir inherits land but has not yet entered it.
- equitable servitudeA restriction on the use of land that equity will enforce against later owners who took with notice of it, even thoug…
- equitable subrogationSubrogation arising by operation of law or by implication in equity, to prevent fraud or injustice.
- equitable titleA title showing a beneficial interest in property and giving the holder the right to call for the formal legal title.
- equitable tollingThe rule that the limitation period will not bar a claim where the claimant, despite diligent efforts, did not discov…
- equitable wasteAn abuse of the freedom from liability for waste that the common law allowed certain tenants, which equity will restr…
- equitable-adjustment theoryThe rule that in settling a federal contract dispute the contracting officer should make a fair adjustment within a r…
- equitable-benefit doctrineIn bankruptcy law, the rule allowing a court to give preferred status to claims for services rendered by people other…
- equitable-fund doctrineThe principle that where a claimant or their lawyer creates, discovers, increases, or preserves a fund in which other…
- equitable-recoupment doctrineA rule cutting down a party's right to recover a debt so far as they hold money or property of the debtor to which th…
- equitable-restraint doctrineA federal court's refusal to interfere with a state criminal prosecution already under way, whether by injunction or…
- equityFairness and evenhanded dealing; also, the body of principles that make up what is fair and right, developed by the c…
- equity accounting methodA way of accounting for a long-term holding of common stock, based on what it cost, the investor's share of income an…
- equity capitalMoney put into a company by its owners in return for shares or other evidence of ownership.
- equity financingThe raising of money by issuing shares in the business rather than by borrowing or selling bonds; also, the money so…
- equity insolvencyInsolvency arising because a debtor cannot meet its obligations as they fall due. Under most state laws it bars a com…
- equity jurisdictionAt common law, the power to hear certain civil actions by the procedure of the court of chancery and to decide them b…
- equity jurisprudenceThe body of learning covering the rules, principles, and maxims that guide a court of equity; also, the kinds of case…
- equity kickerA lender's taking of a share in the ownership of a project as a condition of making the loan.
- equity loanA line of bank credit given to a homeowner, secured on the value of the home over and above what is already owed on it.
- equity of exonerationThe right of someone who is only secondarily liable for a debt to make the person primarily liable pay it, or to be r…
- equity of partnersEach partner's right to have the firm's property applied to the firm's debts.
- equity of redemptionIn real-estate law, a defaulting borrower's right to recover the property before it is sold at foreclosure by paying…
- equity of subrogationThe right of someone secondarily liable for a debt, on paying it, to enforce in their own name whatever rights the or…
- equity participationA lender's taking of a share in the ownership of a project as a condition of making the loan.
- equity pleadingThe system of pleading used in courts of equity. In most places its distinctive rules have given way to general rules…
- equity ratioThe relationship, expressed as a percentage, between a buyer's own stake, especially the down payment, and the value…
- equity securityA security representing an ownership interest in a company, such as a share, rather than a debt interest such as a bo…
- equity stockStock of any class carrying unlimited rights to dividends, whether or not it is preferred.
- equity termThe period during which a court hears only equity cases.
- equity to a settlementA wife's equitable right, arising when her husband went to equity to bring her equitable property into his own hands,…
- equity-of-the-statute ruleIn statutory interpretation, the principle that a statute should be read according to the lawmakers' purpose even whe…
- equity, bill inThe pleading by which a claimant began a suit in a court of equity. Before law and equity were merged it answered to…
- equity, court ofA court that decides cases according to the rules and principles of equity rather than the common law.
- equivalentEqual in value, force, amount, or effect; corresponding in function, or nearly identical.
- equivalents doctrineIn patent law, a judge-made rule finding infringement even where the accused process or product falls outside the lit…
- equivocalOf doubtful character; also, capable of more than one meaning, and so ambiguous.
- equivocalityIn the law of attempt, the test asking whether the defendant's conduct, taken by itself, unambiguously shows a crimin…
- equivocationAn ambiguity that does not show on the face of a document but appears only when its words are applied to the facts.
- equuleusA rack shaped like a horse, used for torture.
- ERAA proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred discrimination on grounds of sex. Congress passed it in 19…
- eraseTo rub out or obliterate something written; also, to wipe recorded material, or to seal criminal records from disclos…
- ErastianA follower of Thomas Erastus, who held that offenses against religion and morality should be punished by the state ra…
- erasure of recordThe removal of a conviction, especially for a first offense, from a person's criminal record.
- erciscundusIn civil law, to be divided. A suit for the partition of an inheritance took its name from the phrase.
- erectTo construct something; also, to establish it. In England the word was one of the formal terms of incorporation used…
- ergolabusSomeone who contracts to do work by supplying both the materials and the labor personally.
- Erie doctrineThe principle that a federal court hearing a case on diversity jurisdiction, with no federal question involved, must…
- Erie-boundOf a federal court, bound to apply the Erie doctrine.
- erigimusWe erect: one of the formal words used in a royal charter creating a corporation.
- ERISAThe Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal law regulating private pension and welfare benefit plans.
- eristicTo do with controversy or dispute.
- ermineThe office or station of a judge. The word refers to the white fur trimming, taken from the winter coat of the stoat,…
- erosionThe wearing away of something by the elements, especially the gradual carrying off of soil by currents or tides.
- errTo make a mistake; to be wrong.
- errantMistaken or straying from what is proper; also, wandering.
- errata sheetA sheet attached to a deposition transcript setting out the corrections the deponent makes on reading it, together wi…
- erratumAn error needing correction.
- erroneousContaining an error; departing from the law.
- erroneous assessmentAn assessment that departs from the law so as to create a jurisdictional defect, and is therefore invalid.
- erroneous judgmentA judgment given by a court that had jurisdiction but applied the law wrongly. It is not void, and may be put right b…
- erroneous taxA tax levied without statutory authority, a tax on property that is not taxable, or a tax levied by an officer with n…
- errorA belief that does not match reality, whether taking what is false for true or what is true for false; a mistake.
- error apparent of recordAn error so obvious and damaging that an appeal court should deal with it even though no proper objection was made at…
- error de personaA mistake about a person's identity.
- error in corporeA mistake about which particular object is involved, as where a buyer takes a horse to be the one they had already ex…
- error in factA mistake about a fact material to a transaction.
- error in lawA mistake about the legal effect of facts that are known.
- error in negotioA mistake about what kind of contract the parties meant to make.
- error in qualitateA mistake about the quality of the thing contracted for.
- error in quantitateA mistake about the quantity of the thing contracted for.
- error in vacuoAn error that could have made no difference to the outcome, and so gives no ground for reversal.
- error of factA mistake about a fact material to a transaction.
- error of lawA mistake about the legal effect of facts that are known.
- error-of-judgment ruleThe rule that a professional is not liable to a client for advice given honestly and in the client's best interests,…
- error, writ ofA writ issued by an appeal court directing a lower court to send up the record of a case for review.
- errors-and-omissions insuranceInsurance against loss caused by the insured's mistake or oversight, though not by deliberate wrongdoing. Lawyers com…
- errors, assignment ofA list of the errors an appellant says the lower court made, filed as part of the appeal.
- ery de paisFormerly, the cry of the country: the hue and cry raised after an offender by the people of the neighborhood.
- escalator clauseA clause raising or lowering the contract price to match changing market conditions, such as higher taxes or operatin…
- escambiumAnother name for cambium, an exchange or a bill of exchange.
- escapeThe breaking free from confinement, restraint, or an obligation; also, an unlawful departure from legal custody witho…
- escape clauseA clause letting a party avoid performing in stated circumstances; in insurance, a provision in one policy stating th…
- escape periodA period fixed in some union contracts during which workers may leave the union, near the end of one contract term an…
- escape warrantA warrant directing an officer to re-arrest an escaped prisoner. Formerly it was granted, on affidavit, by a judge of…
- escapeeA prisoner or other inmate who has escaped from lawful custody.
- escapiumSomething that comes by chance or accident. In medieval Latin it often meant a prisoner's escape or the straying of c…
- escheatFormerly, the falling in of land to the lord where the tenant died without heirs. Today it means the passing of prope…
- escheatorA royal officer appointed to value property falling to the Crown by escheat. Corrupt officers gave the office such a…
- Escobedo ruleIn criminal procedure, the rule that a statement by a suspect in police custody who has been singled out but not yet…
- escotIn English law, a tax paid in boroughs and corporations to support the community.
- escribanoIn Spanish law, an officer resembling a French notary, with authority to put in writing and attest transactions and c…
- escrituraA written instrument; also, a deed drawn up by an escribano or by the notary of a corporation or council, or sealed w…
- escrowA document or property handed by a promisor to a third person to hold for a set time or until a condition is met, aft…
- escrow accountA bank account, usually in the joint names of the depositor and an escrow agent, to be returned to the depositor or p…
- escrow agentThe third party who holds property or documents in escrow.
- escrow agreementThe instructions given to the third party holding property or documents in escrow.
- escrow contractThe agreement between buyer, seller, and escrow holder setting out the terms on which the escrow holder holds and rel…
- escrow depositMoney or property placed with an escrow holder to be released when the agreed conditions are met.
- escrow holderThe third party who holds property or documents in escrow.
- escuageA money payment the king levied on barons in place of some or all of the knights each was bound to supply. It seems t…
- esketoresFormerly, robbers; people who destroyed the lands or fortunes of others.
- eskipperTo ship goods.
- eskippesonShippage; passage by sea.
- esneA hired laborer of servile condition, or a slave.
- esnecySeniority; the right or privilege of the eldest born, especially the eldest co-heir's right to choose first among the…
- ESOPA profit-sharing scheme meant chiefly to give employees retirement benefits and a stake in the company, and sometimes…
- esperaA period fixed by law or by a court within which something must be done, such as paying a debt.
- espionageThe use of spies to gather information about what another government or company is doing or intends to do.
- Espionage ActA federal law making espionage, spying, and related conduct criminal, and setting the penalties.
- espleesThe produce of land; also, the rents and other payments derived from it, and sometimes the land itself.
- espousalsA mutual promise between a man and a woman to marry each other.
- esquireA courtesy title placed after a lawyer's name.
- essence testA test under which an arbitrator's reading of a collective agreement must be upheld if it can be drawn in any rationa…
- essence, of theOf the essence: words marking a term as so important that failing to meet it, especially a time limit, entitles the o…
- essential findingIn military law, a military judge's ruling on a collateral motion made before trial.
- essential mistakeIn contract law, a mistake so fundamental that no real agreement could have been reached, so that there was no contra…
- essential termA term that must appear in the contract for it to satisfy the statute of frauds.
- essoinAn excuse for not appearing in court on the appointed day in answer to a summons; also, the offering of such an excuse.
- essoin dayIn English law, the first general return day of the term, when the courts sat to receive essoins. The Law Terms Act o…
- essoin de malo villaeA procedure by which a defendant who had appeared on the first day but then fell ill without pleading sent two essoin…
- essoin rollA roll on which essoins were entered, together with the day to which they were adjourned.
- essoinerSomeone who makes an essoin on another's behalf.
- establishTo settle or fix something firmly; also, to bring it into existence, or to prove it.
- establishmentThe setting up of something, or the state of being set up; also, an institution or place of business, or the group of…
- Establishment ClauseThe First Amendment provision forbidding government to set up a religion or to favor one.
- estadalIn Spanish America, a measure of land of sixteen square varas, or yards.
- estadiaA delay in a voyage, or in delivering cargo, caused by the charterer or consignee, for which demurrage is payable; al…
- estateThe nature and extent of a person's interest in land or other property; also, everything a person owns, real and pers…
- estate at sufferanceA tenancy arising where a person who was lawfully in possession stays on wrongfully after their interest has ended. I…
- estate at willA tenancy in which the tenant holds with the landlord's consent but on no fixed terms as to length or rent. Either pa…
- estate by curtesyAt common law, a husband's estate for life in land his wife owned, arising on her death provided a child had been bor…
- estate by elegitAn estate held by a judgment creditor, entitling them to the rents and profits of the debtor's land until the debt is…
- estate by purchaseAn estate acquired in any way other than by descent.
- estate by statute stapleAn estate in a debtor's land held by a creditor under the statute staple until the debt was paid.
- estate by the entiretyA joint tenancy arising between husband and wife where one document conveys land to both without saying how they are…
- estate dutyA duty charged on the whole value of property passing at death. In Britain it has been replaced by inheritance tax.
- estate for a termA tenancy whose length is fixed in years, weeks, or days from the moment it is created.
- estate for lifeAn estate lasting only for the life of a named person, usually the holder's own, as with a grant to Jane for life.
- estate for yearsA tenancy whose length is fixed in years, weeks, or days from the moment it is created.
- estate freezeAn estate-planning move in which the owner of a closely held business swaps common stock for dividend-paying preferre…
- estate from period to periodA tenancy that renews itself for successive periods, usually month to month or year to year, unless notice is given a…
- estate in commonA tenancy held by two or more people in equal or unequal undivided shares, each entitled to possess the whole but wit…
- estate in expectancyAn interest in property whose enjoyment lies in the future rather than the present. It may rest in the grantor, as wi…
- estate in fee simpleAnother name for a fee simple, the largest interest a person can hold in land.
- estate in landsThe interest a person holds in land, tenements, or hereditaments; also, the terms on which a tenant stands in relatio…
- estate in partnershipA joint estate vested in the partners where land is bought with partnership money and for the partnership's purposes.
- estate in possessionAn estate giving a present interest that passes to the tenant without any condition, so that the tenant is entitled t…
- estate in reversionThe interest that returns to a grantor by operation of law where they have granted a lesser estate, such as a life es…
- estate in severaltyAn estate held by one tenant alone, with no other person joined in interest.
- estate in vadioAn estate held in gage or pledge as security.
- estate is distributedThe stage at which a bankrupt estate's assets are paid out to those entitled to them.
- estate less than freeholdAn estate for years, an estate at will, or an estate at sufferance, none of which amounts to a freehold.
- estate of inheritanceAn estate capable of passing to heirs.
- estate on conditionAn estate that vests, changes, or fails on the happening or not happening of a stated event. An estate on limitation…
- estate on condition expressedA conditional estate in which the condition that will defeat it is set out in so many words in the grant.
- estate on condition impliedA conditional estate whose condition is so bound up with the nature of the estate that it need not be stated in words.
- estate on conditional limitationAn estate that passes automatically to a third person, rather than back to the grantor, when a stated event happens.
- estate on limitationAn estate that reverts automatically to the grantor when a stated event occurs, usually the passing of a period marke…
- estate planningThe arranging in advance of how a person's property will be managed and distributed on death, through wills, trusts,…
- estate tailAnother name for a fee tail, an estate limited to a particular line of descendants.
- estate tail quasiAn estate granted by a life tenant who uses words that would otherwise create an estate tail but cannot grant anythin…
- estate taxA tax on property passing by will or on intestacy.
- estate trustA trust whose income, in whole or in part, is accumulated during the surviving spouse's life and added to the capital…
- estates of the realmThe lords spiritual, the lords temporal, and the commons of Great Britain; in feudal Europe, the clergy, the nobles,…
- ester in judgmentTo appear before a court, whether as claimant or as defendant.
- estimated damagesA sum the parties agree in the contract as a reasonable estimate of the loss one will suffer if the other breaks it.…
- estimated taxTax paid quarterly by someone whose income is not subject to withholding, such as a self-employed person, based eithe…
- estimated useful lifeThe period over which depreciable property is expected to produce income, used to work out depreciation and amortizat…
- estoppageThe state of being estopped.
- estoppelA bar preventing someone from asserting a claim or right that contradicts what they have said or done before, or what…
- estoppel by conductAn estoppel arising from what a person has done or allowed others to believe, which prevents them from later assertin…
- estoppel by contractA bar preventing someone from denying a term, a fact, or a performance arising out of a contract they entered into.
- estoppel by deedAn estoppel preventing a party to a deed from denying what the deed recites, where they induced another to accept or…
- estoppel by electionThe deliberate choosing between inconsistent alternatives, which bars the chooser from the benefits of the one not ta…
- estoppel by inactionAn estoppel arising where a party had a duty to speak and did not.
- estoppel by judgmentA defense barring a party from relitigating an issue decided against them in an earlier case, even where the second c…
- estoppel by lachesThe rule by which some courts refuse relief to a claimant who has delayed unreasonably or been careless in pressing a…
- estoppel by negligenceAn estoppel arising where a careless person leads another to believe certain facts, and that other reasonably relies…
- estoppel by recordA defense barring a party from relitigating an issue decided against them in an earlier case, even where the second c…
- estoppel by representationAn estoppel arising where someone makes a statement or admission that leads another to believe something, and that ot…
- estoppel by silenceAn estoppel arising where a party had a duty to speak and did not.
- estoppel by standing byAn estoppel arising where a party watched another act to their detriment and said nothing though bound to speak.
- estoppel by verdictA defense barring a party from relitigating an issue decided against them in an earlier case, even where the second c…
- estoppel certificateA signed statement by a party, such as a tenant or mortgagee, confirming for someone else's benefit that certain fact…
- estoppel in paisAn estoppel arising out of what a person said or did outside any formal record, which prevents them from later assert…
- estoppel per rem judicatamA defense barring a party from relitigating an issue decided against them in an earlier case, even where the second c…
- estoverA tenant's right to take wood from the land for fuel, repairs, or fencing; also, an allowance a court orders one spou…
- estrayA valuable tame animal found wandering with no known owner, or one that has escaped and strayed. At common law it bel…
- estreatA copy taken from an original record, especially of a fine or penalty imposed by a court, certified to the officer wh…
- estrepeTo strip or lay waste to an estate, as by felling trees or pulling down buildings, and so to damage the value of the…
- estrepementA serious form of waste, in which land is stripped or laid waste to the injury of the person entitled after the prese…
- et adjournaturAnd it is adjourned: words used in the old reports to note that the case was put over to another day.
- et ceteraAnd other things: words showing that there are further, unnamed items in a series.
- et de ceo se mettent en le paysFormerly, and of this they put themselves upon the country, that is, they submit the issue to a jury.
- et de hoc ponit se super patriamFormerly, and of this he puts himself upon the country: the formal ending of a common-law plea in bar by way of denial.
- et ei legitur in haec verbaFormerly, and it is read to him in these words: a phrase used in entering a prayer of oyer on the record.
- et hoc paratus est verificareThe words that closed a plea in confession and avoidance, or any pleading raising new affirmative matter. Such a plea…
- et hoc petit quod inquiratur per patriamIn older usage, the ending of a claimant's pleading that offered the issue to a jury.
- et modo ad hunc diemIn older usage, the formal opening of an entry of appearance or of a continuance.
- et nonIn older usage, words used in pleading to introduce the negative part of a special traverse.
- et sicIn older usage, the opening words of a special conclusion to a plea in bar, meant to make the plea positive rather th…
- et sic ad judiciumAnd so to judgment.
- et sic ad patriamFormerly, and so to the country: words used in the Year Books to record that an issue went to a jury.
- et uxorAnd wife: a phrase once common in case names and legal documents, especially abstracts of title, where a husband and…
- et virIn older usage, and husband.
- eternal lawA law of nature; also, a system of legal and moral principles said to come from a universal view of human nature or d…
- ethicalTo do with the moral obligations people owe each other, and in law with the rules of professional conduct; also, in k…
- ethical absolutismThe view that certain moral standards hold good always and everywhere, whatever the circumstances or the society.
- ethical drugA drug that may be supplied only on a doctor's prescription.
- ethical jurisprudenceThe branch of legal philosophy that examines law for its moral significance and adequacy, bringing together moral and…
- ethical relativismThe view that there are no fixed or absolute standards of right and wrong, so that what counts as moral depends on th…
- ethical wallA screening arrangement that protects a client's confidences by keeping one or more lawyers in a firm out of any matt…
- ethicsThe standards of acceptable conduct within the legal profession, covering the duties its members owe one another, the…
- etiquette of the professionThe standards of acceptable conduct within the legal profession, covering the duties its members owe one another, the…
- EUAn association of European nations working toward full economic and eventual political union by removing barriers to…
- Euclidean zoningZoning that divides a municipality into districts and lists the uses permitted in each, taking its name from the case…
- eundo et redeundoGoing and returning: a phrase once used of vessels in transit.
- eunomyA system of good laws producing civil order and justice.
- euroThe official currency of most member states of the European Union. It came into use as an accounting currency on Janu…
- EurobankA bank taking part in the Eurocurrency market by accepting deposits and making loans in foreign currencies.
- EurobondAn international bond issued in a country other than the one whose currency it is denominated in.
- EurodollarA U.S. dollar deposited in a bank outside the United States and used in the European money markets.
- European CommunityThe name the European Economic Community took after 1957, and which it kept until the Maastricht Treaty came into for…
- European Court of Human RightsThe court of the Council of Europe, established in 1950 and sitting at Strasbourg. The Convention on Human Rights of…
- European Currency UnitA unit of account whose value was worked out as a weighted average of the currencies of member states of the European…
- European Economic CommunityThe association founded by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to remove barriers to the free movement of capital, goods, and…
- European lawThe law of the European Union; more broadly, that law together with the conventions of the Council of Europe and the…
- European UnionAn association of European nations working toward full economic and eventual political union by removing barriers to…
- euthanasiaThe killing of a person suffering from an incurable and usually painful condition, done out of mercy. The law may tre…
- euthanasicTo do with euthanasia; bringing about a merciful death.
- euthanizeTo put to death by euthanasia, a word used chiefly of animals.
- evaluative factA fact used in judging whether an act was reasonable or negligent.
- Evarts ActAn 1891 federal statute creating the circuit courts of appeals, now the U.S. courts of appeals, and settling the mode…
- evasionThe deliberate attempt to defeat or get round the tax laws so as to pay less tax than is owed. It carries both civil…
- evasiveTending to avoid the point; shifting. Where a pleading that calls for an answer is evasive, the other party may ask t…
- evasive answerA reply that neither admits nor denies what was asked. In pleading it counts as a failure to answer at all.
- even dateThe same date: a phrase sometimes used in one document to refer to another bearing the same date, especially where bo…
- even lotThe standard trading unit for stocks and bonds. For shares it is usually 100; for bonds, usually $1,000 or $5,000 of…
- eveningsThe handing over at evening, to a customary tenant, of a portion of the grass, corn, or other crop the tenant had cut…
- evergreen contractA contract that renews itself term after term unless one of the parties gives notice to stop it.
- evictTo turn someone, especially a tenant, out of land or premises, usually by legal process.
- evictionThe lawful dispossessing of someone from land or rented premises.
- evidenceAnything, including testimony, documents, and objects, that tends to prove or disprove an alleged fact; also, the who…
- evidence aliundeEvidence about a contract that does not appear on the face of the document, coming instead from other sources such as…
- evidence by inspectionEvidence a court or jury takes in by looking at the thing itself, such as a wound, a weapon, or the scene of an event.
- evidence codeA statutory code governing what evidence may be received and where the burden of proof lies at hearings and trials.
- evidence of insurabilityInformation, such as medical records or an examination, that an insurer may require to decide whether someone qualifi…
- evidence of titleThe way in which ownership of land is satisfactorily proved in a given jurisdiction.
- evidence rulesThe body of law governing burden of proof, admissibility, relevance, and the weight and sufficiency of what may go in…
- evidence-in-chiefEvidence a party uses in putting forward its own case.
- evidentialTo do with, relying on, or amounting to evidence.
- evidential factA fact that provides evidence of the existence of some other fact.
- evidentiaryHaving the quality of evidence, or amounting to evidence; also, to do with the rules of evidence or with the evidence…
- evidentiary factA fact needed to establish, or leading to, an ultimate fact; a fact that provides evidence of some other fact.
- evidentiary hearingA hearing at which evidence is taken, with witnesses testifying and exhibits received, so that disputed facts can be…
- evinceTo show, indicate, or reveal something.
- evocationIn French law, the taking of a case away from a lower court and bringing it before a higher one.
- evolution statuteLegislation forbidding the teaching of evolution in schools. Such statutes have been held unconstitutional as offendi…
- ex aequo et bonoAccording to what is fair and good. A decision-maker, especially in international law, authorized to decide on this b…
- ex altera parteOf the other part.
- ex anteBeforehand: describing a judgment made in advance of an event, on the basis of what is expected rather than what turn…
- ex arbitrio judicisAt the judge's discretion.
- ex assensu curiaeBy or with the court's consent.
- ex assensu patrisFormerly, a kind of dower settled at the church door in which a husband, with his father's express consent, endowed h…
- ex cathedraBy virtue of one's high office; with authority.
- ex certa scientiaOf certain knowledge: a phrase once used in patents, importing that the sovereign was fully informed about the subjec…
- ex commodatoOut of a loan: describing an action arising from the lending of a thing to be returned in the same form.
- ex delicto trustA trust set up for an unlawful purpose, especially to keep the settlor's creditors from reaching the property.
- ex distributionWithout distribution: shares are traded this way when they no longer carry the right to a distribution about to be ma…
- ex dividendWithout dividend: shares are traded this way when the seller, not the buyer, is entitled to the next dividend because…
- ex gratia paymentA payment made without any legal obligation to make it, especially one an insurer makes although the policy does not…
- ex gravi querelaA writ available to someone to whom land was left by will, in a city or borough where land could be devised by custom…
- ex licentia regisBy the king's license.
- ex necessitate reiFrom the necessity or urgency of the matter.
- ex officioBy virtue of an office; by the authority the office itself carries.
- ex officio informationA criminal information filed by the attorney general on the Crown's behalf, in the Court of King's Bench, for offense…
- ex officio justiceA judge who sits on a commission or board only because the law requires a judge to be there, rather than having been…
- ex officio serviceA service the law places on an officer simply because of the office held, such as a sheriff's duty to perform marriages.
- ex parte communicationA communication between counsel and the court in the absence of opposing counsel, which is generally forbidden.
- ex parte divorceA divorce in which only one spouse takes part or appears in court.
- ex parte hearingA proceeding in which not all the parties are present or given a chance to be heard.
- ex parte injunctionA preliminary injunction granted after the court has heard only the party applying for it.
- ex parte motionA motion made without notice to the other side, which the court considers and rules on after hearing fewer than all t…
- ex parte orderAn order made on one party's application without notice to the other.
- ex parte paternaOn the father's side; of the paternal line.
- ex parte proceedingAfterward: describing a judgment made after the event, in the light of what actually happened.
- ex postAfterward: describing a judgment made after the event, in the light of what actually happened.
- Ex Post Facto ClauseThe provisions of the U.S. Constitution, in article I, sections 9 and 10, forbidding Congress and the states to pass…
- ex post facto lawA law that operates retrospectively, especially one that harms a person's position by making criminal an act that was…
- ex proprio vigoreBy their own force.
- ex provisione hominisBy the provision of a person, that is, by what the parties themselves have laid down, as opposed to what the law prov…
- ex provisione maritiFrom the husband's provision.
- ex quasi contractuFrom a quasi-contract; arising out of an obligation the law imposes rather than one the parties agreed to.
- ex rightsWithout rights: shares are traded this way once the value of the subscription privilege has been taken out, so that t…
- ex scriptis olim visisA way of proving handwriting where the witness has seen other documents said to be in the party's hand and has since…
- ex shipOf a shipment, on terms under which the risk of loss passes to the buyer once the goods leave the ship.
- ex turpi causaFrom an immoral consideration: short for the maxim that no action arises from a base cause, meaning that a party cann…
- ex una parteOf one part or side; on one side only.
- ex visceribusFrom the bowels: from the very substance of a thing, as where a document's meaning is drawn from its own words.
- ex visceribus verborumFrom the very words: the phrase for a meaning drawn out of the language of the document itself rather than from anyth…
- ex visu scriptionisFrom the sight of the writing: proof of handwriting given by someone who has seen the person write.
- ex warrantsWithout warrants: shares are traded this way when they no longer carry the right to warrants already distributed to h…
- ex worksFrom the factory: a trade term fixing the buyer's and seller's obligations as to delivery, payment, and risk of loss,…
- ex-Former, as in ex-president; also, without, as in ex dividend, or out of, as in ex works.
- ex-dateThe date on or after which a buyer of a security no longer takes the right to a dividend already declared.
- ex-dividend dateThe date on or after which a buyer of a security no longer takes the right to a dividend already declared.
- Ex-Im BankA federal agency, set up in 1934, that promotes trade with other countries by financing exports and imports with mone…
- ex-rights dateThe date from which a share no longer carries privileged subscription rights.
- ex-works priceThe price of goods as they leave the factory, before transport and other charges.
- exactionThe demanding of more money than is due; also, a fee or other payment demanded arbitrarily or wrongfully.
- exactorIn civil law, a tax collector or receiver of money; formerly, a collector of public funds.
- examinationThe questioning of a witness under oath. In bankruptcy it means the questioning of a bankrupt, especially at the firs…
- examination on the voir direThe questioning of a proposed juror or witness to test their fitness or competence before they are sworn.
- examination pro interesse suoA judicial inquiry into the merits of a person's claim to property that has been sequestered.
- examination-in-chiefThe first questioning of a witness at a trial or other proceeding, carried out by the party who called them.
- examined copyA copy, usually of a record, public book, or register, that has been checked against the original or against an offic…
- examinerSomeone authorized to conduct an examination, especially a person a court appoints to administer oaths and take testi…
- examining authorityA self-regulatory body registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and empowered to examine, inspect, and…
- examining boardA body of public officials appointed to conduct the tests required of those applying for occupational and professiona…
- examining courtA lower court, usually presided over by a magistrate, which decides at a preliminary hearing whether there is probabl…
- examining trialA criminal hearing, usually before a magistrate, to decide whether there is enough evidence to prosecute the accused.…
- exannual rollIn England, a roll onto which uncollectable fines and hopeless debts were copied, read to the sheriff each year at th…
- excambiumAn exchange, or a place where merchants meet to do business; also, something given in recompense, such as a substitut…
- exceptioAn exception, plea, or objection. In Roman and civil law it meant a defendant's plea admitting the claim in principle…
- exceptio dilatoriaA plea that put off the action for a time rather than defeating it, such as an agreement not to sue within a certain…
- exceptio dominiiA defendant's claim of ownership in an action to recover property that the claimant does not hold.
- exceptio dotis cautae non numerataeA defense to a claim for the return of dowry, that the dowry, though promised, was never actually paid.
- exceptio in factumA plea founded on the particular circumstances of the case rather than on any general rule.
- exceptio in personamA plea of a personal nature that only the person the law gives it to may raise.
- exceptio jurisjurandiA plea that the matter had already been sworn to. It was allowed where a debtor had sworn at the creditor's own insta…
- exceptio metusA plea of fear or compulsion, that the defendant acted under duress.
- exceptio non solutae pecuniaeA plea that the debt sued on was not in fact discharged by payment, despite a receipt or acquittance suggesting that…
- exceptio pacti conventiA plea that the claimant had agreed not to sue.
- exceptio pecuniae non numerataeA plea of money not paid: a defense by someone sued on a promise to repay money they never received.
- exceptio peremptoriaA peremptory plea that destroyed the ground of the action altogether, such as the plea of fraud or of duress.
- exceptio plurium concubentiumIn a paternity case, the defense that the claimant had several lovers at the relevant time.
- exceptio rei judicataeA plea that the subject matter of the action had already been decided in an earlier one.
- exceptio rei venditae et traditaeA plea of sale and delivery, raised where a sale was valid in form but the seller had no right to transfer, so that n…
- exceptio temporisA plea that the time the law allows for bringing the action has run out.
- exceptionA formal objection to a court's ruling, made by a party who wants to preserve the point for appeal. In the federal co…
- exceptorSomeone who takes an exception; an objector.
- excerptaExtracts.
- exces de pouvoirIn international law, action beyond a tribunal's powers; in administrative law, action beyond an official's powers.
- excess benefit planAn employee benefit plan an employer keeps up solely to provide certain employees with benefits above the statutory l…
- excess clauseA clause in an insurance policy providing that where other cover exists, this policy applies only to the amount of lo…
- excess condemnationThe taking of more property than the public use actually requires.
- excess damagesDamages awarded to an insured beyond the policy's limits, because the insurer failed to settle the claim within those…
- excess insuranceAn agreement to indemnify against loss beyond the amount covered by another policy.
- excess judgmentA judgment for more than all of the defendant's insurance cover.
- excess jurisdictionA court's acting beyond its powers, usually in one of three ways: it has no power over that kind of matter, no power…
- excess limitsInsurance cover against losses above a stated limit.
- excess lines insuranceInsurance bought from an insurer not licensed in the state, resorted to when no licensed insurer will write the risk.
- excess of jurisdictionA court's acting beyond its powers, usually because it has no power over that kind of matter, no power over the parti…
- excess of privilegeThe publishing of a privileged statement beyond the limits the privilege allows; also, the improper and malicious use…
- excess policyAn agreement to indemnify against loss beyond the amount covered by another policy.
- excess reinsuranceReinsurance under which the reinsurer takes on liability only for the amount of insurance above a stated sum.
- excess theoryIn insurance law, the rule treating a wrongdoer as underinsured where the injured party's damages exceed the wrongdoe…
- excess waterWater flowing in a stream over and above what has been allotted by court order; any water not needed for the reasonab…
- excess-liability damagesDamages awarded to an insured beyond the policy's limits, because the insurer failed to settle the claim within those…
- excess-lines insuranceInsurance placed with an insurer not licensed to do business in the state where the risk lies.
- excess-profits taxA tax on profits above what a business normally earns. It is usually imposed only in a national emergency such as war…
- excessive assessmentA tax assessment grossly out of proportion to assessments on comparable property.
- excessive bailBail set unreasonably high given both the offense charged and the risk that the accused will not appear for trial. Th…
- excessive damagesA jury award far beyond what the law allows on the facts of the case; an unreasonable award, which a court may cut do…
- excessive drunkennessDrunkenness so deep that the person is deprived of reason and cannot understand the nature or consequences of what th…
- excessive fineA fine unreasonably high and out of proportion to the offense. The Eighth Amendment forbids it. A civil forfeiture is…
- Excessive Fines ClauseThe clause of the Eighth Amendment forbidding the imposition of excessive fines.
- excessive forceForce that is unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances.
- excessive punishmentPunishment out of proportion to the seriousness of the offense or to the defendant's record.
- excessive verdictA verdict produced by the jury's passion or prejudice, and so large that it shocks the court's conscience.
- exchangeThe transferring of interests, each given in return for the other; also, the paying of a debt by bill of exchange or…
- Exchange ActThe federal law regulating the public trading of securities. It provides for registering and supervising exchanges an…
- exchange brokerSomeone who negotiates money or merchandise transactions on behalf of others.
- exchange rateThe rate at which one country's money is converted into another's.
- exchange ratioThe number of shares an acquiring company must give for each share of the company being acquired.
- ExchequerIn English law, the government department that collects the national revenue; the treasury. The name is said to come…
- Exchequer billA bill of credit issued in England on Parliament's authority, containing an undertaking by the government to repay th…
- Exchequer ChamberAn English court hearing intermediate appeals from the common-law courts, that is, the Court of King's Bench, the Cou…
- Exchequer DivisionA division of the English High Court of Justice to which the business of the Court of Exchequer was assigned by the J…
- exciseA tax on the making, sale, or use of goods, such as a tax on cigarettes, or on carrying on an occupation or activity,…
- excise lieu property taxA tax on the gross premiums received by particular classes of insurance company, charged in place of an ordinary prop…
- excise taxA tax on the making, sale, or use of goods, such as a tax on cigarettes, or on carrying on an occupation or activity,…
- excited utteranceA statement about a startling event made while still under the stress of it. It may be received in evidence as an exc…
- excludableOf evidence, liable to be shut out.
- exclusionA clause in an insurance policy setting out risks or losses the policy does not cover.
- exclusion aA clause in a liability policy excluding cover for property damage or injury the insured expected or intended, apart…
- exclusionary hearingA hearing held to decide whether particular evidence should be shut out, most often because it was obtained in breach…
- exclusionary ruleIn the law of evidence, any rule shutting out evidence that falls below a minimum standard of probative value. In cri…
- exclusionary zoningZoning that has the effect of keeping certain groups out of a community, whether deliberately or not, as by requiring…
- exclusive agencyThe right to represent a principal in a particular market without competition, especially to sell the principal's pro…
- exclusive authorization-to-sell listingA listing under which the named broker earns a commission on any sale during the agreed period, even one the owner ar…
- exclusive contractAn agreement requiring a buyer to obtain all the goods they need from one seller.
- exclusive controlUnder the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, the defendant's sole management of and responsibility for the thing that cau…
- exclusive easementAn easement that only the holder has the right to use.
- exclusive economic zoneIn international law, a belt just beyond the territorial sea, reaching up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline, in…
- exclusive evidenceThe only facts that carry any probative weight at all on a particular issue.
- exclusive franchiseThe right to represent a principal, especially to sell its products or act as its agent, within a particular market f…
- exclusive jurisdictionA court's power to hear a case, or a class of cases, to the exclusion of every other court.
- exclusive licenseA license giving the licensee the sole right to do the licensed act and barring the licensor from granting that right…
- exclusive listingIn real-estate law, an agreement under which an agent undertakes to find a buyer or tenant for a particular property…
- exclusive ownershipAnother name for a fee simple, the largest interest a person can hold in land.
- exclusive possessionThe exercise of sole control over property, taking its use and benefit.
- exclusive saleA sale made by a broker holding an exclusive-agency listing.
- exclusive useIn trademark law, the right to use a particular mark without exception and to stop others using a confusingly similar…
- exclusive-agency listingA listing under which one agent is the only person, apart from the owner, entitled to sell the property during the st…
- exclusive-dealing arrangementAn agreement requiring a buyer to obtain all the goods they need from one seller.
- excommengementA sentence of censure pronounced by a church court for an offense within its authority, cutting the person off from t…
- excommunicationA sentence of censure pronounced by a church court for an offense within its authority, cutting the person off from t…
- exculpateTo clear someone of blame or accusation.
- exculpatoryTending to clear someone of blame or responsibility.
- exculpatory clauseA clause freeing a party from any liability arising out of a negligent or wrongful act.
- exculpatory evidenceEvidence tending to show that a defendant is innocent. The prosecution must disclose such evidence in its hands where…
- exculpatory-no doctrineThe rule that a person cannot be charged with making a false statement merely for denying guilt when questioned by an…
- excusableOf an unlawful act or omission, not punishable in the particular circumstances.
- excusable assaultAn assault committed by accident, or while doing something lawful by lawful means with ordinary care and no unlawful…
- excusable homicideA killing the law does not punish, such as one done by accident or in self-defense.
- excusable neglectA failure to take a proper step at the proper time, especially in answering a lawsuit, which the law will excuse beca…
- excusatioIn Roman and civil law, an excuse or reason freeing someone from a duty or obligation.
- excusatorFormerly, someone who offers an excuse; in old German law, a defendant who denies the claimant's case altogether.
- excuseA reason that justifies an act or omission, or relieves a person of a duty. In criminal law it means a defense arisin…
- excussTo seize and detain something by legal process.
- excussioIn Roman and civil law, the diligent pursuit of a remedy against a debtor, in particular the exhausting of every reme…
- exeatPermission to go out of a place; in church law, a bishop's permission for a priest to leave the diocese.
- executeTo perform or complete a contract or duty; also, to make a legal document valid by signing it, to put someone to deat…
- executedOf a document, signed; also, of an act, done or performed.
- executed considerationConsideration that has already been given in full; past consideration, as opposed to consideration still to come.
- executed contractA contract both sides have fully performed; also, a contract that has been signed.
- executed covenantA covenant that has been fully performed.
- executed fineA fine made on acknowledging the grantee's right to land given as a gift by the grantor. It was abolished in 1833.
- executed noteA note that has been signed and delivered.
- executed remainderA remainder given to an identified person and not subject to any condition that must first be met, as in a grant to A…
- executed trustA trust in which the instrument creating it completely defines the interests in the trust property, so that nothing f…
- executed useA use arising where the equitable and legal titles to an estate come together, as the Statute of Uses required, so th…
- executioThe carrying out or completion of something; also, management or administration, and in older usage the final process…
- executionThe carrying out of something, such as a court order; also, the making valid of a written instrument such as a contra…
- execution clauseThe part of a deed containing the date, the seal if one is needed, and the signatures of the grantor, the grantor's s…
- execution creditorA judgment creditor who has had an execution issued on the judgment.
- execution lienA lien on the debtor's property arising when a writ of execution is issued or delivered to the officer charged with e…
- execution saleA forced sale of a debtor's property by an official carrying out a writ of execution.
- execution-proofOf a judgment debtor, unable to satisfy a money judgment because they own no property, own too little within the cour…
- executionerSomeone who puts another to death to carry out a sentence of death on the state's behalf.
- executiveThe branch of government that puts the laws into effect and enforces them, and the people who make it up. It is somet…
- executive administrationThe senior public officials who between them run the chief departments of government.
- executive agencyA department of the executive branch whose activities are governed by statute and whose contracts may be reviewed by…
- executive agreementIn international law, an agreement the President makes with another country without needing the Senate's approval, us…
- executive branchThe branch of government charged with administering and carrying out the law.
- executive clemencyMercy or leniency, especially the power of the President or a governor to pardon an offender or reduce a sentence.
- executive committeeThe group of principal officers and directors who run a company's business between meetings of the full board.
- executive departmentThe branch of government that puts the laws into effect and enforces them, and the people who make it up.
- executive employeeAn employee whose duties carry managerial authority and involve active part in controlling, supervising, and running…
- executive immunityThe absolute immunity of the President or a state governor from civil damages for acts within the scope of their offi…
- executive officerA senior officer of a company or public body charged with carrying its decisions into effect.
- executive orderAn order issued by or on behalf of the President, usually directing the actions of executive agencies or officials, o…
- executive pardonThe official nullifying of the punishment or other legal consequences of a crime, usually granted by the chief execut…
- executive powerThe power to see that the laws are carried out and enforced. Federally it belongs to the President and in the states…
- executive privilegeThe President's right, within limits, to withhold documents and testimony about the workings of the executive branch…
- executive sessionA sitting of a board or public body closed to the public, which only invited people may attend.
- executorSomeone named by a testator to carry out the provisions of the will; more broadly, anyone who performs or carries out…
- executor a lege constitutusIn church law, an executor whom the law itself appoints rather than the will.
- executor ab episcopo constitutusIn church law, an executor appointed by a bishop, or an administrator of an intestate estate.
- executor dativeAn executor a court appoints, rather than one named in the will. In Scotland such a person is called an executor-dative.
- executor dativusIn church law, an executor appointed by a bishop, or an administrator of an intestate estate.
- executor de son tortSomeone who, without legal authority, takes it upon themselves to act as executor or administrator of a dead person's…
- executor fundMoney set aside by an executor to meet the debts, taxes, and expenses of the estate.
- executor lucratusAn executor who holds the testator's assets and has become personally liable by wrongly interfering with property bel…
- executor testamentariusAn executor named in the will itself, as opposed to one appointed by a court.
- executor to the tenorSomeone not named as executor in the will who nevertheless carries out duties like an executor's.
- executoryTaking effect at a future time; still to be performed or completed.
- executory accordAn offer to give or accept a stated performance in the future in place of an existing duty, together with the accepta…
- executory bequestA gift by will of a future, deferred, or contingent interest in personal property.
- executory considerationConsideration still to be given after the contract is made, as opposed to consideration already given.
- executory contractA contract neither side has yet performed, or on which something remains to be done by both. In bankruptcy law it mea…
- executory covenantA covenant that remains wholly or partly unperformed.
- executory deviseAn interest in land created by will that takes effect in the future and depends on a future contingency, where the gi…
- executory interestA future interest held by a third person that either cuts short another's interest or begins after an earlier estate…
- executory judgmentA judgment not yet carried out, such as an order to pay that the defendant has not met.
- executory limitationA restriction under which an estate ends automatically and passes to a third party when a stated event occurs. Unknow…
- executory processA procedure available either where a creditor's right rests on an act amounting to a confession of judgment and carry…
- executory remainderA remainder given to someone not yet identified, or one that takes effect only if a stated condition is met first.
- executory saleA sale agreed in principle, with only minor details left to settle.
- executory trustA trust whose creating instrument is meant only as a provisional step, with further conveyances contemplated before t…
- executory unilateral accordAn offer to enter into a contract, which becomes binding only when the other party performs the act called for.
- executory useA use that arises when a future event occurs, as in a grant to A for the use of B when B marries, where B's use sprin…
- executory warrantyA warranty arising where an insured undertakes to do something in the future, such as promising that certain acts wil…
- executressA female executor.
- executrixA female executor.
- executrixesThe plural of executrix; women named to carry out the provisions of a will.
- exedosIn Spain, land used in common by the inhabitants of a city or town for such purposes as pasture, wood, and threshing;…
- exemplarA typical example or standard specimen, especially a sample of handwriting, fingerprints, or the like taken for compa…
- exemplaryServing as a model to be followed; also, serving as a warning to others.
- exemplary damagesDamages awarded on top of compensation where the defendant acted recklessly, maliciously, or deceitfully. They are me…
- exemplary substitutionIn Roman law, the naming of someone to take as heir in place of a descendant who was under the testator's power and h…
- exempli gratiaFor example.
- exemplificationAn official transcript of a public record, certified as a true copy for use in evidence.
- exemplified copyA copy of a public record certified as accurate under the seal of the officer who keeps it, so that it may be used in…
- exemplifyTo make an official certified copy of a record for use in evidence.
- exemplumA copy; an authorized written copy.
- exemptFree or released from a duty or liability that binds others.
- exempt incomeIncome not subject to income tax.
- exempt organizationAn organization wholly or partly free from federal income tax.
- exempt propertyA debtor's property that creditors cannot seize to satisfy a debt; everything else is non-exempt. Many states allow a…
- exempt securityA security that need not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and is free from the margin requirements of t…
- exempt transactionA sale of securities falling outside the reach of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
- exemptionFreedom from a duty, liability, or requirement; also, a privilege the law gives a judgment debtor to keep certain pro…
- exemption clauseA clause providing that a party will not be liable for damages they would otherwise have had to pay.
- exemption equivalentThe largest value of assets a person may transfer before federal gift and estate tax becomes payable.
- exemption from tithesA claim to be released from paying a tithe.
- exemption lawA law setting out what property of a debtor a judgment creditor or a trustee in bankruptcy cannot seize.
- exequaturA written recognition and authorization of a consular officer, issued by the government to which the officer is accre…
- exerciseTo make use of something, or to put a right into action; also, to carry out the terms of something.
- Exercise ClauseThe First Amendment provision barring government from interfering with people's religious practice or worship.
- exercise of judgmentThe use of sound discretion, that is, discretion exercised with an eye to what is right and fair rather than arbitrar…
- exercise priceIn securities law, the price at which a security will be bought or sold under an option contract if the option is tak…
- exercise valueWhat an option is worth to its holder if exercised, being the difference between the exercise price and the market pr…
- exercitorThe person to whom a ship's profits belong for the time being, whether owner, charterer, or mortgagee.
- exercitor marisThe person to whom a ship's profits belong for the time being, whether owner, charterer, or mortgagee.
- exercitor navisThe person to whom a ship's profits belong for the time being, whether owner, charterer, or mortgagee.
- exercitoria actioAnother name for the actio exercitoria, the Roman action against a shipowner on contracts made by the master.
- exercitorial powerThe trust placed in a shipmaster to act for the owner in the ship's business.
- exercitualeA heriot payable only in arms, horses, or military equipment.
- exercitusAn army or armed force. The word was of no fixed size, being applied at various times to a body of 42 armed men, of 3…
- exfestucareTo give up an estate, office, or dignity by handing over a staff or rod to the person taking it.
- exfrediareTo break the peace; to commit open violence.
- exhaustion of remediesThe rule that where a statute provides an administrative remedy, a claimant must seek it from the agency before going…
- exhaustion of state remediesThe rule that in certain kinds of case a party must use up the available state remedies before turning to a federal c…
- exhibereTo produce something so that it can be handled and examined; also, to appear in person to defend an action.
- exhibitA document, record, or object formally put in evidence in court; also, a document attached to and made part of a plea…
- exhibit listA pretrial filing identifying by number and description the exhibits a party intends to offer at trial. Courts often…
- exhibition valueIn the film industry, the least a distributor expects to take from showing a particular picture.
- exhibitionismThe indecent display of one's body.
- exhibitory interdictAn interdict by which a praetor compelled a person or thing to be produced.
- exhumationThe digging up of something buried, especially a human body.
- exidosIn Spain, land used in common by the inhabitants of a city or town for such purposes as pasture, wood, and threshing;…
- exigencyA situation calling for immediate action.
- exigendaryAn officer of the Court of Common Pleas responsible for drawing up the writs and proclamations used in outlawry. The…
- exigent circumstancesA situation calling for unusual or immediate action, which may justify departing from the usual procedures, as where…
- exigent listA list of cases set down for hearing on incidental and ancillary motions and rules.
- exigent searchA search carried out without a warrant in answer to a sudden emergency, often to preserve evidence or to protect the…
- exigenterAn officer of the Court of Common Pleas responsible for drawing up the writs and proclamations used in outlawry. The…
- exigible debtA debt that is fixed in amount and due to be paid; a matured claim.
- exileExpulsion from a country, especially the country of one's birth or long residence; banishment. The word also means th…
- exiliumExile, or the driving away and despoiling of people; also, a kind of waste in which an estate's bondservants and tena…
- existent cornerA boundary corner whose position can be confirmed by an original marker, a surveyor's field notes, or other reliable…
- existimatioThe civil standing of a Roman citizen of unblemished character; the highest reputation a citizen could hold. In older…
- exitA way out; also, in a docket entry, the issuing of something such as a writ, as where the word marks that a writ of a…
- exitusChildren or offspring; also, the rents, issues, and profits of land, an export duty, or the conclusion of a pleading.
- exlegalitasOutlawry, or the state of being outside the law's protection; also, a person prosecuted as an outlaw.
- exlegareTo outlaw someone; to put them outside the benefit and protection of the law.
- exlexAn outlaw; someone outside the protection of the law.
- exoineIn French law, a written statement giving the reasons why a party in a civil suit, or an accused person, has not appe…
- exonerateTo free someone from responsibility; also, to free property from a charge on it.
- exonerationThe lifting of a burden, charge, or duty; also, the right to be repaid for money paid that someone else should have p…
- exoneration, suit forA suit in equity by a surety to compel the debtor to pay the creditor. Where the debtor has acted fraudulently and is…
- exoneratione sectaeFormerly, a writ available to a ward of the Crown to be free from all suit during the wardship.
- exoneratione sectae ad curiam baronFormerly, a writ issued by the guardian of a Crown ward forbidding a sheriff or a court steward to distrain or take o…
- exonerative factA fact that puts an end to a duty.
- exonereturAn entry made on a bailpiece releasing a surety from further obligation once the condition has been met.
- exordiumThe opening paragraph of a contract, typically beginning with words such as This Agreement is made on a stated date b…
- expatriateSomeone who has left their own country, especially one living permanently abroad.
- expectancyIn property law, an estate carrying a reversion, remainder, or executory interest. In the law of wills it means the c…
- expectancy damagesCompensation for what a person reasonably expected to gain from a transaction that fell through.
- expectancy tableA chart of statistical data showing life expectancies for people in various categories, such as age, family history,…
- expectantDepending on something that may or may not happen; contingent.
- expectant estateAn interest in property whose enjoyment lies in the future rather than the present, such as a reversion or a remainder.
- expectant heirSomeone who has a present right to inherit if the ancestor dies without disposing of the property otherwise.
- expectant rightA right that depends on present conditions continuing until some future event occurs; a contingent right.
- expectation damagesCompensation for what a person reasonably expected to gain from a transaction that fell through.
- expectation interestThe interest an innocent party has in getting the benefit they would have had if the contract had been performed.
- expectation of lifeThe period a person of a given age and sex may be expected to live, according to actuarial tables; also, the period a…
- expectation of privacyA belief that one is entitled to be free of government intrusion in a particular place or as to a particular thing. T…
- expedienteA record of the proceedings on a grant of land by the sovereign; in Mexican law, the papers making up a grant or titl…
- expedited proceedingA proceeding the court hears sooner than the ordinary queue allows, because the matter is urgent.
- expenditorSomeone who pays out particular taxes or funds; a paymaster.
- expenditureThe paying out of money; also, a sum paid out.
- expenseAn outlay of money, time, labor, or resources to achieve a result, especially a business outlay charged against the r…
- expense loadingIn insurance law, an amount added to a life-insurance premium to cover the insurer's own costs and contingencies.
- expense ratioIn accounting, the ratio of expenses to income.
- expense stopA clause in a lease setting the most the landlord will pay in expenses, above which the tenant must bear the rest.
- expenses of administrationThe costs a deceased person's representatives incur in administering the estate.
- expenses of receivershipThe costs a receiver incurs in running the business, including rent and the fees of the receiver's lawyer and of any…
- expensis militum non levandisFormerly, a writ forbidding a sheriff to levy any allowance for the knights of the shire on those who held land in an…
- experience ratingIn insurance law, a way of fixing the premium by studying the insured's record of losses over time, so as to judge bo…
- experimental useThe use or sale of an invention by the inventor for experimental purposes; also, a defense to patent infringement whe…
- expertSomeone whose education or experience has given them skill or knowledge in a subject, so that their opinion may help…
- expert evidenceEvidence on a scientific, technical, or professional question given by someone qualified to speak to it through famil…
- expert testimonyEvidence on a scientific, technical, or professional question given by someone qualified to speak to it through famil…
- expert witnessA witness qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to give a scientific, technical, or other…
- expert-witness feeA fee paid for an expert witness's professional services.
- expilareIn Roman law, to plunder or rob, especially property belonging to an inheritance.
- expilatioIn Roman law, the offense of unlawfully taking goods belonging to an estate. It was not technically theft, because th…
- expilatorIn Roman law, a robber or plunderer.
- expirationA coming to an end, especially a formal ending on a set date.
- expiration dateThe date on which an offer, option, or the like comes to an end.
- expleciaFormerly, the rents and profits of an estate.
- expleesThe produce of land; also, the rents and other payments derived from it, and sometimes the land itself.
- expletaFormerly, the rents and profits of an estate.
- explicatioThe fourth pleading in an action, being the claimant's answer to the defendant's rejoinder. It corresponds to the sur…
- exploitationThe taking advantage of something, especially the taking of unfair advantage of another for one's own benefit.
- exploration managerIn oil-and-gas law, someone who, usually for an oil company, negotiates with landowners for the mineral rights to the…
- exportA product or service made in one country and sent to another.
- Export ClauseAnother name for the Import-Export Clause, which limits state taxes on imports and exports.
- export declarationA document required by federal law setting out the details of an export shipment.
- export draftA draft a domestic seller draws on a foreign buyer, directing the buyer to pay the price to the seller or the seller'…
- export letter of creditA commercial letter of credit a foreign bank issues, at a foreign buyer's request, in favor of a domestic exporter.
- export quotaA limit on what may be sold to other countries. In the United States the federal government may set such quotas for v…
- export taxA tax on goods sent out of the country. The U.S. Constitution forbids the federal government to levy one.
- Export-Import BankA federal agency, set up in 1934, that promotes trade with other countries by financing exports and imports with mone…
- exportationThe sending or carrying of goods from one country to another.
- expositioAn explanation or interpretation of something.
- exposition de partIn French law, the abandoning of a helpless child, whether in a public or a private place.
- expository jurisprudenceThe scholarly setting out of what a legal system actually contains, as it now stands or once stood.
- expository statuteA law passed to explain what an earlier law means.
- exposureThe amount of liability or other risk a person is open to.
- exposure of personAn offensive display of one's body in public, especially of the genitals.
- exposure theoryIn insurance law, a theory of cover under which an insurer must meet a loss if the policy was in force when the claim…
- expressClearly and unmistakably stated, rather than left to be inferred.
- express abrogationThe repeal of a law by a later one that refers to it directly and says so in terms.
- express acceptanceA written or spoken statement showing that the drawee has seen the instrument and does not dispute it, usually indica…
- express active trustAn active trust created by will giving the executor authority to manage the estate property generally and pay the net…
- express actual knowledgeDirect and clear knowledge, as opposed to knowledge the law merely attributes to a person.
- express agencyAn agency arising from the principal's actual authorization, spoken or written, for someone to act as their agent.
- express amnestyA pardon granted in express terms by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense, f…
- express assentAgreement communicated clearly and unmistakably.
- express assumpsitAn action founded on the defendant's breach of an express contract.
- express authorityAuthority given to an agent by explicit agreement, whether spoken or written.
- express colorA fictitious matter a defendant pleaded in trespass, giving the claimant the appearance of a good claim while leaving…
- express conditionA condition stated in so many words in a document, especially one the parties have put in writing.
- express consentAgreement or permission given in so many words, rather than inferred from conduct.
- express considerationConsideration spelled out in the document itself.
- express contractA contract whose terms the parties have stated in words, spoken or written.
- express covenantA covenant created by the parties' own words.
- express dedicationA dedication the owner makes in so many words.
- express dissatisfactionIn the law of wills, a beneficiary's contesting of the will or objection to one of its provisions in the probate proc…
- express maliceIn criminal law, an intention to kill or seriously injure formed by a deliberate and rational mind. In defamation law…
- express noticeKnowledge or notice given to a party directly, rather than arising from inference or from a duty to inquire.
- express powerA power specifically given to a branch of government by a constitution.
- express private passive trustA trust in which land is conveyed to or held by one person for another, with no power given to the trustee, expressly…
- express repealThe repeal of a statute by a specific declaration in a new one.
- express republicationA testator's repeating of the acts needed to execute a will validly, with the declared intention of republishing it.
- express trustA trust created by the settlor's express intention, usually stated in writing, as opposed to one the law implies, suc…
- express waiverThe giving up of a legal right or advantage in so many words. The party said to have waived must have known of the ri…
- express warrantyA warranty created by the seller's own words or actions. Under the Uniform Commercial Code it arises from any stateme…
- expressedStated in direct words, and not left to be inferred.
- expressio unius est exclusio alteriusThe rule of interpretation that expressly mentioning one thing implies the exclusion of others of the same kind. A st…
- expression, freedom ofThe freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religion guaranteed by the First Amendment, and the bar on government in…
- expresslyIn direct words; in a way that leaves nothing to be inferred.
- expressum facit cessare tacitumThe rule of interpretation that what is expressed puts an end to what might otherwise have been implied.
- expromissioIn Roman law, a form of novation in which a creditor accepts a new debtor in place of the old one, who is then released.
- expromissorSomeone who takes over another's debt and becomes solely liable for it under an agreement with the creditor.
- expromittereIn Roman law, to undertake another's obligation so as to become liable in their place.
- expropriationThe government's taking of a person's property rights, or its alteration of them, especially by eminent domain.
- expulsionA driving out or banishing, whether by depriving someone of a benefit or by forcibly putting them out.
- expunction of recordThe removal of a conviction, especially for a first offense, from a person's criminal record.
- expungeTo erase or destroy a record.
- expungement of recordThe removal of a conviction, especially for a first offense, from a person's criminal record.
- expurgationThe cleansing or purging of something, as by publishing a book with its obscene passages removed.
- expurgatorSomeone who removes objectionable matter from a book or other work.
- exrogareIn Roman law, to take something out of an old law by passing a new one.
- extended familyThe immediate family together with the collateral relatives who make up a wider kin group.
- extended first mortgageA mortgage whose term has been lengthened by agreement, giving the borrower longer to repay.
- extended insuranceInsurance that stays in force beyond the date of the last premium paid, by drawing on the policy's cash value.
- extended policyA policy that remains in force after premiums have stopped being paid.
- extended service contractAn extra warranty often sold with consumer goods such as appliances and cars, covering repair costs the manufacturer'…
- extended service warrantyAn extra warranty often sold with consumer goods such as appliances and cars, covering repair costs the manufacturer'…
- extended warrantyAn extra warranty often sold with consumer goods such as appliances and cars, covering repair costs the manufacturer'…
- extended-coverage clauseIn insurance law, a clause insuring against hazards beyond those the basic policy covers.
- extended-term insuranceInsurance that stays in force after a missed premium, for as long as the policy's cash value can pay the premiums. Ma…
- extensionThe continuing of the same contract for a further stated period.
- extension agreementAn agreement giving more time for the main agreement to be performed.
- extension of timeExtra time granted for filing a tax return beyond its due date; also, extra time allowed for taking any step, making…
- extensive interpretationA liberal reading that applies a statutory provision to a case not covered by its literal words.
- extensoresFormerly, officers appointed to value land and divide or apportion it; appraisers.
- extentThe seizing of property under a writ; also, a writ from the Exchequer to recover a debt owed to the Crown, under whic…
- extent in aidA writ a Crown debtor could obtain against someone who owed them money, so that the Crown debtor could pay what was o…
- extent in chiefA writ from the Exchequer to recover a debt owed to the Crown, under which the debtor's lands, goods, or person could…
- extenta maneriiAn English statute directing that a survey be made of a manor and everything belonging to it.
- extenuating circumstanceA fact that does not justify or excuse a wrong but lessens how blameworthy it was, and so may reduce the damages in a…
- extenuationThe making of a crime or tort less serious than it would otherwise appear.
- externA student who works for a period in a law office, court, or agency, usually for academic credit rather than pay.
- external actAn act involving bodily activity, such as speaking.
- external sovereigntyA nation's power to deal with other national governments on its own behalf.
- exterritorialBeyond the geographic limits of a particular jurisdiction.
- exterritorialityThe freedom of diplomats, foreign ministers, and royalty from the jurisdiction of the country they are temporarily in.
- exterusA foreigner; someone born abroad.
- extinctNo longer existing or in use; also, of a debt, having no one left to claim it.
- extinctive factA fact that takes away a right by destroying it.
- extinctive prescriptionThe effect the passing of time has in creating rights and destroying them.
- extinguishTo bring something to an end; to cancel or put it out.
- extinguishmentThe ending or cancelling of a right or interest. A legacy is extinguished, for instance, where the thing bequeathed n…
- extinguishment of copyholdThe ending of copyhold where the freehold and copyhold interests come together in the same person and in the same rig…
- extinguishment of legacyIn the law of wills, the ending of a legacy because the asset bequeathed was no longer part of the estate at the test…
- extinguishment of lienThe discharge of a lien by operation of law.
- extirpationThe complete removing or destroying of something; also, damage deliberately done to land by someone who has lost the…
- extirpationeA writ, available before or after judgment, restraining a person from maliciously damaging a house or destroying tree…
- extortTo force a confession or other thing out of someone by means that overcome their power to resist; also, to obtain som…
- extortionThe offense of a public official unlawfully obtaining property under color of office, especially by collecting a fee…
- extortionate credit transactionThe lending of money at excessive and usually usurious rates, often with threats or violence used to force repayment.
- extortiveAmounting to extortion; obtained by extortion.
- extraBeyond, outside, or in addition to.
- extra allowanceIn New York practice, a sum over and above costs that the court may in its discretion award the successful party in a…
- extra dividendA dividend paid on top of the regular one, usually because profits in that period were unusually high.
- extra praesentiam maritiOut of her husband's presence.
- extra quatuor mariaBeyond the four seas; outside the kingdom of England.
- extra sessionA sitting of a legislature outside its regular term, usually called by the executive to deal with a particular issue…
- extra territoriumBeyond or outside the territory.
- extra viresBeyond the powers a corporate charter or the law allows.
- extra workIn construction law, work the contract does not require: something done or supplied over and above what the contract…
- extractA portion taken from a larger writing.
- extracta curiaeThe issues and profits arising from holding a court, from customary dues, fees, and fines.
- extraditeTo hand over a fugitive to another jurisdiction; also, to obtain the surrender of a fugitive from another jurisdiction.
- extraditionThe formal handing over of an accused person by one state or country to another that has jurisdiction over the crime…
- Extradition ClauseThe clause of the U.S. Constitution requiring that an accused person who flees to another state be returned, on the d…
- extradition treatyA treaty setting out the conditions for, and exceptions to, the surrender of a fugitive by the country where they are…
- extradition warrantA warrant for the return of a fugitive from one jurisdiction to another.
- extradotal propertyIn civil law, property that forms no part of a woman's dowry.
- extrahazardousUnusually dangerous. The word is often used of exceptionally dangerous railroad crossings.
- extrahuraAn animal that wanders off without its owner; a stray.
- extrajudicialOutside court; outside the working of the court system.
- extrajudicial admissionAn admission made outside court proceedings.
- extrajudicial confessionA confession made out of court, not as part of a judicial examination. It must be backed by other proof that the crim…
- extrajudicial enforcementAn attempt to put right a perceived wrong by one's own action rather than through the courts.
- extrajudicial evidenceEvidence that does not come directly before the court but forms a link between the evidence the court does have and t…
- extrajudicial oathAn oath that, though formally sworn, is taken outside any legal proceeding or without the authority of law.
- extrajudicial remedyA remedy obtained without going to court, such as repossession.
- extrajudicial statementAnything said outside court, which the rules of evidence usually treat as hearsay.
- extralateral rightIn mining law, the rule that a vein of ore may be worked even where it runs beyond the vertical boundaries of the sur…
- extralegalOutside the scope of the law.
- extramural powersPowers a municipality exercises beyond its own boundaries.
- extranationalBeyond the territory and authority of a country.
- extraneous evidenceEvidence about a contract that does not appear on the face of the document, coming instead from other sources such as…
- extraneous offenseAn offense beyond, or unrelated to, the one the defendant is being tried for.
- extraneous questionA question beside the point to be decided.
- extraneusFormerly, a foreigner or someone born abroad. In Roman law it meant an heir not born into the testator's family, or a…
- extraordinary averageA contribution from everyone with an interest in a commercial voyage, whether in the ship or the cargo, towards a los…
- extraordinary careThe care that matches the danger involved; also, the care shown by people whose business or profession is dealing wit…
- extraordinary circumstancesA highly unusual set of facts, well outside what normally goes with the thing or event in question.
- extraordinary dangerA danger greater than what the work or activity ordinarily involves.
- extraordinary diligenceThe exceptional care that an unusually prudent person takes to protect rights or property.
- extraordinary dividendA dividend paid on top of the regular one, usually because profits in that period were unusually high.
- extraordinary expenseAn unusual or infrequent expense, such as writing off goodwill or paying a large judgment. In a constitutional provis…
- extraordinary floodA flood that could not have been predicted and whose size and destructiveness no ordinary foresight could have guarde…
- extraordinary gainA gain arising from something unusual and unlikely to recur, reported separately from a company's ordinary trading re…
- extraordinary grand juryA grand jury empaneled to sit for an unusually long period, sometimes as much as a year, typically to investigate com…
- extraordinary hazardA danger greater than what the work or activity ordinarily involves.
- extraordinary lossA loss that is both unusual and infrequent, such as one caused by a natural disaster.
- extraordinary majorityA majority well above half. Such a majority is required for exceptional steps, such as ratifying a constitutional ame…
- extraordinary remedyA remedy, such as mandamus or habeas corpus, that a party cannot have unless it is needed to protect a right no ordin…
- extraordinary repairIn a lease, a repair made necessary by some unusual or unforeseen event that leaves the building standing but less fi…
- extraordinary riskA risk greater than what the work or activity ordinarily involves.
- extraordinary sessionA sitting of a legislature outside its regular term, usually called by the executive to deal with a particular issue…
- extraordinary writA writ a court issues in the exercise of an unusual or discretionary power, such as certiorari, habeas corpus, mandam…
- extraparochialOutside any parish; not within the bounds of a parish.
- extrapolateTo estimate an unknown value from a known range, especially by statistical means; also, to draw an unknown legal prin…
- extrapolationThe estimating of an unknown value from the known range of figures; also, a court's drawing of a legal principle out…
- extraterritorialBeyond the geographic limits of a particular jurisdiction.
- extraterritorial jurisdictionA court's power to hear cases arising outside the territory it ordinarily governs.
- extraterritorialityThe freedom of diplomats, foreign ministers, and royalty from the jurisdiction of the country they are temporarily in.
- ExtravagantesPapal constitutions and decretal letters of Pope John XXII and his successors. They were so called because they stood…
- extreme crueltyAs a ground for divorce, physical violence by one spouse against the other, or conduct that destroys or seriously dam…
- extreme forceForce known to create a real risk of death or serious bodily harm. It may be used in self-defense only against deadly…
- extrinsic ambiguityAn ambiguity that does not show on the face of a document but appears only when its words are applied to the facts.
- extrinsic evidenceEvidence about a contract that does not appear on the face of the document, coming instead from other sources such as…
- extrinsic fraudDeception outside the matters actually in issue: dishonest conduct beyond the transaction or lawsuit itself that depr…
- exuere patriamTo renounce one's country or native allegiance; to expatriate oneself.
- exulareFormerly, to exile or banish.
- exuperareTo overcome; also, to apprehend or seize.
- EXWFrom the factory: a trade term fixing the buyer's and seller's obligations as to delivery, payment, and risk of loss,…
- eydeAid, assistance, relief, or subsidy.
- eye for an eyeThe law of retaliation, under which punishment matches the injury: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
- eye of the lawThe law regarded as a thinking observer; the view the law takes of something.
- eyewitnessSomeone who personally sees an event.
- eyewitness identificationA naming or description by which someone who saw an event testifies from memory about the person or people involved.
- eyreFormerly, a system of royal courts sent out into the counties to investigate wrongdoing, try cases, and raise revenue…