conventional law. A rule or system of rules agreed on by persons for the regulation of their conduct toward one another; law constituted by agreement as having the force of special law between the parties, by either supple-menting or replacing the general law of the land. • The most important example is conventional international law, […]
penumbra (pi-n[schwa]m-br[schwa]), n. A surrounding area or periphery of uncertain extent. • In constitutional law, the Supreme Court has ruled that the specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras containing implied rights, esp. the right of privacy. Pl. penumbras, penumbrae (pi-n[ schwa]m-bree). — penumbral (pi-n[schwa]m-br[schwa]l), adj. “Problems of fringe meaning are sometimes spoken
arbitrary, adj. 1. Depending on individual discretion; specif., determined by a judge rather than by fixed rules, procedures, or law. 2. (Of a judicial decision) founded on prejudice or preference rather than on reason or fact. • This type of decision is often termed arbitrary and capricious. Cf. CAPRICIOUS.
A small quantity of evidence; esp., the small amount of evidence sufficient to remove a presumption from a case or for a rational fact-finder to conclude that something essential has not been established beyond a reasonable doubt. See SLIGHT-EVIDENCE RULE.
wedge principle. The principle that an act is wrong in a specific instance if, when raised to a general level of conduct, it would injure humanity. “[T]here is the familiar argument from the ‘wedge principle,’ which is used to deny the possibility of looking at particular circumstances in applying moral rules.” Glanville Williams, The Sanctity
opinion evidence 意见证据 指证人就争议问题陈述的自己的观点、看法或推论，区别于证人就自己所了解的案件事实而作的客观性陈述。证据规则通常不允许普通证人以其对案件事实的意见或推论作证，但是有例外，如因具有相应的科学技术或其他专业知识而具备专家资格的专家证人〔expert witness〕的意见可以作为证据采信；普通证人的意见证词一般只有在符合法律规定的少数例外情况下才可予采信，如美国《联邦证据规则》〔Federal Rules of Evidence〕规定，对普通证人以意见或推论形式作出的证词只有在符合：１合理建立在证人的感觉之上，和２对清楚理解该证人的证词或确定争议中的事实有益时，才可被采纳。
dominant-jurisdiction principle. The rule that the court in which a case is first filed maintains the suit, to the exclusion of all other courts that would also have jurisdiction. [Cases: Courts 475, 493, 514; Federal Courts 1145. C.J.S. Courts §§ 188, 211, 224.]
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borrowing statute. A legislative exception to the conflict-of-laws rule holding that a forum state must apply its own statute of limitations. • A borrowing statute specifies the circumstances in which a forum state will apply another state’s statute of limitations. [Cases: Limitation of Actions 2. C.J.S. Limitations of Actions § 26.]
special pleading. 1. The common-law system of pleading that required the parties to exchange a series of court papers (such as replications, rebutters, and surrebutters) setting out their contentions in accordance with hypertechnical rules before a case could be tried. • Often, therefore, cases were decided on points of pleading and not on the merits.