Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

438 Scott v. Sanford

Scott v. Sanford See Dred Scott case.

Scrip A piece of paper that is a temporary indication of a right to something valuable. Scrip includes paper money issued for temporary use; partial shares of stock after a stock split; certificates of a deferred stock dividend that can be cashed in later, etc.

Script A manuscript, especially the original copy.

Scriviner “Writer.” An old word for a person who drew up contracts, deeds, and other legal papers; also for a person who managed securities and investments for a percentage of the profits.

Seal An identification mark pressed in wax. Originally, for a document to be valid, it had to have a wax seal on it to show that it was done seriously, correctly, and formally. Later, the use of the letters “L.S.” took the place of wax. Now, there is little use for a seal, except to formalize certain corporate documents and documents witnessed by a notary public. See also sealed and contract under seal.

Sealed 1. Sealed bidding is a way of taking offers to do work, supply materials, purchase at auction, etc. Each bid is submitted in a sealed envelope; all are opened at the same time, and the best bid is chosen.

2.Sealed records are a way of keeping some criminal, juvenile, divorce, adoption, etc., records secret unless opened by a court order.

3.A sealed verdict is a way of allowing jury members to go home after they have made a decision while the court is out of session. They seal it in an envelope and have it read when the court is in session again. 4. “Sealed and delivered ” are old, now unnecessary, words following the signatures on a deed. 5. A sealed instrument is a document that is signed and bears a seal (see that word). 6. See contract under seal.

Seaman’s will See military will.

Search 1. An examination of a person’s clothing, car, house, body, etc., by a law officer to discover a weapon or evidence of a crime. If done without either probable cause or a search warrant (or without its being a very limited, necessary search at the time of legal arrest or on suspicion of a concealed weapon), the search may be forbidden by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and any evidence obtained excluded from use in a criminal trial. 2. An administrative (or regulatory) search (or inspection) is usually done to enforce health or safety laws and regulations. An administrative search may not be used to circumvent the stronger probable cause requirements of a search for evidence of a crime. 3. A title search is an examination of all proper land records to see who legally owns property and whether there are any mortgages, liens, etc., on it.

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Search warrant Written permission from a judge or magistrate for a police officer (or sheriff, etc.) to search a particular place for evidence, stolen property, etc. The police must give a good reason for needing these items, a likely reason why they might be in the place they want to search, and some indication that the information on which they are basing their search request is reliable.

Seasonable 1. In a reasonable amount of time. 2. Within the agreed time.

Seasoned Having experience. A stock is seasoned if it has already sold in a stock market, and a company or business venture is seasoned when it has been in existence for a while and has made some money.

Seat Capital, or place where the main government offices are located. Seated land Land that is used in any way (farmed, occupied, etc.). Seaworthy Describes a ship that is properly constructed, maintained,

supplied, and crewed, and with proper instructions from its owners. Sec. Short for section.

Secede Withdraw from membership in a group; break away from a governmental union. The process is called secession.

Second Lower ranking; coming later; farther away. For example, a second degree crime is less serious than a first degree crime (second degree murder is without premeditation so it is less serious than first degree murder); a second mortgage ranks below a first mortgage in its right to be paid; and secondhand evidence (not secondary evidence) is hearsay evidence (that has passed through other persons or media to the witness). See also secondary.

Second Amendment The U.S. constitutional amendment that grants to the people the right to keep and bear arms. This right has been defined restrictively by state and federal laws.

Second chair Primary assistant lawyer of an in-court legal team.

Second look statute A wait and see statute.

Secondary Lower ranking; coming later; farther away. For example, a secondary distribution or offering is the sale of a large block of stock that is not a new issue, but one that has been held by the company or an investment firm; secondary evidence (not secondhand evidence) such as a photocopy of a document is not as good as best evidence (see best evidence rule); and secondary liability is a duty that does not come due unless someone else fails to perform his or her primary duty. Other “secondary” words follow. See also second.

Secondary authority 1. Persuasive authority. 2. Writings about the law, such as articles, treatises, and encyclopedias.

440 Secondary boycott

Secondary boycott A boycott (see that word) aimed at a business that does business with the one a union is actually having a dispute with. Secondary picketing and secondary strikes are other types of indirect pressure.

Secondary easement The right to do what it takes to fully use or maintain an easement. Implied rights that go with an easement.

Secondary market An organized method for buying and selling existing financial documents, such as a stock exchange for buying already issued securities or the secondary mortgage market in which financial institutions buy and sell existing mortgages.

Secondary meaning A strong association in the “public mind” between a name and a company’s product (or service). To get trademark (or service mark) protection for a name that is a common or descriptive one (as opposed to one that is fanciful or arbitrary), a company must establish a secondary meaning through use of the name in connection with the product (or service).

Secret Service The federal organization that investigates offenses against the currency, securities, or banks of the U.S. and protects the president, vice president, ex-presidents, presidential candidates, visiting heads of state, etc.

Secret trust A trust in which the trustee gives only a verbal promise to hold the property in trust.

Secretary 1. An organization’s official record keeper, such as a corporate secretary 2. The head of a government department, such as the secretary of defense. 3. Secretary general is the name given to the head of the United Nations and of some other public organizations.

Secretary of state 1. In the U.S. government, this is a cabinet member who heads the State Department and is in charge of foreign relations. 2. In most state governments, this is the official who takes care of many types of formal state business, such as the licensing of corporations.

Secrete Hide something away, especially to keep it from creditors by putting title in someone else’s name.

Secta (Latin) Lawsuit.

Section 1. A subdivision of a law, regulation, or other document, such as a subdivision of an article of the U.S. Constitution or a chapter of a book. Often abbreviated s, sec, or §. 2. A subdivision of a township that is one mile on a side, containing 640 acres. 3. A subdivision in some bureaucracies.

Security 441

Secundum (Latin) 1. “According to,” as in the phrase secundum regulam (“according to the rule”). 2. Second.

Secure To give security (see that word). To guarantee the payment of a debt or the keeping of a promise by giving a mortgage, lien, pledge, etc.

Secured Protected by a mortgage, lien, pledge, or other security interest. The person whose money is protected is called a “secured creditor” or “secured party,” and the deal is called a security agreement. A secured transaction is a secured deal involving goods or fixtures that is governed by Article Nine of the Uniform Commercial

Code.

Securities 1. See security. 2. Stocks, bonds, notes, or other documents that show a share in a company or a debt owed by a company.

Securities acts Federal and state laws regulating the sale of securities (stocks, bonds, etc.). These include the federal Securities Act of 1933 (which requires the registration of securities that are to be sold to the public and the disclosure of complete information to potential buyers); the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (which regulates stock exchanges and over-the-counter stock sales); the Uniform Securities Act (a model law adopted in part by many states); blue sky laws (see that word); broker-dealer provisions (those parts of the securities laws that regulate those who sell stock on behalf of others); the Investment Advisors Act (the federal law that regulates those who give investment advice); etc. Federal securities acts are administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Securities and Exchange Commission A federal agency that administers the federal securities acts (see that word), primarily by regulating the sale and trading of stocks and other securities.

Securities Investor Protection Corporation See S.I.P.C.

Securitize Turn assets (such as mortgage loans) into asset-backed securities (such as bonds) by transferring them to a special trust or organization that pools them together, then reissues them in changed form to sell to investors.

Security 1. Property that has been pledged, mortgaged, etc., as financial backing for a loan or other obligation. A security interest is any right in property that is held to make sure money is paid or that something is done. Most property secured this way may be sold by the creditor if the debt it backs is not paid. 2. A person who is a surety or gives a guaranty (see those words). 3. A share of stock, a bond, a note, or one of many different kinds of documents showing a share in a company or a debt owed by a company or a government. There

442 Security Council

are different technical definitions of security in the various securities acts, the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the

Federal Bankruptcy Act, the Internal Revenue Code, etc. The U.S. Supreme Court has defined a security as any investment in a common enterprise from which the investor is “led to expect profits solely from the efforts of a promoter or a third party.” 4. For assessable, equity, hybrid, listed, etc., security, see those words.

Security Council The executive body of the United Nations. It has eleven members from eleven countries with five permanent members, including the U.S.

Security deposit Money paid by a tenant to a landlord and held in trust as security for the tenant’s obligations under the lease (including the tenant’s duty to refrain from damaging the property and to pay rent).

Security for costs Money, property, or a bond given to a court to pay costs in case you lose. This is sometimes done, for example, when the plaintiff is from another state.

Sed vide (Latin) “But see.” A reference to something that conflicts with the statement just made.

Sedition Stirring up persons to armed resistance against the government. [pronounce: se-dish-un]

Seditious libel Publishing something to stir up class hatred or contempt for the government. The First Amendment invalidated seditious libel laws in the U.S.

Seduction Inducing (usually by deception or promise to marry) a person (usually a chaste, unmarried woman) to have sex. Most states have heart-balm acts that prohibit lawsuits and prosecutions based on seduction.

Segment search A search restricted to part of a database. Segregation 1. The separation of property into groups. Segregation of

assets involves identifying and setting aside the property belonging to one person from a common fund or pot. 2. The unconstitutional practice of separating persons in housing, schooling, and public accommodation, based on race, color, nationality, etc.

Seisin Full and complete present ownership and possession of land. Someone with seisin is “seised.” [pronounce: seez-in]

Seize 1. See seisin. 2. See seizure.

Seizure 1. The act by a public official (usually a peace officer) of taking property because of a violation of the law, because of a writ or judgment in a lawsuit, or because the property will be needed as evidence in a criminal case. 2. The act of a peace officer taking a person into

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custody and detaining the person in a way that interferes with freedom of movement. See also Fourth Amendment.

Select committee A legislative committee set up for a limited time and purpose. Compare with standing committee.

Select council The upper branch of some city councils, corresponding to the senate in state or U.S. government.

Selective prosecution Prosecuting fewer than all the persons who are guilty of a crime. This may violate the equal protection rights of those prosecuted.

Selective Service System The federal agency that handles registration for compulsory military service and selects those to serve during times when a draft is used to supplement voluntary recruitment.

Selective tax A sales or use tax on particular items, such as tobacco products.

Selectperson (man, woman) A member of some local legislatures or town councils. When a town is too small to have a mayor, the role of mayor may be taken by the first selectperson.

Self-authentication (or self-proving) Proof that a document is genuine, contained within the document. For example, many states allow a will to be self-authenticated if a notary public, two witnesses, and the will-maker all sign at the same time and place. This avoids the need to present testimony or other evidence that the will is genuine. Some official documents need not be authenticated to be used as evidence.

Self-dealing A trustee (or other person with a fiduciary duty) acting to help himself or herself, rather than the person for whom he or she is supposed to be working.

Self-defense Physical force used against a person who is threatening the use of physical force or using physical force. This is a right if your own family, property, or body is in danger, but sometimes only if the danger was not provoked. Also, deadly force may (usually) be used only against deadly force. See also true person doctrine and flee to the wall doctrine.

Self-employment tax The Social Security tax on the earnings of selfemployed persons.

Self-executing Describes laws or court decisions that require no further official action to be carried out.

Self-help Taking an action yourself without obtaining official help or authorization when that action may need authorization. For example, a self-help eviction may be a landlord’s removing the tenant’s property

444 Self-incrimination

from an apartment and locking the door against the tenant. In many states, some forms of self-help are illegal.

Self-incrimination Anything said or done by a person that implicates the person in a crime. It is unconstitutional to force or require a person to do this or to be a witness against self, except in limited circumstances such as when a criminal defendant voluntarily takes the stand to testify.

Self-insurance Setting aside a fund of money to pay for future losses (rather than purchasing an insurance policy to cover possible losses) or merely not providing for such losses at all.

Self-liquidation Paying off a loan by the short-term sale of the items bought with the loan money. For example, a loan to a car dealer might self-liquidate through the sale of the cars bought by the dealer with borrowed money.

Self-proving See self-authentication.

Self-serving declaration An out-of-court statement by a party to a lawsuit that, if admitted as evidence in the lawsuit, would tend to be helpful to the party. Self-serving declarations are usually inadmissible hearsay.

Selling short See short sale.

Semble (French) “It seems that.” An introduction to an uncertain point of law.

Senate The upper house of a state or of the U.S. legislature. The members are senators.

Senatorial courtesy The informal right of U.S. senators to have the Senate reject presidential nominations for judges and other important federal jobs within the senator’s state.

Senior interest An interest or right that takes effect or that collects ahead of others; for example, a senior mortgage has preference or priority over all others.

Senior judge Either the judge who has served on a court the longest or a judge who takes “semi-retirement,” accepting special assignments.

Seniority Preference or priority; often, but not always, given because the person or thing came first in time.

Sentence 1. The punishment, such as time in jail, given to a person convicted of a crime. The process is called sentencing and is usually done by the trial judge, but sometimes by a jury or a sentencing council of judges. 2. A determinate, fixed, straight, or flat sentence is an exact penalty set by law. A mandatory sentence is a determinate sentence

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that cannot be suspended and that does not allow the judge to order probation. An indeterminate sentence is one having a minimum and maximum, with the decision of how long the criminal will serve depending on the criminal’s behavior in prison and other things. 3. For concurrent and cumulative sentences, see those words.

Separability clause See saving clause and severable.

Separable controversy rule The principle that even if only one claim (out of several in some lawsuits in state courts) is of the type that can be removed to a federal court, the whole case can be removed. The federal judge may then decide whether to keep the whole case or only that one claim.

Separate but equal doctrine The rule, established in the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson and then rejected as unconstitutional in the 1954 Brown decision, that when races are given substantially equal facilities, they may lawfully be segregated.

Separate estate (or property) The property owned by a person as an individual, rather than owned jointly as a partner in a business or marriage.

Separate maintenance Alimony or support paid by one married person to the other if they are no longer living as husband and wife. In some states, this term refers to only temporary alimony or support.

Separate sovereigns The rule that the constitutional protection against double jeopardy does not apply to prosecutions by two different states or by a state and the federal government.

Separation 1. A husband and wife living apart by agreement, either before a divorce or instead of a full divorce. A formal separation is sometimes called a divorce a mensa et thoro (a “divorce” “from bed and board” only). There is often a separation agreement, a document about child custody, support, alimony, property division, etc. If it is by order of a court, it is a judicial or legal separation. 2. Separation of powers is the division of the federal government (and state governments) into legislative (law making), judicial (law interpreting), and executive (law carrying-out) branches. Each acts to prevent the others from becoming too powerful. 3. Separation of witnesses is a court order that witnesses stay out of the courtroom unless called to testify. Separation of witnesses usually occurs upon a request by one of the lawyers to invoke “the rule on witnesses.” 4. Separation of church and state is a combination of the requirements of the establishment clause and free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. See freedom of religion.

446 Sequester

Sequester To isolate, hold aside, or take away. For example, to sequester a jury is to keep it from having any contacts with the outside world during a trial, and to sequester property is to have it put aside and held by an independent person during a lawsuit. This process is called sequestration and may also apply to such things as the judicial impounding of a bank account and the governmental taking of property belonging to citizens of another country with which the first country is at war.

Sergeant-at-arms A person appointed to keep order in a legislature, court, or large meeting.

Serial bonds Groups of bonds put out at the same time, but with different cash-in times for each group. Not series bonds.

Serial note A promissory note that is paid back in installments.

Serial right The right to publish a book by installments in, for example, a magazine.

Seriatim (Latin) One at a time; in proper or logical order.

Series A set of lawbooks in numerical order. A new (second, third, etc.) series follows, not replaces, an older one.

Series bonds Groups of bonds put out at different times with different cash-in times, but all part of the same deal. Not serial bonds.

Servant A person employed by another person and subject to that person’s control as to what work is done and how it is done. An employee is called a servant and an employer is called a master in the law of agency and of negligence.

Service 1. The delivery (or its legal equivalent, such as publication in a newspaper in some cases) of a legal paper, such as a writ, by an authorized person in a way that meets certain formal requirements. It is the way to notify a person of a lawsuit. 2. Regular payments on a debt. The process is called servicing the debt or debt service. 3. Service charges for consumer credit include all costs that have anything to do with the credit no matter what they are for or what they are called. These include time-price differentials, credit investigations, carrying charges, creditor insurance, etc. 4. Service establishments include any place that sells services to the public (barbershops, laundries, auto repair shops, etc.). 5. The service life of property is how long it should be useful. This is not necessarily the same as its depreciable life. 6. A service mark is a mark used in the sale or advertising of services (including such things as the character names on television programs), usually to identify the service by a distinctive design, title, character, etc.; for example, Lazy Transport Company’s

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federally protected service mark “Slotruk Service ®.” See also trademark.

Servient Describes land subject to a servitude (see that word).

Servitude 1. A charge or burden on land in favor of another. For example, the owner of a piece of land may be required by the deed to allow the owner of adjoining land to walk across a part of the land. This type of servitude is called an easement. The land so restricted is the servient estate and the land (if any) benefiting from the restriction is the dominant estate. 2. The condition of being a slave or servant.

Session Either a day or a period of days in which a court, a legislature, etc., carries on its business.

Session laws Statutes printed in the order that they were passed in each session of a legislature. See also statutes at large.

Set aside 1. Cancel, annul, or revoke a court’s judgment. 2. Keep potential cropland out of production to conserve soil and stabilize crop prices. 3. Describes any program of saving assets for future use. 4. Reserve a portion of something for one specific use.

Set down Put a case on the list (or court docket) for a hearing.

Set of exchange An original and copies of a foreign bill of exchange. Set up Raise an issue, such as a specific defense, or present the facts

and law needed to raise the issue.

Setback A distance from a street, property line, building, etc., within which building is prohibited by zoning laws, building codes, etc.

Setoff A defendant’s counterclaim that has nothing to do with the plaintiff’s lawsuit against the defendant.

Setting The date and time of a court hearing.

Settle 1. To come to an agreement about a price, a debt, payment of a debt, or disposition of a lawsuit. 2. Finish up; take care of completely.

3.Transfer property in a way that specifies a succession of owners.

4.Set up a trust.

Settlement 1. See settle. A settlement workup (or brochure) is a summary of facts designed to get the other side to settle a case. 2. The meeting in which the ownership of real property actually transfers from seller to buyer. All payments and debts are usually adjusted and taken care of at this time or immediately thereafter. These financial matters are written on a settlement sheet, which is also known as a closing statement.

Settlor A person who sets up a trust by providing the money or property for it.