Sport Law Terms

Question 1

Acceptance

Answer 1

The offeree’s notification to the offeror that he agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of the offer.

Question 2

Accommodation

Answer 2

Adjustment or settlement.

Question 3

Adjudicate

Answer 3

Have a court make a decision or decide a dispute.

Question 4

Aff’d. (affirmed)

Answer 4

To affirm a judgment, decree, or order is to declare that it is valid and right, and must stand as rendered by the lower court.

Question 5

Affidavit

Answer 5

A written statement or declaration of facts sworn to be the maker, taken before a person officially permitted by law to administer oaths.

Question 6

Amicus curiae

Answer 6

Friend of the court; a third party who presents a brief to a court on behalf of one of the parties in a case.

Question 7

Annotations

Answer 7

Statutory: brief summaries of the law and facts or cases interpreting statutes passed by Congress or state legislatures that are included in codes.

Textual: expository essays of varying length on significant legal topics chosen from selected cases published with the essays.

Question 8

Appeal

Answer 8

A request from the losing party in a case that a higher court review the decision. Acceptance of the request and issuance by a writ of appeal is mandatory for the higher court.

Question 9

Appellant

Answer 9

The party who appeals a decision from a lower court to a higher court.

Question 10

Appellate Court

Answer 10

Court of appellate jurisdiction.

Question 11

Arraignment

Answer 11

The appearance of a defendant to a criminal charge before a judge for the purpose of pleading guilty or not guilty to the indictment.

Question 12

Bona fide

Answer 12

Real, true, and actual.

Question 13

Brief

Answer 13

In American law practice, a written statement prepared by the counsel arguing a case in court. It contains a summary of the facts of the case, the pertinent laws, and argument of how the law applies to the facts supporting counsel’s position.

Question 14

Burden of proof

Answer 14

The necessity or duty of positively proving a fact or facts in a dispute on an issue raised between parties.

Question 15

Collusion

Answer 15

A secret agreement between two or more persons for a fraudulent, unlawful, or deceitful purpose. This occurs in professional sports when teams secretly agree not to hire one another’s players, secretly agree not to spend more than a certain amount of money on players, and/or secretly share info that they are forbidden to share under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

Question 16

Cross-examination

Answer 16

The examination of a witness in a trial or hearing, or in taking a deposition, by the party opposed to the one who produced the witness.

Question 17

Damages

Answer 17

Monetary compensation awarded by a court for an injury caused by the act of another.
–Damages may be actual or compensatory (equal to the amount of loss shown), exemplary or punitive (in excess of the actual loss and awarded to punish the person for the malicious conduct that caused the injury), or nominal (less than the actual loss).

Question 18

Defendant

Answer 18

The party against whom legal action is taken; particularly, a person accused or convicted of a criminal offense.

Question 19

Deposition

Answer 19

The testimony of a witness, taken out of court before a court reporter and under oath.

Question 20

Disclosure

Answer 20

An argument that certain information possessed by associations, or meetings held by organizations, should be a matter of public record and, therefore, open to the public. The general meaning of disclosure is “to reveal facts.”

Question 21

Discovery

Answer 21

A method by which opposing parties may obtain information from each other, to prepare for trial and to narrow the issues to be presented at trial.

Question 22

Equal Rights Amendment

Answer 22

A proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee equal rights to women that was not ratified in the early 1980’s but that certain states have adopted.

Question 23

Evidence

Answer 23

Any form of proof presented at trial through the use of eyewitness testimony, records, documents, and concrete objects, and used to assist the trier of fact in making this determination of the case.

Question 24

Felony

Answer 24

A serious criminal offense, as distinct from a misdemeanor. Typically, crimes for which the punishment may exceed one year in jail.

Question 25

Holding

Answer 25

The declaration or the conclusion of law reached by the court regarding the legal effect of the facts of the case.

Question 26

In loco parentis

Answer 26

Placed in the position of the parents of the child, such as a coach or teacher given this status within a relationship with the student-athlete.

Question 27

Instrument

Answer 27

Usually a document, such as a contract.

Question 28

Don’t know

Answer 28

An asset that exists only in connection with something else. It is an idea or formula, not something that can be touched. Goodwill is an example of an intangible asset of a business.

Question 29

Laches

Answer 29

Wrongful or unwarranted delay.

Question 30

Liability

Answer 30

The condition of being responsible either for damages resulting from an injurious act or for discharging an obligation or debt.

Question 31

Libel

Answer 31

Written defamation of a person’s character.

Question 32

Misdemeanor

Answer 32

Offense lower than felony and generally punishable by fine or imprisonment of up to one year.

Question 33

Modified

Answer 33

Changed; a decision altered by the introduction of new elements or the cancellation of existing elements.

Question 34

Motion

Answer 34

A formal request made to a judge pertaining to any issue arising while a lawsuit is pending.

Question 35

Negotiation

Answer 35

The deliberation, settling, or arranging of the terms and conditions of a possible transaction.

Question 36

Obligation

Answer 36

Debt or duty.

Question 37

Offer

Answer 37

An act by one person giving another person the legal power to create the obligation called a contract

Question 38

Offeree

Answer 38

One to whom a contract offer is made

Question 39

Offeror

Answer 39

One who makes a contract offer.

Question 40

Plaintiff

Answer 40

The party who brings in action; the complainant

Question 41

Precedent

Answer 41

A case that furnishes an example or authority of deciding subsequent cases in which identical or similar facts are present.

Question 42

Proximate cause

Answer 42

The act that is the natural and reasonably foreseeable cause of the harm or agent that injures the plaintiff.

Question 43

Punitive damages

Answer 43

Compensation in excess of actual or consequential damages. They are awarded to punish the wrongdoer, but only in cases involving willful or malicious misconduct

Question 44

Quid pro quo

Answer 44

This for that. Something given in exchange for something else.

Question 45

Relinquish

Answer 45

To give up, surrender, or turn over.

Question 46

Slander

Answer 46

Oral defamation of a person’s character.

Question 47

Specific performance

Answer 47

An equitable remedy whereby the court orders one of the parties to a contract to perform his or her duties under the contract. Usually granted when money damages would be an inadequate remedy.

Question 48

Standing

Answer 48

The qualifications needed to bring legal action. The qualifications relate to the existence of a controversy in which the plaintiff has suffered or is about to suffer an injury or infringement upon a legally protected right that a court is competent to redress.

Question 49

Stare decisis

Answer 49

To stand on what has been decided; to adhere to the decision of previous cases. It is a rule, sometimes departed from, that a point settled in a previous case becomes a precedent that should be followed in subsequent cases decided by the same court.

Question 50

Statutes

Answer 50

Acts of legislature. Depending upon its context in usage, a statue may mean a single act of a legislature or a body of acts that are collected and arranged according to a scheme or for a session of a legislature or parliament.

Question 51

Statutes of limitations

Answer 51

Laws setting time periods during which disputes may be taken to court.

Question 52

Subpoena

Answer 52

A court order compelling a witness to appear and testify in a certain proceeding.

Question 53

Tangible asset

Answer 53

Something that can be touched. Examples of tangible assets are sports equipment and team apparel.

Question 54

Trial court

Answer 54

The court before which issues of fact and law are tried and first determined as distinguished from an appellate court.

Question 55

Vacated

Answer 55

Annulled, set aside, canceled, or rescinded; the canceling or rescinding of an entry or record or of a judgment.

Question 56

Venue

Answer 56

The geographical area where a court with jurisdiction may try a case.

Question 57

Waiver

Answer 57

The voluntary relinquishment of a known right.

Question 58

Writ of appeal

Answer 58

A suit or action brought before the court that holds a federal act to be unconstitutional or a state action to be constitutional, or that involves a lower federal court deciding against the United States in a criminal case.
–A suit brought by the U.S. under the Interstate Commerce Act.
–A federal district court hearing a suit involving a restraint on enforcement of a state or federal statue on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.