Idda: Muslim law: The mandatory waiting period before a divorce created by talaq becomes effective. | Legal Definition of Idda
Identity Theft: The wrongful taking or using another person's identifying information for the purpose of fraud or other criminal activity. | Legal Definition of Identity Theft
Idiot: A person incapable of managing his person or his affairs from birth. | Legal Definition of Idiot
Ignorance of the Law: A mistake of law in relation to a person's rights or responsibilities. | Legal Definition of Ignorance of the Law
Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat: Latin: ignorance of the law is no excuse. | Legal Definition of Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat
Imbecile: An individual with a lack of normal mental ability but not complete or absolute. | Legal Definition of Imbecile
Immovable: Land and fixtures thereto, civil law term. | Legal Definition of Immovable
Immunity: An exemption that a person enjoys from the normal operation of the law such as a legal duty or liability, either criminal or civil. | Legal Definition of Immunity
Impaired: A deterioration of an individual’s judgment and decrease in his or her’s physical ability. Used primarily in criminal law; driving under the influence of alcohol or disability law in regards to a person’s physical or mental impairment. | Legal Definition of Impaired
Impanel: Also, "empanel"; the official call to duty of a jury, usually as called by the clerk of the Court in which the jury is to act, and just before the jurors are sworn in. | Legal Definition of Impanel
Implied Trust: A trust that is imposed by law onto certain situations either by presuming an intention of the participants to create a trust, or simply because of the facts at hand. | Legal Definition of Implied Trust
Implied Undertaking Rule: A party to whom documents are produced within litigation will not use them for collateral or ulterior purposes. | Legal Definition of Implied Undertaking Rule
Imputation of Payments: A civil law term: a system that allocates monies received from a debtor who has more than one debt and who has not, with the payment, specified to the creditor to which debt the monies are applied. | Legal Definition of Imputation of Payments
In Absentia: Latin: in the absence of. | Legal Definition of In Absentia
In Camera: A closed and private session of Court or some other deliberating body. | Legal Definition of In Camera
In Facie Contempt: Contempt of court that occurs in the face of the Court. | Legal Definition of In Facie Contempt
In Jure Non Remota Causa Sed Proxima Spectatur: Latin: In law the near cause is looked to, not the remote one. | Legal Definition of In Jure Non Remota Causa Sed Proxima Spectatur
In Limine: Latin: at the beginning or on the threshold. | Legal Definition of In Limine
In Loco Parentis: A person who, though not the natural parent, has acted as a parent to a child and may thus be liable to legal obligations as if he/she were a natural parent. | Legal Definition of In Loco Parentis
In Pari Delicto: Latin: both parties are equally at fault. | Legal Definition of In Pari Delicto
In Personam: Latin: regarding a person; a right, action, judgment or entitlement that is attached to a specific person(s). | Legal Definition of In Personam
In Rem: Latin: regarding a thing; proprietary in nature; a right or judgment related to the use or ownership of an item of property. | Legal Definition of In Rem
In Terrorem: Latin: in terror, fright, threat or warning. | Legal Definition of In Terrorem
In tota fine erga omnes et omnia: Latin: for all purposes, in regards to all and everything. | Legal Definition of In tota fine erga omnes et omnia
In Toto: Latin: in total. | Legal Definition of In Toto
Incapacitated: An individual who lacks the ability to meet essential requirements for physical health, safety, or self-care. | Legal Definition of Incapacitated
Incest: The crime of sexual contact with a blood relative usually including a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild. | Legal Definition of Incest
Inchmaree Clause: A standard clause in maritime insurance contracts covering risk of events not directly linked to perils at sea such as, but not necessarily limited to, loading accidents. | Legal Definition of Inchmaree Clause
Inchoate: A legal right or entitlement that is in progress and is neither ripe, vested nor perfected. | Legal Definition of Inchoate
Inchoate Offence: Acts which are criminal even though they precede harmful conduct. | Legal Definition of Inchoate Offence
Income Tax: A mandatory payment imposed on residents of a pro rated portion of their income as a contribution towards the costs of government services. | Legal Definition of Income Tax
Incompetency: An individual who has a significant risk of personal harm based upon an inability to adequately provide for nutrition, health, housing, or physical safety. | Legal Definition of Incompetency
Incorporeal: Legal rights which are intangible such as copyrights or patents. | Legal Definition of Incorporeal
Incorporeal Hereditament: An intangible right which is attached to property and which is inheritable. | Legal Definition of Incorporeal Hereditament
Increased Costs: A term of statute of costs which are in excess of party and party costs and which may equal or come close to completely indemnify the successful litigant. | Legal Definition of Increased Costs
Indefeasible: A right or title in property that cannot be made void, defeated or canceled by any past event, error or omission in the title. | Legal Definition of Indefeasible
Indemnity: Contract with a third-party to perform another's obligations if called upon to do so by the third-party, whether the other has defaulted or not. | Legal Definition of Indemnity
Independent Contractor: A person hired by another not as an employee but, rather, pursuant to a contract for service where the engaging party does not supervise or control the detail of the work, and where the party engaged remains self-employed. | Legal Definition of Independent Contractor
Independent Source Doctrine: (USA) Evidence initially discovered during an unlawful search, but later obtained independently through activities untainted by the illegality, may be admitted into evidence | Legal Definition of Independent Source Doctrine
Indian: Nomenclature selected by Canada and USA to refer to and define their aboriginal or indigenous people. | Legal Definition of Indian
Indian Canon: A principle of statutory interpretation that statutes should be construed liberally in favor of Indians. | Legal Definition of Indian Canon
Indian Child: (USA) Any unmarried individual under 18 who is either (a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) is eligible for membership in an tribe and is the biological child of a member of a tribe. | Legal Definition of Indian Child
Indian Country: (USA) Land within an Indian reservation and all such other dependent Indian territories, and all land acquired by Indians in which tribal and federal laws normally apply and state laws do not. | Legal Definition of Indian Country
Indian Law: Treaties, statutes, executive orders, court decisions and administrative actions defining and implementing the relationship between national, state or proivincial governments, and Indian tribes and individuals. | Legal Definition of Indian Law
Indian Title: A right of exclusive occupancy in land by Indians. | Legal Definition of Indian Title
Indian Tribe: A body of Indians of the same or a similar race, united in a community under one leadership or government, and inhabiting a particular though sometimes ill-defined territory. | Legal Definition of Indian Tribe
Indictable Offence: An offence which the government can opt to cause trial by a more formal process than by summary process. | Legal Definition of Indictable Offence
Indictment: The formal document by which the state sets out the claim that a person has committed a crime. | Legal Definition of Indictment
Indigenous: Native to a particular territory. | Legal Definition of Indigenous
Indigent: A poor person; not penniless but in need and who has no financial support from any other. | Legal Definition of Indigent
Indirect Contempt: Contempt of court which occurs not in the presence of a judge acting judicially, but which tend to degrade the court or to obstruct or embarrass the administration of justice by the court. | Legal Definition of Indirect Contempt
Indirect Tax: The passing on of a tax or duty by the person who first pays it, through subsequent transactions. | Legal Definition of Indirect Tax
Industrial Design: A new product or packaging design, or some such ornamental feature, and eligible for intellectual property law exclusive-use protection. | Legal Definition of Industrial Design
Ineffective Assistance: In USA constitutional law, grounds for reversing a criminal law judicial determination where relevant legal advice was deficient and prejudicial. | Legal Definition of Ineffective Assistance
Infanticide: Murder of an infant soon after its birth. | Legal Definition of Infanticide
Infarction: A sudden reduction or stoppage of blood flow. | Legal Definition of Infarction
Information: Canada: the charging document in a criminal prosecution. | Legal Definition of Information
Inherent Jurisdiction: The residual, automatic and ex officio authority of a court of law to regulate proceedings before it including punishing contempt. | Legal Definition of Inherent Jurisdiction
Inhibition: A legal procedure to prevent a debtor from compromising property upon which a creditor holds a charge. | Legal Definition of Inhibition
Injunction: A court order that prohibits a party from doing something (restrictive injunction) or compels them to do something (mandatory injunction). | Legal Definition of Injunction
Inner Temple: One of four Inns of the Court, self-regulating associations of barristers in England and Wales. | Legal Definition of Inner Temple
Innocent Passage: A term of international law referring to a ship or aircraft's right to enter and pass through another's territory so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the other state. | Legal Definition of Innocent Passage
Innominate Terms: An implied term of a contract which is neither classed as a condition or a warranty but somewhere in between; an intermediary or innominate term. | Legal Definition of Innominate Terms
Inns of Chancery: Smaller boarding schools for apprenticing law students and serving as preparatory schools for the Inns of the Court up to about 1590. | Legal Definition of Inns of Chancery
Inns of Court: The several professional associations of barristers, to which all barristers in England or Wales must belong to one, to wit, Lincoln's Inn, Middle Temple, Gray's Inn or Inner Temple. | Legal Definition of Inns of Court
Innuendo: In defamation, the inferential, inherent or secondary meaning of words. | Legal Definition of Innuendo
Insanity: Disorder which impairs the human mind and prevents distinguishing between actions that are right or wrong. | Legal Definition of Insanity
Inscrutable Fault: A judicial finding that a fault has occurred but the court is unable to locate the source, to pinpoint a tort-feasor. | Legal Definition of Inscrutable Fault
Insider Trading: Participation by corporate officers, directors or employees in the trade of a stock based on confidential or privileged corporate information, knowing that information to be confidential, and seeking thereby to acquire profits or avoid losses on the stock market. | Legal Definition of Insider Trading
Insolence: Insulting a supervisor at the workplace or during the tenure of an employment contract. | Legal Definition of Insolence
Insolvent: A person not able to pay his or her debts as they become due. | Legal Definition of Insolvent
Insubordination: Willful failure to obey a supervisor's lawful orders. | Legal Definition of Insubordination
Insurance: Where a persons agrees, for consideration, to pay a certain amount on the occurrence of a specified event. | Legal Definition of Insurance
Intellectual Property: Ethereal property; of the mind, intangible, with no corporeal existence, though capable of being expressed in a tangible medium. | Legal Definition of Intellectual Property
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: The malicious and outrageous causation of severe emotional distress. | Legal Definition of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Intentional Infliction of Nervous Shock: A wilfully false statement that comes to and causes mental anguish to another. | Legal Definition of Intentional Infliction of Nervous Shock
Intentional Tort: Torts actionable upon evidence of an intent to cause harm on another, such as assault, trespass, false imprisonment, private nuisance, defamation or invasion of privacy. | Legal Definition of Intentional Tort
Inter Alia: Latin: 'among other things', 'for example' or 'including'. | Legal Definition of Inter Alia
Inter Partes: Latin: between, among parties. | Legal Definition of Inter Partes
Inter Se: Latin: as between or amongst themselves. | Legal Definition of Inter Se
Inter Vivos: Latin: from one living person to another living person. | Legal Definition of Inter Vivos
Interculturalism: "A government policy regarding the relationship between a cultural majority and cultural minorities, which emphasizes integration by exchange and interaction. | Legal Definition of Interculturalism
Interim Order: A temporary court order; intended to be of limited duration, usually just until the court has had an opportunity of hearing the full case and make a final order. | Legal Definition of Interim Order
Interjurisdictional Immunity: The purported inability of the Canadian Federal government to legislate in an area assigned by the Constitution to the Provincial government, and vice versa. | Legal Definition of Interjurisdictional Immunity
Interlineation: An addition of something to a document after it has been signed. Such additions are ignored unless they are initialed by the signatories and, if applicable, witnesses (eg. wills). | Legal Definition of Interlineation
Interlocutory: Housekeeping, procedural proceedings taken during the course of, and incidental to a trial. | Legal Definition of Interlocutory
Interlocutory Injunction: A temporary injunction; which lasts only until the end of the trial during which the injunction was sought. | Legal Definition of Interlocutory Injunction
Interloper: A person who, without legal right, runs a business (eg. without mandatory licenses), or who wrongfully interferes or intercepts another's business. | Legal Definition of Interloper
International Commercial Arbitration: A commercial dispute subject to arbitration and in which a significant international elements exists such as, for example, the head offices of the disputants are different countries or the performance of the underlying contract is in a foreign state. | Legal Definition of International Commercial Arbitration
International Convention on Salvage, 1989: An international treaty which standardizes, for signatories, the rules related to salvage and the compensation thereof. | Legal Definition of International Convention on Salvage, 1989
International Crime: Crimes which affect the peace or safety of more than one state or which are so reprehensible in nature as to justify the intervention of international agencies in the investigation and prosecution thereof. | Legal Definition of International Crime
International Criminal Law: Offences made criminal in international law and related matters such as jurisdiction, courts and tribunals. | Legal Definition of International Criminal Law
International Law: A combination of treaties and customs which regulates the conduct of states amongst themselves, and persons who trade or have legal relationships which involve the jurisdiction of more than one state. | Legal Definition of International Law
International Will: A will which which is valid if meeting the requirements of an international wills statute and notwithstanding deficiencies in form as regards to domestic wills. | Legal Definition of International Will
Internet: A global computer network through which the almost-instant delivery of data or files occurs between connected computers. | Legal Definition of Internet
Internet Service Provider: An entity that provides any Internet communication service, including connectivity to subscribers. | Legal Definition of Internet Service Provider
Interrogatories: Pre-trial numbered and written questions on relevant matters to the litigation, sent to the other side of litigation, and for which reply is mandatory. | Legal Definition of Interrogatories
Intervener: One who is given standing in litigation even though they were not originally a party. | Legal Definition of Intervener
Intestate: Dying without a will. | Legal Definition of Intestate
Intrusion Upon Seclusion: A privacy tort; intentionally intruding upon the seclusion or private affairs or concerns of another if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. | Legal Definition of Intrusion Upon Seclusion
Intuitu Personae: Latin: Because of the person. | Legal Definition of Intuitu Personae
Inuit: A person native to the Far North of North America. | Legal Definition of Inuit
Inure: To take effect, to result; to come into operation. | Legal Definition of Inure
Inurement Clause : A clause in a clegal document, such as a contract or will, that purports to extend the benefits of the document beyond the signatories. | Legal Definition of Inurement Clause
Invention: Any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter or improvement thereof. | Legal Definition of Invention
Invitation to Treat: An invitation to another person to make an offer to contract. | Legal Definition of Invitation to Treat
Invitee: A person invited, implicitly or explicitly, upon the real property of another. | Legal Definition of Invitee
Invitor: Relevant to occupiers' liability; a person who, implicitly or explicitly, invites another to a place. | Legal Definition of Invitor
Involuntary Manslaughter: A criminal offence contingent on language in any given jurisdiction but, generally, the unlawful killing of a human being without malice in the commission of an unlawful act or in the commission of an act which might produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due caution and circumspection. | Legal Definition of Involuntary Manslaughter
IOU: Acronym for "I owe you"; a written acknowledgment of a debt. | Legal Definition of IOU
Ipso jure: Latin: by operation of law. | Legal Definition of Ipso jure
Islamic Law: The law according to the Muslim faith and as interpreted from the Koran. | Legal Definition of Islamic Law