attorney. (14c) 1. Strictly, one who is designated to transact business for another; a legal agent.

- Also termed attorney-in-fact; private attorney. 2. A person who practices law; LAWYER. Also termed (in sense 2) attorney-ai-law; public attorney. ambulance chaser. 1. A lawyer who approaches victims of accidents in hopes of persuading them to hire the lawyer and sue for damages. 2. A lawyer's agent who engages in this activity. 3. Tendentious slang. An attorney. amicus curiae (;}-mee-k;}s kyoor-ee-lor ;}-mI-k;}s kyooreeee also am-i-bs). [Latin "friend ofthe court"] (17c) A person who is not a party to a lawsuit but who petitions the court or is requested by the court to file a brief in the action because that person has a strong interest in the subject matter. - Often shortened to amicus. - Also termed friend of the court. PI. amici curiae (;l-mee-kee or ;}-ml-SI or ;}-ml-kI). [Cases: Amicus Curiae ~1-3.J caselaw. (1861) The law to be found in the collection of reported cases that form all or part of the body of law within a given jurisdiction. - Also written case law; case-law. - Also termed decisional law; adjudicative law; jurisprudence; organic law. "Case law in some form and to some extent is found wherever there is law. A mere series of decisions of individ ual cases does not of course in itself constitute a system of law. But in any judicial system rules of law arise sooner or later out of the solution of practical problems, whether or not such formulations are desired, intended or consciously recognized. These generalizations contained in, or built upon, past decisions, when taken as normative for future disputes, create a legal system." Karl N. Llewellyn, "Case Law" in 3 Encv. Soc. Sci. 249 (1930). COUNSEL DE PARTE a lawyer or attorney engaged by a party to represent the latter in a case. COHERENCE - Marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts: a coherent essay. constitution. (18c) 1. The fundamental and organic law of a nation or state that establishes the institutions and apparatus of government, defines the scope of governmental sovereign powers, and guarantees individual civil rights and civil liberties. 2. The written instrument embodying this fundamental law, together with any formal amendments. dispositive (dis-poz-<l-tiv), adj. (17c) 1. Being a deciding factor; (of a fact or factor) bringing about a final determination. 2. Of, relating to, or effecting the disposition of property by will or deed. dispositive clause. Scots law. In a deed, the clause of conveyance by which the grantor describes the property conveyed, its conditions or burdens, the name of the grantee, and the destination to heirs. See DESTINATION (3). de facto (di fak-toh also dee or day), adj. [Law Latin "in point of fact"] (17c) 1. Actual; existing in fact; having effect even though not formally or legally recognized

<a de facto contract> 2. Illegitimate but in effect <a de facto government>. Cf. DE JURE. de jure Cdi juur-ee also dee or day), adj. [Law Latin "as a matter oflaw"] (l7c) Existing by right or according to law <de jure segregation during the pre-Brown era>. Cf. DE FACTO; DE GRATIA. Counsel de officio is an attorney appointed by the court to an indigent criminal defendant minute order. 1. An order recorded in the minutes of the court rather than directly on a case docket . Although practice varies, traditionally when a trial judge is sitting officially, with or without a court reporter, a clerk or deputy clerk keeps minutes. When the judge makes an oral order, the only record of that order may be in the minutes. It is therefore referred to as a minute order. - Also termed minute entry. [Cases: Appeal and Error 123; Courts (;::::> 107.J 2. A court order not directly relating to a case, such as an order adopting a local rule of court. - In this sense, the court is not a Single judge acting in an adju- . dicatorycapacity, but a chief judge, or a group oftwo ! or more judges, acting for a court in an administrative or some other nonadjudicatory capacity motion. (18c) 1. A written or oral application requesting a court to make a specified ruling or order. law. (bef. 12c) 1. The regime that orders human activities and relations through systematic application ofthe force ofpolitically organized society, or through social pressure, backed by force, in such a society; the legal system legal fact. (18c) A fact that triggers a particular legal consequence. plagiarism. (17c) 1he deliberate and knOWing presentation of another person's original ideas or creative expressions as one's own. per curiam (p<:1r kyoor-ee-am), adv. & adj. [Latin] (I5c) By the court as a whole Verba legis is an expression regularly used by Thomas Aquinas to mean 'the letter of the law'. tort (tort). (16c) 1. A civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which a remedy may be obtained, usu. in the form of damages; a breach of a duty that the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another. exclusionary rule. (1855) 1. Evidence. Any rule that excludes or suppresses evidence <despite many exceptions, hearsay has long been inadmissible under an exclusionary rule>. Logic Valid reasoning litigation, n. 07c) 1. The process ofcarrying on a lawsuit

<the attorney advised his client to make a generous settlement offer in order to avoid litigation Moot and Academic statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated

exculpatory evidence (ek-sk<ll-p'Hor-ee). (1Sc) Evidence tending to establish a criminal defendant's Innocence Prescriptive Period stare decisis (stahr-ee di-SI-sis or stair-ee), n. [Latin "to stand by things decided"J (I8c) The doctrine of precedent, under which a court must follow earlier judicial decisions when the same points arise again in litigation.