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statutory exception A provision in a statute exempting certain persons or conduct from the statute's operation. 3. The retention of an existing right or interest, by and for the grantor, in real property being granted to another. Cf. RESERVATION (1). - except, vb.

statutory exclusion Criminal procedure. The removal, by law, of certain crimes from juvenile-court jurisdiction. Many states now remove certain particularly serious crimes committed by older juveniles from the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. In this kind of case, the juvenile court never has jurisdiction, so a transfer hearing is not required or necessary. Cf MANDATORY WAIVER.

statutory exposition A statutes special interpretation of the ambiguous terms of a previous statute <the statute contained a statutory exposition of the former act>.

statutory extortion See EXTORTION.

statutory forced share See ELECTIVE SHARE.

statutory foreclosure See power-of-sale Joreclosure under FORECLOSURE.

statutory guardian A guardian appointed by a court haVing special statutory Jurisdiction. - Also termed guardian by statute.

statutory guardian See GUARDIAN.

statutory homestead See constitutional homestead. 2. A surviving spouse's right of occupying the family home for life. In some states, the right is extended to other dependents of a decedent.

statutory homestead See constitutional homestead under HOMESTEAD.

statutory insolvency See BANKRUPTCY (3).

statutory instrument See STATUTORY INSTRUMENT.

statutory instrument A British administrative regulation or order; an order or regulation issued by an authority empowered by statute to do so, usu. to give detailed effect to the statute.

statutory interpretation See STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

statutory interpretation See STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

statutory invention registration An official procedure for placing an invention in the public domain by publishing the patent abstract (which is included with the inventions original application) in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices Official Gazette, thus making the abstract a prior-art reference as of the applications filing date. The process results in abandonment of the patent application. If an alternative form of disclosure is used, the prior-art referencess effective date is the date of publication. 35 USCA § 157. Abbr. SIR. See DEFENSIVE DISCLOSURE.

statutory law The body oflaw derived from statutes rather than from constitutions or judicial decisions. Also termed statute law; legislative law; ordinary law. Cf. COMMON LAW (1); CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

statutory liability See LIABILITY.

statutory lien See LIEN.

statutory merger See MERGER.

statutory obligation See OBLIGATION.

statutory obligation An obligation whether to pay money, perform certain acts, or discharge duties - that is created by or arises out of a statute, rather than based on an independent contractual or legal relationship.

statutory omnibus clause See OMNIBUS CLAUSE.

statutory omnibus clause Insurance. An omnibus clause provided by statute. 2. RESIDUARY CLAUSE.

statutory partnership assodation See PARTNERSHIP ASSOCIATION.

statutory penalty A penalty imposed for a statutory violation; esp., a penalty imposing automatic liability on a wrongdoer for violation of a statute s terms without reference to any actual damages suffered. 2. An extra charge against a party who violates a contractual provision.

statutory penalty See PENALTY (1).

statutory period 1. A time limit specified in a statute; esp., the period prescribed in the relevant statute of limitations. This period includes, in addition to a fixed number of years, whatever time local law allows because of infancy, insanity, coverture, and other like circumstances. 2. Patents. The time available to a patent applicant to answer an examiners office action. Since the sixmonth period is set by statute, it cannot be extended but it can be shortened to as few as 30 davs. 35 USCA § 133. Cf. SHORTENED STATUTORY PERiOD.

statutory presumption A rebuttable or conclusive presumption that is created by statute.

statutory presumption See PRESUMPTION.

statutory rape See RAPE.

statutory rape Unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of consent (as defined by statute), regardless of whether it is against that person will. Generally, only an adult may be convicted of this crime. A person under the age of consent cannot be convicted. Also termed rape under See age of consent under AGE. Carnal knowledge of a child is frequently declared to be rape by statute and where this is true the offense is popularly known as statutory rape: although not so designated in the statute." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 198 (3d ed. 1982). 3. Archaic. The act of seizing and carrying off a person (esp. a woman) by force; abduction. 4. The act of plundering or despoiling a place. 5. Hist. One of the six administrative districts into which Sussex, England was divided, being smaller than a shire and larger than a hundred.

statutory rate See MECHANICAL ROYALTY.

statutory receiver See RECEIVER.

statutory receiver A receiver whose appointment is provided for in a statute. 2. An officer in the royal household who collected revenues and disbursed them in a lump sum to the treasurer, and who also acted as an attorney with the power to appear in any court in England. The monarch and his or her consort each had a receiver, thus the full title was King s Receiver or Queen s Receiver.

statutory redemption The statutory right of a defaulting mortgagor to recover property, within a specified period, after a foreclosure or tax sale, by paying the outstanding debt or charges. The purpose is to protect against the sale of property at a price far less than its value. See REDEMPTION PERIOD.

statutory redemption See REDEMPTION.

statutory release A conveyance superseding the compound assurance by lease and release, created by the Conveyance by Release Without Lease Act of 1841 (St. 4 & 5 Vict., ch. 21).

statutory right of redemption The right of a mortgagor in default to recover property after a foreclosure sale by paying the principal, interest, and other costs that are owed, together with any other measure required to cure the default. This statutory right exists in many states but is not uniform. See EQUITY OF REDEMPTION; REDEMPTION (4).

statutory share See ELECTIVE SHARE.

statutory staple A writ to seize the lands, goods, and person of a debtor for forfeiting a statute staple. See STATUTE STAPLE. `

statutory subject matter See PATENTABLE SUBJECT MATTER.

statutory successor One who succeeds to the assets of a corporation upon its dissolution; specif., the person to whom all corporate assets pass upon a corporations dissolution according to the statute of the state of incorporation applicable at the time of the dissolution. See Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 388 cmt. a (1971).

statutory successor See SUCCESSOR.

statutory tenant A person who is legally entitled to remain on property after the tenancy expires.

statutory tenant See TENANT.

statutum (sta-t[y]oo-tam), adj. Established; determined.

statutum 1. An act of Parliament, esp. one that has been approved by the monarch. Cf. ACTUS (2). 2. Roman law. An ordinance; esp., an imperial law.

Statutum de Nova Custuma (sta-t[y]oo-tam dee noh-va kas-cha-ma or kas-tya-ma). See CARTA MERCATORIA.

stay 1. The postponement or halting of a proceeding, judgment, or the like. 2. An order to suspend all or part of a judicial proceeding or a judgment resulting from that proceeding. Also termed stay of execution; suspension of judgment. - stay, vb. - stayable, adj.

stay of execution See STAY.

stay of mandate 1. The suspension of a lower courts order of execution, imposed by a higher court. 2. An appellate courts suspension of its own judgment for reconsideration.

stay-away order 1. In a domestic-violence case, an order forbidding the defendant to contact the victim. A stay-away order usu. prohibits the defendant from coming within a certain number of feet of the victims home, school, work, or other specific place. Stay-away orders are most often issued in criminal cases. 2. RESTRAINING ORDER (1). 3. In a juvenile-delinquency case, an order prohibiting a youthful offender from frequenting the scene of the offense or from being in the company of certain persons. - Also termed no-contact order; stay-away order of protection.

stayor Rare. Tennessee law. A surety for a judgment.

stay-put rule The principle that a child must remain in his or her current educational placement while an administrative claim under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (usu. for an alternative placement or for mainstreaming) is pending. 20 USCA § 1415(j).

STB abbr. SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD.

STD abbr. SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE.

steady course A ships path that can be readily ascertained either because the ship is on a straight heading or because the ships future positions are easy to plot based on the ships current position and movements.

steal (bef. 12c) 1. To take (personal property) illegally with the intent to keep it unlawfully. 2. To take (something) by larceny, embezzlement, or false pretenses.

stealth 1. Theft; an act or instance of stealing. Etymologically, this term is the noun corresponding to the verb steal. "Stealth is the wrongful taking of goods without pretence of title: and therefore altereth not the property, as a trespass doth, so as upon an appeal the party shall re-have them." Sir Henry Finch, Law, ora Discourse Thereof210 (1759). 2. Surreptitiousness; furtive slyness.

stealth juror See JUROR.

stealth juror A juror, esp. one in a high-profile case, who deliberately fails to disclose a relevant bias in order to qualify as a juror and bases a decision on that bias rather than on the facts and law. Although a stealth juror may be fined or prosecuted for perjury based on a lie or omission, the usual penalty is only removal from the jury.

steganography (steg-a-nog-ra-fee), n. A cryptographic method that digitally embeds or encodes one item of information within another. Because digitized audio or visual files usu. have unused data areas, indelible (and nearly undetectable) information can be added without altering the files quality. Copyright or trademark tags can be hidden in every fragment of a digital work, making disassociation almost impossible. - Also termed digital fingerprinting; digital watermarking.

stellionatus (stel-ee-a-nay-tas or stel-ya-). [Latin "underhand dealing"] Roman & Scots law. Conduct that is fraudulent but does not fall within a specific class of offenses. This term applies primarily to fraudulent practices in the sale or hypothecation of land. - Also termed (in Scots law) stellionate. Cf. COZENING .Though pignus and hypothec are almost different names for the same thing, there were differences. Hypothec was used mainly for land, cannot be removed. A thing could ve pledged only to one, but successive hypothecs might be created over a thing. There was no fraud in this but it was the offence of stellionatus to give a hypothec without declaring existing hypothecs. W.w. Buckland, A Manual Of Roman Prinate Law 355 (2d ed. 1953). STELLIONATE ••• is a term applied, in the law of Scotland, either to any crime which, though indictable, goes under no general denomination, and is punishable arbitrarily, or to any civil delinquency of which fraud is an ingredient. Those, e.g., who grant double conveyances of the same subject, are guilty of this crime. , . and are punishable arbitrarily in their persons and goods, besides becoming infamous." William Bell, Bells Dictionarv and Digest of the Law of Scotland 940 (George Watson ed., 1882).

stenographer s record See reporters record under RECORD.

stenographer s record See reporter s record.

stent A property assessment made for taxation purposes.

stent Scots law. To assess or charge (a person or community) for taxation purposes.

stepbrother See BROTHER.

stepbrother The son of one's stepparent.

stepchild The child of one's spouse by a previous marriage. A stepchild is generally not entitled to the same legal rights as a natural or adopted child. For example, a stepchild has no right to a share of an intestate stepparent's property.

stepchild See CHILD.

stepfather (bef. 12c) The husband of one's mother by a later marriage. - Formerly also termed vitricus.

stepfather See FATHER.

step-in-the-dark rule The contributorynegligence rule that a person who enters a totally unfamiliar area in the darkness has a dutv, in the absence of unusual stress, to refrain from proceding until first ascertaining whether any dangerous obstacles exist. See contributory negligence under NEGLIGENCE.

stepmother See MOTHER.

stepparent See PARENT.

stepparent The spouse of one s mother or father by a later marriage.

stepparent adoption The adoption of a child by a stepfather or stepmother . Stepparent adoptions are the most common adoptions in the United States. Cf. second-parent adoption.

stepparent adoption See ADOPTION.

stepped-up basis The beneficiary's basis in property transferred by inheritance, equaling the fair market value of the property on the date of the decedent's death or on the alternate valuation date.

stepped-up basis See BASIS.

stepped-up visitation See VISITATION.

step-rate-premium insurance Insurance whose premiums increase at times specified in the policy.

step-rate-premium insurance See INSURANCE.

stepsister The daughter of ones stepparent.

stepsister See SISTER.

step-transaction doctrine A method used by the Internal Revenue Service to determine tax liability by viewing the transaction as a whole, and disregarding one or more nonsubstantive, intervening transactions taken to achieve the final result. Also termed transaction approach.

sterilization 1. The act of making (a person or other living thing) permanently unable to reproduce. 2. The act of depriving (a person or other living thing) of reproductive organs; esp., castration. Also termed (in both senses) asexualization.

sterling 1. Of or conforming to a standard of national value, esp. of English money or metal <a pound sterling>. 2. (Of an opinion, value, etc.) valuable; authoritative <a sterling report>.

stet (stet), n. [Latin "let it stand"]. 1. An order staying legal proceedings, as when a prosecutor determines not to proceed on an indictment and places the case on a stet docket. The term is used chiefly in Maryland. 2. An instruction to leave a text as it stands.

stet processus (stet pra-ses-,as), n. [Law Latin "let the process stand"]. 1. A record entry, similar to a nolle prosequi, by which the parties agree to stay further proceedings. 2. The agreement between the parties to stay those proceedings. This was typically used by a plaintiff to suspend an action rather than suffer a nonsuit.

stevedore (stee-va-dor). Maritime law. A person or company that hires longshore and harbor workers to load and unload ships. Cf. SEAMAN; LONGSHOREMAN.

steward 1. A person appointed to manage the affairs of another. 2. A union official who represents union employees and who oversees the performance of union contracts. - Also termed (in sense 2) union steward; shop steward.

steward of a manor An officer who handles the business matters of a manor, including keeping the court rolls and granting admittance to copyhold lands.

steward of all England An officer vested with various powers, including the power to preside over the trial of peers.

Steward of Chiltern Hundreds (chil-tarn). English law. Formerly, a royal officer charged with protecting residents from robbers and thieves who hid in the hundreds wooded areas. Today, a member of Parliament can accept this royal appointment as a step toward resigning, which is generally forbidden by statute. By law, for a member to accept this and certain other Crown appointments is to forfeit his or her seat. A resignation from the office of Steward completes the resignation process.

stickering The updating of a prospectus by affiXing stickers that contain the new or revised information. Stickering avoids the expense of reprinting an entire prospectus.

stickler An arbitrator.

stickup An armed robbery in which the victim is threatened by the use of weapons. Also termed holdup. See armed robbery under ROBBERY.