substantial-certainty test. Copyright. The test for deciding whether a second work was copied from the first. • The question is whether a reasonable observer would conclude with substantial certainty that the second work is a copy. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 53(1).]
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An heir who is certain to inherit unless he or she dies first or is excluded by a valid will. — Also termed apparent heir. Cf. heir presumptive. [Cases: Descent and Distribution 68. C.J.S. Descent and Distribution § 68.]
preponderance of the evidence. The greater weight of the evidence, not necessarily established by the greater number of witnesses testifying to a fact but by evidence that has the most convincing force; superior evidentiary weight that, though not sufficient to free the mind wholly from all reasonable doubt, is still sufficient to incline a fair
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valuable papers. Documents that, upon a person’s death, are important in carrying out the decedent’s wishes and in managing the estate’s affairs. • Examples include a will, title documents, stock certificates, powers of attorney, letters to be opened on one’s death, and the like. Some statutes require that, to be effective, a holographic will devising
A resolution passed by one house only. • It expresses the opinion or affects the internal affairs of the passing house, but it does not have the force of law.
code. 1. A complete system of positive law, carefully arranged and officially promulgated; a systematic collection or revision of laws, rules, or regulations (the Uniform Commercial Code). • Strictly, a code is a compilation not just of existing statutes, but also of much of the unwritten law on a subject, which is newly enacted as
in evidence. Having been admitted into evidence (the photograph was already in evidence when the defense first raised an objection to it).
scope note. In a digest, a précis appearing after a title and showing concisely what subject matter is included and what is excluded. “In the Century and Decennial Digests, though not in the various digests of the Key-Number Series, there is printed immediately following each topic title a couple of paragraphs which are called the
coparcenary (koh-pahr-s[schwa]-ner-ee), n. An estate that arises when two or more persons jointly inherit from one ancestor, the title and right of possession being shared equally by all. • Coparcenary was a form of coownership created by common-law rules of descent upon intestacy when two or more persons together con-stituted the decedent’s heirs. Typically, this
unfair trade. An inequitable business practice; esp., the act or an instance of a competitor’s repeating of words in a way that conveys a misrepresentation that materially injures the person who first used the words, by appropriating credit of some kind earned by the first user. [Cases: Trade Regulation 862. 1.]