festuca (fes-tyoo-k[schwa]). Hist. A rod, staff, or stick used as a pledge (or gage) of good faith by a party to a contract or as a token of conveyance of land. • In Roman law, a festuca was a symbol of ownership. — Also termed fistuca; vindicta. See LIVERY OF SEISIN. “The wed or gage, […]
Bruton error (broot-[schwa]n). The violation of a criminal defendant’s constitutional right of confrontation by admitting into evidence a nontestifying codefendant’s confession that implicates both of them, where the statement is not admissible against the defendant under any exception to the hearsay rule. • The error is not cured by a limiting instruction to the jury
Stock of any class having unlimited dividend rights, regardless of whether the stock is preferred. [Cases: Corporations 155(3).]
notice to all the world. A general public announcement regarding a lawsuit, esp. to persons within the jurisdiction where a lawsuit is pending.
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universitas rerum (yoo-ni-v[schwa]r-s[schwa]-tas reer-[schwa]m). [Latin] Roman & civil law. A whole collection of things; a variety of individual things that are together regarded by the law as a whole. See JUS RERUM. “In the time of Justinian the universitas rerum, or universitas iuris (both expressions are used) is a somewhat abstract conception: it means the
Employment law. The principle that, when the evidence in an employment-discrimination case shows that the complained-of employment action was based in part on a nondiscriminatory reason and in part on a discriminatory reason, the plaintiff must show that discrimination was a motivating factor for the employment action and, if the plaintiff makes that showing, then
mixed motive doctrine Read More »
Justice fairly administered according to rules of substantive law, regardless of any procedural errors not affecting the litigant’s substantive rights; a fair trial on the merits.
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A legal fiction by which a property owner is allowed to claim that he or she has been disseised, regardless of whether this is actually true, in order to have a remedy against an adverse claimant.
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Trademarks. A name or symbol used by a seller or manufacturer to identify goods or services and to distinguish them from competitors’ goods or services; the term used colloquially in business and industry to refer to a corporate or product name, a business image, or a mark, regardless of whether it may legally qualify as
pretermit (pree-t[schwa]r-mit), vb. 1. To ignore or disregard purposely (the court pretermitted the constitutional question by deciding the case on procedural grounds). 2. To neglect, overlook, or omit accidentally (the third child was pretermitted in the will). • Although in ordinary usage sense 1 prevails, in legal contexts (esp. involving heirs) sense 2 is usual.