Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

A federal agency that carries out the nonjudicial business of the federal courts.The Administrative Office collects statistics on the courts, supervises the administrative personnel, disburses the payroll, and performs other similar functions.

Arches court of canterbury

see court of arches.

Arm of the sea

the portion of a river or bay in which the tide ebbs and flows. ( it may extend as far into the interior as the water of the river is propelled backward by the tide.

Arm of the state

an entity created by a state and operating as an alter ego or instrumentality of the state, such as a state university or a state department of transportation. ( the 11th amendment of the u.s. constitution generally bars suits in federal court by individuals against states. The amendment has been interpreted as protecting arms of the state as well as the state itself. Courts usu. Find an entity to be an arm of the state if it operates without substantial autonomy from state regulation. For example, cities and local school districts have been held not to be arms of the state.

Articles of the clergy

hist. A statute enacted in 1315 to settle the jurisdictions of the ecclesiastical and temporal courts. - also termed articuli cleri.

Articles of the eyre

(air). Hist. A series of questions put to the members of a community by the justices in eyre to discover what breaches of the law had occurred during the court's absence. ( the inquiry enabled the justices to fine criminal behavior and to raise revenue for the crown through the levying of penalties. See eyre. C. Chapiter.

Articles of the peace

english law. A sworn complaint in which a person alleges that a named person poses a threat to the complainant's person, family, or property.

As their interests may appear

see atima.

Assayer of the king

hist. An officer of the royal mint, appointed by st. 2 hen. 6, ch. 12, who receives and tests bullion taken in for coining. - also termed assayator regis.

Assignable, adj. That can be assigned; transferable from one person to another, so that the transferee has the same rights as the transferor had <assignable right>. Cf. Negotiable. Assignable lease

see lease.

Assignment for the benefit of creditors

assignment of a debtor's property to another person in trust so as to consolidate and liquidate the debtor's assets for payment to creditors, any surplus being returned to the debtor this procedure serves as a state-law substitute for federal bankruptcy proceedings. The debtor is not discharged from unpaid debts by this procedure since creditors do not agree to any discharge.

Assumption of the risk

torts. 1. The act or an instance of a prospective plaintiff's taking on the risk of loss, injury, or damage <the skydiver's assumption of the risk>. - also termed assumption of risk."[assumption of risk] has been a subject of much controversy, and has been surrounded by much confusion, because 'assumption of risk' has been used by the courts in several different senses, which traditionally have been lumped together under the one name, often without realizing that any differences exist. There are even courts which have limited the use of the term 'assumption of risk' to cases in which the parties stand in the relation of master and servant, or at least some other contractual relation; but they have been compelled to invent other names for other cases, such as 'incurred risk,' or 'volenti non fit injuria.' this appears to be largely a distinction without a difference; and most courts have made general use of the one term .... In its most basic sense, assumption of risk means that the plaintiff, in advance, has given his express consent to relieve the defendant of an obligation of conduct toward him, and to take his chances of injury from a known risk arising from what the defendant is to do or leave undone." w. Page keeton et al., the lava of torts $ 68, at 480-81 (5th ed. 1984) 2. The principle that one who has taken on oneself the risk of loss, injury, or damage consequently cannot maintain an action against the party having caused the loss <assumption of the risk was not a valid defense>. ( assumption of the risk was originally an affirmative defense, but in most jurisdictions it has now been wholly or largely subsumed by the doctrines of contributory or comparative negligence. The risk assumed by the person was often termed an incurred risks

At the bar.

see at bar. At the courthouse door. (of the posting of a notice of judicial sale, etc.) On the courthouse door, or in direct proximity to the door, as on a bulletin board that is located just outside the door and that is regularly used for the posting of legal notices. A some statutes may specify that the notice be actually posted on the door. See posting (5).

At-the-market price.

see price,

Attache

n. A person who serves as a technical adviser to an embasy.

Attachment. 1. The seizing of a person's property to secure a judgment or to be sold in satisfaction of a judgment. - also termed (in civil law) provisional seizure. Cf. Garnishment; sequestration (1)

Authentic act

civil law. 1. A writing signed before a notary public or other public officer. 2. A certified copy of a writing.

Authenticate

vb. 1. To prove the genuineness of (a thing). 2. To render authoritative or au-thentic, as by attestation or other legal formality. See ucc § 9-102(a)(5).

Authentication

n. 1. Broadly, the act of proving that something (as a document) is true or genuine, esp. So that it may be admitted as evidence; the condition of being so proved < authentication of the handwriting>. 2. Specif., the assent to or adoption of a writing as one's own.

Avoucher

hist. A tenant's calling upon a warrantor of title to the land to help the tenant defend the title.

Baby act, pleading the. Slang

asserting a person's infancy as a defense to a contract claim made by a minor.

Bachelor

1. An unmarried man. 2. The usual title of the first degree that is conferred on a university graduate. 3. English law. A member of one of the orders of chivalry, such as the order of the bath. - also termed (in sense 3) knight bachelor.

Bachelor of laws

see ll.b.

Bad check

see check.

Bad-man theory

the jurisprudential doctrine or belief that a bad person's view of the law represents the best test of what the law actually is because that person will carefully calculate precisely what the rules allow and operate up to the rules' s limits (

Bail to the action

hist. A surety for a civil defendant arrested by a mesne process (i.e., a process issued during the lawsuit).( if the defendant lost the lawsuit, the bail to the action was bound either to pay the judgment or to surrender the defendant into custody. -also termed bail above; special bail. Cc bail to the sheriff.

Bail to the sheriff

see bail (3).

Balance sheet

a statement of an entity's current financial position, disclosing the value of the entity's assets, liabilities, and owners' equity. - also termed statement of financial condition; statement of condition; statement of financial position. Cf. Income statement.

Balance-sheet insolvency

see insolvency.

Balance-sheet test

see balance-sheet insolvency under insolvency.

Bargain theory of consideration.

the theory that a promise in exchange for a promise is sufficient consideration for a contract. ( this theory underlies all bilateral contracts. See bilateral contract under contract. "we saw earlier that classical contract theory tended to associate the doctrine of consideration with the concept of bargain. The emphasis of classical law shifted away from actual benefits and detriments to the mutual promises which constitute a wholly executory contract. American lawyers developed from this trend a bargain theory of consideration' and similarly in english law a more modern basis for the doctrine of consideration was found by some lawyers in the notion that a contract is a bargain in which the consideration is the price of the bargain. Allied to this price' of the bargain." p.s. atiyah, an introduction to the law of contract 119 (3d ed. 1981)

Barons of the exchequer

hist. The six judges of the court of exchequer. ( after the 1873 transfer of the court's jurisdiction to the high court of justice, the judges were known as justices of the high court. - also termed barones scaccarii. See court of exchequer.

Before the fact.

prior to an event of legal significance.

Before-and-after theory.

antitrust. A method of determining damages for lost profits (and sometimes overcharges), whereby the plaintiffs profits are examined before, during, and after the violation to estimate the reduction in profits due to the defendant's violation. - also termed before-rind-after method. Cf. Yardstick theory; market-share theory."in its simplest form, the (before-and-after] theory looks at the plaintiff's net profits before and after the injury period, discounts all dollars to their present value, and gives the plaintiff a sum that, before trebling, will bring its earnings during the injury period up to the same average level as its earnings during the noninjury periods." herbert hovenkamp, economics and federal antitrust law § 16.7, at 450 (1985).

Bellwether stock.

see barometer stock under stock.

Below-the-line

adj. (of a deduction) taken after calculating adjusted gross income and before calculating taxable income. ( examples of below-the-line deductions are medical payments and local taxes. Cf. Above-the-line.

Bencher.

a governing officer of an english inn of court; one of the masters of the

Beneficiary heir

see heir.

Black Book of the Exchequer.

Hist. A record book containing treaties, conventions, charters. papal bulls, and other English state document. It dates from the 13th century. - Also termed Liber Niger Paruus.

Borrowhead

See BORSHOLDER.

Bretts and Scotts, Laws of the.

A system of laws used by the Celtic tribes of Scotland until the beginning of the 14th century, when Edward I of England abolished those laws.

Cestuy que doit inheriter al Pere doit inheriter al fils

The person who should have inherited from the father should also inherit from the son.

Chairman of Committees of the Whole House

The member of Parliament who presides over the House of Commons when it is sitting in committee.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

In England, a government minister who controls revenue and expenditures. ( Formerly, the Chancellor sat in the Court of Exchequer.

Cheat

vb. To defraud; to practice deception. cheater. 1. A person who cheats. 2. ESCHEATOR.

Check

ub. 1. To control or restrain <handcuffs checked the defendant's movement>. 2. To verify or audit <an accountant checked the invoices>. 3. To investigate <the police checked up on the suspect>.

Chevantia

[Law French] Hist. A loan of money.

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

Hist. Formerly, the presiding judge in the Court of Common Pleas. 0 The Judicature Act of 1875 merged the Common Pleas Division into the Queen's Bench Division, at which time the Lord Chief Justice assumed the office of the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Cf. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

Circuity of action is, when an action is rightfully brought for a duty, but yet about the bush, as it were, for that it might as well have been otherwise answered and determined, and the suit saved: a

Clerk of the Crown in Chancery

The head of the permanent staff of the Crown Office in Chancery (of the Central Office), responsible for reading the title of Bills in the House of Lords, sending out writs of summons to peers, and issuing election writs.