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preliminary proof See PROOF.

preliminary proof The first proof offered of a loss occurring under a policy, usu. sent in to the underwriters with a notification of the claim.

preliminary prospectus A prospectus for a stock issue that has been filed but not yet approved by the SEC. The SEC requires such a prospectus to contain a notice - printed in distinctive red lettering - that the document is not complete or final. Ihat notice, which is usu. stamped or printed in red ink, typically reads as follows: "The information here given is subject to completion or amendment. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These securities cannot be sold and offers to buy cannot be accepted - until the registration statement becomes effective. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to buy. And these securities cannot be sold in any state where the offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful before egistration or qualification under the securities laws of that state." Also termed red-herring prospectus; red herring.

preliminary prospectus See PROSPECTUS.

preliminary protective hearing See shelter hearing.

preliminary protective hearing See shelter hearing under HEARING.

preliminary statement The introductory part of a brief or memorandum in support of a motion, in which the advocate summarizes the essence of what follows. In at least two jurisdictions, New York and New Jersey, the preliminary statement is a standard part ofcourt papers. In many other jurisdictions, advocates do not routinely include it. But preliminary statements are typically allowed, even welcomed, though not required. Also termed summary of argument.

preliminary warrant See WARRANT (1).

preliminary-inquiry officer The person, usu. an officer, who conducts a preliminary inquiry.

preliminary-inquiry officer See OFFICER (2).

premarital adj. Of, relating to, or occurring before marriage. Cf. POSTMARITAL.

premarital agreement See PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT.

premarital asset Property that a spouse owned before marrying. In most jurisdictions, this is part of the spouse's separate property. See SEPARATE PROPERTY. Cf. COMMUNITY PROPERTY.

premarital asset See ASSET.

prematurity 1. The circumstance existing when the facts underlying a plaintiff s complaint do not yet create a live claim. Cf. RIPENESS. 2. The affirmative defense based on this circumstance.

premeditated adj. Done with willful deliberation and planning; consciously considered beforehand <a premeditated killing>.

premeditated malice See MALICE AFORETHOUGHT.

premeditation Conscious consideration and planning that precedes some act (such as committing a crime). premeditate, vb.

premier serjeant The serjeant given the primary right of preaudience by royal letters patent. Also termed prime serjeant. See PREAUDIENCE.

premier serjeant See SERJEANT-AT-LAW.

premise (prem-is), A previous statement or contention from which a conclusion is deduced. Also spelled (in BrE) premiss. premise (prem-is or pri-miz), vb.

premises (prem-a-siz). 1. Matters (usu. preliminary facts or statements) previously referred to in the same instrument <wherefore, premises considered, the plaintiff prays for the following relief>. 2. The part of a deed that describes the land being conveyed, as well as naming the parties and identifying relevant facts or explaining the reasons for the deed. 3. A house or building, along with its grounds <smoking is not allowed on these premises>. "Premises (~ a house or building) has a curious history in legal usage. Originally. in the sense of things mentioned previously. it denoted the part of a deed that sets forth the names of the grantor and grantee, as well as the things granted and the consideration. Then. through hypallage in the early 18th century, it was extended to refer to the subject of a conveyance or bequest as specified in the premises of the deed. Finally. it was extended to refer to a house or building along with its grounds. In short, someone who says, "No alcohol is allowed on these premises." is engaging unconsciously in a popularized legal technicality: Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 685 (2d ed. 1995).

premises liability A landowner or landholder tort liability for conditions or activities on the premises.

premises rnle See PARKING-LOT RULE.

premium 1. The periodic payment required to keep an insurance policy in effect. - Also termed insurance premium.

premium tax A state tax paid by an insurer on premiums paid by the insured.

premium bond See BOND (3).

premium bond A bond with a selling price above face or redemption value. See PREMIUM (3).

premium loan See LOAN.

premium note See NOTE (1).

premium on capital stock See paid-in surplus under SURPLUS.

premium pudoris See PRAEMIUM PUDIClTIAE.

premium rate The price per unit oflife insurance. It is usu. expressed as a cost per thousands of dollars of coverage. Life insurers use three factors the interest factor, the mortality factor, and the risk factor to calculate premium rates. Sometimes shortened to rate. See INTEREST FACTOR; MORTALITY FACTOR; RISK FACTOR.

premium stock Stock that carries a premium for trading, as in the case of short-selling.

premium stock See STOCK.

premium tax See TAX.

prenatal injury Harm to a fetus or an embryo. Cf. BIRTH INJURY.

prenatal tort See TORT.

prender The right to take a thing before it is offered. Also spelled prendre.

prender de baron (pren-dar da bar-an). [Law French "a taking of husband"]. A plea asserting that the former wife of a murder victim should not be allowed to appeal a murder case against the alleged killer because she has since remarried.

prendre See PRENDER.

prenup See PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT.

prenuptial (pree-nap-shal), adj. Made or occurring before marriage; premarital. Also termed antenuptial (an-tee-nap-shal). Cf. POSTNUPTIAL.

prenuptial agreement An agreement made before marriage usu. to resolve issues of support and property division if the marriage ends in divorce or by the death of a spouse. Also termed antenuptial agreement; antenuptial contract; premarital agreement; premarital contract; marriage settlement. Sometimes shortened to prenup. Cf. POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENT; COHABITATION AGREEMENT.

prenuptial agreement See PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT.

prenuptial gift (pree-nap-shal). A gift of property from one spouse to another before marriage. In community-property states, prenuptial gifts are often made to preserve the property's classification as separate property. - Also termed antenuptial gift.

prenuptial gift See GIFT.

prenuptial will See WILL.

prepaid card See STORED-VALUE CARD.

prepaid expense See EXPENSE.

prepaid expense An expense (such as rent, interest, or insurance) that is paid before the due date or before a service is rendered.

prepaid income Income received but not yet earned. Also termed deferred revenue.

prepaid income See INCOME.

prepaid interest Interest paid before it is earned.

prepaid interest See INTEREST (3).

prepaid legal services An arrangement usu. serving as an employee benefit - that enables a person to make advance payments for future legal services.

preparation The act or process of devising the means necessary to commit a crime. Cf. ATTEMPT.

prepayment clause A loan-document provision that permits a borrower to satisfy a debt before its due date. Although any interest not yet due is waived, the lender may impose a penalty for prepayment.

prepayment penalty A charge assessed against a borrower who elects to payoff a loan before it is due. 3. Excessive stipulated damages that a contract purports to impose on a party that breaches. If the damages are excessive enough to be considered a penalty, a court will usu. not enforce that particular provision of the contract. Some contracts specify that a given sum of damages is intended "as liquidated damages and not as a penalty but even that language is not foolproof. 4. PENALTY CLAUSE. A penalty is a sum which a party agrees to payor forfeit in the event of a breach, but which is fixed, not as a pre-estimate of probable actual damages, but as a punishment, the threat of which is designed to prevent the breach, or as security, where the sum is deposited or the covenant to pay is joined in by one or more sureties, to insure that the person injured shall collect his actual damages. Penalties are not recoverable or retainable as such by the person in whose favor they are framed. Charles T. McCormick, Handbook on the Law of Damages § 146, at 600 (1935).

prepayment penalty See PENALTY (2).

prepense (pree-pens), adj. Rare. Planned; deliberate <malice prepense>.

prepetition (pree-pa-tish-an), adj. Occurring before the filing of a petition (esp. in bankruptcy) <prepetition debts>.

preponderance (pri-pon-dar-ants), Superiority in weight, importance, or influence. - preponderate (pri-pon-dar-ayt), vb. - preponderant (pri-pon-dar-ant), adj.

preponderance of the evidence The greater weight of the evidence, not necessarily established by the greater number of witnesses testifying to a fact but by evidence that has the most convincing force; superior evidentiary weight that, though not sufficient to free the mind wholly from all reasonable doubt, is still sufficient to incline a fair and impartial mind to one side of the issue rather than the other. This is the burden of proof in most civil trials, in which the jury is instructed to find for the party that, on the whole, has the stronger evidence, however slight the edge may be. Also termed preponderance of proof; balance ofprobability. See REASONABLE DOUBT. Cf. clear and convincing evidence under EVIDENCE. "Criminal convictions are so serious in their consequences that it is felt that an accused person should be freed, if there is any fair or reasonable doubt about his guilt, even though there seems to be considerable likelihood that he did commit the crime .... In civil cases, however, the consequence of losing a case, although serious enough in many cases, is not considered to be such as to require so stringent a rule. Accordingly the plaintiff is entitled to a verdict if he proves the case by the preponderance of the evidence. In other words, he is entitled to a verdict even though there may be a reasonable doubt as to the liability of the accused, if the jury is satisfied nevertheless that the plaintiff has proved his case." Charles Herman Kinnane, A First Book on Anglo•American Law 562 (2d ed. 1952).

prerogative (pri-rog-a-tiv), An exclusive right, power, privilege, or immunity, usu. acquired by virtue of office. prerogative, adj.

prerogative court In New Jersey, a probate court. See probate court.

prerogative court See COURT.

prerogative of mercy The limited right of a chief executive to commute a death sentence or to pardon a convicted person, esp. one convicted of a capital crime.

prerogative of mercy The discretionary power of a supreme authority, such as a state governor, national president, or sovereign, to commute a death sentence, change the method of execution, or issue a pardon.

prerogative writ See extraordinary writ under WRIT.

pres (pray). [Law French] Near. See CY PRES.

presale The sale of real property (such as condominium units) before construction has begun.

prescribable (pri-skrib-a-bal), adj. (Of a right) that can be acquired or extinguished by prescription.

prescribe 1. To dictate, ordain, or direct; to establish authoritatively (as a rule or guideline). 2. To claim ownership through prescription. 3. To invalidate or otherwise make unenforceable through prescription. 4. To become invalid or otherwise unenforceable through prescription.

prescript adj. Having the nature of a rule or command.

prescript Archaic. A rule, law, command, or ordinance; PRESCRIPTION (2). A general term, prescript may also apply to an edict, a regulation, or any instructive guideline.

prescription 1. The act ofestablishing authoritative rules. Cf. ROSCRIPTION. 2. A rule so established. Also termed (archaically) prescript. 3. The effect of the lapse of time in creating and destroying rights. 4. The extinction of a title or right by failure to claim or exercise it over a long period. Also termed negative prescription; extinctive prescription. 5. The acquisition of title to a thing (esp. an intangible thing such as the use of real property) by open and continuous possession over a statutory period. Also termed positive prescription; acquisitive prescription. Cf. ADVERSE POSSESSIO. See (for senses 3-5) PERIOD OF PRESCRIPTION. 6 The acquisition ofa territory through a continuous and undisputed exercise of sovereignty over it. 7. Oil & gas. A Louisiana doctrine that extinguishes unused mineral servitudes after ten years if there is no effort to discover or produce on the land or the land pooled with it.

prescription in a que estate (ah kee). [Law French "pre¬scription in whose estate"] A claim of prescription based on the immemorial enjoyment of the right by the claimant and the former owners whose estate the claimant has succeeded to.

prescription of nonuse. A mode of extinction of a real right other than ownership (such as a servitude) as a result of failure to exercise the right for a speCified period of time.

prescriptive easement See EASEMENT.

prescriptive easement An easement created from an open, adverse, and continuous use over a statutory period. Also termed easement by prescription; adverse easement. See ADVERSE POSSESSION.

prescriptive right A right obtained by prescription <after a nuisance has been continuously in existence for 20 years, a prescriptive right to continue it is acquired as an easement appurtenant to the land on which it exists>.

presence 1. The state or fact of being in a particular place and time <his presence at the scene saved two lives>. 2. Close physical proximity coupled with awareness <the agent was in the presence of the principal>.

presence of the court The company or proximity of the judge or other courtroom official. - For purposes of contempt, an action is in the presence of the court if it is committed within the view of the judge or other person in court and is intended to disrupt the court s business. "Some decisions indicate that the term in the presence of the court is to be given a liberal interpretation. that the court consists not of the judge, the courtroom, the jury, or the jury room individually. but of all of these combined, and that the court is present wherever any of its constituent parts is engaged in the prosecution of the business of the court according to law." 17 Am. Jur. 2d Contempt § 19 (1990).

presence-of-defendant rule The principle that a felony defendant is entitled to be present at every major stage of the criminal proceeding. Fed. R. Crim. P. 43.

presence-of-the-testator rule The principle that a testator must be aware (through Sight or other sense) that the witnesses are signing the will. Many jurisdictions interpret this requirement liberally, and the Uniform Probate Code has dispensed with it.

present 1. Now existing; at hand <a present right to the property>. 2. Being considered; now under discussion <the present appeal does not deal with that issue>. 3. In attendance; not elsewhere <all present voted for him>.

present ability See ABILITY.

present ability The actual, immediate power to do something (esp. to commit a crime).

present and voting Parliamentary law. (Of a member) casting a vote. The result of a vote is ordinarily determined with reference to the members voting (often termed, somewhat redundantly, as "present and voting"). An answer of "present" when casting a vote amounts to an abstention because the voter is indicating that he or she is present but not voting. See ABSTAIN (1).

present case See case at bar.

present case See case at bar under CASE.

present conveyance See CONVEYANCE.

present conveyance A conveyance made with the intent that it take effect at once rather than in the future.

present covenant A covenant that can be breached only at the time of conveyance. The three covenants in this class are the covenant against encumbrances, the covenant of right to convey, and the covenant of seisin. Cf. future covenant.

present covenant See COVENANT (4).

present enjoyment The immediate possession and use of land or other property.

present enjoyment See ENJOYMENT.

present estate 1. ESTATE (1). 2. See present interest under INTEREST (2).

present estate An estate in immediate possession; one vested at the present time, as distinguished from a future estate. See present interest under INTEREST (2).