justo tempore(jas-toh tem-pa-ree). [Latin "at the right time"]. In due time. |
justum matrimoniumSee JUSTAE NUPTIAE. |
just-war doctrineThe principle that a war should have a morally and legally sufficient cause, and must be conducted with restraint. Precisely what is morally or legally sufficient depends on the norms of a time and place. Over the centuries the doctrine has been invoked to justify wars waged in self- defense, to avenge injuries and punish wrongs, and over religious differences. Restraint means that the least amount of force possible under the circumstances should be used and only when necessary. Also termed just-war theory. See BELLUM JUSTUM. |
juvenile(joo-va-nal or -nil). A person who has not reached the age (usu. 18) at which one should be treated as an adult by the criminal-justice system; MINOR. - juvenile, adj. juvenility (joo-va-nil-a-tee), n. |
juvenile courtSee COURT. |
juvenile court1. A court having jurisdiction over cases involving children under a specified age, usu. 18. Illinois enacted the first statewide juvenilecourt act in 1899. Today every state has a specialized juvenile or family court with exclusive original delinquency jurisdiction. - Also termed children's court. 2. A court having special jurisdiction over orphaned, delinquent, dependent, and neglected children. This type of juvenile court is created by statute and derives its power from the specific wording of the statute, usu. haVing exclusive original jurisdiction over matters involving abuse and neglect, adoption, status offenses, and delin quency. Generally, juvenile courts are special courts of a paternal nature that have jurisdiction over the care, custody, and control of children (as defined by the statute). The jurisdiction of the juvenile court is exercised as between the state (for the child) and the parents of the child and is not concerned with a custody controversy that does not affect the morale, health, or welfare of the child. A juvenile court is not a criminal court. The primary concern of a juvenile court is the child's immediate welfare. See UNIFORM JUVENILE COURT ACT. |
juvenile delinquencyAntisocial behavior by a minor; esp., behavior that would be criminally punishable if the actor were an adult, but instead is usu. punished by special laws pertaining only to minors. Cf. INCORRIGIBIUTY. "juvenile delinquency; when employed as a technical term rather than merely a descriptive phrase, is entirely a legislative product ...." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 940 (3d ed. 1982). |
Juvenile Delinquency Prevention ActA federal statute whose purpose is (1) to help states and local communities provide preventive services to youths who are in danger of becoming delinquent, (2) to help in training personnel employed in or preparing for employment in occupations that involve the provision of those services, and (3) to give technical assistance in this field. 42 USCA §§ 3801 et seq. |
juvenile delinquentA minor who is guilty of criminal behavior, usu. punishable by special laws not pertaining to adults. Sometimes shortened to delinquent. Also termed juvenile offender; youthful offender; delinquent minor. See OFFENDER. Cf. delinquent child under CHILD. |
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ActA federal statute that provides funding, assistance, training, and support to state-operated juvenile-justice programs, initiatives, and court systems. 42 USCA §§ 5601-5785. |
juvenile offenderSee JUVENILE DEI.INQUENT. |
juvenile offenderSee JUVENILE DELINQUENT. |
juvenile officerSee OFFlCER (1). |
juvenile officerSee OFFlCER (1). |
juvenile officerA juvenile-court employee, sometimes a social worker or probation officer, who works with the judge to direct and develop the court s child-welfare work. Also termed county agent. |
juvenile paroleSee PAROLE. |
juvenile paroleSee PAROLE. |
juvenile petitionSee PETITION. |
juvenile petitionSee PETITION. |
juvenile petitionA juvenile-court petition alleging delinquent conduct by the accused. The accusations made in a juvenile petition are sometimes tried in an adjudication hearing. See adjudication hearing (3) under HEARING. |
juvenile-court judgeA judge who sits on a court that has jurisdiction exclusively over matters involving juveniles, such as suits involving child abuse and neglect, matters involving status offenses, and, sometimes, suits to terminate parental rights. |
juvenile-court judgeSee JeDGE. |
juvenile-justice systemThe collective institutions through which a youthful offender passes until any charges have been disposed of or the assessed punishment has been concluded. The system comprises juvenile courts (judges and lawyers), law enforcement (police), and corrections (probation officers and sodal workers). |
juxta(jaks-ta). [Latin]. Near; following; according to. |
juxta conventionem(Jaks-ta kan-ven-shee-oh-nam). [Latin]. According to the covenant. |
juxta formam statuti(jaks-ta for-mam sta-t[y]oo-ti). [Latin]. According to the form of the statute. |
juxta ratam(jaks-ta ray-tam). [Latin]. At or after the rate. |
juxta tenorem sequentem(jaks-ta ta-nor-am sa-kwen-tam). [Latin]. According to the tenor following |
juxtaposition(jaks-ta-pa-zish-an). 1. The act or an instance of plaCing two or more things side by side or near one another. 2. Patents. See AGGREGATION. juxtapose (jaks-ta-pohz), vb. juxtapositional, adj. |
juzgado(hoos-gah-doh). [Spanish "court"]. 1. A court of law, esp. one presided over by a Single judge. 2. A courthouse. |
Kabbr. Contract. |
K.Babbr. KING"S BENCH. |
K.Cabbr. KING"S COUNSEL. |
k.dadj. abbr. (In a bill of lading) knocked down; not assembled or set up. When goods, equipment, or the ike are shifped in disassembled form, the bill of lading is marked k.d. |
k/aabbr. Known as. |
Kaldor-Hicks efficiencySee WEALTH MAXIMIZATION. |
kalendarArchaic. See CALENDAR. |
kalendarium(kal-an-dair-ee-am). [Latin] Roman law. 1. A book of accounts in which a moneylender recorded the names of debtors and the principal and interest due. 2. A written register of births, recorded daily. |
KalendsSee CALENDS. |
kangaroo courtSee COURT. |
kangaroo court1. A self-appointed tribunal or mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded, perverted, or parodied. Kangaroo courts may be assembled by various groups, such as prisoners in a jail (to settle disputes between inmates) and players on a baseball team (to "punish" teammates who commit fielding errors). 2. A court or tribunal characterized by unauthorized or irregular procedures, esp. 80 as to render a fi:tir proceeding impossible. 3. A sham legal proceeding. The term's origin is uncertain, but it appears to be an Americanism. It has been traced to 1853 in the American West. "Kangaroo" might refer to the illogical leaps between "facts" and conclusions, or to the hapless defendant's quick bounce from court to gallows. |
keelage(keel-ij). 1. The right to demand payment of a toll by a ship entering or anchoring in a harbor. 2. The toll so paid. |
keelhaul(keel-hawl). 1. To drag (a person) through the water under the bottom of a ship as punishment or torture. 2. To rebuke or reprimand harshly. |
Keeling ScheduleA device that shows how an existing statute will read if a proposed amendment is adopted. A Keeling Schedule is usu. included as an appendix to the proposed amendment. The schedule is named for E.H. Keeling, a member of Parliament who began promoting the use of schedules in 1938 as a way to avoid amending legislation by reference. It is rarely used today. |
keeperOne who has the care, custody, or management of something and who usu. is legally responsible for it <a dog"s keeper> <a keeper of lost property>. |
Keeper of the BriefsSee CUSTOS BREVIUM. |
Keeper of the Broad SealSee KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL. |
Keeper of the Great SealIn England and Scotland, an officer who has custody of the Great Seal and who authenticates state documents of the highest importance. In England, the duties of the Keeper of the Great Seal are now discharged by the Lord Chancellor. Also termed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal; Lord Keeper; Keeper ofthe Broad Seal; Custos Sigilli. |
Keeper of the HanaperThe head of the receiving and accounting department in Chancery. The Hanaper received fees collected on charters and letters granted under the Great Seal and fines for Chancery writs, paid Chancery staff wages, purchased office supplies, and accounted for the Chancery"s revenues and expenses. |
Keeper of the King"s ConscienceSee LORD CHANCELLOR. |
Keeper of the Privy Seal(priv-ee). 1. LORD PRIVY SEAL. 2. In Scotland and Cornwall, an officer similar to the English Lord Privy Seal. |
Keeper of the RollsSee CUSTOS ROTULORUM. |
Kellogg-Briand PactA 1928 treaty under which the United States, France, and (by 1933) 63 other nations purported to outlaw war and pledged to settle future differences through diplomacy. Among the signatories were Germany, Japan, and Italy nations whose acts of aggression lead to World War II. 46 Stat. 2343, T.S. No. 796. Also termed Pact of Paris. |
kenning to a terceThe sheriff"s determination of which tracts or parts of a decedent"s land belong to a widow; esp., a sheriff"s assignment of dower. |
Keogh plan(kee-oh). A tax-deferred retirement program developed for the self-employed. This plan is also known as an H.R. 10 plan, after the House of Representatives bill that established the plan. Also termed self-employed retirement plan. Cf. INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNT. |
keogh planSee KEOGH PLAN. |
Ker-Frisbie ruleThe principle that the government"s power to try a criminal defendant is not impaired by the defendant"s having been brought back illegally to the United States from a foreign country. Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436, 7 S.Ct. 225 (1886); Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S. 519,72 S.Ct. 509 (1952). |
Ketubah(ke-too-vah), n. Jewish law. A prenuptial agreement, signed by at least two independent witnesses, in which a husband promises to support his wife and to pay her a certain sum of money if the couple divorces. If the couple is still married when the husband dies, the sum promised upon divorce becomes the primary debt to be paid out of the husband"s estate. The terms of a Ketubah are often enforceable in secular courts under general contract-law principles. |
key encryptionA software-cryptography system that generates and employs a secure key pair, one public key and one private key, to verify a digital signature and decipher a secure, coded document. The public key is known to all possible receivers of a message. The private key is known only to the message"s sender. Key encryption transforms the message"s characters into an indecipherable "hash." A person who has the signer"s public key can decipher the message and detect whether it has been altered and whether it was transmitted using the sender"s private key. It does not necessarily identify the sender; identity is verified using a digital certificate. Also termed public-key encryption. Abbr. PKE. See DIGITAL CERTIFICATE; HASH. |
key manSee KEY PERSON. |
key money1. Payment (as rent or security). required from a new tenant in exchange for a key to the leased property. 2. Payment made (usu. secretly) bya prospective tenant to a landlord or current tenant to increase the chance of obtaining a lease in an area where there is a housing shortage. Key money in the first sense is a legal transaction; key money in the second sense is usu. an illegal bribe that violates hOUSing laws. |
key personAn important officer or employee; a person primarily responsible for a business"s success. Also termed key man. |
keyage(kee-aj). See QUAYAGE. |
KeyCiteTo determine the subsequent history of (a case, statute, etc.) by using the online citator of the same name to establish that the point being researched is still good law. KeyCiting, n. |
key-employee insuranceSee key-employee life insurance under LIFE INSURANCE. |
key-employee life insuranceSee LIFE INSURANCE. |
key-executive insuranceSee key-employee insurance under INSURANCE. |
key-man insuranceSee key-employee life insurance under LIFE INSURANCE. |
key-number systemA legal-research indexing system developed by West Publishing Company (now the West Group) to catalogue American caselaw with headnotes. In this system, a number designates a point of law, allowing a researcher to find all reported cases addressing a particular point by referring to its number. |
key-person insuranceSee key-employee insurance under INSURANCE. |
kickbackA return of a portion of a monetary sum received, esp. as a result of coercion or a secret agreement <the contractor paid the city official a 5% kickback on the government contract>. Also termed payoff. Cf. BRIBERY. |
kicker1. An extra charge or penalty, esp. a charge added to a loan in addition to interest. 2. An equity participation that a lender seeks as a condition for lending money, so that the lender may participate in rentals, profits, or extra interest. |
kickout clauseA contractual provision allowing a party to end or modify the contract if a specified event occurs <under the kickout clause, the company could refuse to sell the land if it were unable to complete its acquisition of the new headquarters>. |
kiddie taxSee TAX. |
kiddie taxA federal tax imposed on a childs unearned income (above an exempt amount) at the parents tax rate if the parents rate is higher and if the child is under 18 years old. - Also termed childs income tax. |
kidnapTo seize and take away (a person) by force or fraud, often with a demand for ransom. |
kidnapping1. At common law, the crime offorcibly abducting a person from his or her own country and sending the person to another. This offense amounted to false imprisonment aggravated by moving the victim to another country. 2. The crime of seizing and taking away a person by force or fraud. Also termed simple kidnapping; (loosely) abduction; (archaically) manstealing. See ABDUCTION. "At early common law, kidnapping required a forcible asportation of the victim to another country. Under modern statutes, the asportation need not be this extensive." Arnold H. Loewy, Criminal Law in a Nutshell 64 (2d ed. 1987). |
kidnapping by cesareanThe kidnapping of a newborn baby by a person who causes the unlawful and forcible delivery of the baby by cesarean section without the mother"s consent. The kidnapper is usu. a woman of childbearing age who has lost a baby or is unable to bear one. Also termed newborn kidnapping by cesarean section. |
kidnapping by cesareanSee KIDNAPPING. |
kidnapping for ransomThe offense of unlawfully seizing a person and then confining the persoll, usu. in a secret place, while attempting to extort ransom. This grave crime is sometimes made a capital offense. In addition to the abductor, a person who acts as a go-between to collect the ransom is generally considered guilty of the crime. |
killTo end life; to cause physical death. The word is also used figuratively in putting an end to something <opponents were able to kill the proposed amendment>. |
killer amendmentAn amendment that has the effect, intended or not, of ensuring the defeat of the main motion. |
killer amendmentSee AMENDMENT (3). |
killing by misadventureSee ACCIDENTAL KILLING. |
killing with maliceSee MALICIOUS KILLING. |
kin(bef. 12c) 1. One"s relatives; family. Also termed kindred. 2. A relative by blood, marriage, or adoption, though usu. by blood only; a kinsman or kinswoman. See NEXT OF KIN. |
kinboteSee manbote under BOTE (2). |
kinboteSee manbote. |
kind arbitragePurchase of a security that, having no restriction other than the payment of money, is exchangeable or convertible within a reasonable time to a second security, with a simultaneous off setting sale of the second security. Also termed convertible arbitrage. |
kind arbitrageSee ARBITRAGE. |
kindlie(kind-lee). Scots law. A tenant"s right to a lease"s renewal. |
kindred1. See KIN. 2. See KINSHIP. |
king1. A man who possesses, in his own right, the sovereignty and royal power in a monarchy. Cf. QUEEN (1). 2. (cap.) English law. 1he British government; the Crown. See CROWN. "In modern times it has become usual to speak of the Crown rather than of the King, when we refer to the King in his public capacity as a body politic. We speak of the property of the Crown, when we mean the property which the King holds in right of his Crown. So we speak of the debts due by the Crown, of legal proceedings by and against the Crown, and so on. The usage is one of great convenience, because it avoids a difficulty which is inherent in all speech and thought concerning corporations sole, the difficulty, namely, of distinguishing adequately between the body politic and the human being by whom it is represented and whose name it bears." John Salmond, Jurisprudence 341-42 (Glanville L. Williams ed., 10th ed. 1947). |
King"s BenchHistorically, the highest commonlaw court in England, presided over by the reigning monarch. When a queen begins to reign, the name automatically changes to Queen"s Bench. In 1873, during Queen Victoria"s reign, the court"s jurisdiction was transferred to the Queen"s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. Abbr. K.B. Also termed Court of King"s Bench; Coram Rege Court. Cf. QUEEN"S BENCH; QUEEN"S BENCH DIVISION. The court of King"s Bench is the highest court of ordinary justice in criminal cases within the realm, and paramount to the authority of justices of gaol delivery. and commissions of oyer and terminer. It has jurisdiction over all criminal causes, from high treason down to the most trivial misdemeanor or breach of the peace." 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 156 (2d ed. 1826). |
King"s evidenceSee Queen"s evidence under EVIDENCE. |
King"s advocateSee LORD ADVOCATE. |
King"s ChambersIn the United Kingdom, waters lying within an imaginary line drawn from headland to headland around the coast of Great Britain. |
King"s CounselIn the United Kingdom, Canada, and territories that have retained the rank, an elite, seniorlevel barrister or advocate. Originally, a King"s Counsel was appointed to serve as counsel to the reigning monarch. Also termed senior counsel. -Abbr. K.C. Cf. QUEEN"S COUNSEL. |
King"s CourtSee CURIA REGIS. |
King"s Great Sessions in WalesSee COURT OF GREAT SESSIONS IN WALES. |