Act
Legislation passed by Congress, also called "statutes.
Administrative law
The legal principles involved in the workings of administrative agencies within the regulatory process.
Breach of contract
A party's failure to perform some contracted-for or agreed-upon act, or failure to comply with a duty imposed by law.
Citation
The reference identifying how to find a case.
Civil law
The area of law governing the rights and duties between private parties as compared with the judicial orientation of the common law system.
Codes
A compilation of legislation enacted by a federal, state, or local government.
Common law
That body of law deriving from judicial decisions as opposed to legislatively enacted statutes and administrative regulations.
Compensatory damages
Usually awarded in breach-of-contract cases to pay for a party's losses that are a direct and forseeable result of the other party's breach. The award of these damages is designed to place the nonbreaching party in the same position as if the contract had
Conflicts of law
Rules of law the courts use to determine that substantive law applies when there is an inconsistency between laws of different states or countries.
Constitution
When capitalized, the term refers to the U.S. federal Constitution, which sets out the basic framework for federal government and, as amended, for individual rights.
Constitutional law
The legal issues that arise from interpreting the U.S. Constitution or a state constitution.
Constitutional relativity
The idea that constitutional interpretation is relative to the time in which the constitution is being interpreted.
Contract law
The law of legally enforceable promises.
Corporate governance
A term that has at least two meanings. One relates to how business organizations are created and managed. A second concerns how the various levels of government regulate business organizations as they transact business.
Corporation
An artificial, but legal, person created by state law. As a business organization, the corporation's separation of owners and managers gives it a high level of flexibility.
Criminal law
That area of law dealing with wrongs against the state as representative of the community at large, to be distinguished from civil law, which hears cases of wrongs against persons.
Dicta
Statements made in a judicial opinion that are not essential to the decision of the case.
Exemplary damages
Punitive damages. Monetary compensation in excess of direct losses suffered by the plaintiff that may be awarded in intentional tort cases where the defendant's conduct deserves punishment.
Holding
The precise legal response in an opinion by an appellate court on an issue of law raised on appeal.
Intentional torts
Noncontractual legal wrong caused by one who desires to cause the wrong or where the wrong is substantially likely to occur from the behavior.
Jurisprudence
The science of the law; the practical science of giving a wise interpretation of the law.
Law
The rules of the state backed up by enforcement.
Legislation
Laws passed by an elected body such as Congress, a state legislation, or local council/commission. Those laws enacted at the federal and state levels are called statutes. At the local level, such laws are often referred to as ordinances.
Negligence
A person's failure to exercise reasonable care that forseeably causes another injury.
Opinion
The decision of a judge, usually issued in a written form.
Ordinances
The legislative enactment of a city, county, or other municipal corporation.
Originalism
The opposite of constitutional relativity. It stands for the idea that courts should interpret the Constitution only according to the intentions of those who wrote it.
Ownership
The term refers to the exclusive legal right to possess, transfer, and use resources. It is a synonym for "property.
Precedent
A prior judicial decision relied upon as an example of a rule of law.
Private law
A classification of legal subject matters that deals most directly with relationships between legal entities. The law of contracts and the law of property are two examples of this classification.
Procedural law
The body of rules governing the manner in which legal claims are enforced.
Property
A bundle of private, exclusive rights in people to acquire, possess, use, and transfer scarce resources.
Property law
The law of the legal fence that establishes exclusive right in someone called an owner.
Public law
A classification of legal subject matters that regulates the relationship of individuals and organizations to society.
Punitive damages
Monetary damages in excess of a compensatory award, usually granted only in intentional tort cases where defendant's conduct involved some element deserving punishment. Also called "exemplary damages.
Remedy
The action or procedure that is followed in order to enforce a right or to obtain damages for injury to a right; the means by which a right is enforced or the violation of a right is prevented, redressed, or compensated.
Rule of law
The general and equal application of laws, even to lawmakers.
Sanctions
Penalties imposed for violation of a law.
Specific performance
Equitable remedy that requires defendants in certain circumstances to do what they have contracted to do.
Stare decisis
The doctrine that traditionally indicates that a court should follow prior decisions in all cases based on substantially similar facts.
Statute
A legislative enactment.
Strict liability
The doctrine under which a party may be required to respond in tort damages without regard to such party's use of due care.
Substantive law
A body of rules defining the nature and extent of legal rights.
Tort
A civil wrong other than a breach of contract.
Tort law
Establishes rules for compensation when an owner's legal boundaries are wrongfully crossed by another. Tort law often but not always requires actual injury to the owner's resources.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
The most successful attempt to have states adopt a uniform law. This code's purpose is to simplify, clarify, and modernize the laws governing commercial transactions.