Questions tagged [legal-terms]
Use this when questioning the meaning of legal terms.
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Is drunk driving a malum prohibitum or malum in se?
In common-law jurisdictions where driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol is illegal (presumably all of them?), is drunk driving considered malum prohibitum or malum in se?
I am aware ...
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What is it called when a public body that does not primarily exist to prosecute crimes brings a prosecution?
Some offences may be prosecuted by, in addition to the CPS, other public bodies, like local authorities or transportation authorities. Even while these are public and not private bodies, would one ...
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Where does the idiomatic term “caution+3” come from?
As an alternative to arrest, English police may summon one to make an appointment at a police station for a so called voluntary interview, which is often derisively mocked in that it ironically often ...
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Is privilege often misused to mean confidential?
It seems to me that these two terms may be completely different and yet they often seem to be used in an interchangeable and anyway an overlapping manner.
Under data protection laws, data controllers ...
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Difference between "dismissed with prejudice" vs. "res judicata"?
What are the differences and similarities between the two? How are they used in the USA? Thanks.
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What's it called when a law is created that just confirms a lesser known law that already exists?
Consider this scenario. In California hotel tenants are arguing that its against the law to kick them out after 28 days. This was always true but hotels ignored the law. Now that tenants made it an ...
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What is the term for the idea that a law should never "cover all the possibilities" for being guilty?
I have never formally studied law, but I intuitively feel that a "good law" should only ever cover one side of a conditional and never both. For example, if they legislate walking on both ...
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What does "registered pursuant" mean in German laws?
I find the phrase registered pursuant used a lot in the German law of registration. Could someone explain what it means?
Reference from Federal Ministry of Justice
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How is “R v. Smith” pronounced?
Is it “Are and smith”? “Rex/Regina and smith”? “The king/queen and smith”? What is the typical convention?
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When referring to HIPAA legislation, would the 2013 Omnibus rule be considered all inclusive or refer only to the additions in the Omnibus rule?
When referring to the HIPAA 2013 Omnibus rule, should this be read as HIPPA all-inclusive, from inception; up-to and including the changes introduced in the 2013 Omnibus rule or should this be read as ...
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What was "carnal knowledge against the order of nature"?
S152(2), Palestine Penal Code of 1936, makes reference to carnal knowledge against the order of nature:
152(2) Any person who:— (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or (...
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What is a “clerk”?
In different jurisdictions do they have different meanings? How/when did the roles diverge?
Is it more or a research assistance position, or an administrative/secretarial one of doing the day to day ...
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What is consent?
Interested in any jurisdiction, and in fact especially interested in seeing comparative perspectives between different jurisdictions.
Is it:
a mental state of not objecting or even enthusiastically ...
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What is the significance of “moral turpitude”?
Ellis, Chesebro and Powell have all asked the court to state their crimes were not ones of “moral turpitude”. What is the significance of that expression and why is it so important to them?
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What is the difference between “by” and “under” an act?
E.g. s149(1)(a), Equality Act 2010 says:
A public authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to—
(a)eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any ...
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How did some generic names get registered as trademark?
Even through general names cannot be trademark (according to my limited knowledge) but Amazon and apple are already trademarks. Can someone explain this to me.
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If a woman has a daughter with one man and has a son with the other man, does that mean that the son and the father of the daughter are related?
A woman named Maria has an illegitimate daughter with a man named Gabe. After she leaves the child in his care, Maria then marries a man named Rob. She has a child with Rob. Are Gabe and Rob's son ...
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Do “motions” exist in the U.K.?
Or are they instead called “applications” in Britain? One hears of motions filed in court cases, perhaps primarily in the U.S. But do these exist in Britain, or in any other jurisdictions? Or are they ...
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Can someone please tell me what the letters TSE stand for after an attny name?
What do the letter's TSE stand for at the end of an attny name?
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What is the origin of the notion of the King’s “peace”?
There are magistrates (or justices) of the peace, which evokes memory of the justices of the peace act 1285, a statute. Then there is a breach of the peace and the various police powers and ...
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Does the convention of “F. Last” have any legal significance?
I’ve noticed that legal correspondence sometimes addresses folks in the format of F. Last where F. Is the addressee’s first initial, and Last is their complete last name. What is the origin of this ...
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Do any jurisdictions apply a principle of straws-on-camels-back when considering the appropriateness of escalation?
I am trying to understand, in general, how laws apply to the use of violence between two individuals, when the circumstances of the use of violence was one of continuous escalation. I invite and ...
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Where in the law is the notion of a squatter defined?
Is the notion of a squatter defined as a legal concept anywhere in the law? My understanding was always that it is legally defined as one who resides in a premise who had initially entered as a ...
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What is the difference between a money order and a money judgment?
Presumably there is some distinction as it is made in the name of the so called register of orders fines and judgments. So what is the difference?
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What is the correct term to describe a party to an action who is really only a sock puppet for the party's legal counsel and expert witness?
I have encountered a situation where one of the parties (a government department) is actually forced into their position by a combination of their legal counsel (DOJ) and expert witness (law ...
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Nomenclature question
Assume a man is indicted for lying on a form that he did not use drugs, in order to purchase a handgun.
Furthermore assume Drug user cannot be barred from owning guns, US court rules.
Update: Assume ...
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Is "legalese" a thing in languages other than English?
The idea of legalese needs little introduction. An archaic professional jargon that has developed in the English-speaking world over hundreds of years, it has been largely preserved and sustained by ...
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Does the term “pressure selling” have a legal origin? [duplicate]
Is it a pure colloquial term? Or does it have an origin in some article of legislation, or does (did?) it appear in some article of legislation?
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Meaning of devil's advocate
What is the meaning of devil's advocate. Is it same as falsification/falsifiability ?
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What is a warranty?
Most commonly we hear of consumer warranties, but what more generally or fundamentally does this concept denote?
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What counts as consideration in contract law?
What counts as consideration in contract law? Does consideration from party A have to be to the benefit of the party B?
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What is a "lead defendant" in U.S. law?
In its opposition to the government's motion for a protective order in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, Waltine Nauta's defense refers to Donald ...
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What is the origin of the term “court” as a reference to the judicial institution?
Does the legal usage of the word court as in a court of law derive from the idea of a royal court, as an expression of the idea that the original courts of law were ultimately simple vehicles for the ...
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"In person" in UK practice
If the record of a UK civil hearing identifies a party as being "in person", does that mean that the defendant was physically present or that the court had not been informed that the ...
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Is there a name for meta/anti-reprisal provisions such as S27 Equality Act 2010?
The equality act has some anti retaliatory provisions which it terms as anti-“victimisation”.
Is there any more general term for such provisions as of this type, which protect claimants from otherwise ...
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How long does a lifetime license last?
Years ago, I bought a Lifetime license, about $250 for a wordpress theme. I hadn't visited the company for a while, but yesterday saw that what I bought is no longer available for sale, no new updates ...
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What is “private law”?
Section 156 of the Equality Act 2010 says:
A failure in respect of a performance of a duty imposed by or under this Chapter does not confer a cause of action at private law.
What does the phrase at ...
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What are (respectively) “Lords temporal and spiritual”? [closed]
In the opening clause of every parliamentary act seems to appear this phrase. What does each type of Lord refer to?
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Is there any sense in which the City of London Corporation is a corporation wherein other local authorities are not also? [duplicate]
The City of London Corporation includes the word "corporation" in its name. But in the operative sense, are not all other local authorities also such “corporations”?
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Does Brazil issue a document certifying that one has never been married?
Is there a certificate issued by the Government of Brazil to prove that an individual has never been married before? If so, how is it called?
Some countries call it Certificate of No Marriage and ...
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Where when and how did the idea of “reasonableness” originate?
What period did it come into regular legal usage?
Did it originate as a judicial device first or did it begin as something that would be explicitly coded into statutes?
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If you are holding a mobile phone while driving and you are not looking at it nor are you texting are you still deemed as using it? [closed]
The concept of dualism which exists throughout the universe. Every word, phrase, object and thing in the universe there is a positive and a negative state. For example - up/down, in/out, black/white, ...
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Legal definition of a "child" in the United States
I notice that in several criminal cases women who are clearly post-pubescent teenagers are being legally characterized as "children", so I am wondering about the terminology here. For ...
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What is an “estate,” as in a “housing estate” or “council estate”? [closed]
Also, how does this sense of the word differ from those used in other jurisdictions, and how are any of the senses of the term derived from one another if at all?
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Does this definition of harassment have any legal basis?
Does the following definition of harassment have any legal basis?
The gym’s dignity and inclusion policy states:
“Harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination. It is unwanted conduct related to a ...
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What do you put on Nation when filing out a Legal Document online? I'm from Puerto Rico
I'm filing out a legal document online. Puerto Rico is never included under "Nation" when ordering stuff online, and it is always under "State" to make the process easier. But for ...
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In what sense is an Assured Tenancy “assured”?
Why was this term chosen for the standard type of tenancy brought in under the housing act 1988? Who is the one that is meant to have the assurance, and what is the assurance thought to be of?
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Why are formal accusations of crimes called “charges”?
How and when did it come to be called this? What are the origins of the term “criminal charges”?
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Meaning of typical statement in the legal document of Stock option grant
I am reading a legal document related stock option agreement here https://media.orrick.com/Media%20Library/public/files/o/option-agreement.docx. One section reads like
Termination upon Disability of ...
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