Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

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

Artifice

a clever plan or idea, esp. One intended to deceive.

Artificer

1. A skilled worker, such as a mechanic or craftsman; an artisan. 2. One who builds or contrives; an inventor.

Artificial condition

see condition (5)

Artificial day

see day.

Artificial force

patents. A natural force so transformed in character or energies by human power that it is something new.

Artificial person

see person.

Artificial presumption.

See presumption of law under presumption

Artificial succession

see succession (4).

Artificial watercourse

see watercourse.

Certificate

n. 1. A document in which a fact is formally attested <death certificate>.face-amount certificate. Securities. 1. A certificate, investment contract, or other security representing an obligation by its issuer to pay a stated or determinable sum, at a fixed or determinable date or dates more than 24 months after the date of issuance, in consideration of the payment of periodic installments of a stated or determinable amount. -Also termed face-amount certificate of the installment type. 2. A security representing a similar obligation on the part of the issuer of a face-amount certificate, the consideration for which is the payment of a single lump sum. - Also termed fully paid face-amount certificate. See 15 USCA § 80a-2(a)(15).periodic-payment-plan certificate. A certificate, investment contract, or other security providing for a series of periodic payments by the holder and representing an undivided interest in certain specified securities or in a unit or fund of securities purchased wholly or partly with the proceeds of those payments. ( The term also includes any security whose issuer is also issuing the certificates described above and whose holder has substantially the same rights and privileges as those holders have upon completing the periodic payments for which the securities provide. See 15 USCA § 80a-2(a)(27).

Certification

n. 1. The act of attesting. 2. The state of having been attested. 3. An attested statement. 4. The writing on the face of a check by which it is certified. 5. A procedure by which a U.S. court of appeals asks the U.S. Supreme Court or the highest state court to review a question of law arising in a case pending before it on which the court of appeals needs guidance. See 15 USCA § 1254(2). Cf. CERTIORARI.

Certify

ub. 1. To authenticate or verify in writing. 2. To attest as being true or as meeting certain criteria. 3. (Of a court) to issue an order allowing a class of litigants to maintain a class action; to create (a class) for purposes of a class action. Cf. DECERTIFY. See CERTIFICATION.

DNA identification

A method of comparing a person's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) - a patterned chemical structure of genetic information - with the DNA in a biological specimen (such as blood, tissue, or hair) to determine if the person is the source of the specimen. -Also termed DNA fingerprinting; genetic fingerprinting. Cf. HLA TEST.

Decertify

ub. 1. To revoke the certification of. 2. To remove the official status of (a labor union) by withdrawing the right to act as a collective-bargaining agent. 3. (Of a court) to overrule a previous order that created a class for purposes of a class action; to officially undo (a class). - decertification, n. Cf. CERTIFY.

Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate

See W-4 FORM.

Identify

ub. 1. To prove the identity of (a person or thing) <the witness identified the weapon. 2. To look upon as being associated (with) <the plaintiff was identified with the environmental movement>. 3. To specify (certain goods) as the object of a contract <identify the appliances to the contract>. See IDENTIFICATION OF GOODS.

Justifiable

adj. Capable of being legally or morally justified; excusable; defensible. justifiable homicide See HOMICIDE.

Justification

n. 1 A lawful or sufficient reason for one's acts or omissions. 2. A showing, in court, of a sufficient reason why a defendant did what the plaintiff or prosecution charges the defendant to answer for. - Also termed justification defense; necessity defense. 3. A surety's proof of having enough money or credit to provide security for the party for whom it is required. - justify, ub. - justificatory (jas-ti-fi-ka-tor-ee), adj. "A little bit of history: the term 'justification' was formerly used for cases where the aim of the law was not frustrated, while 'excuse' was used for cases where it was not thought proper to punish. Killing a dangerous criminal who had tried to avoid arrest was justified, since the law (if one may personify) wished this to happen, whereas killing in self-defence was merely excused. The distinction was important because justification was a defence to the criminal charge while an excuse was not, being merely the occasion for a royal pardon. By the end of the middle ages (it is difficult to assign a fixed date) even excuses were recognised by the courts, since when there has heel) nn reason to distinsuish between justifration and excuse." Glanville Williams, Textbook of Criminal Law 39 (1978).

Justificatory

Hist. 1. A compurgator who testifies under oath in defense of an accused person. 2. A juror.

Latifundium

n. [Latin fr. latus "broad" + fundus "land"] Roman law. A large private estate, usu. made up of smaller ones, common in the last few centuries of the Republic.

Nemo nascitur artifex

No one is born an expert. ( Wisdom in the law is aquired only through diligent study. Co. Litt. 97b.

Notify

ub. 1. To inform (a person or group) in writing or by any method that is understood <I notified the court of the change in address>. 2. Archaic. To give notice of; to make known <to notify the lawsuit to all the defendants>. See NOTICE.

Pettifogger

n. 1. A lawyer lacking in education, ability, sound judgment, or common sense. 2. A lawyer who clouds an issue with insignificant details. - pettifoggery (pet-i-fog-ar-ee), n.

Plaintiff

The party who brings a civil suit in a court of law. - Abbr. pltf. Cf. DEFENDANT.

Stultify

ub. 1. To may:. appear stupid or foolish <he stultified opposing, counsel's argument>. 2. To testify about one', own lack of mental capacity. 3. To contradicting oneself, as by denying what one has already alleged.

TIF

abbr. TAX-INCREMENT FINANCING.

Testifier

One who testifies; WITNESS. - Also termed (archaically) testificator (tea-ta-fi-kaytar).

Testify

ub. 1. To give evidence as a witness <she testified that the Ford Bronco was at the defendant's home at the critical time >. 2. (Of a person or thing) to bear witness <the incomplete log entries testified to his sloppiness>.

Testmoignes ne poent testifier le negative, mes Z'airmative

Witnesses cannot testify to a negative; they must testify to an affirmative.

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act

A federal law that requires an employer to provide notice of a plant closing or mass layoff, 60 days before the closing or layoff, to the employees, the state-dislocated-workers unit, and the chief elected official of the unit of local government where the plant closing or layoff is to occur. 29 USCA §§ 2101-2109. -Abbr. WARN.

abortifacient

n. A drug, article, or other thing designed or intended for producing an abortion. - abortifacient, adj.

ad testificandum

[latin] to testify. see habeas corpus ad testificandum under habeas corpus; subpoena ad testificandurn under subpoena.

airman's certificate

a license that every aircraft pilot must have to operate an aircraft in u.s. airspace. 49 usca §§ 44701-44711; 14 cfr § 61.3.

allotment certificate

securities. a document that records the essential elements of a subscription of shares, as how many shares are to be purchased, the price to be paid, and the payment and delivery schedule.

antifraud rule

see rule 10b-5.

artificial condition

A physical characteristic of real property, brought about by a person's affirmative act instead of by natural forces.

artificial day

The period from the rising to the setting of the sun. - Also termed solar day; dies solaris.

artificial person

An entity, such as a corporation, created by law and given certain legal rights and duties of a human being; a being, real or imaginary, who for the purpose of legal reasoning is treated more or less as a human being. - Also termed fictitious person; juristic person; legal person; moral person.

artificial presumption

See presumption of law.

artificial watercourse

A man-made watercourse, usu. to be used only temporarily. ( If the watercourse is of a permanent character and has been maintained for a sufficient length of time, it may be considered a natural watercourse to which riparian rights can attach. "An artificial waterway or stream may, under some circumstances, have the characteristics and incidents of a natural watercourse. In determining the question, three things seem generally to be taken into consideration by the courts: (1) whether the way or stream is temporary or permanent; (2) the circumstances under which it was created; and (3) the mode in which it has been used and enjoyed." 78 Am. Jur. 2d Waters § 196, at 644 (1975).

benefit certificate.

A written obligation to pay a named person a specified amount upon stipulated conditions. 0 Benefit certificates are often issued by fraternal and beneficial societies.

birth certificate.

A formal document that records a person's birthdate, birthplace, and parentage.

board-certified,

adj. (Of a professional) recognized by an official body as a specialist in a given field of law or medicine <board-certified in civil litigation>. See BOARD OF LEGAL SPECIALIZATION.

car trust certificate

See EQUIPMENT TRUST CERTIFICATE.

certificando de recognitione stapulae

[Law Latin "by certifying the recognition of the statute staple"] Hist. A writ commanding the holder of certain commercial debt instruments (i.e., the mayor of the staple) to certify to the lord chancellor the existence and terms of a statute staple (i.e., a bond for com-mercial debt) wrongfully detained by a party to the bond. See STATUTE STAPLE.

certificate creditor

A creditor of a municipal corporation who receives a certificate of indebtedness rather than payment because the municipality cannot pay the debt. Cf. warrant creditor.

certificate into chancery

English law. The decision of a common-law court on a legal question submitted by the chancery court.

certificate land

Land in the western part of Pennsylvania set apart after the American Revolution to be bought with certificates the soldiers received in lieu of pay.

certificate of acknowledgment

See Ac. KNOWLEDGMENT (5).

certificate of amendment

A document filed with a state corporation authority, usu. the secretary of state, reflecting changes made to a corporation's articles of incorporation.