idea–expression dichotomy. Copyright. The fundamental rule that copyright law protects only specific expressions of an idea, not the idea itself. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 4. 5. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property § 10.]
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battle of the forms. The conflict between the terms of standard forms exchanged between a buyer and a seller during contract negotiations. • In its original version, UCC § 2-207 attempted to resolve battles of the forms by abandoning the common-law requirement of mirror-image acceptance and providing that a definite expression of acceptance may create
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Evidence. Nonverbal behavior that is intended to be a statement, such as pointing one’s finger to identify a suspect in a police lineup. • Assertive conduct is a statement under the hearsay rule, and thus it is not admissible unless a hearsay exception applies. Fed. R. Evid. 801(a)(2). — Also termed implied assertion. [Cases: Criminal
three wicked sisters. Slang. The three doctrines — contributory negligence, the fellow-servant rule, and assumption of the risk — used by 19th-century courts to deny recovery to workers injured on the job. “These three common law defenses, contributory negligence, fellow servant rule, and assumption of the risk, became known as the ‘three wicked sisters,’ because
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Salic law (sal-ik orsay-lik). An influential early medieval Frankish code of law that originated with the Salian Franks and that deals with a variety of civil property and family issues but is primarily a penal code listing the punishments for various crimes. • Salic law is the principal compilation of the early Germanic laws known
quasi-legislative, adj. (Of an act, function, etc.) not purely legislative in nature (the administrative agency’s rulemaking, being partly adjudicative, is not entirely legislative — that is, it is quasi-legislative). [Cases: Administrative Law and Procedure 106, 381. C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure §§ 10, 87, 91.]
agreed-boundary doctrine. The principle by which adjacent landowners resolve uncertainties over land boun-daries by permanently fixing the boundaries by agreement; specif., the rule that owners of contiguous land may agree on the boundary between the parcels, as long as the actual boundary is uncertain, there is agreement between the two owners about the boundary line,
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omissa et male appretiata ([schwa]-mis-[schwa] et mal-ee [schwa]-pree-shee-ay-t[schwa]). [Law Latin] Hist. Things omitted and erroneously valued. “When an executor confirms and omits in the inventory part of the defunct’s effects, he may have the mistake corrected. But if he do not take steps for this purpose, any one interested in the succession may apply, either
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viceroy, n. The governor of a kingdom or colony, who rules as the deputy of a monarch. — viceroyal, viceregal, adj.
unavoidable-accident doctrine. Torts. The rule holding no party liable for an accident that was not foreseeable and that could not have been prevented by the exercise of reasonable care. • The modern trend is for courts to ignore this doctrine, relying instead on the basic concepts of duty, negligence, and proximate cause. — Also termed
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