Legal Terms Beginning with S
Sanction
To sanction can mean to ratify or to approve but it can also mean to punish. The sanction of a crime refers to the actual punishment, usually expressed as a fine or jail term. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sanctuary
A special criminal law option available in Medieval times to persons who had just committed a crime, allowing them to seek refuge in a church or monastery. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
An American federal law, 2002, which substantially revised and strengthened securities laws and their administration. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Satisfaction guaranteed
A condition in a sales contract that leaves final approval of the product with the purchaser. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
School Law
The law as it relates to education. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Scienter
Latin for knowledge. In legal situations, the word is usually used to refer to guilty knowledge. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Search warrant
A court order (i.e. signed by a judge) that gives a police the permission to enter private property and to search for evidence of the commission of a crime, for the proceeds of crime or property that the police suspect may be used to commit a crime. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Seisin
The legal possession of property. In law, the term refers more specifically to the possession of land by a freeholder. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Semayne's Case
A 1604 English case which established that in law, every man's house is his castle yields to a warrant. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sentence
The punishment given to a person who has been convicted (i.e. found to be guilty) of a crime. It may be time in jail, community service or a period of probation. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Separation Agreement
A contract between separating spouses resolving issues of joint or family assets, support and child responsibilities. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sequestration
The taking of someones property, voluntarily (by deposit) or involuntarily (by seizure), by court officers or into the possession of a third party, awaiting the outcome of a trial in which ownership of that property is at issue. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Servient tenement
The land which suffers or has the burden of an easement. The beneficiary of the easement is called a dominant tenement. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Servitude
From Roman law, referring to rights of use over the property of another; a burden on a piece of land causing the owner to suffer access by another. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Settlor
The person who actually creates a trust by donating property to be managed and administered by a trustee but from which all profits would go to a beneficiary. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sex
Sex: gender, as in male or female. Also refers to sexual intercourse. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sexual harassment
A term used in human rights legislation and referring primarily to harassment in employment situations, related to sex or gender, which detrimentally affects the working environment. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sexual intercourse
Penetration of a man's penis into a woman's vagina. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is commonly understood to mean an individual's orientation or preference in terms of sexual relationship with others - whether homosexual or heterosexual. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Share
A portion of a company bought by a transfer of cash in exchange for a certificate, the certificate constituting proof of share ownership. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Shared custody
A family law support or maintenance term referring to a situation where a child spends about an equal amount of time in the care and home of each of the two separated or divorced parents, and the parents share the legal rights in regards to the child. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Shareholder
A person who owns shares in a corporation. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Shareholder agreement
A contract between the shareholders of the company and the company itself, in which certain things, usually the purview of the board of directors, are detailed. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Silent partner
A person who invests in a company or partnership but does not take part in administering or directing the organization; he or she just shares in the profits or losses. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sine die
Adjourned without giving any future date of meeting or hearing. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Slander
Verbal or spoken defamation. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Slander of title
Intentionally casting aspersion on someones property including real property, a business or goods (the latter might also be called slander of goods). - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Slavery
When a person (called master) has absolute power over another (called slave) including life and liberty. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Small claims
A regular court but which has simplified rules of procedure and process to deal with claims of a lesser value. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Socage
A term of the feudal system which referred to the tenure which was exchanged for certain goods or services which were not military in nature. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Society
A group of people formed as a separate organization and which has as a stated purpose some charitable or benevolent purpose either in regards to the public at-large or in regards to the common interests of the members, and which operates as nearly as possible at cost. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sodomy
synonymous with buggery and referring to unnatural sex acts, including copulation, either between two persons of the same sex or between a person and an animal (the latter act is known as bestiality). - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Solicitor
A lawyer that restricts his or her practice to the giving of legal advice and does not normally litigate. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Solicitor's Lien
A lawyer’s right to retain client’s document and property pending payment of the lawyer’s bill. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sovereign
Has two meanings. The first one is a technical word for the monarch (king or queen) of a particular country as in the Sovereign of England is Queen Elizabeth. The other meaning of the word is to describe the supreme legislative powers of a state: that they are totally independent and free from any outside political control or authority over their decisions. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Specific Performance
An order that a person in breach of contract perform his specific duty as set out in that contract. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Split custody
A child custody decision which means that legal custody goes back and forth between parents like a ping-pong ball, as they, in turn, take care of the child. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Springing power of attorney
A POA that takes effect only upon the occurrence of a specified event. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sprinkling trust
Discretion given to a trustee to distribute income from a trust fund disproportionately between beneficiaries. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Spy / Spies
A person who acts clandestinely or on false pretences to endeavour to obtain information of or within another state with the intention of communicating or selling it to others. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Standing committee
A term of parliamentary law which refers to those committees which have a continued existence; that are not related to the accomplishment of a specific, once-only task as are ad hoc or special committees. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Stare decisis
A basic principle of the law whereby once a decision (a precedent) on a certain set of facts has been made, the courts will apply that decision in cases which subsequently come before it embodying the same set of facts. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
State
A term of international law: those groups of people which have acquired international recognition as an independent country and which have four characteristics; permanent and large population with, generally, a common language; a defined and distinct territory; a nations to refer to what international law calls states. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Statement of Claim
The document which initiates the judicial process culminating in trial. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Statement of Defence
The defendant's document that answers a statement of claim. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Statutes
The written laws approved by legislatures, parliaments or houses of assembly (i.e., politicians). Also known as legislation. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Statutory rape
The common law definition of rape has not proven adequate to reflect modern values. It is limited to sex without consent and with a woman, and only where the victim is not the wife of the rapist. Many states have enacted laws which include under the charge of rape, sex with a minor even if done with the minor’s consent, sex without consent regardless of whether the victim is male or female, and sex without consent regardless of the matrimonial bond between victim and rapist. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Statutory trust
A trust created by the effect of a statute. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Stirpes
Latin: the offspring of a person; his or her descendants. For example, inheriting per stirpes means having a right to a deceaseds estate because you happen to be a descendant of the deceased. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Strict liability
Tort liability which is set upon the defendant without need to prove intent, negligence or fault; as long as you can prove that it was the defendant's object that caused the damage. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Subinfeudation
The process whereby, under the feudal system of tenure, a person receiving a grant of land from a lord, could himself become a lord by subdividing and subletting that land to others. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sub judice
A matter that is still under consideration by a court. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Subordination
To be subject to the orders or direction of another; of lower rank. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Subpoena
Latin: an order of a court which requires a person to be present at a certain time and place or suffer a penalty (subpoena means, literally, under penalty). - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Subrogation
When you pay off someone’s debt and then try to get the money from the debtor yourself. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Subservient tenement
The real property that supports or endures an easement. The real property benefitting from an easement is called the dominant tenement. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Substituted service
If a party appears to be avoiding service of court documents, a request may be made with the court to, instead of personal service (i.e. giving the document directly to the person), that the document be published in a local newspaper, served on a person believed to frequent the person or mailed to his (or her) last known address. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Successor
A person who takes over the rights of another. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Sui juris
A person who possesses full civil rights and is not under any legal incapacity such as being bankrupt, of minor age or mental incapacity. Most adults are sui juris. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Summary conviction offence
In Canada, a less serious offence than indictable offences for which both the procedure and punishment tends to be less onerous. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Summary Judgment
A court order dismissing a claim summarily, upon application, and based on the allegation that there is no claim or defence with a reasonable prospect of success. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Summary Trial
A disposition of litigation by way of affidavit evidence only or by use of truncated process. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Summons
In the USA, this is one of the initial documents issued in a civil suit; giving the defendant notice of the claim and an opportunity to defend it. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Surety
The person who has pledged him or herself to pay back money or perform a certain action if the principal to a contract fails, as collateral, and as part of the original contract. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
Synallagmatic contract
A civil law term for a reciprocal or bilateral contract: one in which both parties provide consideration. A contract of sale is a classic example, where one party provides money and the other, goods or services. A gift is not a synallagmatic contract. - (see expanded definition at duhaime.org)
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