guillotine

Borrowed from French guillotine, named after the French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who proposed its use for capital punishment.

named-after

/ˌɡɪləˈtiːn/

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

For two-and-twenty years he [Joseph-Ignace Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive [Julius] Cæsar’s.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “The Procession”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General), pages 143–144:

(historical, also figuratively) A machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation, consisting of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy diagonal-edged blade which is dropped onto the neck of the person to be executed; also, execution using this machine.

gijotinë

The right hon. Gentleman is making a great stooshie about time in relation to this Bill, but was it not the case that, when the SNP [Scottish National Party] Scottish Government introduced their continuity Bill in the Scottish Parliament, they operated a ruthless guillotine to prevent proper scrutiny of it? That is the case; they ran a guillotine on that Bill, and there was a very limited amount of time allowed for debate and scrutiny, yet he complains about that happening here.

2019 October 22, Stephen Kerr, Member of Parliament for Stirling, “Second Reading of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons)^(https://web.archive.org/web/20191024000813/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-22/debates/277C5A20-456D-469B-A415-D04AFFD83248/EuropeanUnion(WithdrawalAgreement)Bill), volume 666, archived from the original on 2019-10-24, column 860:

(British) A parliamentary procedure for fixing the dates when various stages of discussion of a bill must end, to ensure that the enactment of the bill proceeds expeditiously.

(US) A legislative motion that debate be ended and a vote taken; a cloture.


guillotine

en-verb

guillotine (third-person singular simple present guillotines, present participle guillotining, simple past and past participle guillotined)

guillotines (present singular third-person)
guillotining (participle present)
guillotined (participle past)
guillotined (past)

Borrowed from French guillotiner (“to execute with a guillotine, to guillotine”), from guillotine (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).

bor

/ˌɡɪləˈtiːn/

(British) To end discussion (about a parliamentary bill or part of one) by invoking a guillotine procedure.

(US) To end (a legislative debate) by invoking cloture.


unavoidable

en-adj

unavoidable (comparative more unavoidable, superlative most unavoidable)

more unavoidable (comparative)
most unavoidable (superlative)

/ˌʌnəˈvɔɪdəbəl/

From Middle English unavoidable, equivalent to un- + avoidable.

A confirmation is allied to a release, being a conveyance of an estate or right in esse whereby a voidable estate is made unavoidable

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

(law) Not voidable; incapable of being made null or void.


racket

From Middle English raket, of uncertain origin.
Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). From Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد (rāḥat al-yad, “palm of the hand”).
Alternatively, the term might be derived from Dutch raketsen instead, from Middle French rachasser (“to strike (the ball) back”).

unc

uncertain origin

der

رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد

“In the doctor's team, many such topics have come up in their WhatsApp group, some screenshots of this have also reached us like drugs, racket, sex racket. The names of a TMC MP and his nephew are coming up again and again, I don't know what happened but something is wrong,”

2024, Digital Desk, RG Kar Hospital A Centre of Porn-Sex-Drug Racket? Kolkata Doctor's Rape-Murder Case Turns Murkier:

Effacing the truth. A generally small group of people in the know putting on a false persona or narrative to deceive many. Originaged in 1935 from Gen. Smedley Butler's book War Is a Racket.


provision

en-noun

provision (countable and uncountable, plural provisions)

/pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/

From Middle English provisioun, from Old French provisïon, from Latin prōvīsiō (“preparation, foresight”), from prōvidēre (“provide”).

der

An arrest shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Almost half of MEPs wanted to remove the new provisions' to expand the use of megatrucks but an amendment to do that failed to pass by just six votes.

(law) A clause in a legal instrument, a law, etc., providing for a particular matter; stipulation; proviso.

määräys

in contracts or non-governmental regulations


adherence

en-noun

adherence (countable and uncountable, plural adherences)

From Middle French adhérence, from Latin adhærentia.

(Scots law) The fulfilment of the legal obligation of residing with wife or husband.


uses

(law) A form of equitable ownership peculiar to English law, by which one person enjoys the profits of lands, etc. whose legal title is vested in another in trust.


bump

en-verb

bump (third-person singular simple present bumps, present participle bumping, simple past and past participle bumped)

bumps (present singular third-person)
bumping (participle present)
bumped (participle past)
bumped (past)
Lighter (canonical)
1917-1919: An Historical Glossary” (canonical)
volume 47 (canonical)
number 1 (canonical)
page 24 (canonical)

From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision”), probably of North Germanic origin; compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”), all probably of imitative origin.
Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German Low German bumsen (“to bump, push”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”). More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.

onom

imitative

cog

(criminal slang and US military slang, circa 1920–1950) To encounter and stop, to catch.


WPC

woman police constable
woman police constable#English

(UK, law enforcement, historical) Initialism of woman police constable, a former police rank.


under protest

(US, law) of a payment made subject to dispute


DPC

PW4 (DPC 13900) was at the checkline junction Luard Road near Jaffe Road. They were there to prevent protesters rushing in to block the road from Luard Road.

Paragraph 67, HKSAR v Tong Ying Kit/Reasons for Verdict ([2021] HKCFI 2200)

(Hong Kong, law enforcement) Initialism of detective police constable.

(India, law enforcement) Initialism of District Police Chief. A police officer in charge of a police district in the Kerala State Police.


filch

Georges de la Tour
Metropolitan Museum of Art

From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also related to folk.

der

By the appropriation clause, which is here referred to, it was proposed to apply a part of the property of the Irish Church to secular purposes, that is, to work a transfer of property, with an alteration of its uses. Call this as you will, a spoliation, or wise application, it implies a loss to one and a gain to other, of the same property. In the evil sense, it means spoliation, or wrongful deprival, appropriation, or "conveyance" in the sense of a filch.

1860, Lawrence Peel, “To John B[acon] S[awrey] Morritt, Esq., Portland Place, London [letter from Sir Walter Scott]”, in A Sketch of the Life and Character of Sir Robert Peel, London: Longman, Green, Longma, and Roberts, →OCLC, page 173:


API

Alternative form: AP I

(international law) Initialism of Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the four Geneva Conventions.


brigand

From Middle English brigaunt, bregaund circa 1400, from Old French brigand (“foot soldier”) attested from 1421, from Italian briga (“trouble, bother”), perhaps ultimately of Proto-Germanic or Celtic origin.


borstal

Inherited from Middle English *borstile, *borghstile, from Old English beorh (“a hill”) + stigel (“a stile”).
The institutions are named after Borstal Prison in Borstal, Rochester, Kent, England.

(UK) A way up a hill in the South Downs.

(historical) Any of the prisons set up in Britain for delinquent boys from 1895 to 1983.

You have juvenile courts. Do you have borstal institutions for juveniles?

2004, August 3, Speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly, Kenya National Assembly Official Record, Hansard, page 3126

Seven years ago, I was sent to borstal. Slithering around in the societal sludge, I was forced to admit I'd made a huge mistake – committing robbery.

2011 November 7, Paris Lees, “My Transsexual Summer: a new view of gender”, in The Guardian:

(British, Ireland) Any institution which provides education to young offenders.


witness tampering

From witness + tampering. First use appears c. 1902 in the Indianapolis Sun.

(law, criminology) The act of attempting to improperly alter, influence or prevent the testimony of witnesses within civil or criminal proceedings.


kickback

en-noun

kickback (countable and uncountable, plural kickbacks)

Central to his [Yury Skuratov's] investigation were kickbacks supposedly paid by a Swiss construction company for contracts to restore government buildings, including both houses of parliament.

2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 4, in Moneyland, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 65:

You sell cars and help arrange car insurance for buyers. Insurance brokers pay back part of their commissions to you for referring customers to them. You must include the kickbacks in your income.

2021 February 11, “Publication 17 (2020), Your Federal Income Tax”, in irs.gov, Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2021-08-24, Kickbacks:

(countable, informal) A covert, often illegal, payment in return for a favor consisting of providing an opportunity of chargeable transaction; especially, a kind of quid pro quo in which if you (an insider) secretly help me (an outsider) win the bid for the contract then I will secretly send you a portion of the contract value; thus, a kind of bribe.

für eine Gefälligkeit heimlich ausgezahlter Geldbetrag


coercion

coercion (countable and uncountable, plural coercions)

Inherited from Middle English cohercioun, from Old French cohercion, from Latin coercitiō (“magisterial coercion”), from past participle coercitus of coerceō (“to restrain, coerce”), from co- (“with”) + arceō (“to shut in, enclose”); see coerce.

der

(law, uncountable) Use of physical or moral force to compel a person to do something, or to abstain from doing something, thereby depriving that person of the exercise of free will.


plaintiff in error

en-noun

plaintiff in error (plural plaintiffs in error)

(law) A party who appeals the decision of a lower court.


age of majority

age of majority (plural ages of majority)

In Indiana the age of majority is 18 years.

(law) The age at which the rights and privileges of an adult are legally granted or recognized; i.e.; the age where a person ceases to be a minor legally and becomes a legal adult.

سِنّ الرُّشْد

(sometimes used with definite; sjálfræðisaldurinn m)


deuterogamist

(theology, law) A practicer or supporter of deuterogamy.

(theology, law) One who remarries after the divorce or death of their spouse.

(theology, law) One who believes in the moral right to, and the lawfulness of, remarriage after divorce or spousal death.


redundancy

redundancy (countable and uncountable, plural redundancies)

non-redundancy

antonym(s) of “state of being redundant”

employment

antonym(s) of “state of being unemployed”

hiring

antonym(s) of “instance or act of dismissal”

(law) surplusage inserted in a pleading which may be rejected by the court without impairing the validity of what remains.


all-nighter

From all-night + -er = all- + night + -er.

(UK, crime, slang) A session with a prostitute covering the entire night.

(UK, crime, slang) A client of a prostitute who has paid for the entire night.

(US, crime, slang) A criminal or other person kept in jail over night.


retain

en-verb

retain (third-person singular simple present retains, present participle retaining, simple past and past participle retained)

retains (present singular third-person)
retaining (participle present)
retained (participle past)
retained (past)
retain (infinitive)

From Late Middle English reteinen, retein (“to continue to keep, retain; to continue to possess; to possess; to contain; to draw back, retire; to hold back, restrain; to keep in mind, remember; to take back, repossess; to appoint; to engage in one’s service, employ, hire”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman reteiner, retenir [and other forms], Middle French retenir, and Old French retenir (“to keep back, retain; to keep, maintain, preserve; to possess; to engage in one’s service, employ; to detain; to hold back, restrain; to remember”) (modern French retenir), from Vulgar Latin *retinīre, from Latin retinēre, the present active infinitive of retineō (“to keep or hold back, detain, retain; to hold in check, stop; to hold fast, maintain; to keep in mind, remember”) (compare Late Latin retineō (“to keep engaged in one’s service”)), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + teneō (“to grasp, hold; to hold fast, restrain; to possess; to keep in mind, remember”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to extend, stretch”)).
Sense 1.10 (“to declare (a sin) not forgiven”) is derived from John 20:23 in the Bible, in Late Latin quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt, and in Koine Greek ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται: see the 1526 quotation.
cognates
* Catalan retenir
* Italian retenere (obsolete), ritenere
* Portuguese reter
* Spanish retener

nb...

retainen, retayne, reteign, reteigne, reteine, retene, retenne, reteyene, reteygn, reteygne, reteyign, reteyn, reteyne, retine

restenir, reteigner, reteingner, retener, retenier, retiner

lang

ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται

ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται

أَبْقَى

to keep (something) in control or possession; to continue having (something)

It is vvell knovvn thou retaineſt thy Lavvyers by the Year, ſo a freſh Lavv-Suit adds but little to thy Expences; […]

1733, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], Alexander Pope, compiler, “Law is a Bottomless Pit. Or, The History of John Bull. […]. The Second Part. Chapter XVI. How John Bull and Nic. Frog Settled Their Accompts.”, in Miscellanies, 2nd edition, volume II, London: […] Benjamin Motte, […], →OCLC, page 143:

"Mr. Pickwick is the defendant in Bardell and Pickwick, Serjeant Snubbin," said Perker. / "I am retained in that, am I?" said the Sergeant. / "You are, Sir," replied Perker.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Which is All about the Law, and Sundry Great Authorities Learned therein”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 325:

To engage or hire (someone), especially temporarily.

(chiefly law) To employ (someone, especially a lawyer) by paying a retainer (“fee one pays to reserve another person's time for services”); specifically, to engage (a barrister) by making an initial payment to secure their services if needed.

pitää palkattuna

to employ (someone, especially a lawyer) by paying a retainer; to engage (a barrister) by making an initial payment to secure their services if needed


underworld

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

That part of society that is engaged in crime or vice, and particularly those involved in organized crime.

onderwêreld

part of society engaged in crime or vice


petit

en-adj

petit (comparative more petit, superlative most petit)

more petit (comparative)
most petit (superlative)

From Middle English petit, from Old French petit, from Late Latin *pitittus, diminutive of Latin *pit-, possibly from Proto-Celtic *pett- (“part, bit, piece”) (see Latin pettia), or of imitative origin.
Compare also Latin pitinnus (“small”), pitulus, Italian pezza. Doublet of petty.

onomatopoeic

imitative

Petty, in its various senses:
(law, of scale) Small, minor.

Petty, in its various senses:
Small, minor.


pari passu

From Late Latin pari passu, from Latin parī, ablative of pār (“equal”) + passū, ablative of passus (“step”).


gas chamber

There was this boy I sent to the gas chamber at Huntsville here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killed a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again.

2007, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men (motion picture), spoken by Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones):

A sealed chamber in which people are executed with poison gas.

غُرْفَة اَلْغَاز

a sealed chamber in which people are executed with gas


BT

en-noun

BT (countable and uncountable, plural BTs)


legislative

en-adj

legislative (comparative more legislative, superlative most legislative)

more legislative (comparative)
most legislative (superlative)

a legislative act

Although enormously influential in shaping the laws of the land, The House of Lords are not actually a legislative body.

The legislative framework provides much opportunity for correction and amendment of poorly thought out bills.

Making, or having the power to make, a law or laws; lawmaking


legislative

That branch of government which is responsible for making, or having the power to make, a law or laws.


sixty-one

(US, New York, informal) A police officer's report detailing a crime reported by a civilian.


prevaricate

en-verb

prevaricate (third-person singular simple present prevaricates, present participle prevaricating, simple past and past participle prevaricated)

prevaricates (present singular third-person)
prevaricating (participle present)
prevaricated (participle past)
prevaricated (past)

/pɹɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt/

/pɹɪˈvɛɹɪkeɪt/

From the participle stem of Latin praevāricārī (“to walk crookedly; to play a false or double part”), from prae- + vāricāre (“to stand with feet apart, straddle”), from vāricus (“with feet spread apart”).

der

(intransitive, law) To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.

(law, UK) To undertake something falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.


amber alert

After Amber Hagerman (1986–1996), a girl who was abducted and killed in Arlington, Texas. The upper-case spelling indicates a backronym: America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response.

(US, Canada) A public notification of a child abduction.


cat's-paw

en-noun

cat's-paw (plural cat's-paws or cats'-paws)

From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

an unrelated metaphor from a separate story

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

(US law) A supervisor whose reliance on a subordinate's analysis is so complete as to render him or her liable for the subordinate's animus or other misconduct towards a third employee.


unity

unity (countable and uncountable, plural unities)

George B. McClellan
George Meade
Ulysses S. Grant
William Rosecrans
William Tecumseh Sherman
unity

Etymology tree
Middle English unite
English unity
From Middle English unite, from Anglo-Norman, Old French unité, from Latin ūnitās, from ūnus (“one”) + noun of state suffix -itās, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”), hence distantly related to one and an. Displaced native Old English ānnes (literally “oneness”).

der

(law) The peculiar characteristics of an estate held by several in joint tenancy.

съвместно владение

law: the peculiar characteristics of an estate held by several in joint tenancy


quitclaim

en-verb

quitclaim (third-person singular simple present quitclaims, present participle quitclaiming, simple past and past participle quitclaimed)

quitclaims (present singular third-person)
quitclaiming (participle present)
quitclaimed (participle past)
quitclaimed (past)

From Middle English quiteclaymen, from Anglo-Norman quiteclamer, from clamer quite (“to claim quit”). Compare claim quit.

1991, JD Gordon, "How Not to Succeed in Law School", Yale Law Journal, April
I hereby give, grant, bargain, sell, release, convey, transfer, and quitclaim all my right, title, interest, benefit, and use whatever in, of, and concerning this chattel, otherwise known as an orange, or citrus orantium, together with all the appurtenances thereto of skin, pulp, pip, rind, seeds, and juice for his own use and behoof, to himself and his heirs in fee simple forever, free from all liens, encumbrances, easements, limitations, restraints, or conditions whatsoever, any and all prior deeds, transfers or other documents whatsoever.

It introduced a bill into the legislature that allowed the king to quitclaim all of Ruth's lands in return for Spreckels gaining title to 24,000 crucial acres at Wailuku, near Spreckelsville.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 86:

(transitive, law) To relinquish or release (a claim, title, etc.); to transfer (an interest in property).


quitclaim

(law) A deed that is a renunciation of claims to a parcel of real property and a transfer of one's claims to another.


show trial

We demand an end to these "Revere" showtrials. The indictments were drawn through forced testimony of gay youth and coerced testimony of gay men. The indictments were inspired by those seeking to use homophobia for political purposes. The trial is now being used by those who would exploit hatred of homsexuals.

1978 December 23, John Mitzel, Charley Shively, Ed Hougen, Tom Reeves, “Boston/Boise Committee”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 22, page 5:

(law) A trial held for appearance's sake, but whose verdict is predetermined, especially a "guilty" verdict with the purpose of making an example of the accused.


culprit

From Anglo-Norman cul. prit, contraction of culpable: prest (d'averrer nostre bille) 'guilty: ready (to prove our case)', words used by prosecutor in opening a trial, mistaken in English for an address to the defendant. See culpable. It may have been influenced by Latin culpa (“blame, fault”).

(UK, law) A prisoner accused but not yet tried.


recess

en-noun

recess (countable and uncountable, plural recesses)

The noun is borrowed from Latin recessus (“act of going back, departure, receding, retiring; (figuratively) retreat, withdrawal; (metonymically) distant, secluded, or secret spot, corner, nook, retreat; recessed part, indentation”) (also Late Latin recessus (“decree or resolution of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire”)), from recēdō (“to go back, recede, retire, withdraw; to go away, depart; (by extension) to disappear, vanish; to separate; to stand back, be distant; to yield”) (from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + cēdō (“to go, move, proceed”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs); influenced by Middle French recès, French recès (“a break, pause; break between classes in school; school vacation; ebbing of tide; reduction”) (also Anglo-Norman recès and Old French recès (“hiding place; hollow”).
Sense 5 (“decree or resolution of the diet of the Holy Roman Empire, etc.”) is possibly influenced by Italian recesso and refers to a decree or resolution made just before a meeting ends.
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.
cognates
* Catalan recés
* Italian recesso
* Middle French recès (modern French recès)
* Portuguese recesso
* Spanish receso

syvyys

hidden, innermost, or inaccessible place or part of a place

فُسْحة

temporary stoppage of an activity — see also break, pause

(countable) A depressed, hollow, or indented space; also, a hole or opening.

(criminal slang, usually in the plural) The place in a prison where the communal lavatories are located.

vessa

(slang) place in a prison where the communal lavatories are located


slaughter

en-noun

slaughter (countable and uncountable, plural slaughters)

From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).

der

1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book VI, 1773, The First Six Books of Milton's Paradise Lost, Edinburgh, page 416,
For ſin, on war and mutual ſlaughter bent.

A massacre; the killing of a large number of people.


moratorium

en-noun

moratorium (plural moratoriums or moratoria)

/ˌmɒ.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/

/ˌmɔː.ɹəˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/

New Latin from Late Latin morātōrium, noun use of the neuter of morātōrius (“moratory, delaying”), from Latin moror (“I delay”), from mora (“delay”), from Proto-Indo-European *mere (“to delay, hinder”). See also moratory.

der

(law) An authorization to a debtor, permitting temporary suspension of payments.

اِسْتِمْهَال

authorization permitting temporary suspension of payments

otsróčka po platežám i finánsovym objazátelʹstvam

отсро́чка по платежа́м и фина́нсовым обяза́тельствам


cloture

en-noun

cloture (countable and uncountable, plural clotures)

Borrowed from French clôture (“closure”). Doublet of closure and clausure.

Now, a filibuster typically begins when a Senator or group of Senators signals their intent to filibuster – which can be done by a private conversation with the majority leader or by quietly placing a bill or nomination on hold. Given the modern Senate's scarce floor time, this threat is usually enough to table the disputed issue until the dissenting Senators cave or until there are definitely enough votes to invoke cloture.

2010 April 22, Mimi Murray Digby Marziani, Diana Lee, “Statement for the Record, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY”, in Examining the Filibuster: Hearings before the Committee on Rules and Administration, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, Second Session, April 22, 2010, May 19, 2010, June 23, 2010, July 28, 2010, and September 22 and 29, 2010 (S. Hrg. 111-706), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →ISBN, page 112:

(law, politics, chiefly US) In legislative assemblies that permit unlimited debate (that is, a filibuster): a motion, procedure or rule by which debate is ended so that a vote may be taken on the matter. For example, in the United States Senate, a three-fifths majority vote of the body is required to invoke cloture and terminate debate.


dualism

dualism (countable and uncountable, plural dualisms)

(international law) The legal doctrine that international law must be transposed into domestic law to have effect.


transferee

(law) A person to whom title or ownership is conveyed.


deponent

From Latin dēpōnēns (“laying aside”), the present active participle of dēpōnō (“lay aside”), from dē- + pōnō (“put, place”). The name comes from the idea that such verbs were originally reflexive and then later "laid aside" their passive meanings.

The said William Aitken, being of new solemnly sworn, &c., depones he is a Burgess of Hawick, and had the property of a house which he now liferents, the fee being disponed to his son-in-law, Bailie Robert Scot, for the use of his son William, his daughter, Bailie Scot's wife, having paid the price of the house; depones sixty years ago Gilbert Elliot was tenant in Nether Southfield, who broke Hawick Common by plowing a part of it, which the Deponent saw at the Common-Riding when the Magistrates and other persons at the Common-Riding potched the ground he had plowed, and was then sown that he might not reap the crop of this.

1898, R. S. Craig, Adam Laing, The Hawick Tradition of 1514: The Town's Common Flag and Seal, page 240:

(law) A witness; especially one who gives information under oath, in a deposition concerning facts known to him or her.


legislation

legislation (usually uncountable, plural legislations)

/ˌlɛd͡ʒɪsˈleɪʃən/

From Late Latin lēgislātiō (“the giving of the law”).
Morphologically legislate + -ion

rooster

obsolete slang; legislation solely intended to benefit the legislators

Law which has been enacted by legislature or other governing body


respondent

(law) A defendant, especially in a case instituted by a petition or in appellate and divorce proceedings.


returns

(law) The rendering back of a writ to the proper officer.


CID

(British, law enforcement, initialism) Scotland Yard Criminal Investigation Department

(US, military, law enforcement, initialism) U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command

(US, military, law enforcement, initialism) Former name of NCIS. (Naval Criminal Investigation Division)


desperado

en-noun

desperado (plural desperadoes or desperados)

desperadoes (plural)
desperados (plural)

/dɛspəˈɹɑːdəʊ/

From obsolete Spanish desperado, past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”), from Latin disperare (“to despair, to lose hope”), from prefix dis- + sperare (“to hope”). Doublet of desperate.

der

The kind of persons who excite or give signal to such revolutions — students, young men of letters […], or fierce and justly bankrupt desperadoes, acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it into flame, — might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch.

1850, Thomas Carlyle, “The present time”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets:

Surely this was the face of a desperado.

1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, paperback edition, Mirado Modern Classics, page 6:

A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.


receiver

From Anglo-Norman receverre, receivour et al., later also reformed as receive + -er. Compare recevor, rescaivour.

curator

person appointed to settle financial affairs

прыёмнік

electronic device that receives and converts signal

(now historical) An official whose job is to receive taxes or other monies; a tax collector, a treasurer.

It took the name Midland & South Western Junction in 1884 and reached Cheltenham, with its M.R. connection, in 1891; but poverty continued - a receiver had been appointed in 1884.

1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 585:

A person or company appointed to settle the affairs of an insolvent entity.


voir dire

en-noun

voir dire (countable and uncountable, plural voir dires)

/ˈvwɑː ˌdɪə/

/ˈvɔɹ ˌdaɪɹ/

/ˈvwɑɹ ˌdɪɹ/

Anglo-Norman for “to say the truth”, from Old French voir (“true, truth”) + dire (“to say”), from Latin vērum + dīcere.

(law, US) The preliminary phase of a jury trial in which the jurors are examined and selected.

(law, England, Wales, New Zealand, Australia, US) A preliminary hearing without a jury in order to determine whether the evidence meets the test for admissibility to go to a full hearing at a criminal trial, in the legal systems of England and Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

(law) A hearing in the context of a larger trial to determine some specific issue relevant to that trial, such as the admissibility of a piece of evidence or the competency of a witness to testify.


transitory

en-adj

transitory (comparative more transitory, superlative most transitory)

more transitory (comparative)
most transitory (superlative)

From Middle French transitoire, from Old French, from Latin transitorius.

in transitory actions, for injuries that might have happened anywhere

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

(law) Of an action: that may be brought in any county


juror

From Middle English jurour, jurrour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jurour and Old French jureor, from the verb jurer (“to swear”), or possibly from Latin iūrātor, iūrātōrem, whence the English doublet jurator.


mischief

en-noun

mischief (countable and uncountable, plural mischiefs)

/ˈmɪʃ.t͡ʃɪf/

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”).

(law) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.


plebiscite

Sense 1 (“referendum”) is borrowed from French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”).
Sense 3 (“law enacted by the common people”) is a learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum: see above. It is attested earlier than English plebiscitum.
cognates
* Italian plebiscito
* Middle French plebiscite (modern French plébiscite)
* Middle Low German plebiscīt (“ordinance”)
* Spanish plebiscito, plebisçito (obsolete)

cog

(law, politics) A direct popular vote on an issue of public importance, such as an amendment to the constitution, a change in the sovereignty of the nation, or some government policy.

plebiscitu

direct popular vote on an issue of public importance — see also referendum


decree nisi

en-noun

decree nisi (plural decree nisis or decrees nisi)

decree nisis (plural)
decrees nisi (plural)

(law) a decree issued on a first petition for divorce; it becomes absolute at some later date unless cause is shown why it should not.


decree absolute

decree absolute (plural decrees absolute)

(law) the official decree marking the legal end of a marriage, allowing the two people to remarry.

(law) An absolute unconditional accruement of a claim's validity and legitimacy.


peeler

From the surname of Sir Robert Peel, who established the Irish constabulary and London's police force; compare bobby, from the given name.

A peeler man who heard the din came in to see the show;
He tried to run the bushman in, but he refused to go.
And when at last the barber spoke, and said "'Twas all in fun—
'Twas just a little harmless joke, a trifle overdone."

1892, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Ironbark:

I’d covered pretty nearly two miles before I came across a peeler, — and when I did the man was cracked — and he thought me mad, or drunk, or both. By the time I’d got myself within nodding distance of being run in for obstructing the police in the execution of their duty, […] Holt was out of sight.

I was standin' there and the car came down the street with the two peelers comin' after them and I'm standin' here with [my son] in my arms.

2004, Alice McIntyre, Women in Belfast: How Violence Shapes Identity, →ISBN, page 57:

How do you fight back to get your right back to walk free down the street when your name and address singles you out for every Peeler on the beat?

2004, “Don’t Hand Me Over”, in The Box Set 1964-2004(2004) No.2, performed by Christy Moore:

Special Irish Branch was looking for Fenians in South Kensington; going from there to a Catholic church for Easter Mass was very nearly the stupidest thing Eliza could do, short of walking into Scotland Yard and cursing the peelers out in Irish.

2011, Marie Brennan, With Fate Conspire, →ISBN:

It was Jem and Georgie that was in mortal danger, true, but there was not one of us that wanted the peelers asking us questions.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A police officer.


treason

treason (countable and uncountable, plural treasons)

From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson (“treason”), from trair, or from Latin trāditiō (“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”), from trādō (“give up, hand over, deliver over, betray”, verb), from trāns- (“over, across”) + dō (“give”). Doublet of tradition.

der

Treaſon doth never [pro]ſper: what's the reaſon? / For yf yt [pro]ſper none dare call yt treaſon

c. 1605, John Harington, “42: Of Treason”, in Epigrams (British Library Additional MS. 12049), Book III, folio 75, verso; republished at London: British Library Digitised Manuscripts, 2020 September 17:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unleſs on the Testimony of two Witneſses to the same overt Act, or on Confeſsion in open Court.

1787 September 17, Alexander Hamilton et al., “Article III, Section 3”, in Constitution of the United States, Philadelphia: Jacob Shallus:

If for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination: treason in high places can be found at almost every turning.

1964 November 20, Richard J. Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”, in Robert Shnayerson, editor, Harper's Magazine, New York City: Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company:

The crime of betraying one’s own country.


copyvio

en-noun

copyvio (countable and uncountable, plural copyvios)

My suggestion is to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyright_violations to see our mechanism that deals with copyvios.

2005 January 3, ta bu shi da yu, “Re: Wikipedia - Check pages for copied articles”, in misc.transport.road (Usenet):

These are the edits made to this article before the deletion of versions that included copyvio.

2005 June 24, “TheoClarke” (username), in “Gun Quarter, Birmingham/Deleted history”, Wikipedia, quoted in Deleting: Webster's Quotations, Facts and Phrases, ICON Group International (2008), page 44

Despite gazillions of copyvios, there are still valid and legitimate groups there which are not harmed in the least by this.

2007 February 1, cpghost, “Re: FreeBSD Torrent Server”, in list.freebsd.questions (Usenet):

2009 June 19, Jon Dowland <[email removed]>, “new freedoom packages for stable and oldstable to fix copyvio”, in linux.debian.devel.release (Usenet):

copyright infringement
copyright infringement

(wiki jargon, originally Wikimedia jargon) A violation of copyright laws: copyright infringement.


script

script (countable and uncountable, plural scripts)

From Middle English scrit, borrowed from Old French escrit, from Latin scriptum (something written), from scrībō (“write”).

(countable, law) An original instrument or document.

оригина́л

(law) an original instrument or document


privilege

privilege (countable and uncountable, plural privileges)

From Middle English privilege, from Anglo-Norman privilege and Old French privilege, from Latin prīvilēgium (“ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual”), from prīvus (“private”) + lēx, lēg- (“law”).

der

Your honor, my client is not required to answer that; her response is protected by attorney-client privilege.

(law) A common law doctrine that protects certain communications from being used as evidence in court.


house arrest

en-noun

house arrest (countable and uncountable, plural house arrests)

Convicted in Federal District Court in Brooklyn of insurance fraud, a 35-year-old legal secretary could have received up to 50 years in prison and a $56,000 fine. The judge sentenced her instead to house arrest for two years.

1986 July 20, Richard Haitch, “Follow-up on the News: House Arrest Instead of Prison”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-04-27:

(law) Confinement of a person to his or her residence, sometimes with a limited travel allowance, ordered by a judge or other authority as a more lenient alternative to imprisonment.

إقامة جبرية

confinement of a person, by authorities, to his or her residence


extinguish

en-verb

extinguish (third-person singular simple present extinguishes, present participle extinguishing, simple past and past participle extinguished)

extinguishes (present singular third-person)
extinguishing (participle present)
extinguished (participle past)
extinguished (past)

/ɪkˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/

Borrowed from Latin extinguo (“to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destroy, abolish”), from ex (“out”) + stinguere (“to put out, quench, extinguish”). Doublet of extinct.

унищожавам

to put an end to (something) completely — see also annihilate, destroy

1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575

The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the reſt.

If the amnesty becomes law as expected this month or in June, it promises to extinguish the charges Puigdemont faces of disobedience and misuse of public funds.

2024 May 11, Barney Jopson, “Catalonia separatist deal tested at ballot box”, in FT Weekend, page 2:

(figurative, chiefly law) To abolish or make void (a law, a legal right, etc.); also, to cancel (a creditor's claim, a licence, etc.).


specialty

From Middle English specialte, Old French specialte, especialte, from Latin specialitas.

Let specialties be therefore drawne betweene vs,
That couenants may be kept on either hand.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

1812, Joseph Chitty, A Treatise on Pleading, with a Collection of Practical Precedents, and Notes Thereon, 2nd American edition, edited by Thomas Day, New York, Volume 2, section 456, note c,
[…] in a plea to an action of debt on specialty, it is still necessary to show that the debt on which the judgment was recovered was a specialty, or to aver that the judgment was recovered before the defendant had notice of the plaintiff’s demand.

(law) A contract or obligation under seal; a contract by deed; a writing, under seal, given as security for a debt particularly specified.


complaint

en-noun

complaint (countable and uncountable, plural complaints)

From Middle English compleynte, from Anglo-Norman compleint, from Old French compleindre, eventually from Latin planctus (whence plaint).

haastehakemus

legal: in a civil action, the first pleading of the plaintiff

žaloba

criminal law: preliminary charge or accusation made by one person against another

(to lodge a criminal complaint)porter plainte

criminal complaint

in criminal law, the preliminary charge or accusation made by one person against another to the appropriate court or officer

(law) In a civil action, the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim is based;

In a civil action, the first pleading of the plaintiff setting out the facts on which the claim is based;
The purpose is to give notice to the adversary of the nature and basis of the claim asserted.

(law) In criminal law, the preliminary charge or accusation made by one person against another to the appropriate court or officer, usually a magistrate.

In criminal law, the preliminary charge or accusation made by one person against another to the appropriate court or officer, usually a magistrate.
However, court proceedings, such as a trial, cannot be instituted until an indictment or information has been handed down against the defendant.


set up

en-verb

set up (third-person singular simple present sets up, present participle setting up, simple past and past participle set up)

sets up (present singular third-person)
setting up (participle present)
set up (participle past)
set up (past)

They claimed that they weren't selling drugs, but that they'd been set up by the police.

(informal, transitive, criminology) To trick or lure (someone) in order to entrap them.


over the transom

A transom is a lintel or crosspiece over a door; likely an alteration of Latin trānstrum (“crossbeam”). Refers to the idea of a writer tossing a manuscript through the open window over the door of the publisher's office. Alternatively, a "transom" is the nautical term for the back of a small boat. Something which "came in over the transom" would have suddenly (and presumably, surprisingly) entered through the "back door" of the craft, metaphorically.

They worked into the night and sent an associate to make an over-the-transom filing.

(idiomatic, law, government) Meeting a deadline by delivery after the day of the deadline but before opening of business the following business day.


war crime

/ˈwɔɹ ˌkɹaɪm/

[W]ar crimes are such hostile or other acts of soldiers or other individuals as may be punished by the enemy on capture of the offenders. […] [A]lthough among the acts called war crimes are many which, such as abuse of a flag of truce or assassination of enemy soldiers for instance, are crimes in the moral sense of the term, there are others which, such as taking part in a levy en masse on territory occupied by the enemy for instance, may be highly praiseworthy patriotic acts. Because every belligerent can and actually must in the interest of his own safety punish these acts, they are termed war crimes, whatever may be the motive, the purpose, and the moral character of the respective act.

1906, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “Means of Securing Legitimate Warfare”, in International Law: A Treatise, volumes II (War and Neutrality), London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, part II (War), section IV (Punishment of War Crimes), § 251, pages 263–264:

[Paragraph] 441. The term "War Crime" is the technical expression for such an act of enemy soldiers and enemy civilians as may be visited by punishment or capture of the offenders. […] [Paragraph] 442. War crimes may be divided into four different classes:– (i) Violations of the recognized rules of warfare by members of the armed forces. (ii) Illegitimate hostilities in arms committed by individuals who are not members of the armed forces. (iii) Espionage and war treason. (iv) Marauding.

1914, J[ames] E[dward] Edmonds, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, “The Laws and Usages of War on Land”, in Hugh Godley, editor, Manual of Military Law, 6th edition, London: War Office; His Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1917, →OCLC, page 302:

If, this time, there is going to be, after the victory of the United Nations, due punishment of these abominable war crimes, perpetrated in breach of the laws of war by enemy nations and for which enemy individuals must be held responsible, it would be a grave mistake to concern ourselves at this stage merely with the discussion of the most appropriate tribunals to deal with such charges, or with the minutiae of juridical analysis.

1942 October 7, John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, “[Collective Notes Presented to the Governments of Great Britain, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. and Relative Correspondence] Statement of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords”, in Punishment for War Crimes, New York, N.Y.: United Nations Information Office, published [1943], →OCLC, page 30:

To be sure, there is a strong argument that aiding and abetting a recognized international-law war crime such as terrorism is itself an international-law war crime. And there are other similar war crimes.

2012 October 16, Brett Kavanaugh, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, “Hamdan v. United States [No. 11-1257]”, in West’s Federal Reporter: Cases Argued and Determined in the United States Courts of Appeals (3d Series), volume 696, St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, paragraph 66, page 1251:

To deal with war crime such as rape a mobile court system was created in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo].

2015, Mariam M. Kurtz, Mwamini Thambwe Diggs, “Wartime Rape: A Case Study of the Democratic Republic of Congo”, in Mariam M. Kurtz, Lester R. Kurtz, editors, Women, War, and Violence: Topography, Resistance, and Hope, volume 1, Santa Barbara, Calif., Denver, Colo.: Praeger Security International, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 193:

The two primary ones are that by the time anyone bothered to codify rules of war, lighthouses went on the list of "do not attack" pretty much immediately, and so it would be a rather pointless war crime to commit; the second reason is related to why they went on the list of "do not attack" targets very quickly, and that is that lighthouses are completely nondiscriminatory as to who they alert to what's going on in terms of danger and coastlines and hidden rocks and such[…]

2020 June 21, “Drachinifel” [pseudonym], “The Drydock” (6:33 from the start), in YouTube, episode 099, archived from the original on 2022-08-08:

Condoleezza Rice pops up on Fox to be told by the anchor: "When you invade a sovereign nation, that is a war crime." With a solemn nod, the former secretary of state to George Bush replies: "It is certainly against every principle of international law and international order."

2022 March 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Western values? They enthroned the monster who is shelling Ukrainians today”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-14:

(criminal law, international law) A punishable offence under international law for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian.

criminal law; international law; criminal law; international law


personable

en-adj

personable (comparative more personable, superlative most personable)

more personable (comparative)
most personable (superlative)

From Middle English personable, personabil, equivalent to person + -able. Compare Medieval Latin personabilis (“personal”), found in a late 13th century British source. The Middle French personable (“remarkable, important”) does not appear until 1528.

cog

15th century, Petitions of the Commonshttps://books.google.com/books?id=RTbnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA683&dq=%22personable+to%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy3cfe44_yAhVFgVwKHSxLC-I4ChDoATAIegQICBAC#v=onepage&q=%22personable%20to%22&f=false
The Queen be by that name personable to plead

The demaundant was iudged personable to maintaine this action

(law, obsolete) Enabled to maintain pleas in court.


slop

From Middle English slop, sloppe, slope, from Old English *slop (found in oferslop (“an outergarment, surplice”)). Cognate with Icelandic sloppur (“a long, loose gown”).

(obsolete) A loose outer garment; a jacket or overall.


slop

en-noun

slop (countable and uncountable, plural slops)

Probably from Middle English *sloppe (attested in plural form sloppes), representing Old English *sloppe (attested in cū-sloppe), related to slip.

Water or other liquid carelessly spilled or thrown about, as upon a table or a floor; a puddle; a soiled spot.

2023 September 21, Kyle Barr, “YouTube Announces New Tools to Flood Its Platform With AI-Generated Slop”, in Gizmodo, retrieved 2024-05-08:

His post describes a sense of unease, paranoia and loneliness, expressing deep disappointment at the state of the modern internet. He suggests that AI has successfully drowned out the majority of online human activity, reshaping the internet into a more controlled, algorithmic form that exists only to sell products and ideas.

2024 January 16, Dani Di Placido, “The Dead Internet Theory, Explained”, in Forbes.com, retrieved 2024-05-08:

Almost all of the AI-generated slop online is peddled for clicks on social media, not published by major news outlets. These publications still get tripped up, of course, but it's rare.

2024 April 4, Kim Komando, “Don't be fooled by deepfake videos and photos this election cycle. Here's how to spot AI”, in USA Today, retrieved 2024-05-08:

Watching in real time as "slop" becomes a term of art. the way that "spam" became the term for unwanted emails, "slop" is going in the dictionary as the term for unwanted AI generated content

generative artificial intelligence
generative artificial intelligence

Junk output from generative artificial intelligence published on the internet in the guise of legitimate content.


FOI

freedom of information
w:Freedom of information legislation

Initialism of freedom of information (legislation)


proprietary eponym

proprietary eponym (plural proprietary eponyms)

A successful brand name or trademark that has come into general use to refer to the generic class of objects rather than the specific brand type, without the exclusive rights to said product being lost by the parent company.

通用商標

brand name that has come into general use


genericized trademark

genericized trademark (plural genericized trademarks)

(business, law) A successful brand name or trademark that has come to refer to the generic class of objects rather than the specific brand type.

European Union trade mark
de:Markengesetz
en:European Union trade mark
genericized trademark

however pursuant to § 49 II Nr. 1 MarkenG

for forfeiture of the trademark the naming must be in commercial intercourse

the same requirements are set down for European Union trade marks in Art. 58 I b) Regulation 2017/1001.


mugging

There have been three muggings in this street in the past week.

A quick violent robbery of a person, usually in a public place.

väkivaltainen ryöstö

a quick violent robbery of a person, usually in a public place


legislator

Gesetzgeberin

strictly in the sense of the abstracted author of a statute

Gesetzesmacherin

strictly in the sense of an individual or organizational unit bringing forward laws

Give the children of the poor that portion of education which will enable them to know their own resources; which will cultivate in them an onward-looking hope, and give them rational amusement in their leisure hours: this, and this only, will work out that moral revolution, which is the legislator's noblest purpose.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Interview”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 249:

especially a member of a legislative body.

especially not any individual member of a legislative body but the abstracted author of a statute or statutes relevant for the principles of interpretation.


tenant

From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep”).

مُسْتَأجِر

one who pays a fee in return for the use of land, etc.

(in the Middle Ages, serf or villein) jobbágy

(property law, by extension) One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.


patent

patent (countable and uncountable, plural patents)

The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:
* a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
* directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

patent lettre, patent lettres, patente lettre, patente lettres

der

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

[…] Squib proved clearly by his patent that the house and office did now belong to him.

1660 February 20 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 10th, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 52:

Philip of Spain had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, a patent of nobility, and immunity for all past crimes, to the assassinator of the Prince of Orange.

1858, John M. Neale, A History of the So-called Jansenist Church of Holland, page 116:

An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.

(originally) A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.

mana waihanga

The patent situation, too, played a part in this, as often a firm sought to produce something which would achieve a given result, and yet not infringe a patent held by another; or a railway engineer would think of a device of his own that would free him of obligation to some manufacturer.

1951, T. S. Lascelles, “British Railway Signalling Since 1925”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 226:

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-03-26, page 55:

A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.

بَرَاءَة اِخْتِرَاع

(US, historical) A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.

maaoikeus

specific grant of ownership of a piece of property


patent

en-verb

patent (third-person singular simple present patents, present participle patenting, simple past and past participle patented)

patents (present singular third-person)
patenting (participle present)
patented (participle past)
patented (past)

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

To his great credit, Manson refused to patent his invention, as he desired to remove any obstacle to its adoption by other companies.

1946 November and December, “The Why and The Wherefore: Tablet Exchange Apparatus, L.M.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 392:

The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.

2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US Rules Human Genes Can’t be Patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10:

To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.

патентовам

to (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period

(US, historical) To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.


patent

en-adj

patent (comparative more patent, superlative most patent)

more patent (comparative)
most patent (superlative)

From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin patēns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pateō (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).

der

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

a patent right    patent medicines

Madder is eſteemed a very rich Commodity, and what will turn to good profit; ſo that in King Charles I's Time it was made a Patent Commodity.

1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Madder”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC, page 125:

[H]e took up an old newspaper; / The paper was right easy to peruse; / He read an article the king attacking, / And a long eulogy of "Patent Blacking."

1824 March 26, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos XV. and XVI., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and H[enry] L[eigh] Hunt, […], →OCLC, canto XVI, stanza XXVI, page 74:

"Yes, I have a pair of eyes," replied Sam, "and that's just it. If they wos a pair o' patent double million magnifyin' gas microscopes of hextra power, p'raps I might be able to see through a flight o' stairs and a deal door; but bein' only eyes you see, my wision's limited."

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Is Wholly Devoted to a Full and Faithful Report of the Memorable Trial of Bardell against Pickwick”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 368:

There, were also a small mouse-trap; a patent corkscrew, too good to be used in common; fragments of a silver tea-spoon, that had, by natural decay, arrived at a dissolution of its parts; […]

1853, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter III, in “My Novel”; Or Varieties in English Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 103:


tarnish

en-verb

tarnish (third-person singular simple present tarnishes, present participle tarnishing, simple past and past participle tarnished)

tarnishes (present singular third-person)
tarnishing (participle present)
tarnished (participle past)
tarnished (past)

From Middle English ternysshen, from Old French terniss-, stem of ternir (“to make dim, make wan”), borrowed from Old High German *ternen, tarnen, from Proto-West Germanic *darnijan (“to conceal”). Doublet of dern and darn.

der

(copyright law) To use a sign, image, expression, etc. sufficiently close to a trademarked one that it brings disrepute to it.


shooting

en-noun

shooting (countable and uncountable, plural shootings)

From Middle English shoting, schoting, from Old English scotung (“shooting”), from Proto-Germanic *skutungō, equivalent to shoot + -ing. Cognate with Dutch schieting, German Erschießung (“shooting”), Swedish skjutning (“shooting”).

Well, I've always been progun, you know that. It's... yeah, I think adding more guns into a situation is obviously the way to prevent shooting. I think in a way, if we take the guns away, the shootings may escalate. And I think that's why he's so firm on literally arming everyone. I think if you don't have a gun in your hands... well, let's not find out what that world would be.

2018 February 23, Richard Ayoade, The Last Leg, Season 14, Episode 5

Police are hunting the people who carried out the shootings last week.

(countable) an instance of shooting with a gun or other weapon

a district in which people have the right to kill game with firearms


identity theft

identity theft (countable and uncountable, plural identity thefts)

(law, criminology) The deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to that person's finances or to frame a person for a crime.


attentat

From either French attentat or German Attentat.

All the several acts of one court day constitute, with reference to attentats, but one act, notwithstanding an appeal intermediate between those acts (h).

1842, Richard Burn, The Ecclesiastical Law, 9th edition, volume 4, page 217:

An attentat, in the language of the civil and canon laws, is anything, whatsoever, wrongfully innovated or attempted in the suit by the judge à quo, pending an appeal.[…]In Chichester v. Donegal (3) it was intimated by Sir John Nicholl that “The regular course for procuring the revocation of attentats was by a separate proceeding, civil or criminal, as against a judge à quo, and that it was not by charging the supposed attentats, accumulatively, in a mere ordinary libel of appeal.”

1848, Archibald John Stephens, A Practical Treatise of the Laws Relating to the Clergy, volume 1, page 33:

(law, obsolete) Anything whatsoever, as a ruling, by the judge of a lower court in a matter pending an appeal.

(law, obsolete) Any step wrongly innovated or attempted by an inferior judge in a suit.


PSNI

Byrne was already facing pressure after a major data breach from the PSNI last month. Personal data of all serving members of the PSNI was mistakenly published in response to a freedom of information request.

2023 September 4, Matthew Weaver, Lisa O'Carroll, “Northern Ireland police chief quits after series of controversies”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Police Service of Northern Ireland
w:Police Service of Northern Ireland

(law enforcement, Northern Ireland) Initialism of Police Service of Northern Ireland, created in 2001 as a successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).


embezzlement

(law, business) The fraudulent conversion of property from a property owner.

اِخْتِلَاس

the fraudulent conversion of property from a property owner


RFP

request for production
request for production#English

(law) Initialism of request for production.


airship

From air + ship.
* (jocular British sense): is in imitation of worship "form of address for magistrates et al., possibly also an oblique reference to Colonel Blimp.

(US, law enforcement, aviation) A police air unit, a police helicopter


quackery

quackery (countable and uncountable, plural quackeries)

When no certain cure exists, quack remedies tend to proliferate and the history of quackery and secret cures is full of extraordinary forms of treatment for the various arthritic disorders.

1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763:

(law, medicine, uncountable) The practice of fraudulent medicine, usually in order to make money or for ego gratification and power; health fraud.


deduction

deduction (countable and uncountable, plural deductions)

From Middle French déduction, from Latin deductio.
Equivalent to deduct + -ion or deduce + -tion.

That which is deducted; that which is subtracted or removed

(law, finance) A sum withheld from an employee's pay for the purpose of paying tax.

verovähennys

sum withheld from pay for the purpose of paying tax


EA

EA (countable and uncountable, plural EAs)

environmental assessment
environmental assessment#English

(law) Initialism of environmental assessment.


precatory

en-adj

precatory (comparative more precatory, superlative most precatory)

more precatory (comparative)
most precatory (superlative)

From Late Latin precatorius, from Latin precari (“to pray”).

precatory words in a will

(law) Expressing a wish but not creating any legal obligation or duty.


asp

Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (2009 asp 9)

Act of the Scottish Parliament
w:Act of the Scottish Parliament

(UK, law, in citation) Initialism of Act of the Scottish Parliament.


rebuttal

(law) A pleading by a defendant in reply to the evidence put forward by a plaintiff or the prosecution.


duffer

Cognate with duff, which see (origin is uncertain).

(archaic) Anything substandard, such as a counterfeit or a defective instance.

Judy was an associate (‘stud’) of a Whitefella cattle duffer named Brigalow Bill (aka WJJ Ward).

2004, Deborah Bird Rose, Reports from a Wild Country: Ethics for Decolonisation, page 112:

2005 February 2, “Alleged sheep duffer charged”, in The Northern Daily Leader:

In the mid-1860s a duffer named James Harnell, who went by the nickname Narran Jim, had taken stock he′d stolen from the district around Culgoa and Narran rivers across Queensland to the Cooper.[…]An alert Bulloo Downs stockman contacted the police, and when Police Inspector Fitzgerald and eight Aboriginal troopers tracked Narran Jim and surrounded him while he was sleeping, the cattle duffer woke to find himself looking down the barrel of Fitzgerald′s revolver and seven years in jail.

The cattle duffer′s escape would have been impeded by those young ones. Calves can be unruly unless you move them carefully in the company of their mothers.

2011, Clancy Tucker, Gunnedah Hero, unnumbered page:

His book-sized Electronic Shepherd prototype is sensitive enough to hear a sheep bleating, a dog barking, a whistle or human command, or even the vehicle or mustering dogs of a potential sheep duffer.

2015 March 11, Terry Sim, “Greg’s Electronic Shepherd will hear dogs and sheep duffers coming 24/7”, in Sheep Central:

(Australia, dated) A cattle thief or thief of other livestock; one who alters the brands of cattle.


ASL

Apache Software License
w:Apache License

(software, copyright law) Initialism of Apache Software License.


carbon tax

Swedish politicians push for imposition of a punitive carbon tax to turn back a global climate warming that has not even been detected, even as a major political party vows to close down Sweden's nuclear power plants.

1995 November 1, S. Fred Singer, “Ozone Politics with a Nobel Imprimatur”, in Washington Times:

A tax levied on the carbon contents used by the burning fossil fuels, so as to discourage the production of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.


commonhold

(property law, England and Wales) The freehold tenure of part of a multioccupancy building (typically a flat) with shared responsibility for common services.


cooler

About a year or so back we had him in the cooler on a Mann Act rap.


blotter

(law enforcement) A daily register of arrests and other events in a police station.

журна́л

регистра́ции приво́дов в полице́йском уча́стке


interference

en-noun

interference (countable and uncountable, plural interferences)

/ˌɪntə(ɹ)ˈfɪəɹəns/

From interfere + -ence. The sense in physics was likely introduced by English polymath Thomas Young, which he used as early as 1801 in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

(US, law) In United States patent law, an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications; a priority contest.

müdahale

legal, patent law: inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications


chancery

chancery (countable and uncountable, plural chanceries)

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃænsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹi/

From French chancellerie, from Late Latin cancellaria, from Latin cancellarius, from Latin cancellus (“lattice”) (English chancel), from Latin cancelli (“grating, bars”), from the lattice-work that separated a section of a church or court.
See related chancellor and chancellery, and the more distantly related incarcerate (“put behind bars”), from carcer (“prison”).
The adverbial form is an allusion to the condition of a person involved in the chancery court.

(historical) In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but chiefly in equity; but under the jurisdiction act of 1873 it became the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity.


mitch

en-verb

mitch (third-person singular simple present mitches, present participle mitching, simple past and past participle mitched)

mitches (present singular third-person)
mitching (participle present)
mitched (participle past)
mitched (past)

From Middle English mychen, müchen (“to rob, steal, pilfer”), from Old English *myċċan (“to steal”), from Proto-West Germanic *mukkjan, from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną (“to waylay, ambush, hide, rob”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewg- (“swindler, thief”). Cognate with Scots mich, myche (“to steal”), Saterland Frisian mogeln (“to act secretively and deceitfully”), Dutch mokkelen (“to flatter”), Alemannic German mauchen (“to nibble secretively”), German mogeln (“to cheat”), German meucheln (“to assassinate”), Norwegian i mugg (“in secret, secretly”), Latin muger (“cheater”). Related to mooch.

cog

(transitive, dialectal) To pilfer; filch; steal.


contumacy

en-noun

contumacy (countable and uncountable, plural contumacies)

From Latin contumācia, from contumāx (“refusing to appear in a court of law in disobedience of a summons; insolent, obstinate, stiff-necked”).

[T]heſe Muſhrome Lords (Spirituall onely in Title, but wholly Temporall in reality), firſt ſprouted up by inſenſible degrees in the Church of Christ; ſo it is moſt infallibly convinced of notorious falſehood, by the multitude of thoſe moſt execrable Treaſons, Treacheries, Conſpiracies, Rebellions, Contumacies, Inſurrections, Seditions, and Anti-Monarchiall practiſes of Lordly Prelates, againſt their Soveraignes, in all ages ſince they grew rich and potent, in all Kingdomes and Churches where they have been admitted; […]

1641, William Prynne, “The Prologve”, in The Antipathie of the English Lordly Prelacie, both to Regall Monarchy, and Civil Unity: or, An Historicall Collection of the Severall Execrable Treasons, Conspiracies, Rebellions, Seditions, State-schismes, Contumacies, Antimonarchicall Practices, & Oppressions of our English, British, French, Scottish, and Irish Lardly Prelates, against our Kingdomes, Lawes, Liberties; and of the Severall Warres, and Civil Dissentions Occasioned by Them, in or against our Realm, in Former and Latter Ages. … The First Part, volume I, London: Printed by authority for Michael Sparke, senior, →OCLC, page 1:

Persons Judicially cited, are ſometimes wont, by a Non-Appearance in Court, to contemn the Judges Authority; and thereby to render themſelves contumacious: wherefore, I will conſider theſe Perſons under the following heads. […] 2dly, Examine how many Species or Kinds of Contumacy there are. […] The Plaintiff on the Return of a Peremptory Citation ought not to accuſe the Contumacy of the Perſon ſummon'd, otherwiſe he ſhall not be adjudged contumacious.

1726, John Ayliffe, “Of Contumacy, and the Several Kinds thereof”, in Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. Not only from the Books of the Canon and Civil Law, but likewise from the Statute and Common Law of this Realm. …, London: Printed for the author, by D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe in the Middle Temple Cloysters, James and John Knapton in St Paul's Churchyard, Richard Standfast in Westminster-Hall, William and John Innys at the West End of St Paul's, Francis Clay and Daniel Brown without Temple Bar, London, and Simon Martin, bookseller in Leicester, →OCLC, page 196:

When an accused person, or a witness, refuses to obey a citation, he shall be cited a second time; and if he still continue to refuse, he shall be excluded from the communion of the church for contumacy, until he repent.

1839, Broadway Tabernacle Anti-slavery Society, Proceedings of the Session of Broadway Tabernacle, Against Lewis Tappan: With the Action of the Presbytery and General Assembly, New York, N.Y.: [S. W. Benedict]; for sale at No. 43 Nassau Street, →OCLC, page 25:

I know how distasteful to God, contumacy, and contempt, and disobedience to order and authority is; and I know, (and all men, that choose not ignorance, may know) that our excommunications (though calumniators impute them to small things, because, many times, the first complaint is of some small matter) never issue but upon contumacies, contempts, disobediences to the church. But they are real contumacies, not interpretative, apparent contumacies, not presumptive, that excommunicate a man in heaven; and much circumspection is required, and (I am far from doubting it) exercised in those cases upon earth; […]

1839, John Donne, Henry Alford, “Sermon LXVI. Preached at St. Paul's, January 29, 1625. Psalm lxiii. 7.”, in The Works of John Donne, D.D., Dean of Saint Paul's, 1621–1631. With a Memoir of His Life. … In Six Volumes, volume III, London: John W. Parker, West Strand, →OCLC, page 164:

The old law came to recognize a procedure of contumacy, which constitutes a point of departure for our legal system so far as that relates to the doctrine of default, although the procedure has completely changed its aspect in the course of its successive transformations. […] As in the Germanic practice, the procedure by contumacy resulted, not in a condemnation for the act struck at by the prosecution, but in the outlawry of the person guilty of contumacy. Every safeguard given by the law was withdrawn from the person who refused to submit to the law.

1913, [Jean Paul Hippolyte Emmanuel] A[dhémar] Esmein, translated by John Simpson, A History of Continental Criminal Procedure: With Special Reference to France (The Continental Legal History Series; V), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 73:

Contumacy · Generally speaking, contumacy is the deliberate disregard for legitimate authority. In canon law, contumacy is discussed in two matters. First, a party to an ecclesiastical case or controversy, though usually the respondent, who willfully and without reason refuses to appear before an ecclesiastical court, or who otherwise withholds necessary cooperation from the court, can be declared absent, that is, contumacious, and thereupon forfeits all or some of his or her rights before the tribunal[…]. The second and rather more common use of contumacy occurs in the matter of ecclesiastical penalties. In this sense, one who, after a warning, refuses to desist from delictual behaviour is considered contumacious, and thereby renders himself liable to censure[…].

1998, Peter M. J. Stravinskas, editor, Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia, rev. edition, Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, →ISBN, page 278:

(chiefly Christianity and law) Disobedience, resistance to authority.

Dictionary of National Biography
Edward I of England
John Balliol
King of Scots
Kingdom of Scotland
Leslie Stephen
Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale
Wars of Scottish Independence
earl of Fife

Contumacy in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)


neutrality

neutrality (usually uncountable, plural neutralities)

From Middle French neutralité, from Medieval Latin neutralitas.
Morphologically neutral + -ity

(international law) The condition of a nation or government which refrains from taking part, directly or indirectly, in a war between other powers.

неутралите́т

international law: condition of a nation or government


safecracking

The act of defeating the security mechanisms of a safe or vault to gain access to its contents.


legacy

From Middle English legacie, from Old French legacie and Medieval Latin lēgātia, from Latin lēgātum.

(law) Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will.

إرْث

money or property bequeathed to someone in a will


attendant

From Middle English attendant, attendaunt, from Old French attendant.

(law) One who owes a duty or service to another.


attendant

the widow attendant to the heir

The tenant in dower[…]shall be attendant unto them by the rate and portion of the rent.

(law) Depending on, or owing duty or service to.


nolo contendere

nolo contendere (plural nolo contenderes)

Directly from Latin nolō contendere (“I do not wish to contend”).

der

(law) No contest. A plea by a defendant accused of a crime that, without admitting guilt, does not dispute the charge.


mugu

They sent emails asking mugus to wire funds in order to claim nonexistent prizes.

2010, Sefi Atta, News from Home: Stories, page 245:

(South Africa) Alternative spelling of moegoe

It is people like you who make my hustlers in Europe call Americans mugu.

2020, Mirka Honkanen, World Englishes on the Web: The Nigerian Diaspora in the USA, page 240:

(Nigeria, Internet slang, derogatory) A victim of an online scam.


genericize

en-verb

genericize (third-person singular simple present genericizes, present participle genericizing, simple past and past participle genericized)

genericizes (present singular third-person)
genericizing (participle present)
genericized (participle past)
genericized (past)

/dʒɪˈnɛɹ.ɪˌsaɪz/

genericized trademark
genericized trademark

(law, transitive) To turn into a genericized trademark.

To make generic.
To turn into a genericized trademark.


saving

en-noun

saving (countable and uncountable, plural savings)

daylight saving time(or daylight saving)

paradox of saving(see paradox of thrift)

saving and transitional provisions

Tis Good Advice not to Contend with Those that are too Strong for us, but still with a saving to Honesty and Justice

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:


partition

partition (countable and uncountable, plural partitions)

/pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃən/

/pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃɪn/

Recorded c.1430, "division into shares, distinction," from Middle English particioun, from Old French particion (modern partition), from Latin partitio, partitionem (“division, portion”), from partitus, the past participle of partire (“to split (up), part(ition)”).

der

(law) The severance of common or undivided interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law.


limitation

en-noun

limitation (countable and uncountable, plural limitations)

Borrowed from Latin limitatio. Morphologically limit + -ation.

fee simple subject to executory limitation

The lawyer obtained impunity by dragging his obviously guilty client's case beyond the ten-year limitation.

(law) A time period after which some legal action may no longer be brought.

давност

time period — see also statute of limitations, prescription


graverobber

/ˈɡɹeɪvˌɹɒbə/

/ˈɡɹeɪvˌɹɑbɚ/

One who robs graves or tombs in order to sell the contents for profit.


terrorism

terrorism (usually uncountable, plural terrorisms)

/ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/

From French terrorisme, from terreur + -isme, equivalent to terror + -ism.
The word first appears in English in 1795 in reference to the Jacobin radicals of France, who ruled during the Reign of Terror.

തീവ്രവാദം (tīvravādaṁ, literally “extremism”)

In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French Revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era of the tenth Thermidor.

1795 July 7, Thomas Paine, The Constitution Of 1795 (Speech in the French National Convention):

(historical) The system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94.

The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty. David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is "vital to counter terrorism". Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.

2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives.

(by extension) The use of intimidation or bullying tactics.


collector

From Middle English collectour, from Anglo-Norman collectour, from Late Latin collector, from Latin colligō (“to gather together”).

инкасатор

person who is employed to collect payments

Whereupon he soon after appointed A. W. his collector in Austins; which office he kept till he was admitted Mr. of arts

(historical) One holding a Bachelor of Arts in Oxford, formerly appointed to superintend some scholastic proceedings in Lent.


chancellor

/ˈtʃɑːnsələ/

/ˈt͡ʃænsələ/

Angela Merkel
Frick Collection
Hans Holbein the Younger
Thomas More

From Anglo-Norman or Middle English chaunceler, chanceler, canceler (“chief administrative or executive officer of a ruler; chancellor, secretary; private secretary, scribe; Lord Chancellor of England; officer of the ruler's exchequer; a high administrative or executive officer (for example, a deputy or representative of a bishop; the head of a university)”), from Old French cancelier, chancelier (“chancellor”), from Late Latin cancellārius (“secretary; doorkeeper, porter; usher of a court of law stationed at the bars separating the public from the judges”), from Latin cancellī (plural of cancellus (“grate; bars, barrier; railings”), diminutive of cancer (“grid; barrier”), from Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting an agent of use).
The word was present as Late Old English canceler, cancheler, from Norman cancheler, but was displaced in the 13th century by the Old French and Anglo-Norman forms mentioned above.

refn

From the Frick Collection in New York City, New York, USA.

مُسْتَشَار

senior secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, sometimes in charge of some area of government

"Have you agreed on your chancellor, gentlemen?" was the first question of the Judge. The foreman, called in Scotland the chancellor of the jury, usually the man of best rank and estimation among the assizers, stepped forward, and, with a low reverence, delivered to the Court a sealed paper, containing the verdict, […]

1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, pages 285–286:

The verdict must be returned to the Court by the chancellor of the jury, in presence of the accused, and of the whole jury; and, being engrossed in the record, and read aloud, it is then sealed up, in terms of the regulations 1672, No. 9, and deposited with the clerk of Court, never to be opened again but by order of the judges. The verdict, when in writing, is authenticated by the subscriptions of the chancellor and clerk of the jury, and accompanied with a list of the names of the jurors, and a state of the vote of each individual, "whether condemning or assoilzieing;" Regulations 1672, No. 9.

1826, Robert Bell, William Bell, “CRIMINAL PROSECUTION”, in A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for John Anderson & Co. […], and Bell & Bradfute, →OCLC, page 333:

[T]he pursuer moved the Court "for a rule to shew cause why this case should not be ordered to be tried, in respect that the verdict as it appears on the notes of the Judge furnished to the parties, was not declared by the chancellor or foreman of the jury in open Court, and taken down by the clerk of the said Court before the jury was discharged."

1853 July 16, Geo[rge] Dingwall Fordyce (reporter), James Paterson (reporter), William Gillies Tytler (reporter), Frederick Hallard (reporter), “James Mackenzie, Pursuer, v. Dunlop, Wilson and Co., Defenders.”, in Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and in the House of Lords on Appeal from Scotland, [ […] Being a Continuation of The Scottish Jurist.">…

The state [of Virginia, USA] is divided into 9 chancery districts, in each of which a superiour court of chancery is held. There are 4 chancellors.

1821–1822, “Virginia State Law and Regulations”, in William Griffith, editor, Annual Law Register of the United States, volume III, Burlington, N.J.: David Allinson, published 1822, →OCLC, paragraph VI (The “Superiour Courts of Chancery”), page 321, column 1:

In some of the states, as New York, Virginia, and South Carolina, the equity court is a distinct tribunal, having its appropriate judge, or chancellor, and officers.

1864, John Bouvier, “CHANCERY”, in A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, […], 11th edition, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: George W[illiam] Childs, […], →OCLC, paragraph 3, page 219, column 2:

[John] Blair [Jr.] began his long judicial career when the state legislature—following the establishment of Virginia's judicial department in October, 1777—elected him one of five judges of the newly organized General Court. By 1779 he had become chief justice of that court, and, in November, 1780, he became chancellor of the three-member High Court of Chancery.

1985, “John Blair: Appointment as Associate Justice in 1789”, in Maeva Marcus, James R. Perry, editors, The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789–1800, volumes 1, part 1 (Appointments and Proceedings), New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 54:

(US, law) The chief judge of a court of chancery (that is, one exercising equity jurisdiction).


apprise

en-verb

apprise (third-person singular simple present apprises, present participle apprising, simple past and past participle apprised)

apprises (present singular third-person)
apprising (participle present)
apprised (participle past)
apprised (past)
apprise (infinitive)

From Middle English aprisen, apprisen (“to determine or estimate the value of (something), to appraise, evaluate; to regard (something) as important, valuable, or worthy, to esteem, prize; to praise or worship (God)”), and then either:
* from Old French apriser, aprisier (“to appraise, evaluate”), from à (“to”) + prisier, preisier (“to attribute a value to, to appraise, value”) (from Latin pretiāre, the present active infinitive of pretiō (“(Late Latin) to consider valuable, hold in high regard, to esteem, prize, value; (Medieval Latin) to estimate the worth of, appraise, assess, value”), from pretium + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)); or
* from Old French à pris (“to (put a) price (on)”) (pris (“price; esteem, (positive) reputation”) is derived from Latin pretium).
Pretium (“cost, price; value, worth”) is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”). The English word is a doublet of appraise, appreciate, praise, price, and prize.

doublet

Infeftments are alſo extinct, vvhen the Superior adjudgeth or appriſeth from his Vaſſal; for thereby it vvas found, that the Property vvas Conſolidat vvith the Superiority,

1681, James Dalrymple of Stair [i.e., James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair], “Extinction of Infeftments”, in The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, […], 1st part, Edinburgh: […] Heir of Andrew Anderson, […], →OCLC, page 416:

[T]he infeftment of annualrent, being jus sed ignobilius, becomes extinct, if the annualrenter thereupon do apprise the property, and be infeft: and therefore, whoever appriseth for any years of the annualrent, the infeftment thereof, unless it be taken away by satisfaction or redemption, extinguisheth the infeftment of annualrent, without distinction whether the apprising be led for any years belonging to the fiar, liferenter, or any other.

1832, James, Viscount of Stair [i.e., James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair], John S[hank] More, “Title V. Infeftments of Annualrent, where, of Poinding of the Ground, and of Pensions.”, in The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, […], new edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Walker] for Bell & Bradfute, →OCLC, page 387:

(specifically, Scots law) To put a price on (something) for the purpose of sale; to appraise.


first e-rights

2003, Technically you have used "first e-rights" and can no longer sell it as an unpublished story/article ... Once a story is printed on the web, first e-rights have been used but first print rights are still available. — Tina Morgan Know Your Rights, appearing in Fiction Factor: The online magazine for fiction writers.

(copyright law) The right to publish a work for the first time in electronic form.


fraudster

2016 Eric Andrew-Gee Why and how Ontarians change their names in the 21st century The Globe and Mail
With a few exceptions, all those changes were published in the Ontario Gazette, a little-read compendium of government business that comes out every week. The province requires this by law, as do most Canadian jurisdictions, nominally to thwart fraudsters and deadbeats.

CPS MerseyCheshire welcomes the jailing of Helen Dove who conned her friend into giving up her job for a dream post that never existed. Kimberley McDonnell lost around £50,000 because of the fraudster.

2020 January 29, “Woman jailed for conning her friend into giving up her job for a dream post that never existed”, in CPS Mersey-Cheshire, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 2020-01-30:

Northern has made it harder for fraudsters to cheat checks on barcode season tickets. The operator has made it impossible for people to screenshot tickets from within the Northern app and then share the tickets for others to use.

2023 February 22, “Network News: Northern thwarts barcode cheats”, in RAIL, number 977, page 25:

a person who practices fraud; a swindler.

pathological liar

not to be confused; differing neuropsychological mechanisms


JD

juvenile delinquent
juvenile delinquent#English

(law) Initialism of juvenile delinquent.


larceny

en-noun

larceny (countable and uncountable, plural larcenies)

Coined in Middle English (as larceni) between 1425 and 1475 from Anglo-Norman larcin (“theft”), from Latin latrocinium (“robbery”), from latro (“robber, mercenary”), from Ancient Greek λάτρον (látron, “pay, hire”).

der

“Why are you walking around,” inquired Oedipa, “with your eyes closed, Metzger?” “Larceny,” Metzger said, “maybe they'll need a lawyer.”

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 37:

He was prudent enough not to admit he was earning money, which went down well with you, for you knew already he was working “black,” as the Germans call it — meaning illegally, and at night. Shrewd chap, you thought; resourceful; not above a bit of larceny.

(law, uncountable) The unlawful taking of personal property as an attempt to deprive the legal owner of it permanently.

кражба

law: unlawful taking of personal property

That young man already has four assaults, a DUI, and a larceny on his record.

(law, countable) An individual instance of such a taking.


swindler

A person who swindles, cheats or defrauds.


bombing

en-noun

bombing (countable and uncountable, plural bombings)

The action of dropping bombs from the air.


defraud

en-verb

defraud (third-person singular simple present defrauds, present participle defrauding, simple past and past participle defrauded)

defrauds (present singular third-person)
defrauding (participle present)
defrauded (participle past)
defrauded (past)

From Middle English defrauden, from Old French defrauder, from de- + frauder.

I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(transitive) To obtain money or property from (a person) by fraud; to swindle.


felonious

en-adj

felonious (comparative more felonious, superlative most felonious)

more felonious (comparative)
most felonious (superlative)

From Middle English *felonious (implied in feloniously; compare felonous); equivalent to felony + -ous.

O thievish Night, / Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, / In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars?

The defendant must show that any bail money he hopes to post did not come from the felonious means.

Of, relating to, being, or having the quality of felony.

престъпен

of, relating to, being, or having the quality of felony

malignant

felonious homicide

(law) Done with intent to commit a crime.


robbery

en-noun

robbery (countable and uncountable, plural robberies)

From Middle English robberie, robry, roberie, from Old French roberie, from the verb rober (“to steal; to pillage”) + -ie. Ultimately from unattested Frankish *raubōn. By surface analysis, rob + -ery. Compare Dutch roverij (“robbery”), Norwegian Bokmål røveri (“robbery”), German Räuberei (“robbery, banditry”).
Displaced native Old English rēaflāc.

bank robbery

(crime) The offense of taking or attempting to take the property of another by force or threat of force.

røveriforsøg

attempt of taking the property of another by threat


completion

termination

antonym(s) of “making complete, accomplishment”

Borrowed from Latin completio, completionem, from complere (“to fill up, complete”); comparable to English complete + -ion.

(law) The conclusion of an act of conveyancing concerning the sale of a property.

exécution

law: conclusion of an act of conveyancing


Alcatraz

From Spanish Isla de los Alcatraces (“island of gannets”), named by Juan Manuel de Ayala, an explorer of San Francisco Bay.

bor

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
w:Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary

Ellipsis of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a famous former U.S. federal prison, on the island.


justify

en-verb

justify (third-person singular simple present justifies, present participle justifying, simple past and past participle justified)

justifies (present singular third-person)
justifying (participle present)
justified (participle past)
justified (past)

From Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.

(law) To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a charge or accusation.

J'USTIFYING BAIL, practice, is the production of bail in court, who there justify' themselves against the exception of the plaintiff.

1839, John Bouvier, A Law Dictionary Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States of the American Union, volume I, Philadelphia: T. & J.W. Johnson, page 557:

(law) To qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.