Oran's Legal Dictionary
Terms
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- Easement
- The right of a specific nonowner of a piece of land (like next door neighbor, gov. or utility) to use part of the land in a particular way
- Declaratory Judgment
- A court order or judgment that ends a lawsuit. It may be "with prejudice" (no further lawsuit may be brought by the same persons on the same subject or "without prejudice")
- Attachment
- Formally seizing property (or a person)in order to bring it under control of the court
- Best Evidence Rule
- A rule of evidence law that often requires the most reliable available proof of a fact must be produced
- Burden of Proof
- The requirement that to win a point or have an issue decided in your favor in a lawsuit you must show that the weight of the evidence is on your side rather than "in the balance" on that question
- Decision on the Merits
- A final decision that fully and properly decides the subject matter of a case, with the effect that other lawsuits may not be brought by the same person on the same subject against the same opponent.
- Demurrer
- A legal plading that says "even if the facts presented by the other side are correct, those facts do not give the other side a legal argument that can possibly stand up in court.
- Affirm
- When a higher court declares that a lower court's action was valid and right.
- Creditor
- A person to whom a debt is owed
- Ex Parte
- (Latin) with only one side present. For example, _____ order is made on the request of one side in a lawsuit for one reason or another
- Bailment
- A temporary delivery of property by the owner into another person's custody (keeping)
- Enrolled Bill
- A bill that has gone through the steps necessary to make it a law; the rule is that once a law has been fully formalizedk its wording may not be changed by referring to previous versions.
- Encroachment
- An unlawful burden placed on another's land or another's rights in land, especially for the placement of a stucture (such as a fence or a bldg.) on another's land.
- Estoppel
- Being stopped by your own prior acts from claiming a right against another person who legitimately relied on those acts.
- Blue Law
- A law (state or local) that forbids selling or other activities on Sunday; originally any law based on religious restrictions.
- Business Judgment Rule
- A principle that if persons running a corporation make honest, careful decisions within their corporate powers, no court will interfere with these decisions even if the results are bad.
- Error
- A mistake made by a judge in the procedures used at trial, or in making legal rulings during the trial. Some of these may be objected to at the time in order to ask a higher court to review the case. If this could have affected the outcome, it called a reversible error, plain, or fatal by the higher court. If it is trivial, it is called harmless _________
- Agency
- A relationship in which one person acts for or represents another by the latter's authority.
- Escheat
- The states getting property because no owner can be found. For example, if a person dies and no person can be found who can legally inherit that person's property, the government gets it by _________.
- Ejusdem Generis
- (Latin) of the same kind or type. Under the generic rule, when a list in a document is followed by general words, those words should apply only to things of the same kind as as the things on the list. (Pronounce: ee-use-dem)
- De Jure
- (Latin) of right, legitimate; lawful whether or not true in actual fact. For example, a president may still be the head of a government even if the earmy takes actual power by force.
- Corporation
- An organization that is formed under the state or federal law and exists, for legal purposes, as a separate being or an "artificial person".
- Damages
- Money that a court orders paid to a person who has suffered
- Action
- A civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution
- Court
- A place where judge's work
- Defendant
- A person against whom a legal action is brought, civil or criminal
- Binder
- A temporary, preliminary insurance contract
- En Banc
- French) All the judges of a court participating in a case all together, rather than individually or in panels of a few
- Contract
- An agreement that affects ir creates legal relationships between two or more persons. To be a contract, an agreement must involve at least one promise, consideration, persons legally capable of making binding agreements and a reasonable certaintly about the meaning of the terms
- Deep Pockets
- Capacity to pay a lot of money
- Adhesion
- "Stick to". A contract that favors one side more than the other
- Brief
- A written statement prepared by one side to explain its case to the judge; a summary of a published opinion in a case
- Conviction
- The result of a criminal trial in which a person is found guilty
- Abatement
- Reduction or decrease; proportional reduction. "John gets $500 and the heirs' share may abate to zero".
- Appeal
- Ask a higher court to review the actions of a lower court in order to correct mistakes or injustice.
- Complaint
- The first main paper filed in a civil lawsuit.
- Constitutional
- Consistent with the constitution; not in conflict with thefundamental law contained in a state or federal constitution
- Black Letter Law
- Important basic legal principles, rules or laws that are accepted by most judges in most stats or well accepted in a particular state
- Abstention Doctrine
- The principle that a court should refrain from using its jurisdiction to take a case when there is good reason to have the matter handled by a state court (or agency) that also has jurisdiction
- Criminal
- Having to do with the law of crimes and illegal conduct
- Deed
- A document by which one person transfers the legal ownership of land to another person
- Ad Litem
- "For the suit" for the purpose of this lawsuit
- Civil
- Not criminal
- Accessory
- A person who helps commit a crime without being present
- Case
- Lawsuit; a dispute that goes to Court
- De Facto
- (Latin)in fact; actual; a situation that exists whether or not it is lawful as in a _________ corporation.
- Erratum
- (Latin) Mistake printed or written