ABUSE OF PROCESS = The improper and tortious use of a legitimately issued court process to obtain a result that is either unlawful or beyond the process’s scope. Confer MALICIOUS PROSECUTION. {The

}.

ABUSE OF THE WRIT DOCTRINE = Criminal procedure. The principle that a petition for a writ of Habeus Corpus may not raise claims that should have been, but were not, asserted in a previous petition. Confer SUCCESSIVE-WRIT DOCTRINE {The

}.

ABUT = verb. To join at a border or boundary; to share a common boundary with. – abutment, noun. {The

}.

ABUTTALS = Land boundaries; the boundary lines of a piece of land in relation to other contiguous lands. {The

}.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM = The right (especially of a university teacher) to speak freely about political  or ideological issues without fear of loss of position or other reprisal. {The

}.

ACCELERATION = noun. 1. The advancing of a loan agreement’s maturity date so that the entire debt is due immediately. 2. The shortening of the time for vesting in possession of an expectant interest. 3. Property. The hastening of an owner’s time for enjoyment of an estate because of the failure of a preceding estate. – accelerate, verb. {The

}.

ACCELERATION CLAUSE = A loan-agreement provision that requires the debtor to pay off  the balance sooner than the due date if some specified event occurs, such as failure to pay an installment or to maintain insurance. Confer INSECURITY CLAUSE. {The

}.

ACCEPTANCE = noun. 1. An offeree’s assent, either by express act or by implication from conduct, to the terms of an offer in a manner authorized or requested by the offerer, so that a binding contract is formed. – If an acceptance modifies the terms or adds new ones, it generally operates as a counteroffer. Confer OFFER. 2. A buyer’s assent that the goods are to be taken in performance of a contract for sale. 3. The formal receipt of and agreement to pay a negotiable instrument. 4. A negotiable instrument, especially a bill of exchange, that has been accepted for payment. – accept, verb.

Accommodation acceptance = The acceptance of an offer to buy goods for current or prompt shipment by shipping of nonconforming goods after notifying the buyer that the shipment is intended as an accommodation. – This type of “acceptance” is not truly an acceptance under contract law, but operates instead as a counteroffer if the buyer is duly notified. {The

}.

ACCEPTANCE-OF-THE-BENEFITS RULE = The doctrine that a party may not appeal a judgment after voluntarily and intentionally received all or some part of the relief provided by it. {The

}.

ACCESSION = 1. The act of acceding or agreeing. 2. A coming into a possession of a right or office. 3. The acquisition of title to personal property by bestowing labor on a raw material to convert it to another thing. 4. A property owner’s right to all that is added to the property (especially land) naturally or by labor, including land left by floods and improvements made by others. Confer ANNEXATION. 5. An improvement to existing personal property, such as new shafts on golf clubs. {The

}.

ACCESSORY = noun. 1. Something of secondary or subordinate importance. 2. Criminal law. A person who aids or contributes in the commission or concealment of a crime. – An accessory is usually liable only if the crime is a felony. – accessory, adjective – accessoryship, noun. Confer PRINCIPAL (2).

Accessory AFTER the fact = An accessory who was not at the scene of the crime but knows that a crime has been committed and who helps the offender try to escape arrest or punishment. – An accessory after the fact may be prosecuted for obstructing justice.

Accessory BEFORE the fact = An accessory who assists or encourages another to commit a crime but was not present when the crime is actually committed. - Most  jurisdictions have abolished this category of accessory and instead treat such an offender as an accomplice. See ACCOMPLICE. {The

}.

ACCIDENT = noun. 1. An unintended and unforeseen injurious occurrence; something that does not occur in the usual course of events or that could not be REASONABLY anticipated. 2. Equity practice. An unforeseen and injurious occurrence not attributable to mistake, negligence, neglect, or misconduct. – accidental, adjective. {The

}.

ACCIDENTAL KILLING = Homicide resulting from a lawful act performed in a lawful manner under a REASONABLE belief that no harm could occur. Confer “negligent homicide” under HOMICIDE; “involuntary manslaughter” under MANSLAUGHTER. {The

}.

ACCOMMODATION = noun. 1. A loan or other financial favor. 2. The act of signing an accommodation paper as surety for another. See ACCOMMODATION PAPER. 3. The act or an instance of making a change or provision for someone or something; an adaptation or adjustment.

Public accommodation = A business that provides lodging, food, entertainment or other services to the public; especially (as defined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964), one that affects interstate commerce or is supported by state action.

Reasonable accommodation = 1. An action taken to adapt or adjust for a disabled person, done in a way that does not impose an undue hardship on the party taking the action. – Under the Americans with Disabilities Act an employer must make REASONABLE accommodations for an employee’s disability. Examples of REASONABLE accommodations that have been approved by the courts include providing additional unpaid leave, modifying the employee’s work schedule, and reassigning the employee to a more appropriate, vacant position. 2. An action taken to adapt or adjust for an employee’s religious need or practice, done in a way that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. See HARDSHIP. {The

}.

ACCOMMODATION PAPER = A negotiable instrument that one party cosigns, without receiving any consideration, as surety for another party who remains primarily liable. – An accommodation paper is typically used when the cosigner is more credit-worthy than the principal debtor. {The

}.

ACCOMMODATION PARTY = A person who, without recompense or other benefit, signs a negotiable instrument for the purpose (called the accommodated party) to the instrument.. – The accommodation party can sign in any capacity, (that is, as maker, drawer, acceptor, or indorser). An accommodation party is liable to all parties except the accommodated party, who impliedly agrees to pay the note or draft and to indemnify the accommodation party for all losses incurred in having to pay it. See SURETY. {The

}.

ACCOMPLICE = 1. A person who is in any way involved with another in the commission of a crime, whether as a principal in the first or second degree as an accessory. – Although the definition includes an accessory before the fact, not all authorities treat this term as including an accessory after the fact. 2. A person who knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally unites with the principal offender in committing a crime and thereby becomes punishable for it. See ACCESSORY. Confer principal (2). {Those who unites in mob action by declaring independence from accountability to Almighty Jehovah are in fact accessories to Satanic principles of freemasonry, with all its obvious numerology present in the design of Washington, DC the House of Babel, whitewashed with deception, a foreign sovereign and not a voice of the people which would fall under the jurisdiction of Jehovah. Any compatriot to mandatory citizenship is guilty of enslavement of the civil rights of any FREE man, woman or child.

}.

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ACCORD = noun. 1. An amicable arrangement between parties, especially between peoples or nations. 2. An offer to give or accept a stipulated performance in the future to satisfy an obliger’s existing duty, together with an acceptance of that offer. – The performance becomes what is known as a satisfaction. See ACCORD AND SATISFACTION; SATISFACTION. Confer NOVATION. 3. A signal used in a legal citation to introduce a case clearly supporting a proposition for which another case is being quoted directly. {The

}.

ACCORD AND SATISFACTION = An agreement to substitute for an existing debt some alternative form of discharging that debt, coupled with the actual discharge of the debt by the substituted performance. – The new agreement is called the accord and the discharge is called the satisfaction. Confer NOVATION; SETTLEMENT (2), (3). {The

}.

ACCOUNT = noun. 1. ACCOUNTING (3). 2. ACCOUNTING (4). 3. A statement by which someone seeks to explain an event. 4. A detailed statement of the debits and credits between parties to a contract or to a fiduciary relationship; a reckoning of monetary dealings. Abbr. acct.; a/c. 5. A course of business dealings or other relations for which records must be kept.

Account payable = (usually plural) An account reflecting a balance owed to a creditor; a debt owed by an enterprise in the normal course of business dealing. Plural accounts payable.

Account receivable = (usually plural). An account  reflecting a balance owed by a debtor; a debt owed by a customer to an enterprise for goods or services. Plural account receivable.

Account stated = 1. A balance that parties to a transaction or settlement agree on, either expressly or by implication. 2. A plaintiff’s claim in a suit for such a balance. 3. Equity practice. A defendant’s plea in response to an action for an accounting. - The defendant states that the balance due on the statement of account has been discharged and that the defendant holds the plaintiff’s release.

Joint account = A bank or brokerage account opened by two or more people, by which each party has a right to withdraw all funds in the account and, upon the death of one party, the survivors become the owners of the account, with no right of the deceased party’s heirs or devisees to share in it.

Open account = 1. An unpaid or unsettled account. 2. An account that is left open for ongoing debit or credit entries by two parties and that has a fluctuating balance until either party finds it convenient to settle and close, at which time there is a single liability.

Partial account = A preliminary accounting of an executor’s or administrator’s dealings with an estate. 

Running account = An open, unsettled account that exhibits the reciprocal demands between the parties. {The

}.

ACCOUNTABLE = adjective. Responsible; answerable <the company was held accountable for the employee’s negligence>. – accountability, noun. {The

}.

ACCOUNT FOR = 1. To furnish a good reason or convincing explanation for; to explain the cause of. 2. To render a reckoning of (funds held, especially in trust). 3. To answer for (conduct). {The

}.

ACCOUNTING = 1. The act or a system of establishing or settling financial accounts; especially, the process of recording financial transactions in the financial records of a business and periodically extracting, sorting, and summarizing the recorded transactions to produce a set of financial records. Confer BOOKKEEPING. 2. A rendition of an account, either voluntarily or by court order. – The term frequently refers to the report of all items of property, income, and expenses prepared by a personal representative, trustee, or guardian and given to heirs, beneficiaries, or the probate court. 3. A legal action to compel a defendant to account for and pay over money owed to the plaintiff but held by the defendant (usually the plaintiff’s agent); ACCOUNTING FOR PROFITS. 4. More broadly, an action for the recovery of money for services performed, property sold and delivered, money loaned, or damages for the nonperformance of simple contracts. – Such an action is available when the rights of parties will be adequately protected by the payment of money. 5. Commercial law. An equitable proceeding for a complete settlement of all partnership affairs, usually in connection with partner misconduct or with a winding up. See WINDING UP. 6. Secured transactions. A record that (1) is authenticated by a secured party, (2) indicates the aggregate unpaid secured obligation as of a date no more than 35 days before or after the date of the record, and (3) identifies the components of the obligations in REASONABLE detail. UCC Section 9-102(a)(29). {The

}.

ACCOUNTING FOR PROFITS = An action for equitable relief against a person in a fiduciary relationship to recover profits taken in a breach of the relationship. {The

}.

ACCOUNTING METHOD = A system for determining income and expenses for tax purposes.

Accrual accounting method = An accounting method that records entries of debits and credits when the liability arises, rather than when the income or expense is received or disbursed.

Cash-basis accounting method = An accounting method that considers only cash actually received as income and cash actually paid out as an expense.

Installment accounting method = A method by which a taxpayer can spread the recognition of gains from a sale of property over the payment period by computing the gross-profit percentage from the sale and applying it to each payment. {The

}.

ACCOUNTING PERIOD = A regular span of time used for accounting purposes; especially, a period used by a taxpayer in determining income and related tax liability. {The

}.

ACCRETION = The gradual accumulation of land by natural forces, especially as alluvium is added to the land situated on the bank of a river or on the seashore. Confer ALLUVION; AVULSION (2); DELICTION; EROSION. {The adding of true understanding of the History of the Land and man to clarify by substantiation of our alluvial heritage (from the 1^st eternity/pre-history). Atlantis and Zion the alpha and omega, from A to Z, the beginning and the end in terms of authoritative dominion. 

}.

ACCROACH = To exercise power without authority; to usurp. – accroachment, noun. {The foundation of freemasonry was built upon shifting sands in the Holy Land of the ancient seashores of True Israel (former sea level 595-600 feet AMSL) and traitors to Jehovah who followed in the footsteps of Nimrod, who became a mighty hunter of corporate profit in a false jurisdiction from the Alpha portion of our history.

}.

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ACCRUE = verb. 1. To come into existence as an enforceable claim or right; to arise <the plaintiff’s cause of action for silicosis did not accrue until the plaintiff knew or had reason to know of the disease>. 2. To accumulate periodically <the savings account interest accrues monthly>. – accrual, noun. {The

}.

ACCUSATION = noun. 1. A formal charge of criminal wrongdoing. – The accusation is usually presented to a court or magistrate having jurisdiction to inquire into the alleged crime. 2. An informal statement that a person has engaged in an illegal or immoral act. - accusatory, adjective. – accuse, verb. {The

}.

ACCUSATORY BODY = A body (such as a grand jury) that hears evidence and determines whether a person should be charged with a crime.  {The

}.

ACCUSATORY STAGE = Criminal procedure. The point in a criminal proceeding when the suspect’s right to counsel attaches. – This occurs usually after arrest and once interrogation begins. Confer CRITICAL STAGE. {The

}.

ACCUSE = verb. To charge (a person) judicially or publicly with an offense; to make an accusation against. {The

}.

ACCUSED = noun. 1. A person who has been blamed for wrongdoing; especially, a person who has been arrested and brought before a magistrate or who has been formally charged with a crime (as by indictment or information). 2. A person against whom legal proceedings have been initiated. {The

}.

ACKNOWLEDGE = verb. 1. To recognize something as being factual or valid. 2. To show that one accepts responsibility for (someone or something). 3. To make known the receipt of (something). 4. To confirm as genuine before an authorized officer <acknowledged before a notary public>. 5. (Of a notary public or other officer) to certify as genuine. {The

}.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT = 1. A recognition of something as being factual. 2. An acceptance of responsibility. 3. The act of making it known that one has received something. 4. A formal declaration made in the presence of an authorized officer, such as a notary public, by someone who signs a document and confirms that the signature is authentic. – In most states, the officer certifies that (1) he or she personally knows the document signer or has established the signer’s identity through satisfactory evidence, (2) the signer appeared before the officer on the date and in the place (usually the county) indicated, and (3) the signer acknowledged signing the document freely. Confer VERIFICATION (1). 5. The officer’s certificate that is affixed to the document. – acknowledge, verb. See PROOF OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT. {The

}.

ACQUIESCENCE = A person’s tacit or passive acceptance; implied consent to an act. – acquiesce, verb. – acquiescent, adjective. {The agreement to unite as a people governing in false jurisdiction, dis-ordained principality of Satan and acting out of solidarity unauthorized by Jehovah to try to overthrow the eternal dominion of our Creator by declaring independence and then only to have the removal of liberties, rights and communal responsibility in God’s Sovereign Israel. This is not a conspiracy theory on my behalf but on behalf of those who declared independence from Jehovah by establishment of the false dominion of man (See GEN. 1:28). In the name of national security the government ran by freemason bully-ness (Babylonian system) of alleged fair and equal representation has robbed the people of their own right to choose which nation they elect to serve: Humble Israel or proud America? Are you an Honest Injun (tribal patriot) or false dominion under financial national leverage buy-out of an entire nation, without the civil right to worship in the REAL HOUSE OF THE LORD? The original conspirators who declared their independence from alleged foreign rule while the Law WRITTEN INSIDE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING continually whispers the righteous path unto eternal peace after casting off the burden that the rich would like to continue to administer unto the poor. We have been told that in the name of national security we may have to give up a few rights; while Jehovah has already defeated the enemy of Jehovah or the natural or sinful man who thinks he is his own boss/false god. We have been duped, deceived and intentionally betrayed by those who promise after election and oft fail to deliver, and they say trust us? We are all playing  the same patriotic game of In God We Trust and proclaim One Nation Under God; but the Holy Bible declares all men of Earth are children of Israel, the heart of the Law of the Land speaking unto us as the lost flock of the Good Shepherd in Whom we trust to truly be FREE of contentious men objecting to absolute equality. They say we are equal and equally represented but then what possible need could there be for lobbying to grease the palms (greedy grabbers of untraceable bills/cash) while those they represent remain homeless, starving or without a voice in or of Congress oversight. They only make the laws that benefit themselves and their coalition with a Satanic Executive Order of New World Theology (man worshipping man’s alleged ability to govern himself and others just as well as he allegedly conducts his own life in worldly witness). STOP THE WORLD – LET ME OFF THE TRAIN HEADED FOR DISASTROUS NATURAL CALAMITY and Natural/National Judgment.  

}.

Page 126ACQUISITION = noun. 1. The gaining of possession or control over something. 2. Something acquired. {The acquisition by force made by Roman Catholicism’s Doctrine of Discovery began the Spanish Inquisition in hopes of finding the long since missing Promised Land and make it then the New World we are presently faced up against as a giant beast of unified coalition by Jesus haters (Jews) who wish to retain all power in Rome (Gentiles).

}.

ACQUIT = verb. 1. To clear (a person) of a criminal charge. 2. To pay or discharge (a debt or a claim). {The

}.

ACQUITTAL = noun. The legal certification, usually by jury verdict, that an accused person is not guilty of the charged offense.

Acquittal in fact = An acquittal by jury verdict of not guilty.

Acquittal in law = An acquittal by operation of law, as of someone who has been charged merely as an accessory after the principal has been acquitted.

Implied Acquittal = An acquittal in which a jury convicts the defendant of a lesser included offense without commenting on the greater offense. – Double jeopardy bars the retrial of the defendant on the higher offense after an implied acquittal. 2. = Contracts. A release or discharge from debt or other liability; ACQUITTANCE. {The

}.

ACQUITTANCE = noun. 1. A document by which one is discharged from a debt or other obligation; a receipt or release indicating payment in full. – acquit, verb. {The

}.

ACT = noun. 1. Something done or performed, especially voluntarily; a deed. 2. The process of doing or performing; an occurrence that results from a person’s will being exerted on the external world; ACTION (2).

Act in pais = (In pay). [Law French] An act performed out of court, such as a deed made between two parties on the land being transferred. See INPAIS.

Act in the law = An act that is intended to create, transfer or extinguish a right and that is effective in law for that purpose; the exercise of legal power. {The enslavement of the alleged unified will of the people being held captive by governmental inequality from one compatriot to another

}.

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Act of omission = See NEGATIVE ACT.

Act of the law = The creation, extinction or transfer of a right by the operation of the law itself, without any consent on the part of the persons concerned

Administrative Act = An act made in a management capacity; especially an act made outside the actor’s usual field (as when a judge supervises court personnel. An administrative act is often subject to greater risk of liability than an act within the actor’s usual field).  See IMMUNITY (1).

Bilateral Act = An act that involves the consenting wills of two or more distinct parties, as with a contract, a conveyance, a mortgage, or a lease; agreement.

External  Act = An act involving bodily activity, such as speaking. 

Intentional  Act = An act resulting from the actor’s will directed to that end. – An act is intentional when it is foreseen and desired by the doer, and this foresight and desire resulted in the act through the operation of the will.

Internal Act = An act of the mind, such as thinking.

Judicial Act = An act involving the exercise of judicial power.

Jural Act = An act taken in the context of or in furtherance of a society’s legal system.

Negative Act = The failure to do something that was legally required; a nonoccurrence that involves the breach of a legal duty to take positive action. – This takes the form of either a forbearance or an omission.

Unilateral Act = An act in which there is only one party whose will operates, as in a testamentary disposition, the exercise of a power of appointment, or the voidance of a voidable contract.

Unintentional Act = An act nor resulting from the actor’s will toward what actually takes place.

Verbal Act = 1. An act performed through the medium of words, either spoken or written. 2. Evidence. A statement offered to prove the words themselves because of their legal effect (e.g. the terms of a will). – For this purpose, the statement is not considered hearsay.

3. The formal product of a legislative or other DELIBERATIVE body; especially, STATUTE. {The

}.

ACTING = adjective. 1. Holding an interim position; serving temporarily <an acting director>. {The

}.

ACTION = 1. The process of doing something; conduct or behavior. 2. A thing done, an act. 3. A civil or criminal judicial proceeding.

Action in equity = An action that seeks equitable relief, such as an injunction or specific performance, as opposed to damages.

Action in personam = 1. An action brought against a person rather than property. – An in personam judgment is binding on the judgment debtor and can be enforced against all the property of the judgment debtor. 2. An action in which the named defendant is a natural or legal person. – Also termed personal action.

Action in rem = An action determining the title to property and the rights of the parties, not merely among themselves, but also against all persons at any time claiming an interest in that property; a real action. See IN REM.

Action quasi in rem = An action brought against a defendant personally, with jurisdiction based on an interest in property, the objective being to deal with the particular property or to subject the property to the discharge of the claims asserted.

Action to quiet title = A proceeding to establish a plaintiffs to land by compelling the adverse claimant to establish a claim or be forever estopped from asserting it.

Amicable Action = See test case (1) under CASE. 

Civil Action = An action brought to enforce, redress, or protect a private or civil right; a non-criminal litigation. 

Collusive Action = An action between two parties who have no actual controversy, being merely for the purpose of determining a legal question or receiving a precedent that might prove favorable in related litigation.

Criminal Action = An action instituted by the government to punish offenses against the public.

Penal Action = 1. A criminal prosecution. 2. A civil proceeding in which either the state or a common informer sues to recover a penalty from a defendant who has violated a statute. See COMMON INFORMER. 3. A civil lawsuit by an aggrieved party seeking recovery of a statutory fine or a penalty, such as punitive damages.

Personal Action = 1. An action brought for the recovery of debts, personal property, or damages arising from any cause. 2. See action in personam.

Petitory Action = 1. Roman and Civil Law. An action to establish and enforce title to property independently of the right to possession. 2..Civil Law. An action for the recognition of ownership or other real right in immovable (or sometimes movable) property.

Plenary Action = A full hearing or trial on the merits, as opposed to a summary proceeding. Confer summary proceeding under PROCEEDING.

Possessory Action = An action to obtain , recover or maintain possession of property but not title to it, such as an action to evict a nonpaying tenant.

Real Action = An action brought for the recovery of land or other real property; specifically, an action to recover the possession of a freehold estate in real property, or seisin. See SEISEN.

Separate Action = 1. An action brought alone by each of several complainants who are involved in the same transaction but either cannot legally join the suit or, not being required to join, choose not to join it. 2. One of several distinct actions brought by a single plaintiff against each of two or more parties who are liable to a plaintiff with respect to the same subject matter.

Third-party Action = An action brought as part of a lawsuit already pending but distinct from the main claim, whereby a defendant sues an entity not sued by the plaintiff when that entity may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim. – A common example is an action for indemnity or contribution. {The

}.

ACTIONABLE = adjective. Furnishing the legal ground for a lawsuit or other legal action <intentional interference with contractual relations is an actionable tort>. {The

}.

ACT OF GOD = An overwhelming, unpreventable event caused exclusively by forces of nature, such as an earthquake, flood or tornado. – The definition has been statutorily broadened to include all natural phenomena that are exceptional, inevitable and irresistible, the effects of which could not be prevented or avoided by the exercise of due care or foresight. 42 USCA (United States Code Annotated) Section 9601(1). Confer FORCE MAJEURE; VIS MAJOR. {The action taken since the foundations of Earth to bring about as prophesied that Yahweh’s WILL be no more trampled under foot of men scurrying about trampling the rights of his neighbor}.

ACT OF POSSESSION = 1. The exercise of physical control over a corporeal thing, movable or immovable, with the intent to own it. 2. Conduct indicating an intent to claim property as one’s own; especially conduct that supports a claim of adverse possession. {The

}.

ACTUAL = adjective. Existing in fact; real <actual malice>. Confer CONSTRUCTIVE. {The

}.

ACTUALLY LITIGATED = (Of a claim that might be barred by collateral estoppel) properly raised in an earlier lawsuit, submitted to the court for a determination, and determined. {The

}.

ACTUAL PHYSICAL CONTROL = Direct bodily power over something, especially a vehicle. Many jurisdictions require a showing of “actual physical control” of a vehicle by a person charged with driving while intoxicated. {The

}.

ACTUS REUS = Law Latin “guilty act”. The wrongful deed that comprises the physical components of a crime and that generally must be coupled with MENS REA to establish criminal liability; a forbidden act. See CORPUS DELICTI. Confer MENS REA. {The

}.

AD DAMNUM CLAUSE = Latin “to the damage”. A clause in a prayer for relief stating the amount of damages claimed. See PRAYER FOR RELIEF. {The

}.

ADDITION = A structure that is attached to or connected with another building that predates the structure; an extension or annex.  {The

}.

ADDITUR = Latin “it is added to”. A trial court’s order, issued usually with the defendant’s consent, that increases the jury’s award of damage to avoid a new trial on grounds of inadequate damages. – The term may also refer to the increase itself, the procedure, or the court’s power to make the order. Confer REMITTUR. {The

}.

ADD-ON CLAUSE = An installment-contract provision that converts earlier purchasesinto security for new purchases. {The

}.

ADDUCE = verb. To offer or put forward for consideration (something) as evidence or authority <adduce the engineer’s expert testimony>. – adduction, noun – adducible, adjective. {The

}.

ADEMPTION = The destruction or extinction of a testamentary gift by reason of a bequeathed asset’s ceasing to be a part of the estate at the time of the testator’s death; a beneficiary’s forfeiture of a legacy or bequest that is no longer operative. – adeem, verb. Confer ABATEMENT (4); ADVANCEMENT; LAPSE (2).

Ademption by extinction = An ademption that occurs because a unique property that is the subject of a special bequest has been sold, given away, or destroyed, or is not otherwise in existence at the time of the testator’s death.

Ademption by satisfaction = An ademption that occurs because the testator, while alive, has already given property to the beneficiary in lieu of the testamentary gift. {The

}.

ADEQUATE-STATE-GROUNDS DOCTRINE = A judge-made principle that prevents the U.S. Supreme Court from reviewing a state-court decision based partially on state law if a decision on a federal issue would not change the result. {The

}.

AD HOC = adjective. [Latin “for this”] Formed for a particular purpose <the board created an ad hoc committee to discuss funding for the new arena>. - ad hoc, adverb. {The

}.

AD HOMINEM = adjective. Latin “to the person” Appealing to personal preferences rather than to reason; attacking an opponent’s character rather than the opponent’s assertions. - ad hominem, adverb. {The

}.

ADJACENT = adjective. Lying near or close to but not necessarily touching. Confer ADJOINING. {The

}.

ADJECTIVE LAW = The body of rules governing procedure and practice; procedural law. {The

}.

ADJOINING = adjective. Touching; sharing a common boundary; contiguous. – adjoin, verb. Confer ADJACENT. {The

}.

ADJOURN = verb. To end or postpone (a proceeding). – adjournment, noun. {The

}.

ADJUDGE = verb. 1. To rule upon judicially. 2. To deem or pronounce to be. 3. To award judicially. {The

}.

ADJUDICATION = noun. 1. The legal process of resolving a dispute; the process of judicially deciding a case. 2. JUDGMENT. – adjudicate, verb – adjudicative, adjective. {The

}.

ADJUNCT = adjective. Added as an accompanying object or circumstance; attached in a subordinate or temporary capacity <an adjunct professor>. - adjunct, noun. {The

}.

ADJURE = verb. To charge or entreat solemnly. – adjuration, verb – adjuratory, adjective – adjurer, adjuror, noun. {The

}.

AD LITEM = [Latin “for the suit”] For the purposes of the suit; pending the suit. See GUARDIAN AD LITEM. {The

}.

ADMEASUREMENT = noun. 1. Ascertainment, assignment, or apportionment by a fixed quantity or value, or by certain limits. 2. A writ obtained for the purposes of ascertaining, assigning, or apportioning a fixed quantity or value or to establish limits; especially a writ available against persons who usurp more than their rightful share of property. – admeasure, verb. {To prevent against the coming of a Messiah, redeeming Earth as Jehovah’s Creation}.

ADMINISTRATION = noun. 1. The management or performance of the executive duties of a government, institution or business. 2. In public law, the practical management and direction of the executive department and its agencies, 3. A judicial action in which a court undertakes the management and distribution of property. 4. The management and settlement of the estate of an intestate decedent, or of a testator who has no executor, by a person legally appointed and supervised by the court. – administer, verb – administrative, adjective.

Administration cum testamento annexo = Latin “with the will annexed”. An administration granted when (1) a tetsator’s will does not name any executor or when the executor named is incompetent to act, is deceased, or refuses to act, and (2) no successor executor has been named or is qualified to serve. Abbr. c.t.a. – Also termed administration with the will annexed.

Administration de bonis non = Latin “of the goods not administered”. An administration granted for the purpose of settling the remainder of an intestate estate that was not administered by the former administration. – Abbr. d.b.n.

Administration de bonis non cum testamento annexo = An administration granted to settle the remainder of a testate estate not settled by a previous administrator or executor. – This type of administration arises when there is a valid will, as opposed to an administration de bonis non, which is granted when there is no will. Abbr. d.b.n.c.t.a.

Administration durante absentia = An administration granted during the absence of either the executor or the person who has precedence as the administrator.

Administration durante minore aetate = An administration granted during the minority of either a child executor or the person who has precedence as administrator. 

Administration pendente lite = An administration granted during the pendency of a suit concerning a will’s validity. See PENDENTE LITE.

Ancillary Administration = An administration that is auxiliary to the administration at the

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place of the decedent’s domicile, such as one in another state. – The purpose of this process is to collect assets, to transfer and record changed title to real property located there, and to pay any debts in that locality.

Caeterorum Administration = [Latin “of the rest’] An administration granted when limited powers previously granted to an administrator are inadequate to settle the estate’s residue. 

Dimiciliary Administration = The handling of an estate in the state where the decedent was domiciled at death. 

General Administration = An administration with authority to deal with an entire estate. Confer special administration. 

Limited Administration = An administration for a temporary period or for a special purpose. 

Public Administration = In some jurisdictions, an administration by an officer appointed to administer for an intestate who has left no person entitled to apply for letters (or whose possible representatives refuse to serve).

Special Administration = 1. An administration with authority to deal with only some of a decedent’s property, as opposed to administrating the whole estate. 2. See ADMINISTRATION PENDENTE LITE.

Temporary Administration = An administration in which the court appoints a fiduciary to administer the affairs of a decedent’s estate for a short time before an administrator or executor can be appointed and qualified. {The

}.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW = The law governing the organization and operation of administrative agencies (including executive and independent agencies) and the relations of administrative agencies with the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the public.  – Administrative law is divided into three parts: (1) the statutes endowing agencies with powers and establish rules of substantive law relating to those powers, (2) the body of agency-made law, consisting of administrative rules, regulations, reports and opinions containing findings of fact, and orders, and (3) the legal principles governing the acts of public agents when those acts conflict with private rights. {The

}.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING = A hearing, inquiry, investigation or trial before an administrative agency, usually adjudicatory in nature but sometimes quasi-legislative. {The

}.

ADMINISTRATIVE RULE = An officially promulgated agency regulation that has the force of law. {The

}.

ADMINISTRATOR = 1. A person who manages or heads a business, public office or agency.

2. A person appointed by the court to manage the assets and liabilities of an intestate decedent. – This term once referred to males only (as opposed to administratrix), but legal writers now generally use administrator to refer to someone of either sex. Confer EXECUTOR (2).

Administrator ad litem = A special administrator appointed by the court to represent the estate’s interest in an action usually either because  there is no administrator of the estate or because the current administrator has an interest in the action adverse to that of the estate.

Administrator ad prosequendum = An administrator appointed to prosecute or defend a certain action or actions involving the estate.

Administrator cum testamento annexo = An administrator appointed by the court to carry out to carry out the provisions of a will when the testator has named no executor, or the executor’s name refuse, are incompetent to act, or have died before performing their duties. ABBREVIATION administrator c.t.a. – Also termed administrator with the will annexed.

Administrator de bonis non = An administer appointed by the court to administer the goods the decedent’s goods that were not administered by an earlier administrator or executor. – If there is no will the administrator bears the name administrator de bonis non (ABBR. Administrator d.b.n.), but if there is a will, the full name is administrator de bonis non cum testamento annexo (ABBR. administrator d.b.n.c.t.a.).

Administrator pendente lite = See special administrator.

Administrator with the will annexed = See Administrator cum testamento annexo.

Ancillary Administrator = A court appointed administrator who oversees the distribution of the part of a decedent’s estate located in a jurisdiction other than where the decedent was domiciled (the place of the main administration).

General Administrator = A person appointed to administer an intestate decedent’s entire estate.

Special Administrator = 1. A person appointed to administer only a specific part of an intestate decedent’ s estate. 2. A person appointed to serve as administrator of an estate solely because of an emergency or unusual situation, such as a will contest. – Also termed (in sense 2) ADMINISTRATOR PENDENTE LITE.

Administratrix  = See ADMINISTRATOR (2). {The

}.

ADMISSIBILITY = noun. The quality or state of being allowed to be entered into evidence in a hearing, trial, or other proceeding.

Conditional Admissibility = The evidentiary rule that when a piece of evidence is not itself admissible, but is admissible if certain other facts make it relevant, the evidence becomes admissible on condition that later introduce the connecting facts.

Curative Admissibility = The rule that an inadmissible piece of evidence may be admitted if offered to cure or counteract the effect of some similar piece of the opponent’s evidence that itself should not have been admitted. 

Limited Admissibility = The principle that testimony or exhibits may be admitted into evidence for a restricted purpose.

Multiple Admissibility = The evidentiary rule that, although a piece of evidence is inadmissible under one rule for the purpose given in offering it, it is nevertheless admissible if relevant and offered for some other purpose not forbidden by the rules of evidence. {The

}.

{The

}.

{The

}.

{The

}.

{The

}.

ADMISSIBLE = adjective. 1. Capable of being legally admitted; allowable; permissible. 2. Worthy of gaining entry or being admitted.

ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE = See EVIDENCE.

ADMISSION = noun. 1. Any statement or assertion made by a party to a case and offered against that party; an acknowledgment that facts are true. – admit, verb. Confer CONFESSION.

Admission against interest = A person’s statement acknowledging a fact that is harmful to the person’s position as a litigant.

Admission by party-opponent = An opposing party’s admission, which is not considered hearsay if it is offered against that party and is (1) the party’s own statement in either an individual or a representative capacity; (2) a statement of which the party has manifested an adoption of belief in its truth; a statement by one authorized by the party to make such a statement; (4) a statement by the party’s agent concerning a matter within the scope of the agency or employment or made during the existence of the relationship; or (5) a statement by a coconspirator of the party during the course of and in furtherance of the conspiracy. Federal Rules of Evidence - Fed. R Evid. 801 (d)(2).

Admission by silence = The failure of a party to speak after another party’s assertion of fact that, if untrue, would naturally compel a person to deny the statement. 

Adoptive Admission = An action by a party that indicates an approval of a statement made by another, and thereby acceptance that the statement is true.

Extrajudicial Adminission = An admission made outside a court proceeding.

Implied Admission = An admission reasonably inferable from a party’s action or statement, or a party’s failure to act or speak.

Judicial Admission = A formal waiver of proof that relieves an opposing party from having to prove the

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admitted fact and bars the party who made the admission from disputing it.

Quasi-Admission = An act or utterance, usually extrajudicial, that creates an inconsistency with and discredits, to a greater or lesser degree, a present claim or other evidence of the person creating the inconsistency.

2. (ADMISSION) = Acceptance of a lawyer by the established licensing authority, such as a state bar association, as a member of the practicing bar, usually after the lawyer passes a bar examination and supplies adequate character references. 

ADMONITION = noun. 1. Any authoritative advice or caution from the court to the jury regarding their duty as jurors or the admissibility of evidence for consideration. 2. A reprimand or cautionary statement addressed to counsel by a judge. – admonish, verb – admonitory, adjective.

ADOPTION = noun. 1. Family law. The creation of a parent-child relationship by judicial order between two parties who usually are unrelated. – This relationship is brought about only after a determination that the child is an orphan or has been abandoned, or that the parent’s parental rights have been terminated by a court order.

Adoption by estoppel = 1. An equitable adoption of a child by one who promises or acts in a way that precludes the person and his or her estate from denying adopted status to the child. 2. An equitable decree of adoption treating as done that which ought to have been done.

Private Adoption = An adoption that occurs independently between the biological mother (and sometimes the biological father) and the adoptive parents without the involvement of an agency. Also termed private-placement adoption. 

2. (ADOPTION) = Contracts. The process by which a person agrees to assume a contract previously made for that person’s benefit, such as a newly formed corporation’s acceptance of a preincorporation contract. adopt, verb – adoptive, adjective.

ADOPTIVE-ADMISSIONS RULE = Evidence. The principle that a statement offered against an accused is not inadmissible hearsay if the accused is aware of the statement and has, by words or conduct, indicated acceptance that the statement is true. See  “adoptive admission” under ADMISSION

ADOPTIVE PARENT = See PARENT,

ADR = abbr. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION.

ADULT = noun. A person who has attained the legal age of majority, generally 17 in criminal cases and 18 for other purposes. – adult, adjective.

ADULTERY = noun. Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than the person’s spouse. – Adultery is a crime, but it is rarely prosecuted. – adulterous, adjective. Confer FORNICATION; INFIDELITY. 

ADULT OFFENDER = See OFFENDER.

AD VALOREM TAX = See TAX.

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ADVANCE = noun. 1. The furnishing of money or goods before any consideration is received in return. 2. The money or goods furnished.

ADVANCE DIRECTIVE = 1. A document that takes effect when one’s incompetency and designates a surrogate decision-maker for healthcare matters. See POWER OF ATTORNEY. 2. A legal document explaining one’s wishes about medical treatment if one becomes incompetent or unable to communicate. Confer LIVING WILL.

ADVANCEMENT = noun. A payment or gift to an heir (especially a child) during one’s lifetime as an advance share of one’s estate, with the intention of reducing, extinguishing, or diminishing the heir’s claim to the estate under intestacy laws. – advance, verb. Confer ADEMPTION.

ADVANCE PAYMENT = See PAYMENT.

ADVANCE SHEETS = A softcover pamphlet concerning recently reported opinions by a court or set of courts. – Advance sheets are published during the interim between an opinion’s announcement and its inclusion in a bound volume of law reports. Confer “slip opinion” under OPINION (1); REPORT (3).

ADVENTURE = A commercial undertaking that has an element of risk; a venture. Confer JOINT VENTURE. 

ADVERSARY = noun. An opponent; especially opposing counsel. – adversary, adversarial, adjective. 

ADVERSARY PROCEEDING = A hearing involving a dispute between opposing parties.

ADVERSARY SYSTEM = A procedural system, such as the Anglo-American legal system involving active and unhindered parties contesting with each other to put forth a case before an independent decision-maker. Also termed adversary procedure. Confer INQUISITORIAL SYSTEM.

ADVERSE AUTHORITY = See AUTHORITY (4).

ADVERSE ENJOYMENT = See ENJOYMENT.

ADVERSE INTEREST = An interest that is opposed or contrary to that of someone else. 

ADVERSE-INTEREST RULE = The principle that if a party fails to produce a witness who is within its power to produce and should have been produced, the judge may instruct the jury to infer that the witness’s evidence is unfavorable to the party’s case 

ADVERSE PARTY = See PARTY (2).

ADVERSE POSSESSION = The use or enjoyment of real property with a claim of right when that use or enjoyment is continuous, exclusive, hostile, open, and notorious. Confer PRESCRIPTION (2).

Constructive Adverse Possession = Adverse possession in which the claim arises from the claimant’s payment of taxes under color of right rather than by actual possession of the land. 

ADVERSE TITLE = See TITLE (2).

ADVERTENT NEGLIGENCE = See NEGLIGENCE.

ADVICE OF COUNSEL = 1. The guidance given by lawyers to their clients. 2. In a malicious-prosecution lawsuit, a defense requiring both a complete presentation of facts by the defendant to his or her attorney and honest

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compliance with the attorney’s advice. 3. A defense in which a party seeks to avoid liability or punishment by claiming that he or she acted reasonably and in good faith on the attorney’s advice. – Such a defense usually requires waiver of the attorney-client privilege, and the attorney cannot have knowingly participated in implementing an illegal plan.

ADVISEMENT = Careful consideration; deliberation <the judge took the matter under advisement and promised a ruling by the next day>.

ADVISORY JURY = See JURY.

ADVISORY OPINION = See OPINION (1).

ADVOCATE = noun. A person who assists, defends, pleads, or prosecutes for another. 

Aff’d = abbr. Affirmed.

AFFECTS DOCTRINE = Constitutional law. The principle allowing Congress to regulate intrastate activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. – The doctrine is so called because the test is whether a given activity “affects” interstate commerce.

Aff’g = abbr. Affirming.

AFFIANT = 1. One who makes an affidavit. 2. COMPLAINANT (2).

AFFIDAVIT = A voluntary declaration of facts written down and sworn to by the declarant before an officer authorized to administer oaths, such as a notary public. Confer DECLARATION (1),  (6).

Affidavit of inquiry = An affidavit, required in certain states before substituted service of process on an absent defendant, to which the plaintiff’s attorney or a person with knowledge of the facts indicates that the defendant cannot be served within the state. 

Affidavit of service = An affidavit certifying the service of a notice, summons, writ, or process. 

Poverty Affidavit = An affidavit made by an indigent person seeking public assistance, appointment, of counsel, waiver of court fees, or other free public services.

Self-proving Affidavit = An affidavit attached to a will and signed by the testator and witnesses certifying that the requirements of due execution of the will have been complied with. – The affidavit, which recites the facts of the will’s proper execution, permits the will to be probated without the necessity of having the witnesses appear and approve due execution by their testimony.

AFFILIATE = noun. A corporation that is related to another corporation by shareholding or other means of control; a subsidiary, parent, or sibling corporation. – affiliate, verb – affiliation, noun.

AFFINITY = 1. A close agreement. 2. The relation that one spouse has to the blood relatives of the other spouse; relationship by marriage. 3. Any familial relation resulting from a marriage. – affine (for sense 3), noun. Confer CONSANGUINITY. 

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AFFIRM = verb. 1. To confirm (a judgment) on appeal. 2. To solemnly declare rather than swear under oath.

AFFIRMANCE = noun. 1. A ratification, reacceptance, or confirmation. 2. The formal approval by an appellate court of a lower court’s judgment, order, or decree.

AFFIRMATION = noun. 1. A pledge equivalent to an oath but without reference to a SUPREME BEING or to “SWEARING”; a solemn declaration made under penalty of perjury, but without an oath. Fed. R Evid. 43 (d). – While an oath is “sworn to” an affirmation is merely “affirmed,” but either type of pledge may subject the person making it to the penalties for perjury. – affirm, verb – affirmatory, adjective. Confer OATH.

AFFIRMATIVE = adjective. 1. Supporting the existence of certain facts <affirmative evidence>. 2. Involving or requiring effort <an affirmative duty>.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION = A set of actions designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of past discrimination, and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination. See “reverse discrimination” under DISCRIMINATION.

AFFIRMATIVE CONVERSE INSTRUCTION = See JURY INSTRUCTION.

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE = See DEFENSE (1).

AFFIRMATIVE EASEMENT = See EASEMENT.

AFFIRMATIVE INSTRUCTION = See  JURY INSTRUCTION.

AFFIRMATIVE MISCONDUCT = See MISCONDUCT.

AFFIRMATIVE PREGNANT = A positive statement that ambiguously implies a negative; a statement that does not explicitly deny a charge, but instead answers an unasked question and thereby implies culpability, as when a person says “I returned your car yesterday” to the charge “You stole my car!” Confer NEGATIVE PREGNANT.

AFFIRMATIVE PROOF = See PROOF.

AFFIRMATIVE RELIEF = See RELIEF.

AFFIRMATIVE REPRESENTATION = See REPRESENTATION (1).

AFFIRMATIVE STATUTE = See STATUTE.

AFFIRMATIVE TESTIMONY = See TESTIMONY.

AFFIX = verb. To attach, add to, or fasten on permanently. – affixation, noun. See FIXTURE.

AFFRAY = The fighting, by mutual consent, of two or more persons in some public place, to the terror of onlookers. – The fighting must be mutual. If one person unlawfully attacks another who resorts to self-defense, the first is guilty of assault and battery, but there is no affray. Confer RIOT; “unlawful assembly” under ASSEMBLY; ROUT.

AFL-CIO = abbr. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

AFORESAID = adjective. Thought of in advance; deliberate; premeditated. See MALICE AFORE-THOUGHT.

A FORTIORI = adverb. [Latin] By even

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greater force of logic; even more so <if a 14 year-old cannot sign a binding contract, then, a fortiori, a 13 year-old cannot>. Confer A MULTO FORTIORI.

AFTER-ACQUIRED DOMICILE = See DOMICILE.

AFTER-ACQUIRED TITLE = See TITLE (2).

AFTER-ACQUIRED TITLE DOCTRINE = The principle that title to property automatically vests in a person who bought the property from a seller who acquired title only after purporting to sell the property to the buyer.

AFTERBORN CHILD = See CHILD.

AFTERBORN HEIR = See HEIR.

AFTER THE FACT = Subsequent to an event of legal significance.

AG = abbr. ATTORNEY GENERAL.

AGAINST THE FORM OF THE STATUTE = Contrary to the statutory requirements. – This formal phrase, which traditionally concludes an indictment, indicates that the conduct alleged contravenes the cited statute and therefore constitutes a criminal offense. In modern contexts, the full conclusion often reads: “against the form of the statute in such case made and provided”.

AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE = A concluding phrase in an indictment, used to condemn the offending conduct generally (as opposed to the specific charge of wrongdoing contained in the body of the instrument).

AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE = (Of a verdict or judgment) contrary to the credible evidence; not sufficiently supported by the evidence in the record. See  WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

AGAINST THE WILL = Contrary to the person’s wishes. – Indictments use this phrase to indicate that the defendant’s conduct was without the victim’s consent.

AGE = noun. A period of time; especially, a period of individual existence or the duration of a person’s life. 

Age of capacity = The age, usually defined by statute as 18 years, at which a person is legally capable of agreeing to a contract, maintaining a lawsuit, or the like. See CAPACITY (2).

Age of consent = The age, usually defined by statute as 16 years, at which a person is legally capable of agreeing to marriage (without parental consent) or to sexual intercourse. See CONSENT.

Age of majority = 1. The age, usually defined by statute as 18 years, at which a person attains full legal rights, especially civil and political rights such as the right to vote. – Also termed “full age”. 2. See AGE OF CAPACITY.

Age of reason = The age at which a person becomes able to distinguish right from wrong and is thus legally capable of committing a crime or tort.

Full Age = See AGE OF MAJORITY.

AGE DISCRIMIATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT = A federal law prohibiting job discrimination based on a person’s age, especially unfair and discriminatory employment decisions that negatively affect someone who is 40 years old or

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older. 29 USCA Sub-sections 629-634. Abbr. ADEA.

AGENCY = 1. A fiduciary relationship created by express or implied contract or by law, in which one party (the agent) may act on behalf of another party (the principal) and bind that other party by words or actions. Confer AUTHORITY (1).

Actual Agency = An agency in which the agent is in fact employed by a principal. 

Agency by estoppel = An agency created by operation of law and established by a principal’s actions that would REASONABLY lead a third person to conclude that an agency exists. 

Agency coupled with an interest = An agency in which the agent is granted not only the power to act on behalf of a principal but also a legal interest in the estate or property involved. See “power coupled with an interest” under POWER (3).

Exclusive Agency = The right to represent a principal – especially either to sell the principal’s products or to act as the seller’s real estate agent – within a particular market free from competition. 

Express Agency = An actual agency arising from the principal’s written or oral authorization of a person to act as the principal’s agent. Confer ”implied agency”. 

General Agency = A principal’s delegation to an agent, without restriction, to take any action connected with a particular trade, business, or employment.

Implied Agency = An actual agency arising from the conduct by the principal that implies an intention to create an agency relationship. Confer “express agency”.

Special Agency = An agency in which the agent is authorized only to conduct a single transaction or a series of transactions not involving continuous service.

Undisclosed Agency = An agency relationship in which an agent deals with a third party who has no knowledge that the agent is acting on a principal’s behalf. – The fact that the agency is undisclosed does not prohibit the third party from seeking redress from the principal or the agent.

2. (AGENCY, cont.) = An agent’s place of business. 3. A governmental body with the authority to implement and administer particular legislation.

federal agency = A department or other instrumentality of the executive branch of the federal government, including a government corporation and the government printing office. 5 USCA Section 551.

Independent agency = A federal agency, commission, or board that is not under the direction of the executive, such as the federal trade commission or the national labor relations board. 

Quasi-governmental agency = A government-sponsored enterprise or corporation, such as the federal national mortgage corporation.

AGENT = 1. Something that produces an effect <an intervening agent>. 2. One who is authorized to

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act for or in place of another; a representative <a professional athlete’s agent>. Confer PRINCIPAL (1); EMPLOYEE.

Apparent Agent = A person who reasonably appears to have authority to act for another, regardless of whether actual authority has been conferred.

Corporate Agent = An agent authorized to act on behalf of a corporation; broadly, all employees and officers who have the power to bind the corporation.

Del Credere Agent = An agent who guarantees the solvency of the third party with whom the agent makes a contract for the principal.

General Agent = An agent authorized to transact all the principal’s business of a particular kind or in a particular place.

Government Agent = 1. An employee or representative of a governmental body. 2. A law-enforcement official, such as a police officer or federal bureau of investigation agent. 

Independent Agent = An agent who exercises personal judgment and is subject to the principal only for the results of the work performed. 

Innocent Agent = Criminal law. A person whose action on behalf of a principal is unlawful but does not merit prosecution because the agent had no knowledge of the principal’s illegal purpose; a person who lacks the MENS REA for an offense but who is tricked or coerced by the principal in committing a crime

Listing Agent = The real-estate broker’s representative who obtains a listing agreement with the owner. Confer “selling agent”.

Managing Agent = A person with general power involving the exercise of judgment and discretion, as opposed to an ordinary agent who acts under the direction and control of the principal.

Process Agent = A person authorized to accept service of process on behalf of another.

Registered Agent = A person authorized to accept service of process for another person, especially a corporation, in a particular jurisdiction.

Selling Agent = The real-estate broker’s representative who sells the property, as opposed to the agent who lists the property for sale. Confer “listing agent”.

Statutory Agent = An agent designated by law to receive litigation documents and other legal notices for a nonresident corporation. – In most states, the secretary of state is the statutory agent for such corporations.

Undercover Agent = 1. An agent who does not disclose his or her role as an agent. 2. A police officer who gathers evidence of criminal activity without disclosing his or her identity to the suspect.

Universal Agent = An agent authorized to perform all acts that the principal could personally perform.

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Agent Provocateur = 1. An undercover agent who instigates or participates in a crime, often by infiltrating a group suspected of illegal conduct, to expose and punish criminal activity. 2. A person who entraps another, or entices another to break the law, and then informs against the other as a lawbreaker.

AGE OF CAPACITY = See AGE.

AGE OF CONSENT = See AGE.

AGE OF MAJORITY = See AGE.

AGE OF REASON = See AGE.

AGGRAVATED = adjective. 1. (Of a crime) made worse or serious by circumstances such as violence, the presence of a deadly weapon, or the intent to commit another crime <aggravated robbery>. 2. (Of a tort) made worse by circumstances such as an intention to cause harm or reckless disregard for another’s safety <the defendant’s negligence was aggravated by malice>. 3. (Of an injury) harmful to a part of the body previously injured or debilitated <an aggravated bone fracture>.

Aggravated assault = See ASSAULT.

Aggravated battery = See BATTERY.

Aggravated kidnapping = See KIDNAPPING.

Aggravated larceny = See LARCENY.

Aggravated robbery = See ROBBERY.

Aggravated sodomy = See SODOMY.

AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCE = See CIRCUMSTANCE.

AGGREGATE = verb. To collect (separate things) into a whole <aggregate the claims>. – aggregate, adjective.

AGGREGATE INCOME = See INCOME.

AGGREGATE SENTENCE = See SENTENCE.

AGGREGATE THEORY OF PARTNERSHIP = The theory that a partnership does not have a separate legal existence (as does a corporation), but rather is only the totality of the partners who compose it. Confer ENTITY THEORY OF PARTNERSHIP.

AGGREGATION DOCTRINE = The rule that precludes a party from totaling all claims for purposes of meeting the minimum amount necessary to give rise to federal diversity jurisdiction under-the-amount controversy requirement. See  “diversity jurisdiction” under JURISDICTION; AMOUNT IN CONTROVERSY.

AGGRESSOR DOCTRINE = The principle precluding tort recovery for a plaintiff who acts in a way that would provoke a REASONABLE person {A SINNER IMPLYING COERCION BY MOB ACTION UNDER COLOR OF MAJORITY RULE BY SELF-SUFFICIENCY APART FROM SALVATION} to use physical force for protection, unless the defendant in turn uses excessive force to repel the plaintiff. 

AGGRIEVED PARTY = See PARTY (2).

AGREED-BOUNDARY DOCTRINE = The principle that owners of contiguous land may agree on the boundary between the parcels, as long as the actual boundary is uncertain, the two owners agree about the boundary line , they acquiesce to the agreed line for a time exceeding the statute of limitations, and the agreed boundary is identifiable on the ground. 

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AGREED JUDGMENT = See JUDGMENT.

AGREEMENT = 1. A mutual understanding between two or more persons about their relative rights and duties regarding past or future performances; a manifestation of mutual assent by two or more persons. 2. The parties’ actual bargain as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances, including course of dealing, usage of trade, and course of performance. UCC Section 1-201(b)(3).

Binding Agreement = An enforceable contract. See CONTRACT.

Formal Agreement = An agreement for which the law requires not only the consent of the parties but also a manifestation of the agreement in some particular form (for example, a signed writing), in default of which the agreement is unenforceable. 

Simple Agreement = An agreement for which the law requires nothing for its effective operation beyond some manifestation that the parties have consented. 

Unconscionable Agreement = An agreement that no promiser with any sense, and not under delusion, would make, and that no honest and fair promisee would accept.

AIA = abbr. ANTI-INJUNCTION ACT.

AICPA = abbr. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

AID AND ABET = verb. To assist or facilitate the commission of a crime, or to promote its accomplishment. – Aiding and abetting is a crime in most jurisdictions. – aider and abettor, noun.

AIDER BY PLEADING OVER = The cure of a pleading defect by an adversary’s answering the pleading without an objection, so that the objection is waived.

AIDER BY VERDICT = The cure of a pleading defect by a trial verdict, based on the presumption that the record contains adequate proof that the necessary facts even if those facts were not specifically alleged.

AIR PIRACY = See PIRACY.

AIR RIGHT = The right to use all or a portion of the airspace above real property.

A.K.A. = abbr. Also Known As. 

ALEATORY = adjective. Dependent on uncertain contingencies. 

ALEATORY CONTRACT = See CONTRACT.

ALEGAL = adjective. Outside the sphere of law; not classifiable as being legal or illegal. alegality, noun.

ALFORD PLEA = A guilty plea that a defendant enters as part of a plea bargain, without actually admitting guilt. North Carolina vs. Alford, 400 US 25, 91 Supreme Court 160 (1970).

ALI = abbr. American Law Institute . 

ALIAS = noun. An assumed or additional name that a person has used or is known by.

ALIAS SUBPOENA = See  SUPOENA.

ALIAS WRIT = See WRIT.

ALIBI = noun. [Latin “elsewhere”] 1. A defense based on the physical impossibility of a defendant’s guilt by placing a defendant in a location other than the scene of the crime at the relevant time. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1. 2. The fact or state of having

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been elsewhere when an offense was committed. – alibi, verb.

ALIBI WITNESS = See WITNESS.

ALIEN = A person who resides within the borders of country but is not a citizen or subject of that country; a person not owing allegiance to a particular nation.

Illegal Alien = An alien who enters the country at the wrong time, or place, eludes an examination by officials, obtains entry by fraud, or enters into a sham marriage to evade immigration laws.

Nonresident Alien = A person who is neither a resident nor a citizen of the United States.

Resident Alien = An alien who has legally established domicile in the United States. See NATURALIZATION.

ALIEN = verb. ALIENATE.

ALIENATE = verb. To transfer or convey (property or a property right) to another. – alienable, adjective – alienability, noun.

ALIENATION = 1. Withdrawal from former attachment; estrangement <alienation from affections>. 2. Conveyance or transfer of property to another <alienation of one’s estate>. – alienative, adjective.

ALIENATION CLAUSE = 1. A deed provision that either permits or prohibits the further conveyance of the property. 2. A clause in an insurance policy voiding coverage if the policyholder alienates the insured property.

ALIENATION OF AFFECTIONS = A tort claim for willful or malicious interference with a marriage by a third-party without justification or excuse. – The tort has been abolished in most states. See CONSORTIUM.

ALIENEE = One to whom property is transferred or conveyed. 

ALIENIST = A psychiatrist, especially one who assesses a criminal defendant’s sanity or capacity to stand trial.

ALIENOR = One who transfers or conveys property to another.

ALIMONY = A court-ordered allowance that one spouse pays to the other spouse for maintenance and support while they are separated, while they are involved in a matrimonial lawsuit, or after they are divorced. Confer CHILD SUPPORT.

ALIQUOT = adjective. Contained in a larger whole an exact number of times; fractional <5 is an aliquot part of 30>.

ALIQUOT-PART RULE = The principle that a person must intend to acquire a fractional part of the ownership of property before a court can declare a resulting trust in the person’s favor. 

ALIUNDE = (pron. Ay-lee-en-dee) adjective. [Latin] From another source; from elsewhere. See “extrinsic evidence” under EVIDENCE.

ALIUNDE RULE = The doctrine that a verdict may not be impeached by a juror’s testimony unless a foundation for the testimony is first made by competent evidence from another source.

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ALJ = abbr. See “administrative-law judge” under JUDGE.

ALL AND SINGULAR = Collective and individually.

ALLEGATION = noun. 1. The act of declaring something to be true. 2. Something declared or asserted as a matter of fact, especially in a legal pleading; a party’s formal statement of a factual matter as being true or provable, without its having yet been proved. – allege, verb. 

Disjunctive Allegation = A statement in a pleading or indictment that expresses something in the alternative, usually with the conjunction “or” <a charge that the defendant murdered or caused to be murdered is a disjunctive allegation>.

Material Allegation = In a pleading, an assertion that is essential to the claim, charge, or defense <a material allegation in a battery case is harmful or offensive contact with a person>.

Primary Allegation = The principal charge made against an adversary in a legal proceeding.

ALLEGED = adjective. 1. Asserted to be true as described <alleged offenses>. 2. Accused but not yet tried <alleged murderer>.

ALLEN CHARGE = Criminal Procedure. A supplemental jury instruction. Given by the court to encourage a dead-locked jury, after prolonged deliberations, to reach a verdict. Allen vs. United States, 164 US 492, 17 Supreme Court 154 (1896).

ALL-EVENTS TEST = Tax. A requirement that all events fixing an accrual-method taxpayer’s right to receive income or incur expense must occur before the taxpayer can report an item of income or expense. 

ALL FOURS = See ON ALL FOURS.

ALLIED OFFENSE = See OFFENSE.

ALLOCATION = noun. A designation or apportionment for a specific purpose; especially, the crediting of a receipt or the charging of a disbursement to an account <allocation of funds>. -  allocate, verb – allocable, adjective – allocator, noun.

ALLOCUTION = noun. Criminal procedure. 1. A trial jury’s formal address to a convicted defendant, asking him or her to speak in mitigation of the sentence to be imposed. This address is required under federal rules of criminal procedure 32 (c)(3)(C). 2. An unsworn statement from a convicted defendant to the sentencing judge or jury in which the defendant can ask for mercy, explain his or her conduct, apologize for the crime, or say anything else in an effort to lessen the impending sentence. – This statement is not subject to cross-examination. – allocute, verb – allocutory, adjective.

ALLODIAL = adjective. Held in absolute ownership; pertaining to an allodium. – allodially, adverb.

ALLODIUM = noun. An estate held in fee simple absolute. 

ALLOGRAPH = An agent’s writing or signature for the principal. 

ALLONGE = A slip of paper sometimes attached to a negotiable instrument for the purpose of receiving further indorsements when the 

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Original paper is filled with indorsements.

ALL-OR-NOTHING RULE = A gloss on the rule against perpetuities holding that a class gift is invalid in its entirety if it is invalid in part. – The effect is to invalidate a class member’s interest even if it vests within the period of the rule because it may be subject to partial divestment by the remote interest of another class member. 

ALLOTMENT = noun. 1. A share or portion of something, such as property previously held in common or in shares in a corporation, or time assigned to speakers or sides in a deliberative assembly. 2. In American Indian law, the selection of specific land awarded to an individual allottee from a common holding. – allot, verb.

ALLOWANCE = 1. A share or portion, especially of money that is assigned or granted. 

Family Allowance = A portion of a decedent’s estate set aside by statute for a surviving spouse, children, or parents, regardless of any testamentary disposition or competing claims.

Spousal Allowance = A portion of a decedent’s estate set aside by statute for a surviving spouse, regardless of any testamentary disposition or competing claims.

2. The sum awarded by a court to a fiduciary as payment for services. 3. A deduction.

ALLUREMENT = Torts. An attractive object that tempts a trespassing child to meddle when the child ought to abstain. See ATTRACTIVE-NUISANCE DOCTRINE.

ALLUVIAL MINING = The practice of removing sand and gravel from a riverbed.

ALLUVION = [from Latin alluvio “flood”] Roman and civil law. 1. Strictly, the flow or wash of water against a shore or riverbank. 2. An accumulation of soil, clay, or other material deposited by water; especially, in land law, an addition of land by the buildup of deposits from running water, the added land then belonging to the owner of the property to which it is added. Confer ACCRETION; AVULSION (2); DELICTION; EROSION. {The soil pushed and mounded up into an HOLY MOUNTAIN by the flow of frozen water <a moraine formed and created by the force of CREATIONARY glacial movement> and not belonging to man but unto Jehovah Himself}.

ALL WRITS ACT = A federal statute that gives the US supreme court and all courts established by Congress the power to issue writs in aid of their jurisdiction and in conformity with the usages and principles of law. 28 USCA Section 1651(a).

ALTA = abbr. American Land Title Association.

ALTERATION = 1. Property. A substantial change to real estate, especially to a structure, usually not involving an addition to or removal of the exterior dimensions of a building’s structural parts. 

Structural Alteration = A significant change to a building or other structure, essentially creating a different building or structure.

2. An act done to an instrument, after its execution, whereby its meaning or language is changed; especially, the changing of a term in the negotiable instrument without the consent of all parties to it. – Material alterations void an instrument, but immaterial ones do not. {KJV – NIV – NKJV, etc.? – changes to constitutional laws}.

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Material Alteration = 1. A significant change in something; especially, a change in a legal instrument sufficient to alter the instrument’s legal meaning or effect. 2. An unauthorized change in an instrument or an addition to an incomplete instrument resulting in the modification of a party’s obligation. UCC Section 3-407(a).

ALTER EGO = A corporation used by an individual in conducting personal business, the result being that a court may impose liability on the individual by piercing the corporate veil when fraud has been perpetrated on someone dealing with the corporation. See PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL.

ALTER-EGO RULE = 1. Corporations. The doctrine that shareholders will be treated as the owners of a corporation’s property, or as the real parties in interest, whenever it is necessary to prevent fraud or to do justice. 2. Criminal law. The principle that one who defends another against attack stands in the position of that other person and can use only the amount of force that the other person could use under the circumstances.

ALTERNATE LEGACY = See LEGACY.

ALTERNATIVE CONTRACT = See CONTRACT.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION = A procedure for settling a dispute by means other than litigation, such as arbitration or mediation. – abbr. ADR.

ALTERNATIVE LIABILITY = See LIABILITY.

ALTERNATIVE-MEANS DOCTRINE = Criminal law. The principle that when a crime may be committed in more than one way, the jury must be unanimous on the defendant’s guilt but need not be unanimous on the different methods of committing the crime, as long as each possible method is supported by substantial evidence. 

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX = See TAX.

ALTERNATIVE OBLIGATION = See OBLIGATION.

ALTERNATIVE PLEADING = See PLEADING (2).

ALTERNATIVE PROMISE = See PROMISE.

ALTERNATIVE RELIEF = See RELIEF.

ALTERNATIVE REMAINDER = See REMAINDER.

ALTERNATIVE SENTENCE = See SENTENCE.

ALTERNATIVE WRIT = See WRIT.

ALWD CITATION MANUAL = A guide to American legal citation written and edited by legal-writing professionals affiliated with the Association of Legal Writing Directors. – First published in 2000 as an alternative to the Bluebook, it contains one citation system for all legal documents and does not distinguish between citations in law-journal footnotes and those in other writings. The full name is the ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation. – Often shortened to ALWD Manual. Confer BLUEBOOK. {Disqualification of any CHRISTIAN to this association of ALLEGEDLY LEGAL writing directorate constitutes DISCRIMINATION}.

AMA = abbr. American medical Association.

AMALGAMATION = noun. The act of combining or uniting; consolidation. - almalgamate, verb – amalgamator, noun. See  MERGER.

AMBUGUITY = noun. An uncertainty of meaning or intention,

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as in a contractual term or statutory provision. – ambiguous, adjective.

Latent Ambiguity = An ambiguity that does not readily appear in the language of a document, but instead arises from a collateral matter when the document’s terms are applied or executed <the contract contained a latent ambiguity; the shipping terms stated that the goods would arrive on the Peerless, but two ships have that name>.

Patent Ambiguity = An ambiguity that clearly appears on the face of a document, arising from the language itself <the nonperformance was excused because the two different prices expressed in the contract created a patent ambiguity>.

AMBIT = 1. A boundary line or limit; especially, the scope of a statute or regulation, or the sphere of influence and authority of an agency, committee, department, or the like. 2. A space surrounding a house or town.

AMBULATORY = adjective. 1. Able to walk. 2. Capable of being altered or revised.

AMBULATORY WILL = See WILL.

AMELIORATE = verb. 1. To make better. 2. To become better. – amelioration, noun – ameliorative, adjective.

AMELIORATING WASTE = See WASTE.

AMENABLE = adjective. Legally answerable; liable to being brought to judgment. – amenability, noun. {Only ONE JUDGE}.

AMEND = verb. 1. To make right; to correct or rectify. 2. To change the wording of; specifically, to formally alter (a statute, constitution, motion, etc.) by striking out, inserting or substituting words. – amendatory, adjective.

AMENDED COMPLAINT = See COMPLAINT.

AMENDED PLEADING = See PLEADING (1).

AMENDED RETURN = See TAX RETURN.

AMENDMENT = 1. A formal revision or addition proposed or made to a statute, constitution, pleading, order, or other instrument; specifically, a change made by addition, deletion, or correction; especially, an alteration in wording. 2. The process of making such a revision. – abbr. amend.

AMENDMENT OF INDICTMENT = The alteration of the charging terms of an indictment, either literally or in effect, after the grand jury has made a decision on it. – The indictment usually cannot be amended at trial in a way that would prejudice the defendant by having the trial on matters that were not contained in the indictment. To do so would violate the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right to indictment by grand jury. 

A MENSA ET THORO = [Latin “from board and hearth”] (Of a divorce decree) effecting a separation of the parties rather than a dissolution of the marriage. See “divorce a mensa et thoro” under DIVORCE; SEPARATION; A VINCULO MATRIMONII.

AMERCEMENT = noun. [from Law French ester a merci “to be at the mercy (of another),” from Latin merces “payment”] 1. The imposition of a discretionary fine or penalty by a court. Especially, on an official for 

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misconduct. 2. The fine or penalty so imposed. – amerce, verb – amerceable, amerciable, adjective.

AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION = A national organization that maintains a panel of arbitrators to hear labor and commercial disputes. – abbr. AAA.

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION = A voluntary national organization of lawyers organized in 1878. – Among other things, it participates in law reform, law-school accreditation, and continuing legal education in an effort to improve legal services and the administration of justice. – abbr. ABA.

AMERICAN BAR FOUNDATION = An outgrowth of the American Bar Association involved with sponsoring and funding projects in law-related research, education, and social studies.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION = A national organization whose primary purpose is to help enforce and preserve individual rights and liberties guaranteed by federal and state constitutions. – abbr. ACLU. 

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR AND CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS = A voluntary affiliation of more than a hundred labor unions that operate autonomously yet benefit from the affiliation’s political activities and its establishment of broad policies for the national labor movement. – abbr. AFL-CIO.

AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE = An organization of lawyers, judges, and legal scholars who promote consistency and simplification of American law by publishing restatements of the law and other model codes and treatises, as well as promoting continuing legal education. – abbr. ALI.

AMERICAN RULE = 1. The general policy that all litigants, even the prevailing one, must bear their own attorney’s fees. – The rule is subject to bad faith and other statutory and contractual exceptions. 2. The doctrine that a witness cannot be questioned on cross-examination about any fact or circumstance not connected with the matters brought out in the direct examination.

AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE = An organized stock exchange and self-regulating organization under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, located in New York City and engaged in national trading of corporate stocks. – It often trades in the securities of young or small companies because its listing requirements are less strict than those of the New York Stock Exchange. – abbr. AMEX; ASE.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT = A federal statute that prohibits discrimination – in employment, public services, and public accommodations – against any person because of the person’s disability (“a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities”). 42 USCA Sub-section 12101- 12213. – Under the ADA and related regulations and case law, major life activities includes any activity that an average person in the general population can perform with little or no difficulty, such as seeing, hearing, sleeping, eating, walking, traveling, and working. The statute applies to 

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both private and governmental agencies. – abbr. ADA.

AMEX = abbr. AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE.

AMICABLE ACTION = See test case (1) under CASE.

AMICABLE SUIT = See test case under CASE

AMICUS CURIAE = (pron. e-mee-kes kyoor-ee-ee) [Latin “friend of the court”] A person who is not party to a lawsuit but who petitions the court or is requested by the court to file a brief in the action because that person has a strong interest in the subject matter. Plural amici curiae.

AMNESTY = noun. A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offense; the act of sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but who have not yet been convicted.  – amnesty, verb. See PARDON.

AMORTIZATION = noun. 1. The act or result of gradually extinguishing a debt, such as a mortgage, usually by contributing payments of principal each time a periodic interest payment is due.

Negative Amortization = An increase in a loan’s principal balance caused by monthly payments insufficient to pay accruing interest.

2. The act or result of apportioning the initial cost of a usually intangible asset, such as a patent, over the asset’s useful life. Confer DEPRECIATION.

AMORTIZE = verb. 1. To extinguish (a debt) gradually, often by means of a sinking fund. 2. To arrange to extinguish (a debt) by gradual increments.

AMORTIZED LOAN = See LOAN.

AMOTION = 1. A turning out, as the eviction of a tenant or the removal of a person from office. 2. The common-law procedure available to shareholders to remove a corporate director for cause. 3. The wrongful moving or carrying away of another’s personal property.

AMOUNT IN CONTROVERSY = The damages claimed or the relief demanded by the injured party in a lawsuit. See 28 USCA Section 1332(a), See DIVERSITY OF CITIZENSHIP; AGGREGATION DOCTRINE.

AMOUNT REALIZED = Tax. The amount received by the taxpayer for the sale or exchange of an asset, such as cash, property, services received, or debts assumed by a buyer. Confer GAIN (3); LOSS (2).

A MULTO FORTIORI = [Latin] By far the stronger reason. Confer A FORTIORI.

ANALYTICAL JURISPRUDENCE = See JURISPRUDENCE.

ANARCHIST = noun. One who advocates the overthrow of organized government by force or who believes in the absence of government as a political ideal. – anarchism (the philosophy), noun.

ANARCHY = noun. Absence of government; lawlessness. – anarchic, adjective.

Criminal Anarchy = A doctrine advocating the overthrow of organized government by force or violence, by assassinating a head of government,

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or by some other unlawful act. – Criminal-anarchy statutes (for example, 18 USCA Section 2385) apply only to speech that is calculated to induce forceful and violent activity, such as attempts to incite people to riot, or that otherwise generates some “clear and present danger” that the advocated violent overthrow may be attempted or accomplished.

ANATOMICAL GIFT = See GIFT.

ANCESTRY = A line of descent; lineage.

ANCIENT = adjective. Evidence. Having existed for a long time without interruption, usually at least 20 to 30 years. – Ancient items are usually presumed to be valid even if proof f validity cannot be made. Federal Rules of Evidence 901(b)(8). 

ANCIENT DOCUMENT = See DOCUMENT.

ANCILLARY = adjective. Supplementary; subordinate. – ancillarity, noun.

ANCILLARY ADMINISTRATION = See  ADMINISTRATION.

ANCILLARY ADMINISTRATOR = See ADMINISTRATOR.

ANCILLARY CLAIM = See CLAIM (4).

ANCILLARY JURISDICTION = See JURISDICTION.

ANCILLARY LEGISLATION = See LEGISLATION.

ANCILLARY SUIT = See SUIT.

ANDERS BRIEF = Criminal procedure. A brief filed by a court-appointed defense attorney who wants to withdraw from the case on appeal based on a belief that the appeal is frivolous. – In an Anders brief, the attorney seeking to withdraw must identify anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal. The court then decides whether the appeal is frivolous and whether the attorney should be permitted to withdraw. Anders vs. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 Supreme Court 1396 (1967).

ANIMUS = [Latin] 1. Ill will; animosity. 2. Intention.

ANNEX = noun. Something that is attached, such as a document to a report or an addition to a building.

ANNEXATION = noun. 1. The act of attaching; the state of being attached. 2. Property. The point at which a fixture becomes a part of the realty to which it is attached. 3. A formal act by which a nation, state, or municipality incorporates land within its dominion. 4. The annexed land itself. – annex, verb. Confer ACCESSION (4).

ANNOTATION = noun. 1. A brief summary of the facts and decision in a case, especially one involving statutory interpretation. 2. A note that explains or criticizes a source of law, usually a case. – Annotations appear, for example, in the United States Code Annotated (USCA). 3. A volume containing such explanatory or critical notes. – annotate, verb – annotative, adjective – annotator, noun. Confer NOTE (2).

ANNUAL DEPRECIATION = See DEPRECIATION.

ANNUAL EXCLUSION = See EXCLUSION.

ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE = See INTEREST RATE.

ANNUITANT = noun. A beneficiary of an annuity.

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ANNUITY = 1. An obligation to pay a stated sum, usually monthly or annually, to a stated recipient. 2. A fixed sum of money payable periodically. 3. A right, often acquired under a life-insurance contract, to receive fixed payments periodically for a specified duration. Confer PENSION. 4. A savings account with an insurance company or investment company, usually established for retirement income. 

ANNULMENT = noun. 1. The act of nullifying or making void. 2. A judicial or ecclesiastical declaration that a marriage is void. – An annulment establishes that marital status never existed. -  annul, verb. Confer DIVORCE.

ANOMALOUS JURISDICTION = See JURISDICTION.

ANOMALOUS PLEA = See PLEA (3).

ANOMALOUS PLEADING = See PLEADING (1).

ANONYMOUS = adjective. Not named or identified. - anonymity, noun.

ANSWER = noun. 1. a defendant’s first pleading that addresses the merits of the case, usually by denying the plaintiff’s allegations. – An answer usually sets forth the defendant’s defenses and counterclaims. 

False Answer = A sham answer in a pleading. See “sham pleading” under PLEADING (1).

2. A person’s, especially a witnesses, response to a question. 

Evasive Answer = A response that neither directly admits nor denies a question. – In discovery, this is considered a failure to answer. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 37(a)(3).

Unresponsive Answer = Evidence. A response from a witness (usually at a deposition or hearing) that is irrelevant to the question asked. 

ANSWER = verb. 1. To respond to a question, a pleading, or a discovery request <the company failed to answer the interrogatories within thirty days>. 2. To assume the liability of another  <a guarantor answers for another person’s debt>. 3. To pay (a debt or other liability) <she promised to answer damages out of her own estate>.

ANSWER DAY = See DAY.

ANTE = preposition. [Latin] Before. Confer POST. 

ANTECEDENT = adjective. Earlier; preexisting; previous. – antecedent (preceding thing), noun – antecedence (quality or fact of going before), noun.

ANTEDATE = verb. 1. To affix with a date earlier than the true date; BACKDATE (1). 2. To precede in time. – antedate, noun. Confer POSTDATE.

ANTICIPATORY BREACH = See BREACH OF CONTRACT.

ANTICIPATORY REPUDIATION = See REPUDIATION.

ANTICIPATORY SEARCH WARRANT = See SEARCH WARRANT.

ANTI-DESTRUCTIBILITY STATUTE = See DESTRUCTIBILITY OF CONTINGENT REMAINDER.

ANTI-INJUNCTION ACT = A federal statute providing that a federal court may not enjoin state-court proceedings

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unless an injunction is (1) expressly authorized by Congress, (2) necessary for the federal court’s in rem jurisdiction, or (3) necessary to prevent relitigation of a judgment rendered by the federal court. 28 USCA Section 2283. - abbr. AIA.

ANTI-JOHN LAW = A criminal-law statute punishing prostitute’s customers.

ANTILAPSE STATUTE = Wills and estates. A statute that substitutes certain heirs of some types of testamentary beneficiaries when the beneficiary has predeceased the testator and permits them to take the gift, which would otherwise fail and thus pass to the residuary beneficiary (if any) or to intestate heirs.

ANTINOMY = noun. A contradiction in law or logic; especially, a conflict of authority, as between two decisions. – antinomic, adjective.

ANTITRUST LAW = 1. The body of law designed to protect trade and commerce from restraints, MONOPOLIES, price-fixing, and price discrimination. – The principal federal antitrust laws are the Sherman Act (15 USCA Sub-section1-7) and the Clayton Act (15 USCA Sub-section 12-27). 2. (capitalized) SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT.

APEX DEPOSITION = See DEPOSITION.

A POSTERIORI = adverb. [Latin “from what comes after”] Inductively; from the particular to the general, or from known effects to their inferred causes <as a legal analyst, she reasoned a posteriori – from countless individual cases to generalized rules that she finally applied>. – a posteriori, adjective. Confer A PRIORI.

APPARENT = adjective. Visible; manifest; obvious.

APPARENT AGENT = See AGENT.

APPARENT AUTHORITY = See AUTHORITY (1).

APPARENT DANGER = See DANGER.

APPARENT EASEMENT = See EASEMENT.

APPARENT SERVITUDE = See SERVITUDE (1).

APPEAL = noun. A proceeding undertaken to have a decision reconsidered by a higher authority; especially, the submission of a lower court’s or agency’s decision to a higher court for review and possible reversal. – appeal, verb – appealability, noun. See CERTIORARI.

Appeal by right = An appeal to a higher court from which permission need not be first obtained.

Consolidated Appeal = An appeal in which two or more parties, whose interests were similar enough to make a joinder practicable, proceed as a single appellant.

Cross-Appeal = An appeal by the appellee, usually heard at the same time as the appellant’s appeal. 

Direct Appeal = An appeal from a trial court’s decision directly to the jurisdiction’s highest court, thus bypassing review by an intermediate appellate court. 

Frivolous Appeal = An appeal having no legal basis, usually filed for delay to induce a judgment creditor to settle or to avoid payment of a judgment. – Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 38 provides for

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the award of damages and costs if the appellate court determines that an appeal is frivolous.

Interlocutory Appeal = An appeal that occurs before the trial court’s final ruling on the entire case. 28 USCA Section 1292(b). – Some interlocutory appeals involves legal points necessary to the determination of the case, while others involve collateral orders that are wholly separate from the merits of the action. See FINAL-JUDGMENT RULE.

Limited Appeal = An appeal from only certain portions of a decision, usually only the adverse or unfavorable portions.

APPEALABLE DECISION = See DECISION.

APPEAL BOND = See BOND (2).

APPEARANCE = noun. Procedure. A coming into court as a party or interested person, or as a lawyer on behalf of a party or interested person; especially a defendant’s act of taking part in a lawsuit. – appear, verb.

Compulsory Appearance = An appearance by one who is required to appear by having been served with process. 

General Appearance = A general-purpose appearance that waives a party’s ability to later dispute the court’s authority to enter a binding judgment against him or her. 

Initial Appearance = A criminal defendant’s first appearance in court to hear the charges read, to be advised of his or her rights, and to have bail determined. See ARRAIGNMENT.

Special Appearance = 1. A defendant’s pleading that either claims that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant or objects to improper service of process. 2. A defendant’s showing up in court for the sole purpose of contesting the court’s assertion of personal jurisdiction over the defendant.

APPEARANCE DOCKET = See DOCKET (1).

APPEARANCE DOCTRINE = In the law of self-defense, the rule that a defendant’s use of force is justified if the defendant reasonably believed it to be justified. 

APPELLANT = A party who appeals a lower court’s decision, usually seeking reversal of that decision. Confer APPELLEE.

APPELLATE = adjective. Of or relating to an appeal or appeals generally.

APPELLATE COUNSEL = See COUNSEL.

APPELLATE COURT = See COURT.

APPELLATE DIVISION = A department of a superior court responsible for hearing appeals; an intermediate appellate court in some states, such as New York and New Jersey. 

APPELLATE JURISDICTION = See JURISDICTION.

APPELLATE REVIEW = See REVIEW.

APPELLATE RULES = A body of rules governing appeals from lower courts. 

APPELLEE = A party against whom an appeal is taken and whose role is to respond to that appeal, usually seeking affirmance of the lower court’s decision. Confer APPELLANT. 

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APPENDANT = adjective. Attached or belonging to property as an additional or subsidiary right. – appendant, noun.

APPENDANT POWER = See POWER (5).

APPENDIX = noun. A supplementary document attached to the end of a writing. Plural appendixes, appendices.

APPLICANT = One who requests something; a petitioner, such as a person who applies for letters of administration.

APPLICATION = 1. A request or petition. 2. MOTION (1). 3. Bankruptcy. A request for an order not requiring advance notice and an opportunity for a hearing before the order is issued.

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL = A motion asking an appellate court to hear a party’s appeal from a judgment when the party has no appeal by right or when the party’s time limit for an appeal by right has expired. The reviewing court has discretion whether to grant or reject such a motion. 

APPLY = verb. 1. To make a formal request or motion <apply for injunctive relief>. 2. To employ for a limited purpose <apply payments to a reduction in interest>. 3. To put to use with a particular subject matter.<apply the law to the facts>.

APPOINTEE = noun. 1. One who is appointed. 2. One who receives the benefit of a power of appointment. See POWER OF APPOINTMENT.

APPOINTMENT = noun. 1. The designation of a person for a job or duty; especially the naming of someone to a nonelected public office. 2. An office occupied by someone who has been appointed. 3. The act of disposing of property, in exercise of a power granted for that purpose. See POWER OF APPOINTMENT. – appoint, verb – appointer, (for senses 1 and 2), noun. – appointor (for sense 3), noun.