usufructuary (yoo-z[schwa]-fr[schwa]k-choo-er-ee), adj. Roman & civil law. Of or relating to a usufruct; of the nature of a usufruct. usufructuary, n. Roman & civil law. One having the right to a usufruct; specif., a person who has the right to the benefits of another’s property; a life-renter. [Cases: Estates in Property 1. C.J.S. Estates §§ […]
The failure to obey a court order that was issued for another party’s benefit. • A civil-contempt proceeding is coercive or remedial in nature. The usual sanction is to confine the contemnor until he or she complies with the court order. The act (or failure to act) complained of must be within the defendant’s power
malicious mischief. The common-law misdemeanor of intentionally destroying or damaging another’s property. • Although modern statutes predominantly make this offense a misdemeanor, a few make it a felony (depending on the nature of the property or its value). See Model Penal Code § 220. 3. — Also termed malicious mischief and trespass; malicious injury; malicious
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McNaghten rules (mik-nawt-[schwa]n).Criminal law. The doctrine that a person is not criminally responsible for an act when a mental disability prevented the person from knowing either the nature and quality of the act or whether the act was right or wrong. • The federal courts and most states have adopted this test in some form.
clean-hands doctrine. The principle that a party cannot seek equitable relief or assert an equitable defense if that party has violated an equitable principle, such as good faith. • Such a party is described as having “unclean hands.” For example, § 8 of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act contains an unclean-hands provision that forbids
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ravishment, n. Archaic. 1. Forcible seizure and carrying off of another person (esp. a woman); ABDUCTION. 2. RAPE(1). • In this sense the term is widely considered inappropriate for modern usage, given its romantic connotations (in other contexts) of ecstasy and delight. In the Restatement (First) of Torts § 65a, the word was defined as
parental-discipline privilege. A parent’s right to use reasonable force or to impose reasonable punishment on a child in a way that is necessary to control, train, and educate. • Several factors are used to determine the reasonableness of the action, including whether the actor is the parent; the child’s age, sex, and physical and mental
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The legal system governing the relationships between nations; more modernly, the law of international relations, embracing not only nations but also such participants as international organizations and individuals (such as those who invoke their human rights or commit war crimes). — Also termed public international law; law of nations; law of nature and nations; jus
Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. Hist. 1. English law. A court of criminal jurisdiction held in each county (or borough) once in every quarter of a year. • The court was made up of a county’s justices of the peace. It committed certain cases to the Assizes. Quarter Sessions were abolished in
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stray remarks. Employment law. Statements to or about an employee by a coworker or supervisor, concerning the employee’s race, sex, age, national origin, or other status, that are either objectively or subjectively offensive, but that do not represent harassment or discrimination by the employer because of (1) their sporadic, unsystematic, and unofficial nature, (2) the