Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

258 Intra

Intra “Within.” For example, intrastate commerce is business carried out entirely within one state, as opposed to interstate commerce (see Interstate Commerce Act). Intra is usually contrasted with either inter (meaning between or among) or with ultra (see that word).

Intrinsic evidence Facts learned from a document itself, not from outside information about it.

Intrinsic fraud Fraud that directly involves the issues in a lawsuit. Compare with extrinsic fraud.

Intrinsic value Value of a thing itself, not the market value. For example, the intrinsic value of a rare stamp, measured by the value of the materials, is next to nothing.

Introduction of evidence Admission of evidence. (Sometimes used to mean the offer or submission of something for admission.)

Inure Take effect; result. For example, if “benefits inure to Mr. Smith,” they will come to him and take effect for him. “Inurement ” usually means taking effect by operation of law, rather than by a person’s actions.

Invade (or invasion) 1. Infringe (or infringement). 2. Invade the principal means make payments out of principal that are normally made only out of interest.

Invalid 1. Inadequate; useless. 2. Not binding; lacking legal force. Invasion of privacy Publicizing someone’s private affairs that are of no

legitimate public concern; using a person for publicity without permission; eavesdropping; or violation of the right to be left alone. This may be a tort.

Invention In patent law, the process of producing, by independent work, something not previously known or existing. Invention also refers to the thing produced. While the term is sometimes used to include discovery, the mere discovery of something existing but previously unknown is not patentable.

Inventory 1. A detailed list of articles of property. 2. Goods or materials held for sale or lease. 3. Materials used in, or partially completed products of, a business.

Inverse condemnation A lawsuit against the government to demand payment for an informal or irregular taking of private property.

Inverse order of alienation doctrine The rule that when a piece of land has been sold off in separate parcels and a person must collect on a mortgage or lien on the original land, the person must now collect first on the piece still held by the original owner, then on the piece sold last, then next to last, and so on until paid off.

Involuntary confession 259

Investment Using money to make money (buying stocks, putting cash in a savings account, etc.).

Investment banker An underwriter (see underwrite) or a middleman between a corporation putting out new stocks and bonds and the buying public. The investment banker may form a group of bankers to buy the stocks outright and then resell them or merely buy some and act as agent for the rest.

Investment Company Act (15 U.S.C. 80) A federal law that regulates persons and companies: that trade in securities such as stocks, bonds, and commodity options (or claim to trade in them); that invest in large blocks of securities; that invest in other companies; etc.

Investment contract Under federal law, any agreement that involves an investment of money pooled with others’ money to gain profits solely from the efforts of others.

Investment credit A tax credit (see that word) for some property (such as buildings and major machines) bought for a business.

Investment securities Stocks, bonds, etc. See security.

Investment trust A company that sells its own stock and invests the money in stocks, real estate, etc. A mutual fund is one example, as is a real estate investment trust.

Invidious discrimination See discrimination no. 2.

Invitation 1. Asking someone to come onto your property for a particular purpose involving your benefit or keeping land or a building in such a way as to make persons think that you want them to come in. For example, a store owner “invites” the public to come in by actions, signs, and ads. The person who comes in is an invitee rather than merely a licensee (see that word).

Invited error doctrine The principle that when one side in a lawsuit gets away with using inadmissible evidence, the other side may use similar evidence to refute it.

Invitee A person who is at a place by invitation (see that word). Note: a social caller may not be an “invitee,” but a “licensee” (see that word).

Invoice A list sent by a merchant that details goods sent to another person (often a purchaser) and usually gives prices item by item.

Invoke 1. Enforce; put into operation or legal effect. 2. Use as a source of authority.

Involuntary commitment See civil commitment.

Involuntary confession A confession to a crime that cannot be used because the way it was obtained violates the constitutional right

260 Involuntary conversion

against compelled self-incrimination. A confession is involuntary if the government got it by force, threats, promises, or undue influence.

Involuntary conversion Loss of property by theft, casualty, or public condemnation. Most financial gain (from insurance on the lost property, payment for the condemnation, etc.) due to an involuntary conversion will not be taxed as income until a later time if property similar to what was lost is bought soon after.

Involuntary servitude The forcing of one person to work for another.

Involuntary trust A constructive trust.

Ipse dixit (Latin) “He himself said it.” Describes a statement that depends for its persuasiveness on the authority of the person who said it. Something asserted, but not proved.

Ipso facto (Latin) “By the fact itself”; “by the mere fact that.” Ipso jure (Latin) By operation of law alone.

Irreconcilable differences Grounds for a divorce in some states because the marriage has simply broken down. Compare with no fault divorce.

Irrecusable Cannot be challenged or rejected.

Irregularity The failure to proceed properly. The failure to take the proper formal steps in the proper way while involved in a lawsuit or doing some official act. An irregularity is not an illegal act, but it may be serious enough to invalidate or otherwise harm what a person is trying to accomplish.

Irrelevant Not related to the matter at hand. For example, irrelevant evidence is proposed evidence that will not help to either prove or disprove any point that matters in a lawsuit.

Irreparable injury Probable harm that cannot be properly remedied by money alone, and that is serious enough to justify an injunction (see that word) or other unusual court action.

Irresistible impulse The loss of control due to insanity that is so great that a person cannot stop from committing a crime. This is one of many vague “tests” used to decide whether a person will be treated as a criminal (and put away in jail) or treated as a mental patient (and put away in a mental hospital).

Irrevocable Incapable of being called back, stopped, or changed. See revocation and revoke.

Iter 261

Issuable 1. Describes a security that can be offered for sale legally. 2. Can be litigated; especially referring to a legal issue that is stated with enough specificity to allow its adjudication. 3. Open to dispute. 4. A possible outcome.

Issue 1. To send forth, put out, or promulgate officially. For example, when a court issues a writ or other legal paper, it gives it to a court officer to be served on (delivered to) a person. 2. One single point in dispute between two sides in a lawsuit. An issue may be “of law ” (a dispute about how the law applies to the case) or “of fact ” (about the truth of a fact). 3. Descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.). 4. A group of stocks or bonds that are offered or sold at the same time.

5. The first transfer of a negotiable instrument such as a check.

Issue preclusion See collateral estoppel and res judicata.

Ita est (Latin) “So it is.” A formal statement put on a copy of a document by a notary public when the original document was notarized by an earlier notary.

Item 1. A separate entry in an account or list. 2. One single sum of money for a particular purpose in an appropriation.

Itemize 1. List by separate articles or items; break down something by listing its separate parts. 2. For itemized deductions, see deduction.

Iter (Latin) Right of way.

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264 Jeopardy

Jeopardy 1. Danger; hazard; peril. 2. The risk of conviction and punishment faced by a defendant in a criminal trial. [pronounce: jep-er-dee]

Jeopardy assessment The right of the I.R.S. to assess and collect a tax immediately if tax evasion is probable (for example, if the taxpayer plans to leave the country).

Jetsam 1. Goods thrown off a ship to lighten it in an emergency. 2. Any goods jettisoned (thrown off) a ship that float on the water or are washed up on land. Compare flotsam.

Jim Crow Segregation laws, now unconstitutional.

Job action A strike or work slowdown, usually by public employees.

Jobber 1. A person who buys and sells for other persons. 2. A wholesaler.

John Doe A made-up name used in some types of lawsuits in which there is no real defendant, in a legal proceeding against a person whose name is not yet known, to protect a person’s identity, or as a name for a person in an example used to teach law. (He tends to have many legal dealings with Richard Roe, the owner of Whiteacre.)

Joinder Joining or uniting together. For example, joinder of parties is the bringing in of a new person who joins together with the plaintiff as a plaintiff or the defendant as a defendant; joinder of issue is when a lawsuit gets past the preliminary stages and issues are clearly laid out, with one side asserting the truth of each point and the other side asserting its falsity; nonjoinder is the failure to bring in a person who is necessary as a party to a lawsuit; misjoinder is improper or mistaken joinder; and collusive joinder is bringing in an unnecessary party from another state in order to have the case brought in federal court. If a party or an issue must be included in a case, it is called compulsory joinder; otherwise it is permissive joinder.

Joint Together; as a group; united; undivided. For example, a “joint return” is a combined reporting of income taxes by a husband and wife, and a joint work in copyright law is written by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into one whole.

Joint adventure (or joint venture) A “one-shot” grouping together of two or more persons in a business. If they have a continuing relationship, it may be a partnership (see that word).

Joint and several Both together and individually. For example, a liability or debt is joint and several if the creditor may sue the debtors either as a group (with the result that the debtors would have to split the loss) or individually (with the result that one debtor might have to pay the whole thing).

Journal 265

Joint and survivor See annuity.

Joint authorship An act of creation of a work by more than one creator. See joint work under joint. Mere additions or improvements do not give a person the right to claim joint authorship of a book, a song, etc.

Joint bank account A bank account held in the names of two or more persons, each of whom has full authority to put money in or take it out.

Joint committee Any committee (other than a conference committee) made up of members of both houses of a legislature.

Joint debtors acts 1. State laws that allow a judge to grant a judgment for or against some defendants who owe money and allow the trial to go on against the others. 2. State laws that allow a plaintiff to go ahead with a lawsuit when only some of the defendants who owe money have been served with process (formally told to show up in court), and to get a judgment against all of them.

Joint enterprise A joint adventure.

Joint estate The ownership of property by joint tenants (see that word). Joint lives A phrase used in certain deeds to define the length of a life estate. For example, “to Beau for the joint lives of Mac and Otto”

means that Beau has a right until either Mac or Otto dies.

Joint resolution See resolution.

Joint stock company A company that is “more than” a partnership, but “less than” a corporation (see those words). It is similar to a corporation in most ways, but all owners are liable for company debts.

Joint tenancy See joint tenant.

Joint through rate The charge for shipping something from a point on one transportation line to a point on another.

Joint venture See joint adventure.

Jointure An old common law marriage settlement of a life estate in land received instead of dower.

Joker A clause or phrase inserted in a legislative bill (or a contract or other document) that is superficially harmless, but actually destroys the bill’s effectiveness.

Jones Act (46 U.S.C. 688) A federal law that permits ship employees (such as merchant seamen) to sue for damages if injured and provides other protections.

Journal 1. A book that is written in regularly, such as an account book, in which all expenses paid and all money taken in are written down as they occur. 2. A periodical magazine such as a law journal.

266 Journalists’ privilege

Journalists’ privilege 1. The right of a publisher or writer to make “fair comment” upon the actions of public officials without being liable for defamation. This privilege exists so long as the writer and publisher didn’t know (and didn’t recklessly disregard their obligation to find out) that the statements were false. 2. See shield law.

Journey worker (or journeyman or woman) 1. A person who has completed apprenticeship training in a trade or craft. Journey worker’s pay (or “union scale”) is the minimum wage paid to an experienced worker in a particular job in a geographic area. 2. A day worker or hired hand.

Joyriding Stealing a car to ride around, rather than to keep it. Judex (Latin) A judge.

Judge 1. The person who runs a courtroom, decides all legal questions, and sometimes decides entire cases by also deciding factual questions. 2. Decide.

Judge advocate A military legal officer who may act as a judge or a lawyer. A judge advocate general heads the legal system of each service (army, navy, etc.).

Judge-made law 1. Law that results from judicial precedent rather than from statutes. 2. Judicial activism.

Judgment 1. The official decision of a court about the rights and claims of each side in a lawsuit. “Judgment ” usually refers to a final decision that is based on the facts of the case and made at the end of a trial. It is called a judgment on the merits. 2. There are, however, other types of judgments. For example, a consent judgment is the putting of a court’s approval on an agreement between the sides about what the judgment in the case should be; a default judgment is one given to one side because the other side does not show in court or fails to take proper procedural steps; and an interlocutory judgment is one given on either a preliminary issue or a side issue during the course of a lawsuit. For other types of judgments, such as cognovit note, confession of, declaratory, default, deficiency, non obstante veredicto, etc., see those words.

Judgment book (or docket) A list of court judgments kept for public inspection. Also called a civil docket or criminal docket, depending on the type of case.

Judgment creditor A person who has proven a debt in court and is entitled to use court processes to collect it. The person owing the money is a judgment debtor.

Judgment note The paper a debtor gives to a creditor to allow confession of judgment.

Judicial restraint 267

Judgment-proof Persons against whom a money judgment will have no effect (persons without money, persons protected by wageprotection laws, etc.).

Judicature Relating to the judicial branch of government; the judicial branch of government itself. For example, in England, the Judicature Acts set up their modern system of courts.

Judicia (Latin) Trials, judgments, or decisions. [pronounce: ju-dish-ee-a]

Judicial 1. Having to do with a court. 2. Having to do with a judge. 3. Describes the branch of government that interprets the law and that resolves legal disputes. 4. Not “judicious.” [pronounce: ju-dish-al]

Judicial act Any act, whether proper or improper, taken by a judge in his or her official capacity. Although improper judicial acts may be subject to judicial review or to discipline, judges usually have absolute judicial immunity from lawsuits based on these acts.

Judicial activism A judge’s decision that ignores strict precedent in order to bring about a result the judge thinks is just and that is in keeping with the judge’s view of how society as a whole should operate. The opposite is judicial restraint.

Judicial admission See admissions.

Judicial discretion The right of a judge to have great leeway in making decisions, so long as he or she follows the law and proper procedures and refrains from arbitrary action.

Judicial fact See judicial notice.

Judicial immunity A judge’s complete protection from personal liability in lawsuits based on the judge’s official duties, even in situations where the judge acted in bad faith.

Judicial notice The act of a judge in recognizing the existence or truth of certain facts without bothering to make one side in a lawsuit prove them. This is done when the facts are either common knowledge and undisputed (such as the fact that Argentina is in South America) or are easily found and cannot be disputed (such as the text of the Constitution).

Judicial question An issue that the courts may decide, as opposed to one that only the executive branch may decide (a political question) or that only the legislature can decide (a legislative question). A judicial question is also different from a moot question (an issue that has no practical effect on the case being decided).

Judicial restraint A judge’s decision and decision-making that excludes the judge’s personal views and relies strictly on precedent. Contrast judicial activism.