Glossary
Terms starting with L
653 definitions · page 2 of 11.
- Legal Terms Imputed Income
- Imputed Income information: A value given to the benefit received from use of one's own property or services.
- Legal Terms Imputed Negligence
- Imputed Negligence information: Where one person's negligence is imputed to another, such that liability follows. For example, a parent can be held responsible for some of the negligent actions and omissions of their child, by imputation through the…
- Legal Terms In Arrears
- In Arrears information: A debtor behind in payments is said to be in arrears.
- Legal Terms In Camera
- In Camera information: Refers to inside the judges rooms, or chambers.
- Legal Terms In Limine
- In Limine information: A pretrial motion, usually one filed to limit the nature and kind of evidence that may be presented, or seeks to limit from introduction some specific item of evidence.
- Legal Terms Inadmissible
- Inadmissible information: Not proper evidence and which cannot be admitted into evidence for consideration by the trier of fact.
- Legal Terms Incapacity
- Incapacity information: Having a lack of sufficient faculties, such that you are not competent and should not be allowed to enter into contract, make important decisions, etc.
- Legal Terms Incarceration
- Incarceration information: Jailed or imprisoned.
- Legal Terms Inchoate
- Inchoate information: Not perfectly formed or not complete. For example, a property interest that is not yet vested is said to be an inchoate interest in the property.
- Legal Terms Incite
- Incite information: So stir up to action, such as to incite a riot. Terms that incite are protected unless they are calculated to actually create the harm of riot.
- Legal Terms Income
- Income information: The increase, or gain, from employment or from payments received on or exchanged for assets.
- Legal Terms Income Averaging
- Income Averaging information: In tax matters, income spikes for a taxpayer experienced in single years may be averaged over several other tax years in order to lower the tax rate.
- Legal Terms Income or Asset Management Account
- Income or Asset Management Account Information: This type of account is useful in planning for retirement and in managing assets or income after retirement. The goal of this account is to consolidate the sources of income that a person has, and to supervise…
- Legal Terms Income Tax Bracket
- Income Tax Bracket information: The US uses a graduated tax system where tax rates increase as does taxable income. As a person goes from stage to stage on the income tax scale, they are going from one income tax bracket to another.
- Legal Terms Income Tax Garnishment
- Income Tax Garnishment Information: The Internal Revenue Service can attempt to collect a tax arrearage or penalty through an order issued to the taxpayer's employer for payment of wages due directly to the IRS. Other expected payments are also subject to…
- Legal Terms Income Tax Liability
- Income Tax Liability information: The amount of unpaid taxes due, or the amount of income tax that is owed after taking all allowable deductions and credits.
- Legal Terms Incompetence
- Incompetence information: Unable by lack of talent or wits, or incapable of conducting or even understanding one's own business or personal affairs. This can also refer to a disability by law, such as a child is incompetent to bring a suit, unless through a…
- Legal Terms Incorporeal
- Incorporeal information: An intangible thing, existing only in theory.
- Legal Terms Incriminate
- Incriminate information: Evidence that tends to show the defendant did the crime incriminates him.
- Legal Terms Indecent Exposure
- Indecent Exposure information: A display of one's naked body, especially the private parts, to another for the purpose of alarming a person or for causing arousal in any person.
- Legal Terms Indemnify
- Indemnify information: A party's obligation to reimburse someone who has lost something by the wrongful act of another. The duty to reimburse arises through agency, or through a default.
- Legal Terms Independent Contractor
- Independent Contractor information: A person, or entity, that is hired by a principal to complete a specific project but who is free to do that work as he or she wishes. The aim is that the independent contractor is not to be seen as an employee…
- Legal Terms Indictment
- Indictment information: The form upon which is written the charge against the defendant, having so found by a grand jury. The prosecutor proceeds against the defendant by information, the grand jury will use an indictment.
- Legal Terms Indigence
- Indigence information: Needy and impoverished. If a defendant in a criminal case, an indigent person may be given an attorney paid for by the state.
- Legal Terms Indirect Tax
- Indirect Tax information: A tax that is imposed on a right or privilege. The tax is not paid directly by the consumer but is instead passed through as a cost of doing business. For example, an occupational or franchise tax is a cost of doing business that…
- Legal Terms Indispensable Party
- Indispensable Party information: Where complete relief cannot be granted, and where double liability may result, a party closely affiliated with the original defendant may be forced to join the case.
- Legal Terms Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel information: When a defendant has received ineffective assistance of counsel he has been denied his sixth amendment right to counsel and may be entitled to post conviction relief. There is no requirement that the lawyer…
- Legal Terms Information
- Information information: In criminal law, an information is the charging document filed by the prosecutor, who has chosen to proceed without a grand jury. By contrast, a grand jury charging document is called an indictment.
- Legal Terms Infraction
- Infraction information: This is a violation of law but usually one of lesser consequence, like a municipal ordinance.
- Legal Terms Infringement
- Infringement information: This is a violation, or unfair use, of someone else's property right, or liberty interest. The term is often used in the area of copyright infringement and intellectual property law.
- Legal Terms Ingress
- Ingress information: Entry, or means of entry. Method of getting into a structure or property. Egress is the way out.
- Legal Terms Inherit
- Inherit information: To take property through the death of another, by intestate succession.
- Legal Terms Inheritance
- Inheritance Information: An inheritance is a term standing for the property, real or personal, that is received by an heir from an ancestor that has died intestate, or without leaving a will. An inheritance is said to be property received by bequest or devise.
- Legal Terms Inheritance Taxes
- Inheritance Taxes information: A tax sometimes imposed by the government on the receipt of property received through inheritance by intestate succession.
- Legal Terms Initiative
- Initiative information: A vote by the public at large, where if a sufficient percentage pass the initiative, the legislature is then required to enact into law the subject matter of the proposed initiative.
- Legal Terms Injunction
- Injunction information: A court order that prohibits an action or requires an action.
- Legal Terms Injury
- Injury information: The harm caused, or the damages done.
- Legal Terms Insanity
- Insanity information: A legal term, not a medical term. This is a mental condition that renders a person legally unfit to form the intent necessary to commit a crime or to understand the wrongfullness of his conduct. There is no legal responsibility assessed…
- Legal Terms Installment Sale
- Installment Sale information: This is a sale conditioned on the buyer making periodic payments for the item being sold and until the final payment is made the seller retains a security interest in the item. The buyer gets possession. For the seller, income…
- Legal Terms Insurance
- Insurance information: A contract whereby one party agrees to pay a certain sum to another upon the happening of an event in the future. Most insurance is for compensation of an expected but remote loss.
- Legal Terms Insurance Underwriter
- Insurance Underwriter information: One who accepts insurance risks in exchange for a premium.
- Legal Terms Intangible Property
- Intangible Property information: This is a tax term and means property represented by evidences of value, like bond certificates and stock certificates.
- Legal Terms Intent
- Intent information: The mental element is criminal actions. There is a requirement in most criminal statutes that no person can be convicted unless there is an intent to commit the crime.
- Legal Terms Inter Vivos
- Inter Vivos information: "While living" is the direct translation. In property law this term connotes transfers of property to heirs made during the ancestors life, or inter vivos.
- Legal Terms Inter Vivos Trust
- Inter Vivos Trust information: This is a trust created by the settlor, or benefactor, during his or her lifetime, and actually takes effect during that lifetime. An inter vivos trust is different than a testamentary trust, which takes effect on the settlor's…
- Legal Terms Interest
- Interest information: In property law, this is usually a right or claim belonging to someone. In finance, interest is the cost charged to borrow money, or the rent payment on money.
- Legal Terms Interest Rate
- Interest Rate information: In finance, this is the amount of interest that is charged to borrow money. There is always an upper allowable limit, known as usury.
- Legal Terms Internal Revenue Code
- Internal Revenue Code Information: The Internal Revenue Code, sometimes called the tax code, is the large body of statutes and regulations that make up the United States Tax law. Each time a tax law is changed it becomes part of the body of the Internal…
- Legal Terms Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information: Agency of the government that supervises the collection of tax revenue and the enforcement of the tax code.
- Legal Terms Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- Internet Service Provider (ISP) information: The provider of internet access to people, for a fee.
- Legal Terms Interrogation
- Interrogation information: The formal inquisition of a person, usually a suspect of a crime.
- Legal Terms Interrogatory
- Interrogatory information: A formal question asked of a party, usually in writing, which must be answered by the party within the particular jurisdiction's time limit for making discovery response. Sending a party a lengthy set of interrogatories is standard…
- Legal Terms Intestate
- Intestate information: Having no will. Being without a written will is to be instate and your heirs will take or inherit your property pursuant to the applicable intestacy statute.
- Legal Terms Intestate Succession
- Intestate Succession information: Usually, where a decedent has left no will, the decedent's property will be distributed as mandated in that jurisdiction's intestacy statute.
- Legal Terms Inventory
- Inventory information: A complete and detailed listing of a person's or an entity's assets.
- Legal Terms Invest
- Invest information: Putting money into something with the intention to turn a profit.
- Legal Terms Invitee
- Invitee information: This is a status given or earned by one entering another's property. A person is an invitee of another where he enters the property at the invitation of the owner and with an expectation to benefit the owner's business. In such cases the…
- Legal Terms Ipso Facto
- Ipso Facto information: An expression meaning "by the mere effect of an act or a fact."
- Legal Terms Issue
- Issue information: In property law, issue refers to children. To have no issue is to have no children. In corporation law, issue is refered to as the initial selling of stock by a corporation.
- Legal Terms Joint and Mutual Will
- Joint and Mutual Will information: A single will, made by two persons, that disposes of both their separately and commonly held property. The joint and mutual will directs the surviving testator to distribute property in line with the directions in the will…