offer of compromise. An offer by one party to settle a dispute amicably (usu. by paying money) to avoid or end a lawsuit or other legal action. • An offer of compromise is usu. not admissible at trial as evidence of the offering party’s liability but may be admissible for other purposes. Fed. R. Evid. […]
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A constitution whose terms cannot be altered by ordinary forms of legislation, only by special amending procedures. • The U.S. Constitution is an example. It cannot be changed without the consent of three-fourths of the state legislatures or through a constitutional convention. U.S. Const. art. V.
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Hist. A contract in which money or other property passes from one party to another; a contract requiring something more than mere consent, such as the lending of money or handing over of a thing. • This term, derived from Roman law, referred to contracts concerning both personal and real property. Real contracts in-cluded transactions
avoision ([schwa]-voy-zh[schwa]n), n. An ambiguous act that falls between legal avoidance and illegal evasion of the law. • The term, coined by Arthur Seldon, an economist, is a blend of evasion and avoidance. Avoision usu. refers to financial acts that are not clearly legal tax avoidance or illegal tax evasion, but it sometimes appears in
litigious right. Civil law. A right that cannot be exercised without first being determined in a lawsuit. La. Civ. Code art. 2652. • If the right is sold, it must be in litigation at the time of sale to be considered a litigious right.
but-for test. Tort & criminal law. The doctrine that causation exists only when the result would not have occurred without the party’s conduct. — Also termed (in criminal law) had-not test. See but-for cause under CAUSE(1). [Cases: Criminal Law 26; Negligence 379. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 44–45, 1110.]
positive law. A system of law promulgated and implemented within a particular political community by political superiors, as distinct from moral law or law existing in an ideal community or in some nonpolitical community. • Positive law typically consists of enacted law — the codes, statutes, and regulations that are applied and enforced in the
Child Protective Services. A governmental agency with responsibility for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect, providing family services to the parent or guardian of a child who has been abused or neglected, and administering the foster-care program. — Abbr. CPS. — Also termed (in some states) Department of Social Services.
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concessimus (k[schwa]n-ses-[schwa]-m[schwa]s). [Latin] Hist. We have granted. • Concessimus is a term of conveyance that creates a joint covenant on the part of the grantors.
excess of jurisdiction. 1. A court’s acting beyond the limits of its power, usu. in one of three ways: (1) when the court has no power to deal with the kind of matter at issue, (2) when the court has no power to deal with the particular person concerned, or (3) when the judgment or
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