Legal Phrases used by Lawyers and Non-Lawyers

Abandonment giving up a legal right.

Abatement is: cancelling a writ or action;
stopping a nuisance;
reducing the payments to creditors in proportion, if
there is not enough money to pay them in full; or
reducing the bequests in a will, in proportion, when
there is not enough money to pay them in full.

Abduction taking someone away by force.

Ab initio from the start of something. (This phrase is Latin.)

Abovementioned describing something which has been referred to
before in the document.

Abscond when a person fails to present themselves before the
court when required, such as when they have been
released on bail and not returned to court.

Absolute complete and unconditional.

Absolute discharge someone who has been convicted of an offence
being released without any penalty. (They may still
have to pay compensation though.)

Absolute owner the only owner of property such as equipment,
buildings, land or vehicles.

Absolute privilege a defence which can be used in a case of
defamation if the statement from which the
defamation arose was:
• made in Parliament;
• in fair and accurate news reporting of court
proceedings; or
• made during court proceedings.

Abstract of title a document, drawn up by the seller, summarising the
title deeds to a property (such as a house).

Abuse of process when criminal proceedings are brought against a
person without there being any good reason and with
malice.

Abuttals the parts of the boundaries of a piece of land which
touch pieces of land alongside.

Acceptance when an offer is accepted unconditionally and a
legally binding agreement is created.

Acceptance of service when a solicitor accepts a writ on behalf of a client.

Acceptor the organisation (such as a bank) which will pay the
cheque or bill of exchange it has accepted.

Accessory someone who encourages or helps another person
to commit a crime.

Accomplice someone who helps another person to commit a
crime.

Accordingly a word used in legal documents which means
therefore or so.

Accounts the record of an organisation's income, spending and
financial situation.

Accumulation reinvesting income generated by a fund back into the
fund.

Accused the person charged with a criminal offence.

Acknowledgement admitting that someone has a claim or admitting that
a debt exists.

Acknowledgement of
Service when a defendant agrees that a writ or originating
summons ('claim form' since April 1999) has been
received. The defendant fills in, signs and sends
back the acknowledgement of service to confirm in
writing that the documents were received.

Acquit when a court lets a person go without any penalty. If
a court decides that a person is not guilty of a crime,
or the case has not been proved, it will acquit the
person.

Acquittal the court's decision that a person is innocent of the
crime they were charged with.

Action using the law to make a claim.

Active trust a trust where the trustees have other responsibilities
rather than to just let the beneficiaries have the
trust's assets when they ask for them.

Act of bankruptcy an act which, if carried out by a person with debts,
could have led to bankruptcy proceedings against
that person.

Act of God an extreme naturally occurring event (such as an
earthquake, avalanche or flood) that could not have
been anticipated.

Actual bodily harm hurting another person but less severely than would
amount to grievous bodily harm.

Actual loss an insurance term which means that the insured item
no longer exists.

Actuary an expert on pension scheme assets and liabilities,
life expectancy and probabilities (the likelihood of
things happening) for insurance purposes. An
actuary works out whether enough money is being
paid into a pension scheme to pay the pensions
when they are due.

Actus reus an act which is illegal, such as theft. (This term is
Latin.)

Additional voluntary
contribution (AVC) extra money people in occupational pension
schemes can pay in to increase their pension
benefits.

Ademption when a gift in a will cannot be made because the
item no longer exists.

Ad hoc for a particular purpose. For example, a committee
set up to deal with a particular situation is an ad hoc
committee. (This term is Latin.)

Ad idem in agreement. (This term is Latin.)

Ad infinitum endlessly or forever. (This term is Latin.)

Adjourned sine die when a court case has no date fixed for it to continue.

Adjournment postponing a court hearing.

Adjudge/adjudicate to give an official judgement about something. For
example, if someone cannot pay their debts a court
may adjudge them bankrupt.

Adjudication order the former name for a court order which made
someone bankrupt. It has now been replaced with
the term bankruptcy order.

Administration order an order made by a county court when a person or a
company cannot pay their debts. Normally the court
orders that the debts are repaid by instalments and as
long as the debtor keeps to the order the creditors
cannot do anything else to recover their money.

Administrator someone who has been appointed:to manage the
affairs of a bankrupt business; or to manage the
estate of someone who has died without leaving a
will.

Admissibility of
Evidence which evidence can be presented in court. Evidence
must be relevant to the case but even some relevant
evidence cannot be presented, such as hearsay or
evidence of little value. The judge decides whether or
not evidence can be used in the case.

Admission one side in a case agreeing that something the other
side has alleged is true.

Admonition reprimanding of a defendant by a judge even though
the case against the defendant has been discharged
(dropped).

Adoption the system which people use to become parents,
even though they are not the child's natural parents.

Adoptive child a child who has been legally adopted.

Adoptive parent a person who has legally adopted a child.

Ad valorem in proportion to the value. An ad valorem duty goes
up as the value of the goods, shares and so on that it
is charged on rises. (This term is Latin.)

Adverse possession intentionally occupying land to prevent the rightful
owner or tenant using it.

Adverse witness a witness who gives evidence which damages the
case of the side which asked the witness to testify for
them.

Advocate is:
• the lawyer who speaks in court for a client; or
• a Scottish lawyer who is the equivalent of a
barrister in England and Wales.

Affidavit a written statement which is sworn to be true by the
person signing it. It is sworn before someone
authorised by the court.

Affirm to:
• solemnly promise to tell the truth in court;
• solemnly promise to tell the truth in an

affidavit;
• confirm a decision made by a lower court;
or
• allow a contract to continue even though it
could have been cancelled because it was
fundamentally breached.

Affirmation solemnly promising to tell the truth when giving
evidence. It is an alternative to swearing an oath
when the person giving evidence does not wish to.

Affray fighting unlawfully. It is a criminal offence.
Aforementioned describing something referred to previously in the
document.

Aforesaid describing something which has been said or
referred to before in the document.

Agency the relationship between a principal and an agent.

Agent someone appointed to act for a principal.

Age of consent the age when a person can consent to have
sexual intercourse. In the UK it is 16.

Aggravated assault a more serious type of assault such as one leading
to actual bodily harm.

Aggravated burglary entering premises armed with a weapon, intending to
steal goods.

Aggravated damages extra damages awarded because the defendant has
caused the victim anguish, loss of self-respect or
shame.

Aggravated vehicle taking stealing a vehicle, driving it dangerously and as a
result injuring someone or damaging property.

Agricultural holding a type of tenancy agreement for someone doing
agricultural work. The tenant has special rights
including, when the tenancy finishes, the right to
compensation for improvements to the land. If the
land has deteriorated the tenant must compensate
the landlord.

Aiding and abetting helping someone to commit a crime.

Airspace the space in the atmosphere directly above a piece
of land. If you own a piece of land you also own the
airspace above the land.

Alias a false name.

Alibi a claim that a person was elsewhere when a crime
was committed. If someone is accused of a crime
their alibi is:
• evidence that the person was somewhere else
when the crime was committed; or
• an attempt to prove that the person was
somewhere else when the crime was
committed.

Alien someone from a foreign country.

Alienation transferring the ownership of property from one
person to another.

All and sundry everybody.

Allegation an unproved statement declaring that something has
happened.

Alleviate to lessen or reduce.

Allocation rate the proportion of money left to be invested after
charges have been taken off when money is paid
into a fund (such as a pension fund). For example, if
the charges were 2%, the allocation rate would be
98%.

Allotment shares allocated to a buyer. An allotment of shares
in a company gives the owner (of the allotment) an
unconditional right to buy the shares at a fixed price.
All that words used in a conveyance to introduce the
description of the property which is being conveyed.

Alternate director a person appointed by a director to take the
director's place.

Alternative verdict a person being found guilty of a less serious crime
than the one they were charged with. If a more
serious charge has not been proved and the
defendant has been found not guilty, the defendant
may be found guilty of a less serious crime instead.
For example, there may not be enough evidence to
convict someone of a murder but there may still be
enough for a manslaughter conviction. This is known
as an alternative verdict.

Amalgamation two or more companies combining.

Ambiguity capability of more than one meaning. When a
statement's meaning is not clear because it is
capable of more than one meaning, it contains an
ambiguity.

Ambulatory will a will which can be revoked or changed while the
person who made it is still living.

Amnesty not punishing a person for an offence they have
committed and removing details of the offence from
the court's records is giving the person an amnesty.

Ancient lights the right not to have the light you receive from a
neighbour's land blocked.

Annual accounts the summary of an organisation's financial
transactions during the year covered by their
accounts, and a 'snapshot' of the assets and
liabilities at the end of the year.

Annual general
Meeting the yearly meeting of the members of an
organisation which must be held to meet legal
conditions. The annual accounts are presented for
approval at this meeting.

Annual return a return which must be sent by companies to the
Registrar of Companies. Each year the officers of a
company have to fill in an annual return with details
of the members, officers, shares issued and other
information about the company. The return is then
sent to Companies House for filing and is available
for inspection by members of the public.

Annuitant the person who gets paid an annuity.

Annuity an amount paid out every year to someone. The
money usually comes from an insurance policy. It
can be split up into smaller amounts and be paid out
more frequently, such as monthly. It is usually paid
for the rest of the beneficiary's life.

Annul to cancel:
• an invalid marriage; or
• a bankruptcy order.

Ante before. (This is a Latin word.)

Antecedents details about the past of a defendant or a person
found guilty of a crime. The information about
previous crimes, background and bad behaviour is
given to the court before the sentence is given.

Antenuptial agreement a legal agreement between two people who are
about to get married. The agreement sets out how
the couple's assets will be divided between them if
they later divorce.

Anton Piller order an order by the High Court. It gives the applicant
permission to search the defendant's premises for
evidence, inspect it and take it away. It is intended to
prevent evidence being destroyed or hidden which
would be relevant to the case. (Since April 1999, this
has been known as a 'search order'.)

Appeal asking a court to overturn a lower court's decision. If
the decision of a court is disputed it may be possible
to ask a higher court to consider the case again by
lodging an appeal.

Appellant the person who is appealing to a court against a
decision of a lower court.

Appellate jurisdiction the authority a court has to hear an appeal against a
decision made by a lower court.

Appertaining to

Applicant the person asking a court to do something.

Appointee the person who gets the benefit of the use of a
power of appointment.

Appointor the person who uses a power of appointment.

Appurtenances minor rights in land such as a right to do something
on the land.

Arbitrage is:
• borrowing money at a low rate of interest to
lend out again at a higher rate; or
• buying and selling in different markets to make
profits out of the price differences.

Arbitration settling a dispute by using a referee. If a dispute
goes to arbitration it is settled by an independent
referee. It avoids having to use the courts to settle
the dispute.

Arbitrator the independent referee who settles a dispute
without the need to use the courts.

Arraignment a procedure at the start of a trial when details of the
offences are read out and the defendants are asked
whether they will plead guilty or not guilty.

Arrest to seize someone, usually because they are
suspected of committing a crime, and take them into
custody.

Arrestable offence a crime for which a person may be arrested without a
warrant being needed.

Arson setting fire to something to cause damage to it.

Articles the clauses in a document. A company's articles set
out its rules. The articles form part of the
memorandum and articles of association.

Articles of association documents which set out a company's rules.

Assault when someone threatens another person with
physical harm. Words on their own do not amount to
assault but threatening gestures do, even if the
person threatened is not touched.

Assent a document used by personal representatives to
transfer property to a beneficiary.

Asset something owned such as a building, a vehicle or
money in the bank.

Assign to formally transfer something, such as when
ownership of property is transferred from one person
to another.

Assignment the formal transfer of the rights to something. An
example would be a bank customer assigning to the
bank the right to receive the benefits from a life
insurance policy to give the bank security for a loan.

Assurance insurance cover for an event which will definitely
happen, such as death.

Assure to transfer the ownership of something.

Assured the person whose life is insured or who is entitled to
receive the benefit from the assurance cover.

Assured shorthold
Tenancy a type of tenancy agreement under which the landlord
has the right to take the property back at the end of
the tenancy agreement.

Attachment of earnings a court order that deductions be made from a
person's earnings. The employer pays the money
collected to the court and the court pays the money
to the people it is owed to.

Attest to sign to witness a signature on a document.

Attorney a person appointed to act for another person (such
as when someone cannot look after their own
affairs). A formal document called a power of
attorney is used to appoint the attorney. It is also
the name used for a US lawyer.

Attorney General the chief legal adviser to the Government. He or she
must be a Member of Parliament (or have a seat in
the House of Lords) and must be a barrister.

Audit an independent examination of an organisation's
records and financial statements (report and
accounts) to make sure that:
• the financial statements show a fair reflection
of the financial position at the accounting date;
• the income and spending is shown accurately;
• the financial statements meet any legal
conditions; and
• the financial statements are drawn up clearly.

Auditor's report a report and opinion, by an independent person or
firm, on an organisation's financial records.

Authorised share
Capital the highest amount of share capital that a company
can issue. The amount is set out in the company's
memorandum of association.

Authorised
Investments investments in which a trustee is permitted to invest
trust money, under an Act of Parliament.

Autopsy an examination of a dead body to find the cause of
death.