ambulance chaser

ambulance chaser (plural ambulance chasers)

The origins of this phrase date from 1897, from newspaper articles about attorneys seeking clients through targeted mail solicitation. “Ambulance chasing” was one of the descriptive phrases employed by the media for this activity. It later became a derogatory term for direct advertising.

You know nothing about the law. You're a used-car salesman, Daniel. You're an ambulance chaser with a rank. You're nothing. Live with that.

1992, Aaron Sorkin, A Few Good Men, spoken by Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore):

Republicans have tried to cast him as a millionaire ambulance chaser, the kind of man who forces doctors and businesses to pay ever higher liability-insurance costs.

2004 July 19, Richard Lacayo, “Court and Spark: Edwards' Legal Career”, in Time:

(derogatory) An unethical attorney who solicits business at the scenes of accidents or in hospitals, in exchange for a percentage of the damages that will be recovered in the case.

(by extension) An attorney who engages in unethical behavior.

(derogatory) An unethical funeral director or person who engages in the unlicensed sale of services to those who do not yet require them in an attempt to increase business.


court order

The Reds were raising an awful howl. Andrews, the lawyer, had succeeded in getting a court order to see the arrested men, and of course the prisoners had all declared that the case was a put-up job.

1920, Upton Sinclair, 100%: The Story of a Patriot:

(law) A written command, issued by a judge, requiring whomever it is served upon to do whatever the order says, under penalty of being held in contempt of court.


rehabilitation

en-noun

rehabilitation (countable and uncountable, plural rehabilitations)

/ˌɹiː.əˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/

[ˌɹiː.əˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃn̩]

From Middle French réhabilitation, from Medieval Latin rehabilitatio.

The working life span of a passenger carriage, on average, is between 30 and 35 years, so a steady replacement takes place quite naturally. The life span of a station, however, cannot be so easily reckoned, for it depends largely on the rehabilitation and upkeep of the existing structures.

1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 250:

Maybe now it should be clearer why Louis van Gaal has been telling anyone who cares to listen they should not be surprised if Manchester United’s rehabilitation takes longer than they would ideally like.

August 16 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Swansea upstage Manchester United in Louis van Gaal’s Premier League bow," guardian.co.uk

The process of rehabilitating somebody or something.


rehabilitate

en-verb

rehabilitate (third-person singular simple present rehabilitates, present participle rehabilitating, simple past and past participle rehabilitated)

rehabilitates (present singular third-person)
rehabilitating (participle present)
rehabilitated (participle past)
rehabilitated (past)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin rehabilitātus, perfect passive participle of Latin rehabilitō.

lbor

(transitive, criminology) To restore to (a criminal etc.) the necessary training and education to allow for a successful reintegration into society; to retrain.


complainer

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

(Scots law) A complainant (an alleged victim in a criminal trial).


subrogation

en-noun

subrogation (countable and uncountable, plural subrogations)

From Late Latin subrogātiō, from sub- + rogātiō (“inquiry, request”); equivalent to sub- + rogation.

Subrogation is a staple element of the casualty insurance business.

He became my creditor as the result of a subrogation by a vendor.

(law) Substitution of a different person in place of a creditor or claimant with respect to certain rights and duties.

subrogation

the substitution of a different person in place of a creditor or claimant


firing squad

A group of soldiers or paramilitaries detailed to execute someone, usually by rifle shot, or to discharge their weapons ceremonially at a funeral.

գնդակահարողների խումբ

a group of soldiers detailed to execute someone or to discharge weapons ceremonially


frosting

frosting (countable and uncountable, plural frostings)

“[…] Cities aren’t like frosted cake — and, anyhow, even the cake didn’t keep very well. I tried it, and it dried up, ’specially the frosting. I reckon the time to take frosting and good times is while they are going; so I want to see all I can now while I’m here.”

1915, Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna Grows Up, The Page Company:

(US) Icing, a sweet, often creamy and thick, covering for cakes and other baked goods.


bastardy

bastardy (countable and uncountable, plural bastardies)

From Middle English bastardie (also as bastardrie), a borrowing from Middle French bastardie. Equivalent to bastard + -y.

Go, after, after, cousin Buckingham.
The Mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post:—
There, at your meet'st advantage of the time,
Infer the bastardy of Edward's children:
Tell them how Edward put to death a citizen,
Only for saying he would make his son
Heir to the crown;—meaning, indeed, his house,
Which, by the sign thereof, was termed so.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

(law) The condition of being illegitimate, of being born to an unmarried woman and man or as the fruit of adultery.

bastardie

the condition of being illegitimate (born to an unmarried woman and man or as the result of adultery)


political correctness

political correctness (countable and uncountable, plural political correctnesses)

Dr. Seuss
J. K. Rowling
Roald Dahl
political correctness

(countable) The result or product of being politically correct.

conservative correctness

used by leftists to refer to conservative censorship


excusable

en-adj

excusable (comparative more excusable, superlative most excusable)

more excusable (comparative)
most excusable (superlative)

From Old French escusable, from Latin excusabilis.

(law, specifically) Describing an illegal act that was committed involuntarily, for example under false information or because of a faulty device. Distinguished from justifiable, describing an illegal act that was intentional but justified for other reasons.


dragnet

From drag + net, probably based on the model of Middle English draynet, dreynett (“dragnet”), Old English dræġnet, dræġnett (“dragnet”), equivalent to dray + net. Cognate with Swedish dragnät, Norwegian dragnett, from Icelandic dragnet.

The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives.[…]who, if anyone, is policing their use[?] Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.

2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:

(law enforcement) Heightened efforts by law enforcement personnel undetaken in order to capture suspects.

eftersøgning

Heightened efforts by law-enforcement personnel to capture suspects.


dragnet

en-verb

dragnet (third-person singular simple present dragnets, present participle dragnetting, simple past and past participle dragnetted)

dragnets (present singular third-person)
dragnetting (participle present)
dragnetted (participle past)
dragnetted (past)

In fact, Carty was not the man, but, after a police swoop had dragnetted twenty men suspected of having taken part in the business, he was lodged in Sligo jail and accused of this violence to the lady.

2010, Florence O'Donoghue, IRA Jailbreaks 1918-1921, →ISBN, page 164:

A May Day anti-capitalist protest last year in Seattle saw clashes between police and protesters, and the FBI had been dragnetting potential anarchists.

2013 September 19, Audrey Black, “Targeting Oppression”, in Eugene Weekly:

(law enforcement, transitive) To undertake heightened efforts to catch a suspect.


puffing

(law) An opinion or judgment, often made by the seller of property to a potential buyer, that is not made as a representation of fact.


scalawag

Of obscure origin, perhaps from the name of the Shetland village of Scalloway (from Old Norse Skálavágr), known for its dwarf ponies and dwarf cattle.

(Philippines, law enforcement, military) rogue police; rogue military personnel


blue sky law

blue sky (canonical)
blue sky laws (plural)

(law, US) In the United States, a law that regulates the offering and sale of securities to protect the public from fraud, requiring the registration of all securities offerings and sales, as well as of stock brokers and brokerage firms.


noscitur a sociis

/ˌnəʊsɪtʊə ˈɑː ˌsəʊsiɪs/

Latin, meaning "it is known from its associates."

Foster v Diphwys Casson (1887) 18 QBD 428, involved a statute which stated that explosives taken into a mine must be in a "case or canister". Here the defendant used a cloth bag. The courts had to consider whether a cloth bag was within the definition. Under noscitur a sociis, it was held that the bag could not have been within the statutory definition, because parliament's intention was referring to a case or container of the same strength as a canister.

canon of construction
canon of construction

(law) A canon of construction under which the questionable meaning of a doubtful word can be derived from its association with other words.


judgment proof

(law) Of a person whom a judgment cannot be enforced against.


certified

(law) Authenticated or verified in writing.


after-discovered evidence

"After-discovered evidence that a cap...identified as belonging to the accused who was convicted, belonged to another...who had a similar gun, motive and opportunity, and admitted to several that he had committed the crime, held ground for a new trial." Hines v. Commonwealth. June 14, 1923. p. 365 §4

(US, law) Evidence discovered after a legal decision has been reached. A party may attempt to have the decision reversed using this evidence. They must first prove that the evidence could not have been discovered until after the decision was reached.


final decree

(law) In some states, the second legal order on a divorce, issued after the filing of a declaration of separation.


thirds

(law, historical) The third part of the estate of a deceased husband, which, by some local laws, the widow was entitled to enjoy during her life.


non constat

(law, religion, sciences) It is not certain; It is doubted.


Hilary

From Latin Hilarius (“cheerful, happy”), name of a fourth-century saint and from its feminine form Hilaria.

It was the first day of term, and one of the rare days in Oxford when the weather was deceitfully marvellous; when its warmth promised more sunshine and joy than the relentless rain and sleet Hilary inevitably brought.

2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 447:

(UK, Ireland, law, education) Ellipsis of Hilary term.


ratio decidendi

en-noun

ratio decidendi (plural rationes decidendi)

Borrowed from Medieval Latin ratiō dēcidendī, from ratiō (“reckoning, method, reasoning”) + dēcidendī, genitive singular of dēcidendus, gerund of dēcidere (“to settle”).

(law) The legal principle or rationale on which a judicial decision is based.

判決依據

legal principle on which judicial decision is based


serve time

en-verb

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

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

(idiomatic) To be confined in prison or a similar institution, typically for wrongdoing that violates the law.


conjuror

(law, obsolete) One bound by a common oath with others.


adversely possess

adversely possess (third-person singular simple present adversely possesses, present participle adversely possessing, simple past and past participle adversely possessed)

adversely possesses (present singular third-person)
adversely possessing (participle present)
adversely possessed (participle past)
adversely possessed (past)

(transitive, law) To take ownership of (property) through the doctrine of adverse possession.


obiter

(law) An obiter dictum; a statement from the bench commenting on a point of law which is not necessary for the judgment at hand and therefore has no judicial weight, as opposed to ratio decidendi.


repossess

repossess (third-person singular simple present repossesses, present participle repossessing, simple past and past participle repossessed)

repossesses (present singular third-person)
repossessing (participle present)
repossessed (participle past)
repossessed (past)

(law, finance) To reclaim ownership of property for which payment remains due.


conscious parallelism

(law, US, antitrust law) Price fixing that occurs without direct communication between the participants, but where the participants instead intentionally follow one another in raising prices to maximize profits at the expense of competitive pricing.


constructive eviction

en-noun

constructive eviction (countable and uncountable, plural constructive evictions)

(law) The breach of a landlord or tenant relationship that occurs when the landlord does not order the tenant to leave the property, but allows the property occupied by the tenant to fall into such poor condition that it is no longer suitable for occupancy.


adverse possession

adverse possession (countable and uncountable, plural adverse possessions)

Adverse possession was a legal maneuver straight out of the Sovereign Citizen canon.

2019, Anthony McCann, Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff, Bloomsbury, →ISBN:

(law) A means of acquiring title to another's real property without compensation by occupying the property in a manner that has under common law the requirements of being actual, open and notorious, exclusive, hostile, under cover of claim or right, and continuous for a certain number of years.

usucapion

mostly or comparatively, for civil law or religious law rather than common law

disseizee

one whose property is adversely possessed

disseizor

one who is adversely possessing the property of another


cesser

(law) A neglect of a tenant to perform services, or make payment, for two years.


price fixing

(law) In antitrust law, collusion between competitors in order to raise prices, at the expense of the consumer.


watered stock

watered stock (countable and uncountable, plural watered stocks)

Derived from the practice of "watering" livestock before sale, where the seller gives an animal a large quantity of water to drink before a potential buyer weighs the animal to determine its value.

(law) Shares of stock in a business that are inflated by parties colluding with the seller making inflated offers for the property that the stock represents, which are reported to potential sellers as indicative of the value of the stock.


beheading

beheading (countable and uncountable, plural beheadings)

A large crowd gathered to see the beheading.

The guillotine was meant to humanize beheadings, but allowed the French Revolution to execute people at an industrial rate.


confidence trickster

confidence trickster (plural confidence tricksters)

Someone who conducts a confidence game: who defrauds someone after winning his trust, a con man or con artist.


birdlime

(rhyming slang) Time; a jail term, the serving of a prison sentence.


material breach

material breach (plural material breaches)

(law) A breach of contract sufficiently serious to destroy the contract.


due process

From Middle English dewe processe, from Anglo-Norman due procés.

(law) A legal concept where a person is ensured all legal rights when deprived of their liberty for a given reason.

(law) The limits of laws and legal proceedings, so as to ensure a person fairness, justice and liberty.


jury trial

(law) A legal process in which the guilt or liability of a party is determined by a jury, a group of citizens selected from the local population.


filing fee

(law) A fee assessed against a party initiating a lawsuit, or other legal process, e.g. filing a patent.


joinder

Substantivisation of the Old French verb joindre (“to join”), from Latin iungō (“join”).

(law) The joining of a litigant to a suit.

присъединяване

(law) the joining of a litigant to a suit


fully briefed

(law) Of an action before a court: for which the lawyers for both sides have presented all the arguments which they are permitted to present, and for which nothing further remains but the ruling of the court.


time is of the essence

Most construction phase agreements and some pre-construction agreements contain a time is of the essence provision. If time is of the essence, a delay caused by the fault of the construction manager would constitute a breach of contract and could result in the construction manager's being liable for damages incurred by the owner as a result of the delay. If there is no time is of the essence provision, reasonableness will be the guide when measuring the timelines of the services provided by the construction manager.

2007, Paul H. Martinez, Rashida Y. V. MacMurray, “Chapter 10: Construction Manager's Responsibilities: Pre-Design, Design and Pre-Construction Phase”, in Stephen A. Hess, Jerome V. Bales, P. Douglas Folk, L. Tyrone Holt, editors, Design Professional and Construction Manager Law, page 297:

In a variety of contracts, the courts have held that the requirement that time is of the essence should be applied to the respective obligations of both parties (examples are between (a) buyer and seller, (b) ship owner and charterer, (c) purchaser and vendor, and (d) contractor and owner). Time is normally of the essence where:[…].

2010, John Adriaanse, Construction Contract Law: The Essentials, 3rd edition, page 172:

If there is no express stipulation in the contract that time is of the essence, it can be made so by serving a notice fixing a specified time for completion.

2015, MacRoberts Solicitors, MacRoberts on Scottish Construction Contracts, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, page 142:

(law, in a contract) Failure to complete the required performance by the date certain set forth will constitute an incurable breach.


briefed

A most interesting and thoroughly briefed case involving the right of creditors in a life insurance policy is that of Keckley v. Glass Co., 86 Ohio St. 213, 99 N. E. 299.

1914, Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of the state of Colorado, page 181:

On November 8, 1996, in a closely watched and heavily briefed appeal, the Sixth Circuit, en banc, reversed an earlier appeals decision that held that a copyshop's preparation of "coursepacks," created by photocopying portions of copyrighted works and combining the excerpts for sale to students for class use, constituted "fair use" within the meaning of the Copyright Act.

We will wait for a properly briefed appeal to determine this important issue .

1997, Individual Employment Rights Cases - Volume 12, page 1095:

Third, if an argument is in both the briefs (litigant, amicus, or litigant and amicus) and in the oral argument transcripts, I code this as a briefed and orally argued issue .

2004, Timothy R. Johnson, Oral Arguments and Decision Making on the United States, page 96:

(law) Having had one or more briefs (a memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case or an attorney's legal argument in written form) submitted.


vote of no confidence

vote of no confidence (plural votes of no confidence)

(politics, law) A parliamentary motion representing the lack of confidence of a parliament in the standing government. A passed motion of no confidence usually results in the government's fall.


CRS

Common Reporting Standard
w:Common Reporting Standard

(taxation) Initialism of Common Reporting Standard.


argumentum

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

Learned borrowing from Latin argūmentum. Doublet of argument.

Argumentum anti-Normannicum: or, An argument proving, from ancient histories and records, that William, Duke of Normandy, made no absolute conquest of England by the sword; in the sense of our modern writers.

1682: Sir Edward Coke, Argumentum anti-Normannicum, main title (John Darby)

(chiefly formal, in law, logic, etc.) Used in numerous Latin phrases (and occasionally alone) in the sense of “appeal” or “argument”.

argumentum ab auctoritate est fortissimum in lege

argumentum ab auctoritate plurimum valet in lege

argumentum ab impossibili plurimum valet in lege

argumentum ab inconvenienti est validum in lege

quia lex non permittit aliquod inconveniens


enter into

en-verb

enter into (third-person singular simple present enters into, present participle entering into, simple past and past participle entered into)

enters into (present singular third-person)
entering into (participle present)
entered into (participle past)
entered into (past)

One must be of legal age to enter into a contract.

(transitive, law) To become legally committed to.


bad faith

* (philosophy): a semantic loan from French mauvaise foi, coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

(law) Intent to deceive or mislead another to gain some advantage; dishonesty or fraud in a transaction (such as knowingly misrepresenting the quality of something that is being bought or sold).

(law) A malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit. This has an effect on the ability to maintain causes of action and obtain legal remedies.


precinct

From Middle English precinct, precincte, early 15th century, in sense of “district for government purposes”, from Medieval Latin precinctum, alternative form of praecinctum (“enclosure, boundary line”), neuter singular of praecinctus, perfect passive participle of Latin praecingō (“surround, gird”), from prae (“before”) + cingō (“surround, encircle”), from which also cinch.
Cognate to Italian precingere (“to encircle”).

(US, law enforcement) A subdivision of a city under the jurisdiction of a specific group of police; the police station situated in that district.


surreply

(law) An additional reply to a motion filed after the motion has already been fully briefed.


oyer and terminer

en-noun

oyer and terminer (countable and uncountable, plural oyer and terminers or oyers and terminers)

oyer and terminers (plural)
oyers and terminers (plural)

From Middle English oier and terminer, oyer and termyner, from Anglo-Norman oyer (“hear”) and terminer (“determine”).

(law, archaic) A commission under which a court is empowered to hear and determine a criminal case.

(law, archaic) The hearing or trial carried out under such authority.


oyer

(law, archaic) A hearing in a civil case which is based on the content of a document, in which the plaintiff is required to produce the document.


adversarial

en-adj

adversarial (comparative more adversarial, superlative most adversarial)

more adversarial (comparative)
most adversarial (superlative)

Canada uses an adversarial system of criminal justice, whereas France uses an inquisitorial model.

(law) In which issues are tried through the presentation of evidence and argument by adverse parties, with no or limited inquiry by the court's own initiative.


legal tender

en-noun

legal tender (countable and uncountable, plural legal tenders)

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

(law) Any form of currency that by law cannot be refused as payment to extinguish a debt equal to the amount offered.

moneda de curs legal

currency that cannot be refused as payment to extinguish a debt


Stockholm syndrome

en-verb

Stockholm syndrome (third-person singular simple present Stockholm syndromes, present participle Stockholm syndroming, simple past and past participle Stockholm syndromed)

Stockholm syndromes (present singular third-person)
Stockholm syndroming (participle present)
Stockholm syndromed (participle past)
Stockholm syndromed (past)

Calque of Swedish Norrmalmstorgssyndromet. Named after the robbery of Kreditbanken at the Norrmalmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. Originally, this term was directly translated from Swedish Norrmalmstorgssyndromet as the Norrmalmstorg syndrome, but later Norrmalmstorg was replaced with Stockholm, a word far more commonly known outside Sweden.

calque

The girls, it turns out, found the experience oddly positive, and not because they were brainwashed or Stockholm syndromed.

2015 July 17, Sarah Lyall, “Review: In ’Pretty Is,’ Grown Friends Recall Being Kidnapped”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-16:

Eventually, you Stockholm Syndromed yourself into believing that what happened to the Bills mattered to your life. Off the top of my head, I can still list more members of the 1990-93 Super Bowl-averse Bills than kids in my Grade 8 class.

2021 January 17, Cathal Kelly, “The curious case of all the Bills fans who are not from Buffalo”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, O.N.: The Woodbridge Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-08-14:

Britannia's is the best because they understand that a bunny is as much a feat of engineering as cooking. The quarter loaf of bread must, must be of the generic, mass-produced sort (not a farmhouse loaf, definitely not a milk bread, just standard unsliced white), with the light crust a dam wall holding in a reservoir of rich mutton curry that's Stockholm-syndroming massive potato halves, the sauce riveted with cloves and singing to the tune of ginger and curry leaves, the whole edible edifice capped with a dome built of the belly of the bread.

2022 March 6, “AA Gill Award winner 2022: introducing Sanjiv Mistry”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-22:

(transitive, informal) To cause someone to become affected by Stockholm syndrome.


police station

When the ballots were opened on 19 November, Hsu Hsin-liang’s supporters at a polling station in Chungli City suspected fraud. As the crowd swelled to approximately a thousand, rioting erupted. One protester was killed and the Chungli police station was burned.

1999, Shelley Rigger, “Political reform under Chiang Ching-kuo (1972-1988)”, in Politics in Taiwan: Voting for democracy, Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 115:

In trying to stop him from exploiting more children, I was ensuring my parents and my siblings would be ostracised. She begged me not to go to the police station.

2014 August 29, Ruzwana Bashir, “The untold story of how a culture of shame perpetuates abuse. I know, I was a victim”, in The Guardian:

(law enforcement) A building serving as the headquarters of a branch of the police force, and sometimes as a temporary place of confinement for offenders.


electric chair

The current path in an electric chair is from a scalp electrode to a calf electrode. The current is therefore passing the brain and the brain stem, the lung and the heart. It is believed that the person becomes unconscious immediately after current onset, but it is well known that death is not immediate. The electric chair was used for the first time in 1890, and the first jolt was with 1400 V 60 Hz applied for 17 seconds, which proved insufficient.

2000, Sverre Grimnes, Ørjan Grøttem Martinsen, Bioimpedance and Bioelectricity Basics, →ISBN, page 309:

The electric chair has always been linked to Sing Sing.

2003, Guy Cheli, Sing Sing Prison, →ISBN:

The Death House was Trenton State Prison's official name for the brick and concrete vault where condemned men lived in tiny cells and an electric chair stood hard against a nearby wall.

2013, James S. Hirsch, Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter, →ISBN, page 1:

A chair-like device used for performing execution by electrocution.


venireman

The state probed into the attitude of each venireman concerning the value he would attach to the testimony of a co-conspirator

1963, Eliot Asinof, “The Trial”, in Eight Men Out:

(law) A potential juror summoned for duty.


in fact

From fact (“deed, action”) (now obsolete, except in law).

(law) Resulting from the actions of parties.


money laundering

Shut up! Shut up! What is this charity!? You’re kids! You can’t fucking drive! What money laundering scheme are you operating!?

2016 September 25, Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Julie Weiner, “Scandals”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 23, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

The act of engaging in transactions designed to obscure the origin of money, especially money that has been obtained illegally.

geldwassery

act of obscuring the origin of money that has been obtained illegally


joint venture

A cooperative partnership between two individuals or businesses in which profits and risks are shared.

(law) A cooperative partnership between two or more criminals.


positive law

en-noun

positive law (usually uncountable, plural positive laws)

We know that generally in all commonwealths, the execution of corporal punishments, was either put upon the guards, or other soldiers of the sovereign power; or given to those, in whom want of means, contempt of honour, and hardness of heart, concurred, to make them sue for such an office. But amongst the Israelites it was a positive law of God their sovereign, that he that was convicted of a capital crime, should be stoned to death by the people.

But the same term, positive law, is also very often used to designate statute law or positive legislation, as distinguished from customary or unwritten law derived by the judicial application of natural reason.

a. 1862, John Codman Hurd, The Law Of Freedom And Bondage In The United States, page 576:

There are four kinds of law: the eternal law, the natural law, the divine positive law and human positive law.

1962, Frederick Copleston, A history of philosophy, volume 2, page 418:

(law) Law explicitly made, as compared to natural law; law prescribed by express enactment or institution.

The Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes
positive law


suzerainty

suzerainty (countable and uncountable, plural suzerainties)

From Middle English suserente, from Old French suserenete, equivalent to suzerain + -ty.

There were therefore, in the cultivating communities of the German and Scandinavian races, causes at work which were leading to inequality of property in land. There were causes at work which were leading to the establishment of superiorities and suzerainties of one township over another. There were causes at work which tended to place the benefits of an unequal proprietary system and the enjoyment of these suzerainties in the hands of particular families, and consequently of their chiefs for the time being.

1871, Henry [James] Sumner Maine, “Lecture V. The Process of Feudalisation.”, in Village-communities in the East and West. Six Lectures Delivered at Oxford, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 146:

Suzerainty is a term which was originally used for the relation between the feudal lord and his vassal; the lord was said to be the suzerain of the vassal, and at that time suzerainty was a term of Constitutional Law only. With the disappearance of the feudal system, suzerainty of this kind likewise disappeared. Modern suzerainty involves only a few rights of the suzerain State over the vassal State which can be called constitutional rights. The rights of the suzerain State over the vassal are principally international rights, of whatever they may consist.

1920–1921, L[assa Francis Lawrence] Oppenheim, edited by Ronald F. Roxburgh, International Law: A Treatise, 3rd edition, volume I (Peace), London, New York, N.Y.: Longman, Green and Co., page 162:

Given this background, it is highly inaccurate to portray the Soviet presence in the Middle East as having "replaced" former Western suzerainties. The two phenomena are very different: the Western suzerainties had the fixed political meaning of subjection; the Soviet presence does not. Whereas the British and the French had a wide measure of control over the entire political life of the dependent countries, the Soviets have only a limited influence on external policy which is liable to wane abruptly (and then perhaps swiftly increase again).

1985, Edward N[icolae] Luttwak, Strategy and History: Collected Essays, volume 2, New Brunswick, N.J., Oxford: Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 116:

[O]rganizations and enterprises in the regions, run in a personal way almost as local corporations, or what I call "suzerainties," by local bosses, have strengthened themselves and increased their social functions to protect their members.

2002, Caroline Humphrey, “‘Icebergs,’ Barter, and the Mafia in Provincial Russia”, in The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies after Socialism, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

As the rulers of the old Roman capital, the capital of the Caliphs, Baghdad, and the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem they had ample support to convince a medieval audience of their claim to universal suzerainty. But even among Muslim states, their imperial claims did not go unchallenged. The Safavid and Mughal Empires raised similar claims to suzerainty.

2008 December, Mehmet Sinan Birdal, From Imperial Suzerainty to Absolutist Sovereignty: The Transformation of the State System in the Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California], Ann Arbor, Mich.: ProQuest, →ISBN, page 222:

I give a short lecture on why it is possible for similar amoral areas to exist along Burma's fringes: about the way that Burma has never really been a "country," but has been more a series of suzerainties whose composition has changed enormously in the past 1,500 years.

2012, Monique Skidmore, Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 83:

A relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own government, but is unable to take international action independent of the superior state; a similar relationship between other entities.

宗主權

relation between a superior state and a subservient state


gangbuster

A law enforcement officer who specializes in disrupting organized crime.


prejudicial

en-adj

prejudicial (comparative more prejudicial, superlative most prejudicial)

more prejudicial (comparative)
most prejudicial (superlative)

From Middle English prejudiceele, prejudicial, prejudiciall, prejudiciel, prejudiciell, prejudycyall, from Old French prejudicial, prejudiciel and Medieval Latin prēiūdiciālis.

The judge had granted the DA a one-week extension with the caustic admonition that the case would be summarily dismissed if at that time probative, as opposed to prejudicial, evidence was not produced.

1999, Dana Stabenow, Hunter's Moon, →ISBN, page 109:

(law) Tending to convince based on past history rather than on evidence about the case at hand.


recusal

en-noun

recusal (countable and uncountable, plural recusals)

conflict of interest
conflict of interest

An act of recusing; removing oneself from a decision/judgment because of a conflict of interest.


amercement

From Middle English amercement, from Old French amerciment and Latin amerciāmentum; equivalent to amerce + -ment.

29 March. The quhilk daye Thomas Garnes is fund in þe wrang and amerchiament of court, for þe violent ſchuting and towking of Dauid Fleming, officiar to the Cowparis, on frydaye laſt.

1832, Burgh Records of the City of Glasgow, 1573-1581, records for year 1577, page 67:

29 March. The day which Thomas Garnes is found in the wrong and amercement of court, for the violent shooting and touching [beating] of David Fleming, officer to the Cowpers, on last Friday.

(law) A non-statutory monetary penalty or forfeiture, usually applied at the discretion of a court.


heter

What comes to mind is the famous issue on ZIM SHIPPING - an Israeli company owned by Jews and they tried to get a heter for running their ships on Shabbos.

1995 February 3, YOSEF KAZEN, “Petitions, Acceptance, and Moshiach”, in soc.culture.jewish (Usenet):

Special permission from a rabbi to break a commandment.


estray

From Middle English astrai, from Anglo-Norman estray, from the Old French verb estraier. Etymological doublet with stray.

(law) An animal that has escaped from its owner; a wandering animal whose owner is unknown. An animal cannot be an estray when on the range where it was raised, and permitted by its owner to run. A lost animal whose owner is known to the party at hand is not an estray.


friendly suit

Federal courts cannot adjudicate a friendly suit, collusively arranged between non-adverse parties to obtain the judicial resolution of some constitutional issue.

2007, Norman Redlich, John B. Attanasio, Joel K. Goldstein, Understanding Constitutional Law, →ISBN:

The summer after my freshman year in college, four years after the death of Miss Agnes, my father's bank filed a friendly suit against him to receive the court's interpretation of Miss Agnes's will.

2015, Kate Mayfield, The Undertaker's Daughter, →ISBN, page 293:

(law) The situation where a person sues another person (friend) purely to settle a point of (unsettled) law.


parent company

parent company (plural parent companies)

(business) A company that owns or controls one or more other companies.

empresa matriu

a company that owns or controls another company


animadvert

en-verb

animadvert (third-person singular simple present animadverts, present participle animadverting, simple past and past participle animadverted)

animadverts (present singular third-person)
animadverting (participle present)
animadverted (participle past)
animadverted (past)

/ˌænɪmədˈvɜːt/

From Latin animadvertō, from Latin animum (“mind”) (accusative singular of animus (“mind; soul; life force”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁mos (“breath”), from *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”)) + Latin advertō (“to turn to”) (from Latin ad- (“to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at; near”) + Latin vertō (“to turn”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wértti (“to be turning around”)).

der

The learned judge animadverted with great severity upon the behaviour of Mr. Young, the cabin passenger, who went out on board the vessel as agent and supercargo, to protect the interests of the shippers, and who, on the outward voyage, conducted himself with great impropriety towards the master; […]

1837, “Law Proceedings”, in The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle, for 1837. A Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs, London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers' Hall Court, →OCLC, page 269:

[T]he attention of the Board in New-street, Spring-gardens, was in vain called to the petinacious obstinacy of these justices, until, wearied with official correspondence, and "having no reasonable expectation," they state, "that any steps would be taken by the committee of visiting justices to the remedy of the manifest defects," upon which they had animadverted, they inform us that they had recourse to the dernier ressort—an appeal to the Secretary of State […]

1853 October 1, “Art. I. State of Lunacy in England.”, in Forbes Winslow, editor, The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology, volume VI, number XXIV, London: John Churchill, Princes Street, Soho, →OCLC, pages 475–476:

(intransitive, law, archaic) To turn judicial attention (to); to criticise or punish.


bootlegger

From bootleg + -er. Originally a nickname given to smugglers in King George III's reign, derived from the smugglers' custom of hiding packages of valuables in the legs of their large sea-boots when dodging the king's coastguardsmen.

intellectual property
intellectual property

One who breaks intellectual property laws by reproducing protected works without permission.

незако́нный торго́вец спиртны́ми напи́тками


templar

From Middle English templer, from Old French templier; cf. the Medieval Latin templārius, from Latin templum (“temple”).

(law, British) A barrister having chambers in the Inner Temple or Middle Temple.


banged up

My uncle has been banged up for ten years now; I haven't seen him in five.

(informal) Spending time in prison or jail.


juristic

Loan translation of obsolete Dutch juristisch.

(Scots law, South Africa) legal, juridical, pertaining to the law and jurisprudence


amparo

(law) In some Hispanic jurisdictions, such as Mexico: a writ or an appeal demanding or seeking the protection of constitutional rights similar to a habeas corpus acting as a remedy for the violation of a person's constitutional rights thereby invalidating any laws preventing said person from exercising them.


stoning

The stonings came as something of a surprise, in that Iranian officials had said they had suspended that method of execution.

2009 January 14, Nazila Fathi, “Iran Says U.S. Helped Finance Overthrow Plot”, in New York Times:

lapidation: punishment by throwing stones, usually resulting in death


narcotics

(law enforcement, law, politics) Pertaining to illicit drugs, especially psychoactive ones.


misprision

en-noun

misprision (countable and uncountable, plural misprisions)

From Late Middle English misprision, mesprision (“criminal offence or illegal action, especially one committed by a public official”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman misprision, mesprision, mesprison (“criminal offence or illegal action; error, mistake, specifically an error by a court”) [and other forms] (whence Late Latin mesprisio, misprisio), and Old French mesprison, from mespris (“contempt, disdain”) (modern French mépris) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state). Mespris is the past participle of mesprendre (“to misunderstand”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + prendre (“to take”) (from Latin prēndere, the present active infinitive of prēndō, a variant of prehendō (“to seize, take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to seize, take; to hold”)).

nb...

mesprisoun, mispresyon, mysprecion, mysprision, mysseprision

mesprisioun, mesprisiun, mesprisoun, mesprisun

der

/ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒn̩/

[I]f any persone were perceiued to be absent, or were sene to laughe at the folye of the emperour [Nero], he was forthe with accused, as it were, of missprision: whereby the emperour founde occasion to committe him to prison or to put hym to tortures.

1531, Thomas Elyot, “In what Wise Musike may be to a Noble Man Necessarie: And what Modestie ought to be therin”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, pages 26–27:

Bribery is a great miſpriſion, when any man in Judiciall place takes any Fee or Penſion, Robe, or Livery, Gift, Reward, or Brocage of any perſon, that hath to do before him any way, for doing his office, or by colour of his office, but of the King only, unleſſe it be of meat and drink, and that of ſmall value, upon divers, and grievous puniſhments.

1644, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Bribery, Extortion, Exaction, &c. And First of Bribery.”, in The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for W[illiam] Lee, and D[aniel] Pakeman, →OCLC, page 145:

(uncountable) Criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; (countable) a specific instance of this.

瀆職

criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; a specific instance of this

misprision of heresy
(literally, “the crime of failing to disclose heresy that one is aware of”)

Misprisions (a term derived from the old French, meſpris, a neglect or contempt) are, in the acceptation of our law, generally underſtood to be all ſuch high offences as are under the degree of capital, but nearly bordering thereon: and it is ſaid, that a miſpriſion is contained in every treaſon and felony whatſoever; and that, if the king ſo pleaſe, the offender may be proceeded againſt for the miſpriſion only. […] Miſpriſions are generally divided into two ſorts; negative, which conſiſt in the concealment of ſomething which ought to be revealed; and poſitive, which conſiſt in the commiſſion of ſomething which ought not to be done.

1769, William Blackstone, “Of Misprisions and Contempts, Affecting the King and Government”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 119:

The argument was a worthless one in law; for Eustace had been a prisoner before he was a guest, and Amyas was guilty of something very like misprision of treason in not handing him over to the nearest justice.

1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 176:

Mr Borthrop Trumbull really knew nothing about old Featherstone's will; but he could hardly have been bought to declare any ignorance unless he had been arrested for misprision of treason.

1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXII, in Middlemarch […], volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book III, page 161:

(uncountable) In full misprision of felony or misprision of treason: originally, a less serious form of felony or treason; later, the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; (countable) an instance of this.

укрыва́тельство

less serious form of felony or treason; the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; an instance of this


mortgager

Coordinate term: mortgagee

One who uses property they own as security for a loan: the borrower in a mortgage agreement.

hypotheekgever

one who uses property they own as security for a loan


netherworld

From nether- (“beneath, lower”) + world.

The missionary was motivated by a sincere desire to rescue souls from eternal torment in the netherworld.

Specifically, a location of punishment in the afterlife; a hell.

Richard had been initiated into the netherworld of dog racing by his father, and knew all the popular greyhound performance-enhancing drugs.

Flicks is a large bar which has been in some conflict since it opened […] The nature of that conflict has been characterized as gay-straight, by the bar managers; as crazies-sane, by some residents; as predators-prey, by some bar patrons; and as "netherworld"-respectable, by some bureaucrats.

1975 December 20, Joe Beckmann, “The Vara Bars--What Solution”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 25, page 3:

(by extension) A hidden, shadowy, or sinister subculture, such as that of organized crime.

Hades

subterranean region for spirits of the dead


torts

From tort + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, and regular plurals of nouns).

suffix

(law) Synonym of tort law (“the area of law dealing with wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent, regarded as non-criminal and unrelated to contracts, which cause injuries and can be remedied in civil courts, usually through the awarding of damages”)


vesting

en-noun

vesting (countable and uncountable, plural vestings)

(law) The entitlement of an employee to receive the full benefit of a pension at normal retirement age or a reduced pension upon early retirement even upon change of employer before retirement.

(law) The entitlement of an employee to exercise a stock option after a predetermined period of time.


incriminate

en-verb

incriminate (third-person singular simple present incriminates, present participle incriminating, simple past and past participle incriminated)

incriminates (present singular third-person)
incriminating (participle present)
incriminated (participle past)
incriminated (past)

/ɪŋˈkɹɪmɪneɪt/

Borrowed from Medieval Latin incriminatum, past participle of incrimino, from Latin in + crimino.

The newspapers incriminated the innocent man unjustly.

(transitive) To accuse or bring criminal charges against.

inculpar

to accuse or bring criminal charges against


misericordia

en-noun

misericordia (countable and uncountable, plural misericordias)

/ˌmɪsəɹɪˈkɔː(ɹ)di.ə/

Borrowed from Latin misericordia. Doublet of misericord.

It is likely there was some Difference between a Misericordia and an Amerciament. For Example : It was called an Amercement, after it was reduced to a certain Sum; and a Misericordia both before and afterwards.

1769, Thomas Madox, Gervasius (of Tilbury.), The History and Antiquities of the Exchequer of the Kings of England, in Two Periods, page 527:

Neither do I see any reason why such an award of a misericordia by a judge of a court-leet, should express any certain sum for which the party should be in misericordia, except in such cases only where no other person is afterwards to affere it; for in other cases the award of a misericordia is only in order to authorise others to fix the sum which the party is to pay to the king for his default;

1824, William Hawkins, A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown, page 94:

In criticizing this Schedule we would first observe how Gervase Paynel of Dudley having compounded for his offences by a Fine of the former year, was not visited by a misericordia of later date.

1880, Staffordshire Record Society, Collections for a History of Staffordshire - Volume 1, page 83:


legitime

[…] when there is no testament; but this is not to be understood of persons to whom a legitime, or child's part, is due by law.

1850, The Civil Law in Its Natural Order, volume 1, page 102:

[…] or of renouncing all testamentary advantage, and claiming his legitime only as secured to him by the law independent of the testament. But where the testator bequeaths to the forced heir nothing beyond his legitime, […]

1892, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisian, page 98:

[W]here a compulsory heir and an heir not entitled to a legitime are institute to the entire state without designation of shares, the legitime should first be paid before the equal sharing is applied.
[…]
Article 983 does not modify the rules on legitimes, the legitimes of LCDs and the surviving spouse (SS) shall always be first satisfied in preference to the illegitimate children and descendants (ICDs).

2006, Jose C. Vitug, Property, ownership, and its modifications, pages 216 and 302:

(law) That portion of a parent's estate of which he cannot disinherit his children without a legal cause.


lockdown

lockdown (countable and uncountable, plural lockdowns)

→ Dutch: lockdown

→ German: Lockdown

→ Italian: lockdown

→ Japanese: ロックダウン (rokkudaun)

→ Polish: lockdown

→ Romanian: lockdown

→ Russian: локда́ун (lokdáun)

At the time of writing, no decisions had been made by the Government as to when or how lockdown restrictions might begin to be lifted. However, discussions were taking place in the industry about how social distancing could be maintained on the railway if some patronage were to return soon.

2020 May 20, Andrew Haines talks to Stefanie Foster, “Repurpose rail for the 2020s”, in Rail, page 29:

Fans relished the traditional FA Cup fanfare from the Coldstream Guards and the hymn Abide With Me before throwing themselves wholeheartedly into an experience they have been largely deprived of since the first coronavirus lockdown began in March 2020.

2021 May 15, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0-1 Leicester”, in BBC Sport:

When a column of smoke appeared on Thursday over the Sitong Bridge overpass in the Haidian district of Beijing, it drew attention to a protester who had hung banners openly bashing China’s top leader by name and criticizing the country’s “zero Covid” policy, including one calling for “freedom and not lockdowns.”

2022 October 14, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Claire Fu, “China’s Internet Censors Race to Quell Beijing Protest Chatter”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-14, Asia Pacific:

The confinement of people in their own rooms (e.g., in a school) or cells (in a prison), or to their own homes or areas (e.g., in the case of a city- or nation-wide issue) as a security measure after or amid a disturbance or as a non-pharmaceutical intervention in a pandemic.

staat van inperking

confinement of people as a security measure


terminer

terminer (countable and uncountable, plural terminers)


Dirty Harry

After Dirty Harry, a fictional police detective who (in the film) tells his partner that he is called Dirty Harry because he gets all the dirty jobs.

(figuratively) A police officer who is reckless, disregards practices and policies, or who practices vigilantism or uses excessive force.


rasure

rasure (countable and uncountable, plural rasures)

From Middle English rasure, from Anglo-Norman rasure, Middle French rasure, from Latin rāsūra (“scraping, shaving”), from the participle stem of rādere (“to scrape, shave”).

(now rare, law) Scraping the surface of a parchment etc. in order to erase something from the document; erasure, more generally.


damnum absque injuria

(law) Loss without injury: the situation, in tort law, when one person causes damage or loss to another for which the latter has no remedy. (For example, opening a burger stand near someone else's may cause them to lose customers, but they will have no legal recourse.)


trine

en-verb

trine (third-person singular simple present trines, present participle trining, simple past and past participle trined)

trines (present singular third-person)
trining (participle present)
trined (participle past)
trined (past)

From Middle English trine, from Middle French trin, from Latin trīnus.

Been Darkmans then booz Mort and Ken, / The been Coves bing awast / On Chats to trine by Rum-Coves dine, / For his long lib at last.

1612, Thomas Dekker, Lantern and Candlelight:

Liz, he says, why trine for a make, when you can wap for a winne. I'm no dimber mort, I says. Don't ask you to be a swell mollisher, sister, coves want Miss Laycock, don't look at your mug. So I begin to sell my mother of saints.

1988, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Our Country's Good, act 2, scene 1:

(archaic, UK, thieves' cant) To hang; to execute (someone) by suspension from the neck.


vires

The → United Kingdom, in particular, argued that the adoption of universally applicable rules for determining the law applicable to non-contractual obligations was not necessary for the proper functioning of the Internal Market and that some territorial restriction on the situations to which the Regulation’s rules would apply was appropriate. Although that position was apparently supported by a legal opinion given by the Council’s legal service (Opinion of the Council Legal Service on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (“ROME II”) of 2 March 2004, 7015/04), the Commission, with the support of the vast majority of Member States, fiercely resisted limits of this kind. Its wish ultimately prevailed, and a challenge to the vires of the Regulation now appears a remote prospect given the broadening of EU competence in the area of justice by the Lisbon Treaty (see now art 81 TFEU).

2017, Andrew Dickinson, “Rome II Regulation (non-contractual obligations”, in Encyclopedia of Private International Law, volume 2, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN, page 1563:

(law) the state of being either ultra vires or intra vires; the extent of a court or legislature's jurisdiction to do something.


pseudonymous

en-adj

pseudonymous (not generally comparable, comparative more pseudonymous, superlative most pseudonymous)

more pseudonymous (comparative)
most pseudonymous (superlative)

From Latin pseudōnymus, from Ancient Greek ψευδώνῠμος (pseudṓnumos). By surface analysis, pseudonym + -ous.

(computing, law) Pertaining to pseudonymization.


recognizance

en-noun

recognizance (countable and uncountable, plural recognizances)

From Middle English reconisaunce, from Old French reconissance. Doublet of reconnaissance.

The defendant was released on his own recognizance.

(law) A form of bail; a promise made by the accused to the court that they will attend all required judicial proceedings and will not engage in further illegal activity or other prohibited conduct as set by the court.


first bite free

(law, informal) the concept that a dog is not considered dangerous until it has bitten someone.


mobster

га́нгстер

member of a criminal gang — see also Mafioso


notarize

en-verb

notarize (third-person singular simple present notarizes, present participle notarizing, simple past and past participle notarized)

notarizes (present singular third-person)
notarizing (participle present)
notarized (participle past)
notarized (past)

(transitive) To be witness of the authenticity of a document and its accompanying signatures in one's capacity as notary public.

公證

to witness of the authenticity of a document


prosecutrix

A man, in the desperation of a refusal (common people take those things strangely to heart), had stabbed the obdurate fair one with his knife. She was herself the prosecutrix.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 183:

The paper reports today that Inger Marie Sunde, a prosecutrix in charge of what the locals call Okokrim (white collar crime), put young Jon on the stand again and probed for inconsistencies in his answers.

2002 December 11, Mike Magee, “18 year old DVD Kid "grilled" by Norwegian prosecutrix”, in The Inquirer, archived from the original on 2006-01-18:

2004, TARA SANKARSINGH AND THE STATEhttps://web.archive.org/web/20070707072705/http://www.ttlawcourts.org/Judgments/coa/2006/hamelsmith/CvCrim_41_04DD13jun06.rtf
The appellant contended that the trial was rendered unfair as a result of the conduct of the prosecutrix. She accused the prosecutrix of having a conversation with members of the jury in which the prosecutrix was alleged to have pointed out certain items on a flip chart that was erected in the court for the purposes of the trial. This was alleged to have occurred shortly before the trial judge entered the court to resume the trial on the morning of June 9, 2004.

1893 R v Smith. https://web.archive.org/web/20060918213824/http://www.law.mq.edu.au/scnsw/Cases1838-39/html/r_v_smith__no_2___1839.htm
The prosecutrix was the wife of a ticket-of-leave man, named Daniel Jackson, and she was also separated from her husband, and lived for some time with a man named Clarke, who died on the day before the alleged robbery was committed. Clarke left a will bequeathing all his property to the prosecutrix, who, immediately on his death, possessed herself of sixty pound in money which was in his box, which she rolled up and placed in her bosom. (The) Prosecutrix shortly after missed the money but could not account how it had parted from her, and the warrant for £30, and bank-note for £20, laid in the indictment, was part of the money so lost. The prosecutrix admitted, that both before, at the time, and some time after she missed the money, she was overcome with grief and brandy, but she could not say which of these acted most strongly.

post 1992, STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. SCOTT CANUP http://www.caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=nc&vol=appeals%5Cappeals1220%5C&invol=canup
In October of 1992 the prosecutrix was 14 years old and in the 9th grade at West Mecklenburg High School. The prosecutrix lived with her parents and her younger sister in Charlotte. Defendant resided two houses away. Defendant was 18 years old and would sometimes come to visit the prosecutrix's father who restored old cars. The prosecutrix had seen the defendant at her father's garage several times and had also seen him inside the house on several occasions when he had used the bathroom.

1997, US v Carter:http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/1997Term/97-0021.htm
The prosecutrix and appellant were discovered together in the prosecutrix’ bedroom by Ms. Morales, the prosecutrix’ roommate and a key government witness. The prosecutrix was partially dressed and was unconscious. Upon awakening, the prosecutrix claimed that appellant had forced himself on her.

A female victim of a crime on whose behalf the state is prosecuting a suspect


pay off

pay off (third-person singular simple present pays off, present participle paying off, simple past and past participle paid off)

pays off (present singular third-person)
paying off (participle present)
paid off (participle past)
paid off (past)

splatit

to pay back (repay, pay off) the entirety of a loan, thereby effecting the release of a lien on

I thought the guards would give us trouble, but apparently he had paid them off.

I had to pay off the judge to get my license back.

1979, Al Greenwood, Lou Gramm, “Rev on the Red Line”, in Head Games:

(transitive, informal) To bribe, especially to deter oversight.


assoilzie

assoilzie (third-person singular simple present assoilzies, present participle assoilzieing or assoilzying or assoilziing, simple past and past participle assoilzied)

assoilzies (present singular third-person)
assoilzieing (participle present)
assoilzying (participle present)
assoilziing (participle present)
assoilzied (participle past)
assoilzied (past)

A Scottish variant of assoil, from Scottish Middle English assolyhe, assolȝe, retaining the -le- or -li- sounds of Anglo-Norman as(s)oilier and Old French as(s)oille which were dropped in modern English spoken in England.

The verdict, when in writing, is authenticated by the subscriptions of the chancellor and clerk of the jury, and accompanied with a list of the names of the jurors, and a state of the vote of each individual, "whether condemning or assoilzieing;" Regulations 1672, No. 9.

1826, Robert Bell, William Bell, “CRIMINAL PROSECUTION”, in A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland, 3rd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] John Anderson & Co. […], and Bell & Bradfute, →OCLC, page 334:

In these circumstances, I will uphold the defender’s fourth plea-in-law […] and assoilzie the defender from the craves of the initial writ.

2017, Sheriff Ross, Macdonald v. Clydesdale Bank:

(transitive, Scotland) Synonym of assoil.

(law) Followed by from or of: to acquit (someone) from a criminal charge; to find (someone) not guilty; to clear.


terra nullius

en-noun

terra nullius (countable and uncountable, plural terrae nullius)

/ˈtɛɹə nʌˈlaɪ.əs/

From Latin terra nūllīus (“nobody's land”).

When Aboriginal people showed up which they inevitably did they had to be subjected, incarcerated or eradicated: to keep the myth of terra nullius alive.

1993, Patrick Dodson, ‘Welcome Speech to Conference on the Position of Indigenous People in National Constitutions’, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 146

Following the breakup of former Yugoslavia in 1991, seven new states emerged in the region with many border disputes that left some territories as terrae nullius, or no-man’s lands.

2015 May 24, Agence France-Presse, “Kingdom of Enclava: new micro-nation settles for spot on Croat-Serb border”, in The Guardian:

This overgrown and unremarkable little swamp is terra nullius. Under vaguely defined and loosely enforced international law, the first person who claims sovereignty over terra nullius can have it.

2017, Jamie Bartlett, chapter 8, in Radicals, William Heinemann, →ISBN:

(international law) Empty land; land not legally belonging to anyone; no man's land.


practising

(law) Related to the practise of law by a legal practitioner.

You really should seek advice from a practising solicitor.

(law) Specifically related to a legal practitioner's status of being currently certified to practise.


paternal custody

(law) An arrangement whereby only the father has physical and legal custody of a child while the mother has visitation rights. (This entry is a translation hub.)

isän yksinhuoltajuus

arrangement in which the father has the custody of a child


maternal custody

(law) An arrangement whereby only the mother has physical and legal custody of a child while the father has visitation rights.

äidin yksinhuoltajuus

arrangement in which the mother has the custody of a child


presiding

(law) Having authority over; vested with the authority to preside over.


sole custody

(law) An arrangement whereby only one parent has physical and legal custody of a child while the other parent has visitation rights.


poaching

poaching (countable and uncountable, plural poachings)

Illegal procurement of protected wildlife such as fish, game, logging, or plant collecting.


poacher

Regular supplier Barton played in another teasing corner, which was headed on towards goal by the impressive Ameobi and flicked in by expert poacher Nolan.

2011 January 16, Saj Chowdhury, “Sunderland 1 - 1 Newcastle”, in BBC:

(soccer) An attacker with good movement inside the penalty box, see Wikipedia:Goal poacher.


reverse discrimination

In one instance, Title VII authorizes reverse discrimination. The act gives employers ranging from Minnesota wild-rice farmers to New Mexico electronics manufacturers the option of hiring only American Indians.

1965 July 9, “Statutes: Sex & VII”, in Time:

Alan Bakke at the University of California At Davis Medical School, Karen Hopwood at the law school of the University of Texas, and Jennifer Gratz at the University of Michigan all have argued successfully in court that they were the victims of reverse discrimination because blacks were given preferential treatment in the admissions process at these schools.

2002, “Why Affirmative Action Does Little Harm to White Students”, in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, number 36, page 21:

(law, ethics, public policy) The policy or practice of discriminating against members of a designated group which has in the past unfairly received preferential treatment in social, legal, educational, or employment situations, with the intention of benefiting one or more other groups (such as racial, disabled, or gender groups) that have previously been discriminated against.

逆向歧視

advantaging minority groups who have traditionally been discriminated


precognition

precognition (countable and uncountable, plural precognitions)

/ˌpɹiːkɒɡˈnɪʃn̩/

Borrowed from Middle French precognition or its source, Latin praecognitio, from praecognōscō (“to know beforehand”). Equivalent to Germanic cognate foreknowledge and Greek-based cognate prognosis.

‘But it seems there are some strong presumptuous proofs against you, and I came to warn you this day that a precognition is in progress, and that unless you are perfectly convinced, not only of your innocence, but of your ability to prove it, it will be the safest course for you to abscond, and let the trial go on without you.’

1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner:

(Scots law) The practice of taking a factual statement from a witness before a trial.


assignor

(law) The person or party which makes an assignment.


hate crime

I feel a hate crime coming on.

1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Banky Edwards (Jason Lee):

The later twentieth century saw the fortuitous simultaneous rise of two synergistic political and psychological sciences. The first: the revolutionary precept of the hate crime.

2002 Sean Pertwee as Father, Equilibrium, 24 minutes

(crime) A crime motivated by hate for a race, gender, religion, etc., which may result in harsh punishments, the severity of which varies by statute and the nature of the crime.


racketeering

racketeering (usually uncountable, plural racketeerings)

Coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the Teamsters union.

The criminal action of being involved in a racket; especially, directing it.


assize

From Middle English assise, from Old French assises, from Latin assidere.

An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business.


trier

From Middle English triour, from Anglo-Norman triour and Middle English trien (equivalent to try + -er).

(law) A person appointed by law to try challenges of jurors; a trior.


bracelets

Of thirty bare yeares haue I
twice twenty bin enraged,
& of forty bin three tymes fifteene
in durance soundlie caged,
On yͤ lordlie loftes of Bedlam
with stubble softe & dainty,
braue braceletts Strong, sweet whips ding dong
with wholesome hunger plenty

c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665)

"Sergeant," said Inspector Gilder, eyeing the black hands with wrath, "aren't you putting the bracelets on this fellow; he looks pretty dangerous."

1911, G. K. Chesterton, The Three Tools of Death:


assessor

From Middle English assessour, from Old French assessour, from Latin assessor (“assistant judge; assessor of taxes”). Cognate with French assesseur.

der

(law) A specialist who assists the court in determining a matter.

assessor

a specialist who assists the court in determining a matter


Justice of the Peace

en-noun

Justice of the Peace (plural Justices of the Peace)

A judicial officer with varying responsibilities depending on the jurisdiction.


withholding

withholding (usually uncountable, plural withholdings)

/wɪθˈhəʊldɪŋ/

/wɪðˈhəʊldɪŋ/

The deduction of taxes from an employee's salary.

ennakonpidätys

deduction of taxes from employees' salary


narcokleptocracy

From narco- (“of or pertaining to narcotics or their trade and use”) + kleptocracy (“corrupt and dishonest government characterised by greed”).

prefix

United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

(rare) Drug lords and others involved in organized crime as a dominant group in society; the influence or rule exerted by this group.


child abuse

Coordinate term: elder abuse

(criminology) Physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment of a child that causes long-term or permanent damage.


enure

en-verb

enure (third-person singular simple present enures, present participle enuring, simple past and past participle enured)

enures (present singular third-person)
enuring (participle present)
enured (participle past)
enured (past)

All our striving enures to our own spiritual benefit.

1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Commentary on The Holy Qur'an, note 3428 on 29:6

The position of the individual as a subject of international law has often been obscured by the failure to observe the distinction between the recognition, in an international instrument of rights enuring to the benefit of the individual and the enforceability of these rights at his instance.

1995, Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It, page 53:

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


corpocracy

A corporate bureaucracy, characterized by ineffective management.


assoil

assoil (third-person singular simple present assoils, present participle assoiling, simple past and past participle assoiled)

assoils (present singular third-person)
assoiling (participle present)
assoiled (participle past)
assoiled (past)

From Middle English assoilen (“to absolve or release from blame or sin”), from Anglo-Norman as(s)oiler, as(s)oilier, and Old French as(s)oille [and other forms], the present subjunctive, and as(s)oil, the present indicative, of as(s)oldre, as(s)oudre (“to absolve from blame”) (modern French absoudre), from Latin absoluere, the present active infinitive of absoluō, a variant of absolvō (“to set free from”), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + solvō (“to loosen, set free”) (from sē- (“prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’”) + luō (“to let go, set free”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to cut off, to free”). Doublet of absolve and assoilzie.

nb...

assoiler, assoilier, assoillir, assolier, assolir, asoiler, asoilier, asoillir, asolier, asolir

der

For if the mater appere vpon his ſyde therby, either clere or doubtefull, than may the iudges acquite and aſſoyle the defendaũt [defendaunt]. And better were it the faute to be quytte, than the fautles to be punyſhed.

1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter IIII.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book III, page 211, column 2:

Whom Ceſar doth condemne, god ſumtime doeth aſſoyle: and whom the prince doth aſſoyle, he leaueth in the cumpany of mẽ [men], to make other like himſelf: […]

1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Gospell of Saincte Matthew. The .xviii. Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xciii, recto:

Then are there 70 judges deputed to ſit upon his cauſe; and if it happen that they aſſoile and quit this partie condemned: then thoſe 30 vvho condemned him, are diſplaced from their ſtate and dignitie, vvith a moſt bitter and greevous rebuke, and for ever after, as diſgraced perſons live in ſhame and infamie.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VI.] The Iland Taprobane.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 131:

(law) Followed by from or of: to acquit (someone) from a criminal charge; to find (someone) not guilty; to clear.


antimonopoly

(law) Usually with respect to laws or policies: in opposition to the creation or continuance of a monopoly.


sex offender

Soon after our case, another convicted sex offender was released back into our community and was accepted as if nothing had happened.

2014 August 29, Ruzwana Bashir, “The untold story of how a culture of shame perpetuates abuse. I know, I was a victim”, in The Guardian:

Somebody who has committed a crime of a sexual nature.

性犯罪者

somebody who has committed a crime of a sexual nature


chazzer

From Yiddish חזיר (khazer), from Hebrew חזיר (hazír).

(slang) A police officer, especially one who is corrupt.


BSD

Initialism of Berkeley Software Distribution.

initialism

(copyright law) Ellipsis of BSD license.


appurtenant

From Middle English appurtenaunt, from Old French apurtenant.

(law, nominalized, informal) An appurtenance.


arraignment

en-noun

arraignment (countable and uncountable, plural arraignments)

This process, Mr. Rothfeld said, could be interrupted at any moment if prosecutors in Los Angeles successfully extradite him for an arraignment on the sexual assault charges there.

2020 March 11, Jan Ransom, “Harvey Weinstein’s Stunning Downfall: 23 Years in Prison”, in New York Times:

[…]— the indictment will remain sealed until his expected arraignment on Tuesday, when the charges will be formally revealed.

2023 March 30, William K. Rashbaum, “This is what will happen when Trump is arrested in the coming days.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(law) The formal charging of a defendant with an offense; in many jurisdictions it includes their response in the form of a plea, typically as guilty, not guilty, or no contest.


highwayman

[…] here were no Gibers, Cenſurers, Backbiters, Pick-pockets, Highwaymen, Houſebreakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gameſters, Politicians, Wits, ſplenetick tedious Talkers, Controvertiſts, Raviſhers, Murderers, Robbers, Virtuoſo's; […]

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Oeconomy and Happy Life among the Houyhnhnms. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 301:

And the highwayman came riding— / Riding—riding— / The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza I, page 45:

I was a highwayman / Across the coach roads I did ride / With sword and pistol by my side.

(historical) A person, usually mounted on horseback, who robbed travelers on public roads.


nolle prosequi

nolle prosequi (plural nolle prosequis or nolle prosequies)

nolle prosequis (plural)
nolle prosequies (plural)

/ˌnəʊlɪ ˈpɹɒsɪkwaɪ/

From Latin nolle prosequi (“to not want to pursue”). Cf. prosecute.

bor

(UK law) A declaration from the attorney general ending a criminal prosecution.

(law) A proceeding or declaration by which a plaintiff or prosecutor ends a legal suit.

(-- by which a prosecutors ends --) syyttämättäjättämispäätös

(-- by which a prosecutors ends --) åtalseftergift


nolle prosequi

en-verb

nolle prosequi (third-person singular simple present nolle prosequis, present participle nolle prosequing or nolle prosequiing, simple past and past participle nolle prosequied)

nolle prosequis (present singular third-person)
nolle prosequing (participle present)
nolle prosequiing (participle present)
nolle prosequied (participle past)
nolle prosequied (past)

/ˌnəʊlɪ ˈpɹɒsɪkwaɪ/

(law, transitive, somewhat informal) To issue a nolle prosequi.


sole proprietorship

en-noun

sole proprietorship (countable and uncountable, plural sole proprietorships)

(law, business) A business that is wholly owned by a single person, who has unlimited liability.


right of way

right of way (countable and uncountable, plural rights of way or right of ways)

rights of way (plural)
right of ways (plural)

In foil the important thing is to be sure you have the right of way. You gain right of way by starting the attack first or beating the blade last.

2002, Elaine Cheris, Fencing: Steps to Success, →ISBN, page 63:

(fencing, uncountable) The priority granted to the first person to properly execute an attack.


jacking

The most common type of robberies by gang members is jackings, street robberies against persons. According to some gang members interviewed, jackings are not planned, but are rather crimes of opportunity.

1994, William B. Sanders, Gangbangs and Drive-Bys:


booting

booting (countable and uncountable, plural bootings)

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

Coordinate term: chinging

C4 run man through the alley
Get a man down with the swammy
Get a man down with the whammy
Boot couple niggas on the road
No face no case with the bally (booting)

2015 November 1, “Dem Man Know”, C4 (814) (lyrics):

Just got bail, three shootings
I ain’t gotta call up Pacman
To go up to country to do some bootings (bu-bu)
Tryna aim for your head
Pronounce man dead, pull up and suit him

2019 May 16, “P4DP”, in Digga D (lyrics), Double Tap Diaries EP:

(MLE, criminal slang) Homicide by gunfire.


tasking

Action officers receive taskings in many ways. A top boss will grab you in the hall and tell you to do something, some key official will give you multiple taskings right in the middle of your briefing, and you will pick up taskings in staff meetings […]

2007, Perry M. Smith, Daniel M. Gerstein, Assignment: Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy:

(military, law enforcement) A task; an assigned item of work.


law and order

/lɔː.ɹənˈɔːdə/

The government’s default approach to labor disputes has been to treat them as a threat to law and order. After a widely reported miners’ strike in the northeastern city of Shuangyashan in 2016, for example, the Public Security Bureau arrested 30 people for what it called serious criminal charges.

2018 April 2, Harvey Thomlinson, “China’s Communist Party Is Abandoning Workers”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-04-02, Opinion:

The strict enforcement of law, statutes, and social conventions.

тәртип

enforcement of law, statutes and social conventions


forfeiture

forfeiture (countable and uncountable, plural forfeitures)

/ˈfɔɹfɪt͡ʃɚ/

From Middle English forfeture, from Old French forfaiture.

(law) A legal action whereby a person loses all interest in the forfeit property.


conciliation

conciliation (countable and uncountable, plural conciliations)

alternative dispute resolution
alternative dispute resolution

(law) A form of alternative dispute resolution, similar to but less formal than mediation, in which the parties bring their dispute to a neutral third party, who helps lower tensions, improve communications and explore possible solutions.


alimentation

alimentation (countable and uncountable, plural alimentations)


claimant

LL-Q1860 (eng)-عُثمان (Middle river exports)-claimant.wav

From Old French and Anglo-Norman clamant, present participle of the verb clamer and its variants, from Latin clāmō (“to cry out”), equivalent to claim + -ant.

(law) The party who initiates a lawsuit before a court.


quartering

The method of capital punishment where a criminal is cut into four pieces.


procurator

/ˈpɹɑkjəˌɹeɪtɚ/

/ˈpɹɒkjʊˌɹeɪtə/

Anglo-Norman procuratour, from Latin prōcūrātor, from prōcūrō (“I procure”) (English procure). Equivalent to procure + -ator.


resale

resale (countable and uncountable, plural resales)

(law) The sale by the original seller to another purchaser of goods due to non-payment by original purchaser, often with the original purchaser liable for any shortfall between the original sale price and the price realized by the original seller.


extendible

(law) Liable to be taken by a writ of extent.


green wax

(law, historical, obsolete) An estreat from the Exchequer, delivered to a sheriff, sealed upon green wax, in 15th-century England.


tolling agreement

tolling agreement (plural tolling agreements)

statute of limitations
statute of limitations

(law) An agreement that has the effect of tolling or suspending the course of a fixed period of time, as a statute of limitations.


conservator

From Middle English conservatour, from Anglo-Norman conservatour, from Latin cōnservātor (“one who conserves”), agent noun from cōnservō (“I preserve”).

The lords of the secret council were likewise made conservators of the peace of the two kingdoms.

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

The Governor [of Missouri] is […] the conservator of the peace

(law) A person appointed by a court to manage the affairs of another; similar to a guardian but with some powers of a trustee.


drug of choice

(law, narcotics) The particular substance, usually illicit, to which a person is addicted.


stare decisis

From the Latin stāre (“to stand; to stay, to remain”) + dēcīsīs (ablative plural of dēcīsus, from dēcīdō (“I sever, I decide”); literally "to stand by decided matters".

bor

Similarly, Walter F. Murphy, a student of judicial politics, noted that stare decisis provides the “harried judges who face difficult choices with a welcome decision-making crutch.”

2006, Saul Brenner, Harold J. Spaeth, Stare Indecisis: The Alteration of Precedent on the Supreme Court, 1946-1992, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3:

(law) The principle of following judicial precedent.


death march

the Bataan Death March

A forced movement of people, on foot, in such circumstances that many die during the journey.

死亡行軍

forced movement of people in such circumstances that many die during the journey

(management) A project that requires a stretch of unsustainable overwork, or whose participants feel it is destined to fail.

デスマーチ

project requiring stretch of unsustainable overwork

Jacob Scheele was led to the gallows as a band played a death march.

2015, Daniel Allen Hearn, Legal Executions in New England, page 282:

Synonym of dead march (“mournful music for a funeral etc.”)


terms and conditions

According to the terms and conditions, we're allowed to make a single copy of the software for backup purposes.

Variously abbreviated as T&C, T&Cs, Ts & Cs

(law) A specification of restrictions for the use of goods or services.


snuff film

Their whole case that porn is violent rests on classifying s/m porn as violent, and lumping it in with the snuff film.

1981 August 15, Nancy Wechsler, Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, “Sadomasochism: Fears, Facts, Fantasies”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 5, page 7:

(film) A film that shows, or purports to show, the actual deliberate killing of one of the performers.


cook the books

en-verb

cook the books (third-person singular simple present cooks the books, present participle cooking the books, simple past and past participle cooked the books)

cooks the books (present singular third-person)
cooking the books (participle present)
cooked the books (participle past)
cooked the books (past)

From the mid-17th century. A metaphor based on cooking, whereby ingredients are changed, altered and improved. Thus financial statements can also be so modified to the benefit of the "cook".

Enron Corp., once a major U.S. corporation, is now famous for cooking the books.

(idiomatic) To manipulate accounting information, especially illegally.

сфальсифици́ровать фина́нсовую отчётность


nullity

en-noun

nullity (countable and uncountable, plural nullities)

From Middle French nullité, from Medieval Latin nullitas, from Latin nullus.

(law) A void act; a defective proceeding or one expressly declared by statute to be a nullity.


hornbook

(law) A legal textbook that provides a basic overview of a particular area of law.


Magna Carta

en-proper noun

Magna Carta (countable and uncountable, plural Magna Cartas or Magnae Cartae or Magnæ Cartæ)

Magna Cartas (plural)
Magnae Cartae (plural)
Magnæ Cartæ (plural)

ABA Journal
American Bar Association
National Archives Building

/ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːtə/

/ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːɹtə/

From Late Middle English Magna Carta, borrowed from Medieval Latin Magna Carta, from Latin magna (“great”) + carta (“charter”).

My Lord Coke ſayes, It had not its name of GREAT CHARTER, from the Greatneſs of it in Quantity; for there were ſeveral Voluminous Charters, longer than this: But it was ſo called, in reſpect of the Great Importance, and Weightyneſs of the Matter; as Charta de Foresta, is called, Magna Charta de Foresta, for the ſame Cauſe; and both of them are called, Magnæ Chartæ Libertatum Angliæ; i.e. The Great Charters of the Liberties of England; and upon great Reaſon too, Quia liberos faciunt, becauſe they make us Free.

[1680, Edward Cooke, transl., Magna Charta, Made in the Ninth Year of K. Henry the Third, and Confirmed by K. Edward the First, in the Twenty-Eighth Year of His Reign. With Some Short, but Necessary Observations From The L. Chief Just. Coke’s Comments upon It. […], London: Printed by the Assignees of Richard and Edward Atkins, Esquires, for Thomas Simmons, […], →OCLC, preface, pages ii–iii:

MAGNA CHARTA. The GREAT CHARTER, Made in the Ninth Year of King Henry the Third, and Confirmed by King Edward the Firſt in the Five and twentieth Year of his Reign.

1762, Danby Pickering, The Statutes at Large, from Magna Charta to the End of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761. […], volume I (from Magna Charta to the 14th Year of K. Edward III. inclusive), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Printed by Joseph Bentham, printer to the University; for Charles Bathurst, […], →OCLC, page 1:

Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta, granted in the 9th Year of King Henry III. have, in every Collection of Statutes which contained the Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. been printed as the first in Order. In all Editions previous to Hawkins’s, they were printed as from Charters of Inspeximus of 28 Edw. I : By Hawkins and subsequent Editors they were printed from the Charter of Inspeximus entered on the Statute Roll of 25 Edw. I : But in no Edition hitherto have they been printed immediately from any Charter of 9 Hen. III ; and it is not known that any Statute Roll of that Date ever existed. In the present Collection, these Charters are inserted according to their place in the above Series, and are printed from Charters under the Great Seal : They are also printed again amongst the Statutes 25 Edw. I. from the Entry on the Statute Roll of that Year, being the earliest Parliamentary Record upon which they have been found.

1810, Record Commission, The Statutes of the Realm. Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. From Original Records and Manuscripts., volume 1, page xxix:

[...] there was also a Charter confirming the previous Magnae Cartae in general terms, 21 Henry III. (1236–7). [...]

1911, Royal Commission on Coast Erosion and Afforestation, Third (and Final) Report of the Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire into and to Report on Certain Questions Affecting Coast Erosion, the Reclamation of Tidal Lands, and Afforestation in the United Kingdom (Cd. 5708), volume III, part I (Coastal Erosion), London: House of Commons?, →OCLC, page 291:

(law) A modified version of the charter of King John as granted by Henry III in 1236, confirmed as a statute by the Parliament of King Edward I in 1297, part of which remains in force in England and Wales.


seasonably

en-adv

seasonably (comparative more seasonably, superlative most seasonably)

more seasonably (comparative)
most seasonably (superlative)

From Middle English sesonably, equivalent to seasonable + -ly.

2005: Uniform Commercial Code § 1-204(3). The American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
An action is taken "seasonably" when it is taken at or within the time agreed or if no time is agreed at or within a reasonable time.

(chiefly law) Within the appropriate time period during which an action will be legally effective, as prescribed in legislation, a contract, or otherwise.


persuasive precedent

en-noun

persuasive precedent (plural persuasive precedents)

(law) A precedent set in a court that has no precedence over another but whose decisions are considered to be sufficiently useful that they may be used, although they are not binding until used by a superior court.


costate

(international law) A state in alliance with another state.


shoplifter

Shoplifters will be prosecuted.

A person who shoplifts, one who steals from shops.


unprosecutable

Military prosecutors said al-Kahtani would be unprosecutable because of what was done to him during interrogation.

(law) Not able to be successfully prosecuted.


bill of rights

(law) A formal statement of the rights of a specified group of people.


concuss

en-verb

concuss (third-person singular simple present concusses, present participle concussing, simple past and past participle concussed)

concusses (present singular third-person)
concussing (participle present)
concussed (participle past)
concussed (past)

From Latin concussus, the perfect passive participle of concutiō (“shake violently”), from con- + quatiō (“shake, hit”).

The opposite principle , or rather the opposite practice of intrusion , is the reverse of this : it consists in concussing the Presbytery to ordain , and in concussing the people to receive.

1840, James Buchanan, The Scriptural Argument for Non-Intrusion Considered:

(law) To force to do something, or give up something, by intimidation; to coerce.


palimony

Blend of pal (“close friend”) + alimony (“maintenance”). Coined by celebrity divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson in 1977 in suit of his client Michelle Triola Marvin against the actor Lee Marvin.

coin

Who won, huh? Nobody. Used to be sex was the only free thing, No longer. Alimony… palimony… it's all financial. Love is an illusion.

1985, Joel Schumacher, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire (motion picture), spoken by Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy):

Audball's latest pickup didn't seem to care where they were, or anything at all about alimony, palimony, or child support […]

2002, James A. Abrahamson, Confessions of a Diplomatic Pouch Clerk, page 192:

(law) A form of alimony paid to a former partner in a nonmarital relationship.


entrapment

en-noun

entrapment (countable and uncountable, plural entrapments)

A detective asking you to buy illegal marijuana for a dying man would be police entrapment.

That’s right, Thailand actually has a buffoonish crown prince. And I understand why the Thai people are upset, because they have a law where you can get 15 years in jail for insulting the monarchy, and yet, they have a prince who featured in, and this is true, a video of a birthday party he threw for his dog, a miniature poodle called Foo Foo, in which his topless wife served the dog birthday cake. And you’re telling me they’re not supposed to make fun of that? That’s entrapment! That’s not fair! You asked too much!

2014, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Dr. Oz and Nutritional Supplements”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 8, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

(law) Action by law enforcement personnel to lead an otherwise innocent person to commit a crime, in order to arrest and prosecute that person for the crime.

ansan virittäminen

action by law enforcement personnel to lead an otherwise innocent person to commit a crime


lone wolf

They knew what it meant; even Joan had heard the cry of the lone wolf hunting in the lean time of winter, and of all things sad, all things lonely, all things demoniacal, the howl of a wolf stands alone.

1921, Max Brand, chapter XIII, in The Seventh Man:

I am a lone wolf, a solitary man, wandering through a world in which I have no part. I am wifeless—childless—who is it speaks of the childless as the dead twigs on the tree of life?

1899, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter I, in The Sleeper Awakes:

You'll never mix in. You'll be a lone wolf. I seen that right off. Wal, if a man can stand the loneliness, an' if he's quick on the draw, mebbe lone-wolfin' it is the best.

(figuratively) A person who avoids the company of others; a loner; an independent or solitary person.

Paddock's motives remain unclear. Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo described the shooting as a "lone wolf" attack. "We have no idea what his belief system was," he said.

2017 October 2, "Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead at Mandalay Bay Hotel", in bbc.com, BBC

A Tunisian man who killed two Swedish citizens in a terrorist attack in Brussels was “probably a lone wolf”, the Belgian prime minister has said, as Sweden and Italy called for security at Europe’s borders to be tightened.

2023 October 17, Lisa O'Carroll, Miranda Bryant, Lorenzo Tondo, “Killing of two Swedish football fans in Brussels ‘probably lone wolf’ attack”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(by extension) A criminal who acts alone, not as part of a group.


jure uxoris

From Latin iūre (“by right”) uxōris (“of wife”).

Robert Bruce, whom genealogists name "Robert Bruce IV" (c 1250 - c 1304), 6th Lord of Annandale, was titled Earl of Carrick jure uxoris.


betterment

betterment (countable and uncountable, plural betterments)

(law) An improvement to a property that adds to its value.


DI

DI (countable and uncountable, plural DIs)

detective inspector
detective inspector#English

(law enforcement, Commonwealth) Initialism of detective inspector; a police rank.


A variant of the British 999, originally selected as an appropriate number for rotary-dial telephones and adapted in Australia because of the need to dial an initial 0 from remote exchanges to connect to the main trunk lines.

When you call 000, the Telstra operator usually answers the phone with "Emergency. Police, fire, or ambulance?"

The telephone number for emergency services in Australia.


Selected by the European Union as the 3-digit number fastest to dial on cellular and rotary phones without the likelihood of accidental dialing caused by hanging up a landline telephone, sometimes interpreted by phone networks as a 1.

When you call 112 in the United Kingdom, the call is automatically rerouted to 999 operators.

The telephone number for emergency services on all GSM cell phones and in the EU, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Ukraine, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome, the Seychelles, Uganda, East Timor, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, North Macedonia, Vatican City, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Saint Vincent.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo

The telephone number for law enforcement in South Korea, Norway, Colombia, Serbia, Lebanon, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and Mauritius.


bait-and-switch

Despite Healy's argument that the Liberty Fund would go to worthwhile causes, many felt the Red Cross had deliberately misled donors by using September 11th in a bait-and-switch ploy.

2001 November 14, Jessica Reaves, “Red Faces at the Red Cross”, in Time:

The FTC commissioner, Rohit Chopra, called AT&T’s actions a “massive fraud”. “AT&T’s bait-and-switch scam is a good window into the many harms that result from dominant companies operating without the discipline of meaningful competition,” Chopra said in a statement.

2019 November 5, Rohit Chopra, quotee, “'Bait-and-switch scam': AT&T fined $60m over data throttling allegations”, in The Guardian:

Relating to use of bait and switch (offering one attractive exchange initially, but not honoring the offer) in business, politics, and elsewhere.


bait-and-switch

en-verb

bait-and-switch (third-person singular simple present bait-and-switches, present participle bait-and-switching, simple past and past participle bait-and-switched)

bait-and-switches (present singular third-person)
bait-and-switching (participle present)
bait-and-switched (participle past)
bait-and-switched (past)

Perhaps the most baffling and frustrating feature of the mortgage mess is that, to my knowledge, the House Financial Services Committee never held public hearings in which bait-and-switched homeowners testified as to how their mortgage payments doubled in just a few years[…]

2009, Jane White, America, Welcome to the Poorhouse […] , FT Press, →ISBN, page 64:

To my surprise, even shock, both of them spent the entire trip sputtering and whining—about being bait-and-switched when their employee-ownership shares of United Airlines had been evaporated by its recent bankruptcy, […]

2020 August 7, Kurt Andersen, “College-Educated Professionals Are Capitalism’s Useful Idiots”, in The Atlantic:

(transitive) To exploit using bait and switch.