Glossary Of Terms

• Abstract Of Title - A summary giving details of title deeds and documents tha prove an owners right to dispose of land, together with any encumbrances that relate to that property.
• Acceptance - The action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered, with the intention of retaining it.
• Accident - An unfortunate incident that happens unintentionally, often resulting in damage or injury.
• Accomplice - A person who helps another commit a crime.
• Accretion - The process of gradual growth and accumulation of land by natural causes, as with a river or lake.
• Acknowledgment - A formal declaration before an authorised official by the person who executed an instrument that it is his free act and deed; the certificate of the official on such instrument attesting that it was so acknowledged.
• Acquittal - A judgement that a person is not guilty of a crime with which they have been charged.
• Action Case- A controversially disputed case in front of a court og justice.
• Additur - The act of the judge increasing the amount of damages awarded from that of the jury.
• Adjective Law - Also known as procedural law. That body of law that governs the process of protecting the rights set-out by substantive law.
• Adjudication - The formal pronouncment of a judgement or decree.
• Administrative Agencies - Agencies created by the legislative branch of government to act as the administrators of laws associated with specific areas.
• Administrator - 1. A court official. 2. The person responsible for administering the estate of persn who dies without a will.
• Admiralty Law - Also known as Maritime Law. The body of law relating to ships, shipping, transportation of goods or persons by sea, and maritime etc.
• Admissible Evidence - Evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial.
• Admonish - To warn or reprimand/caution. In a court of law, the court may adminish the counsel for wrong practices.
• Adultery - Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not the spouse, while the marriage is still valid.
• Advance Sheets - Paperback pamphlets published by law book publishers weekly or monthly which contain reporter cases, including correct volume number and page number. When there are sufficient cases, they are replaced by a bound volume.
• Adversary Proceeding - One having opposing parties such as a plaintiff and a defendant. Individual lawsuit(s) brought within a bankruptcy proceeding.
• Adverse Possession - Method of acquiring real property under certain conditions by possession for a statutory period.
• Affiant - The person who makes and subscribes an affidavit.
• Affidavit - A voluntary, written, or printed declaration of facts, confirmed by oath of the party making it before a person with authority to administer the oath.
• Affirmation - A solemn and formal declaration that an affidavit is true. This is substituted for an oath in certain cases.
• Affirmative Defense - A defense raised in a responsive pleading (answer) relating a new matter as a defense to the complaint; affirmative defenses might include contributory negligence or estopped in civil actions; in criminal cases insanity, duress, or self-defense might be used.
• Affirmed - In the practice of appellate courts, the word means that the decision of the trial court is correct.
• Agreement -Mutual consent.
• Aid & Abet - To actively, knowingly, or intentionally assist another person in the commission or attempted commission of a crime.
• Alien - A foreign-born person who has not qualified as a citizen of the country.
• Allegation - A statement of the issues in a written document (a pleading) which a person is prepared to prove in court.
• Alteration - Changing or making different.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution - Settling a dispute without a full, formal trial. Methods include mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and settlement, among others.
• American Law Reports - A publication which reports cases from all United States jurisdictions by subject matter.
• Ancillary - A proceeding which is auxiliary or subordinate to another proceeding. In probate, a proceeding in a state where a decedent owned property but was not domiciled.
• Annotations - Remarks, notes, case summaries, or commentaries following statutes which describe interpretations of the statute.
• Answer - A formal, written statement by the defendant in a lawsuit which answers each allegation contained in the complaint.
• Answers to Interrogatories - A formal written statement by a party to a lawsuit which answers each question or interrogatory propounded by the other party. These answers must be acknowledged before a notary public or other person authorized to take acknowledgments.
• Antitrust acts - Federal and state statutes to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints, price discriminations, price fixing, and monopolies.
• Appeal - A proceeding brought to a higher court to review a lower court decision.
• Appeal Bond - A guaranty by the appealing party insuring that court costs will be paid.
• Appearance - The act of coming into court as a party to a suit either in person or through an attorney.
• Appendix - Supplementary materials added to the end of a document.
• Appellate court - A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a trial court's procedure.
• Appellee - The party against whom an appeal is taken.
• Arbitration - The hearing of a dispute by an impartial third person or persons (chosen by the parties), whose award the parties agree to accept.
• Arbitrator - A private, disinterested person chosen by the parties in arbitration to hear evidence concerning the dispute and to make an award based on the evidence.
• Arraignment - The hearing at which the accused is brought before the court to plead to the criminal charge in the indictment. He may plead "guilty," "not guilty," or where permitted "nolo contendere."
• Arrest - To take into custody by legal authority.
• Assault - Threat to inflict injury with an apparent ability to do so. Also, any intentional display of force that would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.
• Assignment - The transfer to another person of any property, real or personal.
• Assumption of risk - A doctrine under which a person may not recover for an injury received when he has voluntarily exposed himself to a known danger.
• At issue - The time in a lawsuit when the complaining party has stated their claim and the other side has responded with a denial and the matter is ready to be tried.
• Attachment- Taking a person's property to satisfy a court-ordered debt.