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check- 1. To control or restrain <handcuffs checked the defendant's movement>. 2. To verify or audit <an accountant checked the invoices>. 3: To investigate <the police checked the suspect's story>. In this sense, check is typically used with up, on, or out. 4. To leave for safekeeping with an attendant <the diner checked her coat at the door>.

check-kiting The illegal practice of writing a check against a bank account with insufficient funds to cover the check, in the hope that the funds from a preViously deposited check will reach the account before the bank debits the amount of the outstanding check. Also termed kiting; check-flashing. "Check kiting consists of drawing checks on an account in one bank and depositing them in an account in a second bank when neither account has sufficient funds to cover the amounts drawn. Just before the checks are returned for payment to the first bank, the kiter covers them by depositing checks drawn on the account in the second bank." United States v. Stone, 954 F.2d 1187, 1188 n.l (6th Cir. 1992).

check-off system The procedure by which an employer deducts union dues directly from the employees' wages and remits those dues to the union.

checkpoint search 1. A search anywhere on a military installation. 2. A search in which police officers set up roadblocks and stop motorists to ascertain whether the drivers are intoxicated.

checkpoint search See SEARCH.

checks and balances The theory ofgovernmental power and functions whereby each branch of government has the ability to counter the actions ofany other branch, so that no single branch can control the entire government. For example, the executive branch can check the legislature by exercising its veto power, but the legislature can, by a sufficient majority, override any veto. See SEPARATION OF POWERS.

chefe (chef). [Law French fr. French chef"head"] See WERGILD.

chemical warfare See WARFARE.

cheque See CHECK.

cherry-stem annexation 1. Annexed land that resembles (on a map) a cherry because the annexed territory the cherry - is not contiguous to the acquiring municipality, and the narrow corridor of annexed land leading to the targeted area resembles a stem.2. The process of annexing land with this configuration.

cherry-stem annexation- See ANNEXATION.

chevage (chee-vij). [fr. French chej"head"]. An annual tribute payment from a villein to a lord. Chevage was commonly exacted from villeins for permission to marry or permission to work outside a lord's domain. Also spelled chivage; chiefage. "Chevage, (chevagium) commeth of the French <chef.L caput}. It signifieth with us, a summe of money paid by villeins to their Lords, in acknowledgment of their slaverie.... It seemeth also to be used, for a summe of a mony, yearely given by a man to another of might & power, for his avowement, maintenance, and protection, as to their head or leader," John Cowell, The Interpreter (1607).

chevantia (cha-van-shee-a). [Law French]. A loan of money.

chevisance (chev-a-zints). [Law French]. 1. A composition; an agreement between a creditor and a debtor. See COMPOSITION. 2. An unlawful or usurious contract; esp" a contract intended to evade the statutes prohibiting usury.

Chevron deference A two-part test under which a court will uphold a federal agency's construction of a federal statute if (1) the statute is ambiguous or does not address the question at issue, and (2) the agency's interpretation of the statute is reasonable.o If the court finds that the legislature's intent is clearly expressed in the statute, then that intent is upheld. lhe U.S. Supreme Court enunciated the rule in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. De! Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778,2781-82 (1984). Also termed Chevron rule.

cheze (shayz). [French chez "at the home of"]. 1. HOMESTEAD. 2. A homestall; a farmyard.

chicago board of trade The commodities exchange where futures contracts in a large number of agricultural products are made. Abbr. CBT; CBOT.

chicago board options exchange The predominant organized marketplace in the United States for trading options. Abbr. CBOE.

chicanery (shi-kay-nar-ee), Trickery; deception. Also termed chicane. chicanerous, adj.

chief 1. A person who is put above the rest; the leader <chief of staff>. 2. The principal or most important part or position <commander-in-chief>. chief, adj.

chief administrative patent judge See JUDGE.

chief administrative patent judge The supervisor of administrative patent judges at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Abbr. CAPT.

chief baron The presiding judge of the English Court of Exchequer. Upon the death of Chief Baron Kelly in 1880, the office was abolished. Through the Judicature Act of 1925, the Lord Chief Justice of England became the presiding judge. See BARONS OF THE EXCHEQUER.

chief executive See EXECUTIVE.

chief executive officer See CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

chief executive officer A corporation's highestranking administrator, who manages the firm day by day and reports to the board ofdirectors. Abbr. CEO,

chief financial officer The executive in charge of making a company's accounting and fiscal decisions. Abbr. CFO.

chief information officer The executive who supervises a company's informational infrastructure, including the system for retaining and destroying records. Abbr. CIa.

chief judge See JUDGE.

chief judge The judge who presides over the sessions and deliberations of a court, while also overseeing the administration of the court. Abbr. c.J.

chief justice See JUSTICE (2).

chief justice of england The former title of the Lord Chief Justice of England, See LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

chief justice of the common pleas Formerlv, the presiding judge in the Court of Common Pleas. The Judicature Act of 1875 reduced the Court of Common Pleas to the Common Pleas Division. In 1881 the last Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Lord Coleridge, was appointed Lord ChiefJustice of England, merging the Common Pleas Division and the Queen's Bench Division. The Lord Chief Justice of England now exercises the powers formerly belonging to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Cf. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

chief justice of the united states The formal title ofthe officer who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Often shortened to the Chief Justice.

chief justiciar See JUSTICIARY (2).

chief lease See HEADLEASE.

chief lord The immediate lord of a fee, to whom the tenants were directly and personally responsible.

chief magistrate See MAGISTRATE (1).

chief of protocol An officer in the U.S. Department of State responsible for managing the Office of Protocol and advising the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and other U.S. officials on matters of diplomatic procedure governed by law or international custom and practice.

chief operating officer A manager who supervises a company's day-to-day operations and who usu. reports to the chief executive officer. Abbr. COO.

chief rents A small, fixed, annual rent payable to the lord by a freeholder ofa manor; annual quit rent. Chief rents 'were abolished in 1922. See QUIT RENT.

chief use A standard for determining a proper tariff classification in which a commodity's use is understood by examining the intended users as a whole, rather than individually.

chiefage See CHEVAGE.

chiefexecutive The head of the executive branch of a government, such as the President of the United States. 2. A corporate officer at the upper levels of management. Also termed executive officer; executive employee. executive, adj.

chiefjustice The presiding justice of an appellate court, usu. the highest appellate court in a jurisdition and esp. the U.S. Supreme Court. - Abbr. c.J.

child (bef. 12c). 1. A person under the age of majority. 2. At common law, a person who has not reached the age of 14.3. A boyar girl; a young person. 4. A son or daughter. "The word 'children' is normally used to denote issue of the first generation only." Restatement of Property § 267, cmt. c (1940). 5. A baby or fetus. See JUVENILE; MINOR. PI. children.

child abuse 1. Intentional or neglectful physical or emotional harm inflicted on a child, including sexual molestation; esp., a parent's or caregiver's act or failure to act that results in a child's exploitation, serious physical or emotional injury, sexual abuse, or death. 2. An act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm to a child. Child abuse can be either intentional or negligent. The first case of child abuse actually prosecuted occurred in New York City in 1874. An eight-year-old girl named Mary Ellen was found to have been severely abused. Her abusers were prosecuted under the law for prevention of cruelty to animals, since no law protecting children then existed. Child abuse was first recognized as a medical concern in 1962, when Dr. e. Henry Kempe introduced the medical concept of battered-child syndrome. Also termed cruelty to a child; cruelty to children; child maltreatment. See abused child under CHILD; battered child under CHILD; BATTERED-CHILD SYNDROME. Cf. secondary abuse.

child abuse- See ABUSE.

child abuse prevention and treatment act A federal statute that provides limited funding to states for preventing, identifying, and treating child abuse and neglect . Enacted in 1974, the Act was amended in 1996 to reinforce an emphasis on child safety. The Act established the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in the Department of Health and Human Services. Its function is to study child abuse, conduct research into its causes, and make grants to agencies for the study, prevention, and treatment of child abuse. 42 USCA §§ 5101-5157. Abbr. CAPTA. See CHILDABUSE AND -NEGLECT REPORTING STATUTE.

child- and dependent-care tax credit A tax credit available to a person who is employed full-time and who maintains a household for a dependent child or a disabled spouse or dependent.

child and dependent-care tax credit See TAX CREDIT.

child application See PATENT APPLICATION.

child application A later-filed application in a chain of continuing applications filed during the pendency ofan earlier application and sharing common subject matter. The first~filed application is called the parent application. Cf. parent application.

child custody See CUSTODY (2).

child destruction 1. See FETICIDE. 2. See INFANTICIDE (1).

child endangerment The placing of a child in a place or position that exposes him or her to danger to life or health. Also termed endangering the welfare of a child.

child in need of supervision A child who has committed an offense that only children can commit, such as being ungovernable and disobedient to parents, running away from home, violating a curfew, being habitually truant from school, violating age restrictions on the purchase or possession of liquor or tobacco, or the like. Also termed person in need of supervision; minor in need ofsupervision. Abbr. CHINS.

child in need of supervision- See CHILD.

child labor See CHILD LABOR.

child labor The employment ofworkers under the age of majority. This term typically focuses on abusive practices such as exploitative factory work; slavery, sale, and trafficking in children; forced or compulsory labor such as debt bondage and serfdom; and the use of children in prostitution, pornography, drug-trafficking, or anything else that might jeopardize their health, safety, or morals. Some writers restrict the term to activities forbidden by the International Labor Organization's minimum-age conventions. See ILO Minimum Age Convention ch. 138 (1973). See FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT. Cf. CHILD WORK.

child maltreatment See child abuse under ABUSE.

child molestation See MOLESTATION.

child neglect See KEGLECT.

child online protection act A 1998 federal statute designed to control child pornography on the Internet by prohibiting Internet speech that is "harmful to minors." Unlike the Communications Decency Act, COPA does not apply to e-mail or chat-room communications. Among other things, COPA applies to sexually explicit material that appears to depict minors, even if the people are actually over 18 or the images are computer-generated and do not depict living people. After several court challenges, COPA was held unconstitutional and never became effective. Abbr. COPA.

child out of wedlock See illegitimate child.

child out of wedlock- See illegitimate child under CHILD.

child pornography See PORNOGRAPHY.

child pornography Material depicting a person under the age of 18 engaged in sexual activity. Child pornography is not protected by the First Amendment even if it falls short of the legal standard for obscenity -and those directly involved in its distribution can be criminally punished.

child prostitute See PROSTITUTE.

child prostitution The act or practice of offering or using a minor for sex acts in exchange for money. See child prostitute under PROSTITUTE. 2. The act of debasing. - prostitute, vb. prostitute, n.

child prostitution See PROSTITUTION.

child protective services A governmental agency responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect, providing family services to the parent or guardian of a child who has been abused or neglected, and administering the foster-care program. Abbr. CPS. Also termed (in some states) Department of Social Services; (esp. in Michigan) family independence agency.

child s income tax See kiddie tax.

child support See CHILD SUPPORT.

child support 1. A parent's legal obligation to contribute to the economic maintenance and education of a child until the age of majority, the child's emancipation before reaching majority, or the child's completion of secondary education. The obligation is enforceable both civilly and criminally. 2. In a custody or divorce action, the money legally owed by one parent to the other for the expenses incurred for children of the The right to child support is the child's right and cannot be waived, and any divorce-decree provision waiving child support is void. Cf. ALIMONY.

child support recovery act of 1994 A statute that made it a federal offense for a person to willfully fail to pay past-due child support for a child who lived in another state. This Act has been replaced by the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act. 42 USCA § 228. See DEADBEAT PARENTS PUNISHMENT ACT.

child with disabilities Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a child who needs specialeducation or related services because of (1) mental retardation, (2) a hearing, language, or visual impairment, (3) a serious emotional disturbance, or (4) another health impairment or specific learning disabilitv. See INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION CT.

child with disabilities- See CHILD.

child work A minor's salutary employment, esp. within the family. This term is sometimes used in contrast to child labor, the idea being that child work within the family unit can be a positive experience. Some scholars and courts note that child work can facilitate vocational skills and social adaptation, and is often viewed as an expression of family solidarity. Cf. CHILD LABOR.

child-abuse and -neglect reporting statute A state law requiring certain persons, among them healthcare providers, teachers, and child-care workers, to report suspected child abuse . By 1967, every state had adopted some form of reporting statute. In the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 USCA §§ 5101-5157), Congress provided federal funding for all states that implement federal standards in their reporting statutes and defined child maltreatment broadly. See CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT.

child-access prevention statute See SAFE-STORAGE STATUTE.

child-benefit theory See STUDENT-BENEFIT THEORY.

child-care fund State government funds set aside to reimburse counties for part of the payments for children's foster care and expenses.

child-care rules State administrative rules for the care of foster children . In most states, departments concerned with social services establish and enforce the rules governing the welfare of foster children. A few states have created agencies expressly dedicated to services for children.

child-kidnapping The kidnapping of a minor, often without the element of force or fraud (as when someone walks off with another"s baby). Also termed child-stealing; baby-snatching; childnapping.

child-kidnapping See KIDNAPPIKG.

child-labor law A state or federal statute that protects children by prescribing the necessary working conditions for children in a workplace. See FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT.

childnapping See child-kidnapping under KIDNAPPING.

child-rearing The practices and customs followed in the upbringing of children, whether in a particular family or in society generally. Sometimes written childrearing.

children's court See juvenile court under COURT.

children's court- See juvenile court (1).

child's attorney See attorney ad litem under ATTORNEY.

child's income tax See kiddie tax under TAX.

child's part An inheritance that, by statute in some states, a widow may claim in lieu of dower or what she would receive under her husband's will. The amount is calculated by counting the widow as a child of the decedent, sharing equally any entitlement with any other child.

child-sexual-abuse accommodation syndrome The supposed medical and psychological condition of a child who has suffered repeated instances of sexual abuse, usu. from a relative or family friend . This so-called "syndrome" has been repudiated by the scientific community. It cannot be validated and thus cannot discriminate between abuse and nonabuse cases. Abbr. CSAAS. - Also termed child-sexual-abuse syndrome.

child-slaying See INFANTICIDE.

child-stealing See child-kidnapping under KIDNAPPING.

child-support guidelines Statutory provisions that govern the amount of child support that an obligor parent must pay. Child-support guidelines have been developed in every state in response to the creation of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. 42 USCA §§ 601-603a.

child-support-enforcement agency A governmental agency that helps custodial parents collect child support. Under Title IV(D) of the Social Security Act (42 USCA § 654), states are required to establish child-support-enforcement agencies to collect support for obligee parents. Although the agencies are governed by a set of federal standards, each state has its own central registry. The CSE agency may operate through the state's Department ofHuman Services, its Department of}ustice, its tax agency, or its Attorney General's office. The agency can help locate a missing parent and establish paternity. The agency works to establish and enforce support orders. Abbr. CSE agency. Also termed IV-D agency. See OFFICE OF CHILD-SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT.

childwit A fine levied by a master on a servant who became pregnant without the master's consent.