Glossary of law

This page is a glossary of law.

A
  • A fortiori. By a stronger reason. A term used in logic to denote an argument to the effect that because one ascertained fact exists, therefore another, which is included in it, and which is less improbable, unusual, or surprising, must also exist.[1]
  • A mensa et thoro. From bed and board. Descriptive of a limited divorce or separation by judicial sentence.[1]
  • A vinculo matrimonii. (Lat. from the bond of matrimony) A term descriptive of a kind of divorce, which effects a complete dissolution of the marriage contract.[1]
  • Abactor. l. A cattle-stealer.[2]
  • Abandonment. Desertion; surrender; relinquishment of property; as when an insured person makes over his rights in the goods to the insurer.[2]
  • Abarnare.  l. To detect or disclose a crime.[2]
  • Accessary. In criminal law. Contributing to or aiding in the commission of a crime. One who, without being present at the commission of a felonious offence, becomes guilty of such offence, not as a chief actor, but as a participator, as by command, advice, instigation or concealment; either before or after the fact or commission; a particeps criminis.[1]
  • Account. A detailed statement of the mutual demands in the nature of debt and credit between parties, arising out of contracts or some fiduciary relation.[1]
  • Act of God. Under the term "act of God" are comprehended all misfortunes and accidents arising from inevitable necessity, which human prudence could not foresee or prevent.[1]
  • Ad valorem. According to value. Duties are either ad valorem or specific; the former when the duty is laid in the form of a percentage on the value of the property; the latter when it is imposed as a fixed sum on each article of a class without regard to its value.[3]

B
  • Bail. In practice. The sureties who procure the release of a person under arrest, by becoming responsible for his appearance at the time and place designated. Those persons who become sureties for the appearance of the defendant in court.[4]

C
  • Canon. A law, rule, or ordinance in general, and of the church in particular. An ecclesiastical law or statute.[5]

D
  • Damage feasant or faisant. Doing damage. A term applied to a person's cattle or beasts found upon another's land, doing damage by treading down the grass, grain, etc.[6]

E
  • Ejectment. At common law, this was the name of a mixed action (springing from the earlier personal action of ejectione firmae) which lay for the recovery of the possession of land, and for damages for the unlawful detention of its possession. The action was highly fictitious, being in theory only for the recovery of a term for years, and brought by a purely fictitious person, as lessee in a supposed lease from the real party in interest. The latter's title, however, must be established in order to warrant a recovery, and the establishment of such title, though nominally a mere incident, is in reality the object of the action. Hence this convenient form of suit came to be adopted as the usual method of trying titles to land.[7]

F
  • Fabricated evidence. Evidence manufactured or arranged after the fact, and either wholly false or else warped and discoloured by artifice and contrivance with a deceitful intent.[8]

G
  • General occupant. At common law where a man was tenant pur autre vie, or had an estate granted to himself only (without mentioning his heirs) for the life of another man, and died without alienation during the life of cestui que vie, or him by whose life it was holden, he that could first enter on the land might lawfully retain the possession, so long as cestui que vie lived, by right of occupancy, and was hence termed a "general" or "common occupant".[9]

H
  • Hearsay. A term applied to that species of testimony given by a witness who relates, not what he knows personally, but what others have told him, or what he has heard said by others.[10]

I
  • Identity. In the law of evidence. Sameness; the fact that a subject, person, or thing before a court is the same as it is represented, claimed, or charged to be.[10]

J
  • Joinder. Joining or coupling together; uniting two or more constituents or elements in one; uniting with another person in some legal step or proceeding.[11]

K
  • Keelage. The right of exacting a toll from ships in a harbor; the money so paid.[12]

L
  • Lease. A conveyance of land or tenements to a person for life, for a term of years, or at will, in consideration of a return of rent or some other recompense. The person who so conveys such lands or tenements is termed the "lessor", and the person to whom they are conveyed, the "lessee"; and when the lessor so conveys lands or tenements to a lessee; he is said to lease, demise, or let them.[13]

M
  • Mala in se. Wrongs in themselves; acts morally wrong; offences against conscience.[14]

See also

References
  • Reddon and  Veron. Modern Legal Glossary. Michie Company. 1980. Google Books
  • Willey Howell (compiler). Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. The Army Service Schools, Department of Law. 1910. Google Books.
  • Tayler. The Law Glossary. Ninth Edition. 1889. Google Books
  • Frederic Jesup Stimson. Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. 1881. Google Books
  • Kinney. A Law Dictionary and Glossary. 1893. Google Books
  • Burrill. A Law Dictionary and Glossary. Second Edition. Volume 1. Volume 2.
  • Gibb. Students' Glossary of Scottish Legal Terms. Second Edition. 1982. Green. Google Books
  • Lewis. A Glossary of Mediaeval Welsh Law. 1913. Internet Archive
  1. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 1.
  2. Stimson. Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law. 1881. p 2.
  3. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. pp 1 & 2.
  4. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 5.
  5. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 6.
  6. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 15.
  7. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 18.
  8. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 21.
  9. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 23.
  10. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 24.
  11. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 27.
  12. Stimson. Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law. 1881. p 180.
  13. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. pp 28 & 29.
  14. Howell. Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. 1910. p 30.
Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Willey Howell (compiler). Glossary of Legal Terms and Phrases. The Army Service Schools, Department of Law. 1910.
  • This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Frederic Jesup Stimson. Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. 1881.
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