Legal Terms- S

Question 1

SALE

Answer 1

A contract whereby the ownership of property is transferred from one person to another for a sum of money or for any consideration.

Question 2

SANCTION

Answer 2

A penalty or punishment provided as a means of enforcing obedience to a law; also, an authorization.

Question 3

SATISFACTION

Answer 3

The discharge of an obligation by paying a party what is due to him; or what is awarded to him by the judgement of court or otherwise.

Question 4

SCIENTER

Answer 4

Knowingly; also, it is used in pleading to denote the defendant’s guilty knowledge.

Question 5

SCINTILLA

Answer 5

A spark; also the least particle.

Question 6

SECRET OF STATE

Answer 6

Governmental secret relating to the national defense or the international relations of the United States.

Question 7

SECURITY

Answer 7

Indemnification; the term is applied to an obligation, such as a mortgage or deed of trust, given by a debtor to insure the payment or performance of his debt, by furnishing the creditor with a resource to be used in case of the debtor’s failure to fulfill the principal obligation.

Question 8

SENTENCE

Answer 8

The judgement formally pronounced by the court or judge upon the defendant after his conviction in a criminal prosecution.

Question 9

SET-OFF

Answer 9

A claim or demand which one party in an action credits against the claim of the opposing party.

Question 10

SHALL and MAY

Answer 10

“Shall” is mandatory and “may” is permissive.

Question 11

SITUS

Answer 11

Location.

Question 12

SOVEREIGN

Answer 12

A person, body or state in which independent and supreme authority is vested.

Question 13

STARE DECISIS

Answer 13

To follow decided cases.

Question 14

STATE

Answer 14

“State” means this State unless applied to the different parts of the United States. In the latter case, it includes any state, district, commonwealth, territory, or insular possession of the United States, including the District of Columbia.

Question 15

STATEMENT

Answer 15

(a) Oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression.

Question 16

STATUTE

Answer 16

An act of the legislature. Includes a treaty.

Question 17

STATUTE OF LIMITATION

Answer 17

A statute limiting the time to bring an action after the right of the action has arisen.

Question 18

STAY

Answer 18

To hold in abeyance an order of the court.

Question 19

STIPULATION

Answer 19

Any agreement made by opposing attorneys regulating any matter incidental to the proceedings or trial.

Question 20

SUBORDINATION (AGREEMENT)

Answer 20

An agreement making one’s rights inferior to or of a lower rank than another’s.

Question 21

SUBORNATION

Answer 21

The crime of procuring a person to lie or to make false statements to a court.

Question 22

SUBPOENA

Answer 22

A writ or order directed to a person, and requiring his attendance at a particular time and place to testify as a witness.

Question 23

SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM

Answer 23

A subpoena used, not only for the purpose of compelling witnesses to attend in court, but also requiring them to bring with them books or documents which may be in their possession, and which may tend to elucidate the subject matter of the trial.

Question 24

SUBROGATION

Answer 24

The substituting of one for another as a creditor, the new creditor succeeding to the former’s rights.

Question 25

SUBSIDY

Answer 25

A government grant to assist a private enterprise deemed advantageous to the public.

Question 26

SUI GENERIS

Answer 26

Of the same kind.

Question 27

SUIT

Answer 27

Any civil proceeding by a person or persons against another or others in a court of justice by which the plaintiff pursues the remedies afforded him by law.

Question 28

SUMMONS

Answer 28

A notice to be a defendant that an action against him has commenced and requiring him to appear in court and answer the complaint.

Question 29

SUPRA

Answer 29

Above; this word occurring by itself in a book refers the reader to a previous part of the book.

Question 30

SURETY

Answer 30

A person who binds himself for the payment of a um of money or for the performance of something else, for another.

Question 31

SURPLUSAGE

Answer 31

Extraneous or unnecessary matter.

Question 32

SURVIVORSHIP

Answer 32

A term used when a person becomes entitled to property by reason of his having survived another person who had an interest in the property.

Question 33

SUSPEND SENTENCE

Answer 33

Hold back a sentence pending good behavior of prisoner.

Question 34

SYLLABUS

Answer 34

A note prefixed to a report, especially a case, giving a brief statement of the court’s ruling on different issues of the case.