Terms beginning with W
464 headwords
- W-2 formA statement of a year's earnings and of the tax withheld from them, which the employer prepares, gives to the employe…
- W-4 formA form on which an employee states the allowances they claim, and by which the employer works out how much income tax…
- W.DWestern District, used in naming U.S. judicial districts.
- wacreourFormerly, a vagrant.
- Wade hearingA hearing before trial at which the defendant challenges an identification made out of court. If the court finds the…
- wadsetA mortgage; also a pledge or pawn.
- wafterAn English naval officer appointed under Edward IV to protect fishermen, above all off the coasts of Norfolk and Suff…
- wagaA measure of weight, or a measure of goods.
- wagePayment for work, usually reckoned by time worked or by quantity produced.
- wage and price controlsA system by which the government fixes the most that may be charged for goods and services or paid to workers in part…
- wage assignmentAn employee's assignment of part of their pay to someone else, such as a creditor.
- wage-and-hour lawA law, such as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, fixing minimum wages and maximum hours for employees.
- wage-and-price freezeA stretch of time during which the government bars any rise in wages and prices.
- wagerMoney or other stakes risked on an uncertain event; also a promise to pay if the event turns out one way rather than…
- wager of battleTrial by combat: the old method of settling a dispute by having the parties or their champions fight.
- wager of lawAn old method of proof by which a defendant swore the claim was groundless and brought others to swear that they beli…
- wager policyAn insurance policy taken out by someone shown to have no insurable interest in the person or property covered. Most…
- wagering contractA contract whose performance turns on an uncertain event and that is made purely for the sake of the wager. The term…
- Wagner ActA federal statute governing relations between employers and employees, which set up the National Labor Relations Board.
- wagonageCarriage by wagon; also the charge for it, or a train of wagons.
- waifStolen goods a thief throws away in flight, usually for fear of being caught. At common law, if an officer or someone…
- wainageThe plow, team, and other implements a person used to till the soil.
- wainboteAn allowance of wood for repairing wagons.
- wait-and-see principleA softening of the rule against perpetuities, by which a court judges a contingent future interest on whether it does…
- waiting clerkAn officer who attended on the Court of Chancery. The office was abolished in 1842.
- waiting periodA time that must pass before a legal right or remedy can be used, as with the delay many states require before a marr…
- waiveTo give up a claim, privilege, or right of one's own accord. A person can normally waive a right only knowingly, awar…
- waiverThe giving up of a legal right or advantage, by words or by conduct. The party said to have waived must both have kno…
- waiver by election of remediesA defense that arises where a plaintiff has asked for two remedies that cannot stand together and then, by a clear ac…
- waiver of claims and defensesA maker's, drawer's, or other obligor's deliberate surrender of the right to raise against an assignee any claim or d…
- waiver of defensesIn real-estate law, a document in which the mortgagor admits that the mortgage is good and valid for the whole amount…
- waiver of exemptionA debtor's surrender of the right to keep exempt property out of a creditor's reach when a judgment is enforced; also…
- waiver of immunityGiving up the protection against self-incrimination and going on to testify.
- waiver of protestA party's surrender, on a negotiable instrument, of the formal step of protest if the instrument is dishonored.
- waiver of tortChoosing to sue in quasi-contract for the benefit the defendant unjustly gained, instead of suing in tort for damages.
- waiver-of-premium clauseA clause providing that no further premiums fall due once the insured has been disabled for a stated time, such as si…
- waiveryThe act of putting a woman outside the law's protection. A woman could not be outlawed at common law, since outlawry…
- walkTo be acquitted, or to get away without any real punishment.
- walkerA forester who inspects an assigned stretch of land.
- walkoutAn organized stopping or slowing of work by employees to force the employer to meet their demands; also, loosely, wal…
- wallA structure of stone, brick, or other material built up to some height, above all within or around a building, for pr…
- walliaA wall, mound, or bank raised in marshy ground to keep out the sea.
- Walsh-Healey ActA federal law of 1936 requiring government contractors to pay at least the prevailing minimum wage, to keep to an eig…
- wampumMoney used by Native Americans, made of shells, beads, or pelts. In 1637 the General Court of Massachusetts made it l…
- wanlassAn old form of tenure by which the tenant had to drive deer past a stand so that the lord could shoot at them.
- want of considerationThe absence of any consideration for a contract.
- want of jurisdictionA court's lack of power to act, or to give the relief asked. It may have no power at all, or none over this person or…
- want of prosecutionA party's failure to carry the case forward.
- want of repairA state of disrepair, such as a road left unsafe for ordinary travel.
- wantageA shortfall in quantity, above all the amount by which a cask falls short of being full through leakage.
- wantonRunning an unreasonable risk of harm and caring nothing for the outcome. In criminal law the word usually carries a s…
- wanton and reckless misconductAn act, or a failure to act where there is a duty to act, in reckless disregard of another's rights and with knowledg…
- wanton misconductAn act, or a failure to act where there was a duty to act, done in reckless disregard of another's rights and with kn…
- wanton negligenceA want of even slight care: a deliberate act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequence…
- wantonnessConduct showing that the actor knew of the risk and did not care what came of it. It usually marks a greater fault th…
- wapentakeIn the northern counties, a division of a shire answering to a hundred elsewhere; also the court held for that divisi…
- warArmed conflict carried on between nations, states, or rulers, and sometimes between parties within one nation; also t…
- war clauseThe provision of Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution giving Congress the power to declare war, grant letter…
- war contributionAn extraordinary payment an occupying power exacts from the people of occupied territory in wartime.
- war crimeConduct that breaks the international rules of war, such as killing hostages, ill-treating civilians in occupied terr…
- war powerCongress's constitutional authority to declare war and to raise and maintain armed forces.
- war zoneAn area on land or at sea within which the warring countries disregard the rights of neutrals.
- war-powers resolutionA resolution Congress passed over the President's veto in 1973, limiting the President's power to commit United State…
- war-risk insuranceInsurance against damage caused by war, often written into ocean marine policies. The phrase also covers the life and…
- warantizareTo promise by covenant in a deed to defend the grantee's title and possession.
- wardA person, usually a child, in a guardian's charge.
- ward of admiraltyA seaman, so called because the law treats a seaman as a beneficiary and the other party to the contract as a fiducia…
- ward of the stateA person whom the government houses, protects, and provides for.
- ward-hornThe duty of keeping watch with a horn to sound if the enemy appeared.
- ward-in-chanceryA child under the Chancellor's superintendence.
- wardageMoney paid instead of doing military service; also money paid to the sheriff or castle-keeper for watching and wardin…
- wardenA person in charge of something, above all the officer running a prison or jail.
- warden of the cinque portsFormerly, a magistrate with jurisdiction over the five Cinque Ports, an office modeled on the Roman practice of stren…
- warditeA fine a tenant paid for failing to perform the duty of castle-guard.
- wardmoteA court held in each ward of London; also a meeting of the ward.
- wardpennyMoney paid instead of doing military service; also money paid to the sheriff or castle-keeper for watching and wardin…
- wardshipGuardianship of a person, usually a child; also the state of being a ward. Formerly, a feudal lord's right to the gua…
- wardship in chivalryWardship attached to tenure by knight-service.
- wardship in copyholdsWardship by which, by special custom, the lord is guardian of an under-age tenant.
- wardstaffA staff carried by an officer, above all a constable's or watchman's staff.
- wardwitFreedom from the duty of warding or of contributing to it; also a fine for failing to watch and ward.
- warectareTo plow land in spring and then leave it fallow, so that the next wheat crop will be better.
- warehouseA building used for storing goods.
- warehouse bookA book in which merchants record the goods received, shipped, and still in stock.
- warehouse receiptA document showing title to goods stored with someone else, above all the receipt a professional warehouse gives. It…
- warehouse systemA system of bonded warehouses in which importers may hold goods for re-export without paying customs duty at all, or…
- warehousemanA person whose business is keeping or storing another's goods for a fee.
- warehouserA person whose business is keeping or storing another's goods for a fee. The arrangement is a bailment for the benefi…
- warehouser's lienA lien on stored goods securing the storage charges owed to the bailee.
- warehouser’s lienA lien over goods stored with a warehouse, securing the charges for storing them.
- warehousingA mortgage banker's practice of holding mortgages until the resale market improves; also a company's tipping off inst…
- warfareThe carrying on of war or armed conflict; loosely, the carrying on of any sustained conflict.
- WARNA federal law requiring an employer to give sixty days' notice of a plant closing or mass layoff to the employees, to…
- warningThe pointing out of a danger, above all to someone who would not otherwise know of it.
- warnothAn obsolete custom by which a tenant who missed the day for paying rent owed double, and on missing it a second time…
- warrantA writ directing or authorizing someone to do an act, above all one directing an officer to make an arrest, a search,…
- Warrant ClauseThe part of the Fourth Amendment requiring that a warrant issue only on probable cause.
- warrant creditorA creditor of a city or town who is given a municipal warrant for the amount owed because the municipality has no fun…
- warrant of arrestA warrant issued only on probable cause, directing an officer to arrest a person and bring them before the court.
- warrant of attorneyA document giving someone authority to act as the grantor's agent. Formerly, written authority from a client allowing…
- warrant of commitmentA warrant committing a person to custody.
- warrant officerA person holding a commission or warrant in a warrant-officer grade, ranking below a second lieutenant or ensign but…
- warrant recallThe clearing of canceled warrants from government computers, so that no one is arrested twice or by mistake.
- warrant to sue and defendWritten authority a client gives a lawyer to begin or defend a lawsuit; also a special warrant from the Crown allowin…
- warrant upon indictment or informationAn arrest warrant the prosecutor obtains for a defendant already named in an indictment or information.
- warranteeThe person to whom a warranty is given.
- warrantia chartaeFormerly, a writ by which a tenant holding with a warranty, sued in an action where the warranty could not be pleaded…
- warrantia dieiA writ by which a party excused their absence from court on a day when the court had itself ordered them elsewhere.
- warrantizareTo promise by covenant in a deed to defend the grantee's title and possession.
- warrantless arrestAn arrest made without a warrant, on probable cause of a felony or for a misdemeanor committed in the officer's prese…
- warrantless searchA search made without a warrant of a person's body, property, or other private place, to find evidence of a crime. Be…
- warrantorThe person who gives a warranty.
- warrantyIn property law, a covenant by which the grantor promises to secure the grantee in the estate conveyed, and to make i…
- warranty ab initioA subsidiary promise whose breach does not end the contract but gives the injured party a claim for the loss the brea…
- warranty against infringementA merchant seller's warranty that the goods do not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark, or similar right. It do…
- warranty deedA deed containing covenants of title, especially one in which the seller expressly guarantees good, clear title and g…
- warranty ex post factoA broken condition which would have entitled the injured party to end the contract, but which they choose to treat as…
- warranty of actual titleA warranty that the seller has title to the property, that the transfer is rightful, and that there are no liens or o…
- warranty of assignmentAn assignor's implied promise that they hold the rights assigned, will do nothing to interfere with them, and know of…
- warranty of authorshipAn author's contractual promise that the work is original and their own.
- warranty of merchantabilityA warranty that goods are fit for the ordinary purposes for which such goods are used.
- warranty of titleA warranty that the seller has title to the property, that the transfer is rightful, and that there are no liens or o…
- warrenA place kept for preserving game such as pheasants, partridges, or rabbits; also the privilege of keeping game there,…
- Warsaw ConventionA treaty negotiated at Warsaw in 1929, to which the United States is a party, laying down uniform rules for claims fo…
- warthMoney paid instead of doing military service; also money paid to the sheriff or castle-keeper for watching and wardin…
- warwitFreedom from the duty of warding or of contributing to it; also a fine for failing to watch and ward.
- washThe shallow part of a river or an arm of the sea; also the sand, rocks, and gravel a mountain stream carries down and…
- wash saleA sale of securities made at about the same time as a purchase of the same securities, usually within thirty days, so…
- wash transactionA sale of securities made at about the same time as a purchase of the same securities, so that ownership does not rea…
- wasteLasting damage a tenant for life or for years does to land, to the prejudice of the heir, reversioner, or remainderma…
- waste bookA merchant's book for rough entries of transactions before they are written up in the journal.
- wastewaterWater that escapes from the canals or ditches of the person entitled to it, or that the appropriator does not use and…
- wasting assetAn asset used up over time or losing value as it is exploited, such as an oil well or a coal seam.
- wasting propertyA right or interest in something consumed by ordinary use, such as a wasting asset, a leasehold, or a patent.
- wasting trustA trust whose property is gradually used up by the payments made to the beneficiary.
- wastorA kind of thief named in an old statute of Henry IV.
- watchA part of a ship's crew; also one of the periods into which the day is divided for their service.
- watch and wardA feudal duty of some tenants to keep guard without a break: by night, which was the watch, and by day, which was the…
- waterThe clear liquid made of hydrogen and oxygen; also a body of it, as in a stream, river, lake, or ocean.
- water bayleyAn officer named in the colony laws of New Plymouth in 1671, whose chief task was collecting dues on fish taken from…
- water districtAn area a state or local government marks out to supply the public with water.
- water ordealAn early form of trial in which the accused was put to a dangerous or painful test in water, the result being taken a…
- water rightThe right to take water from a natural stream or an artificial canal for irrigation, power, household use, and the like.
- watercourseA body of water flowing in a reasonably definite channel with a bed and banks.
- watered stockStock issued with a par value higher than the value of what the company actually received for it.
- waterfrontLand, or land with buildings on it, fronting a body of water.
- watergageA seawall; also an instrument for measuring water.
- watergavelA fee paid for a benefit taken from a body of water, such as the right to fish in it.
- watermarkA mark showing the highest or lowest point the water reaches.
- waterpowerThe force got by turning falling water into energy; also the riparian owner's right to the fall of the stream across…
- waterscapeAn aqueduct or channel for water.
- wavesonFormerly, goods that float on the surface after a shipwreck or after cargo is thrown overboard.
- wax scotFormerly, a due for the wax candles used in church, usually paid twice a year.
- wayA passage or path; also a right to travel over another's land.
- way of necessityAn easement the law creates where an owner of two parcels has used one for the benefit of the other so plainly that,…
- way-going cropA grain crop a tenant sowed during the tenancy that did not ripen until after the lease ran out. Unless the parties a…
- way-leaveA right of way, usually granted expressly, over or through land for carrying minerals from a mine or quarry; also the…
- waybillA document a carrier makes out for goods being shipped, naming the consignor and consignee and setting out the route,…
- waynagiumThe plow, team, and other implements a person used to till the soil.
- ways-and-means committeeA legislative committee that decides how money is to be raised for the various purposes of government.
- WCWorkers' compensation.
- weak markA mark that is an ordinary word, or that merely describes or suggests the product, and which the law protects only on…
- weak trademarkA trademark made of an ordinary word, or one that merely describes or suggests the product. It is protected only once…
- wealreafThe robbing of a dead body in its grave.
- wealthA great quantity of something; also the state of having ample money and property.
- wealth maximizationA shift in the allocation of resources that benefits the winner more than it costs the loser, so that the total value…
- weaponAn instrument used, or made to be used, to injure or kill.
- wear and tearThe decline in condition that comes from ordinary use.
- Webb-Pomerene ActA federal law of 1918 that gives export businesses a limited exemption from the antitrust prohibitions.
- weddingThe religious or civil ceremony by which a marriage is solemnized.
- wedge principleThe principle that an act is wrong in the single case if it would harm humanity were everyone to behave that way.
- weekSeven consecutive days, beginning either on Sunday or on Monday; also any run of seven days.
- week-workIn feudal times, a tenant's duty to work two to four days a week for the lord through most of the year, and four or f…
- weekend sentenceA sentence served in stretches, typically at weekends, with periods of liberty in between.
- wehadingTrial by combat: the old method of settling a dispute by having the parties or their champions fight.
- weighageA duty or charge paid for having merchandise weighed.
- weightA measure of heaviness, or of how much matter a thing contains.
- weight of the evidenceHow convincing one body of evidence is when set against the other evidence in the case.
- weirA dam of stakes woven with willow twigs set across a river, to make it easier to net fish.
- welchingEvading an obligation, above all a gambling debt; also the common-law larceny committed by taking a stake to be repai…
- welfareWell-being or prosperity in any respect; also public assistance paid to people in need.
- Welfare ClauseThe clause of Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution empowering Congress to lay taxes and pay debts to provide…
- welfare stateA nation whose government runs social insurance schemes such as unemployment pay, old-age pensions, family allowances…
- wellIn a legally sufficient manner: not open to objection.
- well-knowingKnowing. The word was formerly used in pleading to allege that the defendant knew of the matter.
- well-pleaded complaintAn opening pleading that sets out a claim properly, giving the grounds of the court's jurisdiction, the basis for the…
- Welsh mortgageA mortgage once common in Wales and Ireland under which the borrower, without promising to repay, hands over title an…
- welshingEvading an obligation, above all a gambling debt; also the common-law larceny committed by taking a stake to be repai…
- wendA large stretch of land, a perambulation, or a circuit.
- wergildThe fixed value set on a person's life: the sum a killer's kindred paid the dead person's kindred to head off a blood…
- West-Saxon lawThe body of rules the West Saxons brought in, one of the three main legal systems in England at the opening of the el…
- WestlawA database for computer-assisted legal research, giving online access to federal and state case law, statutes, regula…
- Westminster ConfessionA statement of religious doctrine drawn up by British and continental Protestant divines meeting at Westminster in 16…
- Westminster the First, Statute ofAn English statute of 1275 in fifty-one chapters, which protected church property from seizure by the Crown and the n…
- wharfA structure on the shore of navigable water where a vessel can lie to load or unload.
- wharfageThe charge for landing, loading, or unloading goods at a wharf; also the space a wharf provides for doing so.
- wharfing out, right ofThe right to the exclusive use of submerged land, as by building a permanent wharf on it where seagoing vessels can d…
- wharfingerThe owner or occupier of a wharf: a person who keeps a wharf to receive goods for forwarding or delivery to a consignee.
- wheelAn instrument of torture used in medieval Europe: a wheel or cross to which the condemned was bound with limbs stretc…
- wheel conspiracyA conspiracy in which one central member, the hub, deals separately with several others, the spokes. Unless something…
- wheelageFormerly, a toll for taking a vehicle across certain land.
- when-issued securityA security that may be traded before it has been issued, any bargain becoming final only when the issue actually take…
- whereaboutsThe general place where a person or thing is.
- whereas, conjWhile by contrast, or although; also, given that or since. In the second sense the word once opened the recitals of a…
- whereat, conjAt or toward which; also, as a result of which.
- whereby, conjBy which, through which, or in accordance with which.
- wherefore, premises consideredFor all these reasons: for the reasons given above.
- wherefrom, conjFrom which.
- wherein, conjIn which, or where; also, during which.
- whereof, conjOf what, of which, or of whom.
- whereon, conjOn which.
- whereto, conjTo what place or time.
- whereupon, conjOn which; also, soon after and as a result of which.
- wherewith, conjBy means of which.
- whimA passing fancy or impulse.
- whippingA corporal punishment once used in England and a few American states, in which long welts were raised on the skin, ab…
- whisper stockThe stock of a company rumored to be a takeover target.
- whistleblowerAn employee who reports the employer's law-breaking to a government or law-enforcement agency. Federal and state laws…
- whistleblower actA federal or state law protecting employees from reprisal for disclosing the employer's law-breaking, as in a regulat…
- white bookA government report bound in white covers, common above all in European and papal affairs.
- white knightA person or company that rescues the target of a hostile takeover, above all by buying a controlling interest or maki…
- White modelOne of two ways of applying the Supreme Court's test for when federal labor law displaces a union member's state-law…
- white rentA feudal rent paid in silver rather than in work, grain, or baser coin.
- White Slave Traffic ActA federal law of 1910, often called the Mann Act, making it a crime to transport anyone across state lines or nationa…
- white slaveryForcing a woman, or more rarely a man, into prostitution for someone else's profit.
- white-collar crimeA non-violent crime involving cheating or dishonesty in business, such as fraud, embezzlement, bribery, or insider tr…
- whiteacreAn imaginary piece of land used in legal discussion, above all in law-school problems, to work through questions abou…
- whitecappingThreatening a person, usually a member of a minority group, with violence to drive them away or to stop them carrying…
- whitehorse caseInformally, a reported case so like the one at hand on its facts that its outcome ought to settle the present case.
- Whiteley ruleThe rule that an arrest is good even though the arresting officer does not personally know enough to make out probabl…
- whole bloodThe relationship between people who have both parents in common.
- whole lawThe law a court applies in a case touching more than one state or country, once it has consulted its own choice-of-la…
- whole life insuranceLife insurance covering the insured for life, with fixed premiums, part of which builds up savings, and a guaranteed…
- whole-statute ruleThe rule of interpretation that a statute is to be read as a whole, and its words given their ordinary meaning unless…
- wholesaleThe sale of goods, usually to a retailer for resale, rather than to the person who will finally use them.
- wholesale dealerA person who sells goods in bulk to retailers rather than in small quantities to consumers.
- wholesale priceThe price a retailer pays a wholesaler for goods, usually bought in bulk, which the retailer then resells at a higher…
- wholesale price indexA monthly index of changes in wholesale prices, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- wholesalerA person who buys goods in large quantities and resells them in smaller lots to retailers or other merchants, who the…
- wholly and permanently disabledOf an insured: wholly and continuously unable to do any work for pay or profit.
- wholly dependentOf a person: living entirely on a worker's wages.
- wholly destroyedOf a building: so damaged that it can no longer be called a building, even though parts of it still stand.
- wholly disabledOf a person: unable to do the substantial and essential things a business or occupation calls for, in the way they ar…
- widowA woman whose husband has died and who has not remarried.
- widowerA man whose wife has died and who has not remarried.
- wifaA mark or sign, above all a landmark showing that land is exclusively occupied or that entry is forbidden.
- wild deedA recorded deed that falls outside the chain of title, usually because an earlier document linking it to the chain wa…
- wildcat strikeA strike the union has not authorized, or one that breaks a collective-bargaining agreement.
- willWish, desire, or choice; also the document by which a person directs how their property is to pass at death.
- will contestA lawsuit challenging a will's validity, usually on the ground that the testator lacked capacity or was unduly influe…
- will substituteAn arrangement that passes property at death much as a will would, such as a trust or a life-insurance policy.
- willfulDone deliberately and on purpose, though not necessarily out of ill will.
- willful and malicious injuryIn bankruptcy, harm a debtor causes another - a creditor, for instance - by deliberately doing a wrongful act, withou…
- willful and wanton misconductConduct showing intentional or reckless disregard for the safety of others, as by failing to take ordinary care to gu…
- willful and wanton negligenceA want of even slight care: a deliberate act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequence…
- willful blindnessDeliberately keeping oneself ignorant of a crime, above all by not asking about wrongdoing one strongly suspects - as…
- willful infringementDeliberate infringement of another's intellectual property, done knowing that the right exists and is being trespasse…
- willful misconductMisconduct committed deliberately and on purpose.
- willful misconduct of employeeAn employee's deliberate disregard of the employer's interests, including its work rules and standards of conduct, wh…
- willful murderThe unlawful and intentional killing of another, with no excuse and nothing to reduce it.
- willful neglectNeglect that is deliberate rather than merely careless.
- willful negligenceNegligence in which the actor knows of the unreasonable risk being created: recklessness.
- willful tortA tort committed deliberately, whether with a general or a specific intent, such as battery, false imprisonment, or t…
- willful wrongA wrong done with intention or purpose, as opposed to one done carelessly.
- willfulnessThe quality of acting deliberately and on purpose, knowing what one is doing.
- Williams ActA federal statute of 1968 amending the Securities Exchange Act, which requires anyone acquiring more than five percen…
- Wills ActAn English statute of 1837 allowing every kind of property interest to be disposed of by will and requiring every wil…
- Winchester measureThe standard weights and measures of England, originally kept at Winchester.
- Winchester, Statute ofA statute of 1285 requiring every man to keep armor for keeping the peace, recognizing and regulating the offices of…
- windfallAn unexpected benefit, usually a profit, that the person receiving it did nothing to bring about.
- windfall-profits taxA tax on a business or industry whose profits have risen suddenly, such as the tax laid on oil companies in 1980 afte…
- winding upSettling the accounts and turning the assets into money in preparation for dissolving a partnership or company.
- window taxIn English law, a tax imposed from 1696 on houses with more than a stated number of windows, usually six. It was repl…
- window-dressingArranging facts or appearances so as to give a better impression than the truth warrants, as where a fund manager sel…
- wire fraudFraud carried out over electronic communications, as by making false statements on the telephone to get money. The fe…
- wiretappingListening in on private communications by electronic or mechanical means, usually by law-enforcement officers acting…
- wishTo desire or hope; in a will, to will, devise, or give.
- witanThe members of the king's council who helped him in matters of government and justice, among them ealdormen, bishops,…
- witchcraftThe practice of witchcraft or sorcery. Statutes of 1542 and 1604 made it a felony punishable by death without benefit…
- witeFormerly, a fine the Crown or other authority exacted for a serious crime such as murder.
- witenagemotA national assembly of noblemen, senior churchmen, and other great thanes who advised and helped the king in governin…
- witepennyIn early English law, money paid to satisfy a wite.
- with all deliberate speedAs quickly as keeping law and order and the welfare of the people will allow - the phrase the Supreme Court used for…
- with all faultsIn its present condition, with no repair or adjustment. A seller can exclude all implied warranties by saying that th…
- with interestCarrying a charge for the use of money lent, calculated as a proportion of the amount outstanding.
- with prejudiceWith the loss of all rights: in a way that ends the claim for good and bars any later action on it.
- with recourseIn an indorsement, on terms that the indorser stays liable to later holders if the instrument is not paid.
- with reserveOf an auction: one at which the item will not be sold unless the highest bid clears a minimum price.
- with strong handWith force. In common-law pleading the phrase implies criminal force, above all in the statutes against forcible entry.
- withdrawalTaking something back or away; also retreating from a place or position, taking money out of an account, or giving up…
- withdrawal of chargesThe dropping of charges by whoever brought them, such as a prosecutor.
- withdrawal of counselA lawyer's ending of their role in representing a party. The lawyer usually needs the court's leave, sought by a writ…
- withdrawing a jurorTaking a juror off the panel, usually to get the case put over or, in English practice, to bring it to an end, as whe…
- withdrawing recordA plaintiff's taking back the trial record so that the case cannot be tried, done either before the jury is sworn or…
- withernamA second taking or distress made in return for an earlier one.
- withersakeAn enemy, above all one who has deliberately broken faith and turned renegade.
- withheld sentenceA sentence held back, so that the defendant serves no time unless they commit another crime or break some other condi…
- withholdingTaking a set amount out of a person's salary, wages, dividends, winnings, or other income, usually for tax - above al…
- withholding of evidenceObstructing justice by holding back or hiding evidence known to be sought in an official investigation or a court case.
- withholding taxIncome tax deducted from wages, dividends, or other income before the earner receives it, the commonest example being…
- without dayDischarged from any further attendance on the court, the case being at an end.
- without delayAt once; also, within whatever time the law reasonably allows.
- without impeachment of wasteOf a tenant: not answerable for waste. The clause is put in a lease to let the tenant do things such as cut timber wi…
- without noticeWithout actual or constructive knowledge. To be a bona fide purchaser, a buyer must take without notice that the inst…
- without prejudiceWithout losing any rights: in a way that leaves a party's legal rights and privileges untouched.
- without recourseIn an indorsement, on terms that the indorser takes no further liability to later holders if the instrument is not paid.
- without reserveOf an auction: one at which the item goes to the highest bidder, whatever the price.
- without this, thatA pleading that denies a matter the other side alleged while admitting the rest - the special traverse.
- witnessA person who sees, knows, or vouches for something; also a person who gives evidence on oath or affirmation, whether…
- witness boxThe place in a courtroom, usually a boxed enclosure, where a witness sits or stands to testify.
- witness feeA fee set by statute that must go with a subpoena for the subpoena to bind the witness. The phrase also covers money…
- witness juratA certificate signed by a subscribing witness. Strictly it is an acknowledgment rather than a true jurat, but the phr…
- witness standThe place in a courtroom, usually a boxed enclosure, where a witness sits or stands to testify.
- witness tamperingObstructing justice by frightening, influencing, or harassing a witness, whether before or after they give evidence.
- witness-protection programA federal or state program under which someone who testifies against a criminal is given a new identity and moved els…
- witnessethShows or records. The word, usually printed in capitals, once divided a contract's opening recitals from its actual t…
- witnessing partThe clause at the end of an instrument, above all a will, which the witnesses sign and which recites the formalities…
- witwordA claim the law allows, above all the right to make good one's ownership or possession by swearing to it.
- wobblerInformally, an offense that may be charged either as a felony or as a misdemeanor.
- wolf's headFormerly, an outlaw, said to bear a wolf’s head: counted no better than a wild beast, whom anyone might kill and whos…
- wood-cornA quantity of oats or other grain customary tenants paid the lord for leave to gather dead or fallen wood.
- wood-geldMoney paid for leave to take wood from a forest; also freedom from having to pay it.
- wood-leaveA license or right to cut, remove, and use standing timber.
- wood-moteA lesser forest court dealing with trespasses in the royal forests. Its judges, the verderers, met every forty days t…
- Wood-Plea CourtA court held twice a year in Clun Forest, Shropshire, to settle questions of wood and of pasturing animals in the for…
- woodsheddingCoaching a friendly witness, above all one's own client, on how to answer questions when giving evidence.
- woodwardA forest officer who patrols and protects the woods.
- woolferthfodAn outlaw, so called because they were said to bear a wolf's head - counted no better than a wild beast, whom anyone…
- word of artA word or phrase with a settled, precise meaning in a particular field, different from its everyday sense. Legal exam…
- words actionable in themselvesWords that are libelous or slanderous in themselves, so that the plaintiff need not prove any special damage.
- words of limitationWords in a deed or will that mark out the size or quality of the estate given rather than naming who takes it. Under…
- words of negotiabilityThe words that make a document a negotiable instrument.
- words of procreationWords in a deed needed to create an estate tail, such as a grant "to A and the heirs of his body."
- words of purchaseWords in a deed or will that name who is to take. In a grant "to A for life, then to A's heirs," the reference to the…
- workPhysical or mental effort directed to an end, above all effort under an employer's direction and for the employer's b…
- work and laborA common count in assumpsit for work done and materials supplied by the plaintiff.
- work for hireA work protected by copyright made either by an employee within the scope of the job, or by an independent contractor…
- work furloughA prison program letting an inmate out during the day to work in the community.
- work made for hireA work protected by copyright made either by an employee within the scope of the job, or by an independent contractor…
- work of necessityWork reasonably needed for the community's economic, social, or moral welfare, judged by the standards of the time, w…
- work permitA document authorizing a foreign national to work in the United States, issued by the immigration authorities. Federa…
- work productMaterial, written or not, that a lawyer prepared, or that was prepared for a lawyer or in view of litigation actual o…
- work-furlough programA correctional program letting an inmate, usually one nearing release, hold a job outside the prison.
- work-in-processA product part-made or part-assembled but not yet finished.
- work-product immunityThe rule giving a lawyer's work product a qualified protection from discovery or other compelled disclosure, establis…
- work-product privilegeThe rule giving qualified protection to a lawyer's work product against discovery or compelled disclosure, establishe…
- work-product ruleThe rule giving a lawyer's work product a qualified immunity from discovery. It exists chiefly to keep the other side…
- work-release programA correctional program letting an inmate, usually one nearing release, hold a job outside the prison.
- workerA person who works to some end, above all one employed to work for another.
- Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification ActA federal law requiring an employer to give sixty days' notice of a plant closing or mass layoff to the employees, to…
- workers' compensationA statutory scheme under which an injured worker no longer has to prove the employer was negligent, but need only sho…
- workfareA system under which someone drawing public assistance must earn it by doing a job the government provides.
- workhouseA jail for offenders serving short sentences for minor crimes.
- working capitalCurrent assets such as cash, stock, and money owed by customers, less current liabilities. It measures how easily a b…
- working capital acceptanceA bank's acceptance of a bill drawn to finance a business's day-to-day trading needs rather than a particular shipmen…
- working controlEffective control of a company by a person or group owning less than half its shares.
- working interestIn oil-and-gas law, the interest an oil-and-gas lease gives the lessee: the right to go on the land and search for, d…
- working papersA document authorizing a foreign national to work in the United States; also, in accounting, the record an independen…
- workoutThe restructuring or refinancing of loans in arrears; in bankruptcy, an agreement a debtor reaches with creditors out…
- worksA mill, factory, or other place of manufacture; also any building or structure put up on land.
- worldThe planet Earth; also everyone on it, or the public at large - in law, all those who have or may acquire a claim to…
- World BankAn international bank founded at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference and opened in 1946, which lends to support economi…
- World CourtThe fifteen-judge tribunal of the United Nations, sitting mainly at The Hague, which decides disputes between countri…
- worldlyBelonging to this present life: temporal or earthly.
- worshipAny form of religious devotion or service showing reverence for a divine being.
- wortIn older usage, a country farm or a curtilage.
- worthWhat a thing is worth in money: the sum of the qualities that make it valuable and useful, expressed in current curre…
- worthier-title doctrineThe old rule that where a will gives a beneficiary exactly what they would have taken as heir on intestacy, they take…
- worthiest bloodThe line of descent a legal system prefers in passing property - at common law, the male line before the female.
- worthlessHaving no worth, use, or value at all.
- worthless checkA check that is not paid because the account holds too little money or does not exist.
- worthless securityA security that has become worthless, for which a loss, usually a capital loss, may be claimed for tax.
- worthyHaving worth or merit: valuable.
- wounded feelingsHurt caused by insult, indignity, or humiliation, as distinct from the mental pain and suffering that follows a physi…
- woundingAn injury, above all one that breaks the skin; also an injury to feelings or reputation. Formerly, an aggravated assa…
- wraparound mortgageA second mortgage taken out where the lender takes over the payments on the borrower's cheaper first mortgage and len…
- wreckA ship's wreckage; also the damaging or destruction of a vessel by causes beyond the owner's control, leaving it unab…
- wreckfreeOf a port: free from the rule forfeiting shipwrecked goods and vessels to the Crown.
- writA court’s written order, made in the name of the state or other competent authority, commanding the person addressed…
- writ de haeretico comburendoFormerly, a writ ordering that a heretic be burned, where the bishop had already convicted them and they had recanted…
- writ of ad quod damnumA writ from Chancery directing the sheriff to have a jury find on oath what harm a grant - of a fair, market, liberty…
- writ of aielA writ by which an heir recovered a grandfather's estate that a stranger had wrongfully taken.
- writ of assistanceA writ enforcing a decree that transfers real property whose title the court has already settled. Formerly, a writ fr…
- writ of associationIn English law, a writ directing certain officers, usually the clerk of assize and their subordinates, to join the ju…
- writ of attachmentA writ under which a person's property is seized, either to secure a judgment or to be sold in satisfaction of one.
- writ of capiasAny of several writs requiring an officer to take a named defendant into custody.
- writ of certiorariAn extraordinary writ by which an appellate court, at its own discretion, directs a lower court to send up the record…
- writ of conspiracyA writ against a person who conspired to injure the plaintiff, above all by having them indicted for treason or felon…
- writ of coram nobisA writ of error taken from a judgment of the King's Bench, so called from the Latin words meaning "before us."
- writ of coram vobisA writ of error taken from a judgment of the Common Pleas, so called from the Latin words meaning "before you." It as…
- writ of courseA writ that issued as a matter of course, granted as of right rather than at the court's discretion.
- writ of covenantA writ for a person claiming damages for the breach of a promise under seal or other covenant.
- writ of debtA common-law writ by which a court decided claims for a fixed sum of money.
- writ of deceitA writ against a person who cheats and harms another by acting in that other's name.
- writ of deliveranceA court's order that a person in custody be released, above all such an order from an ecclesiastical court.
- writ of detinueThe writ in an action of detinue, to recover goods wrongfully kept from the owner.
- writ of dowerA writ by which a widow claimed the dower she had been given none of; also her writ of right of dower, for the rest o…
- writ of ejectmentThe writ in an action of ejectment, to recover land.
- writ of entryA writ allowing a person wrongfully put out of land to go back on and take it again.
- writ of errorA writ by which an appellate court directs a lower court to send up the record of a case so that it can be reviewed f…
- writ of error coram nobisA writ of error taken from a judgment of the King's Bench, so called from the Latin words meaning "before us." It ask…
- writ of error coram vobisA writ of error taken from a judgment of the Common Pleas, so called from the Latin words meaning "before you." It as…
- writ of escheatA writ by which a lord took possession of land that had escheated to him.
- writ of estrepementFormerly, a writ to stop a tenant from committing waste while a suit to recover the land was pending. Since it only s…
- writ of executionA court order directing the sheriff or another officer to enforce a judgment, usually by seizing and selling the debt…
- writ of exigi faciasA writ in the process of outlawry, directing the sheriff to demand the defendant's appearance at five successive coun…
- writ of extentA writ from the Exchequer to recover a debt owed the Crown, under which the debtor's land, goods, and person could al…
- writ of formedonA writ of right for claiming entailed land held by someone else. It was the strongest remedy a tenant in tail had.
- writ of habeas corpusA writ ordering whoever holds a person in custody to bring them before the court, so that the court can decide whethe…
- writ of injunctionA court order requiring someone to do something or to stop doing it. To obtain one, the complainant must show that no…
- writ of inquiryA writ directing the sheriff to empanel a jury and preside at a hearing to fix the damages of a plaintiff who has won…
- writ of mainpriseA writ under which sureties undertook to produce a prisoner in court at a stated time.
- writ of mandamusA writ by which a superior court compels a lower court or a public officer to carry out a duty that the law leaves th…
- writ of ne exeatA writ forbidding a person to leave the jurisdiction of the court or the state, used to keep a defendant from escapin…
- writ of possessionA writ to recover possession of land.
- writ of praecipeAt common law, a writ ordering a defendant either to do some act or to explain why they need not.
- writ of preventionA writ to stop a lawsuit from being brought.
- writ of privilegeA writ to enforce or uphold a privilege, above all to release someone entitled to freedom from arrest who has been ar…
- writ of proclamationA writ issued with an exigent, directing the sheriff of the county where the defendant lived to proclaim the outlawry…
- writ of prohibitionAn extraordinary writ by which an appellate court stops a lower court from going beyond its jurisdiction, or stops a…
- writ of protectionA writ protecting a witness in a case who is threatened with arrest; also a writ freeing anyone in the Crown's servic…
- writ of quare impeditA writ by which a patron whose right to present a clergyman to a church living was obstructed recovered that right.
- writ of quo warrantoA common-law writ inquiring by what authority a person holds a public office or claims a franchise; also the action b…
- writ of quominusA fourteenth-century Exchequer writ in which the plaintiff alleged that they had lent the defendant money and so coul…
- writ of rebellionA process empowering a private person to arrest a defendant and bring them to Chancery to compel obedience to a subpo…
- writ of recaptionA writ by which a plaintiff recovered goods and damages from a defendant who distrained a second time while a replevi…
- writ of replevinA writ from a court authorizing the retaking of goods wrongfully taken or kept.
- writ of restitutionThe process for enforcing a civil judgment in an action for forcible entry and detainer, or restitution ordered on a…
- writ of reviewA general process by which an appellate court brings up the record of proceedings below for review.
- writ of rightA writ that issued as of right rather than at the court's discretion; above all the highest writ at common law for tr…
- writ of second deliveranceIn older usage, in a replevin action, a writ ordering that the goods be given back to the party from whom they had be…
- writ of sequestrationA writ placing something in the court's keeping, or forbidding its removal from the jurisdiction - the collateral for…
- writ of summonsThe writ by which, under the Judicature Acts of 1873 to 1875, every action was begun.
- writ of supersedeasA writ or bond that suspends a judgment creditor's power to levy execution, usually while an appeal is pending.
- writ of supervisory controlA writ correcting a lower court's mistaken ruling where no appeal lies, or where an appeal would not give adequate re…
- writ of threatsA writ against a person who threatens violence to another, requiring them to keep the peace.
- writ of trialIn English law, a writ under an act of 1835 ordering an action brought in a superior court to be tried instead in an…
- writ of wasteA writ to recover damages from a tenant who has committed waste.
- writ pro retorno habendoA writ ordering that goods be returned, issued to a defendant who wins a replevin action, so that the goods taken fro…
- writ systemThe common-law system of procedure under which a plaintiff began an action by obtaining the right kind of original wr…
- write offTo take an asset off the books altogether, treating what it cost as a loss or expense.
- write-downIn accounting, to move part of an asset's cost into an expense account because the asset has lost value.
- write-upA note of a meeting between employer and employee, usually about poor performance or discipline; also a published pie…
- writer of the talliesAn Exchequer officer who wrote on the tallies the wording of the tellers' bills.
- Writer to the SignetIn Scots law, a member of the oldest and foremost society of Scottish solicitors, originally a clerk in the Scottish…
- writingAny deliberate setting down of words in visible form - by hand, in print, by typewriter, or in any other lasting shape.
- writing obligatoryA bond: a written obligation, as it is technically called in pleading.
- written contractA contract whose terms have been put in writing.
- written directiveA document setting out a person's wishes about medical treatment should they become unable to decide or to communicat…
- written lawStatutory law, together with constitutions and treaties, as opposed to the law the judges make.
- written testimonyEvidence given out of court by deposition, the signed record of which counts as testimony; in some administrative pro…
- written warrantyA warranty made in writing; above all a supplier's written statement or promise to a consumer buyer, forming part of…
- wrongA breach of one's legal duty, or an invasion of another's legal right.
- wrong of negligenceA wrong in which the state of mind required is mere carelessness rather than an intention to do harm.
- wrong of strict liabilityA wrong for which no state of mind need be shown at all, neither wrongful intent nor culpable negligence being a cond…
- wrongdoerA person who breaks the law or invades another's rights.
- wrongfulUnfair or unjust; also contrary to law; and, of a person, not entitled to the position they hold.
- wrongful actAn act done in breach of a legal duty: one that unjustly invades another's rights.
- wrongful conductAn act done in breach of a legal duty: one that unjustly invades another's rights.
- wrongful dischargeA dismissal from employment for reasons that are unlawful or that offend public policy.
- wrongful levyA levy on a third party's property that the writ of execution does not reach.
- wrongful-birth actionA claim by parents against a doctor who failed to warn them beforehand of the risk that their child would be born wit…
- wrongful-conception actionA claim by parents against a doctor whose failed sterilization or negligent advice led to an unwanted pregnancy.
- wrongful-death actionA claim brought on behalf of a dead person's family for the losses they suffer from the death, where it was caused by…