Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

418 Reparable injury

soon before sale of the home. Both business and home improvements can be added to the property’s basis.

Reparable injury A wrong that can be compensated by money.

Reparation Payment for an injury; redress for a wrong done.

Repeal Wipe out an earlier statute by passing a later one. This is usually prospective only.

Repetition Trying to get back a payment made by mistake. Replacement cost The cost of buying something that does the job of

something lost; for example, the cost of building a house roughly comparable to one that burned down. Compare with reproduction cost.

Repleader Motion for a new trial.

Replevin A legal action to get back personal property wrongfully held by another person.

Replevy To give back personal property to a person who has brought a lawsuit for replevin of the property.

Replication An old form of pleading similar to the modern reply (plaintiff’s response to a defendant’s first pleading).

Reply In federal pleading, the plaintiff’s response to the defendant’s answer or counterclaim. The usual order is: complaint, answer, reply. The reply denies some or all of the facts in the answer. Sometimes, it adds new facts, but only to counter facts in the answer.

Repo 1. Short for a repurchase agreement in which a dealer agrees to buy back a security at a set time and price. 2. Short for repossession.

Report An official or formal statement of facts or proceedings. Report out The action of a committee in sending a bill to the legisla-

ture for action.

Reporter 1. Reports. 2. A person who compiles reports. 3. The court reporter is the person who records court proceedings in court and later makes good copies of some of them. 4. A looseleaf service.

Reports Published volumes of case decisions by a particular court or group of courts.

Repose See limitation.

Repossession Taking back something sold, usually because payments have not been made.

Represent 1. To say or to state certain facts. 2. To act for, do business for, or “stand in” for another person. See also agent. 3. To act as another person’s lawyer.

Request for instructions 419

Representation 1. See represent. 2. In the law of contracts, any statement made (or any impression given about a state of facts) to convince the other person to make a contract. 3. In the law of inheritance, taking by representation is the same as taking per stirpes (see that word).

Representative 1. A person who represents (see that word) another. 2. A voting member of the lower house of a legislature.

Representative action 1. A lawsuit brought by one stockholder in a corporation to claim rights or to fix wrongs done to many or all stockholders in the company. It is also called a derivative action. 2. Any class action.

Reprieve Holding off on enforcing a criminal sentence for a period of time after the sentence has been handed down. Compare with pardon and commutation.

Reproduction cost The cost of replacing a lost or destroyed item with an exact duplicate. Compare with replacement cost.

Reproduction right The right of a copyright holder to decide who will make copies or recordings of the work.

Reproductive rights The rights of a woman to control, under most circumstances, whether to become pregnant, whether to have an abortion, etc. Not reproduction right.

Republic A country with a government by elected officials and, in theory, with ultimate power in the hands of the citizens.

Republication Reestablishing the validity of a will that has been revoked. Repudiation Rejection or refusal. For example, repudiation of a contract is the refusal to go through with it, usually with a legal right to

refuse.

Repugnancy 1. Inconsistency. A condition which occurs if one part of a document is true (or correct), so that another part cannot be true (or correct). 2. The repugnancy doctrine is the principle that if two parts of a document contradict each other, the first clear one will be given effect.

Reputation What people in a community think about a person.

Request for admissions One side in a lawsuit giving a list of facts to the other and requesting that they be admitted or denied. Those admitted need not be proved at the trial.

Request for instructions Either side in a lawsuit giving the judge a written list of instructions about the law that it would like the judge to give to the jury.

420 Request for production

Request for production See motion for production under produce.

Required records Business records that must be kept to comply with government regulations. These records are not protected by a person’s privilege against self-incrimination.

Requirements contract A contract for the supply of goods in which the exact amount of goods to be bought is not set, but is agreed to be all that the buyer reasonably needs while the contract is in force. Compare with output contract.

Requisition 1. A demand or a request for something to which you have a right; for example, a request by one state governor to another to hand over a fugitive from justice (see that word, and see extradition).

2. The taking of private property by the government during an emergency. 3. A routine written request for supplies or services, made by one department of an organization to another.

Requisitory letters Rogatory letters.

Res (Latin) 1. A thing; an object; things; a status. 2. The subject matter or contents of a will or trust. [pronounce: race]

Res adjudicata Res judicata.

Res controversa (Latin) “A thing in controversy.” Contrast with res judicata.

Res derelicta (Latin) Abandoned property.

Res fungibiles (Latin) Fungible goods.

Res gestae (Latin) “Things done”; an entire occurrence. Everything said and done that is part of a single occurrence. An assault’s res gestae might include, for example: excited utterances, threats that are part of the assault, present sense impressions, and other words that are an integral part of the occurrence. Words spoken by others can usually be testified about even if hearsay if the words are part of the res gestae. Compare with verbal acts. [pronounce: race guest-i]

Res immobiles (Latin) Immovable things such as land and buildings.

Res integra (Latin) “A whole thing.” An undecided point of law. A legal question without precedent, and probably without any discussion in prior cases.

Res inter alia acta (Latin) “A thing done among strangers.” Describes the principle that a party to a lawsuit should not be affected by the words or deeds of persons with whom the party has no connection and for whom the party has no legal responsibility.

Res ipsa loquitur (Latin) “The thing speaks for itself.” A rebuttable presumption (a conclusion that can be changed if contrary evidence is introduced) that a person is negligent if the thing causing an acci-

Reserve 421

dent was in his or her control only, and if that type of accident does not usually happen without negligence. It is often abbreviated “res ipsa” or “R.I.L.” [pronounce: race ip-sa low-kwe-tur]

Res judicata (Latin) “A thing decided”; “a matter decided by judgment.” If a court decides a case, the subject of that case is firmly and finally decided between the persons involved in the suit, so no new lawsuit on the same subject may be brought by the persons involved. See also collateral estoppel, double jeopardy, and law of the case.

[pronounce: race ju-di-ca-ta]

Res nova See res integra.

Res publicae (Latin) “Public things”; things belonging to the public.

Resale price maintenance See fair trade practices.

Resale rights The right of a seller to resell (usually perishable) goods if the buyer does not pay or does not claim them in time.

Rescind To take back or annul. To cancel a contract and wipe it out “from the beginning” as if it had never been. [pronounce: re-sind]

Rescission 1. The annulment of a contract (see rescind). 2. The president’s request to Congress that certain money already appropriated not be spent. [pronounce: re-si-zhon]

Rescript 1. A judge’s short note to a clerk explaining how to dispose of a case. 2. An appeals court’s short, usually unsigned, written decision in a case that is sent down to the trial court.

Rescue 1. The rescue doctrine is that if one person negligently puts a second person in danger, and a third person is hurt while attempting a rescue, the third person can collect damages from the first person and cannot be charged with contributory negligence unless he or she acted recklessly. See also emergency doctrine and Good Samaritan doctrine. 2. The forcible and unlawful freeing of a prisoner or the taking back of goods that have been lawfully taken away.

Reservation 1. See reserve. 2. Land owned by a Native American nation as a whole for the use of its people.

Reserve 1. Hold back a thing or a right. For example, a deed to land can reserve the right to cross the land for the person selling it, and to reserve title is to keep an ownership right as security that the thing will be fully paid for. Also, a judge may reserve decision of a legal question in a case by putting it off until some later time. 2. A fund of money set aside to meet future needs, losses or claims (such as a sinking fund reserve to repay long-term debt or a bad debt reserve to cover losses). 3. A reserve bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System and the Reserve Board is the Federal Reserve Board of

422 Resettlement

Governors. 4. A reserve clause in an athlete’s contract puts restrictions on his or her right to change teams. 5. Reserved powers are all powers not given to the U.S. government by the Constitution and, under the Tenth Amendment, given (reserved) to either the states or the people. 6. With reserve in an auction means that the thing will not be sold unless the highest bid exceeds a certain amount (the reserve price) and without reserve means that the thing will be sold at whatever is the highest price bid.

Resettlement A judge’s reopening of an order or decree to include something accidentally left out.

Residence A place where a person lives all or part of the time. Sometimes this is the same as domicile. Residency requirements are state laws on how long a person must live in a state to get a divorce, welfare, admission to the bar, etc.

Resident agent A person living in a state who is authorized to accept service of process for another (usually a corporation).

Resident alien A foreigner whose residence in the U.S. is legal and who intends to become a U.S. citizen.

Residential cluster A piece of land developed as a unit with open common land and grouped housing.

Residual 1. Residuary. 2. A payment to a writer, actor, etc., for re-use of a TV movie, etc. 3. A residual security is a bond or preferred stock that can be exchanged for common stock.

Residuary The part left over. For example, a residuary clause in a will disposes of all items not specifically given away (the “leftovers”).

Residuum (Latin) Leftovers.

Resisting an officer The criminal act of attempting to stop or hinder a police officer from performing a duty such as making an arrest, serving a writ, or keeping the peace. This may be a crime whether or not force is used.

Resolution A formal expression of a decision made by an organized group (such as a club, a professional organization, a legislature, a public assembly, etc.). Congressional resolutions may be by one house only, concurrent, or joint. A concurrent resolution is passed by one house, agreed to by the other, and expresses the “sense of Congress” on a subject though it does not become a law. A joint resolution is passed by both houses of Congress and, in general, is the same as a bill that has been passed by both houses.

Resolve 1. See resolution. 2. A firm decision to do something; a strong will to achieve a goal.

Restraint of marriage 423

Resort A court of last resort is a court whose decision cannot be appealed within the same court system.

Respondeat superior (Latin) “Let the master answer.” Describes the principle that an employer is responsible for most harm caused by an employee acting within the scope of employment. In such a case, the employer is said to have vicarious liability.

Respondent 1. The person against whom an appeal is taken. (This person might have been either the plaintiff or the defendant in the lower court.) Also called the “appellee.” 2. The person against whom a motion is filed (who then responds).

Responsibility Guilt (for a crime or tort), liability (for a payment, contract breach or tort), or competency (to stand trial).

Responsible bidder A company, competing by bid for public work, that is financially sound, honest, and competent to do the work. A government agency soliciting bids will usually reject bids, no matter how low, from all “unresponsible” bidders.

Responsive Answering. A responsive pleading is a court paper that directly answers the points raised by the other side’s pleading. Also, if a witness does not answer a question directly, the answer may be objected to as not responsive.

Rest To rest a case is to formally end your side’s presentation of evidence for a major phase of a case in court. For example, in a criminal case, the prosecution presents its evidence (witnesses, documents, etc.) first. After the prosecutor rests, the defense may then present its evidence.

Restatement of Law Books put out by the American Law Institute that tell what the law in a general area is, how it is changing, and what direction the authors think this change should take; for example, the

Restatement of the Law of Contracts.

Restitution 1. Giving something back; making good for something. 2. There are various rules for how much “giving back” is full restitution. For example, in contract law, restitution is usually the amount that puts the plaintiff back in the financial position he or she was in before the contract. 3. Restitution programs in some states make a convicted criminal pay back the crime victim in money or work.

Restrain 1. Prohibit from action; hold back. 2. Hinder or obstruct.

Restraining order A temporary restraining order or a protective order.

Restraint of marriage Describes a provision in a will, gift, or trust that prohibits the person getting the gift from marrying. Such provisions are rarely enforced by courts.

424 Restraint of trade

Restraint of trade An illegal agreement or combination of companies that eliminates competition, sets up a monopoly, or artificially raises prices. See antitrust acts.

Restricted security Letter stock.

Restrictive covenant A clause in a deed that forbids the new owner (and all later owners of the deeded land) from doing certain things with the land; for example, a clause that prohibits use of the land for commercial purposes. 2. A clause in an employment contract that prohibits the employee from working for the employer’s competitors for a certain time period after the contract ends.

Restrictive indorsement Signing a negotiable instrument (see that word) in a way that ends its negotiability; for example, marking a check “Pay to Robert Smith only.”

Restructure Change the terms of a debt; for example, the payment schedule.

Resulting trust A trust created by law (rather than by agreement) for reasons of fairness when one person holds property for another. For example, if Peter gives money to Paul to be held “in trust,” but no formal trust document is signed, Paul may be found to hold the money in a resulting trust for Peter’s benefit. And if Peter buys a house for himself but puts the title in Paul’s name, a court may decide that the house is held in a purchase money resulting trust for Peter’s benefit.

Retainage Holdback.

Retained earnings A company’s yearly net profit minus the dividends it paid out that year. Accumulated retained earnings is that year’s retained earnings plus retained earnings left over from prior years. It is a measure of what a company can use for future improvements and expansions as well as to ride out possible bad years. A retained earnings statement is a part of most corporate annual reports. See statement. Most payments to shareholders made by a company with “retained earnings and profits” will be taxed as dividends, no matter what they are called.

Retainer 1. Employment of a lawyer by a client. 2. The specific agreement in no. 1. 3. The first payment in no. 1, either for one specific case or to be available for unspecified future cases. 4. Holding something back when you have a right to hold it back.

Retaliatory eviction A landlord’s attempt (prohibited in most states) to throw out a tenant for complaining to the health department, forming a tenants’ union, etc.

Return on equity 425

Retaliatory law A state law “evening up” taxes or restraints placed by other states on businesses from the first state. For example, if Maryland taxes Virginia insurance companies at a higher rate than Virginia does, Virginia might pass a retaliatory law that raises the tax rate on Maryland insurance companies.

Retirement Making the final payment owed on a bond, note, or other security and ending its existence and all obligations under it.

Retirement plan See pension plan and profit sharing.

Retorsion (or retortion) Treating the citizens of a foreign country harshly because that country treats your citizens harshly.

Retraction Taking something back, especially taking back something you said and admitting that it was false.

Retraxit A plaintiff’s complete and voluntary abandonment of a lawsuit. In federal practice, this would be done by a voluntary dismissal.

Retreat to the wall See flee to the wall doctrine.

Retrial A new trial in the court that completed the original trial and made the original decision. A retrial is usually ordered because the original trial was improper or unfair due to, for example, procedural errors. Compare with mistrial.

Retribution The process of “getting even.” One theory justifying punishment of criminals is that society should have retribution for the wrongs done to it. Compare with rehabilitation.

Retro Back; backwards; behind; past. For example, a retrospective or retroactive law is one that changes the legal status of things already done or that applies to past actions. See also ex post facto laws.

Retrocession Giving a person back a title to property that the person once held, but lost.

Return 1. The act of a sheriff or other peace officer in delivering back to a court a brief account of whether or not (and how) he or she served (delivered) a court paper to a person. 2. Yield or profit. 3. See tax return.

Return day (or date) 1. The date by which a sheriff or other peace officer must make a return (see that word). 2. The day by which a defendant must file a pleading after receiving a summons to come to court.

Return on equity 1. The profit a company makes compared to its value; especially the annual profit made compared to the total cost of its common stock. See also statement and equity. 2. The profit an investor makes on shares of stock or other investments, such as rental housing, compared to the owner’s original investment.

426 Reus

Reus (Latin) Party. [pronounce: ree-us or ray-us]

Rev. 1. Short for review (as in law review). 2. Short for revised (as in revised statutes). 3. Short for revenue (as in revenue ruling).

Revaluation Raising the value of a country’s money relative to other countries’ money.

Revendication 1. Demanding that someone return something you sold.

2. Replevin.

Revenue 1. Income. 2. Profit on an investment. 3. Describes things that raise money for the government. For example, revenue bills raise tax money, revenue bonds are sold by governments and backed by money-making public projects, revenue stamps are placed on something (such as a recorded deed) to prove that a tax was paid, and “revenue enhancer” is a euphemism for a tax or tax increase.

Revenue officer 1. A tax collector. 2. A tax investigator, such as a person who hunts for illegal whiskey stills.

Revenue procedures and rulings Revenue procedures (Rev. Proc.) are I.R.S. opinions on procedural tax matters and revenue rulings (Rev. Rul.) are I.R.S. interpretations of the tax law as it applies to specific cases. They are first published in an Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB), then collected in Cumulative Bulletins (C.B.). They have slightly less legal “weight” than tax regulations and slightly more than private letter rulings.

Reverse 1. Set aside. For example, when a higher court reverses a lower court on appeal, it sets aside the judgment of the lower court and either substitutes its own judgment for it or sends the case back to the lower court with instructions on what to do with it. 2. A reverse stock split is a corporation’s calling in of all stock to reduce the number of shares. This increases the value of each share without changing the total value of all the stock.

Reverse discrimination The inference that if a school admission slot, a promotion, or other benefit is reserved for minorities, that benefit is then denied to non-minorities. Reverse discrimination is a rationale for court decisions restricting affirmative action programs.

Reverse engineering Analyzing something (usually produced using a trade secret) to duplicate the process that produced it. This may be a legitimate way to learn and use these secrets.

Reverse mortgage (or reverse annuity mortgage or reverse equity mortgage) A mortgage in which the homeowner (usually an older, retired person), rather than making interest payments, gets regular payments for income, so the loan balance increases.

Rider 427

Reversible error See error.

Reversion Any future interest (see that word) kept by a person who transfers away property. For example, if John rents out his land for ten years, his ownership rights during those years, his right to take back the property after ten years, and his heirs’ right to take back the property after ten years if he dies are reversionary interests. Compare remainder.

Reverter The process of reversion. See also remainder. Review See judicial review.

Revised statutes 1. A code. 2. A book of statutes in the order they were originally passed, with temporary and repealed statutes removed. Abbreviated Rev. Stat., Rev.St., or R.S.

Revival Restoration to original force or legal effect. An expired contract can be revived by acknowledging it and making a new promise to perform it. A will can be revived if a later will that revoked or invalidated it is itself revoked or invalidated. And a dead person’s lawsuit can be revived and carried on by the executor or administrator of the person’s estate.

Revocation 1. The taking back of some power or authority. For example, revoking (taking back) an offer before it is accepted ends the other person’s power to accept. 2. The ending or making void of a thing. For example, revocation of a will takes place when a person tears it up intentionally or makes another will.

Revoke Wipe out the legal effect of something by taking it back, canceling, rescinding, etc. (see revocation). If something can be revoked, but has not been revoked, it is revocable.

Revolution The complete overthrow of a government. A successful revolt, insurrection, or rebellion.

Revolving charge Credit, often provided through credit cards or department stores, by which purchases may be charged and partially paid off month-by-month. New purchases may be made, charged, and paid off during the same period.

Rex (Latin) King.

Reynolds v. U.S. (98 U.S. 145) An 1879 Supreme Court decision that excluded the right to do illegal acts from the protection of freedom of religion (see that word).

Richard Roe A common name used for a fictitious party or a name used along with “John Doe” to illustrate a legal situation.

Rider An additional piece of paper attached to a larger document. For example, a rider to a bill is an addition made late in the legislative