Paralegal Technique
Paralegal Technique
20 Law terms
This glossary aims to help the public becomes familiar with the legal vocabulary, which can sometimes seem complex. The key terms of the fields related to the law are listed there. Good reading!
Main sources :
https://www.englishclub.com/business-english/vocabulary-law.php
https://www.uscourts.gov/glossary.
- attorney
- A person who acts for or represents another in business or legal matters.
- Example: An attorney will be appointed to represent you in court.
- fr: Avocat
- bankruptcy
- A legal procedure for dealing with debt problems of individuals and businesses.
- Example: This store is closed because it went bankrupt.
- fr: faillite
- case law
- All the decisions of the courts as they constitute a source of law; legal principles that emerge from it (customary law).
- Example: He based his plea on case law.
- fr: jurisprudence
- complaint
- A written statement that begins a civil lawsuit, in which the plaintiff details the claims against the defendant.
- Example: I intend to make an official complaint.
- fr: plainte
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- contract
- A written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.
- Example: Both parties must sign employment contracts.
- fr: contract
- creditor
- A person or company to whom money is owed.
- Example: He sold his Ferraris to pay off his creditors.
- fr: créancier
- debtor
- A person or institution that owes a sum of money.
- Example: Generally, debtors must negotiate with each creditor separately.
- fr: débiteur
- doctrine
- All legal works intended to expose or interpret the law (as opposed to legislation and case law).
- Example: He based his research on the doctrine.
- fr: doctrine
- easement
- A right to cross or otherwise use someone else's land for a specified purpose.
- Example: My neighbor has an easement on my land to get to the lake.
- fr: servitude
- guarantee
- A formal pledge to pay another person's debt or to perform another person's obligation in the case of default.
- Example: We offer a 10-year guarantee against rusting.
- fr: garantie
- inheritance
- Inheritance is a convention of passing or rather transferring properties, titles, debts, rights, and obligations to the legal heir of a person upon his/her death.
- Example: He died and bequeathed his inheritance to her.
- fr: héritage
- lawsuit
- A trial at court between two private parties.
- Example: Many parents brought class-action lawsuits against the company for selling dangerous toys.
- fr: procès
- lease
- A contract by which one party conveys land, property, services, etc. to another for a specified time, usually in return for a periodic payment.
- Example: A six-month lease on a shop.
- fr: bail
- matrimonial regime
- Matrimonial regimes are systems of property ownership between spouses providing for the creation or absence of a marital estate.
- Example: They entered their matrimonial regime in their marriage contract.
- fr: régime matrimoniale
- mortgage
- A legal agreement by which a bank or other creditor lends money at interest in exchange for taking title of the debtor's property, with the condition that the conveyance of title becomes void upon the payment of the debt.
- Example: I put down a hundred thousand in cash and took out a mortgage for the rest.
- fr: hypothèque
- obligation
- Is a duty to do or not to do something.
- Example: The debtor has undertaken to fulfill his obligations towards the creditor.
- fr: obligation
- plaintiff
- A person who brings a case against another in a court of law.
- Example: The plaintiff commenced an action for damages.
- fr: demandeur
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- prescription
- Period provided for by law, after which justice can no longer be seized.
- Example: We can no longer prosecute him, there is prescription.
- fr: prescription
- respondent
- A defendant in a lawsuit, especially one in an appeals or divorce case.
- Example: The judge questioned the defendant.
- fr: défendeur
- service
- Service is the formal delivery of litigation documents to give the opposing litigant notice of the suit against them.
- Example: The bailiff served this document.
- fr: signification
