Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
ABC transaction.
Oil & gas. A sale of a working interest from an owner (A) to an operator (B) in return for a cash payment and the right to another (usu. larger) payment when the well produces, followed by A's sale of the right to the production payment to a corporation (C), which pays A in cash borrowed from a lender on C's pledge of the production payment. 9 Thus A receives cash taxed at capital-gains rates, and B pays part of the purchase price with nontaxable production income. The tax advantages of this transaction were eliminated by the Tax Reform Act of 1969.
Biuens action.
A lawsuit brought to redress a federal official's violation of
accord and satisfaction.
An agreement to substitute for an existing debt some alternative form of discharging that debt, coupled with the actual discharge of the debt by the substituted performance. 0 The new agreement is called the accord, and the discharge is called the satisfaction. Cf. NOVATION; SETTLEMENT. Accord and satisfaction' means an agreement between the parties that something shall be given to, or done for, the person who has the right of action, in satisfaction of the cause of action. There must be not only agreement ('accord') but also consideration ('satisfaction'). Such an arrangement is really one of substituted performance." 1 E.W. Chance, Principles of Mercantile Law 101 (P.W. French ad., 13th ed. 1950).
action.
1. The process of doing something; conduct or behavior. 2. A thing done; ACT (1). 3. A civil or criminal judicial proceeding."An action has been defined to be an ordinary proceeding in a court of justice, by which one party prosecutes another party for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense. But in some sense this definition is equally applicable to special proceedings. More accurately, it is defined to be any judicial proceeding, which, if conducted to a determination, will result in a judgment or decree. The action is said to terminate at judgment." 1 Morris M. Estee, Estee's Pleadings, Practice, and Forms § 3, at 1 (Carter P. Pomeroy ed., 3d ed. 1885)."The terms 'action' and 'suit' are nearly if not quite synonymous. But lawyers usually speak of proceedings in courts of law as 'actions,' and of those in courts of equity as 'suits.' In olden time there was a more marked distinction, for an action was considered as terminating when judgment was rendered, the execution forming no part of it. A suit, on the other hand, included the execution. The word 'suit,' as used in the Judiciary Act of 1784 and later Federal statutes, applies to any proceeding in a court of justice in which the plaintiff pursues in such court the remedy which the law affords him." Edwin E. Bryant, The Law of Pleading Under the Codes of Civil Procedure 3 (2d ed. 1899)."'Action' in the sense of a judicial proceeding includes recoupment, counterclaim, set-off, suit in equity, and any other proceedings in which rights are determined." UCC § 1-201(1).
boiler-room transaction.
Slang. A high-pressure telephone sales pitch, often of a fraudulent nature.
cause of action.
1. A group of operative facts giving rise to one or more bases for suing; a factual situation that entitles one person to obtain a remedy in court from another person; CLAIM (4) <after the crash, Aronson had a cause of action>.
civil action.
An action brought to enforce, redress, or protect a private or civil right; a noncriminal litigation.The code of New York, as originally adopted, declared, 'the distinctions between actions at law and suits in equity, and the forms of all such actions and heretofore existing, are abolished; and there shall be in this State hereafter but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights and the redress of private wrongs, which shall be denominated a civil action.' With slight verbal changes the above provision has been enacted in most of the States and Territories which have adopted the reformed procedure." Edwin E. Bryant, The Law of Pleading Under the Codes of Civil Procedure 106 (2d ed. 1899)
class action.
See CLASS ACTION.
class representative. A person who sues on behalf of a group of plaintiffs in a class action. - Also termed named plaintiff
See CLASS ACTION.
closed transaction. Tax
A transaction in which an amount realized on a sale can be established for the purpose of stating a gain or loss.
collusive action.
An action between two parties who have no actual controversy, being merely for the purpose of determining a legal question or receiving a precedent that might prove favorable in related litigation. - Also termed fictional action.
colorable transaction.
See TRANSACTION.
derivative action.
See DERIVATIVE ACTION. dinate or temporary capacity <an adjunct professor. adjunct, n.
direct action.
See DIRECT ACTION.
duty of detraction.
See DUTY (4).
fictional action.
See collusive action.
fictitious action.
An action, usu. unethical, brought solely to obtain a judicial opinion on an issue of fact or law, rather than for the disposition of a controversy.
ground of action.
See CAUSE OF ACTION
hybrid action. Labor law.
A lawsuit in which a union member asserts claims against the employer for breach of a collective bargaining agreement, and against the union for breach of the duty of fair representation.
hybrid class action.
See CLASS ACTION.
hypothecary action. Civil law.
A lawsuit to enforce a creditor's claims under a hypothec or hypothecation.
in action.
(Of property) attainable or recoverable through litigation. See CHOSE IN ACTION.
informal agency action.
Administrative-agency activity other than adjudication or rulemaking, such as investigation, publicity, or supervision. Cf RULEMAKING. informal contract. See parol contract (2) under CONTRACT.
joint action.
1. An action brought by two or more plaintiffs. 2. An action brought against two or more defendants.
matrimonial action.
An action relating to the state of marriage, such as an action for separation, annulment, or divorce.
mixed action.
An action that has some characteristics of both a real action and a personal action.
new cause of action.
See CAUSE OF ACTION,
nonpersonal action.
See ACTION
penal action.
A criminal prosecution. 2. A civil proceeding in which either the state or a common informer sues a defendant who has violated a statute and seeks to recover a penalty. 0 Although civil in nature, a penal action resembles a criminal proceeding because the result of a successful action is a monetary penalty intended, like a fine, to punish the defendant. See COMMON INFORMER."At one time it was a frequent practice, when it was desired to repress some type of conduct thought to be harmful, to do so by the machinery of the civil rather than of the criminal law. The means so chosen was called a penal action, as being brought for the recovery of a penalty; and it might be brought, according to the wording of the particular statute creating the penal action, either by the Attorney-General on behalf of the state, or by a common informer on his own account. A common informer was anyone who should first sue the offender for the penalty. Penal actions are still possible in a few cases, and their existence renders invalid several suggested distinctions between civil wrongs and crimes." John Salmond, Jurisprudence 107 (Glanville L. Williams ed., 10th ed. 1947)."For in 'penal actions', unless the statute expressly authorizes private persons to act as informers, the State alone can sue and recover the penalty; and yet there is full authority for ranking such suits by it as merely civil proceedings." J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny's Outlines of Criminal Law 538 (16th ed. 1952).3. A civil lawsuit by an aggrieved party seeking recovery of a statutory fine or a penalty, such as punitive damages."[T]here exists a well-known class of proceedings called 'penal actions', by which pecuniary penalties can be recovered - in some cases by any person who will sue for them - from the doers of various prohibited acts; these acts being thus prohibited, and visited with penalties, solely on account of their tendency to cause evil to the community at large, 'considered as a community.' For example, a person who, in advertising a reward for the return of lost property, adds that 'no questions will be asked' incurs by the Larceny Act, 1861, a penalty of f50 recoverable by anyone who will sue for it." J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny's Outlines of Criminal Law 533-34 (16th ed. 1952).
personal action.
An action brought for the recovery of debts, personal property, or damages arising from any cause."Personal actions are those brought (1) for specific recovery of goods or chattels, (2) or for damages or other redress for breach of contract, (3) or every other kind of injury. They are ex contractu when they arise out of contract, ex delicto when they arise out of the wrong or delict of the defendant." Edwin E. Bryant, The Law of Pleading Under the Codes of Civil Procedure 5 (2d ed. 1899)."Personal actions are subdivided into those brought for the recovery of a debt or of damages for the breach of a contract, or for tort, for some injury to the person or to relative rights or to personal or real property. The most common of these actions are debt, covenant, assumpsit, detinue, trespass, trespass on the case, trover, and replevin." Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of CommonZaw Pleading § 34, at 65 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).
real action.
An action brought for the recovery of land or other real property; specif., an action to recover the possession of a freehold estate in real property, or seisin. See SEISIN."If the question be asked why it was that a large part of the really English law which Bracton undertook to expound is found in connection with the subject of real actions, while in Blackstone's treatise only the personal actions are deemed worthy of attention, the answer must be that the former were dying out. When Chitty wrote (1808) the old real actions were practically obsolete, and in the succeeding generation such vestiges of them as remained were abolished by statute." Hannis Taylor, The Science of Jurisprudence 574 (1908)"The principal real actions formerly in use were (1) the writs of right; (2) the writs of entry; (3) the possessory assizes, such as novel disseisin and mort d'ancestor. Real actions are those in which the demandant seeks to recover seisin from one called a tenant, because he holds the land. They are real actions at common law because the judgment is in rem and awards the seisin or possession." Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading § 32, at 63 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).
redhibitory action.
Civil law. An action brought to void a sale of an item having a defect that renders it either useless or so flawed that the buyer would not have bought it in the first place. See REDHIBITION.
remedial action. See
REMEDIAL ACTION.
removal action.
Environmental law. An action, esp. under CERCLA, intended to bring about the short-term abatement and cleanup of pollution (as by removing and disposing of toxic materials). Cf. CERCLA; REMEDIAL ACTION.
representative action.
1. CLASS ACTION. 2. DERIVATIVE ACTION (1).
several action.
See separate action.
statutory action.
An action governed by statutory law rather than equitable, civil, or common law.
test action.
See test case (2) under CASE.testimony to impeach a witness but not to establish the truth, and admitting evidence against one party but not another. The trial court must instruct the jury properly about the applicable limits when admitting the evidence. Fed. R. Evid. 105.
third party action.
An action distinct from the main claim, whereby the defendant brings in an entity that is not directly involved in the lawsuit but that may be liable to the defendant for all or part of the plaintiff's claim. 0 A common example is an action for indemnity or contribution.tions require a showing of "actual physical control" of a vehicle by a person eharged ,vifli driving while intoxicated. actual possession. See
title transaction.
A transaction that affects title to an interest in land.
transitory action.
An action that can be brought in any venue where the defendant can be personally served with process."Transitory actions are universally founded on the supposed violation of rights which, in contemplation of law, have no locality. They are personal actions, that is, they are brought for the enforcement of purely personal rights or obligations. If the transaction on which the action is founded could have taken place anywhere, the action is generally regarded as transitory; but if the transaction could only have happened in a particular place . . . the action is local. Some authorities, considering the effect of the distinction, define transitory actions as actions which may be tried wherever defendant may be found and served." 92 C.J.S. Venue § 8, at 678-79 (1955).
wash transaction.
See wash sale under SALE.