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Note: The Law School library has three references to help you better understand legal words and phrases.
Abate: to lessen, do away with, or nullify as in the case of pollution; to quash, beat down, or destroy, as in the case of a nuisance.
Addendum: A section or list added to a document.
Adjudication: The legal process of resolving a dispute or the formal pronouncement of a judgment.
Administrative law: body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions to carry out regulatory duties. Two functions of administrative agencies (like the Missouri Department of Natural Resources or the U.S. Department of Agriculture) are "rule-making" and "adjudication".
Affirm: appellate court action confirming prior judgment.
Affirmative Defense: A legal argument raised by a defendant to a legal proceeding that provides a protection or defense for the action in question.
Affidavit: Sworn written statement.
Agricultural Chemicals: Refers to both pesticides and fertilizers, and in some situations may include animal drugs.
ADR/Alternative Dispute Resolution: procedures for settling disputes by means other than litigation, such as arbitration, mediation, and negotiation.
Answer: the response of a defendant to a plaintiff's complaint, denying in part or in whole the allegation made by the plaintiff.
Appeal: procedure of requesting that an appellate court review the decision of a lower court or administrative agency. Only errors of "law" (no more "fact-finding" with witnesses/documents) are appealable, as the trial court's judgment is final as to fact-issues.
Appellant: the party who appeals. This can be either the losing or the winning party to a lower court's judgment.
Appellee or Respondent: party against whom an appeal is taken.
Attorney's costs: the usual rule is that each party pays her/his own attorney's fees, including cost of expert witnesses. But the losing party pays all court costs (includes jury costs).
Battery: An unlawful beating or other wrongful physical violence inflicted on a human being without consent.
Brief: Written argument submitted to appellate tribunal
Burden of Proof: The duty of affirmatively proving facts in dispute on an issue raised between parties, usually resting on one party or the other as a duty to prove the facts which support her claim.
Causation: That which led directly or indirectly to the injury complained of in the suit.
Cause of Action: Ground on which an action may be maintained.
Caveat Emptor: "Let the buyer beware"; purchasers of objects assume risk of quality.
Certiorari Writ: Issued by a superior court requiring an inferior court to produce a certified record of a particular case.
Chattel: A tangible article of personal property.
Civil Lawsuit or Action: brought by a "private party" (individual; company; possibly govt entity) to enforce or to protect a private right. This is to be contrasted to a "criminal" action in which the State prosecutes an individual (or business entity) for allegedly violating a crime (defined by statute or regulation).
Civil Procedure: Body of law focusing on the methods, procedures, and practices of civil litigation.
Claim: Cause of action.
Class Action: Action brought by one or more plaintiffs on behalf of a class of persons.
Collateral Estoppel: The collateral determination of a question by a court having general jurisdiction of the subject.
Common Law: courtmade law as contrasted to legislature-made law (statutes). The basis for common law is stare decisis and case precedent. The first time a given fact situation and legal issue are decided by a court is referred to as the "case precedent," or the "case of first impression." All later similar fact situations raising the same legal issue are to "stare" at the prior decision, and thereby reach the same result. In effect, case precedent "predicts" the outcome of later cases that are the same or very similar.
Comparative Negligence: the doctrine in the law of negligence by which the negligence of the parties is compared, and recovery permitted notwithstanding the negligence of the plaintiff. However, any party's damage recovery is diminished proportionately by the percentage of their negligence (determined by the jury).
Complaint or Petition: plaintiff's initial pleading or claim which sets out the jurisdiction of the court, the elements of the case, and the remedy requested.
Consideration: In contract law, a bargained-for legal benefit or legal detriment incurred in exchange for a promise.
Contributory Negligence: Defense in the law of negligence whereby if the plaintiff is found to have contributed to the cause of injury then it defeats the cause of action in negligence.
Conversion: An unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods or personal chattels belonging to another or the exclusion of the owner's rights.
Covenant: A formal agreement pledging to another that something is either done or shall be done or to the truth of certain facts.
Criminal Action: lawsuit instituted by the State to punish alleged violation of the criminal statutes and regulations.
Damages: pecuniary compensation awarded by the court to any person who has suffered loss, detriment, or injury through the unlawful act or omission or negligence of another. Actual damages are for actual loss such as physical injury, property damage, medical expenses, or loss of earnings. Punitive damages are above and beyond actual damages, and are to "punish" the at-fault party for his/her malicious conduct. Nominal damages are awarded for the vindication of a right where no real loss or injury can be proven.
Defendant: the party (individual, association, company, etc) against whom relief or recovery is sought in a civil lawsuit; or the accused in a criminal action.
Defense: the reasoning or justification offered by the party proceeded against in a lawsuit, as a reason in law or fact; why the plaintiff should not recover or establish what he/she seeks; that which is put forward to diminish plaintiff's course of action or to defeat recovery.
Deposition The testimony of a witness taken out of the court before a person authorized to administer oaths.
Directed Verdict Direction to return a verdict in favor of a specified party to the action.
Discovery: opportunity during a lawsuit for each party to ask questions (interrogatories; depositions) of the other party and expected witnesses, or to request the opposing party to provide internal documents and records.
Dismiss: Send away, discharge, discontinue, such as to dismiss an action or suit without further consideration.
Diversity Jurisdiction: Jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship; citizenship from 2 different states.
Due Process: The constitutional right that individuals are entitled to certain procedural protections before the government can act to limit their personal rights or property.
Duress: Any wrongful or illegal coercion, by threat or other means, that overcomes the free will or judgment of a person and induces the person to do something he or she otherwise would not do.
Duty: legal or moral obligation; an obligation recognized by the law that requires the actor to conform to certain standards of conduct for the protection of others. For example, the "duty" to act like a reasonable person under the conduct standard known as "non-negligence."
Equity: the principle of deciding lawsuits based upon fairness rather than upon the strict guidelines of law.
Estoppel: preventing a party from arguing out a set of restrictions when that same party relied on those restrictions earlier.
Evidence: Proof presented at a trial in the form of witnesses, records, documents, etc., for the purpose of making a case.
Externalities: Private costs of manufacturing or consuming that are forced onto society as a whole.
False Imprisonment: The unlawful arrest or detention of a person without warrant, or by an illegal warrant, or a warrant illegally executed, or by force and constraint without confinement.
Fault: an act to which blame, censure, impropriety, shortcoming, or culpability attaches; neglect of duty.
Fiduciary: (n.) A person having duty to act primarily for another's benefit; (adj.) Of the nature of a trust, relating to or founded upon a trust or confidence.
Foreman: Jury member who reports for the entire jury.
Force majeure: superior or irresistible force. Such a clause is common in construction contracts to protect the parties in the event that a part of the contract cannot be performed due to causes which are outside the control of the parties and could not be avoided by the exercise of due care.
Foreseeability: reasonable anticipation that harm or injury is likely to result from an act or omission.
Fraud: An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right.
Full Faith and Credit: "Full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution requires that a foreign judgment be given such faith and credit as it would receive in the state of its origin.
Grand Jury: twelve persons brought together usually by the public prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes or to make inquiries as to the public safety of things like public buildings, roads, and bridges. Grand juries are used to gather information to decide whether there's a reasonable basis to bring formal charges. It takes at least 9 jurors to return an "indictment." An indicted person is not guilty or presumed guilty; rather, he/she is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The public prosecutor is the one to bring an indictee to trial to face charges.
Gross Negligence: the intentional failure to perform a duty, in reckless disregard of the consequences as affecting life or property of another. Such gross want of care and regard for the rights of others is said to justify the presumption of wilfulness and wantonness.
Groundwater: Any water that occurs underground.
Holding: the main legal principle to be understood from a court opinion.
Impleader: Device whereby a defendant may bring in a third party not a party to the action because the third party is or may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff's claim.
Injunction: court order prohibiting an act or commanding an act, to avoid injury and/or property damage.
Intentional tort: Injury cause of action where the defendant's intent to commit an action is at issue.
Interpleader: When two or more persons claim the same thing (or fund) of a third, and the third is ignorant which of them has a right to it so may file a bill in equity against them, the object of which is to make them litigate their title between themselves.
Interrogatories: Written questions presented to a party or witness covering events.
In Terrorem: Literally, "in terror or warning." Signs such as "NOT Responsible for Accidents" may be ineffective in the eyes of the law to reduce legal liability, but the injured party may be psychologically deterred from asserting a claim. Much the same can be argued about "written releases" and "disclaimers", although increasingly evident in modern society and allowed more consideration in lawsuits.
Inverse Condemnation: Theory whereby property owner argues that the government has taken the property through regulation rather than through condemnation, and thus should pay the property owner.
Invitee: One who is at a place upon the invitation of another to do business.
Joint and Several Liability: multiple parties are responsible together and individually; the person who has been wronged can sue and recover from one or more of the offending parties (but total recovery is limited to the actual damages).
Judgment: Final decision of a court resolving a dispute and determining the rights and obligations of the parties.
Judgment n.o.v.: Judgment notwithstanding the verdict, entered by judge in opposition to a jury's verdict.
Jurisdiction: the power of a court to hear an action. For example, the jurisdictional amount in Missouri's Small Claim Courts is $1,500.
Jury: Group of citizens who hear evidence of a case.
Jury Verdict: the final decision by a "petit" jury on questions of fact. In a civil lawsuit, a verdict requires nine or more jurors to be in agreement; otherwise, there is a "hung jury." A hung jury does not automatically result in a new trial, but either party can bring another lawsuit on the same facts/events (not double jeopardy). In a criminal action, all twelve jurors must agree (unanimous) to reach a verdict, either of "guilty" or "innocent;" otherwise, the criminal trial jury is a "hung jury," and the prosecutor may or may not ask for another trial on the same facts.
Justiciability: Proper subject to be examined in courts of justice.
Last Clear Chance: The "last clear chance doctrine" is that a defendant who has last clear chance to avoid damage or injury to a negligent plaintiff is liable despite the plaintiff's contribution to the damages.
Lease: A conveyance of lands to a person for a term of years or life in consideration of a return of rent or some other recompense.
Licensee: A person who is neither a customer, nor a servant, nor a trespasser. Under the law of negligence, this includes social guests.
Lien: A charge upon property for the satisfaction of a debt.
Liquidated Damages: An amount of money provided for as a remedy for breach of contract by the contract itself.
Long Arm Statute: A statute conferring jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants.
Malice: the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse, with an intent to inflict injury or under circumstances that the law will imply an evil intent. Malice in law is not necessarily personal hate or ill will, but is that state of mind which is reckless of the law and of the legal rights of other persons.
Mediation: Private, informal dispute resolution in which a neutral third person, the mediator, helps disputing parties to reach an agreement.
Mitigation: A system whereby the adverse impacts of an activity on the environment are minimized or canceled by requiring the party to limit the action or replace the resources affected. The term is commonly used in connection with § 404 of the Clean Water Act to require parties who drain wetlands to mitigate by constructing or restoring wetlands.
Motion: Written or oral petitions for relief or action by a court.
Multiple Tortfeasors: Plural defendants in a tort action.
Mutual Assent: The meeting of the minds or both or all the parties to a contract.
Natural Person: A human being excluding corporations and other business entities.
Negligence: failure to act like a reasonable person would act in the same or similar circumstances.
Nonpoint Source: A term from the Clean Water Act referring to a source of pollution other than from a point source.
Nuisance: Anything that works hurt, inconvenience, or damage to another; anything done by one which annoys or disturbs another in the free use, possession or enjoyment of her property.
Opinion: Written resolution of a dispute by a judge or court.
Oral Argument: Opportunity for attorneys to orally state their appellate arguments before judges.
Parol Evidence: Oral or verbal evidence; that which is given by word of mouth.
Parol Evidence Rule: When an agreement is in writing, previous or contemporaneous oral agreements merge with the writing, and evidence of these oral agreements is not permitted in court except for allegations of mistake or fraud.
Party: Person who is a plaintiff or a defendant.
Plaintiff: the party who initiates the lawsuit.
Pleading: Formal statement by a party to an action or proceeding of the operative facts, as distinguished from evidentiary facts, which constitute the respective claim or defense.
Police Power: The constitutional power which authorizes governments to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.
Preemption: the general rule is that once the federal government enacts a statute on an issue, no state can enact contradictory laws. One exception is that states usually can enact more stringent standards than those found in the federal statutes.
Prima Facie Case: Establishing the elements of the case so that a decision can be made in your favor.
Private Nuisance: Nuisance which threatens injury to one or a few persons.
Privity: Relationship between two parties who have successive rights in property.
Probate: The act or process of proving a will.
Process Server: Person who serves the summons or other documents upon the opposing party.
Promissory Estoppel: A doctrine or rule of law that forbids or "estops" a promisor to avoid liability for the consequences of a promise on which the promisee has justifiably relied.
Proximate Cause: primary cause of an injury; that which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an efficient intervening cause, produces the injury and without which the injury would not have happened.
Public Nuisance: Violation of a public right either by a direct encroachment upon a public right or property or by doing some act which tends to a common injury of the public.
Public Trust: Idea that certain common properties, such as rivers, the seashore and the air are held by the government in trusteeship for the free and unimpeded use of the general public.
Punitive Damages: Damages other than compensatory that may be awarded against a person to punish the person for outrageous conduct.
Question of Fact: question for the jury in a trial by jury, or for the court in a trial without a jury; an issue determined by looking at the evidence.
Question of Law: question for the court (judge), such as what instructions to give to the jury and whether to allow the admission of certain evidence.
Recreational User Special law governing the duty of care owed to persons using land, without paying for the use, for recreational purposes.
Remand When an appellate case is sent back to the lower court for another review.
Remedy: the means employed to enforce a right or to redress an injury. Examples include damages, an injunction, specific performance, binding arbitration, rescission, and liquidated damages.
Reply: Plaintiff's response brief to defendant's answer brief.
Res ipsa loquitur: literally, "the thing speaks for itself." A rebuttable presumption that the defendant was negligent, which arises upon proof that the instrumentality causing injury was in the defendant's exclusive control, and that the accident was one which ordinarily does not happen but for negligence.
Res Judicata: A matter or thing judicially acted upon or settled by judgment. This doctrine bars re-litigation of issues already settled.
Rests: Completion of the presentation of evidence.
Reverse: Vacate, set aside, or revoke; as to reverse a judgment,sentence, or decree of a lower court.
Revocation: The recall of some power, authority, or thing granted.
Right-To-Farm Laws: State laws that provide farm operations with protection from private and public nuisance suits, if certain conditions are met.
Ripeness: A dispute that exists must constitute an actual controversy between the parties whereby the parties are clearly opposing each other. Possible or potential disputes are not ripe for judicial consideration.
Scienter: Knowingly.
Sodbuster: The name given to the soil conservation provisions of the 1985 farm bill whereby a producer becomes ineligible for farm program benefits if agricultural commodities are raised on highly erodible land [16 U.S.C. §3811]
Sovereign Immunity: Judicial doctrine which precludes bringing suit against the government without its consent; founded on the principle that "the King can do no wrong."
Standing: The party raising an issue must be suffering or threatened with suffering of a legal wrong.
Stare Decisis: Adhere to the precedents, and not to unsettle things which are established.
Statute of Frauds: A statute intended to reduce frauds and perjuries by requiring a written document signed by the party or by his authorized agent.
Statute of Limitation: statutorily set maximum time periods during which lawsuits can be brought to enforce rights. After the time period set out in the applicable statute of limitations has run (expired), no legal action can be brought. The rationale is to force lawsuits to be brought while the evidence is still "fresh" and credible.
Strict Liability: liability without fault, such as "product liability" cases in which the seller is liable for any and all defective or hazardous products which unduly threaten consumer safety. Dynamite blasting and keeping wild animals are two "textbook" examples of strict liability.
Subpoena: court order to a person to appear as a witness or to bring documents to the court. Failure to obey the subpoena can subject you to "contempt of court," meaning fines, jail, or both.
Summary Judgment: A judgment entered by the court when no substantial dispute of fact is present, the court acting on the basis of affidavits which show that the claim or defense of a party is a sham.
Summons: A writ by which an action is commenced under common law.
Swampbuster: A set of provisions introduced in the 1985 farm bill that deny farm program eligibility to parties who raise agricultural commodities on wetlands converted to crop ground after December 23, 1985 [16 U.S.C. § 3821]
Taking: A term generally applied to an individual's belief that the public, acting through the use of government regulations, has illegally limited or "taken" the person's private property rights in violation of the just compensation clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Third Party Beneficiary: Under warranty law, involves persons who are not parties to the transaction but are injured by a breach of warranty, and whether they may maintain an action in warranty against the manufacturer or seller.
Tort: a private or civil wrong or injury for which the court will provide a remedy in the form of damages, an injunction, or both.
Trespass: Entry on another's ground, without a lawful authority, and doing some damage, however inconsiderable, to real property. An injury or misfeasance to the person, property or rights of another person, done with force and violence.
Trial Docket: Court schedule.
Trust: An equitable or beneficial right or title to land or other
Usufruct: The right of using something belonging to another; in Georgia, a lease for less than 5 years.
Venue: The place in which alleged events from which a legal action arises take place; or the place where an action is brought to trial and which is to furnish the panel of jurors.
Verdict: The decision of the trial or jury.
Voir Dire: The preliminary examination of a juror or a witness to ascertain that he or she is qualified to act as such.
Wetland: Defined in the swampbuster provisions and in the Clean Water Act to refer to special wet or swampy areas.
Witness: One who testifies to what she has seen, heard, or otherwise observed.
Writ: Order issued by a court requiring the performance of a specified act, or giving authority to have it done.