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carta forestae See CHARTA DE FORESTA.

carta mercatoria (kahr-ta mar-ka-tor-ee-a), An English statute (enacted in 1303) establishing various rules that favored certain foreign merchants. In exchange for paying customs duties, merchants received extensive trading rights throughout England, the power to export their merchandise, the liberty to dwell where they pleased, and certain legal rights. Also termed Statutum de Nova Custuma.

cartbote See plowbote.

cartbote- See plowbote under BOTE (1).

carte blanche (kahrt or blahnsh). [French "blank card"], 1. A signed, blank instrument that is filled out at an agent's discretion. 2. Full discretionary power; unlimited authority.

cartel (kahr-tel), 1. A combination of producers or sellers that join together to control a product's production or price. 2. An association of firms with common interests, seeking to prevent extreme or unfair competition, allocate markets, or share knowledge.3. An agreement between belligerents about the means of conducting whatever relations they allow during wartime; esp., such an agreement regarding the exchange of prisoners. Also spelled chartel. cartelize (kahr-td-lIz or kahr-tel-Iz), vb.

cartulary (kahr-tyoo-Iair-ee), A collection of legal documents, esp. charters and title deeds to property.

carucage (kar-a-kij). [Law Latin], A tax imposed either on a carucate or on the plows used on the land. Also termed carvage.

carucate (kar-a-kayt). [Law Latin] . A measure of land for assessment purposes, varying locally from 96 to 144 acres. This amount was thought to be as much land as one plow with eight oxen could plow in a year. A carucate was used to assess taxes. Also termed carucata; carve; plowland. Cf. HIDE (1); OXGANG.

carvage See CARUCAGE.

carve See CARUCATE.

carve out 1. To create an explicit exception to a broad rule. 2. Tax. To separate from property the income derived from the property.

carveout 1. An explicit exception to a broad rule. 2. Tax. For tax purposes, the separation from property of the income derived from the property.

cas fortuit (kah for-twee). [French "fortuitous case"] Insurance. A unforeseeable event; an inevitable accident; FORTUITOUS EVENT.

casa 1. COURT-APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATE. 2. COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES.

casa volunteer A specially screened and trained child-welfare volunteer appointed by the court to conduct an independent investigation of both the state agency and the family and to submit a report with findings and recommendations. In some jurisdictions such volunteers are provided for statutorily. They sometimes act as guardians ad litem. The CASA volunteer usu. (1) provides independent assessment of the child's needs, (2) acts as an advocate for the child, and (3) monitors agency decision-making and court proceedings. See COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES.

casata (ka-say-ta). A house with enough land to support one family.

casatus (ka-zay-tas). A vassal or feudal tenant possessing a casata.

case 1. A civil or criminal proceeding, action, suit, or controversy at law or in equity <the parties settled the case>.

case abstract See CASE NOTE.

case agreed on See case stated (1).

case agreed on- See case stated (1) under CASE.

case at bar A case under the immediate consideration of the court. Also termed case at bench; instant case; present case. See BAR (3).

case at bench See case at bar.

case brief See CASE NOTE.

case evaluation 1. Assessment of a case's strengths and weaknesses, along with the cost of litigation and the amount of potential liability or recovery, typically done to decide whether to accept a case or to advise a client or potential client about how to proceed. 2. MEDIATION (1).

case flow 1. The movement of cases through the judicial system, from the initial filing to the final appeal. 2. An analysis of that movement.

case lawyer An attorney whose knowledge is largely confined to a specific field of expertise. "A working lawyer cannot expect to keep abreast of all this output of ideas, but he can at least study some portion so as to liberalize his views of law and to avoid the reproach of being a mere case lawyer." Lord Wright, The Study of Law, 54 Law Q. Rev. 185, 185 (1938).

case made See case reserved (1).

case made- See case reserved (1) under CASE.

case method See CASEBOOK METHOD.

case note A short statement summarizing a case, esp. the relevant facts, the issues, the holding, and the court's reasoning. - Sometimes written casenote. Also termed brief, case brief; case statement; case abstract.

case number The number assigned to a lawsuit when it is filed with the clerk of the court.o Each case has a distinct number that distinguishes it from all other suits filed within the jurisdiction.

case of first impression See CASE.

case offirst impression A case that presents the court with an issue of law that has not previously been decided by any controlling legal authority in that jurisdiction.

case plan A written procedure for the care and management of a child who has been removed from his or her home and placed in foster care or in an institution. The case plan includes (1) a description of the place where the child has been placed, (2) a plan for providing the child with safe and proper care, and (3) a plan for services that will be provided to the child's parents. Each state must have a case-review system formulated to ensure that the child is placed in the least restrictive and most appropriate place and that the plan is in the best interests of the child; the plan must be reviewed every six months. See ADOPTION AND SAFE FAMILIES ACT.

case reserved 1. A written statement of the facts proved at trial and drawn up and stipulated to by the parties, so that certain legal issues can be decided by an appellate court. Also termed case made; special case. 2. Rist. An agreement between litigants to submit the case to a judge rather than to a jury. "It should have come as no surprise ... that in most cases 'merchants were not fond of juries: For one of the leading measures of the growing alliance between bench and bar on the one hand and commercial interests on the other is the swiftness with which the power of the jury is curtailed after 1790... [Djuring the last years of the eighteenth century American lawyers vastly expanded the 'special case' or 'case reserved; a device designed to submit points of law to the judges while avoiding the effective intervention of ajury. In England, Lord Mansfield had used a similar procedure to bring about an alliance between common lawyers and mercantile interests." Morton J. Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860141-42 (1977).

case reserved- See CASE.

case stated 1. A formal written statement of the facts in a case, submitted to the court jointly by the parties so that a decision may be rendered without trial. Also termed case agreed on. 2. A procedure used by the Court of Chancery to refer difficult legal questions to a common-law court . This procedure was abolished in 1852. 3. English law. An appeal from a Magistrates' Court to the Divisional Court of Queen's Bench on a point of criminal law . After ruling, the magistrate states the facts for the appeal and the Queen's Bench rules on the question of law presented by the magistrate's ruling.

case stated, See CASE.

case statement See CASE NOTE.

case system See CASEBOOK METHOD.

case with in a case rule The requirement that a legal-malpractice- action plaintiff show that, but for the attorney's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the case underlying the malpractice action.

casebook A compilation of extracts from instructive cases on a particular subject, usu. with commentary and questions about the cases, designed as a teaching aid. See SOCRATIC METHOD. Cf. HORNBOOK.

casebook method An inductive system of teaching law in which students study specific cases to learn general legal principles Professor Christopher C. Langdell introduced the technique at Harvard Law School in 1869. The casebook method is now the most widely used form of instruction in American law schools. Also termed case method; case system; Langdell method. Cf. SOCRATIC METHOD; HORNBOOK METHOD.

case-in-chief 1. The evidence presented at trial by a party between the time the party calls the first witness and the time the party rests. 2. The part of a trial in which a party presents evidence to support the claim or defense. Cf. REBUTTAL (1), (2).

caselaw The law to be found in the collection of reported cases that form all or part of the body of law within a given jurisdiction. Also written case law; case-law. Also termed decisional law; adjudicative law; jurisprudence; organic law. "Case law in some form and to some extent is found wherever there is law. A mere series of decisions of individ· ual cases does not of course in itself constitute a system of law. But in any judicial system rules of law arise sooner or later out of the solution of practical problems, whether or not such formulations are desired, intended or consciously recognized. These generalizations contained in, or built upon, past decisions, when taken as normative for future disputes, create a legal system." Karl N. Llewellyn, "Case Law" in 3 Encv. Soc. Sci. 249 (1930).

caselaw See CASELAW.

caseload The volume of cases assigned to a given court, agency, officer, judge, law firm, or lawyer.

case-management order A court order designed to control the procedure in a case on the court's docket, esp. by limiting pretrial discovery. - Abbr. CMO.

case-or-controversy requirement The constitutional requirement that, for a federal court to hear a case, the case must involve an actual dispute. See CONTROVERSY (3); advisory opinion under OPINION (1). 'The courts of the United States do not sit to decide questions of law presented in a vacuum, but only such questions as arise in a 'case or controversy.' The two terms can be used interchangeably, for, we are authoritatively told, a 'controversy,' if distinguishable at all from a 'case,' is distinguishable only in that it is a less comprehensive term, and includes only suits of a civil nature." Charles Alan Wright, The Law of Federal Courts 60 (5th ed. 1994).

cash 1. Money or its equivalent. 2. Currency or coins, negotiable checks, and balances in bank accounts. cash, vb.

cash bail A sum of money (rather than a surety bond) posted to secure a prisoner's release from jaiL Also termed stationhouse bail.

cash bail- See BAIL (1).

cash book An account book of all cash received and paid out by a business.

cash budget A period-by-period schedule of a business's opening cash on hand, estimated cash receipts, cash disbursements, and cash balance . A cash budget is used to project a business's cash receipts and disburse ments over some future period.

cash collateral See COLLATERAL.

cash collateral, Collateral consisting of cash, negotiable instruments, documents of title, securities, deposit accounts, or other cash equivalents. 11 USCA § 363(a).

cash cycle The time it takes for cash to flow into and out of a business, such as the time between the purchase of raw materials for manufacture and the sale of the finished product.

cash discount See DISCOUNT.

cash discount- 1. A seller's price reduction in exchange for an immediate cash payment. 2. A reduction from the stated price if the bill is paid on or before a specified date.

cash dividend See DIVIDEND.

cash dividend- A dividend paid to shareholders in the form of money.

cash equivalent A short-term security that is liquid enough to be considered equivalent to cash.

cash flow 1. The movement of cash through a business, as a measure of profitability or liquidity. 2. The cash generated from a business or transaction. 3. Cash receipts minus cash disbursements for a given period. Sometimes written cash flow.

cash flow per common share The cash flow from operations minus preferred stock dividends, divided by the number of outstanding common shares.

cash merger See MERGER.

cash or deferred arrangement A retirement -plan provision permitting an employee to have a certain amount of compensation paid in cash or contributed, on behalf of the employee, to a profit-sharing or stock-bonus plan. A 401(k) plan is a type of cash or deferred arrangement. Abbr. CODA.

cash sale See SALE.

cash sale 1. A sale in which cash payment is concurrent with the receipt of the property sold. 2. A securities transaction on the stockexchange floor requiring cash payment and same-day delivery.

cash surrender value See VALUE (2).

cash tender offer A tender offer in which the bidder offers to pay cash for the targets shares, as opposed to offering other corporate shares in exchange. Most tender offers involve cash.

cash tender offer See TENDER OFFER.

cash value 1. Seefair market value under VALUE (2). 2. See full cash value under VALUE (2).

cash-against-documents sale See documentary sale under sale.

cash-against-documents sale See documentary sale.

cash-and-carry clause A regulation that, before U.S. involvement in World War II, allowed belligerent countries to pay cash for goods whose export was prohibited.o Formally, this regulation was entirely neutral, but in practice it favored Great Britain.

cash-basis accounting method An accounting method that considers only cash actually received as income and cash actually paid out as an expense. Cf. accrual accounting method.

cash-basis accounting method- See ACCOUNTING METHOD.

cash-equivalent doctrine The doctrine requiring income to be reported even ifit is not cash, as when the taxpayer barters to receive in-kind payments.

cash-expenditure method A technique used by the IRS to reconstruct a taxpayer's unreported income by comparing the amount spent on goods and services during a given period with the income reported for that period .If the expenditures exceed the reported revenue, the IRS treats the difference as taxable income.

cashier 1. One who receives and records payments at a business. 2. A bank's or trust company's executive officer, who is responsible for banking transactions.

cashier- To dismiss from service dishonorably <after three such incidents, Jones was cashiered>.

cashier's check See CHECK.

cashier's check, A check drawn by a bank on itself, payable to another person, and eVidencing the payee's authorization to receive from the bank the amount of money represented by the check; a draft for which the drawer and drawee are the same bank, or different branches of the same bank.

cashlite See AMERCEMENT.

cash-option transaction Mergers & acquisitions. A provision in a merger agreement giving the target company's stockholders a choice between receiving either a tax-free exchange of stock or a taxable cash buyout.

cashout An arrangement by a seller to receive the entire amount of equity in cash rather than retain an interest in the property. cash out, vb.

cash-out merger See cash merger under MERGER.

cash-refund annuity An annuity providing for a lump-sum payment after the annuitant's death of the difference between the total received and the price paid.

cash-refund annuity- See ANNUITY.

cash-transaction report IRS Form 4789, which requires banks and other financial institutions to report cash transactions above a certain amount.

cash-value option The right of a life-insurance policyholder to surrender the policy for its cash value at a specified time or at any time.

cash-value option See OPTION.

casing The pipe in a wellbore hole, cemented into place to prevent pollution and to protect the hole.

casing point The point at which a well has been drilled to the desired depth and the owners must decide whether to place production pipe ("casing") in the hole to complete and equip the well for production.

casinghead gas Natural gas in a liqUid solution with crude oil, produced at the casinghead (top) ofa oil well. CaSinghead gas separates from the oil at the time of production or shortly afterward.

cassare (ka-sair-ee), [Law Latin fr. Latin cassus "void"], To quash or nullify. Cassare was usu. usued in reference to voiding an agreement, law or writ. See casserut billa; Cassetur breve.

cassation (ka-say-shan), A quashing. See COURT OF CASSATION.

cassetur billa (ka-see-tar bit-a). [Latin "that the bill be quashed"], 1. A judgment quashing a plea in abatement. 2. A plaintiff's on-the-record admission that a defendant's plea in abatement cannot be avoided .This statement discontinues the action. Also termed billa cassetur; quod billa cassetur.