Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Arms law of

1. Rules concerning conditions of war, such as the treatment of prisoners. 2. The law relating to the right to bear arms. 3. The law relating to armorial bearings, i.e., coats of arms granted by the college of heralds in england, lord lyon king of arms in scotland, and corresponding officers in some other countries.

Association of american law schools

an organization of law schools that have each graduated at least three annual classes of students. - abbr. Aals.

Atilian law.

See lex atilia.

Atinian law

see lex atinia.

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)

Attorney-at-law.

see attorney (2)

Autonomic law

the type of enacted law that has its source in various forms of subordinate and restricted legislative authority possessed by private persons and bodies of persons. 0 examples are corporate bylaws, university regulations, and the rules of the international monetary fund.

Bachelor of laws

see ll.b.

Blackstone lawyer.

Slang. 1. A lawyer with a broad knowledge of blackletter principles. 2. A self-educated lawyer (esp. in antebellum America) whose legal training consists primarily of reading Blackstone's Commentaries.

Brehon law

Hist. The ancient system of law in Ireland at the time of its conquest by Henry II. ( This law was formally abolished in 1366. Sometimes spelled Brehon Law. "[T]he Irish were governed by what they called the Brehon law, so stiled from the Irish name of judges, who were denominated Brehons. But king John in the twelfth year of his reign went into Ireland, and carried over with him many able sages of the law; and there by his letters patent, in right of the dominion of conquest, is said to have ordained and established that Ireland should be governed by the laws of England .. .. But to this ordinance many of the Irish were averse to conform, and still stuck to their Brehon law: so that both Henry the third and Edward the first were obliged to renew the injunction .... And yet, even in the reign of queen Elizabeth, the wild natives still kept and preserved their Brehon law ...." 1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 100-01 (1765).

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.

Burlaw

See BYRLAw.

Caselaw

See CASELAW.

Citations, Law of

Roman law. An A.D. 426 decree of Emperor Valentinian listing Papinian, Paul, Gaius, Ulpian, and Modestinus as the only juristic writers who could be cited authoritatively in court. ( If a majority of the writers agreed on an issue, the judge was bound to follow the majority view. The Law of Citations allowed the judge to use discretion only if the writers were equally divided and Papinian (whose view prevailed in a tie) was silent on the issue."In 426 came the famous lax de responsis prudentium -the Law of Citations .... This law lessened the difficulties of the courts in dealing with juristic literature. It excluded a huge mass of conflicting doctrine, the relative value of which had not been

Clawback

n. Money taken back; esp., retrieval or recovery of tax allowances by additional forms of taxation. - claw back, ub.

Comstock law

An 1873 federal statute that tightened rules against mailing "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books or pictures, as well as "any article or thing designed for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortions." ( Because of the intolerance that led to this statute, the law gave rise to an English word roughly equivalent to prudery -namely, comstockery.

Cornelian law

See LEX CORNELIA.

Cyberlaw

The field of law dealing with computers and the Internet, including such issues as intellectual-property rights, freedom of expression, and free access to information.

Danelaw

Hist. 1. A system of rules, introduced by the Danes during their invasions of England primarily in the ninth century and maintained principally in the midland and eastern counties where the invasions occurred. Danelaw was the prevailing law in these regions from the reign of King Edgar to Edward the Confessor, who compiled a uniform law that included some Danelaw components. 2. The counties in England where the Danish law was enforced primarily in the ninth and tenth centuries - Also termed danelage; lex Danorum. "The Danish invasions of the ninth century subjected the eastern parts of the island to new Scandinavian influences. Where the Danes conquered, their 'Danelaw' prevailed. The very word 'law' is believed to have been given to the English language by the Danes." J.H. Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History 3 (3d ed. 1990).

Doctor of Law

See JURIS DOCTOR.

Doctor of Laws

An honorary degree bestowed on one who has achieved great distinction. Cf. JURIS DOCTOR; MASTER OF LAWS.

Doctor of the Science of Law

See DOCTOR OF JURIDICAL SCIENCE.

Duke of York's Laws

A body of laws compiled in 1665 by Governor Nicholls for the more orderly government of the New York colony. The laws were gradually extended to the entire province.

Easelaw

The collection of reported cases that form the body of law within a given jurisdiction. - Also written case law; case-law. - Also termed decisional law; adjudicative law; j urisprudence; organic law.

Enoch Arden law

A statute that grants a divorce or an exemption from liability so that a person can remarry when his or her spouse has been absent without explanation for a specified number of years (usu. five or seven). 0 This type of law is named after a Tennyson poem, in which the eponymous hero, having been shipwrecked for years on a desert island, returns home to find that his wife has remarried. He selflessly conceals his identity from her so that she can remain with her new husband. - Also spelled Enoc Arden law. See presumptive death under DEATH; ABANDONMENT (2).

European law

1. The law of the European Union. 2. More broadly, the law of the European Union, together with the conventions of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights. 3. More broadly still, all the law current in Europe, including the law of European organizations such as the Western European Union, the Benelux Economic Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and all the bilateral and multilateral conventions in effect, as well as European customary law.

Falcidian law

Roman law. A law prescribing that no one could give more than three-fourths of one's property in legacies and that the heirs should receive at least onefourth (the Falcidian portion). ( If the testator violated this law, the heir had the right to deduct proportionally from each legatee as necessary. The law, proposed by the Roman tribune Falcidius, was enacted in 40 B.C. - Also termed lex falcidia. See LEGITIME. "A large number of small legacies might [either] leave nothing for the heir [or] make his part so small as to seem valueless in his eyes. But a Falcidian law, passed in the year 40 B.C., put an end to the whole difficulty. This law secured to the heir a quarter of the net value of the estate; the legatees could obtain only three-quarters: if the legatees named in the will amounted to more than this, they were diminished by proportional reductions .... Few measures have accomplished their purpose more satisfactorily than the Falcidian law, which remained in force through the history of the empire, and holds an important place in the system of Justinian." James Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law 321-22 (1881).

Furian Caninian law

See LEX FURIA CANINIA.

Fusian Caninian law.

See LEX FURIA CANINIA.

Grand Day. English law

1. Hist. One of four holy days on which the courts are not in session. ( Each of the four court terms had a Grand Day. The four Grand Days were Candlemas Day (February 2), Ascension Day (March 25), St. John the Baptist Day (June 24), and All Saints' Day (November 1). The Inns of Court and of Chancery ceremoniously observed each Grand Day. 2. A day in each term on which the Benchers of the Inns of Court host ceremonial dinners in their halls. See BENCHER. Cf TERM

Great Law,

The. Hist. The first code of laws established in Pennsylvania. 0 The Great Law was passed by an assembly in 1682.

Gresham's law.

The principle that inferior products or practices tend to displace superior ones. ( This economic principle is popularly attributed to Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), even though earlier writers such as Oresme and Copernicus discussed it earlier.

Hague Academy of International Law

(hayg). A center for advanced studies in international law, both public and private, aimed at facilitating the comprehensive and impartial examination of problems of international legal relations. ( It was founded in 1923 on the initiative of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Institut de Droit International. - Also termed Academie de Droit International de La Haye.

Halifax law.

1. LYNCH LAW; more broadly, an irrevocable punishment carried out after a summary trial. 2. The summary and unauthorized trial and execution (usu. by decapitation) of a person accused of a crime. 0 This term comes from the parish of Halifax, in England, where - according to custom in the forest of Hardwick - this form of private justice was anciently practiced by the free burghers against people accused of stealing. Thieves could be condemned to death by beheading on market day. The last such case is said to have occurred in 1650. - Also termed gibbet law; Halifax inquest.

Hanse Towns, laws of the.

Hist. The laws of the Hanseatic towns, esp. that of Ldbeck, published in German at Lubeck in 1597 and revised and enlarged in 1614.

Inlaw

ub. Archaic. To place (an offender) under the protection of the law. Cf. OUTLAW (1).

Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts

A program that allows a lawyer or law firm to deposit a client's retained funds into an interest-bearing account that designates the interest payments to charitable, law-related purposes, such as providing legal aid to the poor. ( Almost all states have either a voluntary or mandatory IOLTA program. - Abbr. IOLTA.

International Law Commission

A body crated in 1948 by the United Nations for the purpose of codifying international law. ( Ti-it Commission is composed of experts in international law. It sits at the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva, though its annual meetings are sometimes held elsewhere.

Jim Crow law

Hist. A law enacted or purposely interpreted to discriminate against blacks, such as a law requiring separate restrooms for blacks and whites. ( Jim Crow laws are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.

Laidlaw vacancy

Under the National Labor Relations Act, a genuine opening in an employer's workforce, resulting from the employer's expanding its workforce or discharging a particular employee, or from an employee's resigning or otherwise leaving the employment. ( The opening is required to be offered to striking workers, in order of seniority, after a strike has been resolved. Laidlaw Corp. v. NLRB, 414 F.2d 99 (7th Cir. 1969).

Law

1. The regime that orders human activities and relations through systematic application of the force of politically organized society, or through social pressure, backed by force, in such a society; the legal system <respect and obey the law>. 2. The aggregate of legislation, judicial precedents, and accepted legal principles; the body of authoritative grounds of judicial and administrative action <the law of the land>. 3. The set of rules or principles dealing with a specific area of a legal system <copyright law>. 4. The judicial and administrative process; legal action and proceedings <when settlement negotiations failed, they submitted their dispute to the law>. 5. A statute <Congress passed a law>. - Abbr. L. 6. COMMON LAW <law but not equity>. 7. The legal profession <she spent her entire career in law>. "Some twenty years ago I pointed out two ideas running through definitions of law: one an imperative idea, an idea of a rule laid down by the lawmaking organ of a politically organized society, deriving its force from the authority of the sovereign; and the other a rational or ethical idea, an idea of a rule of right and justice deriving its authority from its intrinsic reasonableness or conformity to ideals of right and merely recognized, not made, by the sovereign." Roscoe Pound, "More About the Nature of Law," in Legal Essays in Tribute to Orrin Kip McMurray at 513, 515 (1935). "All law is the law of a group of individuals or of groups made up of individuals. No one can make a law purely for himself. He may form a resolution, frame an ambition, or adopt a rule, but these are private prescriptions, not laws." Tony Honors, Making Law Bind: Essays Legal and Philosophical 33 (1987). "It will help to distinguish three senses of the word 'law.' The first is law as a distinctive social institution; that is the sense invoked when we ask whether primitive law is really law. The second is law as a collection of sets of propositions - the sets we refer to as antitrust law, the law of torts, the Statute of Frauds, and so on. The third is law as a source of rights, duties, and powers, as in the sentence 'The law forbids the murdering heir to inherit."' Richard A. Posner, The Problems of Jurisprudence 220-21 (1990).

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

A federal agency (part of the Department of Justice) responsible for administering lawenforcement grants under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. - Abbr. LEAA.

Law Enforcement Information Network

A computerized communications system used in some states to document drivers' license records, automobile registrations, wanted persons' files, etc. - Abbr. LEIN.

Law French

The corrupted form of the Norman French language that arose in England in the centuries after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and that was used for several centuries as the primary language of the English legal system; the Anglo-French used in medieval England in judicial proceedings, pleadings, and lawbooks. - Also written law French. - Abbr. L.F. See NORMAN FRENCH. "To the linguist, law French is a corrupt dialect by definition. Anglo-French was in steady decline after 1300. Lawyers such as Fortescue, on the other hand, were probably serious in maintaining that it was the vernacular of France which was deteriorating by comparison with the pristine Norman of the English courts. That Fortescue could make such a claim, while living in France, is in itself a clear demonstration that by the middle of the fifteenth century there was a marked difference between the French of English lawyers and the French of France." J.H. Baker, A Manual of Law French 11 (1979). "Law French refers to the Anglo-Norman patois used in legal documents and all judicial proceedings from the 1260s to the reign of Edward III (1327-1377), and used with frequency in legal literature up to the early 18th century. When first introduced into England, this brand of French was the standard language used in Normandy; by the 1300s, through linguistic isolation, it became a corrupted language - by French standards, at any rate." Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 504-05 (2d ed. 1995). "That Law French was barbarous in its decrepitude does not in the least diminish the value of it to our law when it was full of vitality. It helped to make English law one of the four indigenous systems of the civilized world, for it exactly expressed legal ideas in a technical language which had no precise equivalent." Percy H. Winfield, The Chief Sources of English Legal History 14 (1925).

Law Latin

A corrupted form of Latin formerly used in law and legal documents, including judicial writs, royal charters, and private deeds. ( It primarily consists of a mixture of Latin, French, and English words used in English sentence structures. - Abbr. L.L.; L. Lat. -Also written law Latin "LAW LATIN. A technical kind of Latin, in which the pleadings and proceedings of the English courts were enrolled and recorded from a very early period to the reign of George II The principal peculiarities of this language consist first, in its construction, which is adapted so closely to the English idiom as to answer to it sometimes word for word; and, secondly, in the use of numerous words 'not allowed by grammarians nor having any countenance of Latin,' but framed from the English by merely adding a Latin termination, as murdrum from murder ...." 2 Alexander M. Burrill, A Law Dictionary and Glossary 135 (2d ed. 1867). "Law Latin, sometimes formerly called 'dog Latin,' is the bastardized or debased Latin formerly used in law and legal documents. For the most part, we have escaped its clutches. In 1730, Parliament abolished Law Latin in legal proceedings, but two years later found it necessary to allow Latin phrases that had previously been in common use, such as fieri facias, habeas corpus, ne exeat, and nisi prius. As Blackstone would later say, some Latinisms were 'not capable of an English dress with any degree of seriousness.' 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries 323 (1768)." Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 505 (2d ed. 1995).

Law Lord

A member of the appellate committee of the House of Lords, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the salaried Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, and any peer who holds or has held high judicial office. - Also written law lord.

Law School Admissions Test

A standardized examination purporting to measure the likelihood of success in law school. ( Most American law schools use the results of this examination in admissions decisions. - Abbr. LSAT.

Law Society

A professional organization in England, chartered in 1845, governing the education, practice, and conduct of articled clerks and solicitors. ( A clerk or solicitor must be enrolled with the Law Society to be admitted to the legal profession.

Law Society of Scotland

A professional organization established by statute in 1949, governing the admission, conduct, and practice of solicitors enrolled to practice in Scotland.

Lawbook

A book, usu. a technical one, about the law; esp., a primary legal text such as a statute book or book that reports caselaw. - Also spelled law book.