banana republic

banana republic (plural banana republics)

Coined by American author O. Henry in 1901 in his short story Money Maze, set in the fictional "Anchuria", which was based on his 1896–97 stay in Honduras.

coin

At that time we had a treaty with about every foreign country except Belgium, and that banana republic, Anchuria.

1901 May 20, O. Henry, “Money Maze”, in Ainslee's Magazine, volume vii, number 4, New York, page 305:

The banana workers of this former banana republic were exceptionally well organized and effective in their demands from the very beginning of the revolution.

2001, Cindy Forster, The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution, University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN, page 117:

The McCanns, it is hinted and sometimes expressed explicitly, cannot possibly be treated fairly under this inadequate Portuguese system. There is a touch of arrogant xenophobia here, as if Portugal was some backward banana republic […]

2007 September 10, Marcel Berlins, “Media have rushed to judge Portuguese police”, in The Guardian:

(politics, idiomatic, derogatory) A small country, especially one in Central America or the West Indies, that is dependent on a single export commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has a corrupt, dictatorial government.


gangster

From gang + -ster. First attested in 1884.

عُضْو فِي عِصَابَة

ʕuḍw fī ʕiṣāba

A member of a professional criminal organization; a racketeer.


gangster

en-verb

gangster (third-person singular simple present gangsters, present participle gangstering, simple past and past participle gangstered)

gangsters (present singular third-person)
gangstering (participle present)
gangstered (participle past)
gangstered (past)

To act like a gangster; to commit street crime or run a racket.


pillage

pillage (third-person singular simple present pillages, present participle pillaging, simple past and past participle pillaged)

pillages (present singular third-person)
pillaging (participle present)
pillaged (participle past)
pillaged (past)

From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).

1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,
Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.

(transitive, intransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.


probable cause

en-noun

probable cause (countable and uncountable, plural probable causes)

(US, law, uncountable) Reasonable grounds for making an arrest or conducting a personal or property search.

相當理由

reasonable grounds for making an arrest or conducting a personal or property search


expectancy

expectancy (countable and uncountable, plural expectancies)

(law) Future interest as to possession or enjoyment

expectative

(law) future interest as to possession or enjoyment


lawless

en-adj

lawless (comparative more lawless, superlative most lawless)

more lawless (comparative)
most lawless (superlative)

From Middle English laweles; equivalent to law + -less. Cognate with Danish lovløs (“lawless”), Swedish laglös (“lawless”), Norwegian lovløs (“lawless”), Icelandic löglaus (“lawless”).

This countrey ſwarmes with vile outragious men,
That liue by rapine and by lawleſſe ſpoile,
Fit ſouldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

For ſure the Gods / Are not devoid of wiſdom, but perceive / What oaths are lawleſs and by force extorted.

1782, Euripides, “Iphegenia in Aulis”, in Michael Wodhull, transl., The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides. … In Four Volumes, volume II, London: […] Thomas Payne and Son, […], →OCLC, page 210:


de minimis

From Latin, de + minimis, ablative of minimus (“smallest, least”); shortened form of the legal maxim de minimis non curat lex (“the law does not concern itself with trifling matters”).

The behaviour of the accused was technically assault, but the judge found it de minimis and entered an acquittal.

(law) Beneath the notice of the law; so minor as not to warrant a penalty or remedy.


DRM

The problem for e-marketing is that the use of DRM in its most restrictive manner limits the value and use of purchased goods (maximum numbers of reinstalls, limited numbers of redownloads of the software).

2011, Stephen Dann, Susan Dann, E-Marketing: Theory and Application:

digital rights management
digital rights management#English

(media) Initialism of digital rights management.


composite

Borrowed from Middle French composite, from Latin compositus, past participle of compōnō (“put together”). Doublet of compost and compote.

(chiefly law enforcement) A drawing, photograph, etc. that combines several separate pictures or images.


uncopyrightable

[…] The four criteria that Congress, courts, and theorists have traditionally employed to distinguish the copyrightable from the uncopyrightable are: […]

1984, MJ Touponse, “Application of Copyright Law to Computer Operating System Programs: Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin”, in Connecticut Law Review, page 665:

[…] Keeton, however, resolved that it was the idea/expression dichotomy that forms the boundary line between the copyrightable and the uncopyrightable, […]

1994, R VerSteeg, “Jurimetric Copyright: Future Shock for the Visual Arts”, in Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, page 125:

[…] to examine those director contributions that help create that overall feel and apply Judge Hand's abstractions test to filter out the uncopyrightable from the copyrightable […]

2001, R Amanda, “Elvis Karaoke Shakespeare and the Search for a Copyrightable Stage Directions”, in Arizona Law Review, page 677:

(copyright law) Ineligible for copyright.


fructus

(law, historical) In Ancient Roman law, any product originating either from a natural source (such as fruits grown or animals bred) or from legal transactions (e.g. interest on a loan).


wrongful dismissal

en-noun

wrongful dismissal (countable and uncountable, plural wrongful dismissals)

(law) The termination of an employee's employment in a way that breaches the employment contract or statutory law.


electrocute

en-verb

electrocute (third-person singular simple present electrocutes, present participle electrocuting, simple past and past participle electrocuted)

electrocutes (present singular third-person)
electrocuting (participle present)
electrocuted (participle past)
electrocuted (past)

electrocutar

to cause death from immediate complications resulting from electric shock

уби́ть то́ком

to kill with the electric current, accidentally or deliberately

The executioner threw the switch on Old Sparky, and the condemned prisoner was electrocuted for his crimes.

(transitive) To execute by electric shock, often by means of an electric chair.


teste

So called from Latin teste, ablative of testis (“a witness”), because this was formerly the initial word in the clause.


wanted

en-adj

wanted (comparative more wanted, superlative most wanted)

more wanted (comparative)
most wanted (superlative)

(law enforcement) Subject to immediate detainment by law enforcement authorities on sight.


corpus juris

Latin corpus, body + juris genitive of jus, law

The entire body of laws of a jurisdiction or of a particular court.


scienter

From Latin scienter (“knowingly”), from sciō (“know”).


scienter

(law) knowledge of one's own illegal acts; intent


gibbet

From Middle English gibet, from Old French gibet (French gibet), either from Frankish *gibb (“forked stick”) or from Latin gibbus (“hunchbacked”).

Thy Friends without the help of Prophecie, / Read Goals^([sic – meaning Gaols]) and Gibbets in thy Deſtiny; […]

1702, [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in Reformation of Manners, a Satyr, [London: s.n.], →OCLC, page 22:

No, had every Commandment but a Gibbet belonging to it, I ſhould not have had four King's Evidences to-day ſwear impudently I was a Papiſt, when I was never at Maſs yet ſince I was born, nor indeed at any other Worſhip theſe twenty Years.

1728, Thomas Otway, “The Atheist, or, the Second Part of the Soldier’s Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, volume II, London, page 37:

Why, your cavalier is a rebel—an exile, whose property is confiscated, and for whose neck the gibbet stands prepared!

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 241-242:

An upright post with a crosspiece used for execution and subsequent public display.

бесилка

upright post with a crosspiece used for execution and subsequent public display; a gallows


fallo

en-noun

fallo (usually uncountable, plural fallos)

(Philippines, law) The dispositive portion of a court's ruling, coming at the end of the ruling.


fish tank

I sprinkled little flakes into the fish tank for the guppies to eat.

A container, usually made out of glass or acrylic, specifically designed for holding water and marine life.

魚缸

container designed for holding water and marine life


esquire

From Middle English esquier, from Old French escuyer, escuier, properly, a shield-bearer (compare modern French écuyer (“shield-bearer, armor-bearer, squire of a knight, esquire, equerry, rider, horseman”)), from Late Latin scūtārius (“shieldmaker, shield-bearer”), from Latin scūtum (“shield”); probably akin to English hide (“to cover”). The term squire is the result of apheresis. Compare equerry, escutcheon.


crimen

en-noun

crimen (countable and uncountable, plural crimina)

Unadapted borrowing from Latin crīmen (“verdict; adultery; crime”). Doublet of crime.

ubor

1884, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 3rd Series, Volume V, page 416,
Such presumptions are common in connection with crimen and affinity.

2006, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly, Volumes 29-30, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, page 7,
Third, some might think that Michael avoids the impediment of crimen because a civil court approved his petition to deprive Terri of nutrition and hydration.

Coordinate term: conjugicide

(law, ecclesiastical law) An impediment to marriage in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church that nullifies or prevents the marriage of two people who had: (1) committed adultery and subsequently married, and consummated that marriage, while the wronged spouse was still alive, (2) committed adultery and promised to marry after the death of the spouse, (3) committed adultery, after which one of the two had murdered the spouse in order that they become free to marry, or (4) without committing adultery, cooperated to murder a spouse in order that they become free to marry.


curtilage

/ˈkɜːtɪlɪd͡ʒ/

/ˈkɝtəlɪd͡ʒ/

Inherited from Middle English curtylage and Anglo-Norman, from Old French cortillage, curtillage, from cortil (“court, courtyard”), from Latin cortis (“court”); see court. Compare courtledge.

The scope of the curtilage is determined by considering the proximity to the home, whether it is fenced or otherwise enclosed, the nature of the use of the area, and the efforts the resident takes to screen the area from public view.

2007, Ken Wallentine, Street Legal: A Guide to Pre-trial Criminal Procedure for Police, Prosecutors, and Defenders:

High winds are not in themselves a controllable risk. But fallen trees certainly are, given the control the railway has over its own curtilage.

2022 March 9, Industry Insider, “A damaging trend”, in RAIL, number 952, page 68:

(law) The area immediately surrounding a house, especially dooryard areas and sometimes including closely associated buildings and structures.

宅地

the area immediately surrounding a house


lagan

Per Littré, from Old French lagan, from Medieval Latin laga maris (“law of the sea”), from Old Norse lǫg (“law”) and Latin maris (“of the sea”)

der

The country folk, who were prowling about the shore after the waifs of the storm, deserted jetsom and lagend, and crowded to meet the richer prize.

1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 6, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 129:

"Lagan" was a word already in use, recorded as early as 1200, from a Scandinavian word family for things that lie deep. It is recorded again in 1531 to signify cargo that has sunk and lies on the bottom of the ocean, but might yet be reclaimed.

2015, Anne Harris, "Oceanic Valuation", in Oceanic New York, Punctum Books, page 163:

Lagan are those things that are intentionally jettisoned, as well, but which sink below the surface, possibly marked by a buoy or a line.

2022, Lara Messersmith-Glavin, Spirit Things, London: University Press of Colorado, pages 101-112:

(law) Goods or materials found or left on the sea floor, attached to a floating marker that indicates ownership.


crossbill

he not having the money ready[…] filed a bill for a specific performance, evidently to gain time. The vendors filed a crossbill; and afterwards the purchaser became a bankrupt

1836, Edward Burtenshaw Sugden, A Practical Treatise of the Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Estates:

(law) A bill brought by a defendant, in an equity or chancery suit, against the plaintiff, respecting the matter in question in that suit.


pleading

en-noun

pleading (countable and uncountable, plural pleadings)

(law) A document filed in a lawsuit, particularly a document initiating litigation or responding to the initiation of litigation.


prima facie

en-adv

prima facie (comparative more prima facie, superlative most prima facie)

more prima facie (comparative)
most prima facie (superlative)

/ˈpɹiːmə ˈfæɪsiː/

/ˈpɹɑɪmə ˈfæɪsiː/

From Latin prīmā (“first”) faciē (“shape, figure”), literally “at the first appearance.”

[…] the nicest young man that ever was, — daintily gloved, patently booted, oilily curled, snowily wristbanded, with a lovely cambric (prima facie) handkerchief bound about his hyacinthine locks and polished hat.

1871, Gail Hamilton, Gala-days, page 191:

Prima facie this may not read like a true story.

1916 April 8, The National Provisioner, volume 54, number 15, page 36, column 2:

(law) At first sight; on the face of it.


prima facie

/ˈpɹiːmə ˈfæɪsiː/

/ˈpɹɑɪmə ˈfæɪsiː/

(law) Apparently correct; not needing proof unless evidence to the contrary is shown.


debarment

en-noun

debarment (countable and uncountable, plural debarments)

(US, law) In the United States Food and Drugs Act, a penalty imposed on persons or companies that commit crimes in connection with applications for approval of drugs, in which such persons are barred from submitting or assisting in the submission of such an application.


lawman

From Middle English laweman, laȝaman (as a man's name, Laȝamon, Layamon), from Old English lahmann, borrowed from Old Norse lǫgmaðr. In present use as a law-enforcement officer, law + -man.

(law, historical) A lawspeaker: a declarer of the law.

(law, historical) One of 12 magistrates in certain Danish boroughs of England empowered with soc and sac over their own households.

(law, Orkney and Shetland) The presiding justice of the supreme court.


debar

en-verb

debar (third-person singular simple present debars, present participle debarring, simple past and past participle debarred)

debars (present singular third-person)
debarring (participle present)
debarred (participle past)
debarred (past)

(US, law, transitive) To prohibit (a person or company that has been convicted of criminal acts in connection with a government program) from future participation in that program.


survivorship

en-noun

survivorship (usually uncountable, plural survivorships)

(law) A right whereby a person becomes entitled to property by reason of his having survived another person who had an interest in it. It is one of the elements of a joint tenancy.


income tax

income tax (countable and uncountable, plural income taxes)

The latest Tory budget continued the trend begun in 2000 by making further small cuts in family income taxes.

2008, David Mutimer, Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs 2002, page 220:

A tax levied on earned and unearned income, net of allowed deductions.


avoision

"Avoision" is how I referred to the panoply of questionable conduct about whose status as either avoidance or evasion we couldn't make up our minds.

1996, Leo Katz, Ill-Gotten Gains, University of Chicago Press, page 52:

"Seldon (1979) coined the term 'Avoision' to indicate 'the blurring between tax avoidance and evasion that arises from the looser connection between the legal and the moral'"

2008, Alan Lewis, editor, The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, page 306:

(taxation, law) Nonpayment of tax that cannot clearly be seen as either tax avoidance, which is legal, or tax evasion, which is illegal.


privileged

en-adj

privileged (comparative more privileged, superlative most privileged)

more privileged (comparative)
most privileged (superlative)

(law) Not subject to legal discovery due to a protected status.


garnishee

(law) The person whose money is garnished.


garnishee

en-verb

garnishee (third-person singular simple present garnishees, present participle garnisheeing, simple past and past participle garnisheed)

garnishees (present singular third-person)
garnisheeing (participle present)
garnisheed (participle past)
garnisheed (past)

Her bank account was garnisheed to pay an outstanding tax debt.

(transitive, law) To have (money) set aside by court order (particularly for the payment of alleged debts); to garnish.


prosecution

en-noun

prosecution (countable and uncountable, plural prosecutions)

Equivalent to prosecute + -ion, from Middle French prosecution, from Late Latin prōsecutio, from Latin prōsequor (“follow, pursue”), from pro- (“onward”) + sequor (“follow”) (English sequel). Compare persecution, and see more at prosecute.

Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

The justices declared that the statute does not establish a age of consent, and declared that in future prosecutions of persons charged with "indecent assault and battery" the state will have to prove that the alleged victim did not consent to the act.

1983 December 10, Larry Goldsmith, “Massachusetts Court Rules on Age of Consent”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 21, page 1:

(law) The institution of legal proceedings (particularly criminal) against a person.

مُقَاضَاة

the institution of legal proceedings against a person

criminal prosecution; criminal prosecution

Strafverfolgung f strafrechtliche Verfolgung

абвінава́чванне

the prosecuting party of the institution of legal proceedings

The prosecution case was that the men forced the sisters to strip, threw their clothes over the bridge, then raped them and participated in forcing them to jump into the river to their deaths. As he walked off the bridge, Clemons was alleged to have said: "We threw them off. Let's go."

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

(law) In many countries, a legal body and institution, usually part of the state apparatus, empowered to perform prosecution. Prosecutor's Office. See Prosecutor.


EITC

EITC (usually uncountable, plural EITCs)

(US, taxation) Initialism of earned income tax credit.


modality

modality (countable and uncountable, plural modalities)

(law) The quality of being limited by a condition.


isonomia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰσονομία (isonomía).

Equality before the law; possession of equal rights; equal distribution of rights and privileges.


SR

SR (countable and uncountable, plural SRs)

(law, politics) Initialism of state resolution.

(law, politics) Initialism of senate resolution.


juvenile

Borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful; juvenile”), from iuvenis (“young; a youth”) + -īlis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Iuvenis is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”), from *h₂óyu (“long life; lifetime”) (from *h₂ey- (“age; life”)) + *h₁én (“in”).

If the juvenile violates the conditions of the stayed sentence, typically by committing a new offense, the court may revoke the stay and require that the offender be taken into custody. The juvenile is then given written notice of the reasons for the revocation of the stayed sentence, and may have a hearing with representation of legal counsel if the revocation is challenged.

2010, Richard Lawrence, Mario Hesse, “The Juvenile Court Process”, in Juvenile Justice: The Essentials, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 192:

(criminal law) A person younger than the age of full criminal responsibility, such that the person either cannot be held criminally liable or is subject to less severe forms of punishment.


positivism

positivism (countable and uncountable, plural positivisms)

Borrowed from French positivisme, from positif (“positive”). Equivalent to positive + -ism.

(law) A school of thought in jurisprudence in which the law is seen as separated from moral values; i.e. the law is posited by lawmakers (humans).


inhibition

inhibition (countable and uncountable, plural inhibitions)

/ɪnhɪˈbɪʃən/

From Middle English inhibicioun, inhibicione from Old French inibicion, from Latin inhibitio.
Morphologically inhibit + -ion.

(law) A writ from a higher court to an inferior judge to stay proceedings.


assignment

assignment (countable and uncountable, plural assignments)

assignment (computer science)
homework assignment
sex assignment

From Middle English assignement, from Old French assignement. By surface analysis, assign + -ment.

The assignment of the lease has not been finalised yet.

(law) A transfer of a right or benefit from one person to another.

Once you receive the assignment in the post, be sure to sign it and send it back as soon as possible.

(law) A document that effects this transfer.


retention

retention (countable and uncountable, plural retentions)

From Middle English retencioun, borrowed from Latin retentiō, retentiōnis, from retentus, the perfect passive participle of retineō (“retain”) (from re- (“back, again”) + teneō (“hold, keep”)).

The right of retention, which bears a near resemblance to compensation, is chiefly competent where the mutual debts, not being liquid, cannot be the ground of compensation

1754, John Erskine of Carnock, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(law) The right to withhold a debt, or of retaining property until a debt due to the person claiming the right is duly paid; a lien.

pidätysoikeus

right to retain property until a debt is paid


Chewbacca defense

Chewbacca defense (plural Chewbacca defenses)

Chewbacca (a character from the 1977 film Star Wars) + defense; coined in "Chef Aid", a 1998 episode of South Park.

But at this point John Taylor, at least — and I believe he's not alone — has gone full Chewbacca defense.

2013 July 12, Paul Krugman, “The Monetary Debate: Enter Chewbacca”, The Conscience of a Liberal, in The New York Times:

(law, humorous) Any legal strategy or propaganda strategy that seeks to overwhelm its audience with nonsensical arguments, as a way of confusing the audience and drowning out legitimate opposing arguments.

Chef Aid
Chewbacca
Chewbacca defense
South Park


tithing

From Middle English tithyng, from Old English tēoþung or tēoðung, from tēoða (“a tithe”) + -ing (suffix forming patronymics and diminutives) and tēoðian (“to tithe”) + -ung (suffix forming verbal nouns). Equivalent to tithe + -ing.

(historical, law) A body of households (originally a tenth of a hundred or ten households) bound by frankpledge to collective responsibility and punishment for each other's behavior.

(historical, law) A part of the hundred as a rural division of territory.

tithingman

oath-bound division of the hundred, leader

decenary

oath-bound division of the hundred, member


foreclosure

foreclosure (countable and uncountable, plural foreclosures)

From foreclose by analogy with closure, equivalent to fore- + closure.

(law) The proceeding, by a creditor, to regain property or other collateral following a default on mortgage payments.


visitation

visitation (countable and uncountable, plural visitations)

/ˌvɪzɪˈteɪʃən/

From Anglo-Norman visitacioun, from Old French visitacion, from Latin vīsitātiō.

(law) The right of a separated or divorced parent to visit a child; access.


indecent

en-adj

indecent (comparative more indecent, superlative most indecent)

more indecent (comparative)
most indecent (superlative)

(criminal law) Generally unacceptable for public broadcasting but not legally obscene.


sales tax

en-noun

sales tax (countable and uncountable, plural sales taxes)

A local or state tax imposed as a percentage of the selling price of goods or services payable by the customer. The tax is not recognized as the seller's earnings; the seller only collects the tax and transmits the same to local or state authorities.


finding

From Middle English fyndyng, Old English findincge; equivalent to find + -ing.

(law) A formal conclusion by a judge, jury or regulatory agency on issues of fact.


verbal assault

If a pupil enrolled in grade six or above committed a verbal assault at school against school personnel, described above, and the assault were reported to the school board by the victim, the school board or its designee would be required, after affording the required due process, to suspend the pupil from the school district for 10 days. […]

1998, Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, S.B. 313 (S-1), First Analysis: Student Expulsion for Assault, page 2:

The only evidence of a verbal assault is the one Mr. Comstock and Mr. Solomon made on me. They made their threatening and intimidating statement to me after I complied with directions Judge Jeff B. Clark gave during the September 17,2007 hearing.

2008, Victoria Laney, testimony to the Florida House Committee on Condominiums & Homeowners Association Governance http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?PublicationType=Committees&CommitteeId=2436&Session=2008&DocumentType=Action%20Packets&FileName=Condo_%20Action_02_16_08%20%28OCR%29%20%20%20.pdf

Any student in grades six or above who commits a verbal assault against any school employee, volunteer, or contractor will be suspended or expelled. […]

2009, Laingsburg Elementary School, Student Handbook 2009-2010, page 14:

(US, law) Oral or written speech that creates, or is intended to create, a fear of physical harm.

口頭攻擊

oral or written speech that creates a fear of physical harm


bootleg

en-verb

bootleg (third-person singular simple present bootlegs, present participle bootlegging, simple past and past participle bootlegged)

bootlegs (present singular third-person)
bootlegging (participle present)
bootlegged (participle past)
bootlegged (past)

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

In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg to make ends meet.

In the 1930s, Grandpa used to bootleg whiskey from a still hidden in the backwoods.

(transitive, intransitive) To engage in bootlegging.

(chiefly US, transitive, intransitive) To make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor.

trokata

to make, transport and/or sell illegal alcoholic liquor

In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg under some sort of Robin-Hood-esque notion.

In the 1990s, Grandpa used to bootleg Windows CD-ROMs.

(transitive, intransitive) To make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyrighted product.

raubkopieren

to make, transport and/or sell an illegal version or copy of a copyright product


bootleg

An illegally produced, transported or sold product; contraband.

contraban

an illegally produced, transported or sold product; contraband

(music) A remix or mashup that is a combination of two songs but that is not authorized and audited for copyright use; primarily in the electronic music scene.


murder one

Murder in the first degree
murder in the first degree#English

(US, colloquial) Murder in the first degree.


contemn

contemn (third-person singular simple present contemns, present participle contemning, simple past and past participle contemned)

contemns (present singular third-person)
contemning (participle present)
contemned (participle past)
contemned (past)

From Middle English contempnen, from Old French contemner, from Latin contemnere (“to scorn”). See also contempt.

(law) To commit an offence of contempt, such as contempt of court; to unlawfully flout (e.g. a ruling).


theftable

First recorded use in the plays of Webster circa 1580; especially apropos the virtue of a Lady: "her very soul and that other tenderness is there and theftable for any knave."


court of last resort

en-noun

court of last resort (plural courts of last resort)

(law) The final court of appeal in a jurisdiction; a supreme court.


recovery

recovery (countable and uncountable, plural recoveries)

From Middle English recoveree, from Old French recovree, from recovrer (“recover”).

(law) A verdict giving somebody the right to recover debts or costs.


Old Bill

(British, slang, law enforcement) A police officer.


sidebar

(US, law) A short conference, between a judge and the attorneys of a case, held outside the hearing of the jury and the spectators at the court.

(US, law) The place in the courtroom where such a conference happens.


biblioklept

From biblio- (“book”) + Ancient Greek κλέπτης (kléptēs, “thief”).

der

Thus Libri, who was the greatest of Biblioklepts, rescued many of the books he stole from dirt and misuse, and had them bound royally in purple and scarlet.

1880 October 23, “The Book-Stealer”, in Saturday Review, volume 50, number 1304, London: John W. Parker and Son, page 510:

He loved to walk through his library, stopping before this or that special item; and, because there were biblioklepts even among the humanists in the papal employ, he kept the most precious manuscripts for greater safety in his own bedroom.

1944, Douglas Rigby, Elizabeth Rigby, Lock, Stock and Barrel: The Story of Collecting, Philadelphia, P.A. [and others]: J. B. Lippincott Company, page 177:

If the book's authentic, it's a national treasure! A historic find! I shouldn't wonder you'd feel a bit uncomfortable having it in your library at home in the Orchard. It's worth an absolute fortune. Every biblioklept in Britain will be bashing in the panes of your French doors.

1999, Julie Wallin Kaewert, Untitled: A Booklover's Mystery:, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 28:

That thief was Samuel Raynor Dupree, a novice accompanied by more experienced biblioklepts he knew only as Paul and Swede.

2013 June 28, Carolyn Kellogg, “Throwing the book at 'Thieves of Book Row'”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2022-06-29:


civil procedure

(law) A body of rules that regulate the administration of civil trials and appeals.


passing

en-noun

passing (countable and uncountable, plural passings)


perempt

en-verb

perempt (third-person singular simple present perempts, present participle perempting, simple past and past participle perempted)

perempts (present singular third-person)
perempting (participle present)
perempted (participle past)
perempted (past)

Borrowed from Latin peremptum, past participle of perimere.


folio

From Middle English folio (“leaf of a book”), borrowed from Medieval Latin foliō, Late Latin foliō, Latin foliō, the ablative singular form of Late Latin folium (“leaf or sheet of paper”), Latin folium (“leaf of a plant”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“bloom, flower”). Doublet of foil and folium, and distantly related to phyllo and phyllon.
Senses 1, 2, 3.1, 5, and 6 relating to a leaf or page are derived from Medieval Latin foliō in references; sense 5 (“page in an account book”) may be derived from Italian foglio (“rectangular sheet of paper”), from Latin folium. Senses 3.2 and 3.3 relating to a paper size are from Italian in foglio or its etymon Latin in foliō.

der

[page 172] When actions are brought in the Courts of King's Bench or Common Pleas, founded upon original writs issuing out of the Courts of Chancery (which writs, as stated in the Report of the 9th of April 1816, it is the duty of the Cursitors to make out) it has been the practice in certain cases for the Filacers of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas respectively, to receive from the Suitors the King's fines (if any) and also the fees payable to the Cursitors in respect of such original writs, and afterwards to account to the Cursitors for the fines and fees so received. […] [page 176] The Cursitors have claimed before us a right to compute the skin in all cases, at twenty folios, each folio containing seventy-two words; and to charge 1 s. 4 d. for every folio, instead of the fees now taken per folio or per skin, where the writ in charged in that manner. In support of this claim they have contended, that twenty folios of seventy-two words each, were established by the Order of 1743, as the length of a skin; […] The writ [of Transgress' super Casum], exclusive of the part containing the matter of the declaration, contains less than two folios of seventy-two words each; common counts are stated to contain usually, from two to three folios; special counts are usually longer, and sometimes of a much greater length.

1817 December 20, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, “Second Report of the Commissioners for Examining into the Duties, Salaries and Emoluments, of the Officers, Clerks and Ministers, of the Several Courts of Justice, in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed;—as to the Court of Chancery”, in Reports from Committees: Fever; Ireland; Courts of Justice: Session 27 January – 10 June, 1818, volume VII, [London]: [s.n.], published 6 April 1818, →OCLC, pages 172 and 176:

If the office copy of a Will or any part of a Will or other document is required to be made fac-simile, and such Will or part of a Will or other document is two folios of ninety words in length or under, in addition to the fee for the copy … … … … [£]0 1[s.] 0[d.] / If exceeding two folios of ninety words, for every additional folio or part of a folio … … [£]0 0[s.] 6[d.]

1862, George Henry Cooper (reporter), Alexander Staveley Hill (reporter), “Fees to be Taken in the Principal Registry of the Court of Probate in Non-contentious Business”, in The Law Journal Reports for the Year 1862: Cases in the Court of Probate, in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, and in the High Court of Admiralty (New Series; XXXI), volume XL, part IV, London: Printed by James Holmes, 4, Took's Court, Chancery Lane; published by Edward Bret Ince, 5, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, →OCLC, page 64:

(law, dated) A leaf containing a certain number of words; hence, a certain number of words in a piece of writing, as in England, in law proceedings 72, and in chancery, 90; in New York, 100 words.

arkki

leaf containing a certain number of words; certain number of words in a piece of writing


novation

en-noun

novation (countable and uncountable, plural novations)

Borrowed from Latin novātiō (“a renewing, rennovation”), from novō, from novus (“new”). Compare novel, novelty.

bor

1998, London Clearing House, submission to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission http://www.cftc.gov/opa/press98/opa4163-98-att.htm
Netting by novation will occur immediately upon registration of the transaction in the SCM's name.

A similar novation of infrastructure ownership was seen as a logical development for the operation of Merseyrail services. But this has remained with Network Rail, […].

2024 September 18, 'Industry Insider', “GBR starts to take form”, in RAIL, number 1018, page 84:

(law) Replacement of a contract with one or more new contracts, in particular in financial markets the replacement of a contract between a particular buyer and seller with contracts between the clearing house and each party.

An example of a novation is where an original debt which was payable in two instalments is novated to become payable in five installments.

(law) A new contract between the original contracting parties whereby the first obligation is extinguished and a new obligation is substituted.


mora

From Latin mora (“duration of time, delay”).

(Scots law) A delay in bringing a claim.


pannage

en-noun

pannage (countable and uncountable, plural pannages)

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French pasnage (modern French panage), from Late Latin pasnadium, pastinaticum, from pastionare (“to feed on mast, as swine”), from Latin pastio (“a pasturing, grazing”). See pastor.

There is there a certain wood called Heton-woode in oaks and the like, in which the tenants of Heton, who hold by charter in fee, have house-bote and hay-bote, of the delivery of the lord; by which that wood is wasted [or much destroyed, destruitur], and on that account does not grow again as much in yearly value, in wood, pannage, or other issues of a wood.

1861, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(historical) A tax formerly paid for the privilege of feeding swine in the woods.


hit and run

hit and run (countable and uncountable, plural hit and runs)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hit and run.wav

But why don't you grab your old lady by the feet / And just lay her out in the darkest street / And by morning, she's just another hit and run

1978, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Street Hassle”, in Street Hassle:

(law) The crime of causing a traffic collision, and leaving without acknowledging responsibility.

肇事逃逸

the crime of causing an accident and leaving

bégstvo vodítelja s mésta doróžnovo proisšéstvija

бе́гство води́теля с ме́ста доро́жного происше́ствия


jailbird

From jail + bird, circa 1600. Compare gallows bird.

у́рка

criminal slang; opposed to political prisoner


precarious

en-adj

precarious (comparative more precarious, superlative most precarious)

more precarious (comparative)
most precarious (superlative)

From Latin precārius (“begged for, obtained by entreaty”), from prex, precis (“prayer”). Compare French précaire, Portuguese precário, and Spanish and Italian precario.

uder

/pɹɪˈkɛə.ɹɪ.əs/

(law) Depending on the intention of another.

widerruflich

(law) depending on the intention of another


bottom of the harbour

From the metaphor of money hidden in an inaccessible place. Also, allegedly, incriminating records were in some cases disposed of by dumping them in Sydney Harbour.

The 'bottom of the harbour' scheme was so named because a company once stripped of its assets, was dumped and, like a body in a cement suit, sank never to be seen again.

1982 June 5, Sydney Morning Herald, page 13:

John Howard argued that he was a relatively new Treasurer in 1978 when he was first given some advice from Treasury officials concerning the bottom-of-the-harbour tax schemes.

1983, Rob Chalmers, Jenny Hutchison, Don Whitington, Inside Canberra: A Guide to Australian Federal Politics, page 121:

Finally, the Leader of the Opposition was caught out for a third time by the 1984 report of the bottom of the harbour Special Prosecutor, Robert Gyles, who sheeted home the responsibility in this way.

1985, Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives weekly Hansard, number 18, page 2021:

The bottom-of-the-harbour scheme involved a practice which effectively denuded a company of any assets, meaning it was unable to meet its tax obligations.[…]With bottom-of-the-harbour schemes the legal obligation remained, but the company had no assets with which to meet the obligation.

2010, John Howard, Lazarus Rising: A Personal and Political Autobiography, unnumbered page:

(Australia, attributive) A tax avoidance scheme from the 1970s.


Anton Piller order

en-noun

Anton Piller order (plural Anton Piller orders)

Named after the 1976 British case of Anton Piller KG v Manufacturing Processes Limited, a leading case on the issuance of such orders (Anton Piller KG, the plaintiff and party requesting the order, was a German manufacturing firm).

(law) A court order allowing a plaintiff to go to someone's premises and seize documents (entry must be with that person's permission, but if refused would be a contempt of court). Used in extreme cases when a prospective defendant might destroy documents, especially computer files, if they knew a court case was coming.


Torrens title

Named for Robert Torrens (1814-1884), Premier of South Australia who introduced the first such system there in 1858.

Title to real estate provided by a government register (as opposed to the old common law system of deeds or chain of title).

Premier of South Australia
Robert Torrens
Torrens title


nepotism

nepotism (countable and uncountable, plural nepotisms)

Borrowed from French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from Latin nepōs (“nephew”), a reference to the practice of popes appointing relatives (most often nephews) as cardinals during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Nepotism can get you very far in the world if you've got the right connections.

Now retailers even demand deslotting or failure fees, a penalty for trial products that fail to meet their sales objectives. The struggle over display space heavily favors the incumbents and encourages what might be called brand nepotism.

1989, Report on Business Magazine, volume 6, numbers 1-6, page 100:

Mr Chen - a member of the national politburo as well as the Shanghai boss - is accused of nepotism and corruption on a grand scale: protecting political allies, granting preferment to his family and looting Shanghai's pension fund.

2006 September 27, “China airbrushes Chen”, in Financial Times:

The favoring of relatives (most strictly) or also personal friends (more broadly) because of their relationship rather than because of their abilities.

nepotizëm

favoring of relatives or personal friends


no liability

It was originally estimated that the mill of the Kingsgate Molybdenite No Liability, Kingsgate, NSW, would have been completed by the end of March,[…].

1918, Australian Mining, volume 11, page 210:

The use of no-liability companies is restricted to companies whose sole objective is mining, as designated by the Corporations Law. However, it is not necessary for a mining company to be a no-liability company.

1993, Doing business in Australia, Price: Waterhouse & Co, Part 66, page 65:

A company may be registered as a no liability company only if:
(a) the company has a share capital; and
(b) the company′s constitution states that its sole objects are mining purposes; and
(c) the company has no contractual right under its constitution to recover calls made on its shares from a shareholder who fails to pay them.

2011, Australian Corporations & Securities Legislation 2011: Corporations Act 2001, page 183:

(Australia, business, law) A form of limited liability that may be used by mining companies, under which the shareholders may pay a company debt by surrendering shares in lieu of money.


murderous

en-adj

murderous (comparative more murderous, superlative most murderous)

more murderous (comparative)
most murderous (superlative)

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

From murder + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting possession or presence of a quality).

suffix

murderous behaviour

She gave me a murderous look.

Is any man loth to leave his priſon? or to remove his dwelling from cruel enemies? or to ſcape the hands of murderous robbers? Do we take the world indeed for our priſon? our cruel, ſpoyling, murderous foe? and yet we are loth to leave it?

1659, Richard Baxter, “Reproving Our Unwillingness to Die”, in The Saints Everlasting Rest: Or, A Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in Their Enjoyment of God in Glory. […], 8th edition, London: […] Thomas Underhill and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, part IV, section V, page 603:

De Salez her Husband ſtriving and ſtrugling for life againſt the pangs of death; fear and haſt (contrary to her intent and mind) had ſo made his murtherous wifes hand ſhake and tremble, as ſhe did not ſo fully cut his throat-bole, but he could yet both cry and groan, which he did very mournfully, and which indeed was ſoon over-heard by a man and a maid-ſervant of his, […]

1662, John Reynolds, “History XI”, in The Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther. […] Book III, London: […] A. M. for William Lee, […], →OCLC, page 152:

Adam alſo was the High Prieſt, and received Authority from God, to teach the ſucceeding Generations of Men how to worſhip God, and what Sacrifices were to be offered by Cain and Abel, and all Poſterity. By which Sacrifices were brought into all Nations, to apply the Blood of the Lamb, ſlain from the foundation of the World, in the unalterable Purpoſes of God, to the Conſciences of all Men for the Remiſſion of their Sins, and to Excommunicate murderous Cain from the preſence of the Lord, […]

1711, Obedience to Civil Government Clearly Stated: […], London: […] George Strahan, […], →OCLC, page 34:

Of a person: intending or likely to commit murder; bloodthirsty, homicidal.

قَتُول

likely to commit murder — see also homicidal


hush money

The scandal was even greater when it was announced that hush money had been paid to keep the faulty products unannounced.

He holds, I am given to understand, a small official appointment in the colony. If it were known that he had received hush money, he would be ruined.

1854, James A. Maitland, chapter XXIX, in The Cabin Boy's Story, Garrett & Co., page 297:

Is paying hush money a crime? In most cases, the answer is no. Hush-money agreements, otherwise known as nondisclosure agreements, have long been used by companies and private individuals to avoid litigation and keep embarrassing information confidential.

2023 April 4, Michael Rothfeld, “Private or Political? Charges Over Hush Money Hinge on Payment’s Purpose”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Lawyers defending Mr. Trump, who denies he had sex with her, will likely argue that his employees were responsible for the paper trail that falsely described the reimbursement of the hush money as legal fees for Mr. Cohen.

2024 April 21, Michael Rothfeld, “Tracing the Trail of Hush-Money Deals That Led to Trump’s Prosecution”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A bribe to maintain secrecy (to prevent bad publicity or to prevent the discovery of a crime).


corporate veil

(law) The principle of a corporation being a separate legal person from its members (ie. shareholders).


clink

From the Clink prison in Southwark, London, itself presumably named after sound of doors being bolted or chains rattling.

If he keeps doing things like that, he’s sure to end up in the clink.


bucket shop

(law) A legal services firm selling heavily discounted legal services and documents made in large volume from boilerplate text and clauses, sometimes as a white labelled loss leader.


inducement

en-noun

inducement (countable and uncountable, plural inducements)

(law) An introductory statement of facts or background information.


supplies

(chiefly law) Financial resources supplied, often for a particular purpose.


limited partnership

limited partnership (plural limited partnerships)

(law) A form of partnership including limited partners whose potential liability is limited to their investment.


mopery

From mope + -ery, from mope (“to wander aimlessly”).

(law, US) An imaginary or trivial legal offense.


gunman

"I've known a heap of gun fighters in my day. An' Jean Isbel don't ran true to class. Shore there never was a gunman who'd risk cripplin' his right hand by sluggin' anybody."

1921, Zane Grey, chapter 5, in To The Last Man:

A criminal armed with a gun, especially a professional killer.


halter

halter A horse wearing a halter (canonical)
halters (plural)

From Middle English halter, helter, helfter, from Old English hælfter, hælftre (“halter”), from Proto-West Germanic *halftrijā (“harness”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), equivalent to half- + -ter. Cognate with Scots helter (“halter”), Dutch halfter, halster (“halter”), Low German halfter, helchter, halter (“halter”), German Halfter (“halter, holster”).

der

And Crates said, that love was cured with hunger, if not by time; and in him that liked not these two meanes, by the halter [translating hart].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

“[…]No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it.[…].”

1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

A rope with a noose, for hanging criminals; the gallows rope.


sumptuary

en-adj

sumptuary (comparative more sumptuary, superlative most sumptuary)

more sumptuary (comparative)
most sumptuary (superlative)

/-t͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/

From Latin sūmptuārius (“of or relating to expenditure, sumptuary; person in charge of household expenses”) + English -ary (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sūmptuārius is derived from sūmptus (“charge, cost, expense”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives); and sūmptus from sūmō (“to catch, seize, take; to acquire, get, obtain; to apply, employ, use; to consume, spend”) (from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, beneath, under’) + emō (“to acquire, procure; to buy, purchase”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to distribute; to take”))) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs).
cognates
* Middle French sumptuaire (modern French somptuaire)
* Italian sontuario
* Portuguese suntuário
* Spanish suntuario

der

Some vvill vvonder, that Empſon and Dudley (the Royal Promoters then in prime) did not catch him [Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden] by the Collar, or pick an hole in his Govvn, upon the breach of ſome ruſty ſumptuary Statute; the rather, becauſe lately the Earl of Oxford vvas heavily fined for ſupernumerous attendance.

a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Northampton-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 298:

When Sunday came, it was indeed a day of finery, which all my ſumptuary edicts could not reſtrain. How well ſo ever I fancied my lectures againſt pride had conquered the vanity of my daughters; yet I ſtill found them ſecretly attached to all their former finery: […]

1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “A Proof that Even the Humblest Fortune may Grant Happiness and Delight, which Depend Not on Circumstance, but Constitution”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 37:

Out upon the folly of modern liberty, which has abolished sumptuary laws, and left us to all the horrors of our own inventions! Liberty of conscience is bad enough—the liberty of the press is still worse—but worst of all is liberty of taste in dress to common people.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 123:

Apparently, Henry VII visited the city [Bristol] in 1487, "taking care to entail a sumptuary fine on the citizens because their wives dressed too gaudily".

2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 55:

Chiefly in sumptuary law: of a law, regulation, etc.: intended to limit or restrain the expenditure of citizens in apparel, food, furniture, etc., or to forbid the use of certain articles (especially luxurious ones), to regulate the prices of commodities and the wages of labour, or to reinforce morals or social hierarchies.

sumptuari

(by extension) Of or relating to sumptuary laws or regulations.

sumptuari

of or relating to sumptuary laws or regulations


low bono

(US, law) Of legal work: offered at a discounted rate, especially to underrepresented communities.


DTA

double tax agreement
double tax agreement#English

(taxation) Initialism of double tax agreement.


third party

(law) Someone only incidentally or tangentially connected to an incident or dispute; someone other than the principals; a bystander or independent witness.


intendment

en-noun

intendment (countable and uncountable, plural intendments)

(law) the sense in which the legal system interprets something, especially the intention of legislation

понима́ние

зако́на (zakóna)


summons

→ Bengali: সমন (śomon)

→ Cebuano: sumon

→ Malay: saman

→ English: saman

→ English: summon

From Middle English somouns (“order or command to do something”), borrowed from Old French sumunce (modern French semonce), from Vulgar Latin *summonsa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of summoneō, summonēre (“to summon”).

inh

(law) A notice summoning someone to appear in court, as a defendant, juror or witness.


domicile

From Middle English domicelle, domicylie, from Middle French domicile and directly from Latin domicilium.

the status of marriage has been indelibly fixed by the English celebration; and by this decision, her domicile, as a married woman, has been held to be that of her husband

1838, Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland:

(law) A residence at a particular place accompanied with an intention to remain there for an unlimited time; a residence accepted as a final abode.


blind pig

The Web address isn't officially registered, it's a blind pig.

2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 197:

(Internet) A Web address on the Deep Web that piggybacks on a public domain but is not visible to the system.


intromission

en-noun

intromission (countable and uncountable, plural intromissions)

From Latin intro-, "into", + mission', "sending", from Latin missio, from perfect passive participle missus, "sent", from verb mittere, "send", + noun of action -io. Commonly used to refer to the instant at which sexual intercourse begins, when the penis first slides into (enters) the vagina.

(law, Scotland) An intermeddling with the affairs of another, either on legal grounds or without authority.


marker

marker interface → marker interface pattern

(competition law) A formal certification that a company was the first to approach a competition authority to reveal the existence of a cartel, generally entitling it to greater leniency during the cartel's dissolution and punishment.


seduction

seduction (countable and uncountable, plural seductions)

Borrowed from Middle French séduction, from Latin seductio, from sēdūcō.

(dated, law, in English common law) The felony of, as a man, inducing a previously chaste unmarried female to engage in sexual intercourse on a promise of marriage.


grand larceny

grand larceny (countable and uncountable, plural grand larcenies)

(US, criminal law) The larceny of property whose value is greater than an amount set by law to distinguish it from petty larceny.

schwerer Diebstahl

larceny of value greater than set by law to distinguish it from petty larceny


reasons

The appellants sought at the hearing of the appeal, for the first time, to file the reasons of the Federal High Court of Nigeria for dismissing the respondent's motion to strike. Although the reasons were released February 2, 2015 and the motion before Perell J. was heard March 2, 2015, the reasons were not before the motion judge.

2015 November 17, Jean L. MacFarland, “James Bay Resources Limited v. Mak Mera Nigeria Limited, 2015 ONCA 781”, in CanLII, retrieved 2024-06-05:

(law, plural only) A written judgment or ruling by a judge or similar decision maker.


Established in the United Kingdom as the first emergency service number in the world, initially chosen because of its suitability at a time of rotary-dial telephones.

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!

2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2

When you call 999 in the UK, the operator usually answers the phone with "Emergency. Which service?"

The telephone number for emergency services in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Burma, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sudan, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Dominica, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and the Seychelles.

三条九 (saam¹ tiu⁴ gau², literally “triple nine”)

The telephone number for law enforcement in Singapore, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Eswatini, Botswana, Tanzania, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago.


(UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, colloquial, metonymically) Emergency services; emergency service personnel.


clemency

clemency (countable and uncountable, plural clemencies)

смекчаване

moderation of the severity of a punishment

Judicial intervention might, for example, be warranted in the face of a scheme whereby a state official flipped a coin to determine whether to grant clemency, or in a case where the State arbitrarily denied a prisoner any access to its clemency process.

2000, Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court of the United States, edited by Frank D. Wagner, Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272 (1998) (United States Reports; 523) (judicial opinion), Washington: United States Government Printing Office, →ISBN, Opinion of O'Connor, J., page 289:

(law) A pardon, commutation, or similar reduction, removal, or postponement of legal penalties by an executive officer of a state.

rangaistuksen lievennys

legal: pardon, commutation or similar reduction, removal, or postponement of legal penalties


untried

(law) Not put on trial; not taken before a legal court.


whitelist

(law, computing) A list or collection of people or entities that are known, trusted, or explicitly permitted.


stealing

stealing (countable and uncountable, plural stealings)

(uncountable) The action of the verb to steal, theft.


blacklist

The software included a lengthy blacklist of disreputable websites to block.

(law, computing) A list or set of people or entities to be shunned or banned, disallowed or blocked.


mug shot

Originally American; compound of mug (“face”) + shot (“snapshot”). Compare mug (“portrait”).

All Summer Johnny was Prince of the penny arcade, arms around me on the tilt-a-whirl, mug-shot grins in the quarter photo booth, twanging his guitar for street kids on the hill who scored baggies of hashish and Panama Red.

2002, Carolyne Wright, Greatest Hits 1975-2001, page 32:

The buddy list has a bunch of visual status clues. Your buddy may have included a mug shot, perhaps through Photo Booth.

2006 October 2, Edward C. Baig, Macs For Dummies, page 204:

All these parameters of the series (the mug shot, the means of mechanical reproduction, the desirability of the outlawed, the reversal of law and desire and even the photo booth) are unmistakably present in Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers.

2008, Johanne Lamoureux, PRECARIOUS VISUALITIES New Perspectives on Identification in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture: Ending Myths and the Catholic Outing of Andy Warhol, page 114:

After waiting some five hours to be called forward on an unusually hot, humid Summer’s day in London (I believe temperatures soared to around 30 degrees Centigrade or around 90F), I presented my mug shot to the perky female jobs-worth official.

2022 July 20, Marianne Paley, Betrayed!:

A photograph taken of the head and shoulders, often from the front and in profile, usually taken in conjunction with somebody's arrest.


spiv

Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.

(UK, Ireland, historical) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.


defalcate

en-verb

defalcate (third-person singular simple present defalcates, present participle defalcating, simple past and past participle defalcated)

defalcates (present singular third-person)
defalcating (participle present)
defalcated (participle past)
defalcated (past)

1530s, in sense “to lop off”, from Medieval Latin dēfalcātus, perfect passive participle of dēfalcō (“cut or lop off”), from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”), from which also English falcate (“sickle-shaped”).

One would have thought the natural method in a plan of reformation vvould be, to take the preſent exiſting eſtimates as they ſtand; and then to ſhevv vvhat may be practicably and ſafely defalcated from them.

1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 42:

To deduct or take away (a part of income, money, rents, etc.).


short title

Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021

The short title of this Act is the Companies Act 2006.

2006, Parliament of the United Kingdom, Companies Act 2006, section 1298:

(law, Commonwealth, US, Philippines) A title given to an act (or other piece of legislation) to facilitate citation; generally used as the common name for that legislation.


DCC

en-noun

DCC (countable and uncountable, plural DCCs)

deputy chief constable
deputy chief constable#English

(law enforcement) Initialism of deputy chief constable, a police rank used in Commonwealth countries.


bracket creep

The corporate tax is essentially a flat-rate tax; thus there is no bracket creep.

1985, C. Eugene Steuerle, Taxes, Loans, and Inflation: How the Nation's Wealth Becomes Misallocated, page 34:

Bracket creep, however, was occurring only among individuals, not corporations. All other things being equal, this bracket creep increased the extent to which borrowing would be undertaken by individuals, not corporations.

1990, John B. Shoven, Joel Waldfogel, Debt, Taxes, and Corporate Restructuring, page 27:

2001, Frederick C. v N. Fourie, How to Think and Reason in Macroeconomics, 2nd edition, page 290,
Bracket creep can be avoided by regularly adjusting tax brackets for inflation, so that the tax brackets remain unchanged in real terms.

progressive taxation
progressive taxation

(taxation) The move towards increased taxation when an inflation adjustment to a wage or salary pushes a taxpayer into a higher tax bracket (or, in a progressive taxation regime, further into a bracket).


jurisconsult

/ˌd͡ʒʊəɹɪskənˈsʌlt/

/ˌd͡ʒʊəɹɪsˈkɒnsʌlt/

From Latin iūris consultus (“one skilled in the law”).

bor

The Court shall be composed of a body of independent judges, elected regardless of their nationality from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law.

1945, United Nations, Statute of International Court of Justice:


suspended

Caused to stop for a while; interrupted or delayed.


conman

confidence trickster
confidence trickster


deposition

en-noun

deposition (countable and uncountable, plural depositions)

From Middle English deposicion, from Old French deposicion (French déposition), from Latin depositio.

calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease

(law) The process of taking sworn testimony out of court; the testimony so taken.


agent provocateur

agent provocateur (plural agents provocateurs)

Borrowed from French agent provocateur (literally “provocative agent”).

bor

"This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British justice."

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

I was told afterwards—quite possibly it was true—that agents provocateurs were touching off masses of explosive in order to increase the general noise and panic.

1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter IX, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

Suspecting that the man was an agent provocateur sent by the Prince, Pottinger told him that regrettably he had neither the knowledge nor the authority to instruct him in this or any other religion.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 50:

The criminalisation of protest has been aided by the director of public prosecution's recent guidelines on prosecuting protesters, which fail to account for the role of the police in prompting violence at demonstrations through tactics such as kettling, the use of batons, agents provocateurs and undercover policing.

2012 March 25, Nadine El-Enany, The Guardian:

A person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group, particularly by encouraging or committing illegal acts to discredit the group or expose them to prosecution; an instigator, troublemaker.

պրովոկատոր

a person who disrupts a group's activities from within

(beépített / civil ruhás rendőrségi) provokátor/provokatőr


owling

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

(historical) The smuggling of sheep or wool out of England.


negotiorum gestio

Borrowed from Latin negotiōrum gestiō (literally “management of business”).

MT ARGUN; SHERIFF OF CAPE TOWN AND ANOTHER v MT ARGUN, HER OWNERS AND ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN HER AND ANOTHER 2000 (4) SA 857 (C) @ 685.
The gestor is only entitled to reimbursement of expenses and not to remuneration, the underlying principle being that negotiorum gestio arises from an act of generosity and friendship and is not aimed at allowing the gestor to make a profit out of his administration.

(law) A situation in which a gestor acts on behalf of a principal for the benefit of that principal, but without the consent of that principal


vacatur

Latin third person singular present indicative passive of vacare (“it is made null and void”).

(law) An announcement in court that something is cancelled or set aside; an annulment.


boy in blue

Air force personnel used to distinguish airmen (blue jobs or boys in blue) from army personnel (brown jobs or boys in brown).

2006, David W. Clark, Joe's Letters, page 38:

(UK, air force slang, dated) A member of the air force.


victimless crime

en-noun

victimless crime (plural victimless crimes)

An act that is prohibited by law, yet which neither directly harms nor violates the rights of any specific person, although some people may claim it harms society as a whole.


enfranchise

en-verb

enfranchise (third-person singular simple present enfranchises, present participle enfranchising, simple past and past participle enfranchised)

enfranchises (present singular third-person)
enfranchising (participle present)
enfranchised (participle past)
enfranchised (past)

From Old French enfranchir (“to set free, enfranchise”), from en- (“in”) + franchir (“to set free”), equivalent to en- + franchise.

uder

(property law, England and Wales, historical) to convert a copyhold estate into a freehold estate


lex lata

Borrowed from Latin lēx lāta (“the law borne”) (see below).

1997, Lyal S Sunga, The Emerging System of International Criminal Law http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN9041104720&id=Dbb8eQH-vbQC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&sig=3A8fBOXMx7bQAO7AWXOIUA6Lzyw
At that point, little purpose would be served in maintaining categories fashioned so closely to the lex lata that the Code would crystallize traditional technical distinctions.

2000, Nikolaos K. Tsagourias, The Jurisprudence of International Law http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0719054656&id=V_YiUMuaIQwC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&sig=Gpm22qlBVtypDtVqQreLbz6pDrw
This also betrays an interest in transforming world order by approximating lex lata with lex ferenda.

Lex ferenda serves as a label for something which has at least conceptual existence, as a contrast or opposite to lex lata, the law that exists and obliges the subjects of law to adopt, or to refrain from, certain defined courses of conduct in certain defined circumstances.

2002, Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, 2001 http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN9067041556&id=7tV2LgZzjn8C&lpg=PA5&pg=PA4&sig=tqI91yfti-e5shuss0twPraRca8


SPC

en-noun

SPC (countable and uncountable, plural SPCs)

(patent law) Initialism of supplementary protection certificate.


stuffer

One who conceals a package of illegal drugs by swallowing them.


force majeure

force majeure (usually uncountable, plural forces majeures)

/ˌfɔːs mæˈʒɜː/

/ˌfoɹs mɑˈʒɜɹ/

PIE word
 *méǵh₂s
Borrowed from French force majeure (“exceptionally strong or superior force; (law) unavoidable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a legal obligation”), from force (“force”) (ultimately from Latin fortis (“powerful, strong”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to ascend, rise up; to be elevated, up high”) or *dʰerǵʰ- (“robust, strong”)) + majeure (the feminine singular of majeur (“of great importance, major”), ultimately from Latin māior (“greater; large”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big; great”)).

der

Brazil's largest trader of sugar and ethanol declared force majeure to some third party exporters of sugar with contracts to ship through its Santos Port terminal that burned down on Friday, sources in the sugar trade said.

2013 October 22, “Brazil’s Copersucar Declares Force Majeure to 3rd Party Sugar Shippers”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2023-11-17:

18. GNM [Guardian News & Media Limited] shall not be liable for any failure to comply with its obligations where the failure is caused by something outside its reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.

2013 November 3, “Observer Magazine Competition: Win a Moncrief bag and Ipad case! [terms and conditions]”, in The Observer, London, archived from the original on 2021-11-23:

Dated 14 July, the letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was declaring force majeure on supplies, starting from 14 June. Known as an "act of God" clause, a force majeure clause is standard in business contracts and spells out extreme circumstances that excuse a party from their legal obligations.

2022 July 18, Reuters, “Russia’s Gazprom tells European buyers it cannot guarantee gas supplies”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-19:

(law) An unavoidable circumstance, especially one that prevents someone from fulfilling a legal (usually contractual) obligation.


adulterer

Coordinate term: fornicator

en:one who commits adultery
en:unfaithful spouse

(law, strictly) A spouse who has sex with a non-spouse.

One who commits adultery.
A spouse who has sex with a non-spouse.


charger

/ˈt͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒɚ/

-ɑː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)

From Middle English chargere, equivalent to charge + -er.

dækketallerken

a large platter under the dinner plate in a formal dinner setting

Miller had a new executive officer, a real charger, as they're known in the trade, who was looking into all aspects of the operation up there.

1980, Bill Gulley, Mary Ellen Reese, Breaking Cover, page 161:

Synonym of hard charger (“person with a good work ethic”)


requisition

en-noun

requisition (countable and uncountable, plural requisitions)

/ˌɹɛkwɪˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English requisicion, from Old French requisicion, from Medieval Latin requisitio. By surface analysis, requisite + -ion or require + -ition in parallel to acquisition.

a requisition used upon an infeftment of annualrent

1828, John Erskine, An Institute of the Law of Scotland:

(law) A notarial demand for repayment of a debt.


cloud on title

"Although the laws of a State cannot affect the equity jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts, when the former afford rules as to what shall be deemed clouds on title, the Circuit Courts of equity, in the exercise of an ancient chancery jurisdiction, may remove such clouds."

1856, “Bayerque v. Cohen et al.”, in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Districts of California, page 113:

"A cloud on title is an instrument which may be used vexatiously or injuriously against the owner of land, or which may cast suspicion on the validity of his title so as to render his land unsaleable at its full value."

1914, Eugene Allen Gilmore, William Charles Wermuth, Modern American Law, page 88:

"Clouds on title are usually revealed by a title search and may be removed from the record by a quitclaim deed or a quiet title proceeding initiated by the property owner."

2000, John W. Reilly, The Language of Real Estate, page 71:

(property law) An encumbrance or claim on a title (ownership) to real property sufficient to interfere with title transfer until the problem has been resolved.


disabled

en-adj

disabled (comparative more disabled, superlative most disabled)

more disabled (comparative)
most disabled (superlative)


suzerain

From French suzerain, based on sus (“up, above”) (from Latin sursum) with the ending of souverain (whence also English sovereign).

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:

The origin of these conflicts is to be sought in the position which Rome acquired about 275 b.c. as suzerain and protector of all Italy.

1911, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 22, Punic Wars, page 649:

(international politics) A dominant nation or state that has control over the international affairs of a subservient state which otherwise has domestic autonomy.


reversioner

(law) A person who possesses the reversion to an estate or office.


NPTA

Initialism of National Police and Troopers Association.


reversion

en-noun

reversion (countable and uncountable, plural reversions)

/ɹɪˈvɜːʒ(ə)n̩/

/ɹɪˈvɜːʃ(ə)n̩/

Borrowed into late Middle English from Old French reversion (modern réversion), from Latin reversio, from revertō. By surface analysis, revert + -sion.

Why nothing capital of my master's wardrobe has drop'd lately—but I could give you a mortgage on some of his winter Cloaths with equity of redemption before November or—you shall have the reversion—of the French velvet, or a post obit on the Blue and Silver—

1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, III.ii:

Each day too slew it’s^([sic]) thousands six or seven,
Till at the crowning carnage—Waterloo—
They threw their pens down in divine disgust,
The page was so besmeared with blood and dust. […]
(Here, Sathan’s sole good work deserves insertion—
’Tis, that he has both Generals in reversion).

1822, Lord Byron, The Vision of Judgement, stanza 6:

By the spring of 1972, however, Peking’s general anti-Japanese offensive was fading away in any case, and in mid-May the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese jurisdiction brought the Self-Defense Forces into the vicinity of the Tiao Yü T’ai (or Senkaku). Peking accordingly dropped the issue as suddenly as it had taken it up.

1975, Harold C. Hinton, “Japan: Power and Problems”, in Three and A Half Powers: The New Balance in Asia, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 223:

(property law) The return of an estate to the donor or grantor after expiry of the grant.

(property law) An estate which has been returned in this manner.

(property law) The right of succeeding to an estate, or to another possession.


annulment

annulment (countable and uncountable, plural annulments)

Recorded since the 15th century (sense destruction); from Middle English anullement, partly from annullen (from Middle French annuller, from Latin annūllāre, from ad (“to”) + nūllus (“not any, nothing”) + verbal ending -āre) + -ment (“means to”) (from Latin -mentum) and partly from Middle French annullement. By surface analysis, annul + -ment.

(law) An invalidation of something, especially a legal contract.

(law) A legal (notably judicial) declaration that a marriage is invalid; the procedure leading to it.

анулиране

invalidation; declaration of something as being invalid


goonda

‘I cannot imagine the minds of goondas.’

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 31:


idem sonans

Borrowed from Latin idem sonāns (“sounding the same”).

bor+

(law, of a name) Incorrectly spelled, but sufficiently correct to identify someone.


presents

Know all men by these presents...

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July^([sic – meaning January]) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

1974 September 8, Gerald R. Ford, 00:24 from the start, in Proclamation 4311, archived from the original on 2017-05-18, page 2:

(law) The document in which the word presents appears.


infangthief

/ˈɪnfæŋθiːf/

From Middle English infangthef, from Old English infangeneþēof (“infangthief”), from in- + fangen (“seized, taken”) + þēof (“thief”). See also infang.

inh

The wrought-iron gates (infangthief and outfangthief in heavy balls on the gate-posts) were open for their hard-breathing entry.

1964, Anthony Burgess, The Eve of St Venus:

in flagrante delicto
in flagrante delicto

(historical, law) A privilege of some feudal lords permitting them to execute summary judgment upon thieves captured within their estates, sometimes restricted to the lord's tenants or men and sometimes limited to those caught in flagrante delicto.


tales

From Latin plural of talis (“such (persons)”).

(law) A person available to fill vacancies in a jury.

(law) A book or register of people available to fill jury vacancies.

(law) A writ to summon people to court to fill vacancies in a jury.


sublet

en-verb

sublet (third-person singular simple present sublets, present participle subletting, simple past and past participle sublet)

sublets (present singular third-person)
subletting (participle present)
sublet (participle past)
sublet (past)

(transitive, property law) To grant a sublease out of property held under a lease.


sublet

(property law, real estate, informal) Synonym of sublease.


levant

(law) Rising or having risen from rest; said of cattle.


time and a half

(law, business, human resources) A rate of pay 50% greater than normal, commonly used for overtime work.


messuage

From Late Middle English mesuage, messuage (“dwelling house, residence; farmstead; household”), from Anglo-Norman mesuage, messuage (“residence; holding”), probably from Late Latin mesuagium, messuagium, probably ultimately from Latin mānsiō (“abode, dwelling, habitation, home”) or its etymon mānsus (“having remained or stayed”), the perfect passive participle of maneō (“to abide; to remain, stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to remain, stay”).
cognates
* Late Latin mansuagium
* Old French masuage (“property rented on an annual basis”)

cog

Dying intestate, Juan was sole heir / To a chancery suit, and messuages, and lands, / Which, with a long minority and care, / Promised to turn out well in proper hands: […]

1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza XXXVII, page 21:

And be it further ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Right and Title of the said Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal, in and to all and singular the said Fiefs and Seigniories of the Island of Montreal, of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and of Saint Sulpice, and their several Dependencies, and in and to all Seigniorial and Feudal Rights, Privileges, Dues, and Duties arising out of and from the same, and in and to all and every the Domains, Lands, Reservations, Buildings, Messuages, Tenements, and Hereditaments within the said several Fiefs and Seigniories now held and possessed by them as Proprietors thereof, […] shall be and they are hereby confirmed and declared good, valid, and effectual in the Law; […]

1840 June 8, C[harles] Poulett Thomson, “An Ordinance to Incorporate the Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal; […] [No. 164 of 1840]”, in Copy of Ordinances Passed by the Governor and Special Council of Lower Canada, in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (Accounts and Papers, Parliament of the United Kingdom, House of Commons; 1841, session 1), volume XV, published 3 February 1841, →OCLC, pages 151–152:

She went—and in one month / They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds, / To lands in Kent and messuages in York, / And slight Sir Robert with his watery smile / And educated whisker.

1842, Alfred Tennyson, “[English Idyls and Other Poems. (Published 1842.)] Edwin Morris; or, The Lake”, in Poems, 8th edition, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 235:

Matthias turned his lonely house into a mart where furniture, plate and titledeeds to fields and messuages could be brought, evaluated, and transferred to the hands of the primal twelve as administrators.

1985 September 1, Anthony Burgess, chapter 1, in The Kingdom of the Wicked, London: Allison & Busby, published 2009, →ISBN, page 74:

(chiefly law) Originally, a plot of land as the site for a dwelling house and its appurtenant interests; now, a dwelling house or residential building together with its outbuildings and assigned land.


herbage

en-noun

herbage (usually uncountable, plural herbages)

From Middle English herbage, from Old French erbage, from Early Medieval Latin herbāticum, from Latin herba (“grass”). By surface analysis, herb + -age.

(law) The natural pasture of a land, considered as distinct from the land itself; hence, right of pasture (on another man's land).


superintendent

From Ecclesiastical Latin superintendens, a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos); thence being distantly related to English bishop.


dark figure

In exploring the dark figure of crime, the primary question is not how much of it becomes revealed but rather what will be the selective properties of any particular innovation for its illumination.

1977, US Congressional House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Suspension of the National Crime Survey, page 15:

The dark figure concerning these criminal offences, is very high and the attitude towards reporting such cases is not constant.

1992, Hisao Katoh, Louise I. Shelley, Hisao Katō, Hans-Günther Heiland, Crime and Control in Comparative Perspectives, Walter de Gruyter, page 49:

By definition, they ignore the unreported “dark figure” of crime. We turn now to a second source of official crime data.

2000, Piers Beirne, James W. Messerschmidt, Criminology:

Arguing that the dark figure is larger, perhaps very large (“The cases we know about are just the tip of the iceberg!”), makes any estimate seem possible, even reasonable.

2012, Joel Best, Damned Lies and Statistics […] , University of California Press, →ISBN, page 37:

(criminology, statistics) The estimated number of unreported criminal cases.


scaffold

From Middle English scaffold, scaffalde, from Anglo-Norman schaffaut, eschaffaut, eschafal, eschaiphal, escadafaut (“platform to see a tournament”) (Modern French échafaud), from Old French es- (indicating movement away or separation) (from Latin ex- (“out, away”)) + chafaud, chafaut, chafault, caafau, caafaus, cadefaut (“scaffold for executing a criminal”), from Vulgar Latin *catafalcum (“viewing stage”), possibly from Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “back; against”) + Latin -falicum (from fala, phala (“wooden gallery or tower; siege tower”)).

der

United States Capitol
scaffold (disambiguation)

The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!

1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:

Again and again she recurred to the scene of his execution, whose horror was heightened by the familiar circumstances with which it was attended. The customary scaffold has its own awe—justice and obedience and usage surround the place; but to die a violent death, and by the hand of man, amid life's daily scenes, all associations so domestic and so ordinary, aggravates the ghastly spectacle, and makes the doom seem at once cruel and undeserved.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 85:

An elevated platform on which a criminal is executed.


time immemorial

en-noun

time immemorial (usually uncountable, plural times immemorial)

(UK law, uncountable) Time before 6 July 1189.


cognovit

(law) An instrument in writing whereby a defendant in an action acknowledges a plaintiff's demand to be just.


perpetuate

en-verb

perpetuate (third-person singular simple present perpetuates, present participle perpetuating, simple past and past participle perpetuated)

perpetuates (present singular third-person)
perpetuating (participle present)
perpetuated (participle past)
perpetuated (past)
perpetuate (infinitive)

/pəˈpɛt͡ʃʊeɪt/

/pɚˈpɛt͡ʃəˌweɪt/

From Late Middle English perpetuate (adjective only), borrowed from Latin perpetuātus (“perpetuated”) + English -ate (suffix meaning ‘characterized by [the specified thing]’ forming adjectives, and ‘to act in [the specified manner]’ forming verbs). Perpetuātus is the perfect passive participle of perpetuō (“to cause to continue uninterruptedly, to proceed with continually, to make perpetual, perpetuate”), from perpetuus (“everlasting, perpetual”) (from per- (prefix meaning ‘very’) + petō (“to ask, request; to look for; to make for (somewhere)”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”)) + -uus (suffix forming adjectives)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
cognates
* Catalan perpetuar
* Italian perpetuare
* Old French perpetué (adjective) (Middle French perpetué (adjective)); Middle French perpétuer (verb) (modern French perpétuer (verb))
* Old Occitan perpetuar
* Portuguese perpetuar
* Spanish perpetuar

säilyttää

If vvitneſſes to a diſputable fact are old and infirm, it is very uſual to file a bill to perpetuate the teſtimony of thoſe vvitneſſes, although no ſuit is depending; for, it may be, a man's antagoniſt only vvaits for the death of ſome of them to begin his ſuit. This is moſt frequent vvhen lands are deviſed by vvill avvay from the heir at lavv; and the deviſee, in order to perpetuate the teſtimony of the vvitneſſes to ſuch vvill, exhibits a bill in chancery againſt the heir, […]

1768, William Blackstone, “Of Proceedings in the Courts of Equity”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book III (Of Private Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 450:

It appears to me that this bill makes out no case for perpetuating testimony. Although it was true that the validity of the will could not, by reason of the lease, be immediately tried with the devises in trust, yet it may be immediately tried by an action for rent against the tenant. Testimony can be perpetuated only where by no means the Plaintiff can presently assert his title to the property.

1822 December 17, John Leach, Vice-Chancellor, “Dew v. Clarke”, in The English Reports, volume LVII (Vice-Chancellor’s Court, volume II), Edinburgh: William Green & Sons; London: Stevens & Sons, published October 1905, →OCLC, page 46:

(transitive) To make (something) perpetual; to make (something) continue for an indefinite time; also, to preserve (something) from extinction or oblivion.

(law) To record (the testimony of a witness) which may be lost before a matter comes to trial.


title deed

(law) A deed or similar document by which the title to property is conveyed between parties.

нотариален акт

deed by which the title to property is conveyed


enfeoffment

en-noun

enfeoffment (countable and uncountable, plural enfeoffments)

(law, common law) The act or process of transferring possession and ownership of an estate in land.

infeudació

act or process of transferring possession of land

(law, common law) The property or estate so transferred.

(law, common law) The instrument or deed by which one obtains such property or estate.


outfangthief

From out- + fang + thief, formed—probably in Middle English [Term?]—after the model of infangthief, with the only Old English [Term?] attestation a spurious charter forged in the 1st half of the 12th century.

A grant of outfangthief imports the trial of those of his fee taken for felony in another precinct.

1822, John Comyns, Anthony Hammond, A Digest of the Laws of England, Butterworth & Son, page 328:

The addition of outfangandthef is much less usual [than infangthief]; it seems to have meant the right to try a man of the barony taken stealing outside the barony, if necessary repledging him to the barony court.

1990, David Maxwell Walker, A Legal History of Scotland, volume II, page 640:

(historical, law, properly, rare) A privilege of some feudal lords permitting them to execute summary judgment upon thieves (particularly their own tenants) captured outside their estates and to keep any chattels forfeited upon conviction.

But feudalism also contained another principle, and that was, that within his own territory each lord was absolute; his suzerain could not interfere with his jurisdiction; infangthief and outfangthief implied a very perfect and intelligible power of hanging and imprisoning as he pleased.

1845, John Henry Newman, Lives of the English Saints, ST Freemantle, p. 19

(historical, law, generally, rare) A privilege of some feudal lords permitting them to execute summary judgment upon all thieves captured within their estates, regardless of their origin.

(historical, law, rare, countable) A thief so captured and tried.


prothonotary

From Middle English prothonotarie, from Medieval Latin protonotarius, from Byzantine Greek πρωτονοτάριος (prōtonotários), from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos) + Byzantine Greek νοτάριος (notários), from Latin notārius (“notary”).

der

πρωτονοτάριος

I accordingly did direct him how to enter an appearance with the prothonotary and to obtain a copy of the plaint or declaration.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 231

Prothonotary was a pretty impressive-sounding title for a clerk of court, but that’s how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania rolled.

2012, Melissa F. Miller, chapter 39, in Inadvertent Disclosure (The Sasha McCandless Series; Volume 1), e-book edition, Brown Street Books, →ISBN, page 7542:

A registrar or chief clerk in various courts of law, especially (US) in a county court, (Australia) in certain state Supreme Courts, (Canada) in Federal Court.


black market

Ca. 1930, probably a calque of German Schwarzmarkt, which is attested from the 1910s. Compare Schwärzer (“smuggler”, 18th c.).

Peace and order will not be tolerated. Start saving your cash for the black market, folks, you're gonna need it.

2004, George Carlin, “THE FANATICS WILL WIN”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, page 135:

In District 12, a dirt-poor coal-mining community that looks like a Dorothea Lange photograph, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) quietly rebels against the system by hunting game in a forbidden area with her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and trading it on the black market.

2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club:

Increasing numbers of people are turning to a growing black market for food to supplement their diets as prices rocket, experts have said.

2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “Britons increasingly turning to food black market, experts say”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing, or price controls.

swartmark

trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing or price controls


respite

en-noun

respite (countable and uncountable, plural respites)

From Anglo-Norman and Old French respit (“rest”), from Latin respectus. Doublet of respect.

Thenne spake sir gawayn and sayd my lord Arthur I wold counceylle yow not to be ouer hasty but that ye wold putte it in respyte this Iugement of my lady the quene for many causes.
"Then spake Sir Gawaine, and said: My lord Arthur, I would counsel you not to be over-hasty, but that ye would put it in respite, this judgment of my lady the queen, for many causes."

1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter vii, leaf 404v:

The PACC Act [Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act] also amends the CPC [Criminal Procedure Code] to provide that a capital sentence may be carried out unless:[…]The President has ordered a respite.

2024 June 24, “Operationalisation of the Post-Appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022”, in Ministry of Law (Singapore):

(law) A reprieve, especially from a sentence of death.

отсрочка

(law) reprieve, especially from a sentence of death

(law) The delay of appearance at court granted to a jury beyond the proper term.

Aussetzung des Verfahrens

(law) delay of appearance at court granted to a jury beyond the proper term


corruption of blood

The Congreſs shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or
Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

1787 September 17, Constitutional Convention, Constitution of the United States, Philadelphia, →OCLC, page 3:

(historical, law) The doctrine in English common law that someone attainted of felony or treason has corrupt blood and so cannot inherit property and has no legal heirs.


tomato juice

tomato juice (countable and uncountable, plural tomato juices)

standards of identity
standard of identity

(US standards of identity) A food obtained from the unfermented liquid extracted from mature tomatoes of the red or reddish varieties of Lycopersicum esculentum P. Mill, strained free from peel, seeds, and other coarse or hard substances, containing finely divided insoluble solids from the flesh of the tomato.


abstract of title

abstract of title (countable and uncountable, plural abstracts of title)

(law, real estate) An epitome of the evidences of ownership; the condensed history of title to a particular parcel of real estate, with encumbrances.


jockey

The word is by origin a diminutive of jock, the Northern English or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name John, which is also used generically for "boy" or "fellow" (compare Jack, Dick), at least since 1529. A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolk" in Shakespeare's Richard III. v. 3, 304. Equivalent to jock + -ey.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the word was applied to horse-dealers, postilions, itinerant minstrels and vagabonds, and thus frequently bore the meaning of a cunning trickster, a "sharp", whence the verb to jockey, "to outwit" or "to do" a person out of something. The current meaning of a person who rides a horse in races was first seen in 1670.

(UK, crime, slang) A prostitute's client.


glasshouse

From Middle English glasehows, glashous, glashows; equivalent to glass + house.

people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

(British military slang) A military prison.

оранжерия

building made of glass in which plants are grown


in re

From Latin, literally meaning "in the matter [of]".

Various groups throughout the country are thinking in terms of having a counter-demonstration in re the Fundamentalists' March to Return Morality to America.

1979 December 29, Vern Hall-Smith, “Fundamentalists March”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 23, page 5:

(chiefly law) In the matter of; with regard to.


remise

From Anglo-Norman remis, Middle French remis, past participle of remettre (“to remit”); Middle French remise (noun), from feminine past participle of remettre (“to remit”).

(obsolete, law) A return or surrender of a claim, property etc.


livery

livery (countable and uncountable, plural liveries)

From Middle English livery, liveree, from Anglo-Norman liveree, from Old French livree. Compare modern French livrée.

(law) The delivery of property from one owner to the next.

(law) The writ by which property is obtained.

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,
dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 2”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

Outward markings, fittings or appearance


reprise

From Middle English reprise (noun) and reprisen (verb), from Old French reprise, from reprendre. In some senses borrowed anew from Modern French reprise.

(law, in the plural) Deductions and duties paid yearly out of a manor and lands, as rent charge, pensions, annuities, etc.; also spelled reprizes.