Zero-L Flashcards
Citation for the Statutes at Large.
“Stat.” Citation
A judgment holding that the state has failed to meet its burden of proving the defendant guilty. A judgment of _________ will be imposed if a jury returns a verdict of “not guilty,” or (in some cases) if the judge determines that the evidence presented by the prosecutor is insufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt as a matter of law.
Acquittal
The element in a given criminal statute that defines the culpable action that an offender must commit in order to be guilty of the crime at issue.
Actus Reus Element
The area of law governing agencies, a core concern of which is protecting against the excesses of agency power.
Administrative Law
A sort of “uber” statute that governs all federal agencies and establishes the default procedures that every federal agency must follow, unless they are expressly exempted. One of the most important statutes in administrative law.
Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”)
A disposition in which a court of appeals or supreme court leaves the judgment or ruling immediately below intact. However, the reasoning the court offers for that result may have changed.
Affirm
Transfer of property to another.
Alienation
A statement that something is true that has not yet been proven. Often it refers to a factual assertion that a party claims can be proven at trial.
Allegation
Various alternatives to litigating in courts such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
The third Reconstruction Amendment to the Constitution stating that no state could abridge anybody’s right to vote on the basis of race.
The 15th Amendment
A pleading by the defendant that addresses the merits of the plaintiff’s case. It typically goes line by line through the complaint and explains whether each fact alleged in the complaint is true, false, or whether the defendant for some justifiable reason cannot say whether it is true or false. It also may introduce its own claims by the defendant against the plaintiff.
Answer
When an appellate court is required to hear an appeal, as opposed to a “discretionary appeal,” when an appellate court can decide whether or not to hear an appeal.”
Appeal As of Right
The review in one court of the proceedings and decisions of another, either as to law or fact, or both.
Appeal
On appeal, the party who lost the case in the court below.
Appellant
An adjective meaning relating to courts of appeal.
Appellate
On appeal, the party who won the case in the court below.
Appellee
The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Legislative branch of the federal government.
Article I of the Constitution
The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Executive branch of the federal government.
Article II of the Constitution
The section of the U.S. Constitution that establishes and empowers the Judicial branch of the federal government.
Article III of the Constitution
An agreement among the 13 original states arranging themselves as a confederacy or a federation.
Articles of Confederation
A form of pretrial detention whereby a defendant is incarcerated prior to trial unless and until he is able to deposit a sum of money with the court system (i.e., to “post…”) that will be returned to him only if he comes to court for all future required appearances.
Bail
A particular tort that consists of one person intentionally causing harmful or offensive physical contact with another person; absent special circumstances, a person who punches, kicks, or fondles another person commits the tort of battery.
Battery
A trial before a judge.
Bench Trial
Refers to the practice of having two “chambers” or “houses” of the legislative branch, each of which must pass a bill before it becomes law. A federal statute must be passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate before it becomes law.
Bicameralism
The first ten Amendments to the Constitution, submitted to the states for ratification in 1789 and ratified in 1791, and guaranteeing rights such as the freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship.
Bill of Rights
A proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A ______ does not become a law until it is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and either approved by the President or a Presidential veto is overcome.
Bill
To fail to fulfill contractual obligations. In other words, to break the contract.
Breaching a contract
A landmark Supreme Court decision made in 1954 in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional, rejecting the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
Brown v. Board of Education
The burden on a party to prove its claim to the judge (or jury). It is a kind of threshold one’s claim must cross. Common examples include the usual civil law standard of “preponderance of the evidence,” more likely than not, and the criminal law standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt,” a much higher threshold.
Burden of Persuasion
The heading of a case which includes the names of the parties, the name of the court issuing the opinion, the date of the opinion, and sometimes other identifying information.
Caption
A claim, a set of facts that entitles one party to obtain a remedy from another party in court.
Cause of Action
The Supreme Court’s discretionary review of an action by a lower court or agency. To request that the Supreme Court hear an appeal, a party must file a petition (pleading) for ______. If the Court decides to hear the appeal, it will issue a writ of certiorari, which orders the lower court to provide its files and records for review. Often called “___.” for short.
Certiorari
Cert for short
An intermediate appellate federal court one level below the U.S. Supreme Court.
Circuit Court
Includes the name of a case, the name of the court that decided it, the year the case was decided, the reporter, and the page number on which the case starts in the relevant reporter.
Citation
A legal system built around comprehensive codes. Examples include France, Germany, and the state of Louisiana.
Civil Law Jurisdiction
A first-year law school class that is all about civil litigation.
Civil Procedure
The limitations on how members of the bureaucracy can be fired, demoted, or disciplined.
Civil service protection
A part of the complaint that describes what the plaintiff is seeking in the suit, e.g., money damages, an injunction, etc.
Claim for Relief
Statements by the public about a proposed rule, typically in written form.
Comment
A legal system where law is made largely by court decisions rather than legal codes. Examples include the U.S. and other former British colonies.
Common Law Jurisdiction
Property belonging to multiple people or a group rather than an individual.
Common Property
The type of damages to which a successful tort plaintiff is usually entitled, and which provide the plaintiff with a payment meant to offset the losses she suffered as a result of the tort.________ often include medical expenses, lost wages, and compensation for emotional harm and pain and suffering.
Compensatory Damages
The typical remedy provided to a successful tort plaintiff, consisting of a monetary payment in an amount that covers losses suffered by a tort victim as a result of the tort, including lost income, medical bills, and pain and suffering.
Compensatory Damages
A document that states the basis of a lawsuit (often divided into the statement of jurisdiction, cause of action, and claim for relief – see definitions below).
Complaint
A legislative measure adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives that does not require the approval of the President. A ___________ does not have the force of law.
Concurrent Resolution
An opinion by a judge who agrees with the majority on the outcome of the case but disagrees with the majority on something or has something to add. Also called a “_________.”
Concurring Opinion
/ concurrence
A committee made up of members from both the Senate and House of Representatives that meets, negotiates, and agrees to a new, compromised version of a particular bill when each house passes a different version.
Conference Committee
The process by which Congress assigns power to administrative agencies.
Congressional Delegation
A moral philosophy in which the rightness or wrongness of an action is judged solely by its consequences.
Consequentialism
A theory that seeks to justify the state’s decision to punish someone by appealing to the benefit to society that such punishment is thought to afford (for example, by incapacitating a dangerous individual or by deterring that person or others from committing future crimes).
Consequentialist/Utilitarian Theory of Punishment
The “quid pro quo” – the thing given in return for something else – that is necessary to make an agreement legally enforceable. In many cases this will be a reciprocal exchange of promises.
Consideration
A change to the Constitution proposed either by the Congress, with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.
Constitutional Amendment
A system of government based on popular sovereignty in which the structures, powers, and limits of government are set forth in a constitution.
Constitutional democracy
The body of law that derives from the U.S. Constitution. It defines the role of the branches of federal government, divides authority between the federal government and the states, and enumerates the basic rights of citizens. States also have ________ based on their state constitutions, but when we speak of it we typically specify “state __________.”
Constitutional Law
Voluntary transfer of property.
Conveyance
A judgment holding the defendant liable for the charged criminal offense. A judgment of _____ can be imposed if a trial ends in a guilty verdict, or if the defendant pleads guilty.
Conviction
Organizations given special legal treatment and largely designed by lawyers. They are typically owned by their shareholders and treated as a single legal entity.
Corporations
A contract in which the price is not fixed up front. Rather, the price is based on reimbursing the cost of performance plus an agreed-upon fee or markup rate.
Cost-Plus Contract
Relating to or expressing what has not happened or is not the case.
Counterfactual
When statutes reference one another.
Cross-references
A common problem in property law characterized by owners conveying property with specific conditions on future users or owners, which may devalue the property or prevent it from being beneficially used at some later time.
Dead-Hand Control
The formal public announcement by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, reciting the grievances of the American colonies against the British government and declaring them to be free and separate states.
Declaration of Independence
A remedy that is a mere statement of what the law is.
Declaratory Judgment
The practice in which doctors order a test or procedure primarily for the purpose of avoiding liability rather than to improve a patient’s health.
Defensive Medicine
The process of the jury reviewing and weighing the evidence after trial to reach a verdict.
Deliberate
Using the threat of legal sanctions to induce persons or firms to change their behavior; some argue that ___________ is the main value or purpose of tort law, in that the threat of tort liability induces people to behave more carefully.
Deterrence
The process by which one party makes another party (or in some cases non- party) provide information needed for the case, including asking for documents, requiring an opposing party to answer interrogatories, and depositions.
Discovery
The court’s determination of what should happen in a case. It is an action and is usually found in the last few lines of a majority opinion.
Disposition
An opinion by a judge who would have ruled differently than the majority. Also called a “________.”
Dissenting Opinion
/ dissent
In the federal system, the general trial court (sometimes referred to as a “court of first instance”).
District Court
The law that is made by U.S. sovereigns and governs activities on U.S. soil. In some cases, it may also govern U.S. citizens or others within the jurisdictional power of the U.S. even though they may not be physically present in the U.S.
Domestic Law
A provision of the U.S. Constitution that, in abbreviated form, states “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Due Process Clause
Also known as a “retreat rule.” A requirement of the criminal law of some states that you may not claim self-defense if you could have safely retreated, but did not, before using deadly force against an attacker.
Duty to Retreat
A basic definitional component of a criminal offense. _____s generally fall into three categories
Element
A French expression, which translates to “on the bench.” In the federal system, _______ refers to an appeal in which all the qualified judges hear and decide the case instead of just a subset of the judges (as is typical in appeals).
En Banc
A Latin phrase meaning “before the event.” The ____ perspective asks how a decision about the law will affect the event in question, if it happens at all. For example, how does the state of the law affect various actors’ incentives to behave in certain ways.
Ex Ante
A Latin phrase meaning “after the event.” The ________ perspective asks how the law should respond to an event after it occurs. For example, how should the law best compensate those who have been injured.
Ex Post
Additional steps needed to effectuate the Court’s judgment. For example, if the plaintiff gets money damages from someone they may seek to garnish the defendant’s wages (i.e., deduct a certain amount every month) in order to get paid back over time.
Execute the Judgment
Agencies that are headed by individual appointees nominated by the President who can be removed by the President for any reason.
Executive Agencies (Executive Branch Agencies)
The managerial branch of the U.S. government, which includes the President, the police force, the military, the writer of the checks, the printer of the money, the builder of the roads, and the manager of the post office.
Executive branch
A type of legal/financial award in which the party who breached the contract must pay monetary damages that compensate the victim by placing the victim in as good a financial position as she would have been had the contract been performed.
Expectation Damages
A linguistic canon of construction that means that if you specify one thing, you implicitly exclude the things you don’t specify.
Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius
A theory that seeks to justify the state’s decision to punish someone by appealing to the idea that such punishment could help clarify and reinforce the shared moral and ethical commitments of a given society or community.
Expressivist Theory of Punishment
A court with jurisdiction over affairs of children (e.g., adoption, custody, maintenance, neglect, abuse, and abandonment) and families (e.g., divorce, alimony).
Family Court
The compendium of proposed and finalized rules – a sort of newspaper for the federal regulatory state.
Federal Register
The set of rules governing civil litigation in federal court.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Relating to the U.S. government (as opposed to U.S. state governments).
Federal
A form of government, such as in the U.S., in which power is divided between a central (federal) government and regional (state) governments.
Federalism
Refers to transferring one party’s attorney’s fees to the other party in the case. Typically, the shift is that the loser pays the winner’s fees.
Fee-shifting
The amendment of the U.S. Constitution that, among other things, prohibits deprivations of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (the “Due Process Clause”) and also states that if the state takes private property for public use, it must provide just compensation (the “takings clause”).
Fifth Amendment
The amendment of the U.S. Constitution that Includes protections for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the free exercise of religion (the “free exercise clause”), and a prohibition on establishment of religion (the “establishment clause”).
First Amendment
A contract in which the price for goods or services is set up front, before performance.
Fixed-Price Contract
The less common type of rulemaking governed by sections 556 and 557 of the APA, involving a trial-like process where an agency must present a case for the rule in front of an administrative law judge or other official.
Formal Rulemaking
The amendment of the U.S. Constitution adopted at the conclusion of the Civil War that extended rights and liberties against encroachment by state governments and contained guarantees of equal treatment of all persons. This amendment, among other things, also prohibits deprivations of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (the “Due Process Clause”).
Fourteenth Amendment
The amendment of the U.S. Constitution that protects against unreasonable search and seizure and is very important for criminal procedure.
Fourth Amendment
A legal rule that completes a blank in a contract, in the sense that it supplies a term in the contract that the parties failed to include. For example, in many jurisdictions, law governing commercial transactions contains rules for supplying a price term in a contract when the parties have agreed on a definite exchange but failed to specify a sales price.
Gap-Filler
A U.S. Supreme Court case holding that defendants charged with serious crimes have a federal constitutional right to a lawyer if they are too poor to pay for a lawyer themselves. The federal Constitution has been interpreted not to provide a similar right in the vast majority of civil cases.
Gideon v. Wainwright
