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Legal Proofreading Classically Terms
| Term | Definition |
| adjudge | (1) To determine or decide by judicial procedure; adjudicate (2) To regard, consider, or deem: was adjudged incompetent... |
| adjudicatory | Concerned with adjudicating (determining/deciding by judicial procedure). |
| a fortiori | For a still stronger reason; all the more. |
| a priori | Latin phrase meaning "from the former". In much of the modern Western tradition, the term a priori is considered to mean propositional knowledge that can be had without, or "prior to", experience. It is usually contrasted with a posteriori knowledge, which requires experience. |
| amicus curiae | A party that is not involved in a particular litigation but that is allowed by the court to advise it on a matter of law directly affecting the litigation. |
| ancillary | (1) Of secondary importance (2) helping. |
| appellant | One who appeals a court decision. Of or relating to a court appeal; appellate. |
| apposite | Strikingly appropriate and relevant. |
| arbiter | One chosen or appointed to judge or decide a disputed issue; an arbitrator. |
| bicameral | Composed of or based on two legislative chambers or branches. |
| causality | The principle of or relationship between cause and effect. |
| caveat emptor | The axiom or principle in commerce that the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying (buyer beware). |
| certiorari | A writ from a higher court to a lower one requesting a transcript of the proceedings of a case for review. |
| chattel | An article of movable personal property. |
| codicil | (1) A supplement or appendix to a will. (2) A supplement or appendix. |
| debenture | A certificate or voucher acknowledging a debt. |
| decedent | One who has passed away. |
| deponent | One who testifies under oath, especially in writing. |
| depose | To swear: make a deposition; declare under oath. |
| depositary, -ory | One entrusted with something for preservation or safekeeping. |
| deposition | Testimony under oath, especially a statement by a witness that is written down or recorded for use in court at a later date. |
| duces tecum | A judicial process commanding a person to appear in court and bring with him some piece of evidence or other thing to be produced to the court. |
| easement | A right, such as a right of way, afforded a person to make limited use of another's real property. |
| egress | The right to leave or go out: denied the refugees egress... |
| e.g. | exempli gratia (for example) |
| en banc | All of the judges of a court sitting together. Appellate courts can consist of a dozen or more judges, but often they hear cases in panels of three judges. If a case is heard or reheard by the full court, it is heard en banc. |
| encumber | (1) To burden with legal or financial obligations. (2) To hinder or impede the action or performance of. |
| enquire | Variant of inquire. |
| ensure | To make sure or certain; insure. |
| escrow | Money, property, a deed, or a bond put into the custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified. |
| estoppel | A bar preventing one from making an allegation or a denial that contradicts what one has previously stated as the truth. |
| et seq. | Short for et sequens (and the following one or ones). |
| enure | Variant of inure. (To habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection.) |
| executor | A person who is appointed by a testator to execute the testator's will. |
| ex parte | From or on one side only, with the other side absent or unrepresented. |
| fiduciary | Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another: a fiduciary heir. |
| force majeure | An unexpected or uncontrollable event. |
| habeas corpus | A remedy to remove the illegal restraint on a freeman. |
| i.e. | That is to say; in other words. |
| inchoate | That which is not yet completed or finished. Contracts are considered inchoate until they are executed by all the parties. |
| indict | To accuse formally, as in: The Grand Jury has enough evidence to indict him. |
| inquire | To make an inquiry or investigation. |
| in re | In the matter or case of; in regard to. |
| in rem | Latin term meaning "against the thing." Used to describe a legal action which is taken against land rather than against the land owner, such as a bank's foreclosure on a defaulted mortgage. |
| insure | (1) To provide or arrange insurance for. (2) To make sure, certain, or secure. |
| inter alia | "Amongst other things." For example, an Inter Alia Mortgage would cover more than one property. Typically it is a mortgage covering 2 or more properties. |
| intestate | (adj) Having made no legal will: an intestate parent. (n) One who dies without a legal will. |
| inure | To habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection. |
| mortgagee | One that holds a mortgage. (Mortgage: A temporary, conditional pledge of property to a creditor as security for performance of an obligation or repayment of a debt.) |
| mortgagor | One that mortgages property. |
| per curiam | Latin term meaning "by the court." Sometimes the written reasons for the decision of an appeal court are not acknowledged to be the reasons of a particular judge of the court but of the court as a whole and the reasons are given under the heading "per curiam." |
| per stirpes | Latin term, meaning "by representation." A method of dividing an estate equally among the heirs of the deceased. If an heir has predeceased, her share is divided equally by her linear descendants. |
| perquisite | A payment or profit received in addition to a regular wage or salary. |
| practicable | Feasible, or usable (is not the same as practical). |
| prima facie | At first sight; before closer inspection: They had, prima facie, a legitimate complaint. (adj) Evident without proof or reasoning; obvious: A prima facie violation of the treaty. |
| pro forma | Latin for "as a matter of form " and is used on balance sheets and income statements to refer to data that is hypothetical. For example, if company A buys company B mid-year, the year-end financial reports of Company A might show current earnings and last year's earnings as Pro Forma — as if the two companies had been merged all along. This gives a more relevant earnings comparison year over year. |
| promissory | A written promise to pay or repay a specified sum of money at a stated time or on demand. A prommissory note. |
| pro rata | Latin, meaning "according to the rate." Pro rata refers to dividing something (costs, income, profits, assessments, proceeds from a liquidation, etc.) among participants according to a rate in which each participant's share is in proportion to the part of the whole owned or claimed by the participant. |
| recision | The act of rescinding; the cancellation of a contract and the return of the parties to the positions they would have had if the contract had not been made; recission may be brought about by decree or by mutual consent. |
| sub nom | Latin for "under the name". This is a reference to the name by which a case has been entered in court. An entity may have several names, and it is not necessarily obvious which name has been used in court. The phrase is used to indicate what name has been used. It is short for sub nomine. |
| subpoena | A command from a court to require the person named in the subpoena to appear at a stated time and place to provide testimony or evidence. There are two main types of subpoenas: "duces tecum" (requires the production of documents, papers, or other tangibles) and "ad testificandum" (requires person to testify in a particular court case). |
| supra | Latin for above. It refers you to something at an earlier place; "see above." |
| tenancy | (1) Possession or occupancy of lands, buildings, or other property by title, under a lease, or on payment of rent (2) The period of a tenant's occupancy or possession. |
| testator | One who has made a legally valid will before death. |
| therefor | For that or for it; "ordering goods and enclosing payment therefor"; "a refund therefor." |
| therefore | For that reason or cause; consequently or hence. |
| torts | Damage, injury, or a wrongful act done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances involving strict liability, but not involving breach ofcontract, for which a civil suit can be brought. |
| tortious | Pertaining to the nature of a tort: "tortious acts." |
| venue | The locality or political division from which a jury is called and in which a trial is held; the locality where a crime is committed or a cause of action occurs. |
| vis-a-vis | French. Literally, "face to face." (1) In regard to. (2) Compared with. |
| voire dire | From the French words "to see" and "to say or tell". (1) A special hearing where a judge decides whether evidence can be presented at trial. It is a trial within a trial, where the victim may be called to testify. |
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