Legal Term Dictionary

Search our free database of thousands of legal terms. The easiest-to-read, most user-friendly guide to legal terms.This dictionary is from the early 20th century and is not to be construed as legal advice.

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  • AUTHENTICS
    In the civil law. A Latin translation of the Novels of Justinian by an anonymous author; so called because the Novels were translated entire, in order to distinguish it from the epitome made by Julian. There is another collection so called, compiled by Irnier, of incorrect extracts from the Novels More...
  • AUTHENTICUM
    In the civil law. An original instrument or writing; the original of a will or other instrument, as distinguished from a copy. Dig. 22, 4, 2; Id. 29, 8, 12.
  • AUTHOR
    One who produces, by his own intellectual labor applied to the materials of his composition, an arrangement or compilation new in itself. Atwill v. Ferrett, 2 Blatchf. 39, Fed. Cas. No. 640; Nottage v. Jackson, 11 Q. B. Div. 637; Lithographic Co. v. Sarony, 111 U. S. 53, 4 Sup. More...
  • AUTHORITIES
    Citations to statutes, precedents, judicial decisions, and text-books of the law, made on the argument of questions of law or the trial of causes before a court, in support of the legal positions contended for.
  • AUTHORITY
    In contracts. The lawful delegation of power by one person to another. In the English law relating to public administration, an authority is a body having jurisdiction in certain matters of a public nature. In governmental law. Legal power; a right to command or to act; the right and power More...
  • AUTO ACORDADO
    In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from some superior tribunal, promulgated in the name and by the authority of the sovereign. Schm. Civil Law, 93.
  • AUTOCRACY
    The name of an unlimited monarchical government A government at the will of one man, (called an "autocrat,") unchecked by constitutional restrictions or limitations.
  • AUTOGRAPH
    The handwriting of any one.
  • AUTOMATISM
    In medical jurisprudence, this term is applied to actions or conduct of an individual apparently occurring without will, purpose, or reasoned intention on his part; a condition sometimes observed in persons who, without being actually insane, suffer from an obscuration of the mental faculties, loss of volition or of memory, More...
  • AUTONOMY
    The political independence of a nation; the right (and condition) of self-government.
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