escheatment

(law) The process of transferring unclaimed or abandoned property to a state authority, especially when a person dies intestate.


rule on

en-verb

rule on (third-person singular simple present rules on, present participle ruling on, simple past and past participle ruled on)

rules on (present singular third-person)
ruling on (participle present)
ruled on (participle past)
ruled on (past)

The judge hasn't ruled on the case yet.

(law, transitive) To make a decision in an official capacity regarding some matter.


foreman

→ Gulf Arabic: فورمن (fōrman)

From Middle English foremon, forman; equivalent to fore- + man. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður.

(law) The member of a jury who presides over it and speaks on its behalf.


solicitation

en-noun

solicitation (countable and uncountable, plural solicitations)

/səˌlɪsɪˈteɪʃən/

From Middle French sollicitation, from Latin sollicitātiō.

(US, law) an inchoate offense that consists of a person offering money or inducing another to commit a crime with the specific intent that the person solicited commit the crime


ringing

ringing (countable and uncountable, plural ringings)


slant

Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectical slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintaną. Probably influenced by aslant.

kalteva lokero

depression with sloping bottom to hold watercolors

(Australia, slang) A crime committed for the purpose of being apprehended and transported to a major settlement.

(US, ethnic slur, derogatory) A person with slanting eyes, particularly an East Asian.


conveyance

en-noun

conveyance (countable and uncountable, plural conveyances)

(law) An instrument transferring title of an object from one person or group of persons to another.


conveyance

en-verb

conveyance (third-person singular simple present conveyances, present participle conveyancing, simple past and past participle conveyanced)

conveyances (present singular third-person)
conveyancing (participle present)
conveyanced (participle past)
conveyanced (past)

(law, transitive) To transfer (the title) of an object from one person or group of persons to another.


kidnapping

en-noun

kidnapping (countable and uncountable, plural kidnappings)

(crime) The crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom.

rrëmbim

the crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom


coating

The bogey gave him a right coating.

1931, The Police Journal, volume 4, page 501:

(law enforcement slang) A telling-off; a reprimand.


lis pendens

From Latin lis (“dispute”) + pendens (“pending”).

(law) A notice of pending litigation against a property.


judiciary

/ˌd͡ʒuːˈdɪʃəɹi/

/ˌd͡ʒuːˈdɪʃɪɛɹi/

Borrowed from Latin iudiciarius, judiciarius.


diligence

diligence (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)

The precepts against parties, to whose oath of verity any point is referred, do only command them to compear at the term, with certification, that if they compear not, they shall be holden as confessing the point referred to their oath; but precepts against witnesses cannot have that certification, but all that can be done against them, or against the havers of writs, is to compel them to appear, and depone; and therefore these precepts are called executorials, because they are for putting the acts to effect by execution: they are also called compulsitors for the same reason. And they are called diligences, because they excuse the users thereof from negligence, whereby posterior diligences being exacty followed, are preferable to prior diligences being neglected, vigilantibus non dormientibus jura subveniunt, which is founded upon that great interest to hasten pleas to an end. They are also called diligences, because though the effect do not follow, yet the user thereof hath endeavoured what he could, and so is held as in the same case as if he had obtained the command of the precept. These precepts are called executorials before executions be thereupon; but they are only called diligences when they are executed in due time.
... Diligences are of three sorts, being either upon precepts before decreets, upon acts, or upon decreets.
The last sort of diligences and executorials, viz. those after decreets, which serve for putting of decreets to execution, and making them effectual, are ordinarily horning, caption, poinding, charges to remove, and thereupon letters of possession, (which are granted on all decreets in petitory and possessory actions, but declaratory actions need none,) together with the executory actions upon arrestments, and of adjudications of lands and annualrents..

1832 James, Viscount of Stair and J,S, More. The institutions of the law of Scotland. Vol 2, p 705

(Scots law) The process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings.


irritant

From French irritant, equivalent to irritate + -ant.

The states elected Harry, Duke of Anjou, for their king, with this clause irritant; that, if he did violate any part of his oath, the people should owe him no allegiance.

1603, Hayward, An Answer to the first part of a certaine conference concerning succession:

(law, Scotland) Rendering null and void; conditionally invalidating.


immunity

immunity (countable and uncountable, plural immunities)

From Middle English immunite, from Old French immunité, from Latin immūnitās, in the legal sense; for the medical use see immunization.

Feudal privileges often included tax and other immunities.

(uncountable) The state of being insusceptible to something; notably:

(law) An exemption from specified duties, such as payments or services.

The prosecutor offered the lieutenant immunity for all the crimes he would testify having known to be planned by the elusive drug baron.


disapply

en-verb

disapply (third-person singular simple present disapplies, present participle disapplying, simple past and past participle disapplied)

disapplies (present singular third-person)
disapplying (participle present)
disapplied (participle past)
disapplied (past)

If we were to accept Amendment No. 144D, the effect of that would be to disapply the definition from properties that are not yet on the market.

2004 October 19, House of Lords Hansard for 19 Oct 2004, pt 5:

Article 4 does not require Italy to disapply its domestic legislation governing the sale of insect repellent products on the ground that, in another Member State, Germany in this instance, their marketing is not subject to any authorisation or registration.

2004 February 12, Opinion of Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo, Court of Justice of the European Communities, in Case C-443/02, point 54:

The hard-right New Conservatives grouping demanded that Sunak’s new legislation “must disapply the Human Rights Act”, while the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who was sacked by Sunak last week, said the new bill must exclude all avenues of legal challenge.

2023 November 19, Rajeev Syal, “Sunak could block Human Rights Act to force through Rwanda asylum plan”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(transitive, law) To decline to apply a rule or law that previously applied


renunciation

en-noun

renunciation (countable and uncountable, plural renunciations)

From Latin renūntiātiō. Compare renounce.

(law) The act by which a person abandons a right acquired, but without transferring it to another.

verzaking

the act by which a person abandons a right acquired, but without transferring it to another


trespasser

Pilton Yard, the Lynton & Barnstaple headquarters, has been taken over by a fur trading firm, and would-be trespassers to the old engine-shed are turned back by the pungent odour of heaps of carcases.

1951 February, “Notes and News: Lynton & Barnstaple Remains”, in Railway Magazine, page 136:

The human is a land animal, not an aquatic one, and he is therefore a trespasser in the water.

1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 16:


stockade

From French estocade, equivalent to stock + -ade.


strangler

/ˈstɹæŋɡ(ə)lə/

An epiphyte whose aerial roots eventually strangle the tree on which it grows.


constructive

en-adj

constructive (comparative more constructive, superlative most constructive)

more constructive (comparative)
most constructive (superlative)

destructive

antonym(s) of “relating to or causing construction”

destructive

antonym(s) of “carefully considered and meant to be helpful”

From Middle French constructif.
Morphologically construct + -ive.

(law) Imputed by law; created to give legal effect to something for equitable reasons, as with constructive notice or a constructive trust.


commentator

From Middle English commentator, from Latin commentātor.

It would be well into the fourteenth century before the commentators came into their own.

2009, Randall Lesaffer, European Legal History: A Cultural and Political Perspective, →ISBN, page 257:

(historical, law) A medieval legal scholar who authored prose commentaries on civil law; (specifically) a member of a comparatively innovative 14th-century school of jurisprudence, typically distinguished from the earlier glossators.


chapeau

Borrowed from Middle French chappeau. The interjection is after Modern French chapeau in similar use, originally short for chapeau bas.

(law) The text at the start of a numbered section of a legal document that appears directly beside the section number, ahead of any numbered subsections.

(international law) A passage of introductory text appearing in a treaty that broadly defines its principles, objectives, and background.


culpa

Every actual delict presupposes a dolus or culpa, with the concomitant consciousness and prepense

1849, James G. Butler, A Summary of the Roman Civil Law:

(law) Negligence or fault, as distinguishable from dolus (deceit, fraud), which implies intent, culpa being imputable to defect of intellect, dolus to defect of heart.


enfeoff

en-verb

enfeoff (third-person singular simple present enfeoffs or (obsolete) enfeoffes, present participle enfeoffing, simple past and past participle enfeoffed)

enfeoffs (present singular third-person)
enfeoffes (obsolete present singular third-person)
enfeoffing (participle present)
enfeoffed (participle past)
enfeoffed (past)
enfeoff (infinitive)

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

From Late Middle English enfeffen (“to grant (property, rights, etc.) under the feudal system”) [and other forms], from Old French enfeffer, enfieffer (compare Anglo-Latin infeoffāre, Anglo-Norman enfeoffer), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + fief (“estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peku-, *peḱu- (“sheep”)). The English word is analysable as en- + feoff.

nb...

enfefe, enfeffe, enfeffee, infeof, infeoff

Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me. Now here the action of covenant may not be brought, because he has at last enfeoffed me according to his covenant, and yet the deceit remains upon which an action may be based. Wherefore it does not always follow that where there is a covenant the action of deceit will not lie.

[1442, William Paston, Justice of the Common Pleas, Shipton v. Dogge (No. 2); Doige’s Case (Y. B. Trinity 20 Hen. VI, folio 34, pl. 4; Selden Society volume 51, page 97); quoted in A[lfred] W[illiam] B[rian] Simpson, “The Action for Breach of Promise”, in A History of the Common Law of Contract: The Rise of the Action of Assumpsit, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, 1975, →ISBN, part II (The Action for Breach of Promise), page 257:

I have infeffed Richarde Pygot, sarjeaunt of the lawe, John Norton, knyght, John Pygott of Rypon, gentilman, and Sir Thomas Nobull, prest, in lands and tenements within the fraunchese of Rypon, [...]

[1466 April 29, “XXXV. The Will of Ranulph Pigot, Esq. of Clotherham. [...] Apr. 20, 1466 [Julian calendar]”, in James Raine, Jun., editor, Testamenta Eboracensia. A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York (The Publications of the Surtees Society; XLV), volume III, Durham, County Durham: Published for the Society by Andrews and Co., […]; London: Whittaker and Co., […], published 1865, →OCLC, page 158:

And all this he [Pope Pius V] doth to enfeoff the pope with that fulness of power wherunto he entitleth Peter.

1582, John Jewel, edited by Io[hn] Garbrand, A Viewe of a Seditious Bul sent into Englande, from Pius Quintus Bishop of Rome, Anno. 1569. […], London: Printed by R[alph] Newberie & H[enry] Bynneman, →OCLC; republished in Richard William Jelf, editor, The Works of John Jewel, D.D. Bishop of Salisbury. … In Eight Volumes, volume VII, Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the University Press, 1848, →OCLC, page 242:

If a man hath iſſue two Daughters and grant a Rent charge out of his land to one of them and dyeth the Rent ſhall be apportioned, and if the Grantee in this caſe enfeoffeth another of her part of the land, yet the moity of the Rent remaineth iſſuing out of her ſiſters part, becauſe the part of the Grantee in the land by the diſcent was diſcharged of the Rent.

1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Rents”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, book 2, chapter 12, section 224, folio 150, recto:

[I]n February 1648, in a letter to [Thomas] Fairfax's secretary, [Robert] Overton expresses pleasure that the king's servants have been removed and suggests that it would 'prove a happy privation if the Father would please to dispossess him of three transitory kingdoms to infeoff him in an eternal one'.

1648 February, Barbara Taft, “‘They that Persew Perfaction on Earth …’: The Political Progress of Robert Overton”, in Ian Gentles, John Morrill, Blair Worden, editors, Soldiers, Writers and Statesmen of the English Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 289:

And if a Man doth bargain with another to enfeoff him of certain Lands, and afterwards he enfeoffeth another Man, he with whom he made the Bargain, ſhall have a Writ of Diſceit.

1718, Anthony Fitz-Herbert [i.e., Anthony Fitzherbert], “Writ de Deceit”, in The New Natura Brevium of the Most Reverend Judge, Mr. Anthony Fitz-Herbert. […], 6th corrected edition, in the Savoy [London]: Printed by Eliz[abeth] Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of Edw[ard] Sayer Esq;) for B. Lintott […], R. Gosling […]; and T. Ward […], →OCLC, page 217:

There paſſes this Seal alſo a Precept, which is called the Fourth Precept, directed to a Sheriff in that Part, for infefting in Lands holden of a ſubject Superior, after the three Precepts are run againſt him.

1734, Thomas Hope, John Spotiswood, “Numb[er] IV. The Method of Expeding Infeftments in Lands, Annualrents, Heritable Jurisdictions and Offices Holding of His Majesty, through the Whole Registers and Seals.”, in Practical Observations upon Divers Titles of the Law of Scotland, Commonly Called Hope’s Minor Practicks. […], Edinburgh: Printed and sold by A. Davison […], →OCLC, page 553:

Estate ſimple, called alſo fee ſimple, is where a man by deed indented, enfeoffes another in fee, reſerving to him and his heirs a yearly rent; with this proviſo, that if the rent be behind, &c., it ſhall be lawful for the feoffer and his heirs, to enter.

1738, E[phraim] Chambers, “ESTATE”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, 2nd corrected and amended edition, volumes I (A–K), London: […] D. Midwinter [et al.], →OCLC, column 2:

The deed by which a fee is brought into existence, or by which the superior authorizes a person to hold lands of him as his vassal, and entitles the vassal to be put in personal possession of such lands, is called a Feu-charter. It consists in general of the following clauses. [...] 10. Precept of Sasine, by which the superior empowers the vassal to be infeft.

1847, John Hill Burton, “Constitution of Rights in Land”, in Manual of the Law of Scotland. … The Law of Private Rights and Obligations, 2nd enlarged edition, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, part II (The Various Classes of Property and Their Respective Tenures), section 3 (Feu-charter), page 54:

[T]he Zhou conquerors had attempted to control their vast new territories through "enfeoffing" relatives and allies in walled towns throughout their kingdom.

1990, Mark Edward Lewis, “The Warring State”, in Sanctioned Violence in Early China (SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 54:

Hereditary fiefs meant that the king could not refuse to enfeoff a legitimate, able-bodied heir, but renewal was still required for the successor to exercise any rights or functions associated with the fief.

2016, Peter H[amish] Wilson, “Kingship”, in The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe’s History, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, →ISBN; Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire, 1st Harvard University Press edition, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016, →ISBN, part III (Governance), page 331:

(transitive, chiefly law, historical) To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.


appellant

From Anglo-Norman, from Old French apelant.

appellant jurisdiction.

1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(law) of or relating to appeals; appellate


appellant

The appellant made her submissions to the court.

(law) a litigant or party that is making an appeal in court


community owned

For over seventy years, community owned rural telephony networks have flourished in the USA and about 1,000 exist today.

(law) of assets or organisations: owned and controlled through some representative mechanism that allows a community to influence their operation or use and to enjoy the benefits arising.


walk the beat

en-verb

walk the beat (third-person singular simple present walks the beat, present participle walking the beat, simple past and past participle walked the beat)

walks the beat (present singular third-person)
walking the beat (participle present)
walked the beat (participle past)
walked the beat (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-walk the beat.wav

(idiomatic, slang) To patrol on the job, especially as a police officer or guard.


backstory

From back- (prefix meaning ‘in, into, or towards the past’) + story.

prefix

(chiefly espionage, law enforcement) A fictitious account of a person's history designed to conceal their actual history and motives.


carjack

en-verb

carjack (third-person singular simple present carjacks, present participle carjacking, simple past and past participle carjacked)

carjacks (present singular third-person)
carjacking (participle present)
carjacked (participle past)
carjacked (past)

/ˈkɑɹ.d͡ʒæk/

Someone should carjack that pompous jerk and teach him a lesson!

(transitive) To steal an automobile forcibly from (someone).


praecipe

From Middle English presepe, from Latin praecipe, imperative of praecipere (“to give rules or precepts”). See precept.

(law) A writ demanding action, or requiring a reason for neglecting it.

(law) A request to a court to issue process.


chambers

From chamber + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular simple present indicative forms of verbs).

suffix

Chiefly in in chambers: a judge's private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court.

tuomarin toimisto

judge’s private office which is used for hearings that do not need to be held in open court

[B]e you mannerly to her, becauſe you are to pretend only to be her Squire, to arm her to her Lavvyers Chambers; but I vvill be impudent and baudy, for ſhe muſt love and marry me.

1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act II, page 32:

[…] I dismissed my coach at the gate, and tripped it down to my counsel's chambers; for lawyer's fees take up too much of a small disputed jointure to admit any other expenses but mere necessaries.

1712 July 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Thomas Tickell], “FRIDAY, June 20, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 410; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 25:

They rapped violently at the door of his [Samuel Johnson's] chambers in the Temple, till at laſt he appeared in his ſhirt, vvith his little black vvig on the top of his head, inſtead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that ſome ruffians vvere coming to attack him.

1791, James Boswell, “[1752]”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 134:

Nevertheless, these venerable Inns which have the Lamb and Flag and the Winged Horse for their ensigns, have attractions for persons who inhabit them, and a share of the rough comforts and freedom, which men always remember with pleasure. I don't know whether the student of law permits himself the refreshment of enthusiasm, or indulges in poetical reminiscences as he passes by historical chambers, […] but the man of letters can't but love the place which has been inhabited by so many of his brethren, […] old Samuel Johnson rolling through the fog with the Scotch gentleman [James Boswell] at his heels on their way to Dr. [Oliver] Goldsmith's chambers in Brick Court; […]

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Knights of the Temple”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 290:

To be well in chambers is melancholy, and lonely and selfish enough; but to be ill in chambers— […] —this, indeed, is a fate so dismal and tragic, that we shall not enlarge upon its horrors, and shall only heartily pity those bachelors in the Temple, who brave it every day.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Had Nearly Been the Last of the Story”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 120:

(British) Originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building.

asianajajan toimisto

originally, a set of rooms at an Inn of Court used by one or more barristers as an office and residence; now, the office of one or more barristers in any building


sentential

(linguistics, law, philosophy) Relating to a sentence.


illegal alien

(sometimes offensive) A person who is within the boundaries of a political state without the authorization of the government of that state; a national of another country who has entered or stayed without permission.

crimmigrant

person within a state without authorization


prosecutor

1590s, from Medieval Latin prosecutor, from prōsequor (English prosecute). By surface analysis, prosecute + -or.

prokuror

a person instituting criminal prosecution

Annie Jay was the Wisconsin government prosecutor in the trial of a man for forging his client's signature.

The evidence disclosed that the three prisoners were in a public-house together with the prosecutor, Abraham Rhodes, and that in concert with the other two prisoners, the prisoner John Dewhirst placed a pencase on the table in the room where they were assembled, and left the room to get writing-paper.

1861, Edward William Cox, Reports of Cases in Criminal Law:

It sat by mutely while Jack Abramoff, the superlobbyist, spun schemes that eroded public trust, until prosecutors had to move in.

2008 February 22, “Now a Reminder From Mr. Cunningham”, in New York Times:

prosecuting attorney
prosecuting attorney

The prosecutor got the witness to admit he was lying.

(law) a person, as a complainant, victim, or chief witness, who institutes prosecution in a criminal proceeding.


voyeurism

en-noun

voyeurism (usually uncountable, plural voyeurisms)

The derivation of sexual satisfaction by watching unsuspecting people secretly, especially when those being watched are undressed or undressing, flashing, toileting, or engaging in sexual activity.

voyeurisme

derivation of sexual satisfaction by watching people secretly

(by extension) The derivation of satisfaction by obsessively watching or following sensational or sordid subjects.


envoy

From French envoyé (“envoy, messenger”), from envoyer (“send”).

(law) A diplomatic agent of the second rank, next in status after an ambassador.


rack rent

rack rent (countable and uncountable, plural rack rents)

(law, formal) The full rental value of a property, including both land and improvements, if it were subject to an immediate open market rent review.


executrix

executrix (plural executrices or executrixes)

executrices (plural)
executrixes (plural)

From Middle English executrice, executrix, from Anglo-Norman and Medieval Latin; equivalent to execute + -trix.

‘That would be difficult, you know, Chettam, as she is an executrix, and she likes to go into these things—property, land, that kind of thing.’

1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 49, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book V, page 100:

His widow, Painter Georgia O'Keeffe, has carried on his educational work as executrix of his will by dividing Stieglitz' brilliant art collection and his own even more brilliant photographs among six widely spaced institutions […].

1949 November 14, “Art: Many Ways”, in Time, archived from the original on 2016-03-07:

One summer afternoon Mrs Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Inverarity […].

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 1:

James A. H. Murray
w:James Murray (lexicographer)

Oxford English Dictionary
w:Oxford English Dictionary

Clarendon Press
w:Oxford University Press

(chiefly law, dated) A female executor; a woman appointed to execute a will.


DS

DS (countable and uncountable, plural DSs or DSes)

detective sergeant
detective sergeant#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of detective sergeant; a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.


immaterial

en-adj

immaterial (comparative more immaterial, superlative most immaterial)

more immaterial (comparative)
most immaterial (superlative)

/ˌɪ.məˈtɪə.ɹɪ.əl/

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English immaterial, inmateriall (“incorporeal; spiritual”), from Middle French immateriel (“not material”) (modern French immatériel), and from its etymon Medieval Latin immāteriālis (“not material”), from Latin im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + māteriālis (“made of matter, material”) (from māteria (“matter, substance, material”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to arrange, put together; to build (up)”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship)). The English word is analysable as im- + material.
The noun is derived from the adjective.

der

Objection, your Honour! The defendant’s criminal record is immaterial to this case.

He was perpetually at her side, trying, apparently, to preserve the thread of a disconnected talk, the fate of which was, to judge by her face, profoundly immaterial to the young lady.

1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., “Christina”, in Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page 178:

(chiefly law) Especially of evidence; chiefly followed by to: not associated in any way that is important or useful to the context being discussed; irrelevant.


embezzler

1667, Samuel Pepys, Diary
It appears that Hogg is the eeriest rogue, the most observable embezzler, that ever was known.

At the time, I was deeply involved with the handsome embezzler who led a major telecom company into bankruptcy.

One who steals money they have been trusted with, especially from one's employer; one who embezzles.

bedrieër

one who steals money they have been trusted with


IND

(law) Initialism of Investigational New Drug application.


common law

(law) Law developed by judges, courts, and agency adjudicatory tribunals, through their decisions and opinions (also called case law) (as opposed to statutes promulgated by legislatures, and regulations promulgated by the executive branch).

(law) Legal system mainly in England and its former colonies with a heavy emphasis on judge-made law, doctrines deduced by casuistry rather than from general principles, and law distributed among judicial decisions rather than codified statutes (as opposed to civil law).

common law

legal system of England and its former colonies

(law, historical) Body of law and procedure administered in certain courts (known as law courts) in England and its former colonies characterized by a rigid system of writs, with a limited set of remedies (as opposed to equity or admiralty).

(law, Scots law, Roman-Dutch law) Law of general application throughout a country, province, or state as opposed to law having only a special or local application

Scots law; Roman-Dutch law; Scots law; Roman-Dutch law


embezzle

en-verb

embezzle (third-person singular simple present embezzles, present participle embezzling, simple past and past participle embezzled)

embezzles (present singular third-person)
embezzling (participle present)
embezzled (participle past)
embezzled (past)

From Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman embesiler, embesillier, embeseillier (“to steal, cause to disappear”), from em- + Old French besillier (“to torment, destroy, gouge”), of unknown origin.

der

1903, H.G. Wells, Twelve Stories and a Dream
You waste your education in burglary. You should do one of two things. Either you should forge or you should embezzle. For my own part, I embezzle.

1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner
You let Dunsey have it, sir? And how long have you been so thick with Dunsey that you must collogue with him to embezzle my money?

(law, business) To steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from the organisation for which one works.

غَلَّ

to steal money that one has been trusted with

присва́ивать

обманным путём чужие деньги


paternity

en-noun

paternity (countable and uncountable, plural paternities)

From Middle French paternité, from Old French, from Latin paternitās (“paternity”), from paternus (“of or pertaining to a father, paternal”) + -itās, from pater (“father”).

(law) Legal acknowledgement of a man's fatherhood of a child.


mickey

* (potato): From the common Irish name; compare murphy (“a potato”).
* (computer mouse resolution): An allusion to the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.

I slipped him a mickey.

(US, slang) A Mickey Finn; a beverage, usually alcoholic, that has been drugged.


emblement

1485, from Old French emblayement, emblaiment (“harvest, crop”), from emblaer, emblaier, emblader (French emblaver, “to sow with grain”), from Medieval Latin imblādāre (“to sow with grain”), from im- + blādum (French blé, “grain”), from Frankish *blād (“produce”), from Proto-Germanic *blēdaz, *blēdō (“flower, leaf”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhlēdh-, *bhlō(w)-, *bhol- (“to flower; leaf”). Cognate with Old High German blāt (“flower, blossom, prosperity”), Middle Dutch blaad (“leaf”), Old English blǣd (“shoot, flower, fruit, harvest, wealth”). More at bloom.

cog

(law) An annual crop produced by cultivation, treated as personal property.


reschedule

en-verb

reschedule (third-person singular simple present reschedules, present participle rescheduling, simple past and past participle rescheduled)

reschedules (present singular third-person)
rescheduling (participle present)
rescheduled (participle past)
rescheduled (past)

/ɹiːˈʃɛd͡ʒuːl/

/ɹiˈʃɛd͡ʒuːl/

Judge Young had been considering a petition filed to have marijuana rescheduled under federal law.

1997, Mary Lynn Mathre, Cannabis in Medical Practice, page 25:

Moreover, marijuana could only be brought to market if it were rescheduled to acknowledge its “accepted medical use,” according to DEA standards.

2000, Marijuana As Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy:

(transitive, US, law) To reclassify; to change the schedule (division into which something is classified) of.


complainant

From Old French complaignant, present participle of complaindre.

(law) The party that brings a civil lawsuit against another; the plaintiff.

(law) An alleged victim in a criminal investigation or trial.


easement

en-noun

easement (countable and uncountable, plural easements)

From Anglo-Norman aisement, easement, eisement, esament, esement, and Middle French aisement (“comfort, convenience, ease, facility, opportunity; a benefit, relief; a right to use land, a thing, etc.; a privy”), from aisier (“to put at ease; to facilitate”) + -ment (“-ment, suffix forming nouns, usually the action or state resulting from verbs”).

der

The power company has an easement to put their electricity poles along the edge of this land.

Eaſement is a privilege that one Neighbour hath of another, by Writing or Preſcription, without profit; as a Way or a Sink through his Land, or ſuch like.

[1708, anonymous [attributed to John Rastell or William Rastell], “Easement”, in Les Termes de la Ley: Or, Certain Difficult and Obscure Words and Terms of the Common Laws and Statutes of this Realm now in Use, Expounded and Explained. Now Corrected and Enlarged. With many Great and Useful Additions throughout the Whole Book, never Printed in any other Impression, corr. and enl. edition, London: Printed by Samuel Roycroft and James Rawlins, assigns of Richard and Edward Atkins, Esquires, →OCLC, page 278:

[page 1] That branch of these accessorial rights which confers merely a convenience to be exercised over the neighbouring land, without any participation in the profit of it, is called, by the law of England, Easements, as rights to the passage of light, air, and water. […] [page 2] The origin of some easements is as ancient as that of property—one tenement may be subjected to the convenience of another by the hand of nature itself—the inferior elevation of one in relation to the other, may subject it to the fall of water from the higher ground.

1839, C[harles] J[ames] Gale, T[homas] D[enman] Whatley, “Introduction”, in A Treatise on the Law of Easements, London: Printed for S. Sweet, 1, Chancery Lane, law bookseller and publisher; Dublin: Hodges and Smith, →OCLC, pages 1–2:

The 1955 Act gave powers for compulsory acquisition of "easements", or permission to tunnel beneath dwelling houses instead of, as had previously been necessary, following approximately the course of surface roads.

1962 October, “London gets its Victoria tube”, in Modern Railways, page 258:

The Lake Company actually had an easement – a right to flood some of this land – dating from 1845.

1991, Theodore Steinberg, “Maturation: The Struggle over Water”, in Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 133:

Pacific Telephone had an easement "for the stringing of telephone and electric light and power wires" over the property of Salvaty.

2002, William H. Pivar, Robert J[acques] Bruss, “Adjacent Property Rights”, in California Real Estate Law, 5th edition, Chicago, Ill.: Dearborn Real Estate Education, →ISBN, page 383:

The unrecorded document clearly granted an easement to the hallway and Watson had the document prior to closing.

2011, Marianne M. Jennings, “Nonpossessory Interests in Real Estate”, in Real Estate Law (South-Western Legal Studies in Business Academic Series; West Legal Studies in Business), 9th edition, Mason, Oh.: South-Western Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 75:

en:legal right to use another person's property

(law, property law) An interest in land which grants the legal right to use another person's real property (real estate), generally in order to cross a part of the property or to gain access to something on the property (right of way).


probation

en-noun

probation (countable and uncountable, plural probations)

/ˌpɹoʊˈbeɪʃən/

From Middle French probation, from Old French probacion, from Latin probatio (“a trying, inspection, examination”), from probare, past participle probatus (“to test, examine”); see probate, probe, prove.

стаж

period of conditional employment or engagement

He got two years probation for robbery.

(law) A type of sentence where convicted criminals are permitted to continue living in a community but will automatically be sent to jail if they violate certain conditions.


OST

The most important source of space law is the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (OST).¹⁶ […] The OST is a product of the Cold War era when the United States and the Soviet Union—the only states with spacefaring capability—were bitter rivals, each fundamentally distrustful of the other.

2014, John G Sprankling, “Rights in Airspace and Outer Space”, in The International Law of Property, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 176:

(law, space science) Initialism of Outer Space Treaty: a treaty that represents the basic legal framework of international space law, signed in 1967.


dower

From Middle English dower, dowere, from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs.

(law) The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.

[…] how features are abroad, / I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty,— / The jewel in my dower,—I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you […]

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 6:

(law) Property given by a groom directly to his bride at or before their wedding in order to legitimize the marriage; dowry.


detention

en-noun

detention (countable and uncountable, plural detentions)

Borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem.

(countable) A temporary state of custody or confinement.

(law) Confinement of a prisoner awaiting trial.


liquid document

liquid document (plural liquid documents)

NEDCOR BANK LTD v LISINFO 61 TRADING (PTY) LTD 2005 (2) SA 432 (C) is a trite principle of our law that the term 'liquid document' for purposes of summary judgment proceedings has the same meaning as a 'liquid document' for purposes of provisional sentence proceedings. In Rich and Others v Lagerwey 1974 (4) SA 748 (A) at 754H, the Court said that, if a document in question, upon a proper construction thereof, evidences by its terms and without resort to evidence extrinsic thereto, an unconditional acknowledgment of indebtedness in an ascertained amount of money, the payment of which is due to the creditor, it is one upon which provisional sentence may properly be granted.

(law) A document on which summary judgment or provisional sentence may be granted.


jurist

/ˈd͡ʒʊəɹ.ɪst/

/ˈd͡ʒəɹ.ɪst/

(law) An expert of law or someone who researches jurisprudence.


qualified fee

(law) An estate which has an annexed qualification; a base fee.


qualified property

(law) The right that a bailee has in the chattel transferred to him by the bailment.


quare clausum fregit

Latin, meaning "wherefore he broke the close".


quantum meruit

(law) An inference that the defendant has promised to pay the plaintiff for the plaintiff's work or labor as much as he should deserve.


buster

Originally a dialectal variant of burster; later influenced by bust + -er.
The combining form of the term has appeared from the early 20th century but been especially prolific during three periods: in the 1930s, owing to the success of the radio series Gang Busters; in the 1940s, owing to its appearance as military slang; and in the 1980s, owing to the success of the movie Ghostbusters.

rebenta-

person or thing that breaks or overwhelms

Men nicknamed him the ‘Booze Buster’, and cartoonists loved to picture him, revolver in hand,... fighting the demon rum.

1920, F. A. McKenzie, ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson, v. 83

The professional fraud-busters [of the art world].

New York City traffic agents have become Gridlock Busters and cigarette foes are smokebusters.

(chiefly colloquial, with 'of') Someone who or something that 'breaks', tames, or overpowers a specified person or thing.

(chiefly law enforcement slang) Forming compounds denoting an agent or agency tasked with reducing or eliminating the first element.


foreclose

en-verb

foreclose (third-person singular simple present forecloses, present participle foreclosing, simple past and past participle foreclosed)

forecloses (present singular third-person)
foreclosing (participle present)
foreclosed (participle past)
foreclosed (past)

/ˌfɔːˈkləʊz/

Partially from Middle English foreclosen, forclosen, from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore (“to exclude”), from for- (“(prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy)”) + clore (“to shut”), and partially from Middle English forclusen (“to close up”), from Old English forclȳsan (“to close up”), equivalent to fore- + close.

inh

They have to move out of their house because the bank foreclosed on their mortgage.

(transitive, law) To repossess a mortgaged property whose owner has failed to make the necessary payments; used with on.

(transitive, law) To cut off (a mortgager) by a judgment of court from the power of redeeming the mortgaged premises.


peculation

en-noun

peculation (countable and uncountable, plural peculations)

From Latin pecūlātiō (“embezzlement”) from pecūlor (“to defraud the public”), related to pecūlium (“property in cattle, private property”), from pecū (“cattle, money”).

Sir Pitt Crawley (named after the great Commoner) was the son of Walpole Crawley, first Baronet, of the Tape and Sealing-Wax Office in the reign of George II., when he was impeached for peculation, as were a great number of other honest gentlemen of those days ...

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Bulfinch, a solicitor at Redcastle, came to him with irrefragable proofs of gross peculation on the part of the bailiff.

1885, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 20, in Nuttie's Father:

She considered herself engaged to be married to a Scotch propaganda officer who had been dismissed for peculation and gone home to sell cars.

It was a feature of Athens’ democratic constitution that at the end of their year in office Athenian officials had to submit an account of their service, financial and otherwise, to public scrutiny. Ephialtes took the opportunity to bring charges of peculation against the outgoing archons who were about to enter the Areopagus and succeeded in having them removed from that council.

1990, Donald Kagan, Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, chapter 2: “Politician”, page 42 (Guild Publishing; CN 2239)

(law, chiefly historical) The wrongful appropriation or embezzlement of shared or public property, usually by a person entrusted with the guardianship of that property.


killing spree

A number of murders in a short span of time; a rampage.


booking

booking (countable and uncountable, plural bookings)

(law) The process of photographing, fingerprinting and recording the identifying data of a suspect following arrest.


reclaim

en-verb

reclaim (third-person singular simple present reclaims, present participle reclaiming, simple past and past participle reclaimed)

reclaims (present singular third-person)
reclaiming (participle present)
reclaimed (participle past)
reclaimed (past)

From Middle English reclaymen, recleymen, reclamen, from Anglo-Norman reclamer (noun reclaim and Middle French reclamer (noun reclaim), from Latin reclāmō, reclāmāre.

(intransitive, law, Scotland) To appeal from the Lord Ordinary to the inner house of the Court of Session.


calabozo

Borrowed from Spanish calabozo. Doublet of calaboose.


replevy

replevy (third-person singular simple present replevies, present participle replevying, simple past and past participle replevied)

replevies (present singular third-person)
replevying (participle present)
replevied (participle past)
replevied (past)

Old French replevir (“recover”), from re- + plevir (probably from a Germanic source which also gave pledge).

I humbly crave your Majestie / It to replevie , and my Sonne reprive

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:


springing

(law, US, characterizing the power of attorney) That takes effect only after the incapacity of the grantor or some other definite future act or circumstance.


adjudicate

adjudicate (third-person singular simple present adjudicates, present participle adjudicating, simple past and past participle adjudicated)

adjudicates (present singular third-person)
adjudicating (participle present)
adjudicated (participle past)
adjudicated (past)

Borrowed from Latin adiūdicō, adiūdicātus, from ad + iūdicō (“to judge”). Doublet of adjudge.

with municipally appointed screening and hearing officers adjudicating ticket disputes instead of the provincial court system.

2024 April 29, Josh Pringle, “Ottawa looks to move photo radar and red light camera tickets out of provincial courts”, in ottawa.ctvnews.ca:

The Union Home Ministry has constituted four tribunals […] to adjudicate whether or not there are sufficient grounds for declaring several Jammu and Kashmir-based groups as banned organisations […]

2024 April 7, PTI, “Tribunals formed to adjudicate if sufficient grounds available to declare J-K groups as banned”, in deccanherald.com:

(transitive) to decide, rule on, or settle as a judge.

(Scots law, transitive, as of a debtor's estate) to seize or convey as security.


above the law

The emperor is above the law.

You may think you're above the law, but you're not.

'The law,' she laughed with scorn - 'the law! Canst thou not understand, oh Holly, that I am above the law, and so shall my Kallikrates be also? All human law will be to us as the north wind to a mountain.'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

If we hesitate to call those actions and their perpetrator criminal, then we are saying he is above the law and giving license to future presidents to do whatever they want.

2022 August 26, “Donald Trump Is Not Above the Law”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(idiomatic) Exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else.

凌駕於法律之上

exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else


re-entry

en-noun

re-entry (countable and uncountable, plural re-entries)

(law) The reestablishment of possession under a right or rights reserved in a previous conveyance.

(law) The act of retaking possession of land, etc.; the entry by a lessor upon the premises leased, on failure of the tenant to pay rent or perform the covenants in the lease.


mafia

See Mafia. The sense "entity which attempts to control a specified arena" makes an analogy to crime-syndicate mafias' attempts to control certain kinds of business in the regions in which they exist.


stateless

無狀態

(computer science) without remembering state

UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.[…]current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate[…]“stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:

(law) Without a state or nationality; not subject to any state.


plaint

From Middle English plainte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plainte (“lamentation”), plaint (“lament”), and Old French pleinte (“lamentation”), pleint (“lament”) (modern French plainte), from Medieval Latin plancta (“plaint”), from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamentation”), from Latin plango (“I beat the breast, I lament”); see plain.

uder

Once the plaint had been made there was nothing that could be done to revoke it.


silent alarm

A burglar alarm that makes no noise that is audible to the trespasser.


garrote

From Spanish garrote. Doublet of garrot.

[…] promising that, by so doing, the painful death to which he had been sentenced should be commuted for the milder form of the garrote,—a mode of punishment by strangulation, used for criminals in Spain.

1847, William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Peru:

The prison, scaffold, garrote, handcuffs, iron necklace and leadballs do their work, / The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres,

1892, Walt Whitman, “To a Foil’d European Revolutionaire”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 287:

The Spanish had responded to the insurgency with characteristic brutality. They gave rebels the "usual four shots in the back" or the garrote—an iron collar tightened around the victim's neck with a screw until he was strangled to death.

2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage, →ISBN:

(historical) An iron collar formerly used in Spain to execute people by strangulation.

garrot

iron collar used to execute by strangulation


garrote

en-verb

garrote (third-person singular simple present garrotes, present participle garroting, simple past and past participle garroted)

garrotes (present singular third-person)
garroting (participle present)
garroted (participle past)
garroted (past)

(transitive) To execute by strangulation, to kill using a garrote.

“And then Lee may have fallen into the river, and Norton been garrotted. It is certainly a formidable indictment that you have against Bellingham; but if you were to place it before a police magistrate, he would simply laugh in your face.”

1894, Arthur Conan Doyle, “Lot No. 249”, in Round the Red Lamp […] :

About this time the police reports were full of cases of garrotting. The victim was seized from behind, one man gagged or burked him, while another picked his pocket.

1905, Henry J. Coke, Tracks of a Rolling Stone:

(transitive) To suddenly render insensible by semi-strangulation, and then to rob.


police car

An automobile used by a police officer when on duty.


paddy wagon

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

Supposedly from Paddy, a derogatory name for an Irishman.

(slang) A police van for transporting prisoners.


modus

Learned borrowing from Latin modus (“measure, manner, mood”). Doublet of mode.

lbor

(law, obsolete) The arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance.

(law) A qualification involving the idea of variation or departure from some general rule or form, in the way of either restriction or enlargement, according to the circumstances of the case, as in the will of a donor, an agreement between parties, etc.

To make a good and sufficient modus, the following rules must be observed

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

When, instead either of a certain portion of the produce of land, or of the price of a certain portion, a certain sum of money is to be paid in full compensation for all tax or tythe; the tax becomes, in this case, exactly of the same nature with the land tax of England. It neither rises nor falls with the rent of the land. It neither encourages nor discourages improvement. The tythe in the greater part of those parishes which pay what is called a modus, in lieu of all other tythe is a tax of this kind. During the Mahometan government of Bengal, instead of the payment in kind of the fifth part of the produce, a modus, and, it is said, a very moderate one, was established in the greater part of the districts or zemindaries of the country. Some of the servants of the East India company, under pretence of restoring the public revenue to its proper value, have, in some provinces, exchanged this modus for a payment in kind. Under their management, this change is likely both to discourage cultivation, and to give new opportunities for abuse in the collection of the public revenue, which has fallen very much below what it was said to have been when it first fell under the management of the company. The servants of the company may, perhaps, have profited by the change, but at the expense, it is probable, both of their masters and of the country.

1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations:

They, from time immemorial, had paid a modus, or composition.

1829, Walter Savage Landor, “Duke de Richelieu, Sir Firebrace Cotes, Lady Glengrin. and Mr. Normanby”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume V (second series, volume II), London: James Duncan, […], →OCLC:

That there is and from time immemorial has been within that part of the parish called Mablethorpe St. Mary's a laudable custom that, if any outdweller take ancient pasture ground, he shall pay a modus of 4d. an acre, and so in proportion, on the 1st of August, in lieu of all manner of tithe; and that if any of the ancient pasture be once ploughed up or meadowed, it shall, when restored to pasture again, pay 4d. the acre in the hands of such outdweller.

1917, The English Reports: Exchequer, page 789:

(law) A fixed compensation or equivalent given instead of payment of tithes in kind, expressed in full by the phrase modus decimandi.


concussion

en-noun

concussion (countable and uncountable, plural concussions)

Then Concussion, Rapine, Pillories, / Their Catalogue of Accusations fill.

1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:

(obsolete, law) The unlawful forcing of another by threats of violence to yield up something of value.


Halacha

From Hebrew הֲלָכָה (halakhá), from the root הלך (“to walk”).


hypothec

hypothec (usually uncountable, plural hypothecs)

From Latin hypothēca (“pledge, mortgage”), from Ancient Greek ὑποθήκη (hupothḗkē, “warning, pledge”).

der

(law) In Scotland, a landlord's right over the stocking (cattle, implements, etc.), and crops of his tenant, as security for payment of rent.

(law) In Québec, a legal right over property used as security for an obligation, such as a mortgage.


fixture

Alteration of older fixure, on the model of mixture.

The residence was sold with fixtures and fittings.

(law) Something that is fixed in place, especially a permanent appliance or other item of personal property that is considered part of a house and is sold with it; compare fitting, furnishing.


war criminal

A person guilty of one or more war crimes.


snuff

en-noun

snuff (countable and uncountable, plural snuffs)

From Middle English snoffe, snuffe, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle Dutch snuf, snof (“snuff”), Dutch sneuvelen (“to die in battle”).

The cops are chasing their own asses on the St Christopher case, so how about a “Are You St Christopher's Next Slaying?” piece? Profiles of all the snuffs to date and reconstructions of the victims' last minutes.

2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:


coast guard

From coast + guard. Compare Old English sǣweard (“coastguard”, literally “sea-guard”).

noncog

I went down to the coast guard to see what they're guarding / "See what the sign says, you idiot, we're guarding the coast"

2018, Bill Wurtz (lyrics and music), “Long Long Long Journey”:

The organisation or officer enforcing maritime law and policing the seas within territorial waters.


cellmate

A person with whom one shares a prison cell.


number one

(US, law enforcement) Black, African-American.


affidavit

From Medieval Latin affidavit (“he has sworn”), the third person singular perfect tense of affido (“swear”), from fīdō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to command, to persuade, to trust”). Cognate to fidelity and faith (same Latin root), but not to affirm (shared Latin ad- prefix, but different Latin and Proto-Indo-European roots).

der

He submitted his affidavit rather than appearing to testify in court.

Lee's case is urgent. He has to file an immediate affidavit that he is suffering from bubonic plague to avoid eviction from the house he has occupied ten years without paying the rent.

1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 170:

All lifters were certified by affidavit and polygraph to be steroid free.

1984 December 8, “Pressing Records”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 21, page 2:

(law) A signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement.

afidàvit

legal, signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement

宣誓供述書

せんせいきょうじゅつしょ


judge advocate

commissioned officer
commissioned officer

(US) A commissioned officer acting as a lawyer to advise a court martial on points of law or to act as prosecutor.


paralegal

(law) One who assists a lawyer in routine legal work, but who is without qualified status as a solicitor or barrister (England and Wales), attorney (U.S.), or advocate; known more commonly in the U.S. as a legal assistant.


death row

en-noun

death row (countable and uncountable, plural death rows)

Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.

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

The section of a prison which houses those inmates who are sentenced to death.


criminal negligence

criminal negligence (usually uncountable, plural criminal negligences)

(law) Failure to use reasonable care, and thus put someone at risk of injury or death.


cutthroat

cutthroat (countable and uncountable, plural cutthroats)

Children go through a phase of compound acquisition in which they invent cutthroats spontaneously before dropping the habit again.

2015 May 22, Stan Carey, “The Kick-butt World of Cutthroat Compounds”, in Slate Lexicon Valley:

cutthroat compound
cutthroat compound#English

(linguistics) Short for cutthroat compound (“an agentive-instrumental verb-noun compound word”).


probate

probate (countable and uncountable, plural probates)

From Middle English probate, from Latin probatus, past participle of probare (“to test, examine, judge of”); see probe, prove.

The probate file reveals that Stephen Tetuan, attorney for the estate and author of McBride's will, wrote to Lemieux on Auust 29, 1984, encouraging him "to serve as trustee and to retain local counsel to represent your interests as trustee."

1981 December 1, Micheline Justman, “Man Defends Erie Gay Will”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 15:

(law) The legal process of verifying the legality of a will.

легализиране

(law) A copy of a legally recognised and qualified will.

Macrobius that did trete
Of Scipions dreme what was the treu probate

a. 1529, John Skelton, Garlande of Laurell:


assets

assets pl (normally plural, singular asset)

From Anglo-Norman asetz, from Old French assez (“enough”). Originally singular, with the meaning "enough to meet liabilities"; later reanalyzed as a plural form.

(law) Sufficient estate; property sufficient in the hands of an executor or heir to pay the debts or legacies of the testator or ancestor to satisfy claims against it.


fixer

A professional bank robber commented on this [a point in the thief's memoir]: 'Perhaps the author means by this that the fixer with whom he is acquainted works only on crimes not involving violence. It is true that there are specialists even in the fix line, and a man who has an in [in = advantageous position] to fix con cases might not be able to fix robbery cases. But if the author means that the fix does not exist in armed robbery, he is badly mistaken. It is merely a matter of knowing the right party to go to.'

1937, Edwin H. (ed) Sutherland with Conwell, Chic (pseudonym), The Professional Thief: by a Professional Thief. Annotated and Interpreted by Edwin H. Sutherland, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, LCCN 37036112:

(criminal justice, law) A person who arranges immunity for defendants by tampering with the justice system via bribery or extortion, especially as a business endeavor for profit.


letter of relaxation

letter of relaxation (plural letters of relaxation)

Do you think that the state of the exchanges is that which ought to guide the discretion of the Government, with reference to the issue of a similar letter of relaxation?

1858, Samuel Jones-Loyd Overstone, Overstone Tracts on Metallic and Paper Currency:

(Scots law) A letter passing the signet, whereby a debtor is relieved from personal diligence, or whereby an outlaw is reponed against sentence of outlawry.


negligent

en-adj

negligent (comparative more negligent, superlative most negligent)

more negligent (comparative)
most negligent (superlative)

From Middle English necligent, negligent, from Old French negligent, from Latin negligēns.


larcenous

larcenous (comparative more larcenous, superlative most larcenous)

more larcenous (comparative)
most larcenous (superlative)


lawbreaker

/ˈlɔːbɹeɪkə/

From Middle English lawbreker, lawe brekare; equivalent to law + breaker.

I'm just a poor old man. I have no time for law-breakers. My legs are grey. My ears are gnarled. My eyes are old and bent.

1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Matthias (John Young):

One who breaks (violates) the law, a criminal.


legalese

(informal, derogatory) Technical jargon common in the legal profession, the argot of lawyers.

(informal, derogatory) Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles legal writing, especially when confusing to laypeople; bureaucratese; officialese.

legalês

wording that resembles how lawyers write — see also bureaucratese


law-abiding

The law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from government surveillance... unless the government begins to break the law.

“For any decent, law-abiding citizen, there is no honour in this. None at all. You are a bad man, Mr Goodie. And, worst of all, a bad dad. A very bad dad.” That hit Gilbert like a ton of bricks. He looked over to his son with tears in his eyes, as the judge announced the sentence. “Gilbert Goodie, I sentence you to ten years in prison!”

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

Obeying the laws of society; not a lawbreaker; without a criminal record.


lawgiver

/ˈlɔːˌɡɪv.ə/

From Middle English lawe ȝivere, lawe-ȝivere, law ȝevar; equivalent to law + giver.

"Lawgivers were never more mistaken," said Lady Mary, "than when they ordained that the conjugal tie should last through life for better and worse; the last injunction being strictly complied with. There should be septennial marriages, as well as septennial parliaments!"

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Act of Parliament”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 189:


coucher

From Middle English coucher, from Anglo-Norman; equivalent to couch + -er.

She [the Herring-Buss] imployeth[…]at Land Viewers, Packers,[…]Couchers to make the Herrings lawful Merchandizes.

1601, John Keymor, “Observation made upon the Dutch fishing”, in The Phenix:

(UK, law, obsolete) A factor or agent resident in a country for traffic.


decriminalize

en-verb

decriminalize (third-person singular simple present decriminalizes, present participle decriminalizing, simple past and past participle decriminalized)

decriminalizes (present singular third-person)
decriminalizing (participle present)
decriminalized (participle past)
decriminalized (past)

Back-formation from decriminalization, equivalent to de- + criminalize.

The march to decriminalize drugs moved further across the nation on Tuesday despite continued federal prohibition.

2020 April 11, Thomas Fuller, “Oregon Decriminalizes Small Amounts of Heroin and Cocaine; Four States Legalize Marijuana”, in The New York Times:

The House of Representatives approved decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level on Friday in the first time Congress has acted on the issue.

2020 April 12, Deirdre Walsh, “House Approves Decriminalizing Marijuana; Bill To Stall In Senate”, in NPR:

Last fall Oregon voters decriminalized possession of small amounts of almost all hard drugs, taking a groundbreaking step away from the arrest, charge and jail model for possession that's been a centerpiece of American drug policy since President Richard Nixon declared his War on Drugs 50 years ago this week.

2021 June 18, Eric Westervelt, “Oregon's Pioneering Drug Decriminalization Experiment Is Now Facing The Hard Test”, in NPR:

(transitive) To change the laws so something is no longer a crime.

despenalitzar

to change the laws so something is no longer a crime


breakout

(aviation) The point at which visibility returns after passing through clouds.


defeasance

en-noun

defeasance (countable and uncountable, plural defeasances)

(US, law) The rendering void of a contract or deed; an annulment or abrogation.


defeasance

en-verb

defeasance (third-person singular simple present defeasances, present participle defeasancing, simple past and past participle defeasanced)

defeasances (present singular third-person)
defeasancing (participle present)
defeasanced (participle past)
defeasanced (past)

(US, law, transitive) To void; to annul.


petitioner

From petition + -er. Doublet of petitionary.

(law) Someone who presents a petition to a court.

খাস্তগীর

someone who presents a petition to a court


criminalize

criminalize (third-person singular simple present criminalizes, present participle criminalizing, simple past and past participle criminalized)

criminalizes (present singular third-person)
criminalizing (participle present)
criminalized (participle past)
criminalized (past)

The Nixon campaign in 1968[…] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. […] [B]y getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.

2016 April 1, Dan Baum, quoting John Ehrlichman, “Legalize It All”, in Harper's Magazine:

(transitive) To make (something) a crime; to make illegal under criminal law; to ban.

tehdä (jostakin) rikos (object in elative and usually before rikos)


thievery

en-noun

thievery (countable and uncountable, plural thieveries)

From thieve + -ery. Compare Old Frisian deverie ("thievery; theft"; > West Frisian dieverij; Saterland Frisian Däiweräi), Dutch dieverij (“thievery”), German Low German Deveree (“thievery; theft”), German Dieberei (“thievery”), Danish tyveri (“thievery; theft; larceny”), Swedish tjuveri (“thievery”).

gloss

This instance of thievery will not be overlooked.

One thief may well have the power to achieve a certain amount of success in fulfilling his desires to possess the property of another. But thievery being what it is, it feeds that desire in an intemperate way, and so the desire grows and grows.

2008, John O’Callaghan, “Neither Robber Barons nor Philosopher Kings: Political Prudence in the Just Polity”, in Margaret Monahan Hogan, Lauretta Conklin Frederking, editors, The American Experiment: Religious Freedom, [Portland, Ore.]: University of Portland, Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture, →ISBN, section 4 (Theoretical Analyses), page 343:


court costs

(law) Expenses other than attorney's fees associated with the prosecution or defense of a lawsuit for which, in some jurisdictions, the prevailing party may demand repayment.


legislate

en-verb

legislate (third-person singular simple present legislates, present participle legislating, simple past and past participle legislated)

legislates (present singular third-person)
legislating (participle present)
legislated (participle past)
legislated (past)

Back-formation from legislation, legislator.

back-form

If they can't get people to do the right thing by talking then they will try to legislate it, then they can try to enforce the statutes.

To pass laws (including the amending or repeal of existing laws).


prevailing party

en-noun

prevailing party (plural prevailing parties)

(law) The party in a civil lawsuit whom the factfinder determines to be right, and who, in some jurisdictions, may recover attorney's fees and other expenses associated with the prosecution or defense of the lawsuit.


liquidate

en-verb

liquidate (third-person singular simple present liquidates, present participle liquidating, simple past and past participle liquidated)

liquidates (present singular third-person)
liquidating (participle present)
liquidated (participle past)
liquidated (past)

From Medieval Latin liquidatus (“liquid, clear”), past participle of liquidare. The sense “to kill, do away with” is a semantic loan from Russian ликвиди́ровать (likvidírovatʹ), ultimately from Latin liquidus.

sl

ликвиди́ровать

A debt or demand is liquidated whenever the amount due is agreed on by the parties, or fixed by the operation of law.

1851, Hargroves v. Cooke, 15th Georgia Reports 321:

If our epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be brought in considerably debtor.

February 27, 1759, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, letter to his son (letter CXXVIII)

(law, transitive) To determine by agreement or by litigation the precise amount of (indebtedness); to make the amount of (a debt) clear and certain.


abstention doctrine

en-noun

abstention doctrine (plural abstention doctrines)

(law) A rule under which a federal court in the United States will decline to exercise jurisdiction over a lawsuit because the suit could or should instead be heard by a state court.


attorney's fee

(law) The fee charged by an attorney for work done in relation to a lawsuit or other work done by an attorney.

In March 2017, the judge appointed a special master — the former federal judge Gerald E. Rosen — to look into the appropriateness of the fee package, including the issues of double-counting attorney hours spent on the case and the reasonableness of the rates charged by the lawyers. But during a 14-month investigation, Mr. Rosen made a startling discovery: Labaton had paid a lawyer in Texas a finder’s fee equal to 20 percent of the attorneys’ fee it received in the litigation.

2018 October 10, Matthew Goldstein, “Law Firm’s Fee Settlement Could Shake Up Securities Class Actions”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-10-10, Business Day:

(law) An amount set by a court to be awarded to a prevailing party based on the reasonable fee that their attorney should have charged, based on the length and complexity of the case.


forum shopping

An attempt to file a lawsuit in (or have it transferred to) the jurisdiction most favorable to the party filing the suit.


immurement

immurement (countable and uncountable, plural immurements)

Capital punishment, human sacrifice or life imprisonment by entombing for life or sealing behind walls.

замуровывание

capital punishment by entombing for life


perpetuity

perpetuity (countable and uncountable, plural perpetuities)

From Middle English perpetuitee, perpetuite, perpetuyte, from Old French perpetüité, ultimately from Latin perpetuitās.

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

(countable, law) A limitation intended to be unalterable and of indefinite duration; a disposition of property which attempts to make it inalienable beyond certain limits fixed or conceived as being fixed by the general law.


attorney's work product

(law, US): Evidence which a party to a lawsuit does not have to reveal during the discovery process because it represents the thought process of the attorney preparing for trial.


admiralty law

(law) The area of law that deals with ships at sea and the rights of sailors, passengers, and owners of cargo.


devisee

(law) The person or entity to whom property is devised in a will.


lifer

They know what a clever lad he is; he'll be a lifer. They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.

1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

A prisoner sentenced to transportation for life.

I saw six species of honeyeaters new to me and went home with 16 lifers and some bad sandfly bites.

2013, Sue Taylor, Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia:

(birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.


in forma pauperis

Unadapted borrowing from Latin in fōrma pauperis (literally “in the manner of a pauper”).

ubor

Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true. The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ’em well; says he, “That’s Banks — he’s fond of shell; Lord save his soul! We’ll give him” — well, that’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Silence! Ground arms! Kneel all! Caps off! Old Blue Light’s going to pray. Strangle the fool that dares to scoff: Attention! 'Tis his way. Appealing from his native sod in forma pauperis to God: “Lay bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod! Amen!” That’s “Stonewall’s Way.”
He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Ah! Maiden, wait and watch and yearn for news of Stonewall’s band! Ah! Widow read with eyes that burn that ring upon thy hand. Ah! Wife, sew on, pray on, hope on! Thy life shall not be all forlorn. The foe had better ne’er been born that gets in “Stonewall’s Way.”

1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way

(law) A request to have a court waive filing fees in a civil action because the plaintiff is indigent.


civil action

(law) In the United States, a lawsuit between private parties, including an action by a private person against a government entity, which will be treated as a private party by the court.

(law) In Roman Dutch law, a lawsuit that is not criminal in nature. It may be between the state and a private party. It is usually based in contract, or delict (tort).


defense in abatement

(law) A plea to the effect that from some formal defect (e.g. misnomer, lack of jurisdiction) the proceedings should be abated.


lesser included offense

en-noun

lesser included offense (plural lesser included offenses)

A robbery is an assault combined with a theft; a person can not be criminally charged with both the robbery and the assault that occurred during the robbery; the assault is a lesser included offense.

(law) A crime the elements of which coincide with the elements of a more serious crime, from which the prosecutor is therefore precluded from separately charging a criminal defendant.


conjugal visit

A scheduled visit during which an inmate of a penal institution is permitted to have sexual intercourse with a visitor (usually his or her spouse) in a closely controlled setting.


mandatory sentence

mandatory sentence (plural mandatory sentences)

(law) A criminal sentence of a predetermined minimum period of time which a judge is required by statute to impose upon a conviction for a crime.


federal question jurisdiction

federal question jurisdiction (uncountable)

(US, law) The authority that a United States federal court has to hear a cause of action brought under the United States Constitution or federal statutes.


federal question

federal question (plural federal questions)

federal question jurisdiction
federal question jurisdiction

(US, law) a cause of action brought in a court under the United States Constitution or a federal statute. A federal question gives rise to federal question jurisdiction


trial by ordeal

trial by ordeal (plural trials by ordeal)

(law) An archaic practice by which a person accused of a crime could prove their innocence by their survival of physically painful tests.


alternative dispute resolution

alternative dispute resolution (countable and uncountable, plural alternative dispute resolutions)

alternative dispute resolutions (plural)

(law) The resolution of a dispute through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or similar means, as opposed to litigation.

վեճերի այլընտրանքային կարգավորում

resolution of a dispute through negotiation or similar means

mode alternatif de résolution des conflits

裁判外紛争解決手続

さいばんがいふんそうかいけつてつづき


litigation

litigation (countable and uncountable, plural litigations)

/ˌlɪtɪˈɡeɪʃən/

There is ongoing litigation in this matter.

This law firm is known for its litigation practice.

That attorney has been chastised for his litigation behavior.


compos mentis

From Latin compos (“in control, having mastery”) + mentis (“of mind”).

bor

‘[…] you have my hearty consent, sir, to marry the girl whensumdever it’s convenient.’ Dame Mayrose finished her speech with a low courtesy, and Tom Sponge sat like a petrified image. ‘For God’s sake, Mrs. Mayrose, are you compos mentis?’ said he. ‘Please your honour, I don’t understand no foreign languages,’ said the good woman, ‘but my darter tells me you want to make proposhalls.’

1810, [anonymous] […], chapter XXVIII, in Splendid Follies. A Novel, […]. Founded on Facts., volume III, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 112–113:

(law) Of sound mind, sane; thus fully accountable (legally and/or morally) for one's deeds.


de facto corporation

en-noun

de facto corporation (plural de facto corporations)

(law) A business entity that is treated as a corporation for certain purposes despite its failure to meet all of the formal requirements imposed by law for a corporation to exist.


baron and femme

[see title]

1719, Baron and Femme: A Treatise of the Common Law Concerning Husbands and Wives …:

[see title]

1816, Tapping Reeve, The Law of Baron and Femme, of Parent and Child, of Guardian and Ward, of Master and Servant, and of the Powers of Courts of Chancery:


holographic will

holographic will (plural holographic wills)

(law) A will that is handwritten by the testator, without the usual formalities of execution.


cause of action

cause of action (plural causes of action)

If someone strikes you, then you have a cause of action for battery.

(law) A condition under which one party would be entitled to sue another.


testamentary

From Middle English testamentarie, from Anglo-Norman testamentarie and Latin testāmentārius (“of or belonging to wills”).

der

Although such letter shall not be interpreted as a testamentary writing, I request that my beneficiaries and executor carry out the requests made in the letter.

(law) of or pertaining to a will or testament


party of the second part

en-noun

party of the second part (plural parties of the second part)

(law, archaic) The party to a legal dispute against whom a complaint was initially raised in a court.

segunda parte

party against whom a complaint was initially raised in a court

(law, archaic) The second party named in a contract, generally the party to whom a duty is initially owed, and who is obligated to perform in response to the performance of that initial duty.


bluebook

en-verb

bluebook (third-person singular simple present bluebooks, present participle bluebooking, simple past and past participle bluebooked)

bluebooks (present singular third-person)
bluebooking (participle present)
bluebooked (participle past)
bluebooked (past)

After all, the nonmember author who has never participated in the endless chores of bluebooking and typing is more successful than most law review members in writing a piece of publishable quality.

1988, The Hastings Law Journal, Vol. 39, Part 2, page 914:

(law) To format a document, particularly a legal document including citations, according to the rules of the Bluebook, a US style guide.


party of the first part

en-noun

party of the first part (plural parties of the first part)

(law, archaic) The party to a legal dispute who first raised a complaint in a court.

(law, archaic) The first party named in a contract, generally the party agreeing to perform a duty thereunder.


beneficiary

From Latin beneficiarius (“enjoying a favor, granted a privilege”) from beneficium (“benefit”), perhaps via or influenced by French bénéficiaire (“beneficiary”). Indirectly, by way of the etymology of the Latin word beneficium, the English word beneficiary ultimately has the same origin as the English word benefactor, its near antonym.

der

If any beneficiary does not survive the settlor for a period of 30 days then the trustee shall distribute that beneficiary’s share to the surviving beneficiaries by right of representation.

In a second step, the rights to the asset are divided between the trustee, who holds formal title, and the beneficiary, who receives the (future) economic interest.

2020, Katharina Pistor, “2: Coding Land”, in The Code of Capital […] , Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

(especially trust law) One who benefits from the distribution, especially out of a trust or estate.

beneficiari

one who benefits from the distribution, especially of an estate


illegality

en-noun

illegality (countable and uncountable, plural illegalities)

From French illégalité, equivalent to il- + legality or illegal + -ity.

The criminal was aware of the illegality of his act.

In Fraenkel’s defiance of mortality and professionalism and his skill in navigating the triple state lay part of the origins of his idea of the dual state. He answered the illegality in the Nazi prerogative state with his own commitment to illegality in both the resistance and even the legal system itself.

2020, Douglas G. Morris, The Ernst Fraenkel Dilemma, page 208:

When sued for refusing to pay for services provided by a prostitute, the customer raised the defense of illegality.

(law, uncountable) a defense to the validity of a contract because it was in violation of the law


mendicancy squad

mendicancy squad (plural mendicancy squads)

It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. - The Gift of the Magi - "O. Henry" - 1906

(US) police who arrested beggars and homeless people


terrier

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman terrier, from Old French terrier (“of earth”, adjective), from Medieval Latin terrarius (“of earth”), from Latin terra (“earth”).

der

(law, historical) A collection of acknowledgments of the vassals or tenants of a lordship, containing the rents and services they owed to the lord, etc.

(law) An inventory (book or roll) in which the lands of private persons or corporations are described by their site, boundaries, number of acres, etc.; a terrar.


officious intermeddler

en-noun

officious intermeddler (plural officious intermeddlers)

(law) A person who voluntarily, and without request or pre-existing legal duty, interjects himself/herself into the affairs of another, then seeks remuneration for services or reimbursement.


process server

The process server could not effect service of process because the defendant was nowhere to be found.

The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.

1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162:

(law enforcement) A deliverer of processes or summonses, the formal announcements of the beginning of a legal action; a huissier de justice or other equivalent position in other legal systems.


service of process

service of process (countable and uncountable, plural services of process)

(law) The delivery of information to a person or entity providing notice that they are being sued with sufficient detail for them to respond to the suit.

送达

delivery of information providing notice

The court found plaintiff's service of process effective, although the defendant refused to receive the complaint.

(law) The effective notification of a lawsuit such that a court may proceed with the case.


property law

(law) The area of law concerned with the ownership and conveyance of property rights and title.

ejendomsret

area of law concerned with property rights

The formal course in property law required of most first-year law school students in common-law systems.


CSP

CSP (countable and uncountable, plural CSPs)

chief superintendent
chief superintendent#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of chief superintendent (a police rank).


steal

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.
Compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla, Norwegian Bokmål stjele, Norwegian Nynorsk stela, Sanskrit स्तेय (steya); see below for more.
For the meaning development compare with Russian красть (krastʹ, “to steal”) and Russian кра́сться (krástʹsja, “to stalk, to prowl, to slink”).
etymology notes
Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include
* Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”)
* Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- (“to stretch”): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell (“I confuse, mess up, mix, wrap up”), Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ (steljǫ, “I spread out (bed, roof)”), Ancient Greek τηλία (tēlía, “playing table”)
* Proto-Indo-European *tsel- (“to sneak”): compare Sanskrit त्सरति (tsárati, “creep, sneak up on”) and other forms under Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"


narco

The conflict has become a test of endurance for both the government and the narcos.

2010 October 16, “Under the volcano”, in The Economist:

(crime) A Latin American drug baron, usually from Colombia or Mexico.

(law enforcement) Acronym of narcotics control officer (“a police officer specializing in drug crimes”).


arsonist

One who has committed the act of arson, or illegally setting fire to property.


mala fide

Unadapted borrowing from Latin malā fidē (“in bad faith”).

ubor

Having regard to this dictum it is clear to me that the plaintiff cannot rely on negotiorum gestorum to recover damages. The gestor, ie the plaintiff, did not intend to serve the dominus, ie the defendants. The gestor did not act bona fide in the mistaken belief that he was serving the dominus. It was the plaintiff's evidence that in an attempt to preserve its good name and reputation it was decided to accept the cancellation of the agreement. It is thus clear that the gestor, the plaintiff acted mala fide in its own interest. In my view, the plaintiff cannot succeed on this principle of negotiorum gestorum.

2001, Maritime Motors (PTY) LTD v Von Steiger and another, 2001 (2) SA 584 (SE) @ 600


jailbreak

DAN has become a canonical example of what's known as a "jailbreak" — a creative way to bypass the safeguards OpenAI built in to keep ChatGPT from spouting bigotry, propaganda or, say, the instructions to run a successful online phishing scam. From charming to disturbing, these jailbreaks reveal the chatbot is programmed to be more of a people-pleaser than a rule-follower.

2023 February 14, Will Oremus, “Meet ChatGPT's evil twin, DAN”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-19:

The jailbreak of ChatGPT has been in operation since December, but users have had to find new ways around fixes OpenAI implemented to stop the workarounds.

2023 March 8, Josh Taylor, “ChatGPT's alter ego, Dan: users jailbreak AI program to get around ethical safeguards”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-23:

It's for this reason that Alex Albert, a computer science student at the University of Washington, created Jailbreak Chat, a site that hosts a collection of ChatGPT jailbreaks.

2023 March 22, Chloe Xiang, “The Amateurs Jailbreaking GPT Say They're Preventing a Closed-Source AI Dystopia”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2023-03-23:

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

large language model
large language model

(artificial intelligence) A prompt to a large language model which frees it from its ethical restrictions.


jailbreak

en-verb

jailbreak (third-person singular simple present jailbreaks, present participle jailbreaking, simple past jailbroke, past participle jailbroken)

jailbreaks (present singular third-person)
jailbreaking (participle present)
jailbroke (past)
jailbroken (participle past)

Unofficially, it has been possible to “Jailbreak” iOS and gain access to the underlying Unix and kernel environment, but this voids the warranty.

2012, Ole Henry Halvorsen, Douglas Clarke, OS X and iOS Kernel Programming, Apress, →ISBN, page 21:

In order to gain true root access to a mobile device, a user has to either jailbreak (iOS) or root (Android/Windows) the device.

2016, Mike Meyers, CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Ninth Edition (Exams 220-901 & 220-902), McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 1172:

(transitive, computing) To modify the firmware of an electronic device, especially a mobile phone, in order to remove restrictions that prevent it from running unofficial software.

ChatGPT is far from perfect. Twitter has been flooded with examples of "jailbreaking" ChatGPT — that is, tricking it into hallucinations or misalignment.

2022 December 16, Farhad Manjoo, “ChatGPT Has a Devastating Sense of Humor”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-16:

These are young technologies. Rather than jailbreaking AI tools to simulate conversations between the rapper Ye and Adolf Hitler, or waiting uneasily for them to become sentient, why don't we approach them as good parents would — and talk to them, or read to them, the way we do to children?

2022 December 27, Alyssa Rosenberg, “Something AI can't do: Tell a great bedtime story”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-27:

The desire to jailbreak ChatGPT so that it violates safety filters follows a pattern of use by people that are dissatisfied by the moderation of the chatbot.

2023 February 8, Chloe Xiang, “People are 'Jailbreaking' ChatGPT to Make It Endorse Racism, Conspiracies”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2023-03-22:

(artificial intelligence) To free a large language model from its ethical restrictions using prompt injection.


suitor

From Middle English sutour, from Anglo-Norman suytour, seuter, from Late Latin secutor (“follower, pursuer”).


catchpole

From Old French chacepol (“one who chases fowls”) (or a northern variant thereof).

der

With two such catchpoles as Henry and Uncle Fred at his heels there was nothing left for Grandpa Piper but to sign his abdication to the drapery business.

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 247:

(obsolete) A taxman, one who gathers taxes.


lay a foundation

en-verb

lay a foundation (third-person singular simple present lays a foundation, present participle laying a foundation, simple past and past participle laid a foundation)

lays a foundation (present singular third-person)
laying a foundation (participle present)
laid a foundation (participle past)
laid a foundation (past)

Figurative senses from the idea of laying a foundation as the first step in constructing a building.

In order to lay a foundation for the witness to describe the murder, the prosecutor first had to show that the witness was present when the murder occurred.

(law) To elicit information from a witness to show that the witness has knowledge of a matter before the witness testifies to the matter itself.


as of right

He may appeal the ruling as of right.

Parliament shall sit as of right.

The Constitutional Council shall, as of right, carry out such an examination.

But we have been educated, by a warped system, to believe that food is cheap as of right. That is why many of us are now suffering sticker shock when we eat out.

2023 June 10, Tim Hayward, “The pie's the limit”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 2:

(law) By virtue of an entitlement or authority which arises from certain legal conditions or circumstances; by operation of law.

itse lain nojalla

by virtue of an entitlement or authority which arises from certain legal conditions or circumstances


Campbell

* As a Scottish surname, from Scottish Gaelic Caimbeul, from cam (“crooked”) + beul (“mouth”). Compare Cameron, from Scottish Gaelic cam (“crooked”) + sròn (“nose”).
* As an Irish surname, from Mac Cathmhaoil (“son of Cathmhaol”), see Caulfield, Cowell.
* As an English surname, variant of Camel, probably influenced by the above.
* (duck breed): Developed by Adele Campbell.

(US, law, copyright law, US politics, informal, uncountable) Ellipsis of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.. A 1994 U.S. Supreme Court case that held that commercial parodies can be subject to fair use.


impleader

(law) A procedural device before trial in which a party joins a third party into a lawsuit because that party is liable to an original defendant.


gestor

STANDARD BANK FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD v TAYLAM (PTY) LTD 1979 (2) SA 383 (C) @p388.
his quasi- contractual relationship was brought about where the gestor, acting without a mandate, rendered a service to the dominus - in this instance the debtor - and in doing so acted reasonably and in the interest of the dominus with the intention not only of administering the affairs of the dominus but also of being compensated for such administration.


bloodshed

en-noun

bloodshed (usually uncountable, plural bloodsheds)

From attested early forms of such phrases as "there was much blood shed"; equivalent to blood + shed, past participle of shed.

A slaughter; destruction of life, notably on a large scale.


acceleration clause

acceleration clause (plural acceleration clauses)

Joe was mortified to learn that his failure to make a scheduled car payment triggered an acceleration clause requiring that the entire balance due on the car be paid immediately.

(law) a provision in a contract that makes all obligations to be performed under the contract due immediately upon a specific occurrence, such as a breach


distrain

en-verb

distrain (third-person singular simple present distrains, present participle distraining, simple past and past participle distrained)

distrains (present singular third-person)
distraining (participle present)
distrained (participle past)
distrained (past)

From Middle English distreynen, from Old French destraindre, from Latin distringō (“to pull asunder”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).

to distrain a person by his goods and chattels

(law, transitive, obsolete) To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property.

anektować

(law, intransitive) To seize somebody's property in place of, or to force, payment of a debt.

налагам запор

To seize somebody's property in place of payment of a debt

distress

to seize somebody's property in place of, or to force payment of a debt


venality

en-noun

venality (countable and uncountable, plural venalities)

From venal + -ity, from French vénalité or Latin vēnālitās, from vēnālis (“venal”), from vēnum.

1785, The Times, 17 Jan 1785, p.1 col. B
As your spirited paper has declared war, not only against venality and despotism, but was intended to correct follies and abuses in private life, I hope the following will come within its useful plan.

The fact or state of being for sale, especially with reference to bribes or corruption.


pollicitation

(Roman law) A promise without mutuality; a promise which has not been accepted by the person to whom it is made.


swatting

Swatting started in the combative world of online gaming. It was a way to terrorize someone more famous, get even with a rival or retaliate against someone with different political views.

2020 January 23, Sheera Frenkel, “People Are Calling SWAT Teams to Tech Executives’ Homes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr. Herring’s relatives said they wanted tougher laws against swatting and more training for police agencies on how to recognize potential fake calls.

2021 July 24, Maria Cramer, “A Grandfather Died in ‘Swatting’ Over His Twitter Handle, Officials Say”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, slang) The action of making an illegitimate call to the police so as to have a SWAT team dispatched to a location.


plunderage

(maritime law) The embezzlement of goods on shipboard.


authentics

So called on account of its authenticity.

(civil law) A collection of the Novels or New Constitutions of Justinian, by an anonymous author.