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tonnage duty A charge imposed on a commercial vessel for entering, remaining in, or leaving a port., usu. assessed on the basis of the ship's weight. U.S. Canst. art. I, § 10, cl. 3 prohibits the states from levying tonnage duties. - Also termed tonnage tax; tonnage.

tonnage tax See tonnage duty under DUTY (4).

tontine policy (tahn-teen or tahn-teen). An insurance policy in which a group of participants share advantages so that upon the default or death of any participant, his or her advantages are distributed among the remaining participants until only one remains, whereupon the whole goes to that sale participant. Under the tontine plan of insurance, no accumulation or earnings are credited to the policy unless it remains in force for the tontine period of a specified number of years. Thus, those who survive the period and keep their policies in force share in the accumulated funds, and those who die or permit their policies to lapse during the period do not. This type of policy takes its name from Lorenzo Tonti, an Italian who invented it in the 17th century. Today, newer and more ingenious forms of insurance have largely made tontine defunct. See TONTINE.

top-hat pension plan An unfunded pension plan that is maintained by an employer primarily for the purpose of providing deferred compensation for a select group of managers or highly paid employees. - Top-hat plans are generally not subject to the broad remedial provisions of ERISA because Congress recognized that certain individuals, by virtue of position or compensation level, can substantially influence the design or operation of their deferred -compensation plans. - Often shortened to top-hat plan.

topographical survey A survey that determines a propertys elevation above sea level. 3. A governmental department that carries out such easurements <please obtain the boundaries from survey>. 4. A poll or questionnaire, esp. one examining popular opinion <the radio station took a survey of the concert audience>. 5. Maritime law. A written assessment of the current condition of a vessel or cargo. - Also termed (in sense 5) survey of a vessel. - survey, vb.

tortious act An act that subjects the actor to liability under the principles of tort law.

tortious conduct An act or omission that subjects the actor to liability under the principles of tort law.

total assignment An assignment empowering the assignee to enforce the entire right for the benefit of the assignor or others. Examples are assignment to secure an obligation and assignment to a trustee.

total breach A breach of contract for which the remedial rights provided by law are substituted for all the existing contractual rights, or can be so sub-stituted by the injured party; esp., a material breach that gives rise to a claim for damages based on the aggrieved party's remaining rights to performance under the contract.

total disability A worker's inability to perform employment-related duties because of a physical or mental impairment. 3. Incapacity in the eyes of the law <most of a minor's disabilities are removed when he or she turns 18>. Also termed incapacity.

total eviction An eviction that wholly deprives the tenant of any right in the premises.

total failure of consideration A situation in which the contract is indivisible so that a complete lack ofconsideration voids the contract.

total incorporation Incorporation of all of the Bill of Rights. Justice Hugo Black, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971, first advocated this approach. 3. INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE. incorporate, vb.

total repudiation An unconditional refusal by a party to perform the acts required by a contract. This type of repudiation justifies the other party in refraining from performance.

total-disability insurance See general-disability insurance.

town clerk An officer who keeps the records, issues calls for town meetings, and performs the duties of a secretary to the town's political organization. 2. A court officer responsible for filing papers, issuing process, and keeping records of court proceedings as generally specified by rule or statute. Also termed clerk of court.

town commissioner A member of the board of administrative officers charged with managing the town's business.

toxic asset See troubled asset.

tract index An index, usu. kept in the county clerk's or recorder's office, listing, by location of each parcel ofland, the volume and page number of the recorded property transactions affecting the parcel. 2. A number, usu. expressed in the form of a percentage or ratio, that indicates or measures a series of observations, esp. those involving a market or the economy <cost-of-living index> <stock index>.

trade acceptance A bill of exchange for the amount of a specific purchase, drawn on and accepted by the buyer for payment at a speCified time. 5. An insurer's agreement to issue a policy of insurance. "And in some instances, insurance companies have even specified in the application forms that acceptance of an applicant'S offer will not occur until the insurance policy is literally delivered to the applicant that is, the insurer chooses to structure the arrangement so that acceptance is to be manifested by the physical delivery of the insurance policy to the applicant." Robert E. Keeton & Alan I. Wid iss, Insurance Law: A Guide to Fundamental Principles, Legal Doctrines, and Commercial Practices 2.1, at 39-40 (1988). 6. An heir's agreement to take an inheritance. See TACIT ACCEPTANCE. 7. See ADOPTION (5). accept, vb.

trade association An association of business organizations having similar concerns and engaged in similar fields, formed for mutual protection, the interchange of ideas and statistics, and the establishment and maintenance of industry standards. A trade association may be composed of members of a Single industry (e.g., the Chemical Manufacturers Association) or members having a common interest or purpose (e.g., the Consumer Mortgage Coalition). Among the joint actions that a trade association often takes are conecting industry data, advertiSing, marketing, and engaging in public relations and government relations.

trade defamation The damaging of a business by a false statement that tends to diminish the reputation of that business. Trade defamation may be trade libel if it is recorded, or trade slander if it is not. Also termed commercial defamation. Cf. TRADE DISPARAGEMENT.

trade deficit In economics, the excess of merchandise imports over merchandise exports during a specific period. Also termed trade gap. Cf. trade surplus under SURPLUS. 2. An excess of expenditures or liabilities over revenues or assets.

trade discount 1. A discount from list price offered to all customers of a given type for example, a discount offered by a lumber dealer to building contractors. 2. The difference between a seller's list price and the price at which the dealer actually sells goods to the trade.

trade draft A draft that instructs a commercial enterprise or its agent to pay the amount specified. 2. The compulsory enlistment of persons into military service <his illness disqualified him from the draft>. Also termed conscription; military draft. 3. An initial or preliminary version <the second draft of the contract>.

trade fixture Removable personal property that a tenant attaches to leased land for business purposes, such as a display counter. Despite its name, a trade fixture is not usu. treated as a fixture - that is, as irremovable.

trade price The price at which a manufacturer or wholesaler sells to others in the same business or industry.

trade slander Trade defamation that is spoken but not recorded. See trade defamation under DEFAMATION. Cf. trade libel under LIBEL.

trade surplus The excess of merchandise exports over merchandise imports during a specific period. Cf. trade deficit under DEFICIT.

trademark infringement The unauthorized use of a trademark - or of a confusingly similar name, word, symbol, or any combination ofthese - in connection with the same or related goods or services and in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods or services. See LIKELIHOOD-OF-CONFUSION TEST.

traders settlement A property settlement in which the land is put into a trust for sale, the proceeds to be either paid out to beneficiaries over time or divided among the settlors heirs. Cf. strict settlement.

trading corporation A corporation whose business involves the buying and selling of goods.

trading partnership A partnership whose usual business involves buying and selling. Also termed commercial partnership.

traditional public forum Public property that has by long tradition - as opposed to governmental designation been used by the public for assembly and expression, such as a public street, public sidewalk, or public park. To be constitutional, the government s content-neutral restrictions of the time, place, or manner of expression must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication. Any government regulation of expression that is based on the content of the expression must meet the much higher test of being necessary to serve a compelling state interest. - Also termed quintessential public forum.

traditional surrogacy A pregnancy in which a woman provides her own egg, which is fertilized by artificial insemination, and carries the fetus and gives birth to a child for another person.

traditionary evidence Evidence derived from a deceased person's former statements or reputation. Traditionary evidence is admissible to prove ancestry, ancient boundaries, or similar facts, usu. when no living witnesses are available to testify.

traffic court A court with jurisdiction over prosecutions for parking violations and infractions of road law.

tramp corporation A corporation chartered in a state where it does not conduct business.

transaction causation The fact that an investor would not have engaged in a given transaction if the other party had made truthful statements at the required time.

transaction cost (usu. pI.) A cost connected with a process transaction, such as a broker's commission, the time and effort expended to arrange a deal, or the cost involved in litigating a dispute.

transactional audit An audit performed for duediligence purposes to determine whether there are potentially significant problems with a transaction. Transactional audits are often conducted in realproperty transactions to identify any environmental problems. In that context, the audit is sometimes called a site assessment.

transactional immunity Immunity from prosecution for any event or transaction described in the compelled testimony. This is the broadest form of immunity.

transactional takeover defense A financial or operational transaction designed to make a present or future takeover bid more difficult by raising a companys share price, paying off the bidder, or reducing a bidders profit. Examples include issuing new shares of stock, acquiring expensive assets, and adopting a poison-pill defense. See POISON PILL; PORCUPINE PROVISION.

transfer agent An organization (such as a bank or trust company) that handles transfers of shares for a publicly held corporation by issuing new certificates and overseeing the cancellation of old ones and that usu. also maintains the record of shareholders for the corporation and mails dividend checks .o Generally, a transfer agent ensures that certificates submitted for transfer are properly indorsed and that the right to transfer is appropriately documented.

transfer hearing Criminal procedure. In a juvenile-court case, a hearing to determine whether the case should be transferred to adult criminal court so that the juvenile may be tried as an adult. Every state, as well as the District of Columbia, has a transfer statute. The United States Supreme Court defined the due-process requirements for transfer hearings in Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S.Ct. 1045 (1966). - Also termed certification hearing; waiver hearing; fitness hearing. See TRANSFER STATUTE; MANDATORY WAIVER; STATUTORY EXCLUSION.

transfer price The price charged by one segment of an organization for a product or service supplied to another segment of the same organization; esp., the charge assigned to an exchange of goods or services between a corporation s organizational units.

transfer tax 1. A tax imposed on the transfer of property, esp. by will, inheritance, or gift. 2. See stock-transfer tax. 3. See generation-skipping transfer tax.

transfer-agent-run dividend-reinvestment plan A program administered by a financial institution for several companies. An investor can participate in more than one DRIP program Simultaneously and also make additional cash investments in multiple companies.

transferred intent Intent that the law may shift from an originally intended wrongful act to a wrongful act actually committed. For example, if a person intends to kill one person but kills another inadvertently, the intent may be transferred to the actual act. See TRANSFERRED-INTENT DOCTRINE.

transient jurisdiction (tran-shant). Personal jurisdiction over a defendant who is served with process while in the forum state only temporarily (such as during travel).

transitional alimony See rehabilitative alimony. 2.English law. ALIMENT.

transitive covenant A covenant whose duty of performance passes from the original covenantor to the covenantor's representatives. Cf. intransitive covenant. 2. TREATY. 3. A common-law action to recover damages for breach of contract under seal. 4. A promise made in a deed or implied by law; esp., an obligation in a deed burdening or favoring a landowner. See contract under seal under CONTRACT. covenantal, adj. "A covenant is properly defined as a promise made in deed, although in practice the term is used rather more loosely to mean simply an obligation affecting a landowner whether created by deed or not." Peter Butt, Land Law 334-35 (2d ed. 1988). "In their nature, covenants are first cousins to easements appurtenant. The burdened land corresponds to a servient tenement, the benefitted land, to a dom inant tenement, In concept, the main difference between easements and covenants is that, whereas an easement allows its holder to go upon and to do something upon the servient tenement, the beneficiary of a covenant may not enter the burdened land, but may require the owner of that land to do, Of more likely not to do, something on that land," Roger A. Cunningham et aI., The Law of Property § 8.13, at 467 (2d ed. 1993).

transitory action An action that can be brought in any venue where the defendant can be personally served with process. "Transitory actions are universally founded on the supposed violation of rights which, in contemplation of law, have no locality. They are personal actions, that is, they are brought for the enforcement of purely personal rights or obligations. If the transaction on which the action is founded could have taken place anywhere, the action is generally regarded as transitory; but if the transaction could only have happened in a particular place ... the action is local. Some authorities, considering the effect of the distinction, define transitory actions as actions which may be tried wherever defendant may be found and served." 92 c.J.S. Venue § 8, at 678-79 (1955).

translative fact (trans- or tranz-Iay-tiv). A fact by means of which a right is transferred from one person to another; a fact that fulfills the double function of terminating one person's right to an object and of originating another's right to it.

transnational adoption See international adoption.

transnational corporation See multinational corporation.

transracial adoption An adoption in which at least one adoptive parent is of a race different from that of the adopted child . Under federal law, child-placement agencies may not use race as a factor in approving adoptions. 42 USCA § 5115a. Also termed interracial adoption. See MULTIETHNIC PLACEMENT ACT OF 1994.

transvestitive fact A fact that is simultaneously investitive and divestitive. "When a person transfers the rights he has to another, the transfer divests him of the potestas, and invests that other with it. This is quite distinct from the creation or extinction of the potestas. A new descriptive term is wanted, and after the analogy of the other words, 'transvestitive' has been coined for the purpose." W.A. Hunter, A Systematic and Historical Exposirion of Roman Law 141 (4th ed. 1902).

travel expense An expense (such as for meals, lodging, and transportation) incurred while away from home in the pursuit of a trade or business. See TAX HOME.

travel-accident insurance Health insurance limited to injuries sustained while traveling.

traveler's check A cashier's check that must be signed by the purchaser at the time of purchase and counterSigned when cashed; an instrument that (I) is payable on demand, (2) is drawn on or payable at or through a bank, (3) is deSignated by the term "traveler's check" or by a substantially similar term, and (4) requires, as a condition to payment, a countersignature by a person whose specimen signature appears on the instrument. UCC § 3-104. Traveler's checks, which are available in various denominations, are typically purchased from a bank or financing company.

traverse jury See petit jury.

treason felony See TREASON FELONY.

treasury bond See TREASURY BOND.

treasury security See treasury stock under STOCK.

treasury stock Stock issued by a company hut then reacquired and either canceled or held. Some states have eliminated this classification and treat such stock as if it is authorized but unissued. Also termed treasury security; treasury share; reacquired stock; retired stock.

treaty reinsurance Reinsurance under a broad agreement of all risks in a given class as soon as they are insured by the direct insurer.

treble damages Damages that, by statute, are three times the amount of actual damages that the fact-finder determines is owed. - Also termed triple damages:

trial brief Counsel's written submission, usu. just before trial, outlining the legal issues before the court and arguing one side's position. 2. English law. A solicitor's document that abstracts the pleadings and facts to inform a barrister about the case. 3. ABSTRACT OF TITLE. 4. CASE NOTE. brief, vb.

trial calendar See DOCKET (2). 3. A list of bills reported out of a legislative committee for consideration by the entire legislature. 4. Parliamentary law. AGENDA. Also termed calendar of business.

trial counsel 1. A lawyer who represents a party at trial. The term is often used in contrast with appellate counsel. 2. Military law. The person who prosecutes a case on the government's behalf.

trial court A court of original jurisdiction where the evidence is first received and considered. Also termed court offirst instance; instance court; court of instance.

trial de novo See TRIAL.

trial franchise A franchise having an initial term of limited duration, such as one year.

trial judge The judge before whom a case is tried. This term is used most commonly on appeal from the judges rulings.

trial jury See petit jury.

trial-type hearing See ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING.

tribal court See TRIBAL COURT.

tri-chad A chad that is attached to the ballot by three points.

triggering condition A circumstance that must exist before a legal doctrine applies; esp., in criminal law, a circumstance that must exist before an actor will be entitled to a justification defense.

triple ordeal An ordeal prescribed for someone accused of a more serious crime and involving more risk or torture than a single ordeal. For example, a triple ordeal by water required the accused to submerge an arm into boiling water up to the elbow, while a single ordeal required the arm to be submerged only to the wrist. Also termed threefold ordeal.

triple witching session A stock-market session on the third Friday in March, June, September, and December during which stock options, index options and futures contracts all expire. Stock-market volatility and share volume are often high on these days.

troubled asset A debt-related asset, such as a mortgage loan, for which the debt has become or is likely to become un collectable, resulting in a sudden, sharp decrease in the asset's value. Also termed toxic asset; junk asset.

truancy officer See TRUANCY OFFICER.

true admission See judicial admission.

true copy A copy that, while not necessarily exact, is sufficiently close to the original that anyone can understand it.

true defense A defense admitting that a defendant committed the charged offense, but seeking to avoid punishment based on a legal excuse (such as insanity) or justification (such as self-defense).

trust account See CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT.

trust agreement See declaration of trust (2) under DECLARATION (1).

trust company A company that acts as a trustee for people and entities and that sometimes also operates as a commercial bank. Also termed (if incorporated) trust corporation. See TITLE (1), (2).

trust corporation See trust company under COMPANY.

trust deed See deed of trust.

trust distribution The cash or other property paid or credited to a trust beneficiary.

trust fund See TRUST FUND.

trust indenture 1. A document containing the terms and conditions governing a trustee's conduct and the trust beneficiaries' rights. - Also termed indenture of trust. 2. See deed oftrust under DEED. 3. A contract by which an apprentice or other person, such as a servant, is bound to a master, usu. for a term of years or other limited period. - indentured, adj.

trust indorsement An indorsement stating that the payee becomes a trustee for a third person (e.g., "pay Erin Ray in trust for Kaitlin Ray"); a restrictive indorsement that limits the instrument to the use of the indorser or another person.

trust officer A trust-company official responsible for administering funds held by the company as a trustee.

trust ownership A trustee s interest in trust property. Also termed bare ownership.

trust power See beneficial power.

trust process In some states (particularly in New England), garnishment or foreign attachment.