legal terms

Question 1

sub silentio

Answer 1

under silence; without notice being taken; without being expressly mentioned

Question 2

res gestae

Answer 2

Latin: “things done”

the events at issue, or other events contemporaneous with them

Question 3

declaratory judgment

Answer 3

a binding adjudication…

Question 4

cognovit

Answer 4

Latin: “he has conceded (a debt or an action)”

an acknowledgment of debt or liability…

Question 5

lis pendens

Answer 5

1. a pending lawsuit
2. the jurisdiction, power, control acquired by a court over property…
3. a notice…

Question 6

parens patriae

Answer 6

Latin: “parent of the country”

Question 7

in loco parentis

Answer 7

Latin: “in the place of a parent”

Question 8

ne exeat

Answer 8

Latin: “that he not depart”

Question 9

in pari delicto

Answer 9

Latin: “in equal fault”

Question 10

nunc pro tunc

Answer 10

Latin: “now for then”

Question 11

in camera

Answer 11

Latin: “in a chamber”

1: In the judge’s private chambers
2: In the courtroom w/ all spectators excluded
3: Taken when court is not in session

Question 12

predicate fact

Answer 12

1: a fact from which a presumption or inference arises
2: a fact necessary to the operation of an evidentiary rule

Question 13

plain error

Answer 13

an error that is so obvious and prejudicial that an appellate court should address it despite the parties’ failure to raise a proper objection

Question 14

fatal error / reversible error

Answer 14

reversible error / fatal error

Question 15

harmful error

Answer 15

aka reversible error

Question 16

prejudicial error

Answer 16

aka reversible error

Question 17

plain error

Answer 17

an error that is so obvious and prejudicial that an appellate court should address it despite the parties’ failure to raise a proper objection

Question 18

harmless error

Answer 18

an error that does not affect a party’s substantive rights or the case’s outcome

Question 19

reversible error

Answer 19

an error that affects a party’s substantive rights or the case’s outcome, and thus is grounds for reversal if the party properly objected

Question 20

abuse of discretion

Answer 20

an adjudicator’s failure to exercise sound, reasonable, and legal decision-making

an appellate court’s standard for reviewing a decision that is asserted to be grossly unsound, unreasonable, illegal, or unsupported by the evidence