Terms beginning with K
60 headwords
- KIn legal shorthand, K stands for contract.
- K.BKing's Bench.
- K.CKing's Counsel.
- Kaldor-Hicks efficiencyAn economic change that benefits the winners more than it harms the losers, so that in principle the winners could co…
- kalendarA system for ordering time into years, months, weeks, and days, above all the Gregorian calendar Pope Gregory XIII es…
- kalendariumA moneylender's account book recording the names of debtors with the principal and interest owed; also a register of…
- kalendsThe first day of a Roman month, from which the other days were reckoned backward.
- kangaroo courtA self-appointed tribunal or mock court in which the rules of law and justice are ignored, twisted, or parodied. Grou…
- keelageThe right to charge a toll on a ship entering or anchoring in a harbor, and the toll itself.
- keelhaulTo drag a person through the water under a ship's hull as a punishment or torture; figuratively, to rebuke someone ha…
- keeperA person who has the care, custody, or management of something and is usually answerable for it in law.
- Keeper of the BriefsThe officer who kept the writs and records of the Court of Common Pleas.
- Keeper of the Broad SealIn England and Scotland, the officer holding the Great Seal, who authenticates state documents of the highest importa…
- Keeper of the Great SealIn England and Scotland, the officer holding the Great Seal, who authenticates state documents of the highest importa…
- Keeper of the Privy SealThe officer holding the privy seal, who authenticates a state document either before it goes for the Great Seal or wh…
- Keeper of the RollsThe chief justice of the peace of an English county, who keeps the county's records.
- Keogh planA tax-deferred retirement scheme for the self-employed, also known as an H.R. 10 plan after the bill in the House of…
- key manAn officer or employee a business depends on, whose loss would seriously damage it.
- key moneyMoney a new tenant pays for the key to the leased property, whether as rent or as security. The phrase also covers a…
- key personAn important officer or employee: someone chiefly responsible for a business's success.
- key-employee insuranceLife insurance a company takes out on an employee it cannot easily do without, with the company as beneficiary.
- key-executive insuranceLife insurance a company takes out on an employee it cannot easily do without, with the company as beneficiary.
- key-number systemAn indexing system for legal research that assigns a number to each point of law, so that cases on the same point can…
- key-person insuranceLife insurance a company takes out on an employee it cannot easily do without, with the company as beneficiary.
- KeyCiteTo check what has happened to a case or statute since it was decided or enacted, using the online citator of that nam…
- kickbackThe handing back of part of a sum received, above all under a secret agreement or under pressure.
- kickerAn extra charge or penalty, above all one added to a loan on top of the interest; also a share in the borrower's rent…
- kickout clauseA term letting a party end or change the contract if a stated event occurs.
- kiddie taxA federal tax charging a child's unearned income at the parents' rate where that rate is higher, aimed at stopping fa…
- kidnapTo seize and carry off a person by force or trickery, often with a demand for ransom.
- kidnappingThe crime of seizing and carrying off a person by force or trickery, often with a demand for ransom.
- killer amendmentA legislative amendment that has the effect, whether intended or not, of turning potential supporters against a bill.
- killing by misadventureA killing that results from a lawful act done lawfully, in the reasonable belief that no harm could come of it.
- kinOne's relatives; also a relative by blood, marriage, or adoption, though usually by blood alone.
- kind arbitrageBuying a security which, subject only to paying money, can be exchanged or converted within a reasonable time into a…
- kindredOne's relatives; also the relationship of family itself.
- kinshipRelationship by blood, marriage, or adoption.
- kintalA weight of a hundred pounds.
- kissing the BookThe old practice of touching one's lips to a Bible, above all the Gospels, in swearing an oath.
- kitchen cabinetAn unofficial group of advisers outside the cabinet who often carry more weight with the executive than the cabinet i…
- kitingThe unlawful practice of writing a check on an account without the money to cover it, counting on funds from a check…
- Klaxon doctrineIn the conflict of laws, the rule that a federal court sitting in diversity must apply the choice-of-law rules of the…
- kleptomaniaA compulsive urge to steal, above all where there is no economic motive for it.
- knightIn the Middle Ages, a person of noble birth trained in arms and chivalry, bound to follow an earl, baron, or other lo…
- knight bachelorA knight belonging to no order of chivalry: the oldest and lowest degree of knighthood.
- knight serviceA tenure under which a knight held land of the Crown or another lord in return for a promise of military service.
- knock offTo make an unauthorized copy of another's product, usually to sell it far more cheaply than the original. Informally…
- knock-and-announce ruleIn criminal procedure, the rule that police must knock and announce who they are, what authority they hold, and why t…
- knock-for-knock agreementAn arrangement between insurers under which each pays its own insured's claim without seeking to recover from the other.
- knockoffAn unauthorized copy or imitation of another's product, usually sold far more cheaply than the original.
- know all men by these presentsTake note. The archaic phrase once opened bonds, powers of attorney, and similar documents; modern drafters treat it…
- know-howThe information, practical knowledge, techniques, and skill needed to get something done, above all in industry or te…
- knowingAware, or well informed; also done deliberately and consciously.
- knowledgeAwareness or understanding of a fact or circumstance.
- knowledge-of-falsity exclusionA clause in some commercial general liability policies excluding cover for damages arising from something the insured…
- known creditorA creditor whose identity or claim the debtor knows or could readily find out. Such creditors must be given notice of…
- known heirAn heir whose identity and whereabouts are established, as opposed to one who may exist but cannot be found.
- known-loss doctrineIn insurance law, the rule denying cover where the insured knew, before the policy began, that a particular loss had…
- koopIn Dutch law, a purchase or bargain.
- koopbriefIn Dutch law, a deed of sale.