Basic

Question 1

Jurisprudence

Answer 1

The study of legal philosophy.

Question 2

Acceptance

Answer 2

In contract law, the agreement of the offered to be bound by the terms of the offer.

Question 3

Accession

Answer 3

A natural increase in one’s property. Examples include the interest earned on money deposited in a bank account, or crops grown on one’s land, or newborn puppies delivered by one’s dog.

Question 4

Accord

Answer 4

In contract law, the offer of something different from what was under the original contract.

Question 5

Accord and Satisfaction

Answer 5

An agreement between two (or more) persons, one of whom has a right of action against the others, that the latter should do or give, and the former accept, something in satisfaction of the right of action. When the agreement is executed, and satisfaction has been made. It operates as a bar to the right of action.
Accord, Restatement (Second) of Contracts ss281(1).

Question 6

Act-of-State Doctrine

Answer 6

An issue of justiciability. The doctrine provides that American courts should not determine the validity of public acts committed by a foreign sovereign within its own territory.

Question 7

Actus Reus

Answer 7

An overt wrongful act.

Question 8

Additur

Answer 8

A motion made by a prevailing party in state court asking that the trial court award the plaintiff an additional sum of money because the jury’s verdict is grossly inadequate.

Question 9

Adjudicative Power

Answer 9

A delegated power contained in an enabling act authorizing an administrative agency to determine legal rights, duties, and obligations, and to impose sanctions on those subject to its jurisdiction.

Question 10

Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)

Answer 10

Persons employed by administrative agencies to conduct adjudicatory hearings. Like law court judges, ALJs decide questions of fact and issues of law, issue subpoenas, administer oaths, make evidentiary rulings, and conduct hearings. ALJs are NOT, however members of the federal judiciary. They perceive their function as that of implementing and administering a legislative purpose rather than as judges impartially deciding between two litigants.

Question 11

Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

Answer 11

A 1946 federal statute enacted to improve and strengthen the administrative process. Section 553 of the APA establishes notice and comment procedures for informal rule making, and Section 554 establishes trial-like procedures for informal rule making.

Question 12

Adoption

Answer 12

A social and legal process by which the rights and duties accompanying the parent-child relationship are transferred from birth parent(s) to adoptive parents.

Question 13

Adverse Possession

Answer 13

Also known as easement by prescription. One whose possession of another’s realty is open and notorious, hostile, adverse, and continuous for a legally specified period of time can bring a quiet title action in court at the end of the time period and, if successful, obtain a marketable title.

Question 14

Advisory Opinion

Answer 14

(1) In some jurisdictions, the formal opinion of a higher court concerning a point at issue in a lower court. (2) The formal opinion of a legal officer, e.g., attorney general, concerning a question of law submitted by a public official. (3) In some jurisdictions, the opinion of a court concerning a question submitted by a legislative body.

Question 15

Aesthetics

Answer 15

The study of beauty.

Question 16

Affirm

Answer 16

An appellate court affirms a lower court when it concludes that the lower court’s judgement is valid.

Question 17

Affirmative Defense

Answer 17

(1) In civil law, defenses pleaded by the defendant in his or her answer to the plaintiff’s complaint. Each defense will consist of facts that the defendant contends may bar the plaintiff from recovery. (2) In criminal law, defenses in which a defendant admits to the act but claims that special circumstances mitigate, justify, or excuse the defendant’s conduct.

Question 18

Agency Adoption

Answer 18

Birth parents consent to the termination of their parental rights and surrender their child to an adoption agency that selects the adoptive parent(s) and places the child.

Question 19

Agent

Answer 19

A person authorized by another (the principal) to do an act or transact business for him or her, and to bind the principal within the limits of that authority. They may be authorized to do all business of a particular kind or limited to one particular act. The agent’s power to bind the principal is confined to the scope of his or her authority.

Question 20

Age of Majority

Answer 20

The age at which a minor legally becomes an adult. At present, most states set the age as eighteen, but I can be from 18-21.

Question 21

Agreement

Answer 21

An expression of the parties’ willingness to be bound to the terms of a contract.

Question 22

Alibi Defense

Answer 22

A defense in which a criminal defendant proves that he or she was somewhere other than at the scene of the crime on the date and time that the offense allegedly occurred.

Question 23

Alimony

Answer 23

(1) Court order requiring that an economically strong spouse pay financial support to an economically dependent spouse where it is necessary and appropriate. Some jurisdictions deny alimony to a spouse whose marriage ended as a result of that person’s marital fault. (2) The term for the support payment ordered by the divorce court.

Question 24

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Answer 24

A term that refers to a variety of techniques adherents claim can in some cases resolve disputes more quickly, at less cost, and with less acrimony than would be true if the case were litigated in a court.

Question 25

Analytical Positivism

Answer 25

Adherents of this philosophical approach view law as a self-sufficient system of legal rules that the sovereign issues in the forms of commands to the governed. Judgements about the intrinsic morality of the sovereign’s commands are viewed as extra-legal.

Question 26

Annul/Annulment

Answer 26

An action in which a marriage partner seeks to prove that no valid marriage ever existed.

Question 27

Answer

Answer 27

(1) A pleading in which a civil defendant responds to the allegations of the complaint and states the defenses on which he or she intends to rely. (2) A statement under oath in response to written interrogatories, i.e., questions, or oral questions.

Question 28

Appeal

Answer 28

A process for obtaining review by a higher court of a lower court’s decision.

Question 29

Appellant

Answer 29

A person who initiates an appeal from one court to another.

Question 30

Appellee

Answer 30

The party in a lawsuit against whom an appeal has been taken.

Question 31

Arbitration

Answer 31

A form of alternative dispute resolution. The voluntary submission of a matter in dispute to the nonjudicial judgement of one, two, or more disinterested persons, called arbitrators, whose decision is binding on the parties.

Question 32

Arbitration Award

Answer 32

An arbitrator’s decision is called an award.

Question 33

Arbitrator

Answer 33

In the alternate dispute resolution proceeding known as arbitration, the person or persons who conduct the proceeding and decide the outcome of the dispute. Arbitrators often are persons who specialize in a particular field such as construction, commercial contracts, real estate, finance, etc.

Question 34

Arraign/Arraignment

Answer 34

To bring a criminally accused person formally before a court for the purpose of having him or her answer charges brought by the prosecution.

Question 35

Arrest

Answer 35

(1) The seizing and detaining of a person in custody by lawful authority. (2) The taking of another into custody for the actual or purported purpose of bringing the other before a court, or of otherwise securing the administration of the law. (3) The seizure and detention of personal chattels, especially ships and vessels libeled (i.e., involved in a lawsuit) in a court of admiralty.

Question 36

Assault (Simple Assault)

Answer 36

Applies in both civil law, as an intentional tort, and criminal law. (1) Strictly speaking, assault means threatening to strike or harm. (2) A threatening gesture, with or without verbal communication. If a blow is struck, it is battery. (3) Attempting to cause or purposely, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another, or negligently causing bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon, or attempting by physical menace to put another in fear of immense serious bodily injury.

Question 37

Assignee

Answer 37

In contract law, the person to whom an assignment of rights is made.

Question 38

Assignment

Answer 38

The transfer of contractual rights to another person.

Question 39

Assignor

Answer 39

In contract law, the person making an assignment of rights.

Question 40

Assumpsit

Answer 40

A common-law writ used to remedy some breaches of duty (called undertakings) that has previously been actionable under the old writ of trespass on the case.

Question 41

Assumption of Risk

Answer 41

A defense to a claim for negligent injury to a person or property, i.e., a person who voluntarily exposes himself or his property to a known danger may not recover for injuries thereby sustained.

Question 42

Attempt

Answer 42

An inchoate crime. A crime committed by a person who has the intent to commit a substantive criminal offense and does an act that tends to corroborate the intent, under circumstances that do not result in the completion of the substantive crime.

Question 43

At-Will Doctrine

Answer 43

A legal doctrine in employment law that permits an employee who has no contractual rights to employment to quit without notice or be fired by the employer at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all.

Question 44

Avoidable-Harm Doctrine

Answer 44

Also known as the rule of mitigation, this rule prevents the recovery of damages that could have been foreseen and avoided by reasonable effort without undue risk, expense, or humiliation.