shifting executory interest

shifting executory interest (plural shifting executory interests)

Joe gives land "to Mike, but if Harry graduates from law school, to Harry". Harry has an shifting executory interest because his graduation from law school divests Mike of ownership.

(law) A third party interest in an estate in land created by the conditions of a grant wherein the grantor gives the land to a second party, but with the occurrence of a condition divesting the second party of the land in favor of the third party.


put to death

en-verb

put to death (third-person singular simple present puts to death, present participle putting to death, simple past and past participle put to death)

puts to death (present singular third-person)
putting to death (participle present)
put to death (participle past)
put to death (past)

The fathers shall not bee put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: euery man shall be put to death for his owne sinne.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 24:16:

One of Clemons's three co-defendants has already been executed, and Clemons himself came within 12 days of being put to death in 2009.

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

To kill as punishment for capital crimes; to execute.


plenarty

en-noun

plenarty (usually uncountable, plural plenarties)

The plea that the benefice was full more than six months before the writ was purchased (called the plea of "plenarty") was a good affirmative defense.

1982, Robert E Rodes, Lay Authority and Reformation in the English Church:

Plenarty, the abstract of the adjective plenus, and is used in Common Law in matters of benefices, where a church is full of an incumbent; Plenarty and vacation, or avoidance, being direct contraries.

1811, Giles Jacob, Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, The Law Dictionary:

(law, historical) The state of a benefice when occupied.


reverter

(property law) The reversion of ownership of an estate in land to the original grantor pursuant to the occurrence of a condition set forth in the original grant.


feme

From Middle English feme, from Anglo-Norman feme (“woman”). Doublet of femina, femme, and hembra.

TRESPASS FOR INTERMEDDLING WITH A FEME.
There are some curious decisions in the old books regarding this point of law, with which it may be useful to be acquainted. In Br. Ab. Tresp. 40, it is said that a man may aid a feme who falls upon the ground from a horse, and so if she be sick, and the same if her baron would murder her. And the same per Rede if the feme would kill herself. And per Fineux a man may conduct a feme on a pilgrimage. So where a feme is going to market, it is lawful for another to suffer her to ride behind him on his horse to market. (Br. Ab. Tresp. 207.) And if a feme says that she is in jeopardy of her life by her baron, and prays him (a stranger) to carry her to a justice of the peace, he may lawfully do it. (Br. Ab. Tresp. 207.) But where any feme is out of the way, it is not lawful for a man to take her to his house, if she was not in danger of being lost in the night, or being drowned with water. (Br. Ab. Tresp. 213.)

1825, Henry Roscoe, Thomas Roscoe, Westminster Hall: Or, Professional Relics and Anecdotes of the Bar, Bench and Woolsack:


search warrant

Evidence found without a valid search warrant may be discarded by the courts as null and void

(law) A court order in the form of a warrant, authorizing the search of a home and/or other privacy-protected place(s), notably to seek unlawful possessions, evidence etc. as part of a judicial inquiry

搜查證

court order authorising the search of a place


overseas territory

overseas territory (plural overseas territories)

(law) A more specific status legally defined under a constitution for one or more of the above territories.


profert

Borrowed from Latin profert (“he makes known”), third-person singular present indicative of profero (“I make public, I make known, I cite”).

Baron Parke, after laying down that in general a party is not required to make profert of an instrument to the possession of which he is not entitled,[…]

1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law:

(law) The production or display of recorded evidence in court.


pro hac vice

From Latin pro hac vice (“for this turn”).

(law) Permitted for a specific case or action.


civil wrong

(law) A wrongful act by one person against another for which the other person may recover damages in a lawsuit; this includes tort, breach of contract, breach of trust, and breach of fiduciary duty.


election of remedies

election of remedies (plural elections of remedies)

A defendant has been found liable for taking a plaintiff's car; the plaintiff has an election of remedies between forcing the defendant to return the property, or forcing the defendant to pay the value of the property.

(law) The situation of a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit having multiple options from which to choose as to how the defendant's wrong may be righted.


descendibility

(law) The characteristic of being descendible; inheritability by an heir.


descendible

en-adj

descendible (comparative more descendible, superlative most descendible)

more descendible (comparative)
most descendible (superlative)

The rights of men in ſociety, are neither deviſeable, nor transferable, nor annihilable, but are deſcendable only; and it is not in the power of any generation to intercept finally, and cut off the deſcent.

1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, London: […] J. S. Jordan, […], →OCLC, page 129:

(law) Of property: able to pass by descent; inheritable by heirs.


high crime

From high (“of great importance and consequence; grave”) + crime.

Lese majesty used to be a high crime, for which royal or imperial courts often put offenders to death.

Charles Stuart King of England. You have been accuſed on behalf of the People of England of high Treaſon and other high Crimes; the Court have determined that you ought to anſwer the ſame.

1649 February 2, C. W., A Perfect Narrative of the Whole Proceedings of the High Court of Iustice in the Tryal of the King in Westminster Hall, on Saturday the 20. and Monday the 22. of This Instant January. […], London: Printed for John Playford, […], published 23 January 1648–1649 (Julian calendar), →OCLC, page 14:

By way of Advice, I do acquaint you that there is no Judicature in England ſuperior to this, but the Parliament immediately. You are here impeached of a very high Crime, High Treaſon; it may be a Strain of Youth: the firſt Step to Mercy is Confeſſion.

1658 June 11, “The Tryal of John Mordant, Esq; on Tuesday the First of June, 1658. 10 Car. II.”, in [Thomas Salmon], editor, A Compleat Collection of State-Tryals, and Proceedings upon Impeachment for High Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours; […] In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Timothy Goodwin, […]; John Walthoe […]; Benj[amin] Tooke […]; John Darby […]; Jacob Tonson […]; and John Walthoe Jun. […], published 1719, →OCLC, page 814, column 1:

For, my Lords, if I have committed any Faults or Errours in Expreſſion, yet as I inſiſt upon my Innocence with reſpect to all the High Crimes laid to my Charge, ſo I muſt ſtill inſiſt upon all the Doctrines which I have taught, as being agreeable to the Word of God, and to the Doctrine of our excellent and Apoſtolical Church, and which we of the Clergy are oblig'd both by Subſcription, and Oath to acknowledge, and defend.

1710 March 18, [Henry Sacheverell], “Tuesday, March 7 [Julian calendar]. The Eighth Day.”, in The Tryal of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, before the House of Peers, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 349:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

1787 September 17, “[Constitution of the United States]”, in The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, retrieved 2019-06-19, Article II, section 4:

Treason and bribery [in the United States Constitution, Article II, section 4] have their precise definitions; other high crimes and misdemeanors have their import, but have not been legally defined, so as to include all cases which may fall under their heads. [...] A high crime is always understood to be some great offence against the State or the public; a misdemeanor is some petty offence in office, consisting of any kind of misbehaviour, or ill behaviour.

1836 March 18, [Thomas Hart] Benton, “Expunging Resolution”, in Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the First Session of the Twenty-fourth Congress: […] (United States Senate), volume XII, Washington, D.C.: Printed and published by Gales and Seaton, →OCLC, column 899:

The South entered an equal Union, in which she was promised the control of one branch of Congress, for her safety, her freedom, and her protection therein; and it was her high crime, her unpardonable rebellion, that she refused to submit to an overwhelming majority in both branches thereof. [...] This, in the estimation of the North, was her high crime and misdemeanor. In the estimation of history, it will be her noble-doing and heroic virtue.

1868 January, “Art. I.—1. History of the American Civil War. By John William Draper, […]. 1867. 2. Thoughts on the Future Civil Policy of America. By John William Draper, […]. 1865.”, in [Albert Taylor Bledsoe and Sophia Bledsoe Herrick], editors, The Southern Review, volume III, number V, Baltimore, Md.: Bledsoe and Browne, →OCLC, pages 18–19:

Congress has repeatedly defined "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" to be serious violations of the public trust, not necessarily indictable offenses under criminal law [...]

1989 April 25, Impeachment of Walter L. Nixon, Jr., Report to Accompany H. Res. 87, 101st Congress, 1st Session [H. Rep. 101-36], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 5; quoted in Elizabeth B. Bazan, Anna C. Henning, “Background”, in Impeachment: An Overview of Constitutional Provisions, Procedure, and Practice (CRS Report for Congress; 98-186), Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 8 April 2010, →OCLC, page 23:

I am not dwelling today on high crimes. High crimes are so mind-boggling that the ordinary citizen cannot deal with them. [...] On the other hand, the practice of cheap chicanery, of dirty little cons, swindles and petty thievery, is something that at one time or another touches every one of us and is well understood.

1993, Howard Fast, “Our Friends in Washington [Uncommon Thieves]”, in War and Peace: Observations on Our Times, Armonk, N.Y., London: M[yron] E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 190:

(law) A major crime or wrongdoing, notably one subject to trial before the highest courts which may impose the gravest punishments.


revenue stamp

A stamp to be affixed as proof that the tax due on the marked product has been paid.


soke

From Middle English soke, from Medieval Latin (Anglo-Latin) sōca "right of jurisdiction", from Old English sōcn (“jurisdiction, prosecution”, literally “act of seeking”), from Proto-West Germanic *sōkni, from Proto-Germanic *sōkniz (“seeking, inquiry”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to track”).
Cognates: see English soken. More at sake, seek.

der

(England, law, historical) A soc (a medieval right to hold a court or to receive fines).


mixed nuts

The United States standard of identity comes from 21 CFR 164.110.

standards of identity
standard of identity

A mixture of shelled nuts of various types.

(US standards of identity) A mixture of: shelled peanuts (optional); at least four types of shelled tree nuts (or at least three, if the container for sale contains less than two ounces and is transparent), each in a proportion of at least two percent; and, optionally, other functional ingredients. No one type of nuts may comprise more than eighty percent of the mixture.


security interest

en-noun

security interest (plural security interests)

(law) The right of a lender to seize possession of collateral offered to secure the loan.


constructive force

A civilian who impersonates a police officer in order to convince a debtor to turn over physical possession of collateral owed to a creditor has used constructive force to acquire the collateral.

(law) Action on the part of one party which will be treated by a court as equivalent to the use of force in determining whether that party has acted improperly with respect to another.


Creative Commons

A set of licenses intended to offer the consumer more freedoms than traditional copyright.


banneret

From French banneret, from bannière (“banner”) + -et (“-et, -ette: forming diminutives”). Equivalent to banner + -et.

(law, historical) Clipping of knight banneret: a knight entitled to subinfeudate his estate and to lead men in battle under his own banner.


close in

en-verb

close in (third-person singular simple present closes in, present participle closing in, simple past and past participle closed in)

closes in (present singular third-person)
closing in (participle present)
closed in (participle past)
closed in (past)

The police were closing in on the thieves.

(intransitive, law enforcement, criminology) To come or approach nearer to someone being pursued.


title defect

(law) A problem with the chain of title to a parcel of real property that exposes the putative owner of the property to a potential legal dispute over the ownership of the property.


special warranty deed

en-noun

special warranty deed (plural special warranty deeds)

(law) A deed of title to real property by which the grantor warrants that he is not personally responsible for any title defects, but making no warranties or representations as to the quality of the title in other respects.


English covenants

(law) In the law of real property, a set of six traditional covenants of title made by the seller of a parcel of land to the buyer of that parcel.


chain of title

(law) In the law of real property, a series of documents recorded in the appropriate government repository which establish the passage of a parcel of property from owner to owner, ideally back to the first owner to reduce the property to private ownership.


covenant of title

covenant of title (plural covenants of title)

(law) In the law of real property, a guarantee made by the seller of a parcel of land to the buyer of that parcel regarding the legal status of the title.


judicial notice

If an attorney were to ask the court to admit into evidence the fact that a party can not have traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles without crossing several state lines, or that July 4, 2000 fell on a Tuesday, the court would likely take judicial notice of the fact.

(law) In the law of evidence, the power of a court to deem the burden of proof to be established as to a particular fact without the introduction of evidence, because the fact is one that is a matter of common knowledge, or is readily demonstrated by reference to sources of unquestionable authority.


purposeful availment

personal jurisdiction
personal jurisdiction

(US, law) In the law of civil procedure, an intentional act by one party directed into a particular state, thereby permitting that state to constitutionally assert personal jurisdiction over that party.


long arm statute

long arm statute (plural long arm statutes)

(law, US) In the law of civil procedure, a statute which establishes the activities by a potential defendant which will give the courts of a state personal jurisdiction over that defendant.


breach of promise

breach of promise (countable and uncountable, plural breaches of promise)

But suppose an agreement to marry made by a man in Scotland with a minor lady in England, would we decern for damages for breach of promise in such a case?

1828, Scotland Court of Session, Session Cases: Cases Decided in the Court of Session, volume 6, page 416:

A ‘breach of promise’ case being 'played out in the courts' was covered over three consecutive days and given substantial prominence especially on the commercial channels' bulletins (this was the last ‘breach of promise case’ in the state of Victoria, which may account for the sustained coverage).

1998, John Langer, Tabloid Television: Popular Journalism and the ‘Other News’, page 97:

Nevertheless, pointing a finger at young men and punishing them with breach-of-promise lawsuits did little to address the problem of fallen women.

2013, Mark E. Kann, Taming Passion for the Public Good: Policing Sex in the Early Republic, page 118:

(law) A tort in common law arising when a man withdraws an earlier promise to marry a woman; abolished in many jurisdictions.

miehen yksipuolinen kihlauksen purkaminen

miehen yksipuolinen kihlauksen peruminen

incumplimiento de la promesa de matrimonio


draw and quarter

en-verb

draw and quarter (third-person singular simple present draws and quarters, present participle drawing and quartering, simple past drew and quartered, past participle drawn and quartered)

draws and quarters (present singular third-person)
drawing and quartering (participle present)
drew and quartered (past)
drawn and quartered (participle past)

(transitive, historical) To execute (someone) by castration, disembowelling, beheading and quartering.


mainpernable

en-adj

mainpernable (comparative more mainpernable, superlative most mainpernable)

more mainpernable (comparative)
most mainpernable (superlative)

(law) Capable of being admitted to give surety by mainpernors; able to be mainprised.


malicious mischief

(law) The willful, wanton, or reckless destruction of the personal property of another occasioned by actual ill will or resentment toward the owner or possessor of such property.


mandator

(law) The person who employs another to perform a mandate.


balance of probabilities

en-noun

balance of probabilities (plural balances of probabilities)

(law) A legal standard, applied in many jurisdictions for deciding the outcome of civil disputes, which requires that a dispute be decided in favor of the party whose claims are more likely to be true.


snapback

The reimposition of an earlier and usually higher tariff.


contributory negligence

(law) The rule of law under which an act or omission of plaintiff is a contributing cause of injury and a possible bar to a complete recovery.


remittitur

(law) The reduction by a judge of damages awarded by a jury.


additur

(law) The augmentation by a judge of damages awarded by a jury.


bill of particulars

bill of particulars (plural bills of particulars)

(law) A written statement or specification of the particulars of the demand for which an action at law is brought, or of a defendant's set-off against such demand, furnished by one of the parties to the other, either voluntarily or in compliance with a judge's order for that purpose.

(law) A written statement or specification of the charges made against a defendant.


quasi-contract

(law) An obligation created by the law in the absence of an agreement or contract; not based upon the intentions or expressions of the parties.


Alford plea

Originated in the US legal case before the Supreme Court of the United States, North Carolina v. Alford (1970).

Alford Plea. A plea under which a defendant may choose to plead guilty, not because of an admission to the crime, but because the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to place a charge and to obtain conviction in court. The plea is commonly used in local and state courts in the United States.

1992, Walter John Raymond, Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms, Brunswick Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 9:

Under the Alford doctrine, a defendant does not admit guilt but admits that the state has sufficient evidence to find him or her guilty, should the case go to trial.

1996, Kathleen Daly, Gender, Crime, and Punishment, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

Alford plea. A guilty plea entered as part of a plea bargain by a criminal defendant who denies committing the crime or who does not actually admit his guilt. In federal courts, such plea may be accepted as long as there is evidence that the defendant is actually guilty. Named after North Carolina v. Alford (1970.)

2006, Susan Ellis Wild, Webster's New World Law Dictionary, Webster's New World, →ISBN, page 21:

When offering an Alford plea, a defendant asserts his innocence but admits that sufficient evidence exists to convict him of the offense.

2009 November, Michael T. Judge, Stephen R. McCullough, “Criminal law and procedure”, in University of Richmond Law Review, page 339, Vol. 44:

(US, law) A plea in criminal court in which the defendant does not admit guilt but concedes the government has sufficient evidence to convict.


breach of contract

breach of contract (plural breaches of contract)

(law) A failure to meet an obligation under the terms of a contract.


appellate court

appellate court (plural appellate courts)

(law) A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a lower court's decisions.


adverse witness

adverse witness (plural adverse witnesses)


adverse party

(law) The opposing party in a lawsuit under an adversary system of law; adversary.

parte adversă

the opposing party in a lawsuit under an adversary system of law


alluvion

alluvion (countable and uncountable, plural alluvions)

(law) The increase in the area of land due to the deposition of sediment (alluvium) by a river.


appeals court

That year a U.S. appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.

2022 September 26, “Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden”, in Mark Trevelyan, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-09-26, Europe:

(law) An appellate court, to hear appeals against lower tribunals.


police power

(law) The inherent power, incident to sovereignty, of a state to regulate and exercise reasonable control over matters of public health, public morals, public safety, and in general, all things relating to the general welfare.

Police power (United States constitutional law)


attorney's lien

attorney's lien (plural attorney's liens)

(law) The right of an attorney to retain a client's papers until the attorney's fees have been paid.


architect's lien

architect's lien (plural architect's liens)

An architect's lien statute may grant the same rights to a design professional as an ordinary mechanics' lien.

2001, Kevin L. Lybeck, H. Bruce Shreves, chapter 2, in The Law of Payment Bonds, →ISBN, page 35:

(law) The right of an architect to retain a client's papers until the architect's fees have been paid.


accountant's lien

accountant's lien (plural accountant's liens)

A recent decision from New South Wales suggests, however, that in the absence of some contractual prohibition the benefit of a possessory lien (in this case, an accountant's lien over his client's papers) may be assigned to a third party, along with the debt.

1994, Michael Gillooly, chapter 5, in Securities over Personalty, →ISBN, page 140:

(law) The right of an accountant to retain a client's papers until the accountant's fees have been paid.


agricultural lien

agricultural lien (plural agricultural liens)

Filing with the state generally is required to perfect an agricultural lien unless the collateral is in the possession of the lienholder.

2007, Milton C. Toby, chapter 6, in The Complete Equine Legal & Business Handbook: Legal Insights and Practical Tips for a Successful Horse Business, →ISBN, page 112:

(US, law) A statutory lien that protects the seller of farming equipment by giving the seller a lien on crops grown with the equipment.


banker's lien

As a banker's lien may arise in consequence of the customer's instruction to a bank to open credits without the need to prove an unequivocal act of deposition or intent to deposit the documents, a banker's lien is likely to arise where the bank is financing the transaction under a documentary credit or for debt relating to costs of TPF services provided.

2003, Emmanuel T. Laryea, chapter 3, in Paperless Trade: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions, →ISBN, page 177:

(law) The right of a bank to satisfy a customer's matured debt by seizing the customer's money or property within the bank's possession.


lienor

Those mechanic′s lienors with equal priority to the foreclosing lienor need not be named as defendants in the action, but should be identified in the complaint, as well as those encumbrances with interests prior in right to the foreclosing lienor.

2009, Carl J. Circo, Christopher H. Little, American Bar Association, A State-by-State Guide to Construction & Design Law, 2nd edition, page 161:


gross negligence

(law) Negligence evincing a total or near total disregard for the rights and welfare of others and for the consequences of an act.

嚴重疏忽

negligence of total disregard for rights of others


duty of care

(law) A legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others.


child support

(law) The ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by an obligor, usually the noncustodial parent, to an obligee, usually the custodial parent or other guardian, for the financial care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated, or which never existed.

pensão alimentícia f (also means alimony)


blanket lien

A release schedule determines how much of the loan must be paid off in order to have a lot released from the blanket lien.

2006, Kathryn J. Haupt, chapter 9, in Principles of California Real Estate, →ISBN, page 216:

(law) A lien that gives the lienholder the entitlement to take possession of any or all of the lienee's real property to cover a delinquent loan.


ne exeat

Borrowed from Latin nē exeat (literally “may he not go forth”), from nē (“not”) + exeat, third-person singular subjunctive of exeō (“depart”).

bor+

(law) A common law writ prohibiting the departure of a person or of property from the jurisdiction of a court.


scutage

en-noun

scutage (countable and uncountable, plural scutages)

From Middle English scutage, from Medieval Latin scutagium, from Latin scutum (“shield”).

The land tax, in its modern shape, has superseded all the former methods of rating either property, or persons in respect of their property, whether by tenths or fifteenths, subsidies on land, hidages, scutages, or tallages

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

The wars and the maladministration of Richard I and John forced these kings more and more to count on extraordinary revenues, to multiply aids and especially scutages.

1925, D. Pasquet, An Essay on the Origins of the House of Commons:

(historical) A tax, paid in lieu of military service, that was a significant source of revenue in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.


assassinatrix

From Latin assassinatrix, equivalent to assassinate + -trix.

The young Socialists had glorified Vera Sassoulitsch, the Russian would-be assassinatrix.

1881, Leonard A. Montefiore, Essays and Letters Contributed to Various Periodicals between September 1877 and August 1879, together with Some Unpublished Fragments, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page xlvi:

[T]he Bride tracks down [David] Carradine's Bill—leader, mentor and more to this unstoppable assassinatrix.

2004 April 14, Richard von Busack, “‘Bill’ Paying: When Everything is Cool, Nothing is Hip—Quentin Tarantino Kills Again [review of Kill Bill: Volume 2]”, in Metroactive, Metro Silicon Valley, archived from the original on 2015-09-21:

Having appeared with Jason [Statham] in Lock, Stock [and Two Smoking Barrels], Snatch and Mean Machine didn't necessarily qualify Jason Flemyng to play the hapless Russian villain Dimitri, while Kate Nauta's role as an evil assassinatrix dressed only in bra, pants, suspenders and high heels teetered from the initially sexy to the rudely ridiculous.

2011, Len Brown, Jason Statham: Taking Stock, London: Orion Publishing, →OCLC:

Charlotte Corday
French Revolution
Jean-Paul Marat
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry
Reign of Terror


lay down the law

en-verb

lay down the law (third-person singular simple present lays down the law, present participle laying down the law, simple past and past participle laid down the law)

lays down the law (present singular third-person)
laying down the law (participle present)
laid down the law (participle past)
laid down the law (past)

(law, dated) To present the law that applies to a given case.


affirmant

From Latin affirmans, present participle of affirmo.

(law) One who affirms of taking an oath.


lightbar

A bar mounted on the roof of a vehicle, such as a police car, with rotating beacons or other lights to provide a visual warning.


detinue

From late Middle English detenue, from Old French detenue, feminine singular past participle of detenir (“to detain”). See detain.

(law) A legal action to reclaim goods wrongfully detained.


zaptieh

From French zaptieh, from Ottoman Turkish ضبطیه (zaptiye, “policeman”), from Arabic ضَبْطِيَّة (ḍabṭiyya, “policeman”).

uder

One of the most striking photographs of the deportations that have come out of Armenia. Here is shown a column of Christians on the path across the great plains of the Mamuret-ul-Aziz. The zaptieths are shown walking along at one side.

1918, Aurora Mardiganian, Ravished Armenia, page 10:


vid.

(law) Abbreviation of vidua (Latin for “widow”).


contenement

That which is connected with a tenement, or thing holden, as a certain quantity of land adjacent to a dwelling, and necessary to the reputable enjoyment of the dwelling.


commixtion

en-noun

commixtion (countable and uncountable, plural commixtions)

From Middle English commixtion, from Middle French commixtion, and its source, Latin commixtiōnem, from commiscēre (“to mix”).

(Roman law, Scots law) A method of acquiring property by mixing or blending substances belonging to different proprietors.


statute book

And if you would like one more fact about this worthy, he was responsible for an Act on the statute book abolishing the death penalty for cattle rustling.

2021 September 22, Stephen Roberts, “The writings on the wall...”, in RAIL, number 940, page 71:

(informal, law) All the statutes and laws of a given jurisdiction, whether or not listed in an actual book.


gendercide

gendercide (usually uncountable, plural gendercides)

From gender + -cide, by analogy with femicide, homicide, etc. Doublet of genocide.

The killing of people because of their gender.


tax bracket

A range over which a piecewise linear, generally progressive, tax is linear.


S.D. Iowa

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, as used in case citations.


S.D. Ind.

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, as used in case citations.


N.D. Ind.

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, as used in case citations.


N.D. Iowa

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, as used in case citations.


unconscionability

unconscionability (countable and uncountable, plural unconscionabilities)

(law, contract law) The principle that one party to a contract might be entitled to a remedy if the other party has behaved in an unconscionable manner.


pontage

pontage (countable and uncountable, plural pontages)

From Latin pons, pontis (“a bridge”): compare French pontage.

They pay no Toll for Goods which they have in Right of the Church , and were formerly by the common Law discharg'd from Pontage and Murage

1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC:

(UK, law, obsolete) A duty or tax paid for repairing bridges.


hors de combat

Borrowed from French hors de combat (literally “out of combat”), which is obsolete in contemporary French.

bor

We have no influence but by our influence over those called our masters; how do we acquire that influence? By flattering a man's vanity, and by playing on his hopes and fears! These are all put hors de combat in marriage.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Act of Parliament”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 191:

When we find them, there will be a band of desperate men at the bay. Some of our men, I presume, will be put hors de combat. These royalists are good swordsmen, and the Englishman is devilish cunning, and looks very powerful.

1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC, page 256:

On her right Froggy was hors de combat already, although he hadn't quite realized it.

1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book I (The Romantic Egotist), page 72:

Non-operating revenue for the day included the collection of $50 for the repair of engine No. 9, which at the time—early August—was hors de combat.

1940 November, “Notes and News: Railway Operation Ad Lib”, in Railway Magazine, page 612:

[…] who, as an American infantry scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, Germany […]

1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC:

Dr. Haar noted that when they surrendered, the Russian soldiers had been lying down, apparently unarmed, with their arms outstretched or behind their heads. “They’re considered hors de combat, or noncombatants — effectively prisoners of war,” Dr. Haar said.

2022 November 20, Malachy Browne, Stephen Hiltner, Chevaz Clarke-Williams, Taylor Turner, quoting Dr. Rohini Haar, “Videos Suggest Captive Russian Soldiers Were Killed at Close Range”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(international law, literary) Out of action; disabled; no longer able to fight.


fishing expedition

en-noun

fishing expedition (plural fishing expeditions)

(idiomatic, law, informal, derogatory) A search for information, especially incriminating information, that is conducted without specific direction or goal, in the hope that something may turn up.


just compensation

just compensation (countable and uncountable, plural just compensations)

[...] ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

1789, Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

(law) The compensation provided for property taken via eminent domain. It is usually the fair market value of the property, but may be determined by other means.

preu just

compensation for property taken via eminent domain


settlement agreement

settlement agreement (plural settlement agreements)

contractual agreement
contractual agreement

(law) A contractual agreement between parties to actual or potential litigation by which each party agrees to a resolution of the underlying dispute.

Prozessvergleich

settlement as result of judicial process


chief justice

The senior presiding justice of a court.


N.H.

(law) Initialism of New Hampshire, as used in case citations.


Nev.

(law) Abbreviation of Nevada, as used in case citations.


nonindividual

(law) That which is not an individual (as a trust, partnership, etc.).


N.J.

(law) New Jersey, as used in case citations.


D. Me.

w:United States District Court for the District of Maine

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Maine, as used in case citations.


D. Mass.

w:United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, as used in case citations.


D. Md.

w:United States District Court for the District of Maryland

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Maryland, as used in case citations.


D. Minn.

w:United States District Court for the District of Minnesota

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, as used in case citations.


D.N.D.

w:United States District Court for the District of North Dakota

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of North Dakota, as used in case citations.


D.N.J.

w:United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, as used in case citations.


D. Mont.

w:United States District Court for the District of Montana

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Montana, as used in case citations.


D.N.M.

w:United States District Court for the District of New Mexico

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, as used in case citations.


D. Neb.

w:United States District Court for the District of Nebraska

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, as used in case citations.


Me.

(law) Abbreviation of Maine, as used in case citations.


D. Kan.

w:United States District Court for the District of Kansas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Kansas, as used in case citations.


D.N.H.

w:United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, as used in case citations.


Haw.

(law) Abbreviation of Hawaii, as used in case citations.


R.I.

(law) Initialism of Rhode Island, as used in case citations.


D. Haw.

w:United States District Court for the District of Hawaii

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, as used in case citations.


Or.

(law) Abbreviation of Oregon, as used in case citations.


D.D.C.

w:United States District Court for the District of Columbia

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of Columbia, as used in case citations.


D. Del.

w:United States District Court for the District of Delaware

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Delaware, as used in case citations.


D. Idaho

w:United States District Court for the District of Idaho

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Idaho, as used in case citations.


C.Z.

(law) Initialism of Canal Zone., as used in case citations.


D. Colo.

w:United States District Court for the District of Colorado

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Colorado, as used in case citations.


D. Alaska

w:United States District Court for the District of Alaska

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Alaska, as used in case citations.


D. Ariz.

w:United States District Court for the District of Arizona

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Arizona, as used in case citations.


D.R.I.

w:United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, as used in case citations.


D. Vt.

w:United States District Court for the District of Vermont

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Vermont, as used in case citations.


D.P.R.

w:United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, as used in case citations.


D. Utah

w:United States District Court for the District of Utah

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Utah, as used in case citations.


D. Guam

w:United States District Court for the District of Guam

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Guam, as used in case citations.


D.V.I.

w:United States District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands, as used in case citations.


D. Wyo.

w:United States District Court for the District of Wyoming

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Wyoming, as used in case citations.


D.S.D.

w:United States District Court for the District of South Dakota

(law) Initialism of United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, as used in case citations.


V.I.

(law) Initialism of Virgin Islands, as used in case citations.


D.S.C.

w:United States District Court for the District of South Carolina

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, as used in case citations.


D.C.Z.

w:United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone, as used in case citations.


D. Nev.

w:United States District Court for the District of Nevada

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Nevada, as used in case citations.


P.R.

(law) Abbreviation of Puerto Rico, as used in case citations.


N.M.

(law) Initialism of New Mexico, as used in case citations.


S.C.

(law) Initialism of South Carolina, as used in case citations.


D. Or.

w:United States District Court for the District of Oregon

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Oregon, as used in case citations.


D. Conn.

w:United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, as used in case citations.


D.

(law) District, as used in case citations.


hostis humani generis

hostis humani generis (plural hostes humani generis)

Borrowed from Latin hostis hūmānī generis (“enemy of the human race”): hostis (“enemy of the state”) + hūmānī, genitive singular neuter of hūmānus (“of man”) + generis, genitive singular of genus (“race”).

bor

Hoſtis humani generis, is neither a Definition, nor ſo much as a Deſcription of a Pirate, but a rhetorical Invective to ſhew the Odiouſneſs of that Crime. […] So a Man who breaks the common Rules of Honeſty and Juſtice, which are eſſential to the well-being of Mankind, by robbing only one Nation, may juſtly be term'd hoſtis humani generis; and that Nation has the ſame Right to puniſh him, as if he had actually rob'd all Nations.

1694, [Matthew Tindal], “An Essay Concerning the Laws of Nations, and the Rights of Sovereigns. With an Account of what was Said at the Council Board by the Civilians upon the Question, whether Their Majesties Subjects Taken at Sea Acting by the Late King’s Commission, might not be Look’d on as Pirates? With Reflections upon the Arguments of Sir T. P. and Dr. Ol.”, in Four Discourses on the Following Subjects: viz. I. Of Obedience to the Supreme Powers, and the Duty of Subjects in All Revolutions. II. Of the Laws of Nations, and the Rights of Sovereigns. III. Of the Power of the Magistrate, and the Rights of Mankind, in Matters of Religion. IV. Of the Liberty of the Press, London: [s.n.], published 1709, →OCLC, page 116:

All the definitions of piracy may be reduced to two short ones: 1. That of the Roman or civil law, which describes a pirate to be hostis humani generis; that is, the enemy of mankind: 2. That of the common law, which [describes] him as being a robber on the sea, […]

1824, Nathan Dane, chapter CCX, in A General Abridgment and Digest of American Law, with Occasional Notes and Comments. … In Eight Volumes, volume VII, Boston, Mass.: Published by Cummings, Hilliard & Co., →OCLC, article 9 (What is Piracy or Not), § 13, page 94:

Neither we nor any other organ of English opinion, […] can feel the slightest sympathy or compassion for the Taepings, unless indeed there be any truth in the exquisitely horrible accounts of their massacre by Chinese troops which anonymous correspondents send home here. That they are hostes humani generis, we very willingly admit. But because they are hostes humani generis it does not follow that the whole human race is bound to take up the responsibility of defeating their designs.

1862 July 12, “Lord Palmerston’s Chinese Policy”, in The Economist, Weekly Commercial Times, Bankers’ Gazette, and Railway Monitor: A Political, Literary, and General Newspaper, volume XX, number 985, London: Economist Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 760, column 2:

In the modern age, humanitarian and practical considerations have combined to lead the nations of the world to recognize that respect for fundamental human rights is in their individual and collective interest. Among the rights universally proclaimed by all nations, as we have noted, is the right to be free of physical torture. Indeed, for purposes of civil liability, the torturer has become—like the pirate and slave trader before him—hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind.

1980 June 30, Irving R[obert] Kaufman (Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, Federal Reporter, volume 630, page 890

The response of international law, as articulated by [Hugo] Grotius in the seventeenth century—though hardly invented by him—and reiterated in later formulations, was that such actors [pirates and marauders] were outlaws, and enemies of all humankind (hostis humani generis). As the standard texts explain, this is still the case in international law today, and thus, "Piracy jure gentium (under the law of nations) is the first international crime warranting universal jurisdiction, a concept that permits any state to bring a pirate to justice at any time, anywhere."

2008, Peter Judson Richards, “Hugo Grotius, Hostis Humani Generis, and the Natural Law in Time of War”, in Liberty University Law Review, volume 2, number 3, page 897:

(international law) A person who has committed a criminal act so grave – originally maritime piracy and slave-trading, and now torture as well – that any nation may put on trial and, upon conviction, punish him or her.


petro-dictator

Probably back-formed from petro-dictatorship.

[…] ignore the warnings while America's career politicians coddled and sun-bathed with their corrupt corporate campaign donors and the petro-dictators and monarchs[…]

2005, Peter De Krassel, Custom Maid Spin for New World Disorder:

By any reasonable standard it is a far better deal to send money to America's farmers than to various petro-dictators.

2008, Gal Luft, Breaking Oil's Monopoly in the Transportation Sector:

The U.S., the U.K. and others could point usefully to their own sometimes ruinous experiences with various African petro-dictators and diamond despots, in that not-so-distant past before we discovered our new-found attention to African democracy.

2009, Ernest J. Wilson, China's Influence In Africa:

The dictator of a country whose economy is primarily dependent upon the export of petroleum.


petro-dictatorship

The development of energy resources in an otherwise underdeveloped economy […] is often accompanied by the rise of corrupt, authoritarian regimes (Witness the petro-dictatorships of Nigeria, Libya[…])

1997, Peter Rutland, Lost Opportunities: Energy and Politics in Russia:

Internationally, what is already the world's most indebted nation is overextended on the military front, highly dependent on OPEC oil and increasingly beholden to sovereign wealth funds run by petro-dictatorships or authoritarian regimes

2009, Thomas J. Courchene, The Obama Opportunity: Agent of Change in a Time of Crisis:

A dictatorship funded by petroleum exports.


antilynching

The year before, he donated his earnings from his performance in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings to Jewish refugees fleeing Germany, and in 1945 he worked to get Harry Truman to support an antilynching law.

1998 March 27, Cara Jepsen, “Days of the Week”, in Chicago Reader:

(law) Prohibiting the practice of lynching


BOLO

William Davis Jr. admitted he had been drinking and driving, but he said he shouldn’t have been caught. Even though police had issued a BOLO or “be on the lookout” for his car and an officer testified Davis made several traffic violations, he said there wasn’t enough probable cause for the initial traffic stop that turned into a DUI. […] Davis said he should not have been stopped because the BOLO for his car was not checked out before he was pulled over, but Justice Cornelia Clark pointed out that shouldn’t matter.

2015 September 10, “Knoxville attorney admits to DUI, argues he shouldn’t have been pulled over”, in WATE, archived from the original on 2016-08-20:

Police had issue[d] a BOLO alert for Brown and the children when he suddenly arrived in the emergency room of Central Florida Regional Hospital, looking for his wife.

2016 April 20, Mo Barnes, “Father kills estranged wife, shoots kids”, in RollingOut, retrieved 2017-06-16:

Freeman was able to locate the male and recognized him from a BOLO.

2017 June 13, Keith Lane, “Frederick Freeman named MPD Officer of the Month”, in Local 15, retrieved 2017-06-16:

(US law enforcement, acronym) A broadcast issued from a law enforcement agency to others, typically containing information about a wanted suspect, a person of interest, or a related vehicle.


control order

(UK, law) An order made by the Home Secretary to restrict an individual's liberty for the purpose of protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism.


rightsholder

(law) A person or organization that owns the legal rights to something

rettighedshaver

a person or organization that owns the legal rights to something


et seqq.

(law, uncommon) Abbreviation of et sequentia; (of sequential things, such as pages and lists) and those which follow.


antisodomy

Many felt it was the first positive news at the federal level since 1986, when the court affirmed a state's interest in restricting sexual behavior by upholding Georgia's antisodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick.

1996 August 30, Jeffrey Felshman, “How to Win Enemies and Influence People”, in Chicago Reader:

Doesn't it violate the Texas antisodomy law once backed by President Bush--to say nothing of the FCC's new antismut regulations--for so many U.S. senators to have their heads up their butts on C-SPAN?

2004 July 23, Dan Savage, “Savage Love”, in Chicago Reader:

(chiefly law) Seeking to prevent or prohibit sodomy


vendication

From Latin vendicatio (“claiming”), via French vendication (“claiming”).

1678 June 8, The Minutes of the Westconnaug Purchase, quoted in Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island Historical Society Collections
We do give unto them full Power and Authority to and in our Behalf for the maintaining justifying and defending our just Rights and Property in our aforesaid Purchases above premisd and call to an Account any Person or Persons that are concernd in the aforesaid Purchase of what Monies is due from them to the Company and also to deal with Samuel Reape about a Deed of Sale which he doth obstinately detain in his Hands belonging to the Company: and to all Matters relating to the Propagation and Vendication of our aforesaid Purchases &c

Poſſeſſion thereof remains in the Heir, against whom the Legatar hath not only a personal Action, for payment or delivery of the Legacy but hath alſo a real Action of Vendication, againſt him, and all other havers thereof, for delivery of the ſame.

1693, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, Deduced from Its Originals, and Collated with the Civil, Canon, and Feudal Laws, and with the Customs of Neighbouring Nations ... The Second Edition, Revised, Corrected, and Much Enlarged, Etc, page 498:

Vendication of a plot of ground

1868, Mauritius. Supreme Court, Decisions of the Supreme Court, Vice-Admiralty Court & Bankruptcy Court of Mauritius: Arrets de la Cour Supreme, de la Cour de Vice Admiraute & de la Cour des Faillites de l'Ile Maurice:

(property law, rare) An act of claiming property.


if, as and when

1944, Thomas Reed Powell, letter to William O. Douglas, quoted in Melvin I. Urofsky (1989), '"Dear Teacher": The Correspondence of William O. Douglas and Thomas Reed Powell', Law and History Review 7(2), page 364,
No one cares about what a judge thinks, if, as and when. All that counts is what he says.

The whole thing, Tyne decided, would make a nice problem to mull over in his old age -- if, as, and when.

1988, Harry Brown, A Walk in the Sun, →ISBN, page 75:

We'll talk about appeals if, as and when.

2001, The Man Who Wasn't There, spoken by Freddy Riedenschneider (Tony Shalhoub):

(informal, chiefly law) In the event that the thing being discussed comes to pass.


spivvery

en-noun

spivvery (countable and uncountable, plural spivveries)

The Government decided the issues in accordance with the best principles, he said: "The weak first; and the strong next." Mr. Churchill preferred a free-for-all, but what was Toryism except organised Spivvery?

1948 July 4, “Mr Bevan's bitter attack on Tories”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Rome is also a city of spivvery, a city which had a black market before black markets were invented.

1956, Kenneth Wolstenholme, Sports Special, page 39:

With fascism defeated and Great Britain back on form, it is an optimistic start, but in spite of Mr Attlee’s government promising all the best things for Britain, the country has descended into spivvery, which forces the good men of 1087 [a motor gun boat; see The Ship That Died of Shame] into trafficking drugs and becoming criminals.

2013, Edward Page, A 1950s Childhood, Amberley, →ISBN, page 70:

Slater Walker became synonymous, after the 1973 crash, with City spivvery and the kind of risk-taking excess from which the next generation failed to learn.

2015 November 28, Martin Vander Weyer, “Never too late to investigate HBOS”, in The Spectator, page 36:

This is spivvery for which you and I pay billions extra just to get minimal services—it can also lead to a financial fragility at the heart of the firms on which Britain now relies.

2018 April 23, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Some call it outsourcing. I call it spivvery”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Behaviour characteristic of a spiv; crookery, petty crime.


kadi

From Ottoman Turkish قاضی (kadı), from Arabic قَاضِي (qāḍī), and from Arabic directly.

bor

Arabic قَاضِي (qāḍī)

Each has an imaum, but the kadi is their head, of which dignity he seems not a little proud.

"You shall go to Mecca when you grow up, and become a Hadji, and when you come back the high kadi shall take you in the mosque and make a kateeb of you," said I. "Now put your forehead to the ground and thank the good Allah that the kuching had eaten dog before he got you."

1898, Rounsevelle Wildman, Tales of the Malayan Coast:

To this the Jew agreed, and the two went together to the great hall, in which the kadi was administering justice.

Alternative spelling of qadi, Islamic judge, particularly (historical) in Ottoman contexts where they initially oversaw local administration as well as Islamic law.


VARA

Visual Artists Rights Act
w:Visual Artists Rights Act

(law) Acronym of Visual Artists Rights Act.


C.A.F.C.

(law) United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as used in case citations.


Vet.

(law) Abbreviation of veteran, as used in case citations in the United States.


C.A.A.F.

w:United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

(law) Abbreviation of United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.


W.D. Ark.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, as used in case citations.


E.D. Ark.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, as used in case citations.


W.D. Wash.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Washington

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, as used in case citations.


E.D. Va.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, as used in case citations.


E.D. Mich.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, as used in case citations.


E.D. Mo.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, as used in case citations.


E.D. Ky.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, as used in case citations.


M.D. Pa.

w:United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, as used in case citations.


W.D. Mo.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, as used in case citations.


Vet. App.

w:United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

(law) Abbreviation of United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, as used in case citations.


W.D. Tenn.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, as used in case citations.


W.D. Ky.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, as used in case citations.


E.D. Pa.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as used in case citations.


W.D. Va.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, as used in case citations.


E.D. Wash.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, as used in case citations.


W.D. Wis.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, as used in case citations.


W.D. Pa.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, as used in case citations.


E.D. Wis.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin as used in case citations.


M.D. Tenn.

w:United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, as used in case citations.


E.D. Tenn.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, as used in case citations.


N.D. Okla.

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, as used in case citations.


E.D. Okla.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, as used in case citations.


spendthrift trust

en-noun

spendthrift trust (plural spendthrift trusts)

(law) A trust that is created for the benefit of a person (often because that beneficiary is unable to control spending) that gives an independent trustee full authority to make decisions as to how the trust funds may be spent for the benefit of the beneficiary, thus keeping the funds in the trust beyond the reach of creditors.


W.D. Mich.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, as used in case citations.


W.D. Okla.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, as used in case citations.


don't drop the soap

From the exposure of one's buttocks when bending over in a male group shower, in reference to prison rape.

(idiomatic) Used as a mockery to someone who is about to be or should be confined in prison.


springing executory interest

springing executory interest (plural springing executory interests)

Joe gives land "to Harry, if Harry graduates from law school". Harry has a springing executory interest because his graduation from law school directly divests Joe of ownership.

(law) An interest in an estate in land created by the conditions of a grant wherein the grantor cuts short the grantor's own interest in the property in favor of the grantee, contingent upon the occurrence of a specific condition.

fee simple subject to executory interest

fee simple subject to executory limitation


hate speech

From hate + speech. Compare Old English hetesprǣċ (“hateful speech”).

cog

Coordinate term: hate crime

Facebook belatedly moved to further restrict hate speech that glorified violence against women after an organized social media campaign caused some companies like Nissan, the automaker, to withhold advertising from the site.

2013 May 30, “Hate Speech on Facebook”, in New York Times:

Speech that attacks or disparages a person or group of persons on the basis of origin, race, nationality, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.


W.D. Tex.

w:United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, as used in case citations.


N.D. Tex.

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, as used in case citations.


Tex.

(law) Abbreviation of Texas, as used in case citations.


E.D. Tex.

w:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, as used in case citations.


S.D. Tex.

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, as used in case citations.


Miss.

(law) Mississippi, as used in case citations.


S.D. Ohio

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, as used in case citations.


N.D. Ohio

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, as used in case citations.


N.D.W.Va.

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, as used in case citations.


N.D. Miss.

w:United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, as used in case citations.


S.D. Miss.

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, as used in case citations.


W.Va.

(law) Abbreviation of West Virginia., as used in case citations.


S.D.W.Va.

w:United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

(law) Abbreviation of United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, as used in case citations.


Danegeld

Inherited from Middle English danegeld, from Dane, genitive plural of Dan (“Dane”), plus geld (“geld, tribute, payment”). Apparently modeled on a Scandinavian word such as Old Danish Danegjeld), from Old Norse *Danagjald, from the genitive plural of Danir (“Danes”) + gjald (“payment, tribute”).

And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.

(history) A tax raised originally to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders in the 10th and 11th centuries to save a land from being ravaged, and later continued as a land tax.

丹麦金

(history) tax raised to protect against Viking raiders


three hots and a cot

Rhyming expression from the idea of three hot meals daily and a bed to sleep on.

“I've never been to jail before,” [Neal] said. “But there is a bright side: three hots and a cot at taxpayer expense.”

1996 January 29, Unknown, “JUST FOLKS
 Homeless man who went on-line jailed on charge of stealing batteries”, in Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

It is, said the Rev. Eugene Boutilier, emergency services issues manager for the United Way, an important part of the mix of services that better-endowed cities are trying to provide to street people. "We need more than just three hots and a cot," he said.

1987 February 28, Jay Mathews, “Homeless Shelter Officials Differ on Problem’s Scope, Nature”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2023-02-22:

The voluntary prisoner in search of "three hots and a cot" is a persistent figure in American popular culture.

2009 May 10, David Streitfeld, “The Recession Made Them Do It”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2022-10-11:

Doe raises the necessary money for its residents' wages; the city provides the money for "three hots and a cot".

2015 September 25, Sam Thielman, “New York City owes homeless aid organization $2.5m in unpaid funds”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2020-11-08:

I guess I don't have much self-esteem. I'm grateful for the three hots and a cot for four weeks.

2017, Nancy Price, Blonde Broads, College Station, T.X.: Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 174:


undertrial

(India, law) One who is currently on trial or who is imprisoned on remand whilst awaiting trial.


under-trial

(India, law) Alternative spelling of undertrial


conditional sentence

en-noun

conditional sentence (plural conditional sentences)


out-of-court

To avoid negative publicity, we arrived at an out-of-court settlement.

(law) Without resorting to formal legal action.

庭外

without resorting to formal legal action


pray in aid

en-verb

pray in aid (third-person singular simple present prays in aid, present participle praying in aid, simple past and past participle prayed in aid)

prays in aid (present singular third-person)
praying in aid (participle present)
prayed in aid (participle past)
prayed in aid (past)

Other, smaller craters in the North Sea and Ukraine have been prayed in aid of this theory.

(transitive, chiefly law) To ask for the help of (someone or something) in pleading a case; to make use of, adduce (something) in defence of a case, argument etc.


I rest my case

All the evidence points toward the defendant's guilt. I rest my case.

(law) My argument is proven; I conclude my statement.

Damit schließe ich die Beweisführung ab.

ezzel befejeztem a perbeszédet / az érvelésemet

egyebet nem kívánok mondani/hozzátenni/hozzáfűzni

これにて立証を終える

これにてりっしょうをおえる


galanas

From Welsh galanas (“murder; weregild”).

(historical, law) the blood money or weregild paid by a murderer to the family of his victim under early Welsh law


medical examiner

en-noun

medical examiner (plural medical examiners)

aviation medical examiner
medical examiner

(law) A physician who examines cadavers on behalf of the government.

médecin légiste

a physician who examines cadavers on behalf of the government


nonfungible

Horses, slaves, and so forth, are non-fungible things, because they differ individually in value and cannot be exchanged indifferently one for another.

1880, Thomas Erskine Holland, The Elements of Jurisprudence, 12th edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1916, page 107:

But the claim that love of certain sorts—romantic, maternal, filial—is nonfungible means that this emotion is directed only to the particular individuals who manifest those properties.

2019, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Things: In Touch with the Past, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 100:

(chiefly property law, finance) Not fungible, not interchangeable.


universal jurisdiction

"Amnesty International’s legal memorandum, Universal Jurisdiction: the duty of states to enact and implement legislation, documents more than 125 states that have universal jurisdiction over at least one of the crimes. The organization is campaigning for all states to enact universal jurisdiction legislation over all six crimes."https://web.archive.org/web/20091109030738/http://www.amnesty.org/en/international-justice/issues/universal-jurisdiction

(international law) A principle whereby a state claims legal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or other relationship with the prosecuting country.


bona vacantia

"The company asked also for an express vesting order concerning the land, which had legally gone to the Crown as bona vacantia" http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WvY3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA814&dq=bona+vacantia

(UK, law) The principle that there is no unowned property, and that if there is no other owner then property vests in the Crown.


greylist

(law) A list, resembling a blacklist, for less serious offences.


probate court

(law) A court, sometimes called "Orphans' Court" (tribunal) whose function is to administer estates (property of a decedent) and prove wills

遺囑檢驗法庭

court or tribunal that administers estates and proves wills


onus probandi

burden of production
burden of production

burden of persuasion
burden of persuasion

(law) The burden of proof, the onus; the duty of a party in a legal proceeding to prove an assertion of fact; it includes both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion.


air pirate

A person involved in air piracy (aircraft hijacking).


glossator

From Middle English glosatour, from Medieval Latin glōsātor, glossātor, from glōsāre, glōssāre (“to gloss”) + Latin -tor (agent suffix).

(historical, law) A legal scholar of the Middle Ages, (specifically) one who authored glosses on legal texts (especially the Corpus Juris of Justinian), typically distinguished from the later commentators who wrote in extended prose and adopted a more pragmatic form of jurisprudence.


tosher

From 19th-century British thieves' cant tosh (“copper; items made of copper”) + -er (“one who uses or acquires”).

The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called by the name of ‘Toshers’, the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along shore being known among themselves by the general term ‘tosh’, a word more particularly applied by them to anything made of copper.

1851, H. Mayhew, London labour and the London poor, II. 150/2:

(chiefly historical) A scavenger of valuables lost in the sewers, particularly those of London during the Victorian Age.


career criminal

career criminal (plural career criminals)

A person who makes a living illegally by committing crimes.

ammattirikollinen

a person who makes a living illegally by committing crimes


hundreder

(historical) An inhabitant or freeholder of a hundred, hence (law) a person eligible for jury duty within a hundred.


obrogate

en-verb

obrogate (third-person singular simple present obrogates, present participle obrogating, simple past and past participle obrogated)

obrogates (present singular third-person)
obrogating (participle present)
obrogated (participle past)
obrogated (past)

That a law is surrogated, when anything is added to the former law; that it is obrogated when anything in the former law is changed.

1880, James Buchanan, Johannes Voet, His Commentary on the Pandects, translation of original by Johannes Voet, page 56:

(law, rare) To annul a law by enacting a new law, as opposed to repealing the former law.


vice squad

(law enforcement, criminology) A police section specialized in vice crimes.


viatorial privilege

(law) The exemption of a witness from court duty until summoned and compensated for their expense.


collateral estoppel

(law) The estoppel forbidding again litigating an issue decided in a previous case with the same parties, or even with the same party being estopped.


cui bono

From Cicero’s Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino, 84 & 86: Latin cui bonō fuisset (“to whom it would have benefited”), a so-called double dative construction.

bor

If the principle of cui bono is applied, it is evident that the gainers were the party of the triumvirs, whose popularity would be increased by a belief being created that their opponents the Optimates were prepared to adopt extreme measures to get rid of them.

1900, Evelyn Shuckburgh, Letters to Atticus, translation of original by Marcus Tullius Cicero:

The principle that the ultimate initiator of an action is likely the person who stands to gain from the action.


paternity test

(law, genetics) A test performed to determine the biological father of a child.


make away

en-verb

make away (third-person singular simple present makes away, present participle making away, simple past and past participle made away)

makes away (present singular third-person)
making away (participle present)
made away (participle past)
made away (past)

(obsolete, intransitive) To depart, leave; to make off.


pledgor

(law) One who engages in or makes a pledge to a pledgee.


actio popularis

en-noun

actio popularis (plural actiones populares)

Latin actio (“action”) + popularis (“of the people”)

(law) Action to obtain remedy by a person or a group in the name of the collective interest.


IAB

internal affairs
internal affairs#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of internal affairs bureau.


QPF

(law enforcement, Quebec) SQ — Quebec police force — Sûreté du Québec


police department

police department (plural police departments)

(law enforcement) Police force, especially a local or regional branch of a national police force.

poliisilaitos

police force, especially a local or regional branch of a national police force


Sûreté

(law enforcement) The Sûreté Nationale of France.

(law enforcement, Quebec) The Sûreté du Québec.


Sûreté du Québec

(Quebec, law enforcement) the Quebec provincial police force


SQ

(law enforcement) Sûreté du Québec - the Quebec provincial police force


SPVM

From French SPVM. Initialism of Service de police de la ville de Montréal..

init of

(law enforcement) Montreal police service — the police for the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada


working time

Working time shall mean any period during which the worker is working, at the employer's disposal and carrying out his activity or duties, in accordance with national laws and/or practice.

1993 December 13, Official Journal (of the European Union) L 307, pages 0018 - 0024:

(law) The period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Most countries regulate the working time by law, e.g. by stipulating a maximum number of working hours per week. Exact definition varies by the legislation.


act of independent significance

en-noun

act of independent significance (plural acts of independent significance)

acts of independent significance (plural)

(law) A doctrine in the law of wills under which a testator may effectively change the disposition of his property without changing the text of the will, so long as the acts or events changing the disposition have some significance other than avoiding the requirements of the will.


SPCUM

Montreal Urban Community
Montreal Urban Community

(law enforcement) the Montreal Urban Community police service (Service de police de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal, SPCUM) — replaced by the SPVM


CTM

CTM (countable and uncountable, plural CTMs)

(copyright law) Initialism of community trademark.


prest

From Middle English prest, from Old French prest.

the same tayles soe hereafter there to be levyed and striken, shalbe delyvered unto everye of the same Sheriffes[…]without prest or other chardge to be sett upon them for the same.

(law) A duty in money formerly paid by the sheriff on his account in the exchequer, or for money left or remaining in his hands.


plead the Fifth

en-verb

plead the Fifth (third-person singular simple present pleads the Fifth, present participle pleading the Fifth, simple past pled the Fifth or pleaded the Fifth, past participle pled the Fifth)

pleads the Fifth (present singular third-person)
pleading the Fifth (participle present)
pled the Fifth (past)
pleaded the Fifth (past)
pled the Fifth (participle past)

(law, US) To invoke the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects witnesses from being forced to incriminate themselves.


statute of frauds

en-noun

statute of frauds (plural statutes of frauds)

(law) A statute that bars enforcement of an oral contract.


pragmatical

en-adj

pragmatical (comparative more pragmatical, superlative most pragmatical)

more pragmatical (comparative)
most pragmatical (superlative)

/pɹæɡˈmætɪkəl/


SCP

(genre): An initialism of special containment procedures. Not an initialism of the SCP Foundation’s motto, secure, contain, protect, which is a backronym from SCP.

init

(law) Initialism of Senior Crown Prosecutor.


what say you

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-what say you.wav

Early Modern English syntax for what do you say; at the time, do-support was not yet obligatory. Compare Middle English what seien ye.

(formal) What do you say? What is your opinion?

(law) When addressed to a defendant in court: how do you plead? Also, when addressed to a jury or its foreperson: what is your verdict?

kuinka vastaatte syytteisiin?

when addressed to a defendant in court: how do you plead?


PCA

(US, law) Abbreviation of Posse Comitatus Act. The U.S. law called "Posse Comitatus Act", 20 Stat. 152 aka 18 U.S.C. § 1385


a short drop and a sudden stop

[ə ˌʃɔɹʔ ˈdɹɒp ən ə ˌsʌdn̩ ˈstɒp]

en-au-a short drop and a sudden stop.ogg

Popular due to the internal rhyme of drop with stop.

I see, in other words, a short drop and then a sudden stop?

1923, Austin B Griffin, Reports of Cases Heard and Determined in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, volume 203, page 885:

I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves: A short drop and a sudden stop.

2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl:

> But, yeah, the death penalty is a little stiff just for pretentious writing.
> Punning now… it’d be a capital idea, there.
Let’s not start _that_ row. Give it a quick drop and a sudden stop, rather than letting them hang…

2005 January 8, “Bookman”, alt.fan.heinlein (Google group): Clarke Survives Tsunamis

If you were lucky enough to survive all this lunacy, you always risked capture. There your story would end with a quick drop and a sudden stop, for piracy was punishable by hanging.

2006 Hirchak, John Hirchak. Ghosts of Old Wilmington, page 27 (The History Press; →ISBN)

(idiomatic) A fall to one's death by hanging.


FICA

(government, taxation) Acronym of Federal Insurance Contributions Act.


chthonic law

en-noun

chthonic law (countable and uncountable, plural chthonic laws)

(law, uncountable) A system of law centered on the sacred character of the cosmos.

(law, countable) An individual law of this kind.


contemnor

(law) A party who commits or is held in contempt of court.


legal code

(law) All the official laws of a country or state


down the banks

Unknown. Probably of Irish origin.
five conjectural etymologies
* Notes & Queries, 3rd series, volume 1 (8 March 1862), page 189 posits a connection with "down the khud", supposedly used of a person falling down a precipice in the Himalayas.
* Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (1998) suggests falling off the raised bank of a bog into muddy water.
* Bernard Share (Slanguage, 1997) suggests a link to "The Banks of my own Lovely Lee", a Cork anthem nicknamed "De Banks".
See also:
* Laurence Urdang, Walter W. Hunsinger, Nancy LaRoche, Picturesque expressions: a thematic dictionary (1985, →ISBN, page 571
* The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006, →ISBN, volume 1 A–I, page 646

Mr. Heberton Fitzjames was (and, if he has not gone 'down the banks,' is) a gentleman such as we frequently see at the watering-places; a leader of the select parties there congregated. […] I became acquainted with Fitzjames in my way of making new friends. I had professional engagements with him, and from the name of 'the plaintiff,' I concluded it grew out of a sporting debt. Ah, Heberton, in that you were nearly gone 'down the banks!'

1852 April, "Flavul", The Knickerbocker, volume 39, page 336, "Transcripts from the docket of a late Sheriff of New-York"

A independent woter ain't the cheese any longer. […] The Stars is out in all kinds o' weather, and if they shines on a feller when he's got half a dozen glasses on board, the Watch-us', Squire Cole, and ten days down the banks, is the word!

1855, Albany Register, "An Independent Voter" (reprinted in Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, volume 20, number 27, page 211)


fighting words

(set phrase) Aggressive remarks that foreseeably may lead to a potentially violent confrontation; in law, often considered mitigation for otherwise sanctionable behavior (fighting).


pawnee

(law) One or two whom a pledge is delivered as security; one who takes anything in pawn.


nuisance tax

(derogatory) A tax imposed as a percentage of the selling price of goods or services, payable by the customer and transmitted by the seller to the taxing authority; a sales tax.


supersedeas

(law) A type of surety bond that a court requires from an appellant who wants to delay payment of a judgement until the appeal is over.

(law) A writ requiring a lower court to suspend an action.


big pharma

"Biotech's only got about $1.5 billion in partnering funds today, but big pharma is spending $25 billion in R&D" each year with marginal results, notes Burrill.

1994 September 26, “Biotech”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 2013-10-10:

Critics were indignant that a potentially dangerous drug was being used on a hunch, and suspected the influence of big pharma and its drive to expand its markets.

2006 June 19, Daniel Williams, “Drugs Before Diagnosis?”, in Time:

The driving force, and substantial beneficiary, of this mass medicalisation is of course the pharmaceutical industry, or Big Pharma as it has pejoratively become known.

2012, James Le Fanu, “Bitter Pills to Swallow”, in Literary Review, number 399:

(business, derogatory) Large, prosperous pharmaceutical firms collectively, understood as a business group having significant economic, political, or social influence.


TRO

temporary restraining order
temporary restraining order#English

(law) Initialism of temporary restraining order.

(law) Initialism of traffic restriction order.


temporary restraining order

temporary restraining order (plural temporary restraining orders)

(law) A restraining order which expires at a specified point in time, in particular a restraining order issued prior to an inter partes hearing.


Law French

(law) The body of legal terms used in the United Kingdom descended from the Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French, many now archaic but some still in use in the UK and elsewhere.


dépeçage

(law) The joint application of norms from different jurisdictions or legal systems, each governing certain aspects of a case.


repliant

(law) A litigant who files a reply or replication.


RAS

(law enforcement) Initialism of reasonable articulable suspicion.


unlaw

en-verb

unlaw (third-person singular simple present unlaws, present participle unlawing, simple past and past participle unlawed)

unlaws (present singular third-person)
unlawing (participle present)
unlawed (participle past)
unlawed (past)

(transitive, obsolete, Scots law) To fine.


FIN

force identification number
w:force identification number

(law enforcement, UK) Initialism of force identification number.


appendant

en-adj

appendant (comparative more appendant, superlative most appendant)

more appendant (comparative)
most appendant (superlative)

If A. be ſeiſed of a mannor whereunto the franchiſe of waife and ſtray and ſuch like are appendant, and the King purchaſeth the mannor with the appurtenances, now are the royall Franchiſes reunited to the Crowne, and not appendant to the Mannor, […]

1628, Edw[ard] Coke, The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, book 2, chapter 11, section 184, folio 121, verso:

(law) Appended by prescription, that is, a personal usage for a considerable time; said of a thing of inheritance belonging to another inheritance which is superior or more worthy; as, an advowson, common, etc., which may be appendant to a manor, common of fishing to a freehold, a seat in church to a house.


appendant

(law) An inheritance annexed by prescription to a superior inheritance.


SJ

Secretary for Justice
w:Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong)

(Hong Kong, law) Abbreviation of Secretary for Justice.


hospitium

en-noun

hospitium (plural hospitiums or hospitia)

Borrowed from Latin hospitium. Doublet of hospice.


pupillarity

Borrowed from Medieval Latin pūpillāritās.

(Scots law) The period before puberty, or from birth to fourteen in males, and twelve in females


policer

a traffic policer; a bandwidth policer

(computing) A software component that enforces a security policy.


anticopyright

en-adj

anticopyright (comparative more anticopyright, superlative most anticopyright)

more anticopyright (comparative)
most anticopyright (superlative)

Opposing the concept of copyright, or the nature of current copyright laws


private law

(law) The area of law pertaining to the relationships between private persons (natural or legal persons including corporations), as opposed to relations between the state and private persons.


qui tam

Latin qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, "[he] who sues in this matter for the king as [well as] for himself".

(law) A writ whereby a private individual who assists a prosecution can receive all or part of any penalty imposed.


rere

(Ireland, law, specifically) back portion or area behind (a building, etc.)


antiloitering

an antiloitering law

(law) Serving to prevent or counter loitering.


avowry

en-noun

avowry (countable and uncountable, plural avowries)

From Middle English avouerie, avourie, from Old French avoerie, avouerie.

Every avowant, and other person, that makes avowry or conusance, or justifies as baily, in replevin or second deliverance, for rent, custom or service, if the plaintiff be barred, shall recover damages and costs.

1764, Timothy Cunningham, A New and Complete Law-dictionary:

(law) The act of avowing and justifying in one's own right the distraining of goods.


cotenant

(property law) A person who shares a tenancy with another; a co-owner of an interest in property.


juice up

en-verb

juice up (third-person singular simple present juices up, present participle juicing up, simple past and past participle juiced up)

juices up (present singular third-person)
juicing up (participle present)
juiced up (participle past)
juiced up (past)

Coordinate term: spill juice

Juice man up with this 15 inch
Like, now I got blood on my splasher

2020 August 13, Blacz (lyrics and music), “TwentyTwo”, 1:21–1:26:

(MLE, slang) To kill or seriously injure with a knife.


cestui

en-noun

cestui (plural cestuis or (rare) cestuies)

(law, obsolete) That person; the person in question.


chargeant

The discharge of the petitioner to the charge of the executors alleged that the REv. THomas Conway was a member of the Order of Saint Dominic, and that is not denied; and the said discharge further stated that the said legacy to the Rev. Thomas Conway was in trust for the sole use and benefit of the members of the Order of Saint Dominic, and was void. The Rev. P. T. Conway, by his charge, states- "That chargeant has read that portion of the petitioner's discharge in this matter, which impeaches the said bequest to this chargeant on the ground that the said legacy was left to this chargeant upon trust, that he would take and apply same for the maintenance and support, or for the use and benefit of the members of the Order of Saint Dominic resident in the United Kingdom, and chargeant saith that no trust, save as hereinafter mentioned, was imposed upon chargeant in relation to the said bequest—that is to say, that he, the testator, had a conversation with chargeant, who informed him that he had bequeathed, or would bequeath, to chargeant the sum of £500, and that the said sum was, or would be, so bequeathed to chargeant, […]

1896, James Alphonsus Dwyer, The Dominicans of Cork City and County, page 164:

Every charge and discharge shall be verified by the affidavit of the chargeant and dischargeant respectively, unless the Court shall otherwise allow.

1904, Great Britain, Statutory Rules and Orders Other Than Those of a Local, Personal, Or Temporary Character, page 557:

(Ireland, law, possibly obsolete) A chargee, a person who has a charge upon something.


privity

privity (countable and uncountable, plural privities)

From Anglo-Norman priveté, privitee et al., Old French priveté, from privé + -té.

There is no privity, (as the lawyers say),—that is, no mutual recognition, consent and agreement—between those who take these oaths, and any other persons.

1870, Lysander Spooner, No Treason, Number 6, page 32:

(law) A relationship between parties seen as being a result of their mutual interest or participation in a given transaction, e.g. contract, estate, etc.


libel tourism

That is called libel tourism by lawyers in the media trade. And Britain remains a comfortable destination for the rich in search of friendly courts, which have already weighed complaints from people who consider themselves unfairly tarred with labels like tax dodger, terrorist financier or murky Qaeda operative.

[2008 January 20, Doreen Carvajal, “Britain, a destination for "libel tourism"”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Ehrenfeld's case was an example of "libel tourism," where someone brings a libel claim in a country where he is most likely to win. Often, that country is Great Britain.

2015 March 21, Ari Shapiro, “On Libel And The Law, U.S. And U.K. Go Separate Ways”, in NPR.org:

(law, derogatory) A form of forum shopping in which plaintiffs choose to file libel suits in jurisdictions thought more likely to give a favourable result.


passthrough

passthrough (countable and uncountable, plural passthroughs)

Partnerships, limited-liability companies, and Subchapter S corporations are the main US passthroughs.

(taxation) A legal entity intended to not incur (income) taxation at the entity, but solely at the beneficiaries.


damnify

en-verb

damnify (third-person singular simple present damnifies, present participle damnifying, simple past and past participle damnified)

damnifies (present singular third-person)
damnifying (participle present)
damnified (participle past)
damnified (past)

From Old French damnifier, from Latin damnifico.


disseisin

en-noun

disseisin (countable and uncountable, plural disseisins)

The United States cannot acquire jurisdiction tortiously or by disseisin of the state, or by occupancy with merely the tacit consent of the state.


surplusage

surplusage (countable and uncountable, plural surplusages)

From Medieval Latin surplusagium, from surplus.

(law) Matter in pleading which is not necessary or relevant to the case, and may be rejected.


marriage certificate

marriage certificate (plural marriage certificates)

(law) An official record indicating that two individuals were legally married on the date of the certificate.


indicavit

This act recited, that thentofore suits met with unmeet delays, by the indicavits being sued out before the suit in the spiritual court was recorded

1791, John Mallory, Modern Entries, in English:

(UK, law) A writ of prohibition against proceeding in the spiritual court in certain cases, when the suit belongs to the common-law courts.


first-degree

The jury found her guilty of 6 counts of first-degree murder, one for each of the victims of her rampage.

At the first level of some system, particularly:

(law) The most severe level of felony, typically involving planning or other aggravating factors.


second-degree

The jury found her guilty of second-degree murder for accidentally killing her victim as she mugged him.

At the second level of some system, particularly:

(law) A level of felony somewhat mitigated by various factors.


BSL

The BSL is a ‘Source Available’ license that freely allows using the code for development and other non-production work such as testing. Production use of the software requires a commercial license from Lightbend.

2022 September 8, Paul Kunert, quoting Jonas Bonér, “Open source biz sick of FOSS community exploitation overhauls software rights”, in The Register:

(software, copyright law) Initialism of Business Source License.


moratory

moratory interest

(law, finance) Pertaining to delay of payment or fulfilment of an obligation.


condiction

(law) A claim for restitution of a payment


condonation

condonation (countable and uncountable, plural condonations)

(law) A legal defense made when an accuser had forgiven or chosen to ignore an act about which they were legally complaining. ᵂᵖ


kidsman

(dated) An adult who recruits children to train them as criminals.


evil genius

evil genius (plural evil geniuses or evil genii)

evil geniuses (plural)
evil genii (plural)

He could in nowise comprehend it; but, taking it with other previous circumstances, he could not get quit of a conviction that he was haunted by some evil genius in the shape of his brother […].

1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 37:

It was as if I unconsciously realized that in her I had met my evil genius.

The spirit each person is believed to have in attendance, according to certain religious or mythological traditions, which tries to negatively influence him, and is opposed by his good genius; loosely, someone who is a bad influence.

An intellectually brilliant person who excells at using his or her mental abilities for negative or harmful ends; especially a criminal mastermind .

ilkeä nero

intellectually brilliant person who excells at using their mental abilities for negative ends


demerit point

(law) A point subtracted from a person's driver's license upon conviction of a driving offense, the accumulation of which may lead to additional penalties and/or loss of driving privileges.

扣分

point subtracted from a driver's license


underletting

In the marketplace, it is important that tenants of business premises should be able to assign their leases or grant underlettings, in good times and bad.

2006, Susan Bright, Landlord and Tenant Law: Past, Present and Future, page 4:


fraudonomics

And it’s clear that a lot more people here are aware of how fundamentally rotten things are but they’re not willing to face the big fraudonomics bummer yet, preferring instead to stick with specific accusations.

2010, Mark Ames, Confessions of a Wall Street nihilist: forget about Goldman Sachs, our entire economy is built on fraud:

economic system as a whole based on fraud


affirmative waste

(property law) Any structural change made to an estate in land that intentionally or negligently causes harm to the estate or depletes its resources, unless this depletion is a continuation of a pre-existing use.


voluntary waste

voluntary waste (usually uncountable, plural voluntary wastes)


multiclaim

(law) Of or pertaining to multiple claims.


nonenforcement

nonenforcement (usually uncountable, plural nonenforcements)

(law) Lack of enforcement; failure to enforce.


nonjoined

(law, of a party) omitted from an action


subterm

(mathematics, law, computing) A subordinate term.


rule against perpetuities

rule against perpetuities (plural rules against perpetuities)

(law, singular only) The rule that prevents a testator or other transferor of property from controlling further transfer of his property more than twenty-one years after the death of anyone alive at the time of the original transfer who may have some interest in the transfer.

(law, countable, by extension) Any rule that prevents a testator or other transferor of property from controlling further transfer of his property beyond a certain length of time.


nulla pœna sine lege

/ˌnʊlə ˈpɔɪnə ˌsiːneɪ ˈleɪɡeɪ/

From Latin: nūlla (feminine form of nūllus, “not any”) + poena (“penalty”, “punishment”) + sine (“without”) + lēge (ablative singular form of lēx, “a law”) = “no punishment without a law”.

This is a wide definition, and the courts, no doubt bearing in mind that a wide application might tend to defeat the maxim “nulla pœna sine lege” have been cautious in its application in practice.

1945, The Solicitors’ Journal, volume 89, page 262:

[…] -cutions on these and similar constructs, thereby overruling nulla pœna sine lege.

1992, European Journal of Sociology, volumes 33-34, Plon, page 196:

This is especially pertinent to nulla poena sine lege in its particular reference to punishment.

2005, Jerome Hall, General Principles of Criminal Law, page 55:

(law) The principle that a person shall receive no punishment unless he has committed an offence as explicitly defined in a law.


cybervandalism

(law) Vandalism carried out by means of computer technology, as for example the defacement of a website.


cybertrespass

(law) The act of connecting to a private computer system without permission.


CUE

(law) Acronym of clear and unmistakable error; legal standard for appeal of a decision by a Board of Veterans Appeals in the United States.