ministerial, adj. Of or relating to an act that involves obedience to instructions or laws instead of discretion, judgment, or skill (the court clerk’s ministerial duties include recording judgments on the docket). [Cases: Judges 33. C.J.S. Judges § 55.]
Criminal procedure. A defense witness’s written or recorded pretrial statement that a prosecutor is entitled to have in preparing to cross-examine the witness. • Reverse Jencks material may be obtained during pretrial discovery. Discoverable statements include a witness’s signed or adopted written statement, and transcripts or recordings of the witness’s oral statements, including grand-jury testimony.
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The government of a particular locality, such as a city or county; a governing body at a lower level than the state government. • The term includes a school district, fire district, transportation authority, and any other special-purpose district or authority. — Also termed municipal government. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 6. C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 12.]
background of the invention. Patents. In a U.S. patent application and any resulting patent, the section that identifies the field of art to which the invention pertains, summarizes the state of the art, and describes the problem solved by the invention. • The Background of the Invention section usu. includes two subsections: “Field of the
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title of right. A court-issued decree creating, transferring, or extinguishing rights. • Examples include a decree of divorce or judicial separation, an adjudication of bankruptcy, a discharge in bankruptcy, a decree of foreclosure against a mortgagor, an order appointing or removing a trustee, and a grant of letters of administration. In all the examples listed,
folio (foh-lee-oh). [fr. Latin folium “leaf”] 1. Hist. A leaf of a paper or parchment, numbered only on the front. • A folio includes both sides of the leaf, or two pages, with the letters “a” and “b” (or “r” and “v,” signifying recto and verso) added to show which of the two pages was
A party who, having interests that would inevitably be affected by a court’s judgment, must be included in the case. • If such a party is not included, the case must be dismissed. Fed. R. Civ. P. 19(b). Cf. necessary party. [Cases: Federal Civil Procedure 203; Parties 18, 29. C.J.S. Parties §§ 3–5, 48–49.]
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inter se (in-t[schwa]r seeorsay). [Latin “between or among themselves”] (Of a right or duty) owed between the parties rather than to others. — Also termed inter sese (in-t[schwa]r see-see). “[T]he law of nations is, or at least includes, a branch of natural law, namely, the rules of natural justice as applicable to the relations of
after-acquired-title clause. Oil & gas. A provision in an oil-and-gas lease extending the lease’s coverage to include any interest in the property that the lessor may obtain after the lease is signed. • A common formulation is “This lease covers all the interest now owned by or hereafter vested in the lessor ….”
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offer of proof. Procedure. A presentation of evidence for the record (but outside the jury’s presence) usu. made after the judge has sustained an objection to the admissibility of that evidence, so that the evidence can be preserved on the record for an appeal of the judge’s ruling. • An offer of proof, which may