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Law > Key Legal Phrases and Words > Flashcards

Key Legal Phrases and Words Flashcards

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1
Q

What is ABANDONMENT?

A

A parent’s or custodian’s act of leaving a child without adequate care, supervision, support, or parental contact for an excessive period of time. Also, the desertion of one spouse by the other with the intent to terminate the marriage relationship.

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2
Q

What is ABATEMENT OF ACTION?

A

A suit which has been quashed and ended.

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3
Q

What is an ABSTRACT?

A

A summary of a larger work, wherein the principal ideas of the larger work are contained.

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4
Q

What is an ABSTRACT OF RECORD?

A

A short, abbreviated form of the case as found in the record.

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5
Q

What is an ABSTRACT OF TITLE?

A

A chronological summary of all official records and recorded documents affecting the title to a parcel of real property.

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6
Q

What is an ACCESSORY?

A

A person who aids or contributes in the commission of a crime.

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7
Q

What is an ACCOMPLICE?

A

One who knowingly, voluntarily, and intentionally unites with the principal offender in the commission of a crime. A partner in a crime.

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8
Q

What is an ACCORD?

A

A satisfaction agreed upon between the parties in a lawsuit which bars subsequent actions on the claim.

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9
Q

What is ACCORD AND SATISFACTION?

A

A method of discharging a claim upon agreement by the parties to give and accept something in settlement of the claim.

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10
Q

What is an ACCUSATION?

A

A formal charge against a person, to the effect that he has engaged in a punishable offense.

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11
Q

Who is the ACCUSED?

A

The generic name for the defendant in a criminal case.

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12
Q

What is ACKNOWLEDGMENT?

A
  1. A statement of acceptance of responsibility. 2. The short declaration at the end of a legal paper showing that the paper was duly executed and acknowledged.
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13
Q

What does it mean to ACQUIT?

A

To legally certify the innocence of one charged with a crime. To set free, release or discharge one from an obligation, burden or accusation. To find a defendant not guilty in a criminal trial.

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14
Q

What is ACQUITTAL?

A

In criminal law, a finding of not guilty. In contract law, a release, absolution, or discharge from an obligation, liability, or engagement.

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15
Q

What is an ACTION?

A

Case, cause, suit, or controversy disputed or contested before a court of justice.

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16
Q

What does it mean to ADJUDICATE?

A

To determine finally.

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17
Q

What is ADJUDICATION?

A

Giving or pronouncing a judgment or decree. Also the judgment given.

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18
Q

Who is an ADMINISTRATOR?

A
  1. One who administers the estate of a person who dies without a will. 2. A court official.
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19
Q

What does ADMISSIBLE mean?

A

Pertinent and proper to be considered in reaching a decision.

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20
Q

What is ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE?

A

Evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial.

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21
Q

What is an ADMISSION?

A

Voluntary acknowledgment of the existence of certain facts relevant to the adversary’s case.

22
Q

What does it mean to ADMONISH?

A

To advise or caution. For example the Court may caution or admonish counsel for wrong practices.

23
Q

What is ADOPTION?

A

To take into one’s family the child of another and give him or her the rights, privileges, and duties of a child and heir.

24
Q

What is the ADVERSARY SYSTEM?

A

The trial method used in the U.S. and some other countries, based on the belief that truth can best be determined by giving opposing parties full opportunity to present and establish their evidence and to test by cross-examination the evidence presented by their adversaries.

25
Q

Who is an AFFIANT?

A

A person who makes and signs an affidavit.

26
Q

What is an AFFIDAVIT?

A

A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths. In criminal cases affidavits are often used by police officers seeking to convince courts to grant a warrant to make an arrest or a search. In civil cases affidavits of witnesses are often used to support motions for summary judgment.

27
Q

What is an AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE?

A

Without denying the charge, the defendant raises circumstances such as insanity, self-defense, or entrapment to avoid civil or criminal responsibility.

28
Q

What does AFFIRMED mean in appellate courts?

A

It means that the decision of the trial court is correct.

29
Q

Who is an AGENT?

A

One who has authority to act for another.

30
Q

What is AGGRAVATED ASSAULT?

A

An attempt to cause serious bodily injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly causing such injury or with a deadly weapon.

31
Q

What is AGGRAVATED BATTERY?

A

The unlawful use of force against another with unusual or serious consequences, such as the use of a dangerous weapon.

32
Q

What are AGGRAVATING FACTORS?

A

Any factors associated with the commission of a crime which increase the seriousness of the offense or add to its injurious consequences.

33
Q

What is an AGREED STATEMENT OF FACTS?

A

A statement of all important facts, which all the parties agree is true and correct, which is submitted to a court for ruling.

34
Q

What is an AGREEMENT?

A

A mutual understanding and intention between two or more parties.

35
Q

What does AID AND ABET mean?

A

Help, assist, or facilitate the commission of a crime.

36
Q

What is an ALFORD PLEA?

A

A special type of guilty plea by which a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes that the state has sufficient evidence to convict; normally made to avoid the threat of greater punishment.

37
Q

What is an ALIBI?

A

A defense claim that the accused was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed.

38
Q

What is ALIMONY?

A

A court-ordered allowance that one spouse pays the other spouse for maintenance and support while they are either separated, pending suit for divorce, or after they are divorced.

39
Q

What is an ALLEGATION?

A

The assertion of a party to an action setting out what he expects to prove.

40
Q

What does ALLEGE mean?

A

To make an allegation.

41
Q

What does ALLEGED mean?

A

Asserted to be true as depicted, or a person who is accused but has not yet been tried in court.

42
Q

What is ALLOCUTION?

A

A defendant’s statement in mitigation of punishment.

43
Q

What is ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR)?

A

Settling a dispute without a full, formal trial. Methods include mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and settlement, among others.

44
Q

What does it mean to AMEND?

A

To change, correct, revise, improve, modify, or alter.

45
Q

What is an AMENDMENT?

A

The correction of an error admitted in any process.

46
Q

What is an ANNOTATION?

A

A case summary or commentary on the law cases, statutes, and rules illustrating its interpretation.

47
Q

What is an ANNUAL REVIEW?

A

Yearly judicial review, usually in juvenile dependency cases, to determine whether the child requires continued court supervision or placement.

48
Q

What is an ANSWER?

A

The defendant’s response to the plaintiff’s allegations as stated in a complaint. An item-by-item, paragraph-by-paragraph response to points made in a complaint; part of the pleadings.

49
Q

What is an APPEAL?

A

A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is ‘to appeal’ or ‘to take an appeal.’

50
Q

What is an APPEARANCE?

A

A coming into court as a party or interested person or as a lawyer on behalf of a party or interested person.

Law (2 decks)

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