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Legal explanations - Law terms Category: Legal Date & country: 25/02/2010, SG Words: 2570

Moiety
(n) Moitee is the half of the total involved in a right, event, activity etc to quantify the percentage of right or involvement. The Latin word ( moy-et-ee) means half.

Molestation
(n) Molestation is the sexual advancement towards children below the age of 18 by resorting activities like exposing private parts, touching private parts etc with a intension to satisfy sexual desires

Monopoly
(n) Monopoly is state of affairs of a business house whereby it controls the market functioning according to its plan and actions by controlling the supply of the product in which it has the controlling authority. Eg. Supplying the products only through limited outfits or distributors.

Month-To-Month
(n) Month to Month activity is the condition were there is no perpetual or long standing relationship or right between the parties. It is a short term association, the life of which ends every month.

Monument
(n) Monument is the permanent structure, building, erections etc made at the place to mark the memory of a historical event, action, place or person etc.

Moot
(adj) Moot is an issue, debate, argument, stance etc which are unsettled and kept open for discussion and settlement.

Moot Court
(n) A moot Court is a symbolic court set by students and associations etc to conduct a trial on a fictitious issue or lawsuit. Moot court is used as a propaganda for any specific issue or as a learning and analyzing process.

Moot Point
(n) A moot point is an issue, debate, arguments, question etc which has not been settled or decided by any courts till such time

Moral Certainty
(n) Moral certainty is the conclusion which can be arrived after considering the evidence available that the defended is guilty of the crime. Moral certainty is the state of belief one can arrive after applying a reasonable doubt on the matter under consideration.

Moral Rights
An author or artist's right to have his/her work attributed to himself/herself, and the right to protect the work from alteration

Moral Turpitude
(n) Moral Turpitude is the gross disregarding of moral standards expected of a human being while doing some activity or crime. Eg. Raping in front of the parents.

Moratorium
(n) Moratorium is the declaration of deferment of any or all activity till a future date or happening of a future event or conclusion of the present state of affairs which warranted such a moratorium. Eg. Moratorium passed prohibiting tax collection from public during the period of famines

Mortgage
(n) Mortgage is the property or title to a property which has been pledged with a lender to secure the loan taken from such lender. The French word means 'dead pledge'. Law require registration of the Mortgage. The mortgagee can utilise the property so pledged to recover his legitimate dues from that mortgage agreement.

Mortgagee
(n) Mortgagee is the person who accept a property or title to a property as a security for the loan given to the owner of the property. The mortgagee can utilise the property so pledged to recover his legitimate dues from that mortgage agreement if the Mortgagor fail to close the loan.

Mortgagor
(n) Mortgagor is the person who pledges a property or title to a property as a security for the loan taken by him from the mortgagee. The Law requires registration of the mortgage. mortgagor loss his right on the property when he fails to close the loan .

Motion
(n) A motion is a formal request made to a judge in a law suit to issue an order or judgment concerning any matter in the suit. Motions are made for postponing trial, modification of an order or any matter concerned with the suit

Motion For A New Trial
(n) Motion For A New Trial is the formal request made to a judge for ordering a re-trial of the case on the ground that there was monumentous legal flaws in the procedure or obvious mistakes in the judgment warranting a retrial

Motion For A Summary Judgment
We are currently updating our definition for Motion For A Summary Judgment. We hope to have the definition for Motion For A Summary Judgment available within the next few weeks. Please visit us soon

Motion For Dismissal
(n) Motion of dismissal is the formal request made by a defendant to rule that the plaintiff or the prosecutors has not proven or cannot prove their cause. A motion of dismissal is also referred to a motion for non-suit showing there is no cause for a trial.

Motion In Limine
(n) Motion In Limine is the representation made by the opposite party requesting the judge to disregard a particular evidence introduced by the other party on the ground of constitutional limitations there by retaining the position as if such evidences are not introduced.

Motion To Strike
It is a motion introduced or inacted by one party to request the Judge's order to remove, eliminate or make immaterial certain or entire portion of the opponents' legal compliant or replies in the trials. This can be either be oral or written but is done only on certain stated legible reasons.Once the motion is accepted, the jury has to ignore or n...

Motion To Suppress
It refers to a request made by the defendant and his attornies to the court, that certain evidence be not presented or considered legal at the trial because it is believed by the defendant that the evidence has been obtained by the illegal means.eg. When drunk or drugged.

Motive
In the criminal law, it refers to the reasons because of which the person commited the crime. It can be greed, malice, fear, revenge or anything which makes the state of mind belief or emotionally binding to commit certain act which can be a crime.The prosecution need not have an evidence to proof the motive unlike the "intent" which need...

Mouthpiece
A person who speaks on behalf of another. Thus its generally used as slang for a defense lawyer.

Movant
It refers to a party to the lawsuit, requesting the judge for an order or judgement in form of formal and written request. It is upon the movant to prove, for the order or judgement to be in his/her favour.

Move
It refers to the act of making a formal application by the movant ( a party to the lawsuit) requesting the judge for the order or judgement.

Multifarious
It refers to improperly bringing together or joining various claims in one lawsuit thereby making several matters involved in one lawsuit. It is also known as misjoinder

Multiple Listing Service
(MLS) Service that provides detailed information about real estate listings to its members

Multiplicity Of Suits
It refers to several lawsuits existing for the same cause, facts and issues. Generally one of the party involved is same for all the lawsuits. All these several lawsuits are joined together as one by the judges order so as to be fair and practical because if different judgements are given for different suits, it will contradict each other for the s...

Municipal
It refers to a governmental unit as a city or a town. But it also is sometimes refers to the affairs of the government, of the nation, its states and people.

Municipal Court
It is a lower court usually with a less geographic coverage and dealing in cases either criminal or civil where the amount involved is small. The state decides on the amount within which the municipal court should decide on the case above which, it goes in for a higher court case.

Muniment Of Title
It is a document or any other form of evidence which proves to the court the onwership of the real property either in form of deed or contract.

Murder
It refers to the killing or death of a person by another sane person unlawfully and proved to be under no authority to kill or with the intent of killing the other because of malice or revenge. Murders fetch highest of punishments.The foirms of murders are different and described separately in court of law, depending on which they are termed first ...

Mutual
Any valid contracts made has to have consideration which is mutual. It is reciprocal right or agreement between the parties to something. For instance, a marriage between a man and woman is mutual if they want to marry each other.It also refers to understanding between two parties for a business deal and that they trust each other that such underst...

Mutual Wills
In the court of law where will are considers, the mutual wills are the wills from a different persons, generally the spouses or partners, who have cerated their own signed wills in which they both have declared identical distribution/disposition of their estates. One set of will is signed by the husband and other by the wife or partner. In differs ...

N.O.V.
adj. Acronym for the Latin phrase "non obstante veredicto" which means "notwithstanding the verdict." This refers to a judge's decision to reverse a jury's decision in favor of one lawsuit's party or a guilty verdict that the judge feels is not supported by the facts and/or the law. The reversal is called a "judgment N.O.V. and granting a motion fo...

Narcotic
Drugs or substances that result in drowsiness and dulling of the senses

National Debt
Federal government's debt

National Labor Relations Board
It is a board recognised in US which primilarily looks after the labours' interest and rights to unionize,correct unfair practices and abuses by the employer and manage elections of the unions. The memebers of this board are elected by the president.

Natural Law
It refers to the law derived form the nature and which is unsaid or unwritten. Such laws still have a binding effect on the human and their deeds which comes under the ethics dealt with naturally. These are different from positive law which are written and governed by the government under specific rules and regulations.

Natural Person
n.According to law a natural person is a natural human being who becomes aware through his senses as different from a corporation which according to law is a fictitious person.

Naturalization
Process which a foreign citizen legally becomes a U.S. citizen. Refer to the definitions for permanent resident and green card

Necessary
adj.Indespensable, extremely essential, compulsory, inevitable.

Necessary Inference
Deriving logical conclusions on the basis of existing facts and reasons.

Necessary Party
n.A person or a corporation who will be affected by the result of a lawsuit.In the absence of this party judgement cannot be given.He cannot be made to paricipate in the lawsuit because that would deny the right given to the court to try the case. In a situtation where neccesary party is not in the suit differs from an indespensable party who shoul...

Negative Declaration
It refers to the finidings by the local government or municipalities that a proposed project has no significant environmental effect and thereby the developer of such property need not file a report on environmental effect of that project.

Negative Pregnant
Ambiguiously negative admission of the fact in pleading which makes one understand or implies the positive/affirmative in the fact.Say for instance a thief accepts the fact that he/she has stolen 10000 $ and not 20000$. The fact accepted here is stealing but denying on the amount, is a negative pregnant.

Negligence
It refers to behaviour of a person which has caused an injury or damage to another person because of formers below standard, careless responsibility. In law, the negligence of the person is considered legal cause and can be tried in the court. Any prudent man with level head and brains, if does something which he or any other prudent man, ought not...

Negligence Per Se
It is a legal term, which means that a person who is prudent and has commited an act of negligence thereby harming the peace, law & order, or damage to someone, but is very much believable and need not required to be proved that it was due negligence. High speed driving beyond speed limit is negligence per se as speed limit is a known fact for ...

Negligent
Refers to the person who is found guilty of negligence ; who has a habit of being careless when it comes to being responsible.

Negotiable Instrument
It is a legal contract in form of document, where one party promises the other party a payment of specific sum of money in a definate time unconditionally on the presentation of this document or by endorsing the same. These documents are promissiory notes, cheques, demand drafts, bills of exchanges.

Negotiation
1) It is a process by which the involved parties or group resolve matters of dispute by holding discussions and coming to an agreement which can be mutually agreed by them. It also refers to coming to closing a business deal or bargaining on some product. 2) It also means exchange of negotiable instruments such as bills of exchange, cheques etc in ...

Net
It refers to the balance amount left after deduction of all expenses including taxes, depreciation and costs. In most accounting terms the word net is used referring to the final figure.

Net Estate
It is the balance of estate after deduction of the debts, losses, funeral and administration costs and taxes from the total assets of the deceased person, is said to be net estate.

Net Lease
Rental agreement that makes the tenant responsible for a designated portion of the landlord's operating costs. For instance real estate taxes or utilities. Refer to the definition for gross lease

New Matter
It refers to all the facts which were brought into the trial by the defendant in his/her defence which surpasses ( counter arguing in defence) the allegations put up by the plaintiff. These new facts needs to be decalraed formally in writing and needs to be verified for its genuineness.

Next Friend
A person who has volunteered to help or assist another person who is incapable physically or mentally or who is a minor, to file a lawsuit himself/herself. In a case where a party is minor or infant, the father or mother acts as a representative. The next friend (generally a relative) is not the party to the lawsuit and his/her duty ends on complet...

Next Of Kin
It refers to the closest blood relative to the person who has died. Normally a spouse is not considered a next of kin, but if circumstances described in the will makes one believe , then the law is supposedly to believe the spouse to be a next of kin.It another sense it refers to the all those people whom the deceased estate will be disposed and di...

Nihil
Latin word which meaninf "nothing". It is a word used for a statement filed by the police for their inablity or unsuccessful attempts to issue a warrant, writ or notice to someone.

Nil
Nothing, zero value;no.

Nisi Prius
It is a phrase used for the original lower level or trial court (thus called "court of orginal jurisdiction") where the case was first heard by the judge and the jury, irrespective of where it is heard now. A common meaning is " unless before".

No Contest
It refers to the defendants plea to the court of law that he/she would not fight against or dispute the allegations or charges filed against him/her. It means he/she will not contest the lawsuit. Court cannot take the stance of no-contest as accepting guilt. It is a different fact that the defendant does not want to dispute the charges and it will ...

No Fault Divorce
It is a divorce in which neither husband nor wife needs to prove the cause of dissolution of marriage. No one is blamed and nothing is written or spoken about who did what and what went wrong with the marriage. Either party can state a "no fault divorce" in the petition by just declaring that the marriage is not workable or is incompatibl...

No Fault Insurance
n.It is a kind of automobile insurance where an insured when meets with an accident can claim for damages to person or property by proving that the accident actually occurred.In this case the insured need not prove that he was not responsible for the accident or some other party was responsible for the accident.It has an advantage of providing quic...

No-Par Stock
n.Shares isuued by a corporation without mentioning its face value on the stock certificate.

Nolle Prosequi
The latin word meaning " Will not prosecute" is a formal entry in the records of the case in the court by the prosecutor in criminal case or plaintiff in civil cases, that they are not willing to go any further in the case. It thereby means that they are withdrawing their charges or claims against the defendants.

Nolo Contendere
It`s a latin word which means" I do not wish to contest". It refers to the plea by an individual in a criminal case where he does not wish to contest the charges on him/her, but at the same time would leave upto the judge to decide whether he/she is guilty. Such pleas are entered after seeking courts permission. This is done to eithe...

Nominal Damages
It refers to a small compansation or small amount of money paid to the plaintiff who has suffered a very minor damage or loss due to a misconduct or wrongful action of the defendant, As a token of honour to the rights of the plaintiff, which was harmed but the extent of damage being very small or not determined, the court awards a small token amoun...

Nominal Party
It refers to the party to the lawsuit who is connected to the case, without any interest or prejudice, so that the court can resolve certain issues or have all the evidence proved with his/her help to give a proper judgement. This nominal party will not be affected by the result of the case and is not at fault or considered for any benefits out of ...

Nominee
1) A political party to the election. 2) It refers to anyone or an entity entitled to act as a trustee or own something given in honour or gift, which is actually owned by someone else.

Non Compos Mentis
A latin phrase meaning a person who is mentally not of a sound mind and is not capable to conduct or is responsible for his legal matters.

Non Sequitur
A latin term meaning "it does not follow" which means that a logical conclusion was not arrived without following the leagal facts.The events that occurred earlier in connection with the case were not taken ino consideration before taking the decision.

Non-Competition Agreement
Contract between an employer and employee which prevents the employee from competing against his former employee for a certain period of time upon termination of his/her job. For instance, a salesperson may sign a non-competition agreement which would prevent them from using business contacts gained during employment at their former company

Non-Conforming Use
It is referred to the use of the real property on which the activity is ongoing even before the the zone ordinance is passed, as long as it`s the same activity continued forever.It means if there is a liquor store on a property, and it had been there even before the Zone ordinance was passed( where they have decided to use the property for res...

Non-Contestability Clause
n.Condition made in insurance policies where the insurance companies can refuse to make payments to policy holhders when they feel that the claim is not genuine but because of dishonest means or false information in the application.

Non-Contiguous
Pieces of real property that are separated.

Non-Disclosure Agreement
Two parties agree that one of the parties will not divulge confidential information that the other party shares

Non-Discretionary Trust
It is a trust where the trustees invest only in those securities that were mentioned at the time of making the trust ; or invest only in certain specified securities and also they do not have any powers to determine the method of distribution of the trust to beneficiary.

Non-Feasance
n.Failure or refusal to perform a task that ought to be performed.It is different from "misfeasance" meaning improper performane or "malfeasance" meaning illegal or misconduct of performance.

Non-Profit Corporation
It refers to those organizations which are formed with the permission from the state and tax authorities to perform activities within organisation for certain cause like, education, hospital, religious purpose or charitable, with non commercial services. The directors or trustees of such organization do not wrk for profit and they are paid reasonab...

Non-Suit
It refers to the judges order against the plaintiff either because he/she have no case to prove or that they are unable to provide sufficient evidence. A voluntary nonsuit is when plaintiff withdraws the case or it is involuntary non-suit, when the plaintiff does not appear in trial or that he/she is not able to provide any evidence.

Nondischargeable Debts
Debts that cannot be ereased,wil exist and has to be paid in cases of bankruptcy.

Not Guilty
n.1) Request made by the accused during a trial that he is innocent and has not commited the crime for which he is accused and has to give a satisfactory explanation supporting the statement made by him. 2) It is decision given by the judge at the end of a trial that the prosecutor was not able to provide sufficient evidence to prove the accused gu...

Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity
It is an order passed by the court on the defendant whose lawyer have pleaded that at the time of commiting the crime, the defendant was not in position to dintinguish the right and wrong and that there was no intention for commiting crime, which implies, that the defendant was mentally not stable or insane. The court may ask the attornies to very ...

Notary
Someone having power to acknowledge the signature,verify the documents and its validity and take depositions.

Notary Public
Someone who has power bestowed upon by the state to administer oaths, verify documents and certify as valid and acknowledge signatures, all under his/her seal. Normally the notary publics deals in cases of authenticating the duplicates in the sight of originals by signing and sealing the documents. The documents are generally the official documents...

Note
n.A written document that is a proof that one person or entity owes money to another and the person holding the note gets the money as mentioned in the note on demand or on the specified time as mentioned in the note.It contains other details like rate of interest,fine for late payments,legal expenses if any,mode of payment -lumpsum or in installme...

Notice
1)Notice refers to the written information, communicating the rights, obligations, requests and legal duties. It also contains information of future events in particular date. It reflects the details of future and effects of present ongoing legal lawsuit. Notice also serves as the openness in the proceedings of the legal matters so that each party ...

Notice Of Default
It refers to the communication to the someone (usually borrower) in form of notice, informing him/her that they have defaulted the terms of the contract or agreement and a legal action can be taken against him/her.

Notice To Quit
It is a written communication to the tenant of a property to vacate the premises or property and hand over the possession to the landlord. It requires to be in writing as notice to the tenant, by either the agent of the property or the landlord himself/herself, with proper time schedule declared. It should also have all settlement of previous dues ...

Notorious Possession
n.Occupying real estate owned by another person without permisiion giving an impression of being an owner to anyone else.

Novation
A contract agreed upon by the concerned parties to replace an old contract with a new one which terminates the old contract.It is done to improvise on the performance level and change the payment strategy or the debtor will be forced to go bankrupt.It is a solution to pay off the debts.*

Noxious
Injurious or harmful to living beings.It can be in the form of destructive or deadly chemicals or wastes and even destructive ideas.

Nugatory
Unimportant or having negligible importance.

Nuisance
Misuse of property for illegal purposes that causes harm or disadvantage to people or general public.It can be in the form of polluting the environment by the release of deadly fumes, noise pollution,practising prostitution,selling items like liquor,explosives without license,gambling, blocking roads etc.The court can order persons creating nuisanc...

Nullity
n.It means smething that never happened has no value or legal significance.Any contract ,marriage or a proceeding can be declared null and void bacause of having no legal force.

Nunc Pro Tunc
It means " now for then". It is used to express the thing or action that should have been taken at much earlier date or time, but was oversighted or forgotten or accidently missed and is to take place now. Such judgements are passed only for it to be the basis of doing justice and with prior order from the court.It is applicable in adopti...

O.R.
n. Abbreviation for "own recognizance." Refers to a judge enabling someone accused in a criminal case to be freed until trial without having to post bail. The person released is referred to as "OR-ed."

O.S.C.
n. Abbreviation for "order to show cause."

Oath
Judicially, oaths are the promises or declaration made by the witness, plaintiff, defendants, judges, lawyers that whatever they say or write is truth and nothing but the truth.The oath is taken invoking the God, whom one believes and fears and has a notion that lying or a false statement may lead to punishment for them. 2) It also refers to the sw...