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Legal Language and legal writing > Legal Terms > Flashcards

Legal Terms Flashcards

1
Q

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

ABATEMENT OF ACTION

A

A suit which has been quashed and ended.

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3
Q

ABSTRACT

A
  • A summary of a larger work, wherein the principal ideas of the larger work are contained.
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4
Q

ABSTRACT OF RECORD

A
  • A short, abbreviated form of the case as found in the record.
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5
Q

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

ACCESSORY

A
  • A person who aids or contributes in the commission of a crime.
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7
Q

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

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

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

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

ACCUSED

A
  • The generic name for the defendant in a criminal case.
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12
Q

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A
    1. A statement of acceptance of responsibility.
      1. 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

ACQUIT

A
  • To legally certify the innocence of one charged with a crime. To set free, release or discharge from an
    obligation, burden or accusation. To find a defendant not guilty in a criminal trial.
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14
Q

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

ACTION

A
  • Case, cause, suit, or controversy disputed or contested before a court of justice.
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16
Q

ADJUDICATE

A
  • To determine finally.
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17
Q

ADJUDICATION

A
  • Giving or pronouncing a judgment or decree. Also the judgment given.
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18
Q

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

ADMISSIBLE

A
  • Pertinent and proper to be considered in reaching a decision.
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20
Q

ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE

A
  • Evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial.
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21
Q

ADMONISH

A
  • To advise or caution. For example the Court may caution or admonish counsel for wrong practices
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22
Q

ADMISSION

A
  • Voluntary acknowledgment of the existence of certain facts relevant to the adversary’s case.
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23
Q

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.
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24
Q

ADVERSARY SYSTEM

A
  • The trial method used in the U.S. and some other countries. This system is 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. All this is done under the established rules of procedure before an impartial judge and/or jury.
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25
Q

AFFIANT

A
  • A person who makes and signs an affidavit.
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26
Q

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. For example, 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.
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27
Q

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE

A
  • Without denying the charge, the defendant raises circumstances such as insanity, self-defense,
    or entrapment to avoid civil or criminal responsibility.
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28
Q

AFFIRMED

A
  • In the practice of appellate courts, the word means that the decision of the trial court is correct.
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29
Q

AGENT

A
  • One who has authority to act for another
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30
Q

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

A
  • An attempt to cause serious bodily injury to another or purposely, knowingly or recklessly
    causing such injury, or an attempt to cause or purposely or knowingly cause bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon.
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31
Q

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

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

AGREEMENT

A
  • A mutual understanding and intention between two or more parties. The writing or instrument which is
    evidence of an agreement. (Although often used as synonymous with contract, agreement is a broader term.)
34
Q

AID AND ABET

A
  • Help, assist, or facilitate the commission of a crime.
35
Q

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. Source: Black’s Law Dictionary
    (1996); North Carolina v. Alford , 400 U.S. 25 (1970).
36
Q

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.
37
Q

ALIBI

A
  • A defense claim that the accused was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed.
38
Q

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

ALLEGATION

A
  • The assertion of a party to an action, setting out what he expects to prove.
40
Q

ALLEGE

A
  • To state, recite, assert, claim, maintain, charge or set forth. To make an allegation.
41
Q

ALLEGED

A
  • Asserted to be true as depicted or a person who is accused but has not yet been tried in court.
42
Q

ALLOCUTION

A
  • A defendant’s statement in mitigation of punishment.
43
Q

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR)

A
  • Settling a dispute without a full, formal trial. Methods include
    mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and settlement, among others.
44
Q

AMEND

A
  • To change, correct, revise, improve, modify, or alter.
45
Q

AMENDMENT

A
  • The correction of an error admitted in any process.
46
Q

ANNOTATION

A
  • A case summary or commentary on the law cases, statutes, and rules illustrating its interpretation.
47
Q

ANNUAL REVIEW

A
  • Yearly judicial review, usually in juvenile dependency cases, to determine whether the child requires
    continued court supervision or placement.
48
Q

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

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

APPEARANCE

A
  • A coming into court as party or interested person or as a lawyer on behalf of party or interested person.
51
Q

APPELLANT

A
  • The party appealing a final decision or judgment.
52
Q

APPELLATE COURT

A
  • A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a trial court’s procedure.
53
Q

APPELLATE JURISDICTION

A
  • The appellate court has the right to review and revise the lower court decision
54
Q

APPELLEE

A
  • The party against whom an appeal is taken. Sometimes called a respondent.
55
Q

ARBITRATION

A
  • The referral of a dispute to an impartial third person chosen by the parties to the dispute who agree in
    advance to abide by the arbitrator’s award issued after a hearing at which both parties have an opportunity to be heard.
56
Q

ARGUMENT

A
  • Remarks addressed by attorney to judge or jury on the merits of case or on points of law.
57
Q

ARRAIGN

A
  • The procedure where the accused is brought before the court to hear the criminal charge(s) against him or her and to enter a plea of either guilty, not guilty or no contest.
58
Q

ARRAIGNMENT

A
  • A proceeding in which the accused is brought before the court to plead to the criminal charge in the
    indictment or information. The charge is read to him or her and he or she is asked to plead guilty or not guilty or, where
    permitted, nolo contendere (no contest). Another term for preliminary hearing.
59
Q

ARREST

A
  • To deprive a person of his liberty by legal authority.
60
Q

ARREST OF JUDGMENT

A
  • Postponing the effect of a judgment already entered, ordinarily because of an error apparent on
    the record .
61
Q

ARSON

A
  • The malicious burning of someone else’s or one’s own dwelling or of anyone’s commercial or industrial property.
62
Q

ASSAULT -

A

Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon the person of another, when coupled with the present ability
to do so, and any intentional display of force such as would give victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.

63
Q

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON

A
  • An aggravated unlawful assault in which there is threat to do bodily harm
    without justification or excuse by use of any instrument calculated to do serious bodily harm or cause death.
64
Q

ASSAULT, AGGRAVATED

A
  • An assault committed with the intention of committing some additional crime.
65
Q

ASSIGNEE

A
  • The person to whom property rights or power are transferred by another, a grantee.
66
Q

ASSUMPTION OF RISK

A
  • In tort law, a defense to a personal injury suit. The essence of an affirmative defense is that the
    plaintiff assumed the known risk of whatever dangerous condition caused the injury.
67
Q

AT ISSUE

A
  • The time in a lawsuit when the complaining party has stated his or her claim and the other side has responded
    with a denial and the matter is ready to be tried.
68
Q

ATTACHMENT

A
  • Taking a person’s property to satisfy a court-ordered debt.
69
Q

ATTEMPT

A
  • An endeavor or effort to do an act or accomplish a crime, carries beyond preparation, but lacking execution.
70
Q

ATTEST

A
  • To bear witness to, to affirm to be true or genuine, to certify.
71
Q

ATTORNEY

A
  • Attorney at law, lawyer, counselor at law.
72
Q

ATTORNEY OF RECORD

A
  • The lawyer who represents a client and is entitled to receive all formal documents from the
    court or from other parties. Also known as counsel of record.
73
Q

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

A
  • An advocate, counsel, or official agent employed in preparing, managing, and trying cases in the
    courts.
74
Q

ATTORNEY-IN-FACT

A
  • A private person (who is not necessarily a lawyer) authorized by another to act in his or her place,
    either for some particular purpose, as to do a specific act, or for the transaction of business in general, not of legal character.
    This authority is conferred by an instrument in writing, called a letter of attorney, or more commonly, a power of attorney.
75
Q

AUTHENTICATE

A
  • To give authority or legal authenticity to a statute, record, or other written instrument.
76
Q

AUTO TAMPERING

A
  • The manipulation of an automobile and its parts for a specific purpose.

Legal Language and legal writing (1 decks)

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