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- Bad faith
- Intent to deceive. A person who intentionally
tries to deceive or mislead another in order to
gain some advantage.
- Bail
- Criminal law: a commitment made (and possibly
secured by cash or property) to secure the
release of a person being held in custody and
suspected of a crime, to provide some kind of
guarantee that the suspect will appear to answer
the charges at some later date.
- Bailee
- The person who receives property through a
contract of bailment,
from the bailor, and who
may be committed to certain duties of care
towards the property while it remains in his or
her possession.
- Bailment
- The transfer of possession of something (by the bailor) to another person
(called the bailee) for
some temporary purpose (eg. storage) after which
the property is either returned to the bailor or otherwise disposed
of in accordance with the contract of bailment.
- Bailor
- The person who temporarily transfers possession
of property to another, the bailee,
under a contract of bailment.
- Bankruptcy
- The formal condition of an insolvent person
being declared bankrupt under law. The legal
effect is to divert most of the debtor's assets
and debts to the administration of a third
person, sometimes called a "trustee in
bankruptcy", from which outstanding debts
are paid pro
rata. Bankruptcy forces the debtor into a
statutory period during which his or her
commercial and financial affairs are administered
under the strict supervision of the trustee. Bankruptcy
usually involves the removal of several special
legal rights such as the right to sit on a board
of directors or, for some professions that form
part of the justice system, to practice, such as
lawyers or judges. Commercial organizations
usually add other non-legal burdens upon
bankrupts such as the refusal of credit. The
duration of "bankruptcy" status varies
from state to state but it does have the benefit
of erasing most debts even if they were not
satisfied by the sale of the debtor's assets.
- Bare trust
- A trust that has
become passive for the trustee because all
the duties the settlor
may have imposed upon the trustee have been
performed or any conditions or terms have come to
fruition, such as there is no longer any
impediment to the transfer of the property to the
beneficiary.
- Barrister
- A litigation
specialist; a lawyer that restricts his or her
practice to the court room. In England and some
other Commonwealth jurisdictions, a legal
distinction is made between barristers and solicitors, the
latter with exclusive privileges of advising
clients, providing legal advice, and the former
with exclusive privileges of appearing in a court
on behalf of a client. In other words, solicitors
don't appear in court on a client's behalf and
barristers don't give legal advice to clients. In
England, barristers and solicitors work as a
team: the solicitor would typically make the
first contact with a client and if the issue
cannot be resolved and proceeds to trial, the
solicitor would transfer the case to a barrister
for the duration of the litigation. Lawyers in
some states, such as Canada, sometimes use the
title "barrister and solicitor" even
though, contrary to England, there is no legal
distinction between the advising and litigating
roles. Canadian lawyers can litigate or give
legal advice, as is the case in the USA, where
lawyers are referred to as "attorneys."
- Bastard
- An illegitimate child, born in a relationship
between two persons that are not married (ie. not
in wedlock) or
who are not married at the time of the child's
birth.
- Bench
- A judge in court session.
- Beneficiary
- In a legal context, a "beneficiary"
usually refers to the person for whom a trust has been
created. May also be referred to as a "donee" or, for
legal tecchies, as a cestui que
trust. Trusts
are made to advantage a beneficiary (ie. A
settlor (also
called a "donor")
transfers property to a trustee, the
profits of which are to be given to the
beneficiairy).
- Berne Convention
- An international copyright
treaty called the Convention for the Protection
of Literary and Artistic Works signed at Berne,
Switzerland in 1886 (amended several times and as
late as 1971) and to which now subscribe 77
nations including all major trading countries
including China, with the notable exception of
Russia. It is based on the principle of national treatment.
- Bigamy
- Being married to more than one person at the same
time. This is a criminal offence in most
countries.
- Bill of
exchange
- A written order from one person (the payor) to another,
signed by the person giving it, requiring the
person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand
or at some fixed future date, a certain sum of
money, to either the person identified as payee or to any
person presenting the bill of exchange. A check is a form of
bill of exchange where the order is given to a
bank.
- Bill of lading
- A document that a transport company possesses
acknowledging that it has received goods, and
serves as title for the purpose of
transportation.
- Blind trust
- A trust set up by a settlor who reserves the
right to terminate the trust but other than that,
agrees to assert no power over the trust, which
is administered without account to the
beneficiary/settlor or the retention of any other
measure of control over the trust's
administration. In Canada, for example, it is
common for government ministers to vest all their
investment property to a blind trust to avoid any
conflict of interest.
- Bona vacantia
- Property that belongs to no person, and which may
be claimed by a finder. In some states, the
government becomes owner of all bona vacantia
property.
- Born out of wedlock
- Born of parents who were not married at the time
of birth.
- Breach of
contract
- The failure to do what one promised to do under a
contract.
Proving a breach of contract
is a prerequisite of any suit for damages based on
the contract.
- Breach of trust
- Any act or omission on the part of the trustee
which is inconsistent with the terms of the trust
agreement or the law of trusts. A prime example
is the redirecting of trust property from the
trust to the trustee, personally.
- Buggery
- Synonymous with sodomy
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 also known as
"bestiality"). Most countries outlaw
bestiality but homosexual activity is gradually
being decriminalized.
- Burden of
proof
- A rule of evidence that makes a person prove a
certain thing or the contrary will be assumed by
the court. For example, in criminal trials, the
prosecution has the burden of proving the accused
guilt because innocence is presumed.
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