Glossary
Terms starting with L
653 definitions · page 5 of 11.
- Legal Terms - Pain and Suffering Damages
- Pain and Suffering Damages Information: In civil cases, "Pain and Suffering" is an element of damages for which the injured party may claim money compensation. The loss of a person's physical ability, such as the loss of the use of a hand, foot or eye…
- Legal Terms - Palimony
- Palimony information: In the nature of alimony between divorced persons, palimony is an award of periodic money payments made by a court from one person to another after they have lived together, or cohabitated, for a period of time and dependence exists.
- Legal Terms - Par Value
- Par Value information: The face value, or issue value, of stock or security.
- Legal Terms - Paralegal
- Paralegal information: A person qualified by education, training or experience, to perform substantive legal work involving knowledge of legal concepts.
- Legal Terms - Partition
- Partition information: In real property issues, this is a civil action brought by one co-tenant against another co-tenant for a judicial determination of interests and an order to divide their interests in the co-owned property and for compensation…
- Legal Terms - Party
- Party information: A litigant, or a person involved as a principal in a lawsuit.
- Legal Terms - Patent and Trademark Office
- Patent and Trademark Office information: Agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce charged with examining patent and copyright applications and ultimately issues patents and registers trademarks.
- Legal Terms - Patent Pending
- Patent Pending information: This is the state of the patent during the time the Department of Commerce is considering whether to approve the application and issue a patent. Patent protection exists during the period of consideration if the patent is…
- Legal Terms - Payroll Taxes
- Payroll Taxes Information: In order to guarantee individuals have money to pay their taxes when they are actually due, and to avoid back tax and tax penalty problems, the federal tax code provides that employers can deduct from wages and salary due the…
- Legal Terms - Pecuniary
- Pecuniary information: Money or relating to money. A person with a money interest in a fund of some type may be said to have a pecuniary interest. Profit is a pecuniary gain.
- Legal Terms - Pension
- Pension information: Periodic payments made after retirement from an occupation.
- Legal Terms - Peremptory Challenge
- Peremptory Challenge information: The automatically allowed striking of a few prospective jurors during the jury selection process. Both sides get the same number. Strikes after all peremptory challenges must then be for cause.
- Legal Terms - Performance
- Performance information: In contract law, performance occurs when the specific contractual duty or obligation is complete and futher performance is no longer required.
- Legal Terms - Perjury
- Perjury information: The crime of lying under oath. Specifically, to be guilty, the lie must be on a material issue in the case the false testimony is offered on.
- Legal Terms - Permanent Resident
- Permanent Resident information: An immigration status that allows a person to live permanently in the US and to travel in and out of the country without a visa, to work at any job, and to accumulate time toward qualifying for US citizenship.
- Legal Terms - Personal Injury
- Personal Injury information: The area of civil law practice that deals with injuries to persons.
- Legal Terms - Personal Property
- Personal Property information: Tangible property, things, not land.
- Legal Terms - Personal Representative
- Personal Representative information: The person or entity that is charged by the court with managing a decedent's estate.
- Legal Terms - Personalty
- Personalty information: This is another word for personal property. The opposite of realty.
- Legal Terms - Petition
- Petition information: The initial pleading by the claimant in a civil case. This document is filed with the court and served by summons on the defendant, who must respond by filing an answer within the time allowed.
- Legal Terms - Plagiarism
- Plagiarism information: Using the ideas or words of another author without payment, authorization, or permission. Presenting the written work of another as your own.
- Legal Terms - Plea
- Plea information: The response of a criminal to a charge, such as guilty or not guilty. A plea is also an averment, or statement made to the court seeking relief. A plea is a request or a response.
- Legal Terms - Pleading
- Pleading information: Term refers to the paper filed with the court in a case. The initial pleading is the petition in a civil case and the responsive pleading is the answer. Pleading is generally governed by detailed court rule in most jurisdictions. A…
- Legal Terms - Points
- Points information: In real estate law, especially as it relates to finance of real estate transactions, points are charges paid by a borrower for taking out a loan, usually in increments or one percent per point. The points are then amortized over the life…
- Legal Terms - Pour Over Will
- Pour Over Will information: A provision is a will that directs the destiny of assets after death, should they come to exist. These are common in trusts.
- Legal Terms - Power Coupled With an Interest
- Power Coupled With an Interest information: A power granted in an instrument that grants to the donee an interest in the property together with a power to do some act with respect to the granted property for the benefit of another. This power is irrevocable…
- Legal Terms - Power of Appointment
- Power of Appointment information: A power granted by the giver or donor of an estate or real property, to the donee, that allows the donee to dispose of the property (or income from the property) at issue, to anyone at all, but not to the donee himself.
- Legal Terms - Power of Appointment Trust
- Power of Appointment Trust information: This refers to the power by which a marital deduction trust is defined. The power of appointment granted to the trustee is limited to the spouse of the donor, and when the time comes the trustee must exercise that…
- Legal Terms - Power of Attorney
- Power of Attorney information: At writing that gives one person the power to act on behalf of another in a specific situation. A power will expire upon incapacity or death.
- Legal Terms - Power of Revocation
- Power of Revocation information: A power granted in an instrument that reserves to the grantee the power to undo the deed or to revoke the legal relation created by the instrument. This is also called a power to revoke.
- Legal Terms - Power of Sale Clause
- Power of Sale Clause information: A power granted in a mortgage or in a deed of trust that authorized the trustee or bank to sell the property involved without having to go to court for permission. This power, or authority, would arise should payments on the…
- Legal Terms - Power to Revoke
- Power to Revoke information: A power granted in an instrument that reserves to the grantee the power to undo the deed or to revoke the legal relation created by the instrument. This is also called a power of revocation.
- Legal Terms - PPO, Preferred Provider Organization
- PPO, Preferred Provider Organization information: A PPO is an organization, or group, of medical practitioners, clinics, hospitals, etc., that by contract have agreed to provide medical services to certain persons defined as insureds, under a health…
- Legal Terms - Pre-Settlement Lawsuit Financing
- Pre-Settlement Lawsuit Financing Information: Pre-Settlement Lawsuit Financing occurs when someone purchases from the claimant a portion of a future recovery or settlement. The portion is generally a defined amount, usually to cover living expenses pending…
- Legal Terms - Precedent
- Precedent information: A ruling on a legal issue, made by an appellate court, that should govern any similar parties faced with the same issue. A precedent is guidance to the lower courts immersed with similar issues.
- Legal Terms - Precious Metals
- Precious Metals Information: Certain valuable metals are traded on the commodity market, usually by certificates of ownership, rather than by movement of the metal itself. Gold Bullion, Silver, Palladium, and Platinum, in addition to certain coinage, are the…
- Legal Terms - Preliminary Injunction
- Preliminary Injunction information: An order requiring a defendant to do or refrain from doing some action the defendant could otherwise do, pending a full hearing or trial trial on the merits of the lawsuit.
- Legal Terms - Presumption of Innocence
- Presumption of Innocence information: Every criminal defendant is presumed to be not guilty of the offense charged and the burden of proof is on the prosecution to show evidence to the contrary. The criminal jury will be instructed on this concept during the…
- Legal Terms - Prima Facia
- Prima Facia information: That level of evidence that proves all essential elements of a claim. You cannot make a prima facia case without sufficient evidence. Literally, the phrase means "on its face."
- Legal Terms - Principal
- Principal information: One who employs or uses an agent is known as the principal. In finance matters, the principal is the amount that is loaned, or the amount upon which interest will apply.
- Legal Terms - Principal Residence
- Principal Residence information: In tax law, the principal residence is defined as the main place where a person actually resides, be it a home, houseboat, condominium, or even a mobile home.
- Legal Terms - Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
- Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) information: An insurance policy that protects the lender should the borrower not pay.
- Legal Terms - Privileged Communication
- Privileged Communication information: A communication between persons having a recognized privilege against disclosure, such as attorney/client, physician/patient, priest/penitent, husband/wife, etc. There are limits on most of these privileges and the scope…
- Legal Terms - Pro Se
- Pro Se information: A litigant that represents himself is said to appear pro se. The old saying is a lawyer that represents himself has an idiot for a client.
- Legal Terms - Probable Cause
- Probable Cause information: Knowledge of facts or circumstances sufficient to allow a reasonably prudent person to believe the suspect committed an offense. This will allow an arrest to be made.
- Legal Terms - Products Liability
- Products Liability information: An area of negligence tort law involving personal injury caused by dangerous products. The danger comes by virtue of a negligent design, negligent manufacture, and negligent labeling. Products may be of any kind, from ladders…
- Legal Terms - Professional Corporations
- Professional Corporations Information: Many states allow certain professional services to be provided under a corporation business form known as the professional corporation. The professional corporation, also called a PC, is a common business form chosen by…
- Legal Terms - Promissory Note
- Promissory Note Information: A promissory note is a writing, or form, by which one party promises to pay another party a certain sum of money in the future. Virtually all promissory notes will contain a provision allowing an interest rate to be charged…
- Legal Terms - Property
- Property information: The right to hold, possess, sell, or otherwise dispose of a thing, tangible or intangible.
- Legal Terms - Prosecute
- Prosecute information: To bring and press a criminal charge through the court against someone.
- Legal Terms - Prosecuting Attorney
- Prosecuting Attorney information: The state's or government's attorney that is charged with bringing and pressing criminal charges through the court system.
- Legal Terms - Provocation
- Provocation information: The cause of a response, that may justify the action taken sufficient to be a defense to a charge.
- Legal Terms - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board PCAOB
- Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, PCAOB information: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. This board…
- Legal Terms - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, PCAOB
- Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, PCAOB information: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, was created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. This board…
- Legal Terms - Public Defender
- Public Defender information: An attorney hired and paid by the state to defend an indigent criminal defendant.
- Legal Terms - Public Domain
- Public Domain information: A creation, usually intellectual or artistic, that is no longer subject to copyright protection, is said to be in the public domain and may be used or copied at will.
- Legal Terms - Punitive Damages
- Punitive Damages information: Damages that are meant to punish the defendant, and to deter the defendant and others similarly situated from committing the same wrong. Punitive damages are awarded in some civil cases where the actions are intentionally done…
- Legal Terms - Rainmaker
- Rainmaker information: One that gets credit for bringing in new business or clients to a law firm is known as a rainmaker.
- Legal Terms - Rape
- Rape information: Unlawful sexual intercourse with a female, against her will.
- Legal Terms - Real Estate
- Real Estate information: A brand or class of property consisting of land and buildings.