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ordinary skill 1. See SKILL. 2. See ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART.

ordinary skill in the art The level of technical knowledge, experience, and expertise possessed by a typical engineer, scientist, deSigner, etc. in a technology that is relevant to an invention.

ordinary standing rule See standing rule (1).

ordinary standing rule See standing rule (1) under RULE (3).

ordinary work product See fact work product under WORK PRODUCT.

ordinary-meaning rule 1. The rule that when a word is not defined in a statute or other legal instrument, the court normallv construes it in accordance with its ordinary or nat~lfal meaning. 2. PLAIN-MEANING RULE.

ordinary-observer test See AUDIENCE TEST.

ordinary's court See probate court.

ordinatio forestae (or-di-nay-shee-oh for-es-tee). See ASS IS A DE FORESTA.

ordinatum est (or-da-nay-tam est). [Law Latin]t. It is ordered. _These were the usual first words of a court order entered in Latin.

ordinis beneficium (or-da-nis ben-a-fish-ee-am). [Latin "the benefit of order"] Civil law. The privilege ofa surety to require the creditor to exhaust the principal debtor s property before having recourse against the surety. See DISCUSSION.

ordo attachiamentorum (or-doh a-tach-ee-a-men¬tor-alm). [Law Latin] The order of attachments.

ordo judiciorum (or-doh joo-dish-ee-or-am). [Latin]. The order of judgments; the rule by which the course of hearing each case was prescribed.

ordonnance (or-da-nants or or-doh-nahns). [French]. 1. A law, decree, or ordinance. 2. A compilation of a body oflaw on a particular subject, esp. prizes and captures at sea.

ore tenus (or-ee tee-nas or ten-as), adv. & adj. [Latin by word of mouth"] 1. Orally; by word of mouth; VIVA VOCE <pleading carried on ore tenus>. "Pleadings are the mutual altercations between the plaintiff and defendant; which at present are set down and deliv• ered into the proper office in writing, though formerly they were usually put in by their counsel are tenus, or viva voce, in court, and then minuted down by the chief clerks, or pro• thonotaries; whence in our old law French the pleadings are frequently denominated the parol. 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the laws of England 293 (1768). 2. Made or presented orally <ore tenus evidence>.

ore tenus rule The pres ption that a trial court s findings of fact are correct should not be disturbed unless clearly wrong or unjust.

oredelf (or-delf). The right to dig for mineral are on one s own land. - Also spelled oredelfe; ordelf.

orfgild 1. Restitution given by the hundred or county to a person whose property was stolen. Also termed cheapgild. 2. A payment in or restoration of cattle.

organ trafficking See TRAFFICKING.

organic act See organic statute under STATUTE.

organic disease A disease that is caused by an injury to, or lesion or malfunction in, an organ.

organic disease See DISEASE.

organic law 1. The body of laws (as in a constitution) that define and establish a government; FUNDAMENTAL LAW. 2. Civil law. Decisional law; CASELAW.

organic statute A law that establishes an administrative agency or local government. - Also termed organic act. Cf. ORGANIC LAW.

organic statute See STATUTE.

organization 1. A body of persons (such as a union or corporation) formed for a common purpose. Also termed society. 2. See UNION.

organizational crime See corporate crime.

organizational crime See corporate crime under CRIME.

organizational expense See EXPENSE.

organizational expense An expense incurred while setting up a corporation or other entity.

organizational meeting See MEETING.

organizational picketing See PICKETING.

organizational picketing Picketing by a union in an effort to persuade the employer to accept the union as the collective-bargaining agent of the employees; esp., picketing by members of one union when the employer has already recognized another union as the bargaining agent for the company s employees. Also termed recognition picketing.

organizational strike See recognition strike.

organizational strike See recognition strike under STRIKE.

organized crime See ORGANIZED CRIME.

organized crime 1. Widespread criminal activities that are coordinated and controlled through a central syndicate. See RACKETEERING. 2. Persons involved in these criminal activities; a syndicate of criminals who rely on their unlawful activities for income. See SYNDICATE.

organized labor 1. Workers who are affiliated by membership in a union. 2. A union, or unions collectively, considered as a political force.

original See original writ under WRIT.

original domicile See domicile of origin under DOMICILE.

original acquisition See ACQUISITION.

original acquisition An acquisition that has never been the property of anyone such as a copyright owned by an author.

original administration An administration that is not ancillary to a domiciliary administration.

original administration See ADMINISTRATION.

original bill A bill relating to some matter that has never before been litigated by the same parties with the same interests.

original bill See BILL (2).

original contractor See general contractor under CONTRACTOR.

original conveyance See primary conveyance.

original conveyance See primary conveyance under CONVEYANCE.

original cost See acquisition cost (1).

original cost See acquisition cost (1) under COST (1).

original domicile See domicile of origin.

original drawing A drawing submitted with the original application.

original drawing See DRAWING.

original estate See ESTATE (1).

original estate An estate that is the first of one or more derivative estates, bearing to each other the relation of a particular estate and a reversion.

original evidence 1. A witness's statement that he or she perceived a fact in issue by one of the five senses, or that the witness was in a particular physical or mental state. - Also termed direct evidence. Cf. HEARSAY. 2. See best evidence.

original evidence See EVIDENCE.

original intent See INTENT (2).

original intent The mental state of the drafters or enactors of the U.S. Constitution, a statute, or another document.

original issue The first issue of securities of a particular type or series.

original issue See ISSUE (2).

original jurisdiction A courts power to hear and decide a matter before any other court can review the matter. Cf. appellate jurisdiction.

original jurisdiction See JURISDICTIONl.

original main motion See MOTION (2).

original market See primary market under MARKET.

original precedent A precedent that creates and applies a new legal rule.

original precedent See PRECEDENT.

original process A process issued at the beginning of a judicial proceeding. "Original process is any writ or notice by which a defendant is called upon to appear and answer the plaintiff s declaration. The commencement of the suit at common law was formerly by original writ. Judicial process was by summons, attachment, arrest and outlawry." Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common•Law Pleading § 3, at 17 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).

original process See PROCESS.

original promise A promise to guarantee the debt of another, made primarily for the benefit of the party making the promise. An original promise need not be in writing to be enforceable. See MAIN-PURPOSE RULE.

original promise See PROMISE.

original receiver See principal receiver under RECEIVER.

original source The person or persons who first disclosed fraud to the government, derived from direct and indirect information on which a qui tam complaint is based under the False Claims Act or a similar state law.

original title See TITLE (2).

original writ See WRIT.

original-document rule See BEST-EVIDENCE RULE.

originalia (a-rij-a-nay-lee-a or -nayl-ya). Records compiled in the Chancery and transmitted to the Remembrancer s office in the Exchequer. These records were kept from 1236 to 1837. Cf. RECORDA.

originalism The theory that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to the intent of those who drafted and adopted it. Cf. INTERPRETIVISM; NONINTERPRETIVISM.

original-issue discount The difference between a bond s face value and the price at which it is initially sold. Abbr.OID.

originality 1. The quality or state of being the product of independent creation and having a minimum degree of creativity. Originality is a requirement for copyright protection. But this is a lesser standard than that of novelty in patent law: to be original, a work does not have to be novel or unique. Cf. NOVELTY. 2. The degree to which a product claimed for copyright is the result of an author s independent efforts. Cf. CREATIVITY. Original in reference to a copyrighted work means that the particular work owes its origin to the author. No large measure of novelty is necessary." Alfred Bell & Co. v. Catalda Fine Arts, Inc., 191 F.2d 99,102 (2d Cir. 1951) (Frank, j.).

original-package doctrine The principle that imported goods are exempt from state taxation as long as they are unsold and remain in the original packaging. The Supreme Court abolished this doctrine in 1976, holding that states can tax imported goods if the tax is nondiscriminatory. See IMPORT-EXPORT CLAUSE.

original-writing rule See BEST-EVIDENCE RULE.

origination clause (often cap.) 1. The constitutional provision that all bills for increasing taxes and raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives, not the Senate (U.S. Const. art. I, § 7, cl. 1). The Senate may, however, amend revenue bills. 2. A provision in a state constitution requiring that revenue bills originate in the lower house of the state legislature.

origination fee A fee charged by a lender for preparing and processing a loan.

origination fee See FEE (1).

originator The entity that initiates a funds transfer subject to UCC article 4A. UCC § 4A-104(c).

ornamental fixture Removable personal property that a tenant attaches to leased premises to make them more attractive and comfortable. This term sometimes overlaps with domestic fixture when an object is decorative as well as functional. See tenant's fixture. Cf. domestic fixture.

ornamental fixture See FIXTURE.

ornest See TRIAL BY COMBAT.

ORP abbr. Ordinary, reasonable, and prudent the standard on which negligence cases are based.

orphan 1. A child whose parents are dead. 2. A child with one dead parent and one living parent. More properly termed half orphan. 3. A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been legally adopted; a child without a parent or guardian.

orphan drug See DRUG.

orphan drug A prescription drug developed to treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States (such as a rare cancer) or whose developmental costs are not reasonably expected to be recovered from the drug's sales. 21 USCA § 360bb.

orphan s business A probate court s jurisdiction over the allotment of distributive shares of an estate to the decedent s family, esp. the children.

orphan s court See probate court under COURT.

orphan's court See probate court.

OS See ordinary seaman under SEAMAN.

OSC abbr. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.

OSHA (oh-sha). abbr. 1. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT OF 1970. 2. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.