Legal Dictionary

L E G A L D I C T I O N A R Y

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LETTER A

A fortiori- With stronger reason; much more. Denote an argument to the effect that because one ascertained fact exists, therefore another, which is included in it.
A priori- From the cause to the effect; from what goes before. Denotes argument founded on analogy, or abstract considerations, or one which, positing a general principle.
Abandonment- The surrender, relinquishment, disclaimer, or cession of property or of rights.
Abatement- A reduction, a decrease, or a diminution.
Abduction- The offense of taking away a wife, child, or ward, by fraud and persuasion or open violence.
Abet- To encourage, incite, or set another on to commit a crime.
Abeyance- Lapse in succession during which there is no person in whom title is vested.
Abjure- To renounce, or abandon, by or upon oath.
Abridgment- Condensation; contraction.
Abrogate- To annul, cancel, revoke, repeal, or destroy.
Abscond- To go in a clandestine manner out of the jurisdiction of the courts, or to lie concealed, in order to avoid their process.
Abstract- To take or withdraw from; as to abstract the funds of a bank.
Abstruse- Difficult to comprehend; recondite.
Acceptance- The taking and receiving of anything in good part, and as it were a tacit agreement to a preceding act, which might have been defeated or avoided if acceptance had not been made.
Acceptor- The person (the drawee) who accepts a draft and who engage to be primarily responsible for its payment.
Access- Freedom of approach or communication; or the means, power, or opportunity of approaching, communicating, or passing to and from.
Accessory- Anything which is joined to another thing as an ornament, or to render it more perfect, or which accompanies it, or is connected with it as an incident.
Accommodate- To make fit, suitable, or congruous.
Accomplice- One who knowingly, voluntarily and with common intent unites with principal offender in the commission of a crime.
Accroach- To encroach; to exercise power without authority.
Accrual- The action or process of accruing.
Accumulation- Increase by continuous or repeated additions, or, if taken literally, means either profit accruing on sale of principal assets, or increase derived from their investment, or both.
Accumulative- That which accumulates, or is heaped up; additional.
Accusation- A formal charge against a person, to the effect that he is guilty of a punishable offense, laid before a court or magistrate having jurisdiction to inquire the crime.
Acknowledgment- To Acknowledge is to admit, affirm, declare, testify, avow, confess, or own a genuine.
Acquiescence- Conducting recognizing the existence of a transaction, and intended in some extent at least, to carry the transaction, or permit it to be carried into effect.
Acquisition- The act of becoming the owner of certain property; the act by which one acquires or procures the property in anything.
Acquittal- Released; absolved; purged of an accusation.
Actio in rem- In the civil and common law, an action for a thing; an action for the recovery of a thing possessed by another.
Actionable- That for which an action will lie, furnishing legal ground for an action.
Ad damnum- In pleading, ATo the damage.
Ad litem- For the suit; for the purposes of the suit; pending the suit.
Ademption- Extinction or withdrawal of legacy by testator=s act equivalent to revocation or indicating intention to revoke.
Adjudicate- To settle in the exercise of judicial authority.
Adjudication- The legal process of resolving a dispute.
Administrative- Connotes of or pertains to administration, especially management, as by managing or conducting, directing, or superintending, the execution, application or conduct of persons or things.
Administrator- A person appointed by the court to administer the assets and liabilities of a decedent.
Administratrix- A female appointed by the court to administer the assets and liabilities of a decedent.
Admiralty- The court having jurisdiction of maritime questions; also; the system of law administered by admiralty courts.
Admissible- Pertinent and proper to be considered in reaching a decision.
Adoption- Legal process pursuant to state statute in which a child=s legal rights and duties toward his natural parents are terminated and similar rights and duties toward his adoptive parents are substituted.
Adventitious- That which comes incidentally, fortuitously, or out of the regular course.
Advocacy- The act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending active espousal
Advocate- One who assists, defends, or pleads for another.
Aegis- Protection.
Aeronautical- A science dealing with the operation of aircraft.
Affiant- The person who makes and subscribes and affidavit.
Affidavit- A written or printed declaration or statement of facts, made voluntarily, and confirmed by the oath or affirmation of the party making it.
Affirmation- A solemn and formal declaration or asseveration that an affidavit is true, that the witness will tell the truth.
Affirmative- That which declares positively; that which avers a fact to be true; that which establishes; the opposite of negative.
Affreightment- A contract of affreightment is a contract with a ship-owner to hire his ship, or part of it, for the carriage of goods.
Aforesaid- Before, or already said, mentioned, or recited; premised.
Aggregate- Entire number, sum, mass, or quantity of something; total amount; complete whole.
Aggrieved- Having suffered loss or injury; damnified; injured.
Alibi- A defense that places the defendant at the relevant time of crime in a different place than the scene involved and so removed therefrom as to render it impossible for him to be the guilty party.
Alienable- Proper to be the subject of alienation or transfer.
Alienate- To convey; to transfer the title to property.
Alienation- In real property law, the transfer of the property and possession of lands, tenements, or other things, from one person to another.
Alimony- Meaning sustenance, and means, therefore, the sustenance or support of the wife by her divorced husband and stems from the common-law right of the wife to support by her husband.
Allegation- The assertion, claim, declaration, or statement of a party to an action, made in a pleading, settling out what he expects to prove.
Allege- To state, recite, claim, assert, or charge; to make an allegation.
Allonge- A piece of paper annexed to a negotiable instrument or promissory note, on which to write endorsements for which there is no room on the instrument itself.
Altercation- Variation; changing; making different.
Alumna- A girl or woman who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university.
Alumnus- One who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university.
Ambiguity- Doubtfulness; doubleness of meaning.
Amendatory- Corrective.
Amicus curise- Means, literally, friend of the court.
Amnesty- A sovereign act of forgiveness for past acts, granted by a government to all persons ( or to certain classes of persons) who have been guilty of crime.
Amortization- In accounting, the allocation (and charge to expense) of the cost or other basis of an intangible asset over its estimated useful life.
Amplification- The particulars by which a statement is expanded.
Analogous- Meaning bearing some resemblance or likeness that permits one to draw an analogy.
Anamnesis- A recalling to mind; reminiscence.
Ancillary- Aiding; attendant upon; describing a proceeding attendant upon or which aids another proceeding considered as principal
Annexed- Meaning to tie or bind to. To attach, and often, specifically, to subjoin.
Annotate- A remark, note, case, summary, or commentary on some passage of a book, statutory provision, court decision, or the like, intended to illustrate or explain its meaning.
Anomalous- Deviating from common rule, method, or type. Irregular; exceptional; abnormal; unusual.
Annuitant- The party entitled to receive payments from an annuity contract.
Annuity- A right to receive fixed, periodic payments, either for life or for a term of years.
Annul- To reduce to nothing; annihilate; obliterate; to make void or of no effect; to nullify; to abolish; to do away with.
Anonymous- Nameless; lacking a name or names; e.g. a publication, article, or the like, without any designation of authorship; an unsigned letter.
Ante nuptial- Made or done before a marriage.
Antinomian- A real or apparent contradiction or inconsistency in the laws.
Appellant- The party who takes an appeal from one court or jurisdiction to another.
Appellate- Pertaining to or having cognizance of appeals and other proceedings for the judicial review of adjudications.
Appellee- The party in a cause whom an appeal is taken; that is, the party who has an interest adverse to setting aside or reversing the judgment.
Appendix- Supplementary materials added to appellate brief; e.g. record an appeal.
Applicability- Fit, suitable, pertinent, related to, or appropriate; capable of being applied.
Appointment- The designation of a person, by the person or persons having authority therefor, to discharge the duties of some office or trust.
Apposite- Highly pertinent or appropriate; apt.
Appraisal- A valuation or an estimation of value of property by disinterested person of suitable qualifications.
Appreciation- To set a price or value on.
Apprehend- To take hold of, whether with the mind (as to conceive, believe, fear, dread, understand, be conscious or sensible of), or actually and bodily.
Appurtenances- That which belongs to something else; an adjunct; an appendage.
Arbitrary- In an reasonable manner, as fixed or done capriciously or at pleasure.
Archives- Place where old books, manuscripts, records, etc, are kept.
Arguably- Open to argument, dispute, or question.
Arraignment- Procedure whereby the accused is brought before the court to plead to the criminal charge against him in the indictment or information.
Arrangement- A preliminary measure; preparation.
Arrearage- The condition of being in arrears; an unpaid and overdue debt usually used in pl.
Arrogate- To claim or seize without jurisdiction.
Ascertain- To fix; to render certain or definite; to estimate and determine; to clear of doubt or obscurity.
Asportation- The removal of things from one place to another.
Assault- Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon the person of another, when coupled with an apparent present ability so to do, and any intentional display of force such as would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.
Assess- To ascertain; fix the value of.
Assigned- To transfer, make over, or set over to another.
Assignee- A person to whom an assignment is made; grantee.
Assignor- A person who assigns or transfers property to another.
Assumpsit- A promise or engagement by which one person assumes or undertakes to do some act or pay something to another.
Attachment- The legal process of seizing another=s property in accordance with a writ or judicial order for the purpose of securing satisfaction of a judgment yet to be rendered.
Attainder- That extinction of civil rights and capacities which took place whenever a person who had committed treason or felony received sentence of death for his crime.
Attestation- The act of witnessing an instrument in writing, at the request of the party making the same, and subscribing the name of the witness in testimony of such fact.
Attorney- In the most general sense this term denotes an agent or substitute, or one who is appointed and authorized to act in the place or stead of another.
Authentication- The act or mode of giving authority or legal authenticity to a statute, record, or other written instrument, or a certified copy thereof, so as to render it legally admissible in evidence.
Auxiliary- Aiding; attendant on; ancillary as, an auxiliary bill in equity, an auxiliary receiver.
Avoidance- A making void, useless, empty, or of no effect; annulling, canceling, escaping or evading.
Avulsion- A sudden and perceptible loss or addition to land by the action of water, or a sudden change in the bed or course of a stream.

LETTER B Back to Top
Bailee- One to whom goods are bailed; one to whom goods are entrusted by a bailor.
Bailiff- A court officer or attendant who has charge of a court session in the matter of keeping order, custody of the jury, and custody of prisoners while in the court.
Bailment- A delivery of goods or personal property, by one person (bailor) to another (bailee), in trust for the execution of a special object upon or in relation to such goods.
Bailor- The party who bails or delivers goods to another int he contract of bailment.
Bankrupt- The state or condition of a person who is unable to pay its debts as they are, or become, due.
Barrister- A counselor learned in the law who has been admitted to plead at the bar, and who is engaged in conducting the trial or argument of causes.
Beneficial- Tending to the benefit of a person; yielding a profit, advantage, or benefit; enjoying or entitled to a benefit or profit.
Benevolent- Having a desire or purpose to do good to men; intended for the conferring of benefits, rather than for gain or profit; loving others and actively desirous of their well-being.
Bequeathed- To give personal property by will to another.
Bequest- A gift (transfer) by will of personal property; a legacy.
Bete noire- A person or thing strongly detested or avoided.
Bicameral- Having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers.
Bilateral- Affecting reciprocally two sides or parties.
Bona fide- In or with good faith; honestly, openly, and sincerely; without deceit or fraud.
Bottomry- A contract by which the owner of a ship borrows for the use, equipment, or repair of the vessel.
Boycott- Concerted refusal to do business with particular person or business in order to obtain concessions or to express displeasure with certain acts or practices of persons of business.
Breach- The breaking or violating of a law, right, obligation, engagement, or duty, either by commission or omission.
Bribery- The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties.
Bureau- An office for the transaction of business.
Burglary- The crime of burglary consisted of a breaking and entering of a dwelling house of another in the nighttime with the intent to commit a felony therein.
Burial- Act or process of burying a deceased person; sepulture, interment, act of depositing a dead body in the earth, in a tomb or vault, or in the water.

LETTER C Back to Top
Cache- A hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements.
Cadre- A nucleus especially of trained personnel capable of assuming control and of training others.
Calendar- The established order of the division of time into years, months, weeks, and days; or a systematized enumeration of such arrangements; an almanac.
Canceled- To obliterate; to strike or cross out.
Cancellation- To destroy the force, effectiveness, or validity of.
Canon- A law, rule, or ordinance in general, and of the church in particular.
Capias- The general name for several species of writs, the common characteristic of which is that they require the officer to take a named defendant into custody.
Caption- The heading or introductory part of a pleading, motion, deposition, or other legal instrument which indicates the names of the parties, name of the court, docket, or file number, title of the action
Carnal- Pertaining to the body, its passions and its appetites; animal; fleshly; sensual; impure; sexual.
Carte blanche- A white sheet of paper; an instrument signed, but otherwise left blank. A sheet given to an agent, with the principal=s signature appended.
Casualty- A serious or fatal accident.
Categorical- Absolute; unqualified.
Category- A general class to which a logical predicate or that which it predicates belongs.
Causal- Occurring without regularity, occasional; impermanent, as employment for irregular periods.
Caveat- A formal notice or warning given by a party interested to a court, judge, or ministerial officer against the performance of certain acts within his power and jurisdiction.
Certificate- A written assurance, or official representation, that some act has or has not been done, or some even occurred, or some legal formality has been complied with.
Certified- To authenticate or vouch for a thing in writing.
Certiorari- A writ of common law origin issued by a superior to an inferior court requiring the latter to produce a certified record of a particular case tried therein.
Chancellor- The name given in some states to the judge of a court of chancery.
Chancery- Equity; equitable jurisdiction; a court of equity; the system of jurisprudence administered in courts of equity.
Changeable- Able or apt to vary; subject to change.
Charlatan- One who pretends to more knowledge or skill than he possesses; a quack; a faker.
Chattel- An article of personal property, as distinguished from real property.
Circuit- Judicial divisions of the United States or a state, originally so called because the judges traveled from place to place within the circuit, holding circuit in various locations.
Circumstantial- Pertinent but not essential; incidental.
Citation- A writ issued out of a court of competent jurisdiction, commanding a person therein named to appear on a day named and do something therein mentioned, or show cause why he should not.
Claimant- One who claims or asserts a right, demand, or claim.
Coalition- A temporary alliance of distinct parties, persons, or states for joint action.
Codicil- A supplement or addition to a will; it may explain, modify, add to, subtract from, qualify, alter, restrain or revoke provisions in existing will.
Coercion- Compulsion; constraint; compelling by force or arms or threat.
Cognate- Related by blood; related on the mother's side.
Cognizance- Jurisdiction, or the exercise of jurisdiction, or power to try and determine causes; judicial examination of a matter, or power and authority to make it.
Cohabitation- To live together as husband and wife.
Collaborative- To work jointly with others especially in an intellectual endeavor.
Collateral- Property which is pledged as security for the satisfaction of a debt.
Collocation- The arrangement or marshaling of the creditors of an estate in the order in which they are to be paid according to law.
Collusion- An agreement between two or more persons to defraud a person of his rights by the forms of law, or to obtain an object forbidden by law.
Commentary- A systematic series of explanations or interpretations (as of a writing).
Commercial- Relates to or is connected with trade and traffic or commerce in general; is occupied with business and commerce.
Commissioner- A person to whom a commission is directed by the government or a court.
Commitment- A warrant, order, or process by which court or magistrate directs ministerial officer to take person to penal institution or mental health facility.
Communicate- To bestow, convey, make known, recount, impart, to give by way of information; to talk over; to transmit information.
Community- Neighborhood; vicinity; synonymous with locality.
Comparative- Proceeding by the method of comparison; founded on comparison; estimated by comparison.
Compel- To urge forcefully; under extreme pressure.
Compensation- Indemnification; payment of damages; making amends; making whole; giving an equivalent or substitute of equal value.
Complaint- The original or initial pleading by which an action is commenced under codes or Rules of Civil Procedure.
Comprising- To comprehend; include; contain; embrace; cover.
Compromise- A settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions.
Computation- The act of computing, numbering, reckoning, or estimating.
Concealment- To conceal. A withholding of something which one knows and which one, in duty, is bound to reveal.
Conceptual- Of, relating to, or consisting or concepts.
Concomitant- Accompanying especially in a subordinate or incidental way.
Concurring- To agree; accord; act together; consent.
Condemn- To adjudge or sentence.
Conditional- That which is dependent upon or granted subject to a condition.
Condonation- The conditional remission or forgiveness, by means of continuance or resumption of martial cohabitation.
Confession- A voluntary statement made by a person charged with the commission of a crime or misdemeanor, communicated to another person, wherein he acknowledges himself to be guilty of the offense charged.
Confidant (masc.)- One to whom secrets are entrusted.
Confidante (fem.)- A female confidant.
Conjoint- United, conjoined. Related to, made up of, or carried on by two or more in combination; joint.
Consanguinity- Kinship; blood relationship; the connection or relation of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestor.
Consensus- Group solidarity in sentiment and belief; general agreement.
Conservator- A guardian; protector; preserver.
Consignee- One to whom a consignment is made.
Consignment- The act or process of consigning goods; the transportation of goods consigned; an article or collection of goods sent to a factor; goods or property sent.
Consignor- One who sends or makes a consignment; a shipper of goods.
Consolidated- To unite or unify into one mass or body, as to consolidate several small school districts into a large district, or to consolidate various funds.
Conspiracy- A combination or confederacy between two or more persons formed for the purpose of committing, by their joint efforts, some unlawful or criminal act.
Constable- An officer of a municipal corporation whose duties are similar to those of the sheriff, though his powers are less and his jurisdiction smaller.
Constitute- To appoint to an office, function, or dignity; to set up; establish.
Contempt- A willful disregard or disobedience of a public authority.
Contentious- Contested; adversary; litigated between adverse or contending parties.
Conterminous- Adjacent; adjoining; having a common boundary; coterminous
Contestant- One that participates in a contest; one that contests an award or decision.
Contingent- Possible, but not assured; doubtful or uncertain; conditional upon the occurrence of some future event which is itself uncertain, or questionable.
Continuance- The adjournment or postponement of a session, hearing, trial, or other proceeding to a subsequent day or time; usually on the request or motion of one of the parties.
Contravention- An act which violates the law, a treaty, or an agreement which the party has made.
Contretemps- An inopportune and embarrassing occurrence.
Contributory- One who contributes or is required to contribute. Joining in the promotion of a given purpose; lending assistance to the production of a given result.
Convene- To call together; to cause to assemble; to convoke.
Convenience- Fitness or suitability for performing an action or fulfilling a requirement
Conversant- One who is in the habit of being in a particular place is said to be conversant there.
Conveyance- Transfer of title to land from one person, or class of persons, to another by deed.
Copartner- One who is a partner with one or more other persons; a member of a partnership.
Copyright- The right of literary property as recognized and sanctioned by positive law.
Corporate- Belonging to a corporation; as a corporate name.
Corporeal- A term descriptive of such things as have an objective, material existence; perceptible by the senses of sight and touch; possessing a real body.
Corpus delicti- The body of a crime. The body (material substance) upon which a crime has been committed.
Correspondence- Interchange of written communications. The letters written by a person and the answers written by the one to whom they are addressed.
Correspondent- A securities firm, bank or other financial organization which regularly performs services for another in a place or market to which the other does not have direct access.
Coroner- Public official charged with duty to make inquiry into the causes and circumstances of any death which occurs through violence or suddenly and with marks of suspicion.
Corroborative- To support with evidence or authority; make more certain.
Counsel- Advice and assistance given by one person to another in regard to a legal matter, proposed line of conduct, claim, or contention.
Counterclaim- A claim presented by a defendant in opposition to or deduction from the claim of the plaintiff.
Countersign- The signature of a secretary or other subordinate officer to any writing signed by the principal or superior to vouch for the authenticity of it.
Countervailing- To counterbalance; to avail against with equal force or virtue; to compensate for, or serve as an equivalent of or substitute for.
Court- A space which in uncovered, but which may be partly or wholly enclosed by buildings or walls.
Courtesy- A man entitled, on the death of his wife, in the lands or tenements of which she was seized in possession in fee-simple or in tail during her coverture, provided they have had lawful issue born alive which might have been capable of inheriting the estate.
Courthouse- The building occupied for the public session of a court, with it various offices.
Courtroom- That portion of a courthouse in which the actual proceedings take place.
Covenant- An agreement, convention, or promise of two or more parties, by deed in writing.
Covert- Covered, protected, sheltered.
Coverture- The condition or state of a married woman.
Covin- A secret conspiracy or agreement between two or more persons to injure defraud another.
Covinous- Deceitful; fraudulent; having the nature of, or tainted by covin.
Criminal- One who committed a criminal offense; one who has been legally convicted of a crime; one adjudged guilty of crime.
Criteria- A characterizing mark or trait; a standard on which a judgment or decision may be based.
Cross examine- To examine by a series of questions designed to check or discredit the answers to previous questions
Culminated- To reach its highest altitude; to be directly overhead.
Currency- Coined money and such banknotes or other paper money as are authorized by law and do in fact circulate from hand to hand as the medium of exchange.
Custody- The care and control of a thing or person.

LETTER D Back to Top
Damages- A pecuniary compensation or indemnity, which may be recovered in the courts by any person who has suffered loss, detriment, or injury, whether to his person, property, or rights, through the unlawful act or omission or negligence of another.
Data- Organized information generally used as the basis for an adjudication or decision.
Dearth- An inadequate supply; lack.
De bene esse- A provisional examination of a witness.
De bonis non- Of the goods not administered.
De facto- In fact, in deed, actually. Characterizes an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs which must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate.
De jure- Descriptive of a condition in which there has been total compliance with all requirements of law.
Debenture- Long term unsecured debt instrument, issued pursuant to an indenture.
Debtor- One who owes a debt to another who is called the creditor; one who may be compelled to pay a claim or demand; anyone liable on a claim, whether due to or to become due.
Deceased- A dead person.
Decedent- A deceased person, especially one who has lately died.
Decision- A determination arrived at after consideration of facts, and, in legal context, law.
Declaration- In common-law pleading, the first of the pleadings on the part of the plaintiff in an action at law, being a formal and methodical specification of the facts and circumstances constituting his cause or action.
Declaratory- Explanatory; designed to fix or elucidate what before was uncertain or doubtful.
Decree- The judgment of a court of equity or chancery, answering for most purposes to the judgment of a court of law.
Decree nisi- A provisional decree, which will be made absolute on motion unless cause be shown against it.
Decrement- A gradual decrease in quality or quantity.
Defalcation- The act of a defaulter; act of embezzling; failure to meet an obligation; misappropriation of trust funds or money held in any fiduciary capacity; failure to properly account for such funds.
Defamation- An intentional false communication, either published or publicly spoken, that injures another's reputation or good name.
Default- By it derivation, a failure. An omission of that which ought to be done.
Defeasance- An instrument which defeats the force or operation of some other deed, estate, or will.
Defendant- The person defending or denying; the party against whom relief or recovery is sought in an action or suit or the accused in a criminal case.
Defense- That which is offered and alleged by the party proceeded against in an action or suit, as a reason in law or fact why the plaintiff should not recover or establish what he seeks.
Deficiency- A lack, shortage, or insufficiency.
Deficit- An excess of expenditures over revenues.
Definite- Fixed, determined, defined, bounded.
Definition- A description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term.
Delict- Criminal offense; tort; a wrong.
Delineated- To indicate by lines drawn in the form or figure of; portray.
Delinquent- Person who has been guilty of some crime, offense, or failure of duty or obligation. Or as applied to a debt or claim.
Demesne- Domain; dominical; held in one=s own right, and not of a superior, not allotted to tenants.
Demurrage- The sum which is fixed by the contract of carriage, or which is allowed, as remuneration to the owner of a ship for the detention of his vessel beyond the number days allowed by the charter-party for loading and unloading or for sailing.
Demurrer- An allegation of a defendant, which, admitting the matters of fact alleged by complaint or bill to be true, shows that as they are therein set forth they are insufficient for the Plaintiff to proceed upon.
Denegation- Denial.
Denying- To traverse. To give negative answer to reply to. To refuse to grant or accept.
Deponent- One who deposes (that is, testifies) to the truth of certain facts; one who gives under oath testimony which is reduced to writing.
Deposes- To make a deposition; to give evidence in the shape of a deposition; to make statements which are written down and sworn to.
Deposition- The testimony of a witness taken upon oral question or written interrogatories, not in open court, but in pursuance of a commission to take testimony.
Deprecatory- Seeking to avert disapproval; apologetic.
Depreciation- In accounting, spreading out the cost of a capital asset over its estimated useful life.
Depute- Delegate, assign.
Derelict- Forsaken; abandoned; deserted; cast away.
Derivative- Coming from another; taken from something preceding; secondary.
Derogation- The partial repeal or abolishing of a law, as by a subsequent act which limits its scope or impairs its utility and force.
Descendants- Those persons who are in the blood stream of the ancestor.
Desertion- The act by which a person abandons and forsakes, without justification, or unauthorized, a station or condition of public, social, or family life, renouncing its responsibilities and evading its duties.
Designee- One who is designated.
Detainer- The act of withholding from a person lawfully entitled the possession of land or goods, or the restraint of a man=s personal liberty against his will; detention.
Devise- A testamentary disposition of land or realty; a gift of real property by the last will and testament of the donor.
Devisee- The person to whom lands or other real property are devised or given by will.
Devisor- A giver of lands or real estate by will; the maker of a will of lands; a testator.
Dictum- A statement, remark, or observation.
Disaffirm- To repudiate; to revoke a consent once given; to recall an affirmance.
Disallow- To refuse to allow, to deny the need or validity of, to disown or reject.
Disbursements- To pay out, commonly from a fund.
Disclaimer- The repudiation or renunciation of a claim or power vested in a person or which he had formerly alleged to be his.
Discontinuance- Ending, causing to cease, ceasing to use, giving up, leaving off.
Discovert- Not married; not subject to the disabilities of a coverture.
Discreet- Prudent; judicious; with discernment.
Discrepancy- A difference between two things which ought to be identical, as between one writing and another; a variance.
Discretionary- Left to discretion; exercised at one's own discretion.
Discriminatory- Applying or favoring discrimination in treatment.
Disherison- Disinheritance, depriving one of an inheritance.
Disinterested- Not concerned, in respect to possible gain or loss, in the result of the pending proceedings or transactions.
Dismissal- An order or judgment finally disposing of an action, suit, motion, etc., without trial of the issues involved.
Disparate- Markedly distinct in quality or character.
Disposition- Act of disposing; transferring to the care or possession of another.
Dispositive- Directing toward or effecting disposition (as of a case).
Dissolution- Act or process of dissolving; termination; winding up.
Distinguishable- To point out an essential differences; to prove a case cited as applicable, inapplicable.
Distribution- The giving out or division among a number, sharing or parceling out, allotting, dispensing, apportioning.
Divorce- The legal separation of man and wife, effected by the judgment or decree of a court, and either totally dissolving the marriage relation.
Divulgence- To make known (as a confidence or secret).
Doctrinaire- One who attempts to put into effect an abstract doctrine or theory with little or no regard for practical difficulties.
Documentary- Being or consisting of documents; contained or certified in writing.
Documentation- The act or an instance of furnishing or authenticating with documents
Domestic- A household servant; Pertaining, belonging, or relating to a home, a domicile.
Domicile- A person's legal home.
Domiciliary- Pertaining to domicile; relating to one's domicile.
Dossier- A brief; a bundle of papers.
Dower- The provision which the law makes for a widow out of the lands or tenements of her husband, for her support and nurture of her children
Drawee- The person on whom a bill or draft is drawn.
Drawer- The person who draws a bill or draft.
Duces tecum- The name of certain species of writs, of which the subpoena duces tecum is the most usual, requiring a party who is summoned to appear in court
Duplication- The process of duplicating; the quality or state of being duplicated.
Duress- Any unlawful threat or coercion used by a person to induce another to act in a manner he or she otherwise would not.

LETTER E Back to Top
Earnest- The payment of a part of the price of goods sold, or the delivery of part of such goods, for the purpose of binding the contract.
Easement- A right of use over the property of another.
Easterly- This word, when used alone, will be construed to mean due east.
Effectuate- Effect two.
Elapsed- To slip or glide away; pass.
Embezzlement- The fraudulent appropriation of property by one lawfully entrusted with its possession.
Embodied- To make concrete and perceptible.
Eminent domain- The power to take private property for public use by the state, municipalities, and private persons or corporations authorized to exercise functions of public character.
Emolument- The profit arising from office, employment, or labor; that which is received as a compensation for service, or which is annexed to the possession of office as salary, fees, and perquisites.
Empanel- Steps of ascertaining who shall be the proper jurors to sit in the trial of a particular case up to the final formation.
Empirical- That which is based on experience, experiment, or observation.
Empowered- A grant of authority rather than a command of its exercise.
Encompass- To form a circle about. To go completely around.
Encroachment- An illegal intrusion in a highway or navigable river, with or without obstruction.
Encumbered- To weigh down; burden.
Encumbrances- Any right to, or interest in, land which may subsist in another to diminution of its value, but consistent with the passing of the fee by conveyance.
Endangerment- To bring into danger or peril; threaten with extinction.
Endorsement- Something that is written in the process of endorsing.
Enjoin- To direct or impose by authoritative order or with urgent admonition.
Entity- A real being; existence.
Entrepreneur- One who, on his own, initiates and assumes the financial risks of a new enterprise and who undertakes its management.
Equitable- Just; conformable to the principles of justice and right.
Equity- Justice administered according to fairness as contrasted with the strictly formulated rules of common law.
Equivocate- To avoid committing oneself in what one says.
Erratum (sing.) or Errata (pl.)- Error.
Erstwhile- In the past; formerly, previous.
Escalation- To increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope.
Escheat- a reversion of property to the state in consequence of a want of any individual competent to inherit.
Escrow- A legal document, money, stock, or other property delivered by the grantor, promisor or obligor into the hands of a third person, to be held by the latter.
Essence- That which is indispensable. The gist or substance of any act; the vital constituent of a thing; that without which a thing cannot be itself.
Establishment- An institution or place of business, with its fixtures and organized staff.
Estate- The degree, quantity, nature, and extent of interest which a person has in real and personal property.
Estopped- To stop, bar, or impede; to prevent; to preclude.
Et al.- Means and others.
Et seq.- Meaning and the following.
Eviction- Dispossession by process of law; the act of depriving a person of the possession of land or rental property which he has held or leased.
Evidence- Any species of proof, or probative matter, legally presented at the trial of an issue, by the act of the parties and through the medium of witnesses, record, documents, exhibits, concrete objects, for the purpose of inducing belief in the minds of the jury.
Evidentiary- Having the quality of evidence; constituting evidence; evidencing.
Ex parte- On one side only; by or for one party; done for, in behalf of, or on the application of, one party only.
Ex post facto- After the fact; by an act or fact occurring after some previous act or fact, and relating thereto; by subsequent matter; the opposite of ab initio.
Ex relatione- Upon relation or information.
Examination- An investigation; search; inspection; interrogation.
Excess- The state or an instance of surpassing usual, proper, or specified limits.
Executed- Completed; carried into full effect; already done or performed; signed; taking effect immediately; now in existence or in possession; conveying an immediate right or possession.
Execution- Carrying out some act or course of conduct to its completion.
Executors- A person appointed by a testator to carry out the directions and requests in his will, and to dispose of the property according to his testamentary provisions after his disease.
Executrix- A female appointed to carry out the directions and requests in a will.
Exemplification- An official transcript of a document from a public records, made in form to be used as evidence, and authenticated or certified as a true copy.
Exemplify- To show or illustrate by example.
Exhibit- To show or display; to offer or present for inspection. A paper or document produced and exhibited to a court during a trial or hearing.
Exonerate- To exculpate.
Expedite- To hasten; to make haste; to speed.
Expeditiously- Possessed of, or characterized by, expedition or efficiency and rapidity in action; performed with, or acting, expedition; quick; speedy.
Expropriate- To deprive of possession or proprietary rights.
Extant (existent)- Currently or actually existing.
Extent (length)- Amount; scope; range; magnitude.
Extravagant- Exceeding limits of reason or necessity; strange, curious
Extrinsic- Foreign; from outside sources; dehors.

LETTER F Back to Top
Facsimile- An exact copy, preserving all the marks of the original.
Fallacy- A false idea; an argument failing to satisfy the conditions of valid or correct inference.
Familial- Tending to occur in more members of a family than expected by chance alone.
Feasible- Capable of being done, executed, affected or accomplished.
Federal- Belonging to the general government or union of the states.
Fee simple- Standing alone create an absolute estate in devisee and such words followed by a condition or special limitation create a defeasible fee.
Felony- A crime of a graver or more serious nature than those designated as misdemeanors.
Fictitious- Founded on a fiction; having the character of a fiction; pretended; counterfeit.
Fiduciary- Means a person holding the character of a trustee, or a character analogous to that of a trustee, in respect to the trust and confidence involved in it.
Fieri-facias- Means that you Acause (it) to done.
Filiation- Judicial determination of paternity. The relation of child to father.
Financial- Fiscal. Relating to finances.
Fiscal- In general, having to do with financial matters; i.e. money, taxes, public or private revenues, etc.
Forbear- To do without; to hold oneself back from especially with an effort of self-restraint.
Foreclosure- To shut out; to bar; to terminate.
Foregoing- Going before.
Foreign- Belonging to another nation or country; belonging or attached to another jurisdiction; made, done, or rendered in another state or jurisdiction.
Forensic- Belonging to courts of justice.
Forgery- The false making or the material altering of a document with the intent to defraud.
Franchise- A special privilege to do certain things conferred by government on individual or corporation, and which does not belong to citizens generally of common right.
Fraudulent- Based on fraud; proceeding from or characterized by fraud; tainted by fraud; done, made, or effected with a purpose or design to carry out a fraud.
Frontage- Linear distance of property along street, highway, river, or lake.
Funeral- The observances held for a dead person usually before burial or cremation.
Fungibles- Goods which are identical with others of the same nature, such as grain and oil.

LETTER G Back to Top
Garnishee- One garnished; a person against whom process of garnishment is issued; one who has money or property in his possession belonging to a defendant.
Garnishment- A proceeding whereby a plaintiff creditor, i.e., garnishor, seeks to subject to his or her claim the property or money of a third party.
Genuineness- As applied to notes, bonds, and other written instruments, this term means that they are truly what they purport to be, and that they are free of forgery or counterfeiting.
Goodwill- The favor which the management of a business wins form the public.
Government- Signifies the instrument, the helm, whereby the ship to which the state was compared, was guided on its course by the helmsman.
Grantee- One to whom a grant is made.
Grantor- The person by whom a grant is made.
Gratuitous- Given or granted without valuable or legal consideration.
Guarantee (agreement)- One to whom a guaranty is made.
Guarantor- One to whom makes guaranty.
Guaranty (certificate)- To undertake collaterally to answer for the payments of another's debt or the performance of another's duty, liability, or obligation; to assume the responsibility of a guarantor; to warrant.
Guardian- A person lawfully invested with the power, and charged with the duty, of taking care of the person and managing the property and rights of another person.

LETTER H Back to Top
Habeas corpus- The name given to a variety of writs having for their objects to bring a party before a court or judge.
Harass- To worry and impede by repeated raids; exhaust, fatigue.
Hazardous- Exposed to or involving dander; perilous; risky; involving risk of lass.
Hearsay- A term applied to that species of testimony given by a witness who relates, not what he knows personally, but what others have told him, or what he has heard said by others.
Heirs- One who inherits property, whether real or personal.
Hereby- By this means.
Hereditaments- Things capable of being inherited, be it corporeal or incorporeal, real, personal, or mixed, and including not only lands and everything thereon.
Herein- In this.
Hereinafter- In the following part of this writing or document.
Hereinbefore- In the preceding part of this writing or document.
Heretofore- Up to this time.
Hereunto- To this.
Heritage- Every species of immovable which can be subject of property; such as lands, houses, orchards, woods, marshes, ponds, etc., in whatever mode they may have been acquired, either by descent or purchase.
Honorable- A title of courtesy given to the various classes of officials and judges, but without any clear lines of distinction.
Honorarium (sing.) or Honoraria (pl.)- An honorary or free gift; a gratuitous payment, as distinguished from hire or compensation for service.
Household- Belonging to the house and family; domestic; a family living together.
Husband- A married man; one who has a lawful wife living.
Hypothecate- To pledge property as security or collateral for a debt.
Hypothesis (sing.) or Hypothesis (pl.)- A supposition, assumption, or theory; a theory set up by the prosecution, on a criminal trial, or by the defense, as an explanation.

LETTER I Back to Top
Ibid- In the same place.
Illicit- Not permitted or allowed; prohibited; unlawful; as an illicit trade; illicit intercourse.
Illusion- Distorted or misinterpreted sensory impression which in contrast to hallucinations, arise from an actual stimulus.
Imminent- Near at hand; mediate rather than immediate; close rather than touching; impending; on the point of happening; threatening; menacing; perilous.
Impanel- The act of the clerk of the court in making up a list of the jurors who have been selected for the trial of a particular case.
Impeachment- A criminal proceeding against a public officer, before a quasi political court, instituted by a written accusation called Articles of impeachment.
Implemented- Such things as are used or employed for a trade, or furniture of a house.
Impliedly- Where the intention in regard to the subject-matter is not manifested by explicit and direct words.
Impounded- To shut up stray animals or distrained goods in a pound. To seize and take into custody of the law or of the court.
Impracticable- Difficulty of inconvenience of joining all members of a class.
Impressment- A power possessed by the English crown of taking persons or property to aid in the defense of the country, with or without the consent of the persons concerned.
In rem- Used to designate proceedings or actions instituted against the thing, in contradistinction to personal actions, which are said to be in personam.
Incapable- Lacking capacity, ability, or qualification for the purpose or end in view.
Incendiary- A house-burner; one guilty of arson.
Inception- Commencement; opening; initiation.
Inchoate- Imperfect; partial; unfinished; begun, but not completed; as a contract not executed by all the parties.
Incidental- Depending upon or appertaining to something else as primary; something necessary, appertaining to, or depending upon another which is termed the principal; something incidental to the main purpose.
Incompetence- Lack of ability, knowledge, legal qualification, or fitness to discharge the required duty or professional obligation.
Incompetent- Lacking qualities needed for effective action; not legally qualified.
Incorporated- To create a corporation; to confer a corporate franchise upon determine persons.
Increment- An increasing in quantity, number, value, etc.
Incroachment- An lawful gaining upon the right or possession of another.
Inculpable- Free from guilt.
Inculpate- To impute blame or guilt; to accuse; to involve in guilt or crime.
Indebtedness- The state of being in debt, without regard to the ability or inability of the party to pay the same.
Indemnity- Reimbursement.
Indenture- In business financing, a written agreement under which bonds and debentures are issued, setting forth form of bond, maturity date, amount of issue, description of pledged assets, interest rate, and other terms.
Indeterminate- That which is uncertain, or not particularly designated.
Indictment- An accusation in writing found and presented by a grand jury, legally convoked and sworn, the court in which it is impaneled, charging that a person therein.
Indispensable- That which cannot be spared, omitted, or dispensed with.
Inducement- In contracts, the benefit or advantage which the promisor is to receive from a contract is the inducement for making it.
Inexorable- Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty; relentless.
Infallible- Incapable of error; unerring. Not to mislead, deceive, or disappoint.
Inflammable- Easily inflamed, excited, or angered.
Infra- Below, under, beneath, underneath.
Infringement- A breaking into; a trespass or encroachment upon; a violation of a law, regulation, contract, or right.
Inherent- Fault or deficiency in a thing, no matter the use made of such, which is not easily discoverable and which is fixed in the object itself and not from without.
Inheritance- That which is inherited or to be inherited. Property which descends to heir on the intestate death of another.
Injunction- The act or an instance of enjoining. A writ granted by a court of equity whereby one is required to do or to refrain from doing a specified act.
Insolvency- The condition of a person or business that is insolvent; inability or lack of means to pay debts.
Installment- Partial payment of a debt or collection of a receivable.
498. Instrument- A formal or legal document in writing, such as a contract, deed, will, or bond.
Insufficient- Not sufficient; inadequate to some need, purpose, or use; wanting in needful value, ability, or fitness; incompetent; unfit, as insufficient food.
Insurable- Capable of being insured against loss, damages, illness, death, etc.
Insuring- To make sure or secure, to guarantee, as, to insure safety to any one.
Intangible- Property that is Aright such as patent, copyright, trademark, etc., or one which is lacking physical existence; such as goodwill.
Inter alia- Among other things.
Interdependent- Mutually dependent.
Interdict- A prohibitory decree.
Interim- In the meantime; meanwhile; temporary; between.
Interlocutory- Provisional; interim; temporary; not final.
Interpose- To place in an intervening position. To put (oneself) between; intrude.
Interpretation- The art or process of discovering and ascertaining the meaning of a statute, will, contract, or other written document.
Interrogatories- A set or series of written question drawn up for the purpose of being propounded to a party, witness, or other person having information of interest in the case.
Interstate- Between two or more states; between places or persons in different states; concerning or affecting two or more politically or territorially.
Intoxication- Terms comprehends situation where, by reason of taking intoxicants, an individual does not have the normal use of his physical or mental faculties, thus rendering him incapable of acting in the manner in which an ordinarily prudent and cautious man.
Investigation- The process of inquiring into or tracking down through inquiry.
Investigator- To observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry.
Inviolable- Secure from violation or profanation. Secure from assault or trespass.
Ipso facto-By the fact itself; by the mere fact. By the mere effect of an act or a fact.
Irrelevancy- The absence of the quality of relevancy, as in evidence or pleadings.
Irrelevant- Not relevant; inapplicable.
Irrevocable- That which cannot be revoked or recalled.
Issuable- Leading or tending to, or producing, an issue; relating to an issue or issues.
Issuance- Issue.
Itemized- To set down by items. To state each item or article separately.
Itinerary- The route of a journey or the proposed outline of one.

LETTER J Back to Top
Jointure- A freehold estate in lands or tenements secured to the wife, and to take effect on the deceased of the husband, and to continue during her life at the least.
Judgment- A sense of knowledge sufficient to comprehend nature of transaction.
Judicial- Belonging to the office of a judge; as judicial authority.
Jural- Pertaining to natural or positive right, or to the doctrines of rights and obligations; as A jural relations.
Juration- The act of swearing; the administration of an oath.
Juridical- Relating to administration of justice, or office of a judge.
Jurisdictional- Pertaining or relating to jurisdiction; conferring jurisdiction; showing or disclosing jurisdiction; defining or limiting jurisdiction; essential to jurisdiction.
Jurisprudence- The philosophy of law, or the science which treats of the principles of positive law and legal relations.
Juror- Member of jury. In addition to regular jurors, terms includes special and alternate jurors.
Justiciable- Matter appropriate for court review.
Justifiable- Rightful; defensible; warranted or sanctioned by law; that which can be shown to be sustained by law, as justifiable homicide.
Juvenile- A young person who has not yet attained the age at which he or she should be treated as an adult for purposes of criminal law.

LETTER K Back to Top
Kindred- A group of related individuals; one's relatives.
Knowledge- Acquaintance with fact or truth.
Knowledgeable- Having or exhibiting knowledge or intelligence.

LETTER L Back to Top
Laches- It is defined as neglect to assert a right or claim which, taken together with lapse of time and other circumstances causing prejudice to adverse party.
Landlord- He of whom lands or tenements are holden.
Lapsed- To glide; to pass slowly, silently, or by the degrees. The termination or failure of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it with some time of limit.
Larceny- Felonious stealing, taking and carrying, leading, riding, or driving away another's personal property, with intent to convert it or to deprive owner thereof.
Lawyer- A person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel, or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law.
Learned- Possessing learning; erudite; versed in the law; informed.
Leasehold- An estate in real property held by leasee/tenant under a lease.
Legacies- A disposition of personality by will. A bequest.
Legacy- A gift by will especially of money or other personal property.
Legalized- To make legal or lawful.
Legatees- The person to whom a legacy in a will is given.
Lessee- One who rents property from another.
Lessor- He who grants a lease.
Levy- A seizure. To assess; raise; execute; exact; tax; collect; gather; take up; seize.
Liability- Referred to as of the most comprehensive significance, including almost every character of hazard or responsibility, absolute, contingent, or likely.
Liaison- A close bond or connection; interrelationship.
Libel- A method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, or signs.
Libelant- Formerly, the complainant or party who files a libel in ecclesiastical or admiralty case, corresponding to the Plaintiff in actions at law.
Libelous- In the civil law, a little book.
Licitation- An offering for sale to the highest bidder, or to him who will give most for a thing.
Lien- A claim, encumbrance, or charge on property for payment of some debt, obligation or duty.
Lienee- One whose property is subject to a lien.
Lienor- The person having or owning a lien; one who has a right of lien upon property of another
Liquidated- Ascertained; determined; fixed; settled; made clear or manifest.
Lis pendens- A pending suit.
Litigate- To dispute or contend in form of law; to settle a dispute or seek relief in a court of law; to carry on a lawsuit.
Litigation- A lawsuit.
Litigious- That which is the subject of a law suit or action; that which is contested in a court of law.
Lucrative- Yielding gain or profit; profitable; bearing or yielding a revenue or salary.
Lunacy- Insanity interrupted by lucid intervals.

LETTER M Back to Top
Magisterial- Relating or pertaining to the character, office, powers, or duties of a magistrate or of the magistracy.
Magistrate- A public civil officer, possessing such power legislative, executive, or judicial as the government appointing him may ordain.
Maintenance- The upkeep or preservation of condition of property, including cost of ordinary repairs necessary and proper from time to time for that purpose.
Majority- Full age; legal age; age at which a person is no longer a minor.
Malefactor- He who is guilty, or has been convicted, of some crime or offense.
Malfeasance- Evil doing; ill conduct.
Malicious- Characterized by, or involving, malice; having, or done with, wicked, evil or mischievous intentions or motives; wrongful and done intentionally.
Malinger- To feign sickness or any physical disablement or mental lapse or derangement, especially for the purpose of escaping the performance of a task, duty, or work.
Mandamus- We command.
Mandate- A command, order, or direction, written or oral, which court is authorized to give and person is bound to obey.
Mandatory- Containing a command; perceptive; imperative; peremptory; obligatory
Manifest- Evident to the senses, especially to the sight, obvious to the understanding, evident to the mind, not obscure or hidden, and is synonymous with open, clear, visible, unmistakable, evident, and self-evident.
Manslaughter- The unjustifiable, inexcusable and intentional killing of a human being without deliberation, premeditation and malice.
Manuscript- An author's work product which is submitted to the publisher either in his own hand, typewritten, on word processing disk, or the like.
Marginal- Of relating to, or derived from goods produced and marketed with such result as profits.
Marital- Relating to, or connected with the status of marriage; pertaining to a husband; incident to a husband.
Marriage- Legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife.
Matricide- The murder of a mother; or one who has slain his mother.
Maturity- The quality or state of being mature; especially full development.
Mediate- Occupying a middle position; a position through an intervening agency.
Mediation- Private, informal dispute resolution process in which a neutral third person, the mediator, helps disputing parties to reach an agreement.
Melioration- Improvements of an estate, other than mere repairs; betterments.
Memorandum (sing.) or Memoranda (pl.)- To be remembered; be it remembered.
Mendacious- Given to or characterized by deception or falsehood which often is not intended to genuinely mislead or delude.
Meretricious- Of the nature of unlawful sexual connection.
Meritorious- Possessing or characterized by merit in the legal sense of the word.
Minimally- Relating to or being a minimum; constituting the least possible.
Ministerial- Being or having the characteristics of an act or duty prescribed by law as part of the duties of an administrative office.
Minor- An infant or person who is under the age of legal competence.
Miscellaneous- Consisting of diverse things or members; heterogeneous.
Misdemeanor- Offense lower than felonies and generally those punishable by fine, penalty, forfeiture or imprisonment otherwise than in penitentiary.
Misfeasance- The improper performance of some act which a person may lawfully do.
Misstatement- To state incorrectly.
Mistrial- An erroneous, invalid, or nugatory trial.
Mitigate- To cause to become less harsh or hostile.
Mitigating- To make less severe or painful.
Mittimus- A warrant of commitment to prison.
Modus operandi (sing.) or Modi operandi (pl.)- Method of operating or doing things.
Monopoly- A privilege or peculiar advantage vested in one or more persons or companies, consisting in the exclusive right to carry on a particular business or trade, manufacture a particular article, or control the sale of the whole supply of a particular commodity.
Mortgage- A mortgage is an interest in land created by a written instrument providing security for the performance of a duty or the payment of a debt.
Mortgageable- Property in condition to be used as security on a loan.
Mortgagee- Person that takes, holds, or receives a mortgage.
Mortgagor- One who, having all or some part of title to property, by written instrument pledges that property for some particular purposes such as security for a debt.
Municipal- In narrower, more common, sense, it means pertaining to a local governmental unit, commonly, a city or town or other governmental unit.
Muniments- The evidences or writings that enable one to defend the title to an estate or a claim to rights and privileges.

LETTER N Back to Top
Naturalization- The process by which a person acquires nationality after birth and becomes entitled to the privileges of U.S. citizenship.
Nebulous- Indistinct; vague.
Necessaries- An article which a party actually needs.
Necessity- Controlling force; irresistible compulsion; a power or impulse so great that it admits no choice of conduct.
Nefas- That which is against right or the divine law.
Negate- To deny, negative, nullify or render ineffective.
Negligence- The omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those ordinary consideration which ordinarily regulate human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a reasonable and prudent man would not do.
Negotiable- Legally capable of being transferred by endorsement or delivery.
Negotiator- The person who carries out business.
Nolle prosequi- A formal entry upon the record, by the plaintiff in a civil suit, or more commonly, by the prosecuting attorney in a criminal action, by which he declares that he will no further prosecute the case, either as to some of the defendant, or altogether.
Nominal- Titular; existing in name only; not real or substantial; connected with the transaction or proceeding in name only, not in interest.
Nominee- One who has been nominated or proposed for an office.
Non compos mentis- Not sound of mind; insane.
Non constat- It does not appear; it is not clear or evident.
Nonfeasance- Nonperformance of some act which person is obligated or has responsibility to perform; omission to perform a required duty at all; or, total neglect of duty.
Non-negotiable- Not negotiable; not capable of passing title or property by endorsement and delivery.
Northeasterly- From the northeast; toward the northeast.
Northwesterly- From the northwest; toward the northwest.
Notarize- To acknowledge or attest as a notary public.
Notary Public- A public officer whose function it is to administer oaths; to attest and certify, by his hand and official seal, certain classes of documents, in order to give them credit and authenticity in foreign jurisdictions.
Notwithstanding- In spite of, nevertheless, however; although.
Nuisance- Nuisance is that activity which arise from unreasonable, unwarranted or unlawful use by a person of his own property, working obstruction or injury to right of another, or to public.
Nulla bona- No goods.
Nullify- To make legally null and avoid.
Nunc pro tunc- Now for then.
Nuptial- Pertaining to marriage; constituting marriage; used or done in marriage.

LETTER O Back to Top
Oath- Any form of attestation by which a person signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform an act faithfully and truthfully.
Obiter dictum (sing.) or Obiter dicta (pl.)- Words of an opinion entirely unnecessary for the decision of the case.
Obviate- To see beforehand and dispose of; make unnecessary.
Offense- A felony or misdemeanor; a breach of the criminal laws; violation of law for which penalty is prescribed.
Offered- To bring to or before. A proposal to do a thing or pay an amount.
Official- An officer; a person invested with the authority of an office. Pertaining to an office; invested with the character of an officer.
Opposition- Act of opposing or resisting; antagonism; state of being opposite or opposed; antithesis.
Optimum- The amount or degree of something that is most favorable to some end.
Ordinance- A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of action; a law or statute.
Ostensible- Intended for display; open to view.
Overrule- To supersede; annul; reverse; make void; reject by subsequent action or decision.

LETTER P Back to Top
Palpable- Easily perceptible, plain, obvious, readily visible, noticeable, patent, distinct, manifest.
Paragraph- A distinct part of a discourse or writing; any section or subdivision of writing or chapter which relates to particular point, whether consisting of one or many sentences.
Parallel- Extending in the same direction, everywhere equidistant, and not meeting.
Parcel- To divide an estate. A small package or bundle.
Parenticide- One who murders a parent; also the crime so committed.
Pari delicto- In equal fault; in a similar offense or crime; equal in guilt or in legal fault.
Parliamentary- Relating or belonging to, connected with, enacted by or proceeding from, or characteristic of, the English parliament in particular, or any legislative body in general.
Parole- Release from jail, prison or other confinement after actually serving part of sentence.
Particulars- Relating to a part or portion of anything; separate; sole; single; individual; specific; local; comprising a part only; partial in extent; not universal.
Partnership- A business owned by two or more persons that is not organized as a corporation.
Patent- Open; manifest; evident; unsealed. A grant of some privilege, property, or authority, made by the government or sovereign of a country to one or more individuals.
Patricide- One who has killed his or her father.
Penal- Punishable; inflicting a punishment; containing a penalty, or relating to a penalty.
Penalties- An elastic term with many different shades of meaning; it involves idea of punishment, corporeal or pecuniary, or civil or criminal, although its meaning is generally confined to pecuniary punishment.
Pendente lite- Pending the lawsuit; during the actual progress of a suit; during litigation.
Per annum- By the year; annually; yearly.
Per capita- By the heads or polls; according to the number of individuals; share and share alike.
Per stripes- By roots or stocks; by representation.
Perjury- In criminal law, the willful assertion as to a matter of fact, opinion, belief, or knowledge, made by a witness in a judicial proceeding as part of his evidence.
Permanent- Continuing or enduring in the same state, status, place, or the like, without fundamental or marked change, not subject to fluctuation, or altercation, fixed or intended to be fixed, lasting; abiding; stable; not temporary or transient.
Perquisites- Emoluments, privileges, fringe benefits, or other incidental profits or benefits attaching to an office or employment position in addition to regular salary wages.
Personal- Appertaining to the person; belonging to an individual; limited to the person; having the nature or partaking of the qualities of human beings, or of movable property.
Pertinent- Applicable, relevant.
Petit Jury- A certain number of men and women selected acco