Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Assignment of dower
The act of setting apart a widow's share of her deceased husband's real property.
Averaging down
securities. An investment strategy in which shares in the same company are purchased at successively lower prices to achieve a lower average cost than the first purchase.
Dow
See DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE.
Dow Jones Industrial Average.
A stock-market-performance indicator that consists of the price movements in the stocks of 30 leading industrial companies in the United States. -Abbr. DJIA. - Often shortened to Dow. -Also termed Dow Jones Average.
Dowment
See DOWER.
Downside
Securities. A period of declining stock prices.
Downsizing
Reducing the number of employees, usu. to decrease labor costs and to increase efficiency. downstream merger. See MERGER. down trend. See DOWNSIDE TREND.
Dowress
Archaic. 1. A woman legally entitled to dower. 2. A tenant in dower. - Also spelled doweress.
Endow
ub. 1. To give money or property to, esp. as a source of continuing or permanent income. 2. Hist. To provide (a woman) with a dower.
Landowner
One who owns land. land patent. See PATENT (2;
Lockdown
The temporary confinement of prisoners in their cells during a state of heightened alert caused by an escape, riot, or other emergency.
Markdown
A reduction in a selling price.
Paydown
A loan payment in an amount less than the total loan principal.
Shutdown
A cessation of work production, esp. in a factory.
Slowdown
An organized effort by workers to decrease production to pressure the employer to take some desired action.
Widow
, n. A woman whose husband has died and who has not remarried.
Widower
A man whose wife has died and who has not remarried.
admeasurement of dower.
Hist. A writ to recover property from a widow who held more than she was entitled to. - Also termed admensuratione dotis.
ancient-windows doctrine
see ancientlights doctrine.
buy-down
n. Money paid by the buyer of a house to reduce the mortgage-interest payments.
consummate dower
A wife's interest in her deceased husband's estate until that interest is legally assigned to her.
cramdown
n. Court confirmation of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan despite the opposition of certain creditors. 0 Under the Bankruptcy Code, a court may confirm a plan - even if it has not been accepted by all classes of creditors - if the plan (1) has been accepted by at least one impaired class, (2) does not discriminate unfairly, and (3) is fair and equitable. 11 USCA ยง 1129(b). - cram down, vb. See IMPAIRMENT.
dowable
adj. 1. Capable of being endowed <the widow received the dowable estate. 2. Capable of receiving dower <the woman was dowable of the estate>.
dowager
A widow holding property or title - esp. a life estate in real property -received from her deceased husband.
dowager-queen
The widow of the king of England. - Also termed queen dowager; queen mother."A queen dowager is the widow of the king, and as such enjoys most of the privileges belonging to her as queen consort. But it is not high treason to conspire her death; or to violate her chastity ... because the succession to the crown is not thereby endangered. Yet still, ... no man can marry a queen dowager without special licence from the king, on pain of forfeiting his lands and goods .... A queen dowager, when married again to a subject, doth not lose her regal dignity, as peeresses dowager do their peerage when they marry commoners." 1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 217 (1765).
dower
At common law, the right of a wife, upon her husband's death, to a life estate in one-third of the land that he owned in fee. 0 With few exceptions, the wife could not be deprived of dower by any transfer made by her husband during his lifetime. Although most states have abolished dower, many states retaining the concept have expanded the wife's share to a life estate in all the land that her husband owned in fee. - Also termed dowment. Cf. CURTESY.
dower ad ostium ecclesiae
n. [Law Latin "dower at the church door"] Hist. An endowment of dower made by a man to his wife at the church door or porch, usu. as part of the marriage ceremony. "DOWER AD OSTIUM ECCLESIAE . . . . This appears to have been the original English dower . . . . It was formerly the most usual species of dower, and, though latterly fallen into disuse, was not abolished until the statute of 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 105, s. 13with all my worldly goods I thee endow.'" 1 Alexander M. Burrill, A Law Dictionary and Glossary 520 (2d ed. 1867).
dower by custom
Hist. Dower that is determined by custom rather than the general law."Dower by .. . custom; as that the wife shall have half the husband's lands, or in some places the whole, and in some only a quarter." 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 132 (1766).
dower by the common law
The regular dower, consisting of a life interest in onethird of the lands that the husband held in fee. - Also termed dos rationabilis.
dower ex assensu patris
n. [Law Latin "dower by the father's assent"] Hist. A type of dower ad ostium ecclesiae made while the husband's father is alive and consents to the endowment to his son's wife.
dowle stones
Rocks used as land boundaries.
down market
See bear market under MARKET.
down payment
The portion of a purchase price paid in cash (or its equivalent) at the time the sale agreement is executed. Cf. BIND. ER (2); EARNEST MONEY.
down reversal
Securities. A sudden marketprice decline after a rising trend. ( The term applies to the early stage of the decline; if the decline continues for several months, it is termed a bear market. Also termed correction; market correction.
downside risk
Securities. A likely risk that stock prices will drop.
downside trend
Securities. The portion of the market cycle that shows declining stock prices. - Also termed down trend.
downstream merger
A merger of a parent corporation into its subsidiary.
downward departure
In the federal sentencing guidelines, a court's imposition of a sentence more lenient than the standard guidelines propose, as when the court concludes that a criminal's history is less serious than it appears.
dowry
Archaic. The money, goods, or property that a woman brings to her husband in marriage. - Also termed marriage portion; maritagium (mar-a-tay-jee-am).
drop-down clause
An insurance-policy provision requiring an excess insurer to provide coverage to the insured even though the underlying coverage has not been exhausted, usu. because the underlying insurers are insolvent.
election dower
A name sometimes given to a law specifying a widow's statutory share of her deceased husband's estate if she chooses to reject her share under a will. See RIGHT OF ELECTION.
endowment insurance
A type of life insurance that is payable either to the insured at the end of the policy period or to the insured's beneficiary if the insured dies before the period ends.
endowment policy
A life-insurance policy payable at the end of a specified period, even if the insured survives that period, or upon the insured's death if death occurs before the end of the period.
endowment.
1. A gift of money or property to an institution (such as a university) for a specific purpose, esp. one in which the principal is kept intact indefinitely and only the interest income from that principal is used. 2. Hist. The assigning or giving of a dower to a woman.
fine for endowment
Hist. A fee paid by a widow of a tenant to the tenant's lord. ( If not paid, the widow could not be endowed of her husband's land.
hand down
vb. To announce or file an opinion in a case. ( The term was originally used in connection with an appellate-court opinion sent to the court below; it was later expanded to include any decision by a court on a case or point under consideration.
inchoate dower
A wife's interest in her husband's estate while both are living. doweress. See DOWRESS.
irremediable breakdown of the marriage
See IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE.
irretrievable breakdown of the marriage
A ground for divorce that is based on incompatibility between marriage partners and that is used in many states as the sole ground of nofault divorce. - Also termed irretrievable breakdown; irremediable breakdown of the marriage. Cf. IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES.
ne unques seine que dower
n. [Law French "never seised of a dowable estate"] Hist. In a dower action, the tenant's general denial (plea of gen-eral issue) that the widow's husband was never seised of a dowable estate of inheritance.