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escrowl (es-krohl), 1. An escrow. 2. A scroll.

escuage (es-kyoo-ij). [French, fr. Latin escuagium], See SCUTAGE.

e-sign act The short name for the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, a 2000 federal statute that establishes the legal equivalency of electronic contracts, electronic signatures, and other electronic records with their paper counterparts. The E-Sign Act applies to all types of transactions, whether in interstate or foreign commerce, unless a specific exception applies. Among the few exceptions are documents related to family law and probate law, most documents required by the Uniform Commercial Code, court documents, and a list of notices that directly impact the lives of consumers (e.g., a notice of termination of utility services or a notice of eviction).

esketores (es-ka-tor-eez), n. pl. Robbers; destroyers of others' lands or fortunes.

eskipper (a-skip-ar), vb. To ship. Also termed eskippare (es-a-pair-ee).

eskippeson (a-skip-[a]-san), n. Shippage; passage by sea. - Also termed skippeson.

eslisor (es-li-zar). See ELISOR.

esne (ez-nee), n. A hireling of servile condition; a hired laborer or a slave.

esnecy (es-ni-see), n. Seniority: the condition, right, or privilege of the eldest-born. The term esp. applied to the privilege of the eldest among coparceners to make a first choice of shares upon a voluntary partition. - Also termed aesnecia.

ESOP (ee-sop). abbr. See employee-stock-ownership plan under EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN.

espera (es-pd-fa), n. A period fixed by law or by a court within which certain acts are to be performed (such as payment of a debt).

espionage (es-pee-a-nahzh). The practice of using spies to collect information about what another goverment or company is doing or plans to do.

espionage act A federal law that criminalizes and punishes espionage, spying, and related crimes. 18 USCA §§ 793 et seq. Two Espionage Acts were passed. The 1917 act criminalized false statements intended to interfere with the war effort; to willfully cause or attempt to cause dissension in the armed forces; or to willfully obstruct national recruiting and enlistment activities. This act remains enforceable "when the United States is at war." The 1918 act criminalized speech intended to obstruct war-bond sales; to generate scorn or contempt for democratic government, the flag, or the uniform of the Army or Navy; to urge reduced production of war materials with the intent to hinder the war effort; or to express support for a national enemy or opposition to the United States' cause. The act's constitutionality was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court before it was repealed in 1921.

esplees (es-pleez), n. pl. Archaic. 1. Products yielded from land. 2. Rents or other payments derived from land. 3. Land itself. - Also termed explees.

espousals (a-spow-zalz), n. Mutual promises between a man and a woman to marry one another. "Espousals were of two kinds: sponsalia per verba de futuro, which take place if man and woman promise each other that they will hereafter become husband and wife; sponsalia per verba de praesenti, which take place if they declare that they take each other as husband and wife now, at this very moment." 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic William Maitland, History of English Law Before the Time of Edward 1368 (2d ed. 1899).

espouse 1. To marry. 2. To dedicate oneself to and advocate for (a cause).

esquire (es-kwir or e-skwir). 1. A candidate for knighthood who assisted knights in martial endeavors. 2. A member of the gentry whose rank was inferior to that of a knight. 3. Archaic. A landed gentleman; a member of the landed gentry. 4. (usu. cap. as an honorific) A title of courtesy commonly appended after the name of a lawyer. - Abbr. Esq. "Heralds and experts on honour for a long time regarded serjeants either as inferior to esquires or at most as being equals by reason of office. James Whitelocke, a barrister with historical interests and a future serjeant, said in 1601 that becoming a serjeant carried with it the status of esquire, so that the proper description was 'A.B. esquire, serjeant at law.' Chief Justice Dyer, however, argued in 1580 that the name of esquire was 'drowned' on creation as a serjeant, the latter being a higher degree; and the same point of view was urged in 1611 by the serjeants in a pre· cedence dispute. It was probably not until the eighteenth century that the heralds accepted the priority of serjeants before esquires. By that time the rank of esquire had begun its decline, and according to the courts it belonged to all barristers at law by virtue of their profession.: J,H. Baker, The Order of Serjeants at Law 52 (1984).

essence test Labor law. A test under which an arbitrator's interpretation of a collective-bargaining agreement must be upheld if it derives in any rational way from the agreement, viewed in light of the agreement's language, its context, and any other evidence of the parties' intention.

essence, of the See OF THE ESSENCE.

essendi quietum de tolonio (e-sen-di kwi-ee-tam dee ta-Ioh-nee-oh). [Latin "a writ to be free of a toll"]. A writ available to a citizen or a burgess of any city or town who, by charter or prescription, is exempt from a particular toll.

essential finding See FINDING OF FACT.

essential finding- Military law. A military tribunal's determination of a collateral pretrial motion.

essential mistake See MISTAKE.

essential term See fundamental term under TERM (2).

essentialia (e-sen-shee-ay-Iee-a). [Law Latin "essentials"], Scots law. Terms or qualities essential to the existence of a particular right or contract. Cf. ACCIDENTALIA. "Essentialia. This term, applied to a contract, or right, or other subject of law, signifies those things which are essential to the very being of the contract or right, as such, and any alteration in which would make the contract or right resolve into one of another kind." William Bell, Bell's Dictionary and Digest of the Law of Scotland 406 (George Watson ed., 7th ed. 1890).

essentialia feudi (e-sen-shee-ay-Iee-a fyoo-di). [Law Latin], Scots law. The essential terms of a feudal right. Cf. ACCIDENTALIA FEUDI.

essoin (e-soyn), n. [fr. Old French essoi(g)ne "excuse"], 1. An excuse for not appearing in court on an appointed day in obedience to a summons. 2. The offering or presentation of such an excuse. - Also spelled essoign. 'The first return-day of every term, properly speaking, is the first day of that term; and on that day the court used formerly to sit ... to hear the essoigns, or excuses, of such as did not appear according to the summons of the writ. This day therefore came to be called the essoign-day of the term." 1 George Crompton, Practice Common-Placed: Rules and Cases of Practice in the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas liv (3d ed. 1787).

essoin- vb. [fr. Old French essoi(g)nier "to excuse"], To present an excuse for not appearing in court as ordered. "Upon the summons, the defendant either appeared, or essoigned, or made default. If he did the former, the plaintiff declared against him, and the cause was proceeded in by the court; and if he did the latter, the plaintiff had liberty to take out further process against him. But if he essoigned, that is, sent an excuse to the court why he could not attend, he was to send it by the return day of the writ which if he did, a further process did not issue against him." 1 George Crompton, Practice Common-Placed: Rules and Cases of Practice in the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas liv (3d ed. 1787).

essoin day English law. The first general return day of the term, when the courts sat to receive essoins. By the Law Terms Act (1830), essoin days were eliminated as a part of the term. St. 11 Geo. 4; 1 Will. 4, ch. 70, § 6.

essoin de malo villae (dee mal-oh viI-ee). A procedure by which a defendant, who was in court the first day but was then taken ill without pleading, would send two essoiners to state in court that the defendant was detained by sickness in a particular village and thus unable to attend. This essoin would be accepted unless the plaintiff could show its falsity.

essoin roll A roll upon which essoins were entered, together with the day to which they were adjourned.

essoiner (e-soyn-ar). A person making an essoin. Also termed essoiniator (e-soyn-ee-ay-tar).

est a scavoir (ayah skah-vwahr). [Law French, prob. fr. Latin est sciendum "it is to be known"]. It is to be understood or known; to wit. This expression is common in Sir Thomas de Littleton's 15th-century Treatise on Tenures, written in Law French. See SCIENDGM EST.

establish 1. To settle, make, or fix firmly; to enact permanently <one object of the Constitution was to establish justice>. 2. To make or form; to bring about or into existence <Congress has the power to establish Article III courts>. 3. To prove; to convince <the House managers tried to establish the President's guilt>.

established royalty A royalty set at an agreed-on price. In the absence of an established royalty, a court will determine a remedy for infringement based on what a reasonable royalty would have been.

established royalty See ROYALTY (1).

establishment 1. The act of establishing; the state or condition of being established. 2. An institution or place of business. 3. A group of people who are in power or who control or exercise great influence over something.

establishment clause The First Amendment provision that prohibits the federal and state governments from establishing an official religion, or from favoring or disfavoring one view of religion over another. U.S. Const. amend. I. Cf. FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE.

estadal (es-tah-dahl), n. [Spanish]. In Spanish America, a measure of land of 16 square varas, or yards.

estadia (es-tah-dee-ah), n. [Spanish]. Spanish law. 1. A delay in a voyage, or in the delivery of cargo, caused by the charterer or consignee, who becomes liable for demurrage. 2. The time for which the party who has chartered a vessel, or is bound to receive the cargo, must pay demurrage because of a delay in performing the contract. - Also termed sobrestadia (soh-bray-stah-dee-ah).

estandard (a-stan-dard). [Law French]. A standard of weights and measures.

estate 1. The amount, degree, nature, and quality of a person's interest in land or other property; esp., a real-estate interest that may become possessory, the ownership being measured in terms of duration. See periodic tenancy under TENANCY.

estate ad remanentiam (ad rem-a-nen-shee-am). An estate in fee simple.

estate at sufferance See tenancy at sufferance under TENANCY.

estate at will See tenancy at will under TENANCY.

estate by curtesy An estate owned by a wife, to which the husband is entitled upon her death. See CURTESY.

estate by elegit An estate held by a judgment creditor, entitling the creditor to the rents and profits from land owned by the debtor until the debt is paid. See ELEGIT.

estate by entirety A common-law estate in which each spouse is seised of the whole of the property. An estate by entirety is based on the legal fiction that a husband and wife are a single unit. The estate consists offive unities: time, title, interest, possession, and marriage.The last of these unities distinguishes the estate by entirety from the joint tenancy. A joint tenancy can exist with any number of persons, while an estate by entirety can be held only by a husband and wife and is not available to any other persons. And it can be acquired only during the marriage. This estate has a right of survivorship, but upon the death of one spouse, the surviving spouse retains the entire interest rather than acquiring the decedent's interest. Most jurisdictions have abolished this estate. - Also termed estate by the entirety; estate by entireties; estate by the entireties; tenancy by the entirety; tenancy by the entireties. Cf joint tenancy and tenancy in common under TENANCY.

estate by purchase An estate acquired in any manner other than by descent. See PURCHASE.

estate by statute staple An estate in a defendant's land held by a creditor under the statute staple until the debt was paid. See STATUTE STAPLE.

estate by the curtesy of england See CURTESY.

estate duty English law. A tax imposed on the principal value of all property that passed on death. Estate duties were first imposed in 1889. A capital transfer tax replaced it in 1975. Since 1986, an inheritance tax has applied instead, with exceptions for certain transactions entered into before then. See death duty.

estate duty- See DUTY (4).

estate for a term See tenancy for a term under TENANCY.

estate for years See tenancy for a term under TENANCY.

estate freeze An estate-planning maneuver whereby an owner of a closely held business exchanges common stock for dividend-paying preferred stock and gives the common stock to his or her children, thus seeking to guarantee an income in retirement and to avoid estate tax on future appreciation in the business's value.

estate from period to period See periodic tenancy under TENANCY.

estate in common See tenancy in common under TENANCY.

estate in expectancy See FUTURE INTEREST.

estate in fee simple See FEE SIMPLE.

estate in freehold See FREEHOLD.

estate in gage An estate that has been pledged as security for a debt. See MORTGAGE.

estate in lands 1. Property that one has in lands, tenements, or hereditaments, 2. The conditions or circumstances under which a tenant stands in relation to the leased property.

estate in partnership A joint estate that is vested in the members ofa partnership when real estate is purchased with partnership funds and for partnership purposes.

estate in possession An estate in which a present interest passes to the tenant; an estate in which the tenant is entitled to receive the rents and other profits arising from the estate.

estate in remainder See REMAINDER (1).

estate in remainder- See REMAINDER (1).

estate in reversion See REVERSION (1).

estate in severalty (sev-a-ral-tee). An estate held by a tenant separately, without any other person being joined or connected in interest.

estate in tail See FEE TAIL.

estate in vadio (in vad-ee-oh). An estate in gage or pledge. See MORTGAGE.

estate infee tail See FEE TAIL.

estate less than freehold An estate for years, an estate at will, or an estate at sufferance.

estate of inheritance An estate that may descend to heirs.

estate on condition An estate that vests, is modified, or is defeated upon the occurrence or nonoccurrence of some specified event. While an estate on limitation can revert without any action by the grantor or the grantor's heirs. an estate on condition requires the entry of the grantor or the grantor's heirs to end the estate whenever the condition occurs. Also termed estate on conditional limitation; conditional estate. Cf. estate on limitation.

estate on condition expressed A contingent estate in which the condition upon which the estate will fail is stated explicitly in the granting instrument.

estate on condition implied A contingent estate haVing some condition that is so inseparable from the estate's essence that it need not be expressed in words.

estate on conditional limitation See estate on condition.

estate on limitation An estate that automatically reverts back to the grantor according to a provision, usu. regarding the passage of a determined time period, designated by words such as "during," "while," and "as long as." See fee simple determinable under FEE SIMPLE. Cf. estate on condition.

estate planning 1. The preparation for the distribution and management of a person's estate at death through the use ofwills, trusts, insurance policies, and other arrangements, esp. to reduce administration costs and transfer-tax liability. 2. A branch of law that involves the arrangement of a person's estate, taking into account the laws of wills, taxes, insurance, property, and trusts.

estate pur autre vie See life estate pur autre vie.

estate tail See FEE TAIL.

estate tail quasi An estate granted by a life tenant, who, despite using language of conveyance that is otherwise sufficient to create an estate tail, is unable to grant in perpetuity.

estate tax A tax imposed on the transfer of property by will or by intestate succession. Also termed death tax; death duty. Cf. inheritance tax.

estate tax See TAX.

estate trust See TRUST.

estatefor life See life estate.

estates of the realm 1. The lords spiritual, the lords temporal, and the commons of Great Britain. Also termed the three estates. 2. In feudal Europe, the clergy, nobles, and commons. Because the lords spiritual had no separate assembly or negative in their political capacity, some authorities reduce the estates in Great Britain to two, the lords and commons. In England (until about the 14th century), the three estates of the realm were the clergy, barons, and knights. In legal practice, the lords spiritual and lords temporal are usu. collectively designated simply as lords.

estate's property See PROPERTY OF THE ESTATE.

ester in judgment (es-tar). [Law French], To appear before a tribunal, as either plaintiff or defendant.

estimated damages See liquidated damages.

estimated damages- See liquidated damages under DAMAGES.

estimated tax A tax paid quarterly by a taxpayer not subject to withholding (such as a self-employed person) based on either the previous years tax liability or an estimate of the current years tax liability.

estimated tax See TAX.

estimated useful life See USEFUL LIFE.

estop (e-stop), vb.To bar or prevent by estoppel. estoppage (e-stop-ij), n. (I8c) The state or condition of being estopped.

estoppel (e-stop-aI), n. 1. A bar that prevents one from asserting a claim or right that contradicts what one has said or done before or what has been legally established as true. 2. A bar that prevents the relitigation of issues. 3. An affirmative defense alleging good-faith reliance on a misleading representation and an injury or detrimental change in position resulting from that reliance. Cf. WAIVER (1). estop, vb. '''Estoppe,' says Lord Coke, 'cometh of the French word estoupe, from whence the English word stopped; and it is called an estoppel or conclusion, because a man's own act or acceptance stoppeth or c!oseth uphis mouth to allege or plead the truth.' [Co. Litt. 352a.] Estoppel may also be defined to be a legal result or conclusion' arising from an admission which has either been actually made, or which the law presumes to have been made, and which is binding on all persons whom it affects." Lancelot Feilding Everest. Everest and Strode's Law of Estoppel 1 (3d ed. 1923). "In using the term 'estoppel,' one is of course aware of its kaleidoscopic varieties. One reads of estoppel by conduct, by deed, by laches, by misrepresentation, by negligence, by silence, and so on. There is also an estoppel by judgment and by verdict; these, however, obviously involve procedure. The first-named varieties have certain aspects in common. But these aspects are not always interpreted by the same rules in all courts, The institution seems to be flexible." John H. Wigmore, "The Scientific Role of Consid eration in Contract," in Legal Essays in Tribute to Orrin Kip McMurrav641 , 643 (1935).

estoppel by conduct See equitable estoppel.

estoppel by contract A bar that prevents a person from denying a term, fact, or performance arising from a contract that the person has entered into.

estoppel by deed Estoppel that prevents a party to a deed from denying anything recited in that deed if the party has induced another to accept or act under the deed; esp., estoppel that prevents a grantor of a warranty deed, who does not have title at the time of the conveyance but who later acquires title, from denying that he or she had title at the time of the transfer. See AFTER-ACQUlRED-TITLE DOCTRINE. Also termed estoppel by warranty. "The apparent odiousness of some classes of estoppel, chiefly estoppels by deed, seems to result not so much from the nature of an estoppel, as from the highly technical rules of real property law upon which it operated, and with which it was aSSOCiated. Estoppels by record, indeed, stand upon a considerably higher footing than estoppels by deed ...." Lancelot Feilding Everest, Everest and Strode's Law of Estoppel 10 (1923).