lawyer, n. One who is licensed to practice law. Cf. ATTORNEY. [Cases: Attorney and Client 9. C.J.S. Attorney and Client §§ 24–25.] — lawyerly, lawyerlike, adj. — lawyerdom, n. certified military lawyer. A person qualified to act as counsel in a general court-martial. • To be qualified, the person must be (1) a judge advocate […]
personal law. The law that governs a person’s family matters, usu. regardless of where the person goes. • In common-law systems, personal law refers to the law of the person’s domicile. In civil-law systems, it refers to the law of the individual’s nationality (and so is sometimes called lex patriae). Cf. TERRITORIAL LAW. “The idea
reporter of decisions. The person responsible for publishing a court’s opinions. • The position began historically — in the years before systematic reporting of decisions was introduced — when lawyers attended the sessions of particular courts, were accredited to them by the judges, and reported the decisions of that court. Today, the reporter of decisions
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In a common-law judicial system, the power to hear certain civil actions according to the procedure of the court of chancery, and to resolve them according to equitable rules. [Cases: Equity 1; Federal Courts 7. C.J.S. Equity §§ 2–5, 7–8, 10, 20.]
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McNary comity. The principle that a U.S. district court should not hear a taxpayer’s civil-rights challenge to the administration of a state’s tax system. Fair Assessment in Real Estate Ass’n v. McNary, 454 U.S. 100, 102 S.Ct. 177 (1981). [Cases: Federal Courts 27.]
rule of the last antecedent. An interpretative principle by which a court determines that qualifying words or phrases modify the words or phrases immediately preceding them and not words or phrases more remote, unless the extension is necessary from the context or the spirit of the entire writing. • For example, an application of this
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equality before the law. The status or condition of being treated fairly according to regularly established norms of justice; esp., in British constitutional law, the notion that all persons are subject to the ordinary law of the land administered by the ordinary law courts, that officials and others are not exempt from the general duty
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The system of pleading used in courts of equity. • In most jurisdictions, rules unique to equity practice have been largely supplanted by rules of court, esp. where law courts and equity courts have merged. [Cases: Equity 128–335.]
The system of pleading historically used in the three common-law courts of England (the King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer) up to 1873.
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county palatine (pal-[schwa]-tIn or -tin). Hist. A county in which the lord held certain royal privileges, such as the right to pardon a felon or to have indictments recite that offenses were committed against the lord’s — rather than the king’s — peace. • In England, there were three such counties: Chester, Durham, and Lancaster.