Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

118 Core proceeding

order a lower one to correct the same sort of problem as raised by a coram nobis. These requests are no longer used in most places. “Coram non judice” means “before a non-judge.” It describes a finding or judgment by a court with no jurisdiction, which means that the judgment is void.

Core proceeding Any non-bankruptcy court case or administrative proceeding that can legitimately be taken under the control of the bankruptcy court in one of its cases. The bankruptcy laws define several types of procedures that are so closely related to bankruptcy that they are core, but other types of proceedings may also become core if they directly affect the bankruptcy court’s work in a particular case.

Co-respondent (or corespondent) The “other man” or “other woman” in a divorce suit based on adultery. See also correspondent.

Corner 1. Owning enough of some stock or commodity to have control over the selling price in the general marketplace. 2. Owning contracts for more future delivery of a commodity than is produced of that commodity. When the persons who have promised to deliver cannot do it, the price shoots sky high and the person with the corner greatly profits.

Corollary A secondary or “side” deduction or inference in logic or argument.

Coroner A doctor or other public official who conducts inquiries into the cause of any violent or suspicious death. If the case is serious, there is a coroner’s inquest or hearing. Many places have replaced coroners with medical examiners (see that word).

Corporal punishment Physical punishment (beating, etc.). Corporate Concerning or belonging to a corporation. For example, the

corporate opportunity doctrine is the principle that company officers and directors should be prevented from personally exploiting a business opportunity properly belonging to the company.

Corporate reorganization See reorganization.

Corporate veil The legal assumption that actions taken by a corporation are not the actions of its owners, and that these owners cannot usually be held responsible for corporate actions. When the owners are held responsible, the corporate veil is said to be pierced.

Corporation An organization that is formed under state or federal law and exists, for legal purposes, as a separate being or an “artificial person.” It may be public (set up by the government) or private (set up by individuals), and it may be set up to carry on a business or to perform almost any function. Large business corporations owned by

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stockholders are governed by publicly filed articles of incorporation and more detailed private bylaws, and managed by a board of directors who delegate authority to officers. The stockholders have no liability for corporate debts beyond the value of their stock. See also close(d) corporation, C corporation, and S corporation. See business organization for other organizations set up to make a profit. Abbreviated “Corp.”

Corporation counsel The lawyer who represents a city or town in civil matters.

Corporeal Having body or substance; visible and tangible. [pronounce: cor-por-ee-al]

Corpus (Latin) “Body”; main body of a thing as opposed to attachments. For example, “corpus juris” means “a body of law” or a major collection of laws, and a trust corpus is the money or property put into the trust, as opposed to interest or profits.

Corpus delicti (Latin) “The body of the crime.” 1. The material substance upon which a crime has been committed; for example, a dead body (in the crime of murder) or a house burned down (in the crime of arson). 2. The fact that proves that a crime has been committed. 3. The corpus delicti rule is the principle that the prosecutor must produce evidence that a crime has been committed even if the defendant has confessed to the crime before the trial.

Corpus Juris A legal encyclopedia that is cross-referenced with the

American Digest System. Corpus Juris Secundum is its most recent update.

Corpus juris civilis (Latin) “The body of the civil law”; the main writings of Roman law.

Corrections 1. The government agency that supervises prisons, parole programs, etc. 2. The word stockbrokers use for everything from tiny stock market dips to the Great Depression.

Correlative Describes ideas that have a mutual relationship and depend on one another for their meaning. For example, “parent” and “child” are correlative terms, as are “right” and “duty.”

Correspondent 1. A person who collects mortgage loan payments for the lender. 2. A bank or other financial institution that performs regular services for another. 3. See also co-respondent.

Corroborate Add to the likely truth or importance of a fact; give additional facts or evidence to strengthen a fact or an assertion; back up what someone else says.

120 Corrupt practices act

Corrupt practices act 1. A state law that regulates political campaign methods and spending. 2. A federal law (18 U.S.C. 602) that regulates international corporate financial activities.

Corruption of blood An old punishment for a crime by which a person was deprived of the right to take property, hold it, or pass it on to heirs at death.

Cosigner A general term for a person who signs a document along with another person. Depending on the situation and on the state, a cosigner may have primary responsibility (for example, to pay a debt if the person who made the cosigned loan comes first to the cosigner for the money) or only a secondary responsibility (to pay a debt only after the person who took out the loan doesn’t pay).

Cost and freight The price quoted includes cost and freight, but not insurance or any other charge.

Cost effective 1. Benefits exceed (or will exceed) costs; profits exceed (or will exceed) losses. 2. The alternative course of action with the highest benefits-divided-by-costs ratio is called “cost effective.”

Cost of living adjustment A wage increase automatically tied to the inflation rate.

Cost of living allowance Extra pay or expenses for working in a highcost living area.

Cost of living clause A provision in a contract, such as a labor agreement or a retirement plan, that gives an automatic wage or benefit increase tied to inflation as measured by a standard indicator, such as the Consumer Price Index.

Cost-plus contract A contract that pays a contractor for the cost of labor and materials plus a fixed percentage of cost as profit.

Costs Expenses of one side in a lawsuit that the judge orders the other side to pay or reimburse. “Costs to abide the event” are given by an appeals court and include the cost of the appeal and sometimes the cost of a retrial.

Cotenancy Property ownership by two or more persons with each having an undivided right to the whole property, such as joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and tenancy by the entirety. See tenant.

Council A local or city legislature, sometimes called “common council.” (Not consul, counsel, or consol.) [pronounce: kown-sel]

Counsel 1. A lawyer for a client. 2. Advice (usually professional advice).

3. See of counsel. 4. Not consul, council, or consol.

Counsel, right to The constitutional right of a defendant to have a lawyer at every important stage of a criminal proceeding from formal

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charge through all hearings, sentencing, and appeal. This Sixth Amendment right applies in all crimes that might be punished by a jail term and applies also to juvenile delinquency proceedings.

Counsellor Lawyer.

Count 1. Each separate part of a complaint or an indictment (see those words). Each count must be able to stand alone as a separate and independent claim or charge. 2. The “common counts” were once the various forms of action (for example, assumpsit) for money owed.

Counter Opposing or contradicting. For example, a counter-affidavit disputes the claims of another person’s affidavit.

Counterclaim A claim made by a defendant in a civil lawsuit that, in effect, “sues” the plaintiff. It can be based on entirely different things from the plaintiff’s complaint (a permissive counterclaim) and may even be for more money than the plaintiff is asking. A counterclaim often must be made if it is based on the same subject or transaction as the original claim (a compulsory counterclaim); otherwise, the person with the counterclaim may not be permitted to sue for it later.

Counterfeit 1. Forge, copy, or imitate without authority or right, with the purpose of passing off the copy as the original. 2. The copy in no. 1. [pronounce: kown-ter-fit]

Countermand Take back or greatly change orders or instructions. Counteroffer 1. A rejection of an offer and a new offer made back. A

counteroffer sometimes looks like an acceptance with new terms or conditions attached, but if these terms or conditions have any substance at all, it is really a rejection, and no contract is made until the counteroffer is accepted. But see no. 2. 2. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, a counteroffer for the sale of goods may be an acceptance plus new proposed contract terms.

Counterpart 1. A copy or duplicate of a document. 2. An unsigned copy of a signed original document. 3. A copy of a document that is signed by one person in a deal and given to the other person, who has signed the original in exchange. 4. A counterpart writ is a copy that is issued to defendants in a county other than the one in which a lawsuit is heard, but one in which the court does have jurisdiction.

Countersign Sign a document in addition to the primary or original signature in order to approve the validity of the document. A bank may ask a person to countersign his or her own check made out to “cash,” and a company may require a supervisor to countersign all orders written by lower-ranking employees.

Countervailing Opposing; equal to; balancing out.

122 County

County The largest geographical and political division of a state. A county court is usually a low-level state court.

County commissioners Elected county officials with various duties. These duties may include running the county government or managing its financial affairs, its police, its low-level judicial work, etc. Also called county supervisors.

Coupon A certificate of interest or a dividend due on a certain date. The coupons are detached one by one from the primary document (bond, loan agreement, etc.) and presented for payment when due.

Course of business What is normally done by an individual company. This is different from “custom” or “usage,” which is what is normally done by a particular type of company.

Course of dealing The history of business between two persons before the current business deal. Compare course of performance.

Course of employment Directly related to employment, during work hours, or in the place of work.

Course of performance The way each side carries out an ongoing business deal. Compare course of dealing.

Court 1. The place where judges work. 2. A judge at work. For example, a judge might say, “the court (meaning ‘I’) will consider this matter.” 3. All the judges in a particular area.

Court hand An old system of Latin shorthand once used in England for legal documents.

Court martial A military court for trying members of the armed services according to the Code of Military Justice. There are three types of courts martial. A “summary court martial ” is for the least serious military crimes, allows only sentences under two months or lesser penalties, and gives very few procedural protections to the person accused. For example, there need be no lawyer present, and the officer who acts as a judge is the fact-finder as well as decider. A “special court martial” is an intermediate military court. It has most of the protections of a regular criminal trial and may hand out punishments ranging from a “bad conduct” discharge to several months in prison. A “general court martial” can try the most serious military cases and can hand out sentences up to the death penalty. It has all the procedural protections of a regular criminal trial and usually includes a panel of officers, a trained judge, and trained military lawyers. See also military law.

Court of __________ A few courts are defined here, but most are listed by their individual names or subject matters (such as a probate court), or under United States courts.

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Court of appeals (or error) A court that decides appeals from a trial court. In most states it is a middle-level court (similar to a United States Court of Appeals), but in some states it is the highest court.

Court of inquiry A military court that conducts investigations to determine the need for adjudication in another military court.

Court packing A government executive’s appointing as judges only those persons who conform to the executive’s own philosophy. Court packing may include adding additional judgeships or otherwise restructuring the court.

Covenant A formal promise, agreement, or restriction, usually in a deed or contract (or the contract itself). For example, a covenant for quiet enjoyment is a promise that the seller of land will protect the buyer against a defective title to the land and against anyone who claims the land; a covenant running with the land is any agreement in a deed that is binding for or against all future buyers of the land; and a covenant not to compete is a part of an employee contract, partnership agreement, or agreement to sell a business in which a person promises not to engage in the same business for a certain amount of time after the relationship ends. 2. A treaty. 3. To promise or agree formally.

Cover 1. Make good. 2. Protect (for example, insurance coverage). 3. Protect yourself from the effects of a business deal that falls through or isn’t made good on; for example, buy what you need from a new company when the original one can’t make good on a sale.

Coverage 1. The amount and type of insurance on a person, an object, a business venture, etc. 2. The ratio of a company’s income that is available to pay interest on its bonds (or to pay dividends on its preferred stock) to the interest itself (or to the dividends).

Coverture The status that married women used to have; the special rights and legal limitations of a married woman.

Craft union A labor union whose members all do the same kind of work (plumbing, carpentry, etc.) for different types of industries and employers.

Created See fixed work.

Creative financing Any financing (usually home-purchase) outside the normal pattern. It is used to complete a deal that would have failed otherwise. It may be risky.

Credentials The right to represent a country, a group of voters, or an organization (or the document that proves that right). A “credentials committee” is a group that sorts out who has the right to represent subgroups at a political convention.

124 Credibility

Credibility The believability of a witness and of the testimony that the witness gives.

Credit 1. The right to delay payment for things bought or used. 2. Money loaned. 3. See credits. 4. A deduction from what is owed. For example, a tax credit is a direct subtraction from tax owed (for other taxes paid, for certain special purposes such as a part of child care expenses, etc.). See also deduction, exemption, and exclusion.

5. Believe something is true.

Credit bureau A place that keeps records on the credit used by persons and on their financial reliability.

Credit line See line of credit.

Credit rating An evaluation of the ability of a person or business to pay debts. Usually, a credit bureau makes an evaluation based on past payments and current finances, then sells the information in credit reports to businesses that are considering making a loan or offering other credit.

Credit union A financial organization that uses money deposited by a closed group of persons and lends it out again to persons in the same group.

Creditor A person to whom a debt is owed.

Creditor beneficiary When Alan and Betty have a contract in which Alan promises to do something that financially benefits Charles, Charles is a creditor beneficiary.

Creditor’s bill (or suit) A request that a court help a judgment creditor find, get an accounting for, or get delivery of property owed by a debtor when the property cannot be seized and sold.

Creditor’s committee (or meeting) A committee or meeting of persons to whom a bankrupt person owes money or who hold security interests in a bankrupt’s property.

Creditor’s position The part of a property’s sale price that is put up by the mortgage lender.

Credits Records in an account book of money owed to you or money you have paid out. (The opposite of debits.)

Crim. Con. Criminal conversation.

Crime Any violation of the government’s penal laws. An illegal act.

Crime against humanity See war crime.

Crime against nature See sodomy.

Crimen (Latin) Crime. For example, a crimen falsi is a “crime of fraud or falsehood” and includes fraud, perjury, embezzlement, and any

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other crime that involves lying or deceit and that might affect a person’s believability as a witness.

Criminal 1. Having to do with the law of crimes and illegal conduct. 2. Illegal. 3. A person who has committed a crime.

Criminal action The procedure by which a person accused of a crime is brought to trial and given punishment.

Criminal conversation Causing a married man or woman to commit adultery. Most states now prohibit lawsuits against the seducer.

Criminal conversation is a tort, not a crime.

Criminal forfeiture The loss of property to the government because it was involved in a crime; for example, the seizure of an automobile used to smuggle narcotics.

Criminal mischief The crime (or tort) of deliberately damaging another’s property; usually applied to acts of vandalism such as slashing tires or painting graffiti.

Criminal syndicalism See syndicalism.

Criminology The study of the cause, prevention, and punishment of crime.

Criterion validation See validation.

Critical Legal Studies The study of law based on the idea that the hidden purpose behind the law’s seemingly neutral language is to reinforce the control of dominant groups, so that the law itself discriminates against the disadvantaged.

Critical race theory The application of Critical Legal Studies to the idea that the law itself discriminates against racial minorities and perpetuates racism.

Critical stage That point in a criminal investigation or proceeding at which a person’s rights might be violated. The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires that a person must have the opportunity to get a lawyer (or, if poor, have one provided) at this point. It may be as early as the first questioning by the police, but never later than the first hearing.

against someone suing you.

Cross-claim A claim brought by one defendant against another, or by one plaintiff against another, that is based on the same subject matter as the plaintiff’s lawsuit.

126 Cross-collateral

Cross-collateral Collateral given to secure an unsecured debt in exchange for a new loan.

Cross-examination The questioning of an opposing witness during a trial or hearing. See examination.

Crossing A broker’s buying a stock or other security from one client and selling it to another without going through an exchange.

Cross-license License a patent to another company in exchange for that company’s license of a similar patent. Doing this on a large scale is patent pooling.

Cross-picketing Picketing by two or more unions that claim to represent the same workers.

Cross-remainder Property that is inherited by several persons as a group. As each person dies, the others share that person’s interest.

Cross-rules An old word for show cause (see that word) orders that are given to both sides in a lawsuit.

Crown cases In English law, criminal cases brought by the crown (government).

Cruel and unusual punishment Punishment, by the government, that is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Recently, the courts have decided that many types of punishment should be discontinued as “cruel and unusual” because they shock the moral sense of the community.

Cruelty In the law of divorce, harsh treatment by a husband or wife that gives the other grounds for a divorce. Its definition is different in each state, and may vary widely from the common meaning. The formal definition has no strong connection to what it actually takes to get a divorce nominally based on that definition. Some states’ words for cruelty are: “extreme cruelty,” “intolerable cruelty,” “willful cruelty,” and “intolerable severity.”

Ct. App. Court of Appeals.

Culpable Blamable; at fault. A person who has done a wrongful act (whether criminal or civil) is described as “culpable.”

Culprit A person who has committed a crime but has not yet been tried. This is not a technical legal word.

Cultural defense A defense to a crime, based on the argument that immigrants to the U.S. should not be held responsible for crimes that would not have been crimes in their home countries. Also called traditional behavior defense. It is not widely accepted by U.S. courts.

Cum (Latin) With.

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Cum onere (Latin) “Burdened with an encumbrance” (see that word). Cum rights With rights. A stock cum rights is a stock that gives its

owner the right to buy more stock at a specified price.

Cum testamento annexo (Latin) “With the will attached.” Describes an administrator who is appointed by a court to supervise handing out the property of a dead person whose will does not name executors (persons to hand out property) or whose named executors cannot or will not serve.

Cumulative evidence Evidence that is offered to prove what has already been proved by other evidence.

Cumulative legacy Similar gifts (usually different amounts of money) to the same person in different parts of a will. There may be a presumption that the later gift was meant to replace the earlier one rather than to be added to the earlier one.

Cumulative sentence An additional prison term given to a person who is already convicted of a crime, the additional term to be served after the previous one is finished.

Cumulative voting The type of voting in which each person (or each share of stock, in the case of a corporation) has as many votes as there are positions to be filled. Votes can be either concentrated on one or on a few candidates or spread around.

Curative admissibility doctrine The principle that if one side in a trial introduces normally inadmissible evidence, the other side may introduce the same type of evidence.

Curator A person appointed by a court to take care of a person (and that person’s property) who cannot take care of himself or herself (such as a child or someone mentally incompetent), or to take care of the property only (for example, for a spendthrift).

Cure 1. Remove a legal defect. For example, it is a cure when a seller delivers goods, the buyer rejects them because of some defect, and the seller then delivers the proper goods within the proper time. 2. Correct a legal error. For example, an error in the course of a trial is cured if the judgment or verdict is in favor of the side complaining about the error. Compare with aider.

Curia (Latin) Old European word for court.

Current 1. Current has many meanings; for example: immediate, within the same accounting period, within a year, within a few months, easily converted to cash, etc. 2. Current assets are a company’s cash plus those things such as short-term securities, accounts receivable, and inventory (see those words) that can probably be turned into