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Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.

Eavesdropping

The act of secretly listening to the private conversation of others without their consent. Cf. BUGGING; WIRETAPPING.

FOB shipping

A mercantile term denoting that the seller is required to bear the risk of placing the goods on a carrier.

Federal Kidnapping Act

A federal law punishing kidnapping for ransom or reward when the victim is transported interstate or internationally. ( The law presumes that a victim has been transported in violation of the law if the victim is not released within 24 hours. 18 USCA § 1201. - Also termed Lindbergh Act "The Federal Kidnapping Act was passed in 1932 to close a dangerous loophole between state and federal law. At that time, marauding bands of kidnappers were preying upon the wealthy with ruthless abandon, seizing their victims for ransom while operating outside the reach of existing state laws. Knowing that authorities in the victim's home state were powerless once a hostage was transported across state lines, the criminals would kidnap their target in one state, then move quickly to the next. In response, Congress made kidnapping a federal crime when the victim was moved from one state to another, and comprehensive language was used to cover every possible variety of kidnapping followed by interstate transportation." 1 Am. Jur. 2d Abduction and Kidnapping § 14, at 185 (1994).

Kidnapping

The crime of seizing and taking away a person by force or fraud, often with a demand for ransom. - Also termed (archaically) manstealing. "At early common law, kidnapping required a forcible asportation of the victim to another country. Under modern statutes, the asportation need not be this extensive." Arnold H. Loewy, Criminal Law in a Nutshell 64 (2d ed. 1987).

Lapping

An embezzlement technique by which an employee takes funds from one customer's accounts receivable and covers it by using a second customer's payment to pay the first account, then a third customer's payment to pay the second account, and so on.

Merchant Shipping Acts

English statutes to improve shipping conditions by, among other things, vesting the superintendence of merchant shipping in the board of trade. merchet (mar-chet). See MARCHET.

PPI

abbr. POLICY PROOF OF INTEREST.

Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act

A federal law, enacted in 1980, providing a penalty for child-kidnapping by a no custodial parent and requiring a state to recognize and enforce a child-custody order rendered by a court of another state. 28 USCA § 1738A; 42 USCA §§ 654, 655, 663. - Abbr. PKPA. Cf. UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURISDICTION ACT.

Sharecropping

An agricultural arrangement in which a landowner leases land and equipment to a tenant who, in turn, gives the landlord a portion of the crop as rent. - sharecropper, n. shared-appreciation mortgage See MORTGAGE.

Tapping

n. See WIRETAPPING.

Whipping

n. A method of corporal punishment formerly used in England and a few American states, consisting of inflicting long welts on the skin, esp. with a whip.

Whitecapping

The criminal act of threatening a person - usu. a member of a minority group - with violence in an effort to compel the person either to move away or to stop engaging in a certain business or occupation. ( White capping statutes were originally enacted to curtail the activities of the Ku Klux Klan.

Wiretapping

, n. Electronic or mechanical eavesdropping, usu. done by law-enforcement officers under court order, to listen to private conversations. ( Wiretapping is regulated by federal and state law. - wiretap, ub. - wire. tap, n. - Often shortened to tapping. See BUGGING; EAVESDROPPING. Cf. PEN REGISTER.

aggravated kidnapping

Kidnapping accompanied by some aggravating factor (such as a demand for ransom or injury of the victim).

aggravated kidnapping.

see kidnapping,

bid shopping

A general contractor's effort -after being awarded a contract - to reduce its own costs by finding a subcontractor that will submit a lower bid than that used in calculating the total contract price. 0 If a lower bid is secured, the general contractor will receive a windfall profit because the savings are usu. not passed on to the property owner. The subcontractor whose bid is used in the initial proposal can seek to avoid bid shopping by insisting that it be irrevocably named in the contract as the project's subcontractor.

child-kidnapping

The kidnapping of a child, often without the element of force or fraud (as when someone walks off with another's baby stroller). - Also termed child-stealing; baby-snatching.

double-dipping

n. An act of seeking or accepting essentially the same benefit twice, either from the same source or from two different sources, as in simultaneously accepting retirement and unemployment benefits. - doubledipper, n.

forum-shopping

The practice of choosing the most favorable jurisdiction or court in which a claim might be heard. ( A plaintiff might engage in forum-shopping, for example, by filing suit in a jurisdiction with a reputation for high jury awards or by filing several similar suits and keeping the one with the preferred judge. Cf. JUDGE-SHOPPING.

forum-shopping clause

See FORUM-SELECTION CLAUSE.

generation-skipping tax

A tax on a property transfer that skips a generation. 0 The tax limits the use of generation-skipping techniques as a means of avoiding estate taxes.

generation-skipping transfer

A conveyance of assets to a person more than one generation removed from the transferor, that is, a skip person. 0 For example, a conveyance either directly or in trust from a grandparent to a grandchild is a generation-skipping transfer subject to a generation-skipping transfer tax. IRC (26 USCA) §§ 2601-2663. See generation skipping transfer tax under TAX; generationskipping trust under TRUST; SKIP PERSON.

generation-skipping transfer tax

A gift or estate tax imposed on a generation-skipping transfer or a generation-skipping trust. - Also termed generation-skipping tax; transfer tax. IRC (26 USCA) §§ 2601-2663. See DIRECT SHIP; GENERATION-SHIPPING TRANSFER; generation-skipping trust under TRUST; TAXABLE DISTRIBUTION; TAXABLE TERMINATION.

generation-skipping trust

See TRUST.

generationskipping transfer tax

under TAX; SKIP PERSON.

happiness, right to pursue.

The constitutional right to pursue any lawful business or activity - in any manner not inconsistent with the equal rights of others - that might yield the highest enjoyment, increase one's prosperity, or allow the development of one's faculties.

judge-shopping

The practice of filing several lawsuits asserting the same claims - in a court or a district with multiple judges - with the hope of having one of the lawsuits assigned to a favorable judge and to nonsuit or voluntarily dismiss the others. Cf. FORUM-SHOPPING.

law of shipping

The part of maritime law relating to the building, equipping, registering, owning, inspecting, transporting, and employing of ships, along with the laws applicable to shipmasters, agents, crews, and cargoes; the maritime law relating to ships. - Also termed shipping law. See MARITIME LAW; JONES ACT.

lien-stripping

Bankruptcy. The practice of splitting a mortgagee's secured claim into secured and unsecured components and reducing the claim to the market value of the debtor's residence, thereby allowing the debtor to modify the terms of the mortgage and reduce the amount of the debt. ( The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited lien-stripping in all Chapter 7 cases (Nobelman v. American Savs. Bank, 508 U.S. 324, 113 S.Ct. 2106 (1993)) and in Chapter 13 cases involving a debtor's principal residence (Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410, 112 S.Ct. 773 (1992)), and the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 modified the Bankruptcy Code to prohibit lien-stripping in Chapter 11 cases involving an individual's principal residence.

oppignorate

, vb. Archaic. To pawn or pledge. - Also spelled oppignerate. Cf. PIGNORATE.

overlapping jurisdiction

See concurrent jurisdiction.

panel-shopping.

The practice of choosing the most favorable group of judges to hear an appeal.

parental kidnapping

The kidnapping of a child by one parent in violation of the other parent's custody or visitation rights.

pursuit of happiness

The principle - announced in the Declaration of Independence -that a person should be allowed to pursue the person's desires (esp. in regard to an occupation) without unjustified interference by the government.

shipping articles

Maritime law. A document (provided by a master of a vessel to the mariners) detailing voyage information, such as the voyage term, the number of crew, and the wage rates. 46 USCA § 10302.

shipping document

Any paper that covers a shipment in trade, such as a bill of lading or letter of credit.

shipping law

See LAW OF SHIPPING.

shipping order

A copy of the shipper's instructions to a carrier regarding the disposition of goods to be transported.

simple kidnapping

Kidnapping not accompanied by an aggravating factor.

till-tapping

Slang. Theft of money from a cash register.