Cabotage: Trade transit of a vessel along the coast (coastal trading), from one port to another within the territorial limits of a single nation. | Legal Definition of Cabotage

Cadaver: A dead human body. | Legal Definition of Cadaver

Calderbank Letter: A species of settlement offer delivered in the form of a letter and which can be used in the event that it is rejected and subsequent to trial or hearing of the litigation which results in terms similar to the rejected offer, costs are spoken to. | Legal Definition of Calderbank Letter

Calendar Day: In some jurisdictions, a period of time from midnight to midnight. In others, a full 24 hour period (eg. 3 am to 3 am). | Legal Definition of Calendar Day

Calendar Month: A period from a specified day in one month to the day numerically corresponding to that day in the following month, less one. | Legal Definition of Calendar Month

Calendar Quarter: A period of three consecutive months starting on one of January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. | Legal Definition of Calendar Quarter

Calendar Week: Depending on the context, either a period of time from midnight, Saturday to following midnight Saturday, or any period of seven consecutive days. | Legal Definition of Calendar Week

Calendar Year: A period from January 1 to December 31. | Legal Definition of Calendar Year

Call For Tenders: A property owner's invitation, sometimes at large, sometimes to a select group, for bids to complete a particular project. | Legal Definition of Call For Tenders

Call To The Bar: The official moment that an individual is sworn or entered into a law society or state bar or court and thereafter licensed to practise law in that jurisdiction. | Legal Definition of Call To The Bar

Calvo Clause: Mexican real estate law that requires that any action challenging the title of real property situated in Mexico must be litigated in Mexico and exclusively governed by Mexican law. | Legal Definition of Calvo Clause

Cancel: To terminate; to put an end to. | Legal Definition of Cancel

Cancer: An aggregation of outlaw cells with the propensity to migrate and grow in size and in the territory covered and the definite destruction of the body. | Legal Definition of Cancer

Candy: Crystallized sugar more fully called sugar candy; also any confection made of, or so encrusted. | Legal Definition of Candy

Canon Law: The law of the Church; based on religious beliefs. | Legal Definition of Canon Law

Capacity: The power to acquire and assert legal rights. | Legal Definition of Capacity

Capital Asset: A designation of an asset so that profit or loss can be tracked for tax purposes; generally, all and any asset belonging to a tax-payer except those specifically excluded. | Legal Definition of Capital Asset

Capital Expenditure: A once and for all expense to provide an enduring benefit to a capital asset. | Legal Definition of Capital Expenditure

Capital Gain: The eventual, net proceeds of sale of an asset, subtracting the original purchase price from the sale price. | Legal Definition of Capital Gain

Capital Loss: The amount of monies lost when disposing of an asset, the difference between the higher purchase cost and the subsequent but lower amount received when the asset was sold. | Legal Definition of Capital Loss

Capital Offence: A criminal offence for which the punishment, or one of the punishments, is death, capital punishment. | Legal Definition of Capital Offence

Capital Punishment: The most severe of all sentences: that of death. | Legal Definition of Capital Punishment

Capitulation: Abandonment by one belligerent to another, of a defined place, usually by way of a negotiated arrangement. | Legal Definition of Capitulation

Capricious: A judicial decision which is not based on any apparent reason. | Legal Definition of Capricious

Car Ringing: The movement of stolen vehicles through to sale to unsuspecting new purchasers. | Legal Definition of Car Ringing

Cardholder Agreement: A contract presented by a credit card company or through an agent, usually a bank, setting out the terms of the consumer's use of and liability for the credit card. | Legal Definition of Cardholder Agreement

Carriage: The transportation, by carriers, of people or goods for free or for reward. | Legal Definition of Carriage

Carrier: Persons who carry goods or passengers for others, either freely or for consideration. | Legal Definition of Carrier

Carrier's Case: A monumental 1473 English case which extended the offence of theft (then called larceny) to include a carrier of goods who, initially lawfully in possession, converts goods to his own use. | Legal Definition of Carrier's Case

Carry: The observation or declaration by the chair of a meeting that a member’s motion has passed or attained the requisite majority vote, and is thus converted into a resolution of the whole meeting or organization. | Legal Definition of Carry

Cartel: An agreement between two or more merchants to create or control a monopoly, to lessen or prevent competition. | Legal Definition of Cartel

Cartoon: A normally humourous and pictorial parody which by caricature, analogy or ludicrous juxtaposition sharpens the public view of a contemporary event, political or social trend. | Legal Definition of Cartoon

Case Law: The entire collection of published legal decisions of the courts which, because of stare decisis, contributes a large part of the legal rules which apply in modern society. | Legal Definition of Case Law

Casus Foederis: Latin: treaty event. | Legal Definition of Casus Foederis

Cat's Paw: A supervisor who, rather than genuinely re-assess a subordinate's decision to discipline an employee, official cover notwithstanding, merely rubber stamps it. | Legal Definition of Cat's Paw

Cataplexy: A condition in which the patient loses muscle control and collapses. | Legal Definition of Cataplexy

Causa Causans: The real, effective cause of damage. | Legal Definition of Causa Causans

Causa Proxima Et Non Remota Spectatur: Latin: the immediate, not the remote cause, is to be considered. | Legal Definition of Causa Proxima Et Non Remota Spectatur

Causa Sine Qua Non: An intervening cause of loss which, though not direct, may nonetheless contribute to the loss. | Legal Definition of Causa Sine Qua Non

Causation: The cause and effect relationship between an act or omission and damages alleged in a tort or personal injury action. | Legal Definition of Causation

Caveat: Latin: let him beware. A formal warning. | Legal Definition of Caveat

Caveat Emptor: Let the buyer beware or that the buyers should examine and check for themselves things which they intend to purchase and that they cannot later hold the vendor responsible for the broken condition of the thing bought. | Legal Definition of Caveat Emptor

Cease and Desist Letter: A letter which advises a person to stop (cease and desist) using specified legal rights which are asserted by another. | Legal Definition of Cease and Desist Letter

Centrocon Clause: A clause in an arbitration agreement which bars a claim if not made in writing and an arbitrator appointed within a set time frame. | Legal Definition of Centrocon Clause

Certainty of Terms: A legal requirement of a valid offer to contract; that it must be precise and definite in order to be subject to acceptance. | Legal Definition of Certainty of Terms

Certificate of Independent Legal Advice: A document that attests that a person has received legal advice on a proposed contract, from a lawyer not associated with the other contracting party. | Legal Definition of Certificate of Independent Legal Advice

Certificate of Pending Litigation: A registration or/of a notice or warning that litigation is ongoing as to ownership of a particular piece of land or other real property. | Legal Definition of Certificate of Pending Litigation

Certiorari: A formal request to a court challenging a legal decision of an administrative tribunal, judicial office or organization (eg. government) alleging that the decision has been irregular or incomplete or if there has been an error of law. | Legal Definition of Certiorari

Cestui Que Trust or Cestui Que Use : Latin: the beneficiary of a trust. | Legal Definition of Cestui Que Trust or Cestui Que Use

Ceteris Paribus: Latin: all things being equal or unchanged. | Legal Definition of Ceteris Paribus

Challenge for Cause: A challenge of a prospective juror for which the cause is disclosed by the challenging party (or their lawyer), and submitted to the Court for decision. | Legal Definition of Challenge for Cause

Chamberdeacon: An Irish beggar. | Legal Definition of Chamberdeacon

Chambers: A court which sits to dispose of procedural matters. | Legal Definition of Chambers

Champerty: When a person agrees to finance someone else's lawsuit in exchange for a portion of the judicial award. | Legal Definition of Champerty

Chancery: The English law court with exclusive jurisdiction over equity; now phased-out and merged with the common law courts. | Legal Definition of Chancery

Chancery Lane: A pedestrian lane connecting Gray's Inn with other Inns of the Court in London, England. | Legal Definition of Chancery Lane

Charity: A corporate non-profit body holdings property in trust for educational, religious, anti-poverty or some other purpose beneficial to the community. | Legal Definition of Charity

Charterparty: A transportation contract which includes the full and exclusive use of the airplane, vehicle or vessel for the duration of the transportation of either goods or persons. | Legal Definition of Charterparty

Chasing Order: An order sought by a party seeking return of a child that grants custody of the child to that party after the child has already been removed from the jurisdiction. | Legal Definition of Chasing Order

Chaste: A person who has never voluntarily had sexual intercourse outside of marriage such as unmarried virgins. | Legal Definition of Chaste

Chattel: Moveable items of property which are neither land nor permanently attached to land or a building, either directly or vicariously through attachment to real property. | Legal Definition of Chattel

Chattel Mortgage: When an interest is given on moveable property other than real property (in which case it is usually a 'mortgage'), in writing, to guarantee the payment of a debt or the execution of some action. | Legal Definition of Chattel Mortgage

Check or Cheque: A form of bill of exchange where the order to pay is given to a bank which is holding the payor’s money. | Legal Definition of Check or Cheque

Child: A young individual who is under the legal age of majority, or who is the natural offspring of another. | Legal Definition of Child

Child of the Marriage: A dependent child of two persons, married at the time of conception of the child, and for whom both parents are financially liable. | Legal Definition of Child of the Marriage

Child Support: Periodic money payments payable by a non-custodial parent, to the custodial parent, for the care of his or her child. | Legal Definition of Child Support

Chinese Wall: A screening barricade established within a law firm to prevent conflicts of interests between associates. | Legal Definition of Chinese Wall

Chirograph: A medieval form of contract which allowed for several verifiable authentic versions. | Legal Definition of Chirograph

Choice of Law Clause: A term of a contract which sets the jurisdiction for dispute resolution, or the applicable law, in the event of any dispute between the conrtracting parties. | Legal Definition of Choice of Law Clause

Chose In Action: A property right in something intangible, or which is not in one's possession, but enforceable through legal or court action. | Legal Definition of Chose In Action

Chronic Serious Health Condition: A continuing episodic health condition which requires periodic visits for treament. | Legal Definition of Chronic Serious Health Condition

Church: A charitable association of persons organized for the advancement of religion and for the conduct of religious worship, services or rites, and that is permanently established. | Legal Definition of Church

CIF: Transportation contract acronym for "cost, insurance and freight" usually in reference to the sale price being inclusive thereof. | Legal Definition of CIF

Circumstantial Evidence: Evidence which may allow a judge or jury to deduce a certain fact from other facts which have been proven. | Legal Definition of Circumstantial Evidence

Citation: An order of a court to either do a certain thing or to appear before it to answer charges. | Legal Definition of Citation

Citizen Informant: An ordinary citizen who has witnessed a crime and then reports it to law enforcement officials. | Legal Definition of Citizen Informant

Citizen's Arrest: Detainment of a person suspected of having committed a crime, by a person other than a police officer. | Legal Definition of Citizen's Arrest

Citizenship: The status of an individual as owing allegiance to, and enjoying the benefits of, a designated state. | Legal Definition of Citizenship

Civil Action: Any action that is not a criminal proceeding. | Legal Definition of Civil Action

Civil Code: A document in civil law jurisdictions that purports to be a compendium of the applicable law as it pertains to the citizen. | Legal Definition of Civil Code

Civil Covenant of Solidarity: A contract by two individuals of the age of majority, of different or same gender, to provide legal rights and obligations as a result of their cohabitation. | Legal Definition of Civil Covenant of Solidarity

Civil Law: A body of law derived and evolved directly from Roman Law, the primary feature of which is that laws are struck in writing; codified, and not determined, as in the common law, by the opinions of judges based on historic customs. | Legal Definition of Civil Law

Civil Law Rule: Water law: a person who interferes with the natural flow of surface waters so as to cause an invasion of another's interests in the use and enjoyment of his land is subject to liability to the other. | Legal Definition of Civil Law Rule

Civil Liability: A civil law requirement to compensate another because of an unlawful injury to his/her person or property. | Legal Definition of Civil Liability

Civil Liberties: Natural rights which appertain and are inherent to each person as a human being, and which are protected. | Legal Definition of Civil Liberties

Civil Rights: Personal rights which civilized communities undertake, by the enactment of positive laws, to prescribe, abridge, protect, and enforce. | Legal Definition of Civil Rights

Civil Union: A formal union between two people, of the same or of different genders which results in, but falls short of, marriage-like rights and obligations. | Legal Definition of Civil Union

Civil War: War between elements of a national armed forces, a faction of which seeks to displace the existing government. | Legal Definition of Civil War

Clandestine: Something purposely kept from the view or knowledge of others either in violation of the law or to conduct or conceal some illegal purpose. | Legal Definition of Clandestine

Class Action: When different persons combine their lawsuits into one opposed to a common defendant, because the facts are sufficiently similar. | Legal Definition of Class Action

Clayton's Case: An English case which established a presumption that monies withdrawn from a money account are presumed to be debits from those monies first deposited; first in, first out. | Legal Definition of Clayton's Case

Clean Hands: A maxim of the law to the effect that any person, individual or corporate, that wishes to ask or petition a court for judicial action, must be in a position free of fraud or other unfair conduct. | Legal Definition of Clean Hands

Clear Days: Full and complete days. | Legal Definition of Clear Days

Client-Solicitor Privilege: A right that belongs to the client of a lawyer that the latter keep any information or words spoken to him during the provision of the legal services to that client, strictly confidential. | Legal Definition of Client-Solicitor Privilege

Co-debtor: One of two or more debtors who are primarily liable to the same debt. | Legal Definition of Co-debtor

Co-debtor Stay: A stay upon the debt enforcement or collection upon a co-debtor. | Legal Definition of Co-debtor Stay

Co-operative: A group of people formed as a separate organization and which has as a stated purpose either in regards to the public at-large or in regards to the common interests of the members. | Legal Definition of Co-operative

Co-ownership: A generic legal term that refers to various forms of ownership over one asset by more than one person. | Legal Definition of Co-ownership

Coastal Trading: Trade transit of a vessel along the coast, from one port to another within the territorial limits of a single nation. | Legal Definition of Coastal Trading

Codicil: An amendment to an existing will. | Legal Definition of Codicil

Cognates: Relations through the mother. | Legal Definition of Cognates

Collaborative Law: A family law dispute resolution encouragement process set in writing which includes a promise to negotiate in good faith, to engage in the exchange of private and confidential information on a without prejudice basis, and a motivational commitment that the participating lawyers or law firms would withdraw if the negotiations fail. | Legal Definition of Collaborative Law

Collaborative Law Participation Agreement: The contract which creates and triggers the formal engagement in the collaborative law process, designed to encourage the settlement of a family law dispute outside of litigation. | Legal Definition of Collaborative Law Participation Agreement

Collateral: Property which has been committed to guarantee a loan. | Legal Definition of Collateral

Collateral Descendant: A descendant that is not direct, such as a niece or a cousin. | Legal Definition of Collateral Descendant

Collateral Source Rule: A rule of tort law which holds that the tortfeasor is not allowed to deduct from the amount he or she would be held to pay to the victim of the tort, any goods, services or money received by that victim from other 'collateral' sources as a result of the tort (eg. insurance benefits). | Legal Definition of Collateral Source Rule

Collective Bargaining: Trade agreement negotiation between an employer and a person(s) representative of a larger unit of employees, to govern hiring, work, pay and dispute resolution. | Legal Definition of Collective Bargaining

Collective Bargaining Agreement: A contract on hiring, working conditions and dispute resolution between an employer and a union, the latter representing employees of a defined group. | Legal Definition of Collective Bargaining Agreement

Collision: An accidental contact between two or more vehicles or ships which causes damage. | Legal Definition of Collision

Collusion: A secret agreement between two or more persons, who seem to have conflicting interests, to abuse the law or the legal system, deceive a court or to defraud a third party. | Legal Definition of Collusion

COLREGS 1972: Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972; an international set of standard navigation rules to prevent collisions at sea. | Legal Definition of COLREGS 1972

Comity: A principle of international law, that one state, to the greatest extent possible, recognize the legislative, executive or judicial acts of another. | Legal Definition of Comity

Commercial Arbitration: Arbitration of a dispute as to a trade transaction for the supply or exchange of goods or services. | Legal Definition of Commercial Arbitration

Commission: A formal group of experts brought together on a regular or ad hoc basis to debate matters within that sphere of expertise, and with regulatory or quasi-judicial powers such as the ability to license activity in the sphere of activity or to subpoena witnesses. | Legal Definition of Commission

Commissioner of Oath: A formal appointment or commission governments give to individuals empowering them to certify the oath of another upon documents, such as affidavits. | Legal Definition of Commissioner of Oath

Committee: A term of parliamentary law which refers to a body of one or more persons appointed by a larger assembly or society, to consider, investigate and/or take action on certain specific matters. | Legal Definition of Committee

Commodum Ex Injuria Sua Nemo Habere Debet: Latin: a wrongdoer should not be enabled by law to take any advantage from his actions. | Legal Definition of Commodum Ex Injuria Sua Nemo Habere Debet

Common Area: Those areas of multi-owner real property which are for the exclusive use of all individual owners. | Legal Definition of Common Area

Common Carrier: A carrier who accepts to transport goods or passengers indiscriminately. | Legal Definition of Common Carrier

Common Enemy Doctrine: A rule that landowners can dispose of unwanted surface water in any way they see fit, without liability for resulting damage to one's neighbor. | Legal Definition of Common Enemy Doctrine

Common Fund: A fund recovered by a litigant or lawyer for the benefit of persons other than himself or his client, and that litigant or lawyer then entitled to a reasonable attorney's fee from the fund as a whole. | Legal Definition of Common Fund

Common Interest Privilege: A privilege which protects defamatory statements if made in good faith to an individual with an interest in the statement. | Legal Definition of Common Interest Privilege

Common Land: Land that, ownership notwithstanding, is available for the use and enjoyment of all, or for the use or enjoyment of a class of persons. | Legal Definition of Common Land

Common Law: Judge-declared law. Law which exists and applies to a group on the basis of customs and legal precedents developed over hundreds of years in Britain. | Legal Definition of Common Law

Common Law Malice: A species of malice relevant to defamation proceedings, which focuses on the defendant's feelings towards the plaintiff, and which may give rise to punitive damages. | Legal Definition of Common Law Malice

Common Law Marriage: An ancient form of marriage, by consent and consummation but otherwise recognized in the common law. | Legal Definition of Common Law Marriage

Common Law Relationship: Two unmarried persons living together as though married. | Legal Definition of Common Law Relationship

Common Law Trademark: Ownership of a mark used in commerce which is asserted because of use and not by the fact of registration. | Legal Definition of Common Law Trademark

Common Nuisance: A public nuisance; an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public. | Legal Definition of Common Nuisance

Common Pleas: A court to resolve civil disputes between private citizens and not otherwise involving the Crown. | Legal Definition of Common Pleas

Common Scold: The now extinct offence of an angry woman who, by brawling and wrangling amongst her neighbours, disturbs the public peace. | Legal Definition of Common Scold

Common Share: The basic share in a corporation. | Legal Definition of Common Share

Commonality: A feature of a group of people seeking to be certified for a class action, that there are questions of law and fact common to the prospective group (class). | Legal Definition of Commonality

Commorientes: Two or more persons dying at about the same time, usually in the same event, but in circumstances in which it is impossible to determine the order of death. | Legal Definition of Commorientes

Communism: A utopian state of government where specified property or means of production are owned by the state and not citizens or persons, and which may also provide for a form of equal distribution of national production. | Legal Definition of Communism

Community Custody: The serving of part of an offender's confinement served in the community while the offender is strictly monitored. | Legal Definition of Community Custody

Community Law: The law of the European Union as established by treaties and cases of the EU courts. | Legal Definition of Community Law

Community of Interest: A term of class action law; a requirement for certification, that members of the proposed group represent a community of interests. | Legal Definition of Community of Interest

Community Property: A marriage property legal term; property acquired or owned during a marriage or, where recognized, a marriage-like relationship, and which belongs, notwithstanding title, as in a partnership and as tenants in common (“hence “community”), to each spouse equally and subject to division on that basis in the event of separation or divorce. | Legal Definition of Community Property

Commutation: The reduction of a sentence by the government. | Legal Definition of Commutation

Companion Animal: An animal that serves as a domestic pet. | Legal Definition of Companion Animal

Company: A legal entity, allowed by legislation, which permits a group of people, as shareholders, to apply to the government for an independent organization to be created, which can then focus on pursuing set objectives, and empowered with legal rights which are usually only reserved for individuals, such as to sue and be sued, own property, hire employees or loan and borrow money. | Legal Definition of Company

Comparative Negligence: An tort law analysis which considers the negligence of the victim and which may lead to a reduction of the award against the defendant, proportionate to the contribution of the victim’s negligence. | Legal Definition of Comparative Negligence

Compassionate Care Leave: Paid or unpaid leave to care or support a gravely ill family member. | Legal Definition of Compassionate Care Leave

Compensatory Damages: Damages that compensate the injured victim for injuries actually endured. | Legal Definition of Compensatory Damages

Competency: An individual's ability to understand the nature and object of legal proceedings being presented, and to consult with counsel. | Legal Definition of Competency

Competitive Injury: A price difference designed to harm competition. | Legal Definition of Competitive Injury

Complementarity: The co-existence of two or more equally authoritative systems or sources of law. | Legal Definition of Complementarity

Complete Diversity: A jurisdictional requirement of US district courts; that that all persons on one side of the controversy be citizens of different states than all persons on the other side. | Legal Definition of Complete Diversity

Complete Preemption: American constitutional law; the conversion of a state law cause of action into a federal claim. | Legal Definition of Complete Preemption

Complicated Design Evidence: Circumstantial proof of deliberation in a first degree murder case, that in the absence of evidence of planning, the complicated manner of the crime shows that the murder could not have been spur-of-the-moment. | Legal Definition of Complicated Design Evidence

Complicity: Accountable for a criminal offense committed by another due to previous knowledge of other's crime. | Legal Definition of Complicity

Compound Interest: Interest paid on both principal and previously accumulated interest and added to the principal for purposes of future calculations of interest. | Legal Definition of Compound Interest

Compromise Agreement: An agreement to settle a previously existing claim with a substituted performance. | Legal Definition of Compromise Agreement

Compurgation: The defence to a crime, or answer to a civil claim, perfected by the relevant oaths of the defendant and a number of supporters. | Legal Definition of Compurgation

Conciliation: A form of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) in which a neutral third-party hears both sides and then issues a non-binding suggested resolution. | Legal Definition of Conciliation

Concubinage: Civil law term for an unmarried couple living nonetheless as husband and wife or, where same-sex relationships are recognized by law, such similar cohabitation relationships. | Legal Definition of Concubinage

Concurrent Estates: Property owned by two or more persons at the same time. | Legal Definition of Concurrent Estates

Concurrent Sentence: A sentence which runs with another. | Legal Definition of Concurrent Sentence

Condition Precedent: A contractual condition that suspends the coming into effect of a contract unless or until a certain event takes place. | Legal Definition of Condition Precedent

Condition Subsequent: A condition in a contract that causes the contract to become invalid if a certain event occurs. | Legal Definition of Condition Subsequent

Conditional Discharge: A sentence of a person found guilty of a crime in which upon completion of specified actions by the accused, no criminal record issues as regards the offense for which a conditional discharge was granted. | Legal Definition of Conditional Discharge

Conditional Sentence: A sentence of a person convicted of a crime which allow that person to serve his sentence whilst continuing to reside within his/her community, subject to supervision and reporting, and fully recoverable in the event of breach of those conditions. | Legal Definition of Conditional Sentence

Condominium: A unit or defined portion of ownership in real property, similar to an apartment. | Legal Definition of Condominium

Condonation: Obvious or implied forgiveness. | Legal Definition of Condonation

Conduct Unbecoming: Conduct on the part of a certified professional that is contrary to the interests of the public served by that professional, or which harms the standing of the profession in the eyes of the public. | Legal Definition of Conduct Unbecoming

Cone of Silence: An oath by a solicitor or other employee in a law firm not to disclose any information in regards to a previous client otherwise placing that lawyer or employee in a conflict of interest with other clients of the same law firm. | Legal Definition of Cone of Silence

Confederation : A loose association of states in which a central, subordinate and limited government structure is created for some common purpose, except in Canada where it is used to describe a federal system in which the central government is not so subordinate to the provincial or regional governments. | Legal Definition of Confederation

Confession: A statement made by a person suspected or charged with a crime, that he (or she) did, in fact, commit that crime. | Legal Definition of Confession

Conflict of Interest: A personal interest that conflicts with a public or fidiciary interest. | Legal Definition of Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Laws: A specialized branch of law which resolves cases which have an element of conflicting foreign law. | Legal Definition of Conflict of Laws

Confrontation Clause: The constitutional guarantee in the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution which requires that an accused person have the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him. | Legal Definition of Confrontation Clause

Confusion: Civil law: grounds for extinguishing a contractual obligation when creditor and debtor become the same person. | Legal Definition of Confusion

Congenital: Existing at birth. | Legal Definition of Congenital

Connivance: Secretly privy or accessory to the act of another. | Legal Definition of Connivance

Conscientious Objector: Someone with a firm, fixed, and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or the bearing of arms, by reason or religious, moral or ethical training and belief. | Legal Definition of Conscientious Objector

Consecutive Sentences: Sentences which run one after the other. | Legal Definition of Consecutive Sentences

Consensus: A decision achieved through negotiation whereby a hybrid resolution is arrived on an issue, dispute or disagreement, comprising typically of concessions made by all parties, and to which all parties then subscribe unanimously as an acceptable resolution. | Legal Definition of Consensus

Consensus Ad Idem: Latin: an agreement - a meeting of the minds between the parties where all understand the commitments made by each. A basic requirement for a contract. | Legal Definition of Consensus Ad Idem

Consent Order: An order of the court in terms which have been contractually entered into by parties to the litigation. | Legal Definition of Consent Order

Consideration: Some right, interest, profit or benefit accruing to the one party of a contract, or some forbearance, detriment, loss or responsibility given, suffered or undertaken by the other. | Legal Definition of Consideration

Consign: To leave an item of property in the custody of another. | Legal Definition of Consign

Consolidation: The union of two or more corporations into one corporate body after which the constituent corporations cease to exist. | Legal Definition of Consolidation

Consortium: Companionship, love and affection and intimacy between husband and wife within a mariage. | Legal Definition of Consortium

Conspiracy: An agreement between two or more persons to commit a criminal act. | Legal Definition of Conspiracy

Constitution: The basic law of a state which sets out how that state will be organized, the powers and authorities of government between different political units, and by stating and the basic principles of the society. | Legal Definition of Constitution

Constitutional Supremacy: A system of government in which the law-making freedom of parliamentary supremacy cedes to the requirements of a Constitution. | Legal Definition of Constitutional Supremacy

Construction: The legal process of interpreting a phrase or document; of trying to find it’s meaning. | Legal Definition of Construction

Constructive Discharge: When an employer, rather than acting directly, deliberately makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into resignation. | Legal Definition of Constructive Discharge

Constructive Dismissal: A fundamental violation of the rights of an employee, by the employer, so severe that the employee would have the right to consider himself as dismissed, even though, in fact, there has been no act of dismissal on the part of the employer. | Legal Definition of Constructive Dismissal

Constructive Eviction: An implied eviction where the landlord's act or omission justifies the immediate departure of the tenant. | Legal Definition of Constructive Eviction

Constructive Total Loss: Insured property that has been abandoned because its actual total loss appears to be unavoidable, or because it could not be preserved or repaired without an expenditure which would exceed its value. | Legal Definition of Constructive Total Loss

Constructive Trust: A trust which a court declares or imposes onto participants in very specific circumstances such as those giving rise to an action for unjust enrichment, and notwithstanding the lack of any willing settlor to declare the trust. | Legal Definition of Constructive Trust

Consuetudo Volentes Ducit, Lex Nolentes Trahit: Customs leads the willing, law drags the unwilling. | Legal Definition of Consuetudo Volentes Ducit, Lex Nolentes Trahit

Consul: A representative of a foreign government assigned to another country to promote and protect the commercial interests of the subjects of his government. | Legal Definition of Consul

Consultation Circle: A group of individuals from the accused's community who participate in a forum and discuss the offender and the crime with a view to advising the judge as to sentence. | Legal Definition of Consultation Circle

Consumer Debt: Debt incurred by an individual primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose. | Legal Definition of Consumer Debt

Consumer Debtor: A term of bankruptcy law designating debtors who have debts under a prescribed amount. | Legal Definition of Consumer Debtor

Consumer Fraud: An act or omission in the conduct of trade or commerce designed to mislead a consumer. | Legal Definition of Consumer Fraud

Consumer Goods: Goods that are used or acquired for use primarily for personal, family or household purposes. | Legal Definition of Consumer Goods

Consumer Proposal: A summary form of bankruptcy for qualified individuals. | Legal Definition of Consumer Proposal

Consumer Scam: A deceptive sale of goods or services to a consumer designed to extract money unreasonably excessive given the services rendered or goods provided, if any. | Legal Definition of Consumer Scam

Contemnor: A person found to have committed contempt of court. | Legal Definition of Contemnor

Contemporanea Expositio: That the meaning of words in a document are to be understood in the sense which they bore at the time of the document. | Legal Definition of Contemporanea Expositio

Contempt of Court: Conduct that is disobedient, obstructive or contemptuous to the Court. | Legal Definition of Contempt of Court

Continental Shelf: Subsoil and sea bed beneath the high seas but contiguous to the coast and which extends as a natural prolongation of the land into and under the sea. | Legal Definition of Continental Shelf

Contingency Fee: A method of payment of legal fees represented by a percentage of an award. | Legal Definition of Contingency Fee

Continuance: An adjournment of a trial or some other legal hearing. | Legal Definition of Continuance

Contraband: An item the possession or production of which in itself is a crime. | Legal Definition of Contraband

Contract: An agreement between persons which obliges each party to do or not to do a certain thing. | Legal Definition of Contract

Contract Law: That body of law which regulates the formation and enforcement of contracts. | Legal Definition of Contract Law

Contribution: The right of a person who has discharged a common liability to recover proportionate share from the other(s) that were so liable. | Legal Definition of Contribution

Contributory Negligence: The negligence of a person which, while not being the primary cause of a tort, nevertheless combined with the act or omission of the primary defendant to cause the tort, and without which the tort would not have occurred. | Legal Definition of Contributory Negligence

Contumacy: Intentional contempt of court. | Legal Definition of Contumacy

Convention Refugee: An individual defined in the 1951 UN refugee treaty as having a well-founded fear that, were he or she to return to their country of origin, he or she would suffer persecution. | Legal Definition of Convention Refugee

Conversion: A legal action against a person who found and converted someone else property to his own use. | Legal Definition of Conversion

Conveyance: A written document which transfers property from one person to another, usually real property. | Legal Definition of Conveyance

Conviction: The formal decision of a criminal trial which finds the accused guilty. | Legal Definition of Conviction

Coparcenary: An obsolete co-ownership mechanism of English law where property, if there was no will, always went to the eldest son. | Legal Definition of Coparcenary

Copulation: Sexual intercourse. | Legal Definition of Copulation

Copyright: The exclusive right to produce or reproduce (copy), to perform in public or to publish an original literary or artistic work, pursuant to a statute usually called the "Copyright Act", or some similar name. | Legal Definition of Copyright

Corbett Application: Canada: an application by an accused to exclude a prior criminal record from the knowledge of the jury. | Legal Definition of Corbett Application

Corody: A pension in food or such other things as may be required for sustenance. | Legal Definition of Corody

Corollary Relief: Relief sought from a Court which is incidental, consequential or additional to another principal relief. | Legal Definition of Corollary Relief

Coroner: A public official who holds an inquiry into violent or suspicious deaths. | Legal Definition of Coroner

Corporal Punishment: A punishment for some violation of conduct which involves the infliction of pain on, or harm to the body | Legal Definition of Corporal Punishment

Corporate Secretary: Officer of a corporation responsible for the official documents of the corporation such as the official seal, records of shares issued, and minutes of all board or committee meetings. | Legal Definition of Corporate Secretary

Corporation: A legal entity, created under the authority of a statute, which permits a group of people, as shareholders, to apply to the government for an independent organization to be created, which then pursues set objectives, and is empowered with legal rights usually only reserved for individuals, such as to sue and be sued, own property, hire employees or loan and borrow money. | Legal Definition of Corporation

Corpse: A dead human body. | Legal Definition of Corpse

Corrective Force: Force used upon those over which an individual generally has guardian responsibilities, used to remove a dependent from a particular situation or to secure compliance with instructions. | Legal Definition of Corrective Force

Corruption: The use of public office for private gain. | Legal Definition of Corruption

Costs: A court order that the losing party in litigation must pay the successful party's expenses plus an additional allowance, the latter as a contribution towards the winner's legal fees. | Legal Definition of Costs

Costs Follow The Event: An award of costs will generally flow with the result of litigation; the successful party being entitled to an order for costs against the unsuccessful party. | Legal Definition of Costs Follow The Event

Costs if Demanded: An award of costs which is explicitly left to the discretion of the party to whom costs are awarded. | Legal Definition of Costs if Demanded

Costs in any Event of the Cause: An entitlement to costs of an interlocutory application regardless of the ultimate result of the main action. | Legal Definition of Costs in any Event of the Cause

Costs in the Cause: The general rule in the law of costs that the ultimate victor at trial may get his or her costs against the loser and including all interlocutory applications. | Legal Definition of Costs in the Cause

Council: A formal group of experts brought together on a regular basis to debate matters within that sphere of expertise, often with advisory powers to government. | Legal Definition of Council

Counter Offer: A reply to an offer which is conditional. | Legal Definition of Counter Offer

Counterclaim: A defendant's claim against a plaintiff. | Legal Definition of Counterclaim

Coup d'etat: French: an often violent, always sudden and unlawful replacement of an existing government. | Legal Definition of Coup d'etat

Court: Either the room in which, and during which, judicial proceedings are hosted, or to the judicial body presiding over those proceedings, usually personified in the person of a judge. | Legal Definition of Court

Court Martial: A military court set up to try and punish offenses taken by members of the army, navy or air force. | Legal Definition of Court Martial

Court of Admiralty: A rather archaic term used to denote the court which has the right to hear shipping, ocean and sea legal cases; jurisdiction over maritime law cases. | Legal Definition of Court of Admiralty

Court of Exchequer: A law court to consider alleged revenues, debts and duties of the Crown. | Legal Definition of Court of Exchequer

Court of Pie Powder: A special court that sat in times of public markets or fairs in England in medieval times, with exclusive jurisdiction over disputes between merchants and consumers and any other dispute arising as a result of the market or fair and on fair grounds. | Legal Definition of Court of Pie Powder

Court of Record: A court of law which retains written records of its proceedings and which has the ability to fine or imprison. | Legal Definition of Court of Record

Covenant: A written document in which signatories either commit themselves to do a certain thing, to not do a certain thing or in which they agree on a certain set of facts. | Legal Definition of Covenant

Coverture Formula: A method of proportionate division of a spouse's pension benefits as accrued during the period of marriage. | Legal Definition of Coverture Formula

Crack: Street name for a form of cocaine base, usually prepared by processing cocaine hydrochloride and sodium bicarbonate, and usually appearing in a lumpy, rocklike form. | Legal Definition of Crack

Cramdown: In a bankruptcy proceeding, forcing a secured creditor to lose his collateral and instead to take a specified cash payment. | Legal Definition of Cramdown

Cramming: The practice of imposing unauthorized charges on consumer credit card and other billing statements | Legal Definition of Cramming

Credit Card: A plastic card issued to concede to the holder, upon presentation to authorized stores or service providers, products or services on credit. | Legal Definition of Credit Card

Creditor: A person to whom money, goods or services are owed by the debtor. | Legal Definition of Creditor

Cremation: The reduction of the body of a deceased human to its essential elements by incineration. | Legal Definition of Cremation

Crime: An act or omission which is prohibited by criminal law and punished, usually by fine or imprisonment. | Legal Definition of Crime

Crimen Omnia Ex Se Nata Vitiat: Latin: property obtained by crime is tainted (vitiated). | Legal Definition of Crimen Omnia Ex Se Nata Vitiat

Crimes Against Humanity: An international criminal justice offence; the perpetration of acts of war upon a civilian, non-soldier population. | Legal Definition of Crimes Against Humanity

Criminal Bankruptcy: The forced bankruptcy of a convicted person. | Legal Definition of Criminal Bankruptcy

Criminal Code: A statute which purports or attempts to set out all prohibited or criminal offences, and their various punishments. | Legal Definition of Criminal Code

Criminal Contempt: Contumacious behaviour or behaviour which tends to publicly depreciate the authority of the court or the administration of justice. | Legal Definition of Criminal Contempt

Criminal Conversation: Criminal conversation: synonymous with adultery. | Legal Definition of Criminal Conversation

Criminal Harassment: Unsolicited annoying, alarming or abusive conduct or words which are threatening. | Legal Definition of Criminal Harassment

Criminal Law: That body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted and punished by the government. | Legal Definition of Criminal Law

Criminal Libel: A criminal offence; deliberate publication of defamatory lies which the publisher knows to be false. | Legal Definition of Criminal Libel

Criminal Negligence: Reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons. | Legal Definition of Criminal Negligence

Cross Examination: The examination of a witness called by the other side at trial and for which leading questions are permitted. | Legal Definition of Cross Examination

Crown: The English Monarch, where she is the symbolic head of state. | Legal Definition of Crown

Cruelty: Conduct that causes bodily or mental injury, or apprehension to such injury, to a person or an animal, without legitimate purpose. | Legal Definition of Cruelty

Crumbling Skull Rule: A legal theory, companion to the thin skull rule, which limits a tort defendant’s exposure to a plaintiff’s injuries to the plaintiff’s condition at the time of the tort. | Legal Definition of Crumbling Skull Rule

Cucking Stool: A medieval form of punishment; a chair in which was restrained an offender. | Legal Definition of Cucking Stool

Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Caelum: Latin: whose is the soil, his it is even to the skies and to the depths below. | Legal Definition of Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Caelum

Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Coelum Et Ad Inferos: Latin: for whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to heaven and down to hell. | Legal Definition of Cuius Est Solum Ejus Est Usque Ad Coelum Et Ad Inferos

Culpa Lata: Latin: gross negligence. | Legal Definition of Culpa Lata

Curfew: A sentence or bail condition that gives the individual the freedom to move about in the community so long as they return to their residence for the hours specified (often 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.). | Legal Definition of Curfew

Curial Deference: That general courts ought to defer to the rulings of specialized tribunals save exceptional circumstances. | Legal Definition of Curial Deference

Curtesy: Widower's right to an interest in his deceased wife's real property. | Legal Definition of Curtesy

Curtilage: The yard surrounding a residence or dwelling house which is reserved for or used by the occupants for their enjoyment or work. | Legal Definition of Curtilage

Custodia Legis: In the custody of the law; the taking, seizing or holding of something by lawful authority. | Legal Definition of Custodia Legis

Custody: Charge and control of a person or item of property. | Legal Definition of Custody

Custom: The consensual regulation of human conduct and commerce by the community itself. | Legal Definition of Custom

Cy-pres: As near as may be. | Legal Definition of Cy-pres

Cyber-bullying: Using the Internet to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behaviour by an individual or group that is intended to harm someone else. | Legal Definition of Cyber-bullying

Cyberspace: Synonymous with Internet; a decentralised but interconnected body of data and self-maintained telecommunications network. | Legal Definition of Cyberspace

Cybersquatting: The bad faith registration of trademarks, as domain names, by non-trademark owners, who then try to sell the domain names back to the trademark owners. | Legal Definition of Cybersquatting