Legal Terminology Final
Terms
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- Abstract
- of Title - a complete history of the title - who owned the property - what encumbrances were on the property - when or if they have cleared & the current status of the title
- Abuse of discretion
- Substantive due process - judicial review of discretionary admin - remedies
- Acquittal
- Legal & formal certification of the innocence of a person who has been charged with a crime
- Agent
- Acts on behalf of a prinicipal - fiduciary
- Alibi
- the defendant was somewhere else doing something else when the crime was committed
- ALJ
- Administrative Law Judge - hearing examiner - judicial enforcement
- Amendment
- Primary - Individual liberties
- Amortized loan
- Installment loan, principals paid down over a term - mortgage/auto loan
- Apparent Authority
- Created by actions of - the authority the principal knowingly or negligently allow the agent to assume or the power the principal indicates the agent actually has. The agent does not have actual or imnplied authority, but the principal, by his action or non-action, gives the impression that the agent has the authority to act
- Appellant
- Person who appears - usually loses at trial
- Appellate court
- Appellate jurisdiction
- Arrears
- Non payment - money (support) is overdue & unpaid
- ATF
- Alchohol, Tobacco & Firearms -Law enforcement agency
- Attachment
- Formally seizing property in order to bring it under the control of the court; this is usually done by getting a court order to have a law enforcement officer take control of the property
- Attempt
- Act which is a substantial step toward completion of a crime "a crime that failed"
- Bearer
- Negotiable instrument - holder of a bearer instrument is the owner - money
- Bicameral
- 2 chambers - upper - Senate, lower - House of Representatives
- Breach
- of contract - wrongufl/unexcused non performance - failed to exercise their duty
- Bridge loan
- Short-term/temporary loan to be refinanced as a long term loan - construction loan
- Bylaw
- Implied agency - agency by estoppel - detriment to 3rd party - action of principal lead 3rd party to believe agency exist
- By Laws
- Document that sets forth the structure of corporation
- Cabinet
- 13 - Executive Dept - president appoints
- Censorship
- 1st Amendment - Limit on limitation
- Census Bureau
- Dept of Commerce
- Chapter 11
- Business re-organization - only a business
- Chapter 7
- Under bankruptcy code - liquidation/stratight - business & individual
- Commercial Paper
- Negotiable instruments formal contract - represents money that someone is to be paid or that someone is owed
- Common Law
- 800-900years old - England - case law - precedent - uniform
- Compensatory
- Compensate the plantiff for actual out of pocket losses
- Consanguinity
- Related by blood - heirs - the connection of relation of people descended from acommon ancestor - blood relatives
- Contempt
- of Court - motion to show cause why you should not be held in contempt (witness/party) civil contempt - fine, criminal contempt - jail (has to be a trial)
- Conversion
- Civil Theft - converting someone's personal property to youyr use - takes place when a person takes the property of another with the intent of keeping it perm. Or for an indefinite period of time. The rightful owner is deprived of the use of his/her property
- Counteroffer
- An offer by the offeree to the offeror that proposes a bargain different than the one proposed by the offeror - implied rejection
- Credit Bureau
- Credit report - credit score
- Cross claim
- implied another defendant - new defendant must answer complaint
- Defect
- Cloud on title - example, non payment of taxes/water bill on title. Title search - compile an abstract - looking for defects
- Deponent
- person being deposed - deposition - oral discovery
- Dicta
- refers to a part of a judicial decision that goes beyond the scope of the issues and is considered mere opinion and not binding precedent
- Director
- when do they meet
- Diversity of Citizenship
- Citizens of two states - over $75,000
- DOJ
- Department of Justice - US Attorney - Cabinet
- duty
- Landlord duties - warranty of habitability - liveable - warranty of quiet enjoyment - no one can take away
- Easement
- right to use theproperty of another perm. Access - right a person has to enter and leave his own property by passing over the adjoining property of another Private - restricted to one or a few individuals. Public - sidewalks, powerlines, cable tv. etc
- EEOC
- Equal Employment Opportunity commission - employment agency
- Eminent Domain
- 5th Amendment - civil concept of "taking" just compensation, taking for public "use" or public "purpose"
- Enabling statute
- creation of admin. agency - delegation of authority to agency legislature enact to admin. Agency
- Escheat
- dies without heirs - property becomes the property of the state because there is no valid heir to inherit
- Eviction
- Actual eviction for unlawful detainer - Deprivation of a person of the possession of land or rental property either by re-entry or legal procedure
- Ex parte
- Uncontested - degree from an ex parte hearing - without another party - divorce, only one party appears & participates, the other spouse does not appear
- Exclusionary rule
- Any illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible in any court of law
- Excuse
- for non-performance - legal impossibility, commercial impracticability - determined by the court
- Executor
- A person appointed by a testator to carry out the directions & requests in his will & to dispose of property according to the will - named in the will - cannot sue for any reason and administrator may be appointed
- Expert Witness
- Testify as to conclusions/opinions
- Expungment
- The process whereby the record of a criminal conviction is either destroyed or sealed after a certain period oftime
- FCC
- Federal Communications Commission -
- FDA
- Food & Drug Administration
- FEC
- Federal Energy Commission
- Federal Box
- Disclosure - APR - Annual Percentage Rate & finance charges - total interest life of loan
- Fee simple absolute
- Estate, freehold estate, free & clear. Ownership of property with no limitations, restrictions, or conditions. The maximum ownership a person can have in property
- Felony Murder
- rule - in course of a named felony you cause the death of another
- Foreign Corporation
- Not incorporated within a state it is doing business
- Franchise
- Chains exactly alike (rest.) area-geographic (auto) Manufacturing (Coca-Cola) lump sum license. Royalties - ongoing, characteristics - uniformity
- FTC
- Federal Trade Commission - Trade Regulation
- General Indignities
- Grounds for divorce - most popular
- Government Corporation
- GNMA - Government National Mortgage Association
- Grand Jury
- a jury of inquiry
- Hearsay
- inadmissable
- Holographic
- will - a handwritten will that the testator writes, signs and dates
- Homestead
- Primary residence
- Horizontal Merger
- Acquire a competitor
- In rem
- the power the court has over a thing - not a person - so that the court can enter a judgment that determines every peron's right with regard to this thing
- Independent Agency
- Broker (insurance)
- Indorsement
- Endorsement - assigns & transfers ownership of the commercial paper from one person to another. Blank, special, restrictive & qualified
- INS
- Immigration & Naturalization Services - law enforcement agency
- Jurisdiction
- Authority of a court to hear a case - court of competent jurisdiction
- Jury Challenges
- Challenge for cause - juror is biased. Premptory challenge - no cause/reason
- Jury panel
- empaneling a jury - Petit jury (impartial jury)
- Justice
- The title given to the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States and to the judges of the appellate courts of many of the states
- Lay witness
- Non-exper - testify first hand knowledge
- Legacy
- Cash - the process of the disposition of personal propery by will
- Liquidated
- Damages determined in advance in the contract
- LLC
- Limited Liability Company - operating agreement (1 doc) all members have an equal share/voice, continued existence under 1 doc. Transfer interest in an LLC - tax deduction, similar to corp. limited liability cannot sue a member.
- Maker
- Signs a promissory note
- Marital property
- anything acquired during a marriage - 1/2 & 1/2
- Merchantability
- Purpose - implied & expressed - the article sold is reasonably fit for the general purpose for which it was sold
- Mini-trial
- Summary jury trial - fake trial, but you don't tell the jury
- Mistrial
- Erroneous or invalid trial / a hung jury
- Mortgage
- financing real property - a written agreement that gives the person or institution that is lending them the money an interest in the property
- Motion to Produce
- Documents (party) subpena duces tecum (witness) discovery
- Municipal Court
- Inferior court
- NADS
- National Association of Securities Dealers - not an agency - it is a self regulatory organization
- NLRB
- National Labor Relation Board - unions/employment
- No fault divorce
- The parties are not required to prove fault other than the existence of irreconcilable difference
- Nolo Contendere
- "I will not contest" the person is pleading neither guilty nor not guilty, but declares he will not contest the charges against him. Same as a guilty plea
- NTSB
- National Transportation & Safety Board - Safety
- OCC
- Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - Finance/Money agency
- Open End Credit
- Revolving Credit - continual extension up to limit
- Ordinance
- Municipal Court
- Palimony
- Yes, but under an impled contract theory (contract law) payment of money to one of the parties of a live-in relationship that has ended "alimony for a pal"
- Perfection
- Perfect the security interest - file a UCC statement w/Sec. of State/County Recorder - notice to the world - priority - possession of collateral (pawnship) PMSI - Purchase Money Security Interest (Sears)
- Petitioner
- Equity
- Plaintiff
- Criminal/civil
- Prayer for Relief
- Damages - ad. Dannum Clause
- Premeditation
- The decision or plan to commit a crime
- Probable cause
- Reasonable grounds for belief in certain alleged facts that is more suspicion but less than the evidence required for conviction
- Procedural Due Process
- Amend 5 - Amend 14 - state, notice? Opportunity to be heard? Judicial review of discretionary admin. remedies
- Promulgation
- Rulemaking - informal, commentary - send to association for opinion
- Prospectus
- A document that sets out all the material facts concerning a company and its operations so that a potential investor may make an informed decision about the merit of his investment
- Quorum
- % necessary in attendance to be official
- Ratification
- Contract by - enforceable - not for necessary, minor may ratify a contract after rendering majority age - someone who at the time of the act or agreement did not have the authority to act on the principals behalf and did so. Afther fact - full disclosure - ratify all acts.
- Religion
- 1st Amend - No law respecting establishment of a religion
- Remainder
- Life Estate - future interest - Grant to A-remainder to heirs of A - right to possess property after the life estate has ended
- Repossession
- Self help repossession - no court order needed if repossession does not breach the peace
- Res Ipsa Loquitor
- The thing speaks for itself - legal doctrine for negligence
- Right of privacy
- let the seeler beware - restatement of torts - no need to prove negligence
- SBA
- Small Business Adminstration - Finance/Money agency
- Scienter
- Know what your are doing - knowledge/knowingly
- SEC
- Securities & Exchange Commission - Finance/Money Agency
- Secret Service
- US - Protect President and currency - law enforcement agency
- Secured creditor
- lien on collateral
- Selective Incorporation
- Due Process - 14th Amendment - State level first 10 Amendments
- Self Incrimination
- Testimony involuntary - coerced
- Senate
- Two senators are elected from each state (regardless of that state's population) and two are elected from the District of Columbia, for a total of 102. Serve for six years
- Separation of Powers
- Branches - creation of admin. Agency. Legislature - enact, executive - enforce, judicial - interpret. fundamental principle of the constitution
- Standing
- Must be the aggreived party
- Stare Decisis
- Precedent
- Statute of Frauds
- States that some contracts must be in writing to be enforceable, such contracts are valid, but in order to be enforced they must be in writing.
- Statutory rape
- sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of consent, even if the victim "consent's to the activity; it is still statutory rape
- Strict Scrutiny
- Test - a compelling government interest - narrowly tailored to achieve comp. gov't interest (void for vagueness rule)
- Substituted Service
- Certifed mail, publications
- Sunset provisions
- agency automatically ends at specific date - more control
- Sunshine law
- open meeting laws - open to public & announced
- Tenancy at sufferance
- Holdover tenant. Need notice to quiet & vacate. Remains in possession of the property after the tenancy expires. Allowed to stay by the landlord, but has no interest in or right to possession of property
- Tortfeasor
- Commits a tort - the person or busienss that commits the tort
- US Constitution
- Supreme Law of the land
- UCC
- Uniform Commercial Code - commercial law contracts by state statute - contracts for sale of goods (not services) not common law
- Venue
- Geographic location - the place where the suit is brought
- Verdict
- Decision of hte jury/judge - could include award - verdict becomes a judgment
- Vicarious Liability
- one person is liable for anothers actions
- Violation
- Municipal ordinances
- Void
- Marriage - a marriage that never legally took place - examples mental illness, disease, or intoxication (ab initio)
- Witnesses
- Attestation clause - notarize the witnesses
- Zoning
- Land use - master plan - division of a city/town into district and the setting of regulations about what the land can be used for & the physical dimension of building that can be built