Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Assets in hand
the portion of an estate held by an executor or administrator for the payment of debts chargeable to the executor or administrator. - also termed assets entre main; assets entre mains.
Hand
n. 1. A person's handwriting <a holographic will must be in the testator's hand>. 2. An instrumental part <he had a hand in the crime>. 3. One who performs some work or labor <Hickory was one of the Gales' hired hands>. 4. (usu. pl.) Possession <the cocaine was now in the hands of the police>. 5. Assistance <the carpenter lent a hand to the project. 6. A measure of length equal to four inches, used in measuring the height of horses <the pony stood ten hands tall>. 7. Hist. An oath < he gave his hand on the matter>. 8. One or two sides or aspects of an issue or argument <on the one hand we can argue for imprisonment, on the other for leniency>.
Hand formula.
A balancing test for determining whether conduct has created an unreasonable risk of harm, first formulated by Judge Learned Hand in United States v. Carroll Towing Co., 159 F.2d 169 (2d Cir. 1947). ( Under this test, an actor is negligent if the burden of taking adequate precautions against the harm is outweighed by the probable gravity of the harm multiplied by the probability that the harm will occur.
Handhabend
n. [fr. Old English aet haebbendre handa "at or with a having hand"] Hist. 1. The bearing of stolen goods in hand or about the person. Cf. BACKBEREND. 2. A thief or another person caught carrying stolen goods. 3. Jurisdiction to try a person caught carrying stolen goods. - Also spelled hand-habende.
Merchandise Marks Acts
Hist. An 1887 statute (50 & 51 Vict., ch. 28) making it a misdemeanor to fraudulently mark merchandise for sale or to sell merchandise so marked. ( This statute was repealed in 1968.
clean-hands doctrine
The principle that a party cannot seek equitable relief or assert an equitable defense if that party has violated an equitable principle, such as good faith. * Such a party is described as having "unclean hands." - Also termed unclean-hands doctrine.
court hand
Hist. A script style used by English court clerks, the words being abbreviated and contracted according to a set of common principles for maintaining brevity and uniformity. This type of writing, along with the use of Latin (except for technical or untranslatable phrases), was banned early in the 18th century in an effort to make court records more accessible to nonlawyers. "[T]echnical Latin continued in use from the time of its first introduction, till the subversion of our ancient constitution under Cromwell; when, among many other innovations in the law, some for the better and some for the worse, the language of our records was altered and turned into English. But, at the restoration of king Charles, this novelty was no longer countenanced; the practicers finding it very difficult to express themselves so concisely or significantly in any other language but the Latin. And thus it continued without any sensible inconvenience till about the year 1730, when it was again thought proper that the proceedings at law should be done into English, and it was accordingly so ordered by statute 4 Geo. II. c. 26. . . . What is said of the alteration of language by the statute 4 Geo. II. c. 26 will hold equally strong with respect to the prohibition of using the ancient immutable court hand in writing the records of other legal proceedings; whereby the reading of any record that is forty years old is now become the object of science, and calls for the help of an antiquarian." 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 322-23 (1768).
deadhand control
The use of executory interests that vest at some indefinite and remote time in the future to restrict alienability and to ensure that property remains in the hands of a particular family or organization. ( The rule against perpetuities restricts this activity, which is sometimes referred to either as the power of the dead hand (mortua manus) or as trying to retain property in mortua manu. See MORTMAIN.
firsthand knowledge
See personal knowledge under KNOWLEDGE.
forehand rent
Hist. 1. A premium paid by the tenant on the making of a lease, esp. on the renewal of a lease by an ecclesiastical corporation. 2. Generally, rent payable before a lease begins.
golden handcuffs.
Remuneration set at such a high level that the employee earning it cannot leave the firm or company and receive commensurate pay elsewhere. ( As a result, the employee often stays in the position even if it is otherwise unrewarding or unpleasant.
golden handshake
An employee dismissal that includes generous compensation.
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.
hand money.
Money paid in hand to bind a bargain; earnest money paid in cash. See EARNEST MONEY.
hand note
A note that is secured by a collateral note.
hand note.
See NOTE (1)
hand up
vb. (Of a grand jury) to deliver an indictment to a criminal court.
hand-fasting.
Hist. A betrothal; marrying by clasping another's hand and agreeing to live together as husband and wife.
handbill.
A written or printed notice displayed, handed out, or posted, usu. to inform interested people of an event or of something to be done. ( Posting and distribution of handbills is regulated by ordinance or statute in most localities.
handhabend
adj. Hist. (Of a thief) caught in possession of a stolen item.
hands-off agreement.
A noncompete contractual provision between an employer and a former employee prohibiting the employee from using information learned during his or her employment to divert or to steal customers from the former employer.
handsale.
Hist. A sale memorialized by shaking hands. ( Over time, handsale also came to refer to the earnest money given immediately after the handshake. In some northern European countries, shaking hands was necessary to bind a bargain. This custom sometimes persists for oral contracts. The Latin phrase for handsale was venditio per mutuarn manuum complexionem ("a sale by the mutual joining of hands"). - Also spelled handsel.
handwriting.
Evidence. 1. A person's chirography; the cast or form of writing peculiar to a person, including the size, shape, and style of letters, and whatever gives individuality to one's writing. 2. Something written by hand; a writing specimen. ( Non expert opinion about the genuineness of handwriting, based on familiarity not acquired for litigation purposes, can authenticate a document. Fed. R. Evid. 901(b)(2).
law-hand
Hist. An outmoded rococo method of handwriting once used by scribes in preparing legal documents.
left-handed marriage
See morganatic marriage.
merchandise
Goods that are bought and sold in business; commercial wares.
merchandise broker
One who negotiates the sale of merchandise without possessing it. * A merchandise broker is an agent with very limited powers.
non merchandizanda victualia
n. [Law Latin "not to merchandise victuals"] Hist. A writ directing justices of assize to investigate and punish town magistrates who retailed victuals while in office.
note of hand
See promissory note.
secondhand evidence
See HEARSAY.
shifting stock of merchandise
Merchandise inventory subject to change by purchases and sales in the course of trade.
unclean-hands doctrine
See CLEAN-HANDS DOCTRINE.
unhandsome dealing
Archaic. See SHARP PRAc. TICE.
with strong hand
With force. ( In common law pleading, this term implies a degree of criminal force, esp. as used in forcible-entry statutes.