Garnishment: The seizing of a person's property, credit or salary, on the basis of a law which allows it, and for the purposes of paying off a debt. | Legal Definition of Garnishment

Gavel: A wooden mallet used by a judge to bring proceedings to a start or to an end or to command attention in his or her court. | Legal Definition of Gavel

Gavelkind: A form of limited land ownership in England pre-Conquest (1066) which vested to all sons equally. | Legal Definition of Gavelkind

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): Multilateral international trade treaty first created in 1947 and frequently amended. | Legal Definition of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

General Average: A principle of maritime law where in the event of emergency, if cargo is jettisoned or expenses incurred, the loss is shared proportionately by all parties with a financial interest in the voyage. | Legal Definition of General Average

General Counsel: The senior lawyer of a corporation. | Legal Definition of General Counsel

General Deterrence: A sentencing objective which aims to discourage persons other than the offender, from committing a similar offence. | Legal Definition of General Deterrence

General Partner: The individual in a limited liability partnership business structure, who oversees the management of the business, and who is personally exposed to the debts of the business. | Legal Definition of General Partner

Generalia Specialibus Non Derogant: Latin maxim of interpretation: the provisions of a general statute must yield to those of a special one. | Legal Definition of Generalia Specialibus Non Derogant

Genocide: Systematic killing of persons because of their ethnicity. | Legal Definition of Genocide

Gerrymander: The intentional setting of electoral boundaries taking into account traditional voting patterns, so as to attempt to influence the taking of an elected office. | Legal Definition of Gerrymander

Ghost Surgery: When surgery is performed by an unauthorized substitute surgeon. | Legal Definition of Ghost Surgery

Ghostwriting: When a lawyer is hired to draft an official court document on behalf of a self-represented litigant. | Legal Definition of Ghostwriting

Gift: A transfer of property with nothing given in return. | Legal Definition of Gift

Gift Over: To provide for the gift of property to a second recipient if a certain event occurs, such as the death of the first recipient. | Legal Definition of Gift Over

Gladue Rights: (Canada) Purported special rights available only to Aboriginal offenders on sentencing. | Legal Definition of Gladue Rights

Global Deterioration Scale: A psychiatric tool charting stages of dementia. | Legal Definition of Global Deterioration Scale

God: Supreme being. | Legal Definition of God

Golden Rule: A rule of statutory or legal document interpretation which allows a shift from the ordinary sense of as word(s) if the overall content of the document demands it. | Legal Definition of Golden Rule

Goods: A chattel which is, generally, subject to sale. | Legal Definition of Goods

Goodwill: An intangible business asset which includes a cultivated reputation and consequential attraction and confidence of repeat customers and connections. | Legal Definition of Goodwill

Government: Organization of law-making and law enforcement; the form and institutions by which law and order are developed and maintained in a society. | Legal Definition of Government

Grand Jury: An American criminal justice procedure whereby, in each court district, a group of 16-23 citizens hold an inquiry on criminal complaints brought by the prosecutor and decide if a trial is warranted, in which case an indictment is issued. | Legal Definition of Grand Jury

Grand-Father Clause: A provisions in law or a contract which exempts persons already engaging in the activity which the law or contract prohibits, from adverse results from the subsequent law or contract. | Legal Definition of Grand-Father Clause

Gravamen: The material part or essence of a charge, grievance or complaint. | Legal Definition of Gravamen

Gray's Inn: One of four Inns of the Court, self-regulating associations of barristers in England and wales. | Legal Definition of Gray's Inn

Great Britain: England, Wales and Scotland, since 1707. | Legal Definition of Great Britain

Grievance: A claim by a union or a unionized employee that a collective bargaining agreement has been breached. | Legal Definition of Grievance

Grievance Arbitration: The resolution of a dispute as to an alleged violation of a term of a collective bargaining agreement, by arbitration. | Legal Definition of Grievance Arbitration

Gross Negligence: An action or an omission in reckless disregard of the consequences to the safety or property of another. | Legal Definition of Gross Negligence

Grossly Unfair: Manifestly unfair; clearly more than merely unfair; disproportionately unfair. | Legal Definition of Grossly Unfair

Guarantee or Guaranty: A back-up debtor who steps in if the primary debtor defaults. | Legal Definition of Guarantee or Guaranty

Guarantor: A person who pledges payment or performance of a contract of another, but separately, as part of an independently contract with the obligee of the original contract. | Legal Definition of Guarantor

Guardian: An individual who, by legal appointment or by the effect of a written law, is given custody of both the property and the person of one who is unable to manage their own affairs, such as a child or mentally-disabled person. | Legal Definition of Guardian

Guardian Ad Litem: A guardian appointed to direct litigation on behalf and in the interests of a person otherwise incapable of managing their affairs. | Legal Definition of Guardian Ad Litem

Guardian of the Estate: A person who is appointed to manage the property and financial affairs of an incapable individual. | Legal Definition of Guardian of the Estate

Guardian of the Person: A person appointed to manage the health and well-being of another. | Legal Definition of Guardian of the Person

Guardianship: The office or duty of one who legally has the care and management of the person, or the estate, or both, of a child. | Legal Definition of Guardianship

Guillotine: A machine designed to inflict capital punishment by dropping a blade onto the neck, thus quickly severing of the head from the body. | Legal Definition of Guillotine

Guilty: A person found guilty of a criminal charge, either as a result of an acknowledgment of it by pleading guilty, or as a result of a trial at which the accused was found guilty of the offence changed. | Legal Definition of Guilty