LEGAL TERMINILOGIES

Accomplice: a person who helps another commit a crime.

Act: take action; do something. Behave in the way specified. A thing
done; a deed. A Pretence.

Ad hoc: created or done for a particular purpose as necessary

Adjourn: break off (a meeting, legal case, or game) with the intention
of resuming it later

Adjudication: the action or process of adjudicating

Affidavit: a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use
as evidence in court.

Alibi: a claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act,
typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place.

Alimony: a husband's (or wife's) provision for a spouse after separation

or divorce; maintenance.

Appellant: a person who applies to a higher court for a reversal of the

decision of a lower court.

Attorney: a person, typically a lawyer, appointed to act for another in

business or legal matters.

Bail: the temporary release of an accused person awaiting trial,

sometimes on condition that a sum of money is lodged to guarantee their
appearance in court.

Bar: a long rigid piece of wood, metal, or similar material, typically

used as an obstruction, fastening, or weapon.
Battery: tort of intentionally and voluntarily bringing about an
unconsented harmful or offensive contact with a person or to something
closely associated with them (e.g. a hat, a purse).

Bill: a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion.

Brief: a summary of the facts and legal points in a case given to a
barrister to argue in court.

Case law: the law as established by the outcome of former cases.

Charge sheet: a record made in a police station of the charges against a
person.

Chattel: an item of property other than freehold land, including tangible

goods (chattels personal) and leasehold interests (chattels real).

Claimant: a person making a claim, especially in a lawsuit or for a state

benefit.

Cognizable offence: cognizable offence means a police officer has the

 

authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an

investigation with or without the permission of a court.

Community service order: a court order requiring an offender

over seventeen years old to do unpaid socially beneficial work under
supervision instead of going to prison.

Contempt of Court: the offence of being disobedient to or

disrespectful of a court of law and its officers.

Contract: a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning

employment, sales, or tenancy that is intended to be enforceable by law.
Conveyancing: the branch of law concerned with the preparation of
documents for the conveyance of property.

Conviction: a formal declaration by the verdict of a jury or the decision

of a judge in a court of law that someone is guilty of a criminal offence.

Copyright: the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the

originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or
record literary, artistic, or musical material.

Court of Appeal:  a court of law that hears appeals against both civil
and criminal judgments from the Crown Courts, High Court, and County
Courts.

Crime: an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is

punishable by law.

Cross examination: the formal interrogation of a witness called by the

other party in a court of law to challenge or extend testimony already
given.

Covenant: an agreement. Agree by lease, deed, or other legal contract.

Debenture: a long-term security yielding a fixed rate of interest issued
by a company and secured against assets.

Decree: an official order that has the force of law.

Deed: a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially one
regarding the ownership of property or legal rights.

Defamation: the action of damaging the good reputation of someone;

slander or libel.
Defendant: an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a
court of law.

Deponent: a person who makes a deposition or affidavit under oath.

Diplomatic immunity: the privilege of exemption from certain laws
and taxes granted to diplomats by the state in which they are working.

Discharge: tell (someone) officially that they can or must leave, in

particular

Escrow: a bond, deed, or other document kept in the custody of a third

party and taking effect only when a specified condition has been
fulfilled.

Examination in chief: the questioning of a witness by the party which

has called that witness to give evidence, in support of the case being
made.

Ex gratia: (with reference to payment) done from a sense of moral

obligation rather than because of any legal requirement.

Ex parte: with respect to or in the interests of one side only or of an

interested outside party.

Ex post facto: with retrospective action or force.

Evidence: the available body of facts or information indicating whether
a belief or proposition is true or valid.

Felony: a crime regarded in the US and many other judicial systems as

more serious than a misdemeanor.

Feu: a perpetual lease at a fixed rent.

F.I.R: First Information Report (FIR) is a written document prepared
 

by police organizations

Forfeiture: the loss or giving up of something as a penalty for

wrongdoing.

Fraud: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or

personal gain

Freehold: permanent and absolute tenure of land or property with

freedom to dispose of it at will.

Futures contract: a contract for assets (especially commodities or

shares) bought at agreed prices but delivered and paid for later.

Homicide: the killing of one person by another.

Hypothecation: the granting of a hypothec to a lender by a borrower.
Indict: formally accuse of or charge with a crime.
Injunction: a judicial order restraining a person from beginning or
continuing an action threatening or invading the legal right of another, or
compelling a person to carry out a certain act, e.g. to make restitution to
an injured party.
Inquest: a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts relating to an incident.

Jury: a body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a

verdict in a legal case on the basis of evidence submitted to them in
court.

Lease: a contract by which one party conveys land, property, services,

etc. to another for a specified time, usually in return for a periodic
payment.
Lessee: a person who holds the lease of a property; a tenant.
Letter of credit: a letter issued by a bank to another bank (especially
one in a different country) to serve as a guarantee for payments made to
a specified person under specified conditions.

Life imprisonment: a long term of imprisonment, which (in the UK) is

now the only sentence for murder and the maximum for any crime. It is
indeterminate in length, and in practice is rarely for the whole of a
criminal's remaining life.

Litigation: the process of taking legal action.

Mens Rea: the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes
part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused.

Money laundering: the concealment of the origins of illegally

obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks
or legitimate businesses.

Moot court: a mock court at which law students argue imaginary cases
for practice.

Mortgage: a legal agreement by which a bank, building society, etc.

lends money at interest in exchange for taking title of the debtor's
property, with the condition that the conveyance of title becomes void
upon the payment of the debt.

Natural Justice: principles, procedures, or treatment felt instinctively

to be morally right and fair.

Notary: a person authorized to perform certain legal formalities,

especially to draw up or certify contracts, deeds, and other documents
for use in other jurisdictions.
Obiter dicta: a judge's expression of opinion uttered in court or in a
written judgment, but not essential to the decision and therefore not
legally binding as a precedent.

Parole: the temporary or permanent release of a prisoner before the

expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behavior.

Perjury: the offence of willfully telling an untruth or making a

misrepresentation under oath.

Petition: a formal written request, typically one signed by many people,

appealing to authority in respect of a particular cause.

Plaintiff: a person who brings a case against another in a court of law.

Pleadings: a formal statement of the cause of an action or defence.
Power of attorney: the authority to act for another person in specified
or all legal or financial matters.

Precedent: an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or

guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.

Public nuisance: an act that is illegal because it interferes with the

rights of the public generally.

Quorum: the minimum number of members of an assembly or society

that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of
that meeting valid.

Receiver: a person who gets or accepts something that has been sent or
given to them.

Remand: place (a defendant) on bail or in custody, especially when a

trial is adjourned. A committal to custody.
Reprieve: a cancellation or postponement of a punishment.
Respondent: a party against whom a petition is filed, especially one in
an appeal or a divorce case.

Riot: a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.

Sequestration: the action of sequestrating or taking legal possession of
assets.

Slander: the action or crime of making a false spoken statement

damaging to a person's reputation.

Squatter: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or

unused land.

Sub duct: the action or process in plate tectonics of the edge of one
crustal plate descending below the edge of another.

Subpoena: a writ ordering a person to attend a court.

Summary trial:  The trial of an action by way of affidavit evidence
only or by use of truncated process.

Summons: an order to appear before a judge or magistrate, or the writ

containing such an order.

Surcharge: an additional charge or payment.

Testify: give evidence as a witness in a law court.
Tort: a wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under
contract) leading to legal liability.

Trial courts: a court of law where cases are tried in the first place, as
opposed to an appeal court.
Tribunal: a body established to settle certain types of dispute.
Verdict: a decision on an issue of fact in a civil or criminal case or an
inquest.

Warrant: a document issued by a legal or government official

authorizing the police or another body to make an arrest, search
premises, or carry out some other action relating to the administration of
justice.

Will: expressing inevitable events.

Witness: a person who sees an event, typically a crime or accident,
takes place.

Writ: a form of written command in the name of a court or other legal

authority to act, or abstain from acting, in a particular way.