motif

From Dutch motief, from Middle Dutch motijf, from Old French motif (Modern French motif), from Late Latin mōtivus.

(law) motive (something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour)


mulct

From Middle French mulcter (“to fine, punish”), from Latin multa (“penalty, fine”). Possibly a doublet of milk.

uder

juries cast up what a wife is worth, / By laying whate'er sum in mulct they please on / The lover, who must pay a handsome price, / Because it is a marketable vice.

1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza LXIV:

[…]by the Salic law, no higher mulct was imposed for killing, than for kidnapping a slave.

1838, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: American Stationers’ Company; John B. Russell, →OCLC, 1st part (1406–1492), page xxxvi:

The Act of Uniformity had laid a mulct of a hundred pounds on every person who, not having received episcopal ordination, should presume to administer the Eucharist.

1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

(law) A fine or penalty, especially a pecuniary one.


ouster

From Old French ouster, oustre, a nominalization of Anglo-Norman oustre (“to oust”).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-ouster.wav

(property law) Action by a cotenant that prevents another cotenant from enjoying the use of jointly owned property.


realty

en-noun

realty (countable and uncountable, plural realties)

From Middle French realité (“property, possession”). Doublet of reality.

der

(law) The property that goes to the heirs of the deceased, as distinguished from the personalty, which goes to the executor or administrator of the estate.


recuse

en-verb

recuse (third-person singular simple present recuses, present participle recusing, simple past and past participle recused)

recuses (present singular third-person)
recusing (participle present)
recused (participle past)
recused (past)
recuse (infinitive)
recuse (first-person present singular)
recused (first-person past singular)
recuse (present second-person singular)
recusest (archaic present second-person singular)
recused (past second-person singular)
recusedst (archaic past second-person singular)
recuses (present singular third-person)
recuseth (archaic present singular third-person)
recused (past singular third-person)
recuse (plural present)
recused (past plural)
recuse (present subjunctive)
recused (past subjunctive)
recuse (imperative present)
recusing (participle present)
recused (participle past)

From Late Middle English recusen, from Old French recuser (modern French récuser (“to challenge; to impugn; (formal) to make an objection; (law) to recuse”), and from its etymon Latin recūsāre, the present active infinitive of recūsō (“to decline, refuse, reject; (law) to object to, protest”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’, denoting opposition or reversal) + causa (“cause, reason; (law) case, claim; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of rouse and possibly ruse.
Cognates
* Catalan recusar
* French récuser
* Italian ricusare
* Old Occitan recuzar
* Portuguese recusar
* Spanish recusar

recusar

to reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.)

recuseren

(transitive, reflexive) of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare (oneself) unable to participate in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartality

jääviytyä

(intransitive) of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare oneself disqualified from trying a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality

The judge recused herself from that case, citing a possible conflict of interest as one of the parties was a personal friend.

The revelation is almost certain to prompt calls for [Samuel] Alito, a member of the court’s conservative wing, to recuse himself from several high-profile cases pending before the court this year involving the election and subsequent attack on the US Capitol, including the blockbuster question of whether Trump may claim immunity from federal election subversion charges.

2024 May 17, John Fritze, “New York Times: Upside-down US flag flew at home of Justice Samuel Alito after 2020 election”, in CNN:

To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).

(reflexive, law) Of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare (oneself) unable to participate in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

conflict of interest
conflict of interest

The ſaid [Nicholas] Fiott, likevviſe, recuſeth James Pipon, eſq; [as being a judge in the cause] ſeeing, that he knovvs that the ſaid Fiott is the perſon vvho is the cauſe that the ſaid Pipon hath been ſued by rigour of lavv, before the council, in order to oblige him to do juſtice to the poor concerning the hoſpital.

1771, [John Shebbeare], An Authentic Narrative of the Oppressions of the Islanders of Jersey. […], volume II, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 238–239:

(chiefly Canada, US, law) To object to (a judge, juror, or prosecutor) participating in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

vastustaa jääviyden nojalla

to object to (a judge, juror, or prosecutor) participating in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality

The district attorney recused from the case because he used to work for the company which was the defendant.

(intransitive, law) Of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare oneself disqualified from trying a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.


redact

en-verb

redact (third-person singular simple present redacts, present participle redacting, simple past and past participle redacted)

redacts (present singular third-person)
redacting (participle present)
redacted (participle past)
redacted (past)

From Old French redacter, from Latin redactus, perfect passive participle of redigō (“drive, lead, collect, reduce”), from re- (“back”) + agō (“put in motion, drive”).

(law) To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.


remit

From Middle English remitten, from Latin remittere (“to send, send back”). Compare Old French remettre, remetre, remitter.

(law) A communication from a superior court to a subordinate court.


situs

Borrowed from Latin situs (“position, site”). Doublet of site and sitio.

(law) The location of a property as used for taxation or other legal purposes.


termer

(law) One who has an estate for a term of years or for life.


waiver

From Anglo-Norman weyver, from waiver. Date: 1628. By surface analysis, waive + -er.

I had to sign a waiver when I went skydiving, agreeing not to sue even if something went wrong.

Sandy Alomar Jr. cleared waivers and was outrighted to Class AA Binghamton in preparation for his promotion when rosters expand Saturday.

2007 August 30, Ben Shpigel, “Martínez to Audition for Mets’ Brain Trust”, in The New York Times:

Growth Energy sent the entire report to the E.P.A., but the summary it provided with its formal waiver request — and uses in press materials — said that when using E15 and E20, “there were no significant changes in vehicle tailpipe emissions, vehicle drivability or small nonroad engine emissions as ethanol content increased.”

2009 October 5, Christopher Jensen, “Critics Find Flaws in the Case Made by Ethanol Advocates”, in The New York Times:

(law) A legal document removing some requirement, such as waiving a right (giving it up) or a waiver of liability (agreeing to hold someone blameless).


inure

inure (third-person singular simple present inures, present participle inuring, simple past and past participle inured)

inures (present singular third-person)
inuring (participle present)
inured (participle past)
inured (past)
enure (alternative)

From Middle English inuren, equivalent to in- + ure (“practise, exercise”).

Jim buys a beach house that includes the right to travel across the neighbor's property to get to the water. That right of way is said, cryptically, "to inure to the benefit of Jim".

(intransitive, chiefly law) To take effect, to be operative.


bribery

(law) The activity of giving, offering or accepting bribes.


contest

contest (third-person singular simple present contests, present participle contesting, simple past and past participle contested)

contests (present singular third-person)
contesting (participle present)
contested (participle past)
contested (past)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From French contester, from Old French, from Latin contestor (“to call to witness”).

(law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist, as a claim, by course of law.


arrest

en-noun

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

der

State police made a total of 15 drug-related arrests across the city.

(law) The process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc.

arrestasie

legal: process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc


arrest

nl-noun

arrest n (plural arresten, diminutive arrestje n)

arresten (plural)
arrestje (diminutive neuter)

→ Indonesian: ares

Negerhollands: arrest

From Middle Dutch arrest, from Old French arest.

(law) confiscation ordered by a legal ruling

(law, historical) detention, confinement, especially after being arrested


surrender

en-noun

surrender (countable and uncountable, plural surrenders)

surrenders (plural)
surrendre (alternative)

From Middle English surrendre, from Anglo-Norman surrendre, infinitive as noun. Displaced native Old English handgang.

(law, property law) The yielding of the leasehold estate by the lessee to the landlord, so that the tenancy for years merges in the reversion and no longer exists.

luovutus

law, property law: the yielding of the leasehold estate by the lessee to the landlord


arbiter

la-noun

arbiter m (genitive arbitrī, feminine arbitra); second declension

arbitrī (genitive)
arbitra (feminine)
arbiter (nominative singular)
arbitrī (nominative plural)
arbitrī (genitive singular)
arbitrōrum (genitive plural)
arbitrō (dative singular)
arbitrīs (dative plural)
arbitrum (accusative singular)
arbitrōs (accusative plural)
arbitrō (ablative singular)
arbitrīs (ablative plural)
arbiter (singular vocative)
arbitrī (plural vocative)

Portuguese: álvidro

→ Catalan: àrbitre

→ English: arbiter

desctree

→ French: arbitre
→ Russian: арбитр (arbitr)
→ Georgian: არბიტრი (arbiṭri)

→ Italian: arbitro

→ Portuguese: árbitro

→ Romanian: arbitru

→ Sicilian: àrbitru

→ Spanish: árbitro

Uncertain, but probably cognate to Umbrian 𐌀𐌛𐌐𐌖𐌕𐌓𐌀𐌕𐌉 (ařputrati, “according to the judgement”, abl.sg.), corresponding to Latin arbitrātū. Possibly from ad- + baetō, with sporadic d > r as in arvorsum, arfuise, thus originally meaning "one that goes to something in order to see or hear it". However, that verb has no certain etymology, and the Umbrian pu remains unexplained. De Vaan suggests a derivation from putō to explain the Umbrian pu, however that is still morphologically difficult since the latter is based on an adjective. The voiced b would have to be exceptional or explained by some peculiarity of the řp sequence in Umbrian.

cog

(law) arbitrator, arbiter (having a wider power than a iūdex)


arbiter

arbiter (nominative singular)
arbitrzy (nominative plural)
arbitry (derogatory nominative plural)
arbitra (genitive singular)
arbitrów (genitive plural)
arbitrowi (dative singular)
arbitrom (dative plural)
arbitra (accusative singular)
arbitrów (accusative plural)
arbitrem (instrumental singular)
arbitrami (instrumental plural)
arbitrze (locative singular)
arbitrach (locative plural)
arbitrze (singular vocative)
arbitrzy (plural vocative)
arbitry (derogatory plural vocative)

(law) arbiter (person appointed, or chosen, by parties to determine a controversy between them)


assault

en-noun

assault (countable and uncountable, plural assaults)

From Middle English assaut, from Old French noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l.

(singular only, law) The crime whose action is such an attempt.

pahoinpitelyn yritys

legal: crime whose action is such an attempt

(singular only, law) The tort whose action is such an act.


avow

en-verb

avow (third-person singular simple present avows, present participle avowing, simple past and past participle avowed)

avows (present singular third-person)
avowing (participle present)
avowed (participle past)
avowed (past)

From Middle English avowen, from Old French avouer, from Latin advocare (“to call to, call upon, hence to call as a witness, defender, patron, or advocate”), from ad (“to”) + vocare (“to call”). Doublet of advoke, avouch, and advocate. Not related to vow.

der

avow himself the accomplice of his crimes

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.


bail

en-noun

bail (countable and uncountable, plural bails)

From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff).

(law, UK) Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.

fiança

release from imprisonment on payment of such money

(law, UK) The person providing such payment.


bail

en-verb

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

bails (present singular third-person)
bailing (participle present)
bailed (participle past)
bailed (past)

(law) To release a person under such guarantee.

päästää vapaaksi takuita vastaan

legal: to release a person under such guarantee

to bail cloth to a tailor to be made into a garment; to bail goods to a carrier

(law) To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.

pantata

legal: to hand over personal property as a bailment


bequeath

bequeath (third-person singular simple present bequeaths, present participle bequeathing, simple past bequeathed or (obsolete) bequoth, past participle bequeathed or (rare) bequethen or (obsolete) bequothen)

bequeaths (present singular third-person)
bequeathing (participle present)
bequeathed (past)
bequoth (obsolete past)
bequeathed (participle past)
bequethen (participle past rare)
bequothen (obsolete participle past)

From Middle English biquethen, from Old English becweþan (“to say, to speak, to address, exhort, admonish, blame, bequeath, leave by will”), equivalent to be- + quethe. Cognate with Old Frisian biquetha.

inh

(law) To give or leave by will; to give by testament.


breach

From Middle English breche, from Old English bryċe (“fracture, breach”) and brǣċ (“breach, breaking, destruction”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruki, from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (“breach, fissure”) and *brēkō (“breaking”).

breach of promise

(law) A breaking or infraction of a law, or of any obligation or tie; violation; non-fulfillment.


breach

en-verb

breach (third-person singular simple present breaches, present participle breaching, simple past and past participle breached)

breaches (present singular third-person)
breaching (participle present)
breached (participle past)
breached (past)

[…]the Pre-Sentence Report states that: "He was breached by the probation officer within several months of the commencement of the Probation Order for failing to report as he relocated to another Province and did not report there as directed.[…]"

2011 June 7, D.A. Harris, “R. v. Larochelle, 2011 ONCJ 339”, in CanLII, retrieved 2021-10-10:

However, you can breach your landlord if the maintenance item is considered an emergency repair under the terms of your lease.

2023 January 30, Frances Fernandez, “Can I stop paying rent if the landlord refuses to do maintenance?”, in First National Real Estate Rochedale:

Tenants have a right to breach a landlord for a failure to undertake necessary maintenance.

2025 February 27, “Tenant rental rights you need to know about”, in RentCover:

"We breached them for a number of code breaches and we recommended to the Nine Network that they publish that and essentially what we were saying is that if you do that then we'll consider the file closed," Mr Chapman said.

2016 February 16, Max Mason, “ACMA boss Chris Chapman calls for stronger powers”, in Sydney Morning Herald:

How often have you had to breach someone for, effectively, failure to cooperate with an investigation by not providing information?

2025 March 4, Barbara Pocock, “Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services - 04/03/2025 - Oversight of ASIC, the Takeovers Panel and the Corporations Legislation public hearing”, in parliamentary debates:

(law, informal, transitive, usually passive) To charge, convict or take legal action against someone due to not meeting a legal obligation.


cancellation

en-noun

cancellation (countable and uncountable, plural cancellations)

cancellations (plural)
cancelation (alternative)

From Latin cancellātiō, from cancellō + -tiō.

intellectual property
intellectual property

(law) In United States intellectual property law, a proceeding in which an interested party seeks to cancel the registration of a trademark or patent.


caution

caution (countable and uncountable, plural cautions)

Recorded since 1297 as Middle English caucioun (“bail, guarantee, pledge”), from Old French caution (“security, surety”), itself from Latin cautiō, from cautus, past participle of caveō, cavēre (“be on one's guard”).

inh

(law) A formal warning given as an alternative to prosecution in minor cases.


caution

From Old French caution, borrowed from Latin cautiō, cautiōnem.


circumstantial

en-adj

circumstantial (comparative more circumstantial, superlative most circumstantial)

more circumstantial (comparative)
most circumstantial (superlative)

From Latin circumstantia + English -al, equivalent to circumstance + -ial.

It is unlikely he will be convicted; the evidence against him is circumstantial at best.

Never, he said, in the course of his long experience, had he known a charge of murder rest on slighter evidence. Not only was it entirely circumstantial, but the greater part of it was practically unproved.

1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 162:

(law) Involving evidence that relies on inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, thus, suggesting guilt but not directly proving it.


commutation

en-noun

commutation (countable and uncountable, plural commutations)

From French commutation, from Latin commūtātiōnem, accusative singular of commūtātiō.

Monsieur the Marquis de Sade [was] now holed up in one of his châteaux while his wife worked for the commutation of a sentence passed on him recently for poisoning and buggery.

1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 23:

(law) The change to a lesser penalty or punishment by the State

смекча́ване на наказа́ние

the change to a lesser penalty or punishment by the State


comprise

en-verb

comprise (third-person singular simple present comprises, present participle comprising, simple past and past participle comprised)

comprises (present singular third-person)
comprising (participle present)
comprised (participle past)
comprised (past)

From Middle English comprisen, from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere, contr. comprendere, past participle comprehensus (“to comprehend”); see comprehend. Compare apprise, reprise, surprise.

(close-ended)

(patent law) To include, contain, or be made up of, defining the minimum elements, whether essential or inessential to define an invention.


consummation

en-noun

consummation (countable and uncountable, plural consummations)

(law) The date at which the mortgagor becomes contractually obligated to the mortgagee in a real estate transaction.


cross-examination

cross-examination (countable and uncountable, plural cross-examinations)

cross-examinations (plural)
cross examination (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cross-examination.wav

When Horsley finished his testimony, Richardson began the cross-examination, which was to last for twenty-six hours over the course of an entire week.

1999, Patrick J. Gallo, The American Paradox: Politics and Justice, page 62:

(law) The interrogation or questioning of a witness by the party against whom they have been called and examined, in an attempt to prove or reveal something false or untold during direct examination.

kruisverhoor

interrogating of a witness by the party against whom they have been called and examined


customary

From Middle English custumary, from Medieval Latin custumarius. By surface analysis, custom + -ary.

(law) A book containing laws and usages, or customs; a custumal.

coutumier

a book containing laws and usages, or customs


deceit

deceit (countable and uncountable, plural deceits)

From Middle English deceyte, from Old French deceite, deçoite, from decevoir (“to deceive”), from Latin dēcipere (“to cheat, mislead”).

(law) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.

petos

legal: fraudulent representation of a material fact


dedication

dedication (countable and uncountable, plural dedications)

/ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/

Originated 1350–1400 from Middle English dedicacioun, from Old French dedicacion (“consecration of a church or chapel”), from Latin dēdicātiō, equivalent to dēdicātus+-iōn.

der

the dedication of this right-of-way

(law) The deliberate or negligent surrender of all rights to property.


dehors

dehors the agreement, record, will etc.

(archaic, law) Outside of; without or not related to


demise

en-noun

demise (countable and uncountable, plural demises)

From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished.
The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.

(law) The conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years, most commonly the latter.

прехвърляне

the conveyance or transfer of an estate, either in fee for life or for years


demise

en-verb

demise (third-person singular simple present demises, present participle demising, simple past and past participle demised)

demises (present singular third-person)
demising (participle present)
demised (participle past)
demised (past)

(transitive, law) To convey, as by will or lease.

(transitive, law) To transmit by inheritance.

(intransitive, law) To pass by inheritance.


determination

en-noun

determination (countable and uncountable, plural determinations)

/dɪˌtɜːmɪˈneɪʃən/

From Middle English determinacion, determynacioun, from Old French determinacion, from Latin dēterminātiō.
Morphologically determine + -ation

عَزِيمَة

act of determining, or the state of being determined

language analysis for the determination of origin

If a lease is determined by notice, forfeiture or frustration, all incumbrances will normally end automatically with the determination of the lease and can therefore be ignored.

2021, HM Land Registry, Practice guide 26: leases – determination, archived from the original on 2021-10-04:

So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination: then you were
Yourself again after yourself's decease […]

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 13”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

(law, otherwise obsolete) Bringing to an end; termination; limit.

opsigelse

(law, otherwise obsolete) bringing to an end; termination; limit


devastation

devastation (countable and uncountable, plural devastations)

(law) Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastavit.


dilapidation

dilapidation (countable and uncountable, plural dilapidations)

dilapidations (plural)
delapidation (alternative dated)

(law) The act of dilapidating, damaging a building or structure through neglect or intentionally.

(British, law) Ecclesiastical waste: impairing of church property by an incumbent, through neglect or intentionally.


disbar

en-verb

disbar (third-person singular simple present disbars, present participle disbarring, simple past and past participle disbarred)

disbars (present singular third-person)
disbarring (participle present)
disbarred (participle past)
disbarred (past)

(law, transitive) To expel from the bar, or the legal profession; to deprive (an attorney, barrister, or counselor) of his or her status and privileges as such.

erottaa asianajajan virasta

to expel from the bar, or the legal profession

erottaa Asianajajaliitosta

Finland; all attorneys must be part of Asianajajaliitto, and removal from it is equivalent to disbarment


emancipate

emancipate (third-person singular simple present emancipates, present participle emancipating, simple past and past participle emancipated)

emancipates (present singular third-person)
emancipating (participle present)
emancipated (participle past)
emancipated (past)
emancipate (infinitive)
emancipate (first-person present singular)
emancipated (first-person past singular)
emancipate (present second-person singular)
emancipatest (archaic present second-person singular)
emancipated (past second-person singular)
emancipatedst (archaic past second-person singular)
emancipates (present singular third-person)
emancipateth (archaic present singular third-person)
emancipated (past singular third-person)
emancipate (plural present)
emancipated (past plural)
emancipate (present subjunctive)
emancipated (past subjunctive)
emancipate (imperative present)
emancipating (participle present)
emancipated (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-emancipate.wav

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-emancipate.wav

PIE word
 *h₁eǵʰs
Learned borrowing from Latin ēmancipātus (“liberated, emancipated”) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and adjectives with the sense ‘characterized by the specified thing’). Ēmancipātus is the perfect passive participle of ēmancipō (“to declare (someone) free and independent of another’s power, emancipate; to give (something) from one’s authority or power into that of another, to alienate, transfer; to cause (oneself or someone) to become another’s slave; to make (someone) subservient”), from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + mancipō (“to sell; to transfer”) (from manceps (“owner, possessor; purchaser; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs)); and manceps is from Proto-Italic *manukaps, from *manus (“hand”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon; to signal”)) + *-kaps (suffix denoting a catcher) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize; to hold”); referring to one who catches something in the hand).
The verb emancipate has sense 1.1 (“to set free”) and sense 1.3 (“(obsolete) to place under one’s control”) which are contradictory. The Latin word ēmancipō had the same senses, and the Oxford English Dictionary notes that according to the Latin grammarian Paulus Festus (fl. 8th century) this is because both actions were effected by the legal process of mancipation.

أَطْلَقَ

to set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another — see also liberate

翻身

to set free (oneself or someone) from imprisonment, or from serfdom or slavery

The child was emancipated from her parents

The Procreation, or Children of a Common-vvealth, are thoſe vve call Plantations, or Colonies; […] And vvhen a Colony is ſetled, they are either a Common-vvealth of themſelves, diſcharged of their ſubjection to their Soveraign that ſent them, (as hath been done by many Common-vvealths of antient time,) in vvhich caſe the Common-vvealth from vvhich they vvent, vvas called their Metropolis, or Mother, and requires no more of them, then Fathers require of the Children, vvhom they emancipate, and make free from their domeſtique government, vvhich is Honour, and Friendſhip; or elſe they remain united to their Metropolis, as vvere the Colonies of the people of Rome; and then they are no Common-vvealths themſelves, but Provinces, and parts of the Common-vvealth that ſent them.

1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Nutrition, and Procreation of a Common-wealth”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 131:

[I]f his [the paterfamilias'] wife had not passed in manum—and that was common enough even during the republic and universal in the later empire—she did not become a member of his family; she remained a member of the family in which she was born, or, if its head was deceased, or she had been emancipated, was the sole member of a family of her own. Both sons and daughters on emancipation ceased to be of the family of the paterfamilias who had emancipated them.

1886, James Muirhead, “Institutions of the Private Law”, in Historical Introduction to the Private Law of Rome, Edinburgh: A[dam] and C[harles] Black, →OCLC, section 9 (The Family Organisation), page 25:

Enlistment for active duty with a branch of the armed forces emancipates a minor. In many jurisdictions this emancipation only lasts during the period of active service.

1981, Paula Downey [et al.], “Removing the Disabilities of Minority: About Emancipation, Partial or Complete”, in The Legal Status of Adolescents 1980, Washington, D.C.: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services, →OCLC, page 31:

When I was fourteen, I was emancipated by the courts. It's no secret that I had to part ways from my mother because we had driven our relationship into the ground.

2015, Drew Barrymore, “My Beautiful Laundrette”, in Wildflower, New York, N.Y.: Dutton, →ISBN, page 31:

To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.

(chiefly law) To release (a minor) from the legal authority and custody which a parent or guardian has over them; also (Ancient Rome, historical), to release (a child) from the legal authority of the paterfamilias.

ontvoogden

to release (a minor) from the legal authority and custody which a parent or guardian has over them; (Ancient Rome, historical) to release (a child) from the legal authority of the paterfamilias


enshrine

en-verb

enshrine (third-person singular simple present enshrines, present participle enshrining, simple past and past participle enshrined)

enshrines (present singular third-person)
enshrining (participle present)
enshrined (participle past)
enshrined (past)
inshrine (alternative)

Other measures, such as compensation for victims, will be enshrined in the proposed new law.

The links were mostly to newspaper articles and public records, and Google refused to comply, but with the “right to be forgotten” enshrined as a key objective of the European Union’s 2011 data protection strategy, more and bigger cases are likely to follow.

2011 April 19, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, “Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul”, in NewScientist:

In total, it would have enshrined over 100 rights into Chile’s national charter, more than any other constitution in the world, including the right to housing, education, clean air, water, food, sanitation, internet access, retirement benefits, free legal advice and care “from birth to death.”

2022 September 4, Jack Nicas, “Chile Says ‘No’ to Left-Leaning Constitution After 3 Years of Debate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(figurative, law) To protect (an idea, ideal, or philosophy) within an official law or treaty.

verankern

to protect within an official law or treaty


punitive

en-adj

punitive (comparative more punitive, superlative most punitive)

more punitive (comparative)
most punitive (superlative)

From Middle French punitif, from Medieval Latin pūnitīvus, from pūniō (“I punish”).

Beijing imposed punitive sanctions on Canada.

The jury awarded $10,000 in punitive damages.

(law, military) Inflicting punishment; punishing.


exemplification

en-noun

exemplification (countable and uncountable, plural exemplifications)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-exemplification.wav

From Middle English exemplificacion, exemplification, from Anglo-Norman exemplification, from Medieval Latin exemplificātiō.

(law) A copy or transcript attested to be correct by the seal of an officer having custody of the original.


expropriation

(law) eminent domain, compulsory purchase


fiduciary

From Latin fīdūciārius (“held in trust”), from fīdūcia (“trust”).

a fiduciary contract

a fiduciary duty

(law) Relating to an entity that owes to another good faith, accountability and trust, often in the context of trusts and trustees.


fiduciary

“We focus on sustainability not because we’re environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients,” Mr. Fink wrote.

2022 January 18, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Michael J. de la Merced, quoting Larry Fink, “It’s Not ‘Woke’ for Businesses to Think Beyond Profit, BlackRock Chief Says”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(law) One who holds a thing in trust for another.


fixation

fixation (countable and uncountable, plural fixations)

From Old French fixation. By surface analysis, fix + -ation.

fixació

a state of mind involving obsession with a particular person, idea or thing

In order to obtain copyright on a recording in the United States, the recording must have been reduced to fixation on or after February 15, 1972.

(law) Recording a creative work in a medium of expression for more than a transitory duration, thereby satisfying the "fixation" requirement for the purposes of copyright law.

tallentaminen

(legal) recording a creative work in a medium of expression for more than a transitory duration


flaw

From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”).
Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).

cog

a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute

A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.

(law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.


fornication

en-noun

fornication (countable and uncountable, plural fornications)

/ˌfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/

From Middle English fornicacioun, from Old French fornicacion, from Latin fornicātiō, from fornix (“brothel”).

FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed—
BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead.

c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act IV:

I am the sister of one Claudio,
Condemned upon the act of fornication
To lose his head, condemned by Angelo

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 5:19–21:

Draw not near unto fornication; for it is wickedness, and an evil way

1734, George Sale, transl., Alcoran of Mohammed, 17:32:

In one case, where a man was sued for committing fornication with his wife before marriage, it appeared, that seven years after her death he was cited to stand as a prisoner at their bar, though he had lived with her for nine years,[…]

1816, Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England: From the Norman Conquest, in 1066, to the Year, 1803, page 623:

... that he was a married man at the time is a necessary allegation, as the allegation that he was an unmarried man would have been necessary had he been charged with the crime of incest, by having committed fornication with his daughter.

1893, The Southwestern Reporter, page 840:

Thus, at Roxbury, 1678, Hanna Hopkins was censured in the church for fornication with her husband before marriage and for fleeing from justice into Rhode Island.

2013, Arthur W. Calhoun, The American Family in the Colonial Period, Courier Corporation, →ISBN:

(religion, law) Sexual intercourse by people who are not married to each other, or which is considered illicit in another way.


frustration

frustration (countable and uncountable, plural frustrations)

From Latin frūstrātiō (“disappointment”), related to frūstrā (“in vain”). By surface analysis, frustrate + -ion.

The act of frustrating, or the state, or an instance of being frustrated.

(law) The state of contract that allows a party to back away from its contractual obligations due to (unforeseen) radical changes to the nature of the thing a party has been obligated to.

Frustration

exact concept may not exist in German law


gazette

→ Kikuyu: ngathĩti

→ Maori: kāhiti

→ Swahili: gazeti

Borrowed from French gazette, from Italian gazzetta, from Venetan gazeta, from gazeta dele novità (literally “a gazeta (halfpenny) of news”), named for the cost (one gazeta) of the newspaper. Compare penny dreadful, dime novel. See gazzetta for more.

subsidiary legislation
subsidiary legislation

(law, often capitalized and italicized in legislations) An official periodical publication published by a government containing legal and state notices, and in some cases, legislations, subsidiary legislations and bills.


contumacious

en-adj

contumacious (comparative more contumacious, superlative most contumacious)

more contumacious (comparative)
most contumacious (superlative)

From Latin contumāx (“stubborn, obstinate”) + -ious.

(law) Willfully disobedient to the summons or orders of a court.


grant

grants (plural)
graunt (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English granten, graunten, grantien, grauntien, from Anglo-Norman granter, graunter, from Old French granter, graunter, graanter, greanter (“to promise, assure, guarantee, confirm, ratify”), from a merger of Old French garantir, guarantir (“to guarantee, assure, vouch for”) (see English guarantee) and earlier cranter, craanter, creanter (“to allow, permit”), from an assumed Medieval Latin *credentāre, from Latin credere (“to believe, trust”). Alternatively, a regular reflex of Medieval Latin *credentāre with regular voicing of /k/ before a liquid plus low vowel. More at guarantee, credit.

a grant of land or of money

(law) A transfer of property by deed or writing; especially, an appropriation or conveyance made by the government.

apuraha

a transfer of property by deed or writing


grant

pl-noun

grant m inan (related adjective grantowy)

grantowy (adjective)
grant (nominative singular)
granty (nominative plural)
grantu (genitive singular)
grantów (genitive plural)
grantowi (dative singular)
grantom (dative plural)
grant (accusative singular)
granty (accusative plural)
grantem (instrumental singular)
grantami (instrumental plural)
grancie (locative singular)
grantach (locative plural)
grancie (singular vocative)
granty (plural vocative)

(law) grant (fund given by a person or organisation, often a public body, charitable foundation, a specialised grant-making institution, or in some cases a business with a corporate social responsibility mission, to an individual or another entity, usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local government body, for a specific purpose linked to public benefit)


impound

en-verb

impound (third-person singular simple present impounds, present participle impounding, simple past and past participle impounded)

impounds (present singular third-person)
impounding (participle present)
impounded (participle past)
impounded (past)

to impound stray cattle

to impound a document for safekeeping.

I particularly enjoyed the tale of the Folkestone tank engine, which, in October, 1886, was impounded by H. M. Customs after smuggled brandy was found concealed in its coal bunker; the tank spent over a month in a harbour siding under Customs seal and proceedings were seriously contemplated against the S.E.R., as well as against the crew, for the engine's part in the affair.

1963 September, “New Books: The Locomotives of the South Eastern Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 216:

The container thought to have belonged to Garweg was impounded by police and removed from the site by the Federal Agency for Protective Relief (THW) on Sunday and taken for further examination.

2024 March 4, Kate Connolly, “German prosecutors urge Red Army Faction suspects to surrender”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(transitive, law) To hold in the custody of a court or its delegate.

confiscar

to hold in the custody of a court or its delegate

(transitive, law, banking) To collect and hold (funds) for payment of property taxes and insurance on property in which one has a security interest.


impound

en-noun

impound (countable and uncountable, plural impounds)

(law, banking) Amounts collected from a debtor and held by one with a security interest in property for payment of property taxes and insurance.


incorporation

incorporation (countable and uncountable, plural incorporations)

/ɪŋˌkɔːpəˈɹeɪʃən/

/ɪŋˌkɔɹpəˈɹeɪʃən/

/ɪŋˌkoːpəˈɹæɪʃən/

From Middle English incorporacioun, from Old French incorporacion, from Late Latin incorporatio.

(law) A doctrine of constitutional law according to which certain parts of the Bill of Rights are extended to bind individual American states. ᵂᵖ


inculpation

Learned borrowing from Late Latin inculpātiō. By surface analysis, inculper + -ation.

lbor

chef d'inculpation

count (a single charge in legal proceedings)


incur

en-verb

incur (third-person singular simple present incurs, present participle incurring, simple past and past participle incurred)

incurs (present singular third-person)
incurring (participle present)
incurred (participle past)
incurred (past)
encur (alternative)

From Middle English incurren, from Anglo-Norman encurir, Middle French encourir, from Old French encorre, from Latin incurrere.

كَبَّدَ

to expose oneself to something inconvenient

Near-synonyms: entail, invoke

The least neglect of duty will incur[...] the penalty of thirty-nine well laid on in the morning.

1861, Francis Colburn Adams, “Chapter VII”, in An Outcast:

Lest you incur me much more damage in my fame than you have done me pleasure in preserving my life.

1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman, Ben Ionson, Ioh[n] Marston, Eastward Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

(transitive) To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to.

(chiefly law, accounting) To render (somebody, or oneself) liable or subject to.

كَبَّدَ

to render liable or subject to; to occasion


indemnification

en-noun

indemnification (countable and uncountable, plural indemnifications)


indentation

indentation (countable and uncountable, plural indentations)

The explanatory report acknowledges that the result of the rule under the second indentation can appear arbitrary.

2013, Jenny Papettas, The Law Applicable to Cross Border Road Traffic Accidents, Birmingham, page 204:

(law) A division unit of a piece of law distinguished by its indentation or by a dash.


injunction

/ɪnˈd͡ʒʌŋk.ʃən/

From Middle English iniunccyon, iniunccion, from Old French injonctïon, from Latin iniūnctiō (“command, injunction”).

Southwark council, which took out the injunction against Matt, believes YouTube has become the "new playground" for gang members.

2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in The Guardian:

The judges said Trump must issue new orders reflecting the permanent injunction within 10 days.

2025 May 29, Kalyeena Makortoff, “US federal court blocks Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(law) A writ or process, granted by a court of equity, and, in some cases, under statutes, by a court of law, whereby a party is required to do or to refrain from doing certain acts, according to the exigency of the writ.


court

→ Bulgarian: корт (kort)

→ French: court

desctree

→ Russian: корт (kort)
→ Armenian: կորտ (kort)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

caught (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrtem (accusative of cōrs), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

مَلْعَب

place for playing the game of tennis and some other ball games

Many famous criminals have been put on trial in this court.

The hall, chamber, or place, where justice is administered.

geregshof

The court started proceedings at 11 o'clock.

Next month, Clemons will be brought before a court presided over by a "special master", who will review the case one last time. The hearing will be unprecedented in its remit, but at its core will be a simple issue: should Reggie Clemons live or die?

2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

536(2.1). ... You have the option to elect to be tried by a provincial court judge without a jury; or you may elect to be tried by a judge without a jury; or you may elect to be tried by a court composed of a judge and jury.

1985, “Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)”, in Justice Canada, retrieved 2020-03-01:

The persons officially assembled under authority of law, at the appropriate time and place, for the administration of justice; an official assembly, legally met together for the transaction of judicial business; a judge or judges sitting for the hearing or trial of cases.

geregshof

tribunal established for the administration of justice

Each province in Canada has three courts: a provincial court, a superior court, and a court of appeals.

An organization for the administration of law, consisting of a body of judges with a certain jurisdiction along with its administrative apparatus.

A case conference in person was convened.... To emphasize that it was a Court proceeding the Court was gowned.

2017 May 5, Kevin R. Aalto, “Gordon v. Canada, 2017 FC 454”, in CanLII, retrieved 2020-02-23:

[5]... defence alleges there is a reasonable apprehension of bias based on the cumulative effect of several issues including the following: (1) The Court was “crying” during the victim impact statement; (2) The Court laughed or “scoffed” when defence stated its sentencing position; ...(6) The Court’s tone, facial expression and demeanor throughout the proceedings...

2018 August 17, M.F. McParland, “R. v. Carlson, 2018 BCPC 209”, in CanLII, retrieved 2020-03-01:

(often capitalized) The judge or judges or other judicial officer presiding in a particular matter, particularly as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.

The court is now in session.

On Thursday morning, a Hennepin County judge formally sentenced Julissa Thaler to the life sentence for Eli Hart's murder. […] After court, family said their focus now turns to fundraising a playground in Mound in Eli Hart's honor […]

2023 February 16, WCCO Staff, “Julissa Thaler sentenced to life in prison for murdering 6-year-old son, Eli Hart”, in cbsnews.com:

(law) The administration of law.
The session of a judicial assembly.

Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.


intervene

en-verb

intervene (third-person singular simple present intervenes, present participle intervening, simple past and past participle intervened)

intervenes (present singular third-person)
intervening (participle present)
intervened (participle past)
intervened (past)

Back-formation from intervention, and/or from Latin interveniō (“come between”, verb).

намирам се между

to occur, to come between, points of time, or events

an application for leave (i.e. permission) to intervene

(law) In a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter.

intervenir

law: in a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter


invocation

en-noun

invocation (countable and uncountable, plural invocations)

From Middle English invocacioun, from Old French invocacion, from Latin invocatio, invocationem.

the invocation of papers or evidence into court

(chiefly law) A call or summons, especially a judicial call, demand, or order.

призоваване

McNeil (D) contended that his courtroom appearance with an attorney for the West Allis crime constituted an invocation of his Miranda right to counsel and that his subsequent waiver during police-initiated questioning regarding the Caledonia crime was invalid.

As a matter of legal principle, the State should report whether all the necessary conditions for the invocation of the right of self-defense were existent.

2008, Jan Kittrich, The Right of Individual Self-Defense in Public International Law, →ISBN:

This chapter might have been titled “The First 'First Civil Right'”: before Richard Nixon's 1968 invocation of the right to protection from (black) crime, Truman Democrats advocated protection from (white) lawlessness as the first essential right.

2014, Naomi Murakawa, The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America, →ISBN:

(law) An act of invoking or claiming a legal right.


lease

→ Dutch: leasen

desctree

⇒ English: leasing
→ Spanish: leasing
→ Finnish: leasing
→ Polish: leasing
→ Swedish: leasing

From Middle English *lesen, from Anglo-Norman *leser, Old French lesser, laisier (“to let, let go”), partly from Latin laxō (“to loose”) and partly from Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, release”) (German lassen), cognate with Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, leave, rent”) whence let.

cog

(formal, law) An interest in land granting exclusive use or occupation of real estate for a limited period; a leasehold.

hua

contract granting use or occupation of property


lease

en-verb

lease (third-person singular simple present leases, present participle leasing, simple past and past participle leased)

leases (present singular third-person)
leasing (participle present)
leased (participle past)
leased (past)

арендовам

to operate or live in some property or land through purchasing a long-term contract

(transitive, formal, law) To grant a lease as a landlord; to let.


liberate

Borrowed from Latin līberātus, originally used as the past participle of liberate, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

(obsolete, UK, historical, law) allowed, delivered, freed (see Etymology 3).


liberate

From Middle English liberate (the common first word of such writs), from Medieval Latin līberātum, substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of līberātus, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Alternatively, from līberāte, the second-person plural imperative of līberō, compare English allocate (“a warrant for the payment of a pension, allowance, debt, etc.”).

noncog

liberate roll

an account kept of pensions and other allowances made under the great seal

liberate day

(obsolete, historical, law) A writ issued out of the Chancery for the payment of a pension, debt, the delivery of one's land or goods from a sheriff's custody, the delivery a prisoner put in bail fo appearance or other royal allowance.


liege

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-liege.wav

From Middle English liege, lege, lige, from Anglo-Norman lige, from Old French liege (“liege, free”), from Middle High German ledic, ledec (“free, empty, vacant”) (Modern German ledig (“unmarried”)) from Proto-Germanic *liþugaz (“flexible, free, unoccupied”).
Akin to Old Frisian leþeg, leþoch (“free”), Old English liþiġ (“flexible”), Old Norse liðugr (“free, unhindered”), Old Saxon lethig (“idle”), Low German leddig (“empty”), Middle Dutch ledich (“idle, unemployed”) (Dutch ledig (“empty”) and leeg (“empty”)), Middle English lethi (“unoccupied, at leisure”).
An alternate etymology traces the Old French word to Late Latin laeticus (“of or relating to a semifree colonist in Gaul”), from Latin laetus (“a semi-free colonist”), from Gothic *𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (*lēts) (attested in derivatives such as 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍄𐍃 (fralēts)), from Proto-Germanic *lētaz (“freeman; bondsman, serf”), from *lētaną (“to let; free; release”).

der

it was a release by Katherine de Ros in her liege widowhood to Sir Thomas de Stirkeland

1908, Daniel Scott (of Penrith), Stricklands of Sizergh Castle:

(obsolete, law) Full; perfect; complete; pure.


motive

From Middle English motif, from Anglo-Norman motif, Middle French motif, and their source, Late Latin motivum (“motive, moving cause”), neuter of motivus.

What would his motive be for burning down the cottage?

No-one could understand why she had hidden the shovel; her motives were obscure at best.

“Why should Eldridge commit murder?[…]There was only one possible motive—namely, he wished to avoid detection as James Selby of Anaconda Ltd. […]”

1931, Francis Beeding, “10/6”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:

(law) Something which causes someone to want to commit a crime; a reason for criminal behaviour.


multifarious

en-adj

multifarious (comparative more multifarious, superlative most multifarious)

more multifarious (comparative)
most multifarious (superlative)

(law, of lawsuits) In which a party or a cause of action has been improperly or wrongfully joined together in the same suit, as in a misjoinder, perhaps as a result of a joinder of unrelated, distinct, independent parties or matters.


necessity

en-noun

necessity (countable and uncountable, plural necessities)

impossibility

antonym(s) of “state of being necessary”

From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitās (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity”), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”); see necessary. Doublet of Necessitas.

der

doctrine of necessity

(law) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.

(law, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life).


overreach

en-verb

overreach (third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached or (obsolete) overraught)

overreaches (present singular third-person)
overreaching (participle present)
overreached (participle past)
overreached (past)
overraught (obsolete participle past)
overraught (obsolete past)

/ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/

/ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

nb...

overreche, overreiche, (Northern England) overreke

أَنَافَ

to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree

[A]n equitable mortgage, by deposit of deeds to a person, bona fide, and without notice, will give him a preferable equity; and will overreach the vendor's equitable lien on the estate for any part of the purchase-money.

1813, Edward Burtenshaw Sugden, “Of the Vendor’s Lien on the Estate Sold for the Purchase-money, if Not Paid”, in A Practical Treatise of the Law of Vendors & Purchasers of Estates, 4th edition, London: Printed for J[oseph] Butterworth, […], →OCLC, page 452:

Wood therefore cannot, in equity, be permitted to proceed in his ejectment suit, to recover possession of the land under the title he has acquired from the state, by the attorney general's sale, and which at law overreaches the complainant's title.

1834 October 21, Reuben H[yde] Walworth, Chancellor, New York Court of Chancery, “Kellogg vs. Wood”, in Alonzo C[hristopher] Paige, editor, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Chancery of the State of New-York, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: Published by Gould, Banks & Co. […]; Albany, N.Y.: W[illia]m & A. Gould & Co. […], →OCLC, page 616:

[page 215] City of London B[uilding] S[ociety] v. Flegg decided that the occupiers are not protected since a sale by two trustees overreaches. [...] [page 216] The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the occupation of the Fleggs but, after universal academic execration, that decision was unanimously reversed by the [House of] Lords. Their occupation rights had indeed been overreached. [...] Two trustees effected what appeared to the lenders to be a proper mortgage, so that the rights of the beneficiaries were swept off the title and transferred to the mortgage money. The Fleggs could not enforce their rights against the lenders.

2003, Peter Sparkes, “Trusts of Land”, in A New Land Law, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, pages 215 and 216:

(ambitransitive) To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.

(transitive, property law) To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (British, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.


predecessor

ca-adj

predecessor (feminine predecessora, masculine plural predecessors, feminine plural predecessores)

predecessora (feminine)
predecessors (masculine plural)
predecessores (feminine plural)


premise

premises (plural)
premiss (alternative)
præmise (alternative archaic)
præmiss (alternative archaic)

From Middle English premise, premisse, from Old French premisse, from Medieval Latin premissa (“set before”) (premissa propositio (“the proposition set before”)), feminine past participle of Latin praemittere (“to send or put before”), from prae- (“before”) + mittere (“to send”).
The sense "a piece of real estate" arose from the misinterpretation of the word by property owners while reading title deeds where the word was used with the legal sense.

der

(usually in the plural, law) Matters previously stated or set forth; especially, that part in the beginning of a deed, the office of which is to express the grantor and grantee, and the land or thing granted or conveyed, and all that precedes the habendum; the thing demised or granted.


proceed

en-verb

proceed (third-person singular simple present proceeds, present participle proceeding, simple past and past participle proceeded)

proceeds (present singular third-person)
proceeding (participle present)
proceeded (participle past)
proceeded (past)
procede (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English proceden, from Old French proceder, from Latin prōcēdō (“I go forth, go forward, advance”), from prō (“forth”) + cēdō (“I go”); see cede.

der

“Gentlemen, shall we proceed?” the judge said.
From the beginning, Judge Fong appeared bored at Levine's coaxing remarks.

2005, Rodney Stich, Disavow: Sage of Betrayal:

(law, intransitive) To begin and carry on a legal process.


purchase

en-noun

purchase (countable and uncountable, plural purchases)

From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer (“seek to obtain”) from pur- (from Latin pro-) + chac(i)er (“to chase, pursue”). Compare Old French porchacier (“to follow, to chase”), which has given French pourchasser (“to chase without relent”).

cog

The difference […]between the acquisition of an estate by descent and by purchase

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(law, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.

verwerving

acquisition of lands or tenements by other means than descent or inheritance


recital

en-noun

recital (countable and uncountable, plural recitals)

(law) A formal, preliminary statement in a deed or writing in order to explain the reasons on which the transaction is founded, prior to a positive allegation.

حَيْثِيَّة

a formal explanation of the reasons on which the transaction is founded


recover

en-verb

recover (third-person singular simple present recovers, present participle recovering, simple past and past participle recovered)

recovers (present singular third-person)
recovering (participle present)
recovered (participle past)
recovered (past)
recovre (alternative)

From Middle English recoveren, rekeveren, from Anglo-Norman recoverer and Old French recovrer, from Latin recuperāre, alternative form of reciperāre. Doublet of recuperate.
The noun is from Middle English recover, from the verb.

The plaintiff recovered in his suit, being awarded declaratory relief and a clearing of his name.

(intransitive, law) To obtain a positive judgement; to win in a lawsuit.

to recover damages in trespass; to recover debt and costs in a legal action or that is owing

to recover lands in ejectment or common recovery

recover one's investment

(transitive, law) To gain as compensation or reparation, usually by formal legal process.


regress

en-noun

regress (countable and uncountable, plural regresses)

(verb) From Latin regressus, past participle of regredior (“to go back”), from re- (“back”) + gradior (“to go”).

(property law) The right of a person (such as a lessee) to return to a property.


release

release (countable and uncountable, plural releases)

From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher).

отцепване

a device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required

(law) The giving up of a claim, especially a debt.


release

en-verb

release (third-person singular simple present releases, present participle releasing, simple past and past participle released)

releases (present singular third-person)
releasing (participle present)
released (participle past)
released (past)

(transitive, law) To let go, quit (a legal claim); to discharge or relinquish a right to (lands or buildings) by conveying to another who has some right or estate in possession.


relieve

relieve (third-person singular simple present relieves, present participle relieving, simple past and past participle relieved)

relieves (present singular third-person)
relieving (participle present)
relieved (participle past)
relieved (past)
releeve (alternative obsolete)

From Late Middle English releven, from Old French relever, specifically from the conjugated forms such as (jeo) relieve (“I lift up”), and its source, Latin relevo (“to lift up, lighten, relieve, alleviate”), combined form of re- (“back”) + levo (“to lift”). Doublet of relevate. Compare levant, levity, etc.

der

This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.

(law) To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.


reserve

nl-noun

reserve f (plural reserves, diminutive reservetje n)

reserves (plural)
reservetje (diminutive neuter)

Afrikaans: reserwe

→ Indonesian: reserve (“reserve”)

desctree

>? Javanese: ꦱꦺꦉꦥ꧀ (sèrep, “spare”)
Caribbean Javanese: sèrep
→ Indonesian: sèrêp (“spare”)

Borrowed from Middle French reserve, from Old French reserver.


result

en-verb

result (third-person singular simple present results, present participle resulting, simple past and past participle resulted)

results (present singular third-person)
resulting (participle present)
resulted (participle past)
resulted (past)

Recorded since 1432 as Middle English resulten, from Medieval Latin resultare, in Classical Latin "to spring forward, rebound", the frequentative of the past participle of resilio (“to rebound”), from re- (“back”) + salio (“to jump, leap”).

(law) To return to the proprietor (or heirs) after a reversion.


retry

retry (third-person singular simple present retries, present participle retrying, simple past and past participle retried)

retries (present singular third-person)
retrying (participle present)
retried (participle past)
retried (past)

→ Japanese: リトライ (ritorai)

→ Korean: 리트라이 (riteurai)

to retry a case

to retry an accused person

Despite mounting evidence against her, the jury found Casey not guilty. Since then, she’s thrown out numerous accusations about her family, a number of which she alleged in the 2022 docu-series Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies. But amid the release of a new documentary involving her parents, George and Cindy, could she be retried?

2024 January 11, Daisy Phillipson, “The Lie Detector Test: Can Casey Anthony be tried again?”, in Dexerto:

(transitive, law) To try judicially a second time.


revert

revert (third-person singular simple present reverts, present participle reverting, simple past and past participle reverted)

reverts (present singular third-person)
reverting (participle present)
reverted (participle past)
reverted (past)

From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.

връщам

to cause to return to the previous owner

(intransitive) To return to the possession of.

(intransitive, law) Of an estate: To return to its former owner, or to his or her heirs, when a grant comes to an end.


revert

revert (nominative singular)
reverty (nominative plural)
revertu (genitive singular)
revertů (genitive plural)
revertu (dative singular)
revertům (dative plural)
revert (accusative singular)
reverty (accusative plural)
reverte (singular vocative)
reverty (plural vocative)
revertu (locative singular)
revertech (locative plural)
revertem (instrumental singular)
reverty (instrumental plural)

(law) the unauthorised return of the deportee to the place from which he was deported


revival

en-noun

revival (countable and uncountable, plural revivals)

the revival of a debt barred by limitation

the revival of a revoked will

(law) Restoration of force, validity, or effect; renewal; reinstatement of a legal action.


ripe

en-adj

ripe (comparative riper, superlative ripest)

riper (comparative)
ripest (superlative)
rype (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English ripe, rype, from Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rīpī, from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, *rīpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyb- (“to snatch”). Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

ناضِج

ready for reaping or gathering, of fruits and seeds

Problems emerge in judging whether a case is ripe, however, when contested general agency directives are issued that are not aimed at specific parties.

2004, Kenneth F. Warren, Administrative Law in the Political System, →ISBN, page 427:

(law) Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.


rout

en-noun

rout (countable and uncountable, plural routs)

→ French: raout

The noun is derived from Middle English rout, route (“group of people associated with one another, company; entourage, retinue; army; group of soldiers; group of pirates; large number of people, crowd; throng; group of disreputable people, mob; riot; group of animals; group of objects; proper condition or manner”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman route, rute, Middle French rote, route, Old French rote, route, rute (“group of people, company; group of armed people; group of criminals; group of cattle”) (modern French route (obsolete)), from Latin rupta (compare Late Latin ruta, rutta (“group of marauders; riot; unlawful assembly”)), the feminine of ruptus (“broken; burst, ruptured”), the perfect passive participle of rumpō (“to break, burst, rupture, tear; to force open; (figurative) to annul; to destroy; to interrupt”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to break; to tear (up)”). The English word is a doublet of route.
The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to assemble, congregate; of animals: to herd together; to regroup, make a stand against; to be riotous, to riot”) [and other forms], from rout, route (noun); see above.

nb...

rote, rought, roughte, rouht, routh, routhte, routt, routte, rouwte, rouʒt, rouʒte, rovte, rowt, rowte, rowth, rowthte, rowtt, rowtte, rowȝt, ruth, rutte, (West Midlands) roite, (Northern England) rutte, ruth, (chiefly Northern England, early Middle English) rut, rute

nb...

route, rowte, (Northern England) rute, (Late Middle English) rouȝt

(countable, law, historical) An illegal assembly of people; specifically, three or more people who have come together intending to do something illegal, and who have taken steps towards this, regarded as more serious than an unlawful assembly but not as serious as a riot; the act of assembling in this manner.

meteli

illegal assembly of people; act of assembling in this manner


serve

en-verb

serve (third-person singular simple present serves, present participle serving, simple past and past participle served)

serves (present singular third-person)
serving (participle present)
served (participle past)
served (past)

desc

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

From Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin serviō (“be a slave; serve”), from Latin servus (“slave; servant”), which perhaps derives from Etruscan (compare Etruscan proper names 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌉 (servi), 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌄 (serve)), or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”).

On the morning of February 28, 1993, ATF agents gathered at a staging area near Waco and prepared to serve a search warrant on the Branch Davidians' residence.

2008 April, Pamela Colloff, “The Fire That Time”, in Texas Monthly, Austin: Emmis Publishing, page 158:

a document served on the tenant

(transitive, law) To deliver a document in such a way that the recipient can be legally considered to be informed of it.

To officially deliver (a legal notice, summons etc.).

връчвам

legal: to bring to notice, deliver, or execute

to serve a witness with a subpoena

To make legal service upon (a person named in a writ, summons, etc.)


stray

From Middle English stray, strey, from Anglo-Norman estray, stray, Old French estrai, from the verb (see below).

waifs and strays

(British, law, archaic) An article of movable property, of which the owner is not known (see waif).


surplus

en-noun

surplus (countable and uncountable, plural surpluses or surplusses)

From Middle English surplus, from Middle French surplus. Compare French surplus.

(law) The remainder of a fund appropriated for a particular purpose.

(law) assets left after liabilities and debts, including capital stock have been deducted.


tend

en-verb

tend (third-person singular simple present tends, present participle tending, simple past and past participle tended)

tends (present singular third-person)
tending (participle present)
tended (participle past)
tended (past)

From Middle English *tenden, from Old French tendre (“to stretch, stretch out, hold forth, offer, tender”), from Latin tendere (“to stretch, stretch out, extend, spread out”).

der

(law, Old English law) To make a tender of; to offer or tender.


tentative

Borrowed from Medieval Latin tentātīva, from tentō (“to attempt”).

tentative de viol

tentative d'enlèvement

commettre une tentative d'homicide

accusé de la tentative d'assassinat d'un homme politique

L'homme en question est suspecté de la tentative de meurtre sur sa femme.

attempt, try, effort (particularly of something difficult or risky)


treat

en-verb

treat (third-person singular simple present treats, present participle treating, simple past and past participle treated or (Northern England, Bristol, colloquial) tret)

treats (present singular third-person)
treating (participle present)
treated (participle past)
treated (past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial participle past)
tret (Northern-England colloquial past)
treat (infinitive)
treat (first-person present singular)
treated (first-person past singular)
treat (present second-person singular)
treatest (archaic present second-person singular)
treated (past second-person singular)
treatedst (archaic past second-person singular)
treats (present singular third-person)
treateth (archaic present singular third-person)
treated (past singular third-person)
treat (plural present)
treated (past plural)
treat (present subjunctive)
treated (past subjunctive)
treat (imperative present)
treating (participle present)
treated (participle past)

From Middle English treten, from Anglo-Norman treter, Old French tretier, traiter, from Latin tractāre (“to pull", "to manage”), from the past participle stem of trahere (“to draw", "to pull”).

(UK politics, law) To commit the offence of providing food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence a voter.


underlet

underlet (third-person singular simple present underlets, present participle underletting, simple past and past participle underlet)

underlets (present singular third-person)
underletting (participle present)
underlet (participle past)
underlet (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underlet.wav


underlet

(property law, informal) Synonym of sublease.


vassal

From Middle English vassal, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).

der

The manor's vassals owed first fruits and a tithe to the parish church, another 10% to the lord (including at least 50 eels), a week or two each year of service in the manor's upkeep, and service in the local fyrd.

It was superimposed on rules of conduct evolved at an earlier date as the spontaneous expression of class consciousness; rules that pertained to the fealty of vassals (the transition appears clearly, towards the end of the eleventh century, in the Book of the Christian Life by Bishop Bonizo of Sutri, for whom the knight is, first and foremost, an enfeoffed vassal ) and constituted above all a class code of noble and 'courteous' people.

2002, Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: Vol 2: Social Classes and Political Organisation, page 38:

(historical, law) The grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service.


volunteer

/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.

(law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.


wager

From Middle English wajour, wageour, wager, from Old Northern French wageure, from wagier (“to pledge”) (compare Old French guagier, whence modern French gager and contemporary Walloon wadjî), ultimately from Frankish *waddjōn (“to pledge”), from Frankish *wadi ~ *waddī (“pledge”). See also wage.

/ˈwæɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/

Besides these Plates, the Wagers may be as the Persons please among themselves, but the Horses must be evidenced by good Testimonies to have been bred in Ireland.

1673, Sir William Temple, Advancement of Trade in Ireland:

If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him never hereafter accuse others of credulity.

1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(law) A contract by which two parties or more agree that a certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or delivered to one of them, on the happening or not happening of an uncertain event.


waif

The noun is derived from Late Middle English weif (“ownerless property subject to seizure and forfeiture; the right of such seizure and forfeiture; revenues obtained from such seizure and forfeiture”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman waif, weif [and other forms] (compare Anglo-Latin waivum [and other forms], Medieval Latin waivium), possibly from Old French waif, a variant of gaif, gayf (“property that is lost and unclaimed; of property: lost and unclaimed”) (Norman) [and other forms], probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”), from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

waif, waife, wafe, wayf, wayffe, (Early Middle English) waiph, waive

der

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-waif.wav

waifs and strays

(British, law, archaic) An article of movable property which has been found, and of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.

سَائِبَة

article of movable property found of which the owner is not known


vouch

en-verb

vouch (third-person singular simple present vouches, present participle vouching, simple past and past participle vouched)

vouches (present singular third-person)
vouching (participle present)
vouched (participle past)
vouched (past)

The verb is derived from Middle English vouchen (“to call, summon; to provide; to make available, proffer; to affirm, declare formally”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman vocher, voucher, woucher, and Old French vocher, voucher, vochier (“to call, summon; to claim; to call upon, invoke; to denounce”) [and other forms], from Vulgar Latin *vocicāre, derived from Latin vocāre (“to call, summon; to call upon, invoke; to designate, name; to bring or put (into a condition or state”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to sound out; to speak”).
Verb sense 8.1 (“to summon (someone) into court to establish a warranty of title to land”) in the form vouch to warrant or vouch to warranty is a calque from Anglo-Norman and Old French voucher a garant.
The noun is derived from the verb.

nb...

fouche, voche, vouch, vouche, voutsche, vowch, woch, wouche, wowche, (Northern England) veuche, (Scotland) woche

სასამართლოში დაბარება

[W]hen the Tenant being impleaded within a particular iuriſdiction (as in London or the like) voucheth one to warranty and prayes that he may be ſummoned in ſome other county out of the iuriſdiction of that Court: this is called a foreine Voucher, […]

1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Homage Auncestrel”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, book 2, chapter 7, section 145, folio 102, recto:

If Edwards therefore be tenant of the freehold in poſſeſſion, and John Barker be tenant in tail in remainder, here Edwards doth firſt vouch Barker, and then Barker vouches Jacob Morland the common vouchee; […]

1766, William Blackstone, “Of Alienation by Matter of Record”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 359:

In full vouch to warrant or vouch to warranty: to summon (someone) into court to establish a warranty of title to land.

[I]t is now uſual always to have a recovery with double voucher at the leaſt; by firſt conveying an eſtate of freehold to any indifferent perſon, againſt whom the praecipe is brought; and then he vouches the tenant in tail, who vouches over the common vouchee.

Followed by over: of a vouchee (a person summoned to court to establish a warranty of title): to summon (someone) to court in their place.

[W]ill vouchers vouch him no more of his purchaſes & doubles then the length and breadth of a payre of Indentures?

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

If one ignorantly buyeth ſtolen Cattel, and hath them fairly vouched unto him, and publickly in an open Fair payeth Tole for them, he cannot be damnified thereby: […]

a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Of the Authors from whom Our Intelligence in the Following Work hath been Derived”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 64:

(obsolete) To guarantee legal title (to something).


decree

From Middle English decre, decree, from Old French decré (French décret), from Latin dēcrētum.

(law) The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.

(law) The determination of a cause in a court of admiralty or court of probate.


commute

en-verb

commute (third-person singular simple present commutes, present participle commuting, simple past and past participle commuted)

commutes (present singular third-person)
commuting (participle present)
commuted (participle past)
commuted (past)

заменям

to put or substitute something else in place of

to commute the daily toll for a year's pass

To exchange substantially; to abate but not abolish completely, a penalty, obligation, or payment in return for a great, single thing or an aggregate; to cash in; to lessen

(transitive, finance, law) To pay, or arrange to pay, in advance, in a lump sum instead of part by part.

His prison sentence was commuted to probation.

1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “THE UTMOST THAT COULD BE OBTAINED WAS THAT HER SENTENCE SHOULD BE COMMUTED FROM BURNING TO BEHEADING.”, in Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay), editor, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume V, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, →OCLC:

Ruslan Kutaev is evidence of this: not only was the elderly man sentenced to four years in prison (later commuted to two months), but he was tortured and his family threatened. This seems to be the price of viewing the world in other than Kadyrovite terms.

2018, Dominic Rubin, Russia's Muslim Heartlands: Islam in the Putin Era, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 207:

(transitive, law, criminology) To reduce the sentence previously given for a criminal offense.


merit

en-noun

merit (countable and uncountable, plural merits)

The noun is derived from Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.
The verb is derived from Middle French meriter, Old French meriter (“to deserve, merit”) (modern French mériter), from merite: see further above. The word is cognate with Italian meritare (“to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn”), Latin meritāre (“to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier”), Spanish meritar (“to deserve, merit; to earn”).

cog

Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the merits.

The Plaintiff muſt ſhew Cauſe either on the Merits, or upon filing Exceptions; if upon the Merits, the Court may put what Terms they pleaſe on him; as bringing in the Money, or paying it to the Parties, ſubject to the Order of the Court, [...]

1740, [Mathew Bacon], “Injunctions”, in A New Abridgment of the Law. By a Gentleman of the Middle Temple, volume III, in the Savoy [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of E. Sayer, Esq;) for Henry Lintot, →OCLC, section C (How Dissolved), page 177:

[I]n most cases once the Court has performed its judicial function – as it had been determined by the parties through their Application or Special Agreement and their submissions – and has rendered its judgment on the merits of the case, a new phrase of functional interaction commences.

2014, Karel Wellens, “Failed Post-adjudicative Negotiations and Returning to the Court”, in Negotiations in the Case Law of the International Court of Justice: A Functional Analysis, Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Negotiations during the Post-adjudicative Phase), page 311:

(uncountable, law) Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.


merits

The merits of the case favored the plaintiffs, but their procedural blunders set them back.

(law) Substance, distinguished from form or procedure.


disposition

en-noun

disposition (countable and uncountable, plural dispositions)

dispositions (plural)
dispotion (alternative)

From Middle English disposicioun, from Middle French disposition, from Latin dispositiōnem, accusative singular of dispositiō, from dispōnō. By surface analysis, dispose + -ition. Doublet of dispositio.

The court ordered the disposition of all assets.

The way in which something or someone is disposed or disposed of (in any sense of those terms); thus:

Control over something, or the results produced by the exercise of such control; thus:

(law) Transfer or relinquishment to the care or possession of another.

The disposition of the case will be announced tomorrow.

The C.C. is the supreme interpreter of the Constitution (Section 1 of the O.L.C.C.) and, as we have already said, it was granted the monopoly of declaring unconstitutional the legal dispositions.

2003, Medrano, Amelia Pascual, Active Legitimization in Constitutional Proceedings: The Spanish Case, page 167:

The dispositions of this Act shall not be applied in case of […]

2003, Act XXI of 2003 on the Establishment of the European Works Council and on the Establishment of the Procedure of Informing and Consulting Employees, page 23:

an obligation that can arise as a consequence of an expected action or inaction of the foreign person that goes against the dispositions of this law

1999, Albanian Law on Foreigners, page 1:


colloquium

colloquium (plural colloquiums or colloquia)

From Latin colloquium. Doublet of colloquy. Equivalent to colloquy + -ium.

(law) That part of the complaint or declaration in an action for defamation which shows that the words complained of were spoken concerning the plaintiff.


self-help

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-self-help.wav

self-help repossession

(law) An act of redressing or preventing a wrong by one's own actions rather than through legal proceedings.


abigeat

(law, historical, archaic) alternative form of abigéat


taciturnity

taciturnity (countable and uncountable, plural taciturnities)

From taciturn + -ity, from Latin taciturnitās.

(law, Scotland) Failure to assert a legal right in a way that implies that it is being given up.


supra

(law) Used to indicate that the current citation is from a source cited earlier in the text.


evidence

evidence (usually uncountable, plural evidences)

From Middle English evidence, from Old French [Term?], from Latin evidentia (“clearness, in Late Latin a proof”), from evidens (“clear, evident”); see evident.

der

extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.

2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:

(law) Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.


licensee

(law) A person to whom a license is granted.

(UK) A publican (because a license is needed to run a pub).


quantum

en-noun

quantum (countable and uncountable, plural quantums or quanta)

[ˈkʰwɑ̃ntʰə̃m]

[ˈkʰwɑ̃ɾ̃ə̃m]

From Late Latin quantum, noun use of neuter form of Latin quantus (“how much”).

(now chiefly South Asia or law) The total amount of something; quantity.

(law) The amount of compensation awarded to a successful party in a lawsuit.

(law) The length or magnitude of the sentence handed down to someone who has been found guilty of a crime.

The reader will perhaps be curious to know the quantum of this present, but we cannot satisfy his curiosity.

1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 416:

A certain quantum of power must always exist in the community, in some hands, and under some appellation.

1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 142:

Otherwise I will have given the lie to my maxim that whether you work eight or twenty hours, the quantum of work that gets done on a normal day is the same.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 375:

The Congress's core ministerial panel on Friday gave its green signal to raising motor fuel prices but the quantum of increase emerged as a hitch.


derelict

derelict (countable and uncountable, plural derelicts)

PIE word
 *de
The adjective and verb are a learned borrowing from Latin dērelictus (“(completely) abandoned, deserted, forsaken; discarded”), the perfect passive participle of dērelinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake; to discard”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; completely, thoroughly’) + relinquō (“to abandon, desert, forsake, leave (behind); to depart (from); to give up, relinquish”) (from Proto-Italic *wrelinkʷō, from *wre (“again”) (whence Latin rē- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + *linkʷō (“to leave”) (whence linquō (“to forsake; depart from, leave, quit”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”))). Doublet of relict, relic, and relinquish.
The noun is derived from the adjective.

hylätty omaisuus

property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; item of such property

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum: / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in Songs of a Sourdough, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 38:

(uncountable) Property abandoned by its former guardian or owner; (countable) an item of such property.

(uncountable, specifically, law) Property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; (countable) an item of such property, especially a ship.

hylätty omaisuus

property abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery and no expectation of being returned to its owner; item of such property

vrak

ship abandoned at sea with no hope of recovery


bac

head

bac m (genitive singular baic, nominative plural baic)

baic (genitive singular)
baic (nominative plural)
bac (indefinite nominative singular)
baic (indefinite nominative plural)
a bhaic (indefinite singular vocative)
a bhaca (indefinite plural vocative)
baic (genitive indefinite singular)
bac (genitive indefinite plural)
bac (dative indefinite singular)
baic (dative indefinite plural)
an bac (definite nominative singular)
na baic (definite nominative plural)
an bhaic (definite genitive singular)
na mbac (definite genitive plural)
leis an mbac (dative definite singular)
don bhac (dative definite singular)
leis na baic (dative definite plural)

→⇒ English: bocky

From Old Irish bacc (“angle, bend, corner”), from Proto-Celtic *bakkos (“hook”).
The verb is from Old Irish baccaid (“hinders, prevents, impairs; lames”), from the noun.


ademption

en-noun

ademption (countable and uncountable, plural ademptions)

From Latin adēmptiō (“a taking away”), from adēmptus, perfect passive participle of adimō (“take away”), from ad (“to, towards, at”) + emō (“buy; obtain, take”).

(law) In the law of wills, the determination of what happens when property left under a will is no longer in the testator's estate when the testator dies.


adeem

en-verb

adeem (third-person singular simple present adeems, present participle adeeming, simple past and past participle adeemed)

adeems (present singular third-person)
adeeming (participle present)
adeemed (participle past)
adeemed (past)

From Latin adimō (“take away”), from ad (“to, towards, at”) + emō (“buy; acquire, take”).

(law, transitive) To revoke (a legacy, grant, etc.) or to satisfy it by some other gift.


laguna

Inherited from Latin lacūna. Cognate with English lagoon and lacuna.


representation

en-noun

representation (countable and uncountable, plural representations)

representations (plural)
repræsentation (alternative)

From Late Middle English representacioun, from Old French representacion, from Latin repraesentātiō. By surface analysis, represent + -ation.

People who cannot afford representation are eligible for government assistance.

(law) The lawyers and staff who argue on behalf of another in court.

vertegenwoordiging

people who speak on behalf of another in court


summon

en-verb

summon (third-person singular simple present summons, present participle summoning, simple past and past participle summoned)

summons (present singular third-person)
summoning (participle present)
summoned (participle past)
summoned (past)
summon (infinitive)
summon (first-person present singular)
summoned (first-person past singular)
summon (present second-person singular)
summonest (archaic present second-person singular)
summoned (past second-person singular)
summonedst (archaic past second-person singular)
summons (present singular third-person)
summoneth (archaic present singular third-person)
summoned (past singular third-person)
summon (plural present)
summoned (past plural)
summon (present subjunctive)
summoned (past subjunctive)
summon (imperative present)
summoning (participle present)
summoned (participle past)

From Anglo-Norman somoundre, from Old French sumundre, from Latin summonēre, itself from sub + monēre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti, causative from *men- (“to think”).


national

From Middle French national, corresponding to nation + -al.

(law) Somebody born under the authority of a given State.


articles

After educational training at Hayes Grammar School and Hayes College, Mr. Nokes was articled to a Surveyor and Land Agent in 1885, and, at the expiration of his articles, became a partner in the firm.

1948 May and June, “G. A. Sekon”, in Railway Magazine, page 145:

(law) the period during which a person works as an articled clerk; articling


pro bono

/prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/

Abbreviated from Latin prō bonō publicō (“for the public good”).

der

The firm currently has about half a dozen pro bono cases at any one time.

After he retired, he offered representation pro bono from time to time.

Esther Lardent, chief consultant to the ABA's Post Conviction Death Penalty Representation Project, which has helped recruit pro bono lawyers for death row appeals since 1987, begs to differ. Finding a lawyer to represent a death row inmate has never been easy, Lardent says. And finding one now, she says, will be harder than ever.

1996 June, Mark Hansen, “Death’s Door”, in Gary A. Hengstler, editor, ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 82, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, column 1:

While the media sneerocracy only came round to Oliver because of his pro bono project, the huge number of people buying his books and wheeling their Sainsbury's trolleys in his wake had already responded to his charisma.

2002 December 5, Mark Lawson, “The fall and rise of Jamie”, in The Guardian:

(law, medicine) Without charging a fee, done without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.


impeach

en-verb

impeach (third-person singular simple present impeaches, present participle impeaching, simple past and past participle impeached)

impeaches (present singular third-person)
impeaching (participle present)
impeached (participle past)
impeached (past)
empeach (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English empechen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman empecher, from Old French empeechier (“to hinder”), from Latin impedicāre (“to fetter”). Cognate with French empêcher (“to prevent”).

(law) To demonstrate in court that a testimony under oath contradicts another testimony from the same person, usually one taken during deposition.