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U
- The American uniform child and spousal support
legislation, the Uniform Interstate Family
Support Act already adopted and implemented
by most states and expected to be law throughout
the USA soon. It is the successor of URESA and is a long-arm statutes
as it gives the state which issues the first
support order jurisdiction over the support payor
anywhere in the USA for the purposes of varying
that order. For more information, please see http://wwlia.org/us-uifsa.htm
- Without authority. An act which is beyond the
powers or authority of the person or organization
which took it.
- A legal procedure whereby you can seek
reimbursement from another who benefitted from
your action or property without legal
justification. There are said to be three
conditions which must be met before you can get a
court to force reimbursement based on
"unjust enrichment": an actual
enrichment or benefit to the defendant, a
corresponding deprivation to the plaintiff, and the
absence of a legal reason for the defendant's
enrichment. For example (and only theoretically
as many countries have laws which have modified equity law in some
situations), if you found somebody else's cash
and spent it, you might be sued for reimbursement
under unjust enrichment. The legal theory behind
unjust enrichment is the constructive
trust, which the court imposes upon the
circumstances to hold the person unjustly
enriched as the trustee
for the person who should properly get the
property back, held to be the beneficiary of
the constructive
trust.
- Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act
of the United States, as created in 1950 by the
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform
State Laws. This was the first family support
uniform legislation in the USA and it was
ultimately adopted, in some form or another, by
all the US states. It was updated in 1968 and the
revised version became known as
"RURESA", the initial "R"
standing for "Revised." It has been
replaced by UIFSA. For more
information, please see http://wwlia.org/us-uifsa.htm
- From ancient Roman law (and now a part of many
civil law systems), "usufruct" means
the rights to the product of another's property.
For example, a farmer may give a right of
"usufruct"of his land to a neighbor,
thus enabling that neighbor to sow and reap the
harvest of that land.
- Excessive or illegal interest rate. Most
countries now prohibit interest rates above a
certain level; and rates which exceed these
levels are called "usury".
V
- A tramp or homeless person.
- The seller; the person selling.
- This has the same meaning as in everyday English
except that in a legal context it usually refers
specifically to the location of a judicial
hearing. For example, if a criminal case has a
very high media profile in a particular city, the
"venue" may change to another city to
ensure objective witnesses (i.e. that would not
have been spoiled by media speculation on the
crime).
- Any thing that is designed to transport persons
or objects. A bicycle has been held to be a
vehicle.
- Verba fortius
accipiuntur contra proferentem
- Latin: a principle of construction
whereby if words of a contract are
ambiguous, of two equally possible meanings, they
should be interpreted against the author of the
words and not against the other party.
- The decision of a jury. In criminal cases, this
is usually expressed as "guilty" or
"not guilty".In a civil case, the
verdict would be a finding for the plaintiff or
for the defendant.
- Latin for "to wit" or "that is to
say." "Viz.",
which is the abbreviation of videlicet, is
much more commonly used. It is often found in
legal documents to advise that what follows
provides more detail about a preceding general
statement. For example: "The defendant
committed adultery;
viz., on April 15th, at approximately
10:30 pm, he had sexual
intercourse with Ms Jane Doe."
- An abbreviation of the Latin word videlicet. Short for
"namely" or "that is to say."
- When a person is held responsible for the tort of another even
though the person being held responsible may not
have done anything wrong. This is often the case
with employers who are held vicariously liable
for the damages caused by their employees.
- Latin: man or husband. Vir et uxor censentur
in lege una persona is an old (and long
abandoned in most countries) legal principle
meaning that man and wife are considered to be
one person in law.
- Not legally binding. A document that is void is
useless and worthless; as if it did not exist.For
example, in many countries, contracts for immoral
purposes are said to be
"void":unenforceable and not recognized
by the courts. A good example is a contract to
commit a serious crime such as murder.
- The law distinguishes between contracts which are
void and those which are voidable. Some contracts
have such a latent defect that they are said to
be void (see definition of "void"
above). Other have more minor defects to them and
are voidable at the option of the party
victimized by the defect. For example, contracts
signed by a person when they are totally drunk
are voidable by that person upon recovering
sobriety.
- A mini-hearing held during a trial on the
admissibility of contested evidence. For
example, a defendant may object to a plaintiff's
witness. The court would suspend the trial,
immediately preside over a hearing on the
standing of the proposed witness, and then resume
the trial with or without the witness, or with
any restrictions placed on the testimony by the
judge as a result of the voir dire ruling.
In a jury trial, the jury would be excused during
the voir dire.
- Voluntary assumption of risk. A defence in tort that means where
a person engages in an event accepting and aware
of the risks inherent in that event, then they
can not later complain of, or seek compensation
for an injury suffered during the event. This is
used most often to defend against tort actions as
a result of a sports injury.
W
- A 1935 American federal statute which
recognized employee rights to collective
bargaining, protected the right to belong to a
union, prohibited many anti-union tactics then
used by employers, and set up the National Labor
Relations Board. The NLRB was given wide
enforcement powers. It was later amended by the Taft-Hartley Act in
1947.
- When a person disclaims or renounces to a right
that they may have otherwise had. Waivers are not
always in writing. Sometimes a person's actions
can be interpreted as a waiver.
- A guarantee given on the performance of a product
or the doing of a certain thing. For example,
many consumer products come with warranties under
which the manufacturer will repair or replace any
product that fails during the warranty period;
the commitment to repair or replace being the
"warranty".
- The abuse, destruction or permanent change to
property by one who is merely in possesion of it
as in the case of a tenant
or a life tenant.
- Being married. Has the same meaning as "matrimony."
Used mostly to refer to illegitimate children as
"born out of wedlock."
- A written and signed statement, made by an
individual, which provides for the disposition of
their property when they die. (See also codicil and probate.)
- An electronic surveillance device which secretly
listens in and records conversations held over a
phone line. It is usually only allowed with the
permission of a judge and if it can be shown to
be necessary for the solving of a serious crime.
- A statements set onto a written document which
qualifies the signatory as exempted from it's
content to the extent that they may be
interpreted as containing admissions or other
interpretations which could later be used against
the person signing; or as otherwise affecting any
legal rights of the person signing. A lawyer will
often send a letter "without prejudice"
in case the letter makes admissions which could
later prove inconvenient to the client.
- The regular definition of this word is a person
who perceives an event (by seeing, hearing,
smelling or other sensory perception). The legal
definition refers to the court-supervised recital
of that sensory experience, in writing (deposition) or
verbally (testimony).
- Words in a conveyance or in a will which set the
duration of an estate. If a will said "to
Bob and his heirs", the words "and his
heirs" were words of limitation because they
indicate that Bob gets the land in fee simple and
his heirs get no interest.
- Words which specifically name the person to whom
land is being conveyed. The property is conveyed
to specifically and by name in a legal act such
as a conveyance
or will. This
would preclude, for example, transfer as a result
of intestacy.
- An official court document, signed by a judge or
bearing an official court seal, which commands
the person to whom it is addressed, to do
something specific. That "person" is
typically either a sheriff (who may be instructed
to seize property, for example) or a defendant
(for whom the writ is the first notice of formal
legal action. In these cases, the writ would
command the person to answer the charges laid out
in the suit, or else judgment may be made against
them in their absence).
- An American tort law action which claims damages
from any person who, through negligence or direct
act or omission, caused the death of certain
relatives (eg. spouse, children or parent). These
actions are commenced under special
"wrongful death" statutes because under
the common law, there is no right of action for
survivors for their own loss as a result of
someone's death. The Canadian equivalent of the
wrongful death legislation is generally known as
the "fatal accidents act." In England,
it is known as Lord Campbell's Act.
- Being fired from a job without an adequate reason
or without any reason whatsoever. Employees do
not have a right to a job for life and can be
dismissed for economic or performance reasons but
they cannot be dismissed capriciously. Most
employment implies an employment contract, which
may be supplemented by labor legislation. Either
could provide for certain procedures to be
followed, failing which any firing is wrongful
dismissal and for which the employee could ask a
court for damages against the employer. Can also
be referred to as "dismissal without just
cause." Not all states recognize this tort law action.
X-Z
- A name given in American labor law to contract of
employment by which the employee agrees to
forfeit their employment if they join a union
during the period of employment. These types of
contracts are now prohibited by American law.
- Young persons who, in many states, are treated
differently than adult criminals and are tried in
special youth courts. In Canada, for example,
criminal suspects between 12 and 17 inclusively
are processed under the Young Offenders Act,
which includes several provisions which reflect
the rehabilitative nature of the legislation.
- "Devices consisting of two opposite series
of members adapted to be attached one on each
side of an aperture in some article and to
interlock so as to close the aperture upon the
slide being operated in one direction, or to
separate so as to leave the aperture open upon
the slide being operated in the opposite
direction." Editor's note:we didn't make
this up! It's from a 1932 trademark case of the
Supreme Court of Canada called Lightning Fastener
Co. Ltd. V. Canadian GoodrichCo. Ltd.
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