Law Dictionary
	Search:

excessive assessment- See ASSESSMENT.

excessive bail Bail that is unreasonably high con-Sidering both the offense with which the accused is charged and the risk that the accused will not appear for trial. The Eighth Amendment prohibits exces-sive bail.

excessive bail- See BAIL (1).

excessive damages A jury award that grossly exceeds the amount warranted by law based on the facts and circumstances of the case; unreasonable or outrageous damages, which are subject to reduction by remittitur. See REMITTITUR.

excessive damages- See DAMAGES.

excessive drunkenness A state of drunkenness in which a person is so far deprived of reason and understanding that he or she is incapable of understanding the character and consequences of an act.

excessive drunkenness- See DRUNKENNESS.

excessive execution An exercise of a power of appointment exceeding the limits (express or statutory) set on the use of the power.

excessive fine See PINE (5).

excessive fine- 1. Criminal law. A fine that is unreasonably high and disproportionate to the offense committed. The Eighth Amendment proscribes excessive fines. An example of an excessive fine is a civil forfeiture in which the property was not an instrumentality of the crime and the worth of the property was not proportional to the owner's culpability. 2. A fine or penalty that seriously impairs one's earning capacity, esp. from a business.

excessive fines clause The clause of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting the imposition of excessive fines.

excessive force See FORCE.

excessive force- Unreasonable or unnecessary force under the circumstances.

excessive punishment See PUNISHMENT.

excessive punishment Punishment that is not justified by the gravity of the offense or the defendant s criminal record. See excessive fine (1) under FINE (5).

excessive sentence See SENTENCE.

excessive sentence A sentence that gives more punishment than is allowed by law.

excessive verdict See VERDICT.

excess-liability damages See excess damages under DAMAGES.

excess-lines insurance See surplus-lines insurance under INSURANCE.

excess-lines insurance See surplus-lines insurance.

excess-profits tax A tax levied on profits that are beyond a businesss normal profits This type of tax is usu. imposed only in times of national emergency (such as war) to discourage profiteering.

excess-profits tax See TAX.

exchange Commercial law. 1. The act of transferring interests, each in consideration for the other.

exchange act See SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934·

exchange agreement An agreement to exchange real properties, usu. like-kind properties. See1031 EXCHANGE; TAX-FREE EXCHANGE.

exchange agreement- See AGREEMENT.

exchange broker One who negotiates money or merchandise transactions for others.

exchange rate The ratio for converting one country's money into another country's money. See FOREIGN EXCHANGE.

exchange ratio The number of shares that an acquiring company must give for each share of an acquired company.

exchange value See VALUE (2).

exchequer (eks-chek-ar or eks-chek-ar). 1. English law. The government department charged with collecting and administering the national revenue; the treasury department. The name is said to have derived from the checkered cloth, resembling a chessboard, that anciently covered the table on which certain of the king's accounts were tallied, the sums being marked and scored with counters. 2. COURT OF EXCHEQUER. Abbe Ex.

exchequer bill A bill of credit issued in England by the authority of Parliament; an instrument issued at the Exchequer, usu. under the authority of an act of Parliament passed for that specific purpose, containing an engagement on the part of the government to repay, with interest, the principal sums advanced.

exchequer chamber An English court of intermediate appeal from the common-law courts, namely, the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer. It was established in 1822.

exchequer division. English law. A division of the High Court of Justice, to which the business of the Court of Exchequer was specially assigned by section 34 of the Judicature Act of IS73, and later merged into the Queen's Bench Division in 1881.

excise A tax imposed on the manufacture, sale, or use of goods (such as a cigarette tax), or on an occupation or activity (such as a license tax or an attorney occupation fee). Also termed excise tax. Cf. income tax and property tax under TAX.

excise lieu property tax A tax on the gross premiums received and collected by deSignated classes of insurance companies.

excise lieu property tax See TAX.

excise tax See EXCISE.

excise tax See EXCISE.

excision See FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION.

excited utterance A statement about a startling event made under the stress and excitement of the event. An excited utterance may be admissible as a hearsay exception. Fed. R. Evid. S03(2). Cf. PRESENT SENSE IMPRESSION.

excludable 1. (Of evidence) subject to exclusion <excludable hearsay>. 2. (Of an alien) ineligible for admission or entry into a country.

excludable alien A alien ineligible for admission or entry into the United States.

excludable alien- See ALIEN.

exclude See RIGHT TO EXCLUDE.

excludendo fiscum et relictam (eks-kloo-den-doh tis-kam et ri-lik-tam). [Law Latin]. To the exclusion of the rights of the Crown and of the widow.

exclusion 1. An item of income excluded from gross income. - Also termed income exclusion.

exclusion a See expected/intended exclusion under EXCLUSION (3).

exclusionary hearing See HEARING.

exclusionary hearing- A pretrial hearing conducted to review and determine the admissibility of alleged illegally obtained evidence.

exclusionary practice Antitrust. A method by which a firm can gain or maintain monopoly power without the express or tacit cooperation ofcompeting or potentially competing firms.

exclusionary rule 1. Evidence. Any rule that excludes or suppresses evidence <despite many exceptions, hearsay has long been inadmissible under an exclusionary rule>. Also termed exclusionary evidence rule.2. Criminal procedure. A rule that excludes or suppresses evidence obtained in violation of an accused person's constitutional rights <in accordance with the exclusive economic zone exclusionary rule, the court did not admit the drugs into evidence because they had been obtained during a warrantless search of the defendant's home>. See FRUIT-OF-THE-POISONOUS-TREE DOCTRINE; GOODFAITH EXCEPTION. "The deterrence of unreasonable searches and seizures is a major purpose of the exclusionary rule .... But the rule serves other purposes as well. There is, for example, ..... the imperative of judicial integrity,' namely. that the courts do not become 'accomplices in willful disobedience of a Constitution they are sworn to uphold: ... A third purpose of the exclusionary rule ... is that of 'assuring the people all potential victims of unlawful government conduct that the government would not profit from its lawless behavior, thus minimizing the risk of seriously undermining popular trust in the government.''' Wayne R. LaFave &Jerold H. Israel, Criminal Procedure § 3.1, at 107 (2d ed. 1992) (quoting Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 80S.ct. 1437 (1960); United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338,94 S.Ct. 613 (1974) (dissent)). "In the simplest of exclUSionary rule cases, the challenged evidence is quite clearly 'direct' or 'primary' in its relationship to the prior arrest, search, interrogation, lineup or other identification procedure. Such is the case when that evidence is an identification occurring at the confrontation between suspect and victim or witness, a confession or admission made in respo

exclusionary zoning See ZONING.

exclusive agency The right to represent a principal - esp. either to sell the principal's products or to act as the seller's real-estate agent - within a particular market free from competition . Strictly speaking, an exclusive agency merely excludes all other brokers, but not the owner, from selling the products or property. Also termed exclusive agency to sell; exclusive franchise; sole selling agency. Cf. EXCLUSIVE RIGHT OF SALE. "Contracts involving the element of exclusive agency gen· erally fall into three classes: (1) where the contract does not prevent the principal from making direct sales but deprives him of the right to appoint other agents; (2) where the agent is the only one with any right to sell; and (3) where the exclusive agency is accompanied with a stipulated right to commissions on all sales whether made through the agent or not." 3 Am.Jur. 2d Agency§ 268, at 768 (1986).

exclusive agency- See AGENCY (1).

exclusive authorization-to-selliisting See exclusiveagency listing under LISTING (1).

exclusive contract See EXCLUSIVE-DEALING ARRANGEMENT.

exclusive contract- See EXCLUSIVE-DEALING ARRANGEMENT.

exclusive control Under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, a defendant's sole management of and responsibility for the instrumentality causing harm . Exclusive control is a prerequisite to the doctrine's applicability. See RES IPSA LOQUITUR.

exclusive easement An easement that the holder has the sole right to use. Cf. common easement.

exclusive easement- See EASEMENT.

exclusive economic zone An area just beyond the territorial sea, extending up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the territorial sea, in which the coastal country enjoys special authority for economic purposes. Abbr. EEZ.

exclusive evidence The only facts that have, or are allowed by law to have, any probative force at all on a particular matter in issue. "[T]here is an important class of rules declaring certain facts to be exclusive evidence, none other being admissible. The execution of a document which requires attestation can be proved in no other way than by the testimony of an attesting witness, unless owing to the death or some other circumstance his testimony is unavailable. A written contract can generally be proved in no other way than by the production of the writing itself, whenever its production is possible." John Salmond, Jurisprudence 48S (Glanville L. Williams ed., 10th ed. 1947).

exclusive evidence- See EVIDENCE.

exclusive franchise See exclusive agency under AGENCY (1).

exclusive jurisdiction See JURISDICTION.

exclusive jurisdiction A courts power to adjudicate an action or class of actions to the exclusion of all other courts federal district courts have exclusive jurisdiction over actions brought under the Securities Exchange Act>. Cf. concurrent jurisdiction.

exclusive license See LICENSE.

exclusive listing See exclusive-agency listing under LISTING (1).

exclusive ownership See FEE SIMPLE.

exclusive possession See POSSESSION.

exclusive possession The exercise of exclusive dominion over property, including the use and benefit of the property.

exclusive right of sale The right to sell a principal's products or to act as the seller's real-estate agent to the exclusion of all others, including the owner. Also termed exclusive right to sell. Cf. exclusive agency under AGENCY (1).

exclusive sale A sale made by a broker under an exclusive-agency listing. See exclusive-agency listing under LISTING.

exclusive sale See SALE.

exclusive use See USE (1).

exclusive-agency listing See LISTING (1).

exclusive-dealing arrangement An agreement requiring a buyer to purchase all needed goods or services from one seller. - Often shortened to exclusive dealing. Also termed exclusive contract. See requirements contract under CONTRACT.

exclusive-use clause A lease provision enumerating conditions for a lessee's use of the leased property.

excommengement (eks-a-menj-mant), n. See EXCOMMUNICATION.

excommunicant (eks-ka-myoo-ni-kant), Eccles. law. 1. An excommunicated person. 2. Rare. An excommunicator.

excommunication A sentence of censure pronounced by a spiritual court for an offense falling under ecclesiastical cognizance; expulsion from religious society or community. In England, an excommunicated person was formerly subject to various civil disabilities, such as an inability to be a juror, to be a witness in any court, or to sue to recover lands or money due. These penalties were abolished by the Ecclesiastical Courts Act (1813). St. 53 Geo. 3, ch. 127. - Also termed excommengement. - excommunicate, vb. "Closely allied to outlawry is excommunication; it is in fact an ecclesiastical outlawry, and, like temporal outlawry, though once it was the law's last and most terrible weapon against the obstinate offender, it is now regarded as a normal process for compelling the appearance in court of those who are accused. Indeed as regards the laity, since the spiritual courts can not direct a seizure of the body, lands, or goods, those courts must, if mere citations fail to produce an appearance, at once have recourse to their last weapon. Then, as ordained by William the Conqueror, the lay power comes to their aid. If the excommunicate does not seek absolution within forty days (this period seems to be fixed already in the twelfth century), the ordinary will signify this to the kind; a writ for the arrest of the offender will be issued, and he will be kept in prison until he makes his submission." 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic William Maitland, History of English Law Before the Time of Edward 1500 (2d ed. 1899).

excommunicato capiendo (eks-ka-myoo-ni-kay-toh kap-ee-en-doh). [Latin]. Eccles. law. A writ that, being founded on a bishop's certificate of excommunication, required the sheriff to arrest and imprison the defendant. The writ issued out of chancery and was returnable to the King's Bench. Cf. DE CONTUMACE CAPIENDO.

excommunicato recapiendo (eks-a-myoo-ni-kay-toh ri-kap-ee-en-doh). [Latin]. Eccles. law. A writ commanding that an excommunicant - who had been committed to prison for obstinacy but who was unlawfully freed before agreeing to obey the church's authority - should be found, retaken, and imprisoned again.

excommunicator A person who excommunicates.

ex-coupon bond See BOND (2).

exculpate (ek-skal-payt or ek-skal-payt), vb. To free from blame or accusation. Cf. EXONERATE (1). exculpation (ek- skal-pay-shan), n. - exculpatory (ek-skal-pa-tor-ee), adj.

exculpatory clause A contractual provision relieving a party from liability resulting from a negligent or wrongful act. A will or a trust may contain an exculpatory clause purporting to immunize a fiduciary from a breach of duty; the clause may reduce the degree of care and prudence required of the fiduciary. But courts generally find that if an exculpatory clause in a will or trust seeks to confer absolute immunity, it is void as being against public policy. See EXEMPTION CLAUSE.

exculpatory evidence (ek-skal-pa-tor-ee). Evidence tending to establish a criminal defendant's innocence. Fed. R. Crim. P. 16. The prosecution has a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence in its possession or control when the evidence may be material to the outcome of the case. See BRADY MATERIAL.

exculpatory evidence- See EVIDENCE.

exculpatory-no doctrine The principle that a person cannot be charged with making a false statement for falsely denying guilt in response to an investigator's question. This doctrine is based on the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. But the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled this doctrine in federal law. Brogan v. United States, 522 U.S. 398, 118 S.Ct. 805 (1998).

excusable adj. (Of an illegal act or omission) not punishable under the specific circumstances <excusable neglect>.

excusable assault An assault committed by accident or while doing a lawful act by lawful means, with ordinary caution and without any unlawful intent.

excusable assault- See ASSAULT.

excusable homicide See HOMICIDE.

excusable homicide- 1. Homicide resulting from a person's lawful act, committed without intention to harm another. 2. See justifiable homicide (1).

excusable neglect See NEGLECT.

excusatio (ek-skyoo-zay-shee-oh), n. [Latin], Roman 1& civil law. An excuse or reason that exempts someone from some duty or obligation.

excusator (ek-skyoo-zay-tar), n. 1. An excuser. 2. In old German law, a defendant; one who wholly denies the plaintiff's claim.