The offeree's notification to the offer or that he agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of the offer
Acceptance
Adjustment or settlement
Accommodation
Have a court make a decision or decide a dispute
Adjudicate
To affirm a judgement, decree, or order is to declare that is valid and right, and must stand as rendered by the lower court
Aff'd. (Affirmed)
A written statement or declaration of facts sworn to be the maker, taken before a person officially permitted by law to administer oaths
Affidavit
Friend of the court; a third party who presents a brief to a court on behalf of one of the parties in a case
Amicus Curiae
Statutory: brief summaries of the law and facts or cases interpreting statutes passed by Congress or state legislatures that are included in codes
Annotations
Textual: expository essays of varying length on significant legal topics chosen from selected cases published with the essays
Annotations
A request from the losing party in a case that a higher court reviewed the decision. Acceptance of the request and issuance by a writ of appeal is mandatory for the higher court.
Appeal
The party who appeals a decision from a lower court to a higher court.
Appellant
Court of appellate jurisdiction
Appellate Court
The appearance of a defendant to a criminal charge before a judge for the purpose of pleading guilty or not guilty to the indictment.
Arraignment
Real, true, and actual
Bona Fide
In American law practice, a written statement prepared by the counsel arguing a case in court. It contains a summary of the facts of the case, the pertinent laws, and argument of how the law applies to the facts supporting counsel's position.
Brief
The necessity or duty of positively proving a fact or facts in a dispute on an issue raised between parties
Burden of Proof
A secret agreement between two or more persons for a fraudulent, unlawful, or deceitful purpose. This occurs in professional sports when teams secretly agree not to hire one another's players, secretly agree not to spend more than a certain amount of money on players, and/or secretly share info that they are forbidden to share under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
Collusion
The examination of a witness in a trial or hearing, or in taking a deposition, by the party opposed to the one who produced the witness
Cross-examination
Monetary compensation awarded by a court for an injury caused by the act of another. May be actual or compensatory (equal to the amount of loss shown), exemplary or punitive (in excess of the actual loss and awarded to punish the person for the malicious conduct that caused the injury), or nominal (less than the actual loss)
Damages
The party against whom legal action is taken; particularly, a person accused or convicted of a criminal offense.
Defendant
The testimony of a witness, taken out of court before a court reporter and under oath.
Deposition
An argument that certain information possessed by associations, or meetings held by organizations, should be a matter of public record and, therefore, open to the public. The general meaning is "to reveal facts.
Disclosure
A method by which opposing parties may obtain information from each other, to prepare for trial and to narrow the issues to be presented at trial.
Discovery
A proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee equal rights to women that was not ratified in the early 1980's but that certain states have adopted.
Equal Rights Amendment
Any form of proof presented at trial through the use of eyewitness testimony, records, documents, and concrete objects, and used to assist the trier of fact in making this determination of the case.
Evidence
A serious criminal offense, as distinct from a misdemeanor. Typically, crimes for which the punishment may exceed one year in jail.
Felony
The declaration or the conclusion of law reached by the court regarding the legal effect of the facts of the case.
Holding
Placed in the position of the parents of the child, such as a coach or teacher given this status within a relationship with the student-athlete
In loco parentis
Usually a document, such as a contract
Instrument
An asset that exists only in connection with something else. It is an idea or formula, not something that can be touched.
Intangible Asset
Wrongful or unwarranted delay
Laches
The condition of being responsible either for damages resulting from an injurious act or for discharging an obligation or debt.
Liability
Written defamation of a person's character
Libel
Offense lower than felony and generally punishable by fine or imprisonment of up to one year.
Misdemeanor
Changed; a decision altered by the introduction of new elements or the cancellation of existing elements
Modified
A formal request made to a judge pertaining to any issue arising while a lawsuit is pending.
Motion
The deliberation, settling, or arranging of the terms and conditions of a possible transaction.
Negotiation
Debt or duty
Obligation
An act by one person giving another person the legal power to create the obligation called a contract
Offer
One to whom a contract offer is made
Offeree
One who makes a contract offer
Offeror
The party who brings in action; the complainant
Plaintiff
A case that furnishes an example or authority of deciding subsequent cases in which identical or similar facts are present.
Precedent
The act that is the natural and reasonably foreseeable cause of the harm or agent that injures the plaintiff.
Proximate Cause
Compensation in excess of actual or consequential damages. They are awarded to punish the wrongdoer, but only in cases involving willful or malicious misconduct
Punitive damages
This for that. Something given in exchange for something else.
Quid pro quo
To give up, surrender, or turn over
Relinquish
Oral defamation of a person's character
Slander
An equitable remedy whereby the court orders one of the parties to a contract to perform his or her duties under the contract. Usually granted when money damages would be an inadequate remedy.
Specific Performance
The qualifications needed to bring legal action. The qualifications relate to the existence of a controversy in which the plaintiff has suffered or is about to suffer an injury or infringement upon a legally protected right that a court is competent to redress
Standing
To stand on what has been decided; to adhere to the decision of previous cases. It is a rule, sometimes departed from, that a point settled in a previous case becomes a precedent that should be followed in subsequent cases decided by the same court.
Stare decisis
Acts of legislature. Depending upon its context in usage, a statute may mean a single act of a legislature or a body of acts are collected and arranged according to a scheme or for a session of legislature or parliament.
Statutes
Laws setting time period during which disputes may be taken to court
Statutes of limitations
A court order compelling a witness to appear and testify in a certain proceeding
Subpoena
Something that can be touched
Tangible asset
The court before which issues of fact and law are tried and first determined as distinguished from an appellate court
Trial court
Annulled, set aside, canceled, or rescinded; the canceling or rescinding of an entry or record or of a judgement
Vacated
The geographical area where a court with jurisdiction may try a case
Venue
The voluntary relinquishment of a known right
Waiver
A suit or action brought before the court that holds a federal act to be unconstitutional or a state action to be constitutional, or that involves a lower federal court deciding against the United States in a criminal case.
Writ of appeal