Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

448 Seventeenth Amendment

Seventeenth Amendment The U.S. constitutional amendment that changed the election of senators from a vote by state legislature to a vote directly by the people.

Seventh Amendment The U.S. constitutional amendment that guarantees a jury trial in most federal civil cases.

Sever Cut off or separate into parts. For example, to sever the trial of a person from others who might otherwise be in the same trial is to try that person’s case separately and at another time. The process is often called severance.

Severability clause See saving clause.

Severable Capable of carrying on an independent existence. For example, a severable statute is one that can still be valid even if one part of it is struck down as invalid by a court. A severable contract is one that can be divided into separate contracts, each valid even if the other is not. Some statutes and contracts have a saving clause (see that word). See also divisible.

Several 1. More than one. 2. Separate, individual, independent. See also joint and several.

Severally Distinctly; separately; each on its own.

Severalty ownership Sole ownership; ownership by one person. Severance Separation. For example, severing (separating) joint rights

in property into individual rights to pieces of it, harvesting crops or taking minerals from land, ending a person’s employment, separating the claims of various parties in a lawsuit, etc.

Severance tax A tax on the volume or value of a natural resource (oil, coal, etc.) taken from the land.

Sewer service Slang for the practice of telling the court that you have properly served (officially delivered) a court paper when it has actually been thrown away.

Sex discrimination See discrimination.

Sexual abuse, battery, or assault See rape.

Sexual harassment In a narrow sense, using a position of power over a person’s job, salary, etc., to gain sexual favors or punish the refusal of such favors. More broadly, sexual harassment includes unwarranted sexual innuendoes, maintaining a workplace where employees feel sexually threatened, etc.

Shadow jury A group of persons (selected to be similar to the real jurors) paid by one side in a lawsuit to observe the trial and give their reactions.

Shelley’s Case 449

Shadow stock Phantom stock.

Shall 1. Must. 2. May, should, will, or can, but only if these alternative meanings to must are clear from the surrounding words.

Sham False or fake. For example, a sham pleading is a court paper that is formally correct, but that is so clearly false as to the facts that it is rejected, and a sham transaction is one that is disregarded by the I.R.S. because it was done solely for tax advantage. Compare with simulate.

Share 1. A portion. 2. One unit of stock in a corporation. 3. A share certificate (or warrant) is a document certifying that a person is entitled to own (or buy) a certain number of shares of stock.

Shared equity A real estate purchase arrangement in which an investor puts up part of the purchase price and pays part of the mortgage in exchange for tax benefits and a share of the eventual profits of a sale.

Shareholder A person who owns stock in a corporation.

Shark repellant An action (such as a bylaws change or implementing a scorched earth policy) taken to make a company less attractive for, or susceptible to, a hostile takeover.

Sharp Quickly and easily collectible. A mortgage or other security document is sharp if it allows the creditor to take quick summary action to collect if the debtor fails to pay.

Shaving A slang expression for buying notes or other securities at a discount; for cutting prices secretly to a few persons; for illegally holding down the score in a sporting event to help certain bettors; or for using extortion to get something.

Shelf registration Securities and Exchange Commission approval of a stock sale registration (see that word) with a delayed sale.

Shell company A company with no stated business or a company with no business at all. Sale of stock (usually penny stock) in a shell company is called a blank-check offering because the company has a free hand to do almost anything it wants to do with the money.

Shelley’s Case The Rule in Shelley’s Case is that when a life estate is given to a person, followed by a remainder given to heirs, the heirs take nothing, but the holder of the life estate gets an interest in fee (see those words). For example, under the rule, if John gives land to Sue to use for life and, in the same document, gives it to someone else after that and then to Sue’s children, Sue gets it all to do with as she pleases. This rule is no longer followed ; life estates and remainders are permitted.

450 Shelter

Shelter 1. Describes the principle that a buyer has as good a title to property as the seller had. For example, under the U.C.C. shelter doctrine, the holder of a negotiable instrument has the rights of a holder in due course if the person who sold the instrument was a holder in due course. 2. A way of investing money to gain tax advantage. 3. For shelter trust, see bypass trust.

Shepardizing Using a Shepard’s citator (see that word) to trace the history of a case after it is decided to see if it is followed, overruled, distinguished, etc.

Sheriff The chief law officer of a county, who, with the help of deputies, is in charge of serving process, calling jurors, keeping the peace, executing judgments, operating a county jail, etc.

Sheriff’s deed A document giving ownership rights to property sold at a sheriff’s sale (a sale held by a sheriff to pay a court judgment against the owner of the property).

Sheriff’s jury An old form of a coroner’s inquest.

Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1) The first antitrust (antimonopoly) law, passed by the federal government in 1890 to break up combinations in restraint of trade.

Shield law 1. A state law that protects (“shields”) a writer’s sources of information. 2. A law that protects a government informer’s sources or protects anonymity. 3. A state law that prohibits use of most evidence of a rape (or other sexual crime) victim’s past sexual conduct, or that protects the victim’s identity.

Shifting Changing; varying; passing from one person to another. For example, shifting income is transferring income but not ownership from the person who owns the property that is earning the income to someone else, usually a family member who is in a lower tax bracket. The I.R.S. rarely allows a tax advantage gained by shifting income.

Shipping 1. Transporting goods for a charge. Shipping documents include bills of lading, letters of credit, etc. 2. Having to do with ships or moving goods by sea. Shipping articles are a written agreement between a sailor and the ship’s master concerning the voyage, the pay, etc.

Shop right rule The principle that if an employee gets a patent on an invention worked on during work hours and using the employer’s materials, the employer has a right to use the invention for free, but the employee owns the patent.

Shop steward A union official elected to represent workers and collect dues in one department of a business.

Sic 451

Shop-book rule An older, more limited version of the business records exception (see that word) in evidence law.

Short cause (or short calendar) A lawsuit, or part of a lawsuit, that must be heard by a judge, but is usually scheduled early because it can be disposed of quickly.

Short sale A contract for the sale of something, such as a stock, that the seller does not own. It is a method of profiting from the expected fall in price of a stock, but is risky because if the stock goes up the person will have to buy at whatever price it reaches to cover the short sale. A person is called short or in a short position if he or she owns less of a stock, a commodity, or a futures contract than may be needed to meet future obligations. The number of shares short is called the short interest.

Short summons A summons that may bring a debtor to court quickly if the court agrees that the debtor may run away or fraudulently dispose of property.

Short-swing profits Profits made by a company insider on the shortterm sale of company stock.

Short-term Less than a week, less than six months, less than a year, etc., as defined by various statutes. For example, short-term capital gains are increases in value of property held less than a year that may be taxed as ordinary income.

Show cause order A court order to a person to show up in court and explain why the court should not take a proposed action. If the person fails to show up or to give sufficient reasons why the court should take no action, the court will take the action.

Shower A person who takes a jury to a crime scene, an accident scene, or other place and shows them things.

Show-up A pretrial identification procedure in which only one suspect and a witness are brought together. Compare with lineup.

Shut-in royalty Money paid to keep a mineral lease active when nothing is being produced.

Shyster Slang for a dishonest lawyer.

Si (Latin) If.

Sic (Latin) Thus; so; in such a way. (Usually used in parentheses after a misspelled word quoted exactly from the original source.)

452 Sidebar conference

Sidebar conference An in-court discussion among lawyers and the judge that is out of the hearing of witnesses and the jury. Sidebar conferences are usually on the record.

Sight At sight means payable when shown and requested. A bill or draft payable when shown is a sight bill or sight draft. Sight drafts can be sent by a seller to a new, faraway buyer’s bank. When the buyer tells the bank to pay the draft, the ownership documents for the goods are given to the buyer.

Signature 1. A hand-signed name. 2. In some commercial situations, any mark that normally serves as a hand-signed name. 3. A signature loan is an unsecured (see that word) loan given to a creditworthy borrower who promises to repay the loan. 4. A signatory is any party to a signed agreement. 5. A criminal’s recurring method of committing crimes.

Silent partner See partner.

Silent witness theory The principle that once a photograph has been fully authenticated, the photograph can stand alone as substantive evidence of what it shows rather than be limited to use as demonstrative evidence in conjunction with testimony.

Silver platter Describes the use by federal officials of evidence that was gathered illegally by state officials. This is no longer permitted.

Simple 1. Pure, unmixed, or uncomplicated. For example, simple interest is interest paid on an amount of money invested, borrowed, etc. (“the principal”), but not on any earnings or interest that accumulate (compound interest). 2. Not aggravated. (See aggravated assault.) 3. A simple contract was one not under seal (see that word and see contract under seal). A simple trust is a trust, benefiting an individual, that pays out the income as it is made instead of either accumulating the income or reducing the trust corpus.

Simulate Take on the appearance of; imitate; fake. For example, a simulated sale is a fake sale to make it look to creditors as if the property is out of their reach. This is also called a fraudulent conveyance and will not be recognized by a court. Compare with sham.

Simultaneous death act A law, adopted in most states, that if there is no evidence as to who died first in an accident, each dead person’s property will pass as if that person survived longer. Some state laws create a presumption that the younger, healthier, etc., person lived longer. See also common disaster.

Sine (Latin) Without. For example, sine die means “without day,” which describes a final ending or adjournment of a session of a court or a legislature. [pronounce: si-ne dee-A]

Sixth Amendment 453

Sine prole (Latin) “Without children”; abbreviated s.p.

Sine qua non (Latin) A thing or condition that is indispensable.

Single juror charge A judge’s instruction to a jury that if even one juror does not agree that the plaintiff should get something, the plaintiff gets nothing.

Single name paper A negotiable instrument (see that word) that has only one maker (original signer) or, if more than one original signer, persons signing for exactly the same purpose (for example, as partners). This is opposed to accommodation paper (where one person signs as a favor to another) or a suretyship (where, usually for a fee, one person cosigns to back up another person’s debt).

Single proprietorship An unincorporated business owned by one person. It is also called a sole proprietorship.

Single publication rule The principle that if a person sues for libel, the number of copies of the book or magazine containing the libelous statement may influence the dollar amount of damages, but multiple copies may not normally be the basis for multiple lawsuits.

Sinking fund Money or other assets put aside for a special purpose, such as to pay off bonds and other long-term debts as they come due or to replace, repair, or improve machinery or buildings when they wear out or become outdated.

Sister corporations Two (or more) companies with the same or mostly the same owners. Compare with interlocking directorate.

Sistren “Sisters” or female colleagues on a court. “Colleagues” is more usual.

Sit 1. Hold court as a judge. 2. Hold any session of a court, legislature, etc.; to be formally organized and carry on official business.

Sit-down strike (or stay-in strike) A strike during which employees refuse to leave the job site and refuse to work.

Sitting In session; meeting; carrying on official business.

Situs (Latin) Site or fixed location; place. Usually the place where a thing has legal ties.

Sixteenth Amendment The U.S. constitutional amendment, ratified in 1913, that gave the U.S. Congress the power to tax income.

Sixth Amendment The U.S. constitutional amendment that gives those accused of a crime various rights, such as the right to a prompt public trial by an impartial jury, the right to know the accusation, the right to confront witnesses, the right to a lawyer’s help, etc.

454 Sixty-day notice

Sixty-day notice Describes the federal requirement that both employers and unions must give a notice sixty days before reopening or ending a labor contract. During this time strikes and lockouts are prohibited.

Skeleton bill A bill of exchange written or signed in blank (see those words).

Skip 1. Slang for a person who has “skipped” or cannot be found. A skiptracer is a detective service that finds missing debtors, heirs, witnesses, etc. 2. A person more than one generation after another when a generation has been “skipped” in transferring a property interest.

Slander Oral defamation. The speaking of false words that injure another person’s reputation, business, or property rights.

Slating Booking.

Slayer’s rule The principle that a killer cannot inherit from a victim.

Sleeping partner Silent partner.

Slip decision (or slip sheet or slip opinion) A printed copy of a U.S. Supreme Court decision (or certain other court decisions) that is distributed immediately.

Slip law A printed copy of a bill passed by Congress that is distributed immediately once signed by the president.

Small business A general word for a company that has few employees, a low sales volume, few stockholders, etc. The definition differs, depending on who (Small Business Administration, the I.R.S., etc.) defines it.

Small claims court A state court that handles only cases for which the damages sought are under a certain monetary limit (often about one thousand dollars). These courts have a more streamlined procedure, faster action, and fewer formalities than regular courts have. They were originally set up to help the “little person” get a day in court, but are mostly used by stores and collection companies to collect overdue bills. Not all places have small claims courts.

Small loan acts State laws setting maximum interest rates on consumer loans or on small short-term loans.

Smart money 1. Slang for punitive damages. 2. Money profitably invested, especially if invested based on inside information. See insider.

Smorgasbord plan A cafeteria plan.

Smuggling The crime of secretly bringing into or taking out of a country things that are either prohibited or taxable.

So. Short for Southern Reporter (see National Reporter System).

Social contract theory The theory that the only legitimate basis for the existence of a government is the consent of those governed.

Solicitor 455

Social Security Administration A federal agency, set up by the Social Security Act and the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA), that administers a national Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and other insurance and welfare programs.

Socialism A government system in which many of the means of production and trade are owned or run by the government and in which many human welfare needs are provided directly by the government.

Socialism may be democratic, or it may be a form of absolutism.

Societé (French) 1. Society. 2. A partnership. 3. A societé anonyme is a corporation.

Society 1. Any group of persons organized for a common purpose. Often an unincorporated business. 2. The love, care, companionship, help, and earning power of a family member. See also consortium.

Sodomy A general word for an “unnatural” sex act or the crime committed by such act. While the definition varies, sodomy can include oral sex, anal sex, homosexual sex, or sex with animals.

Soil bank Describes a federal program in which farmers are paid to keep cropland idle or in noncrop use to preserve the soil and make crop surpluses less likely.

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 501) A 1991 federal law that suspends or modifies a military person’s civil liabilities, or requires persons who want to enforce their claims against persons in the service to follow certain procedures.

Soldier’s will See military will.

Sole Single, individual, or separate. For example, a sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business owned by one person.

Sole actor doctrine The rule that a principal (such as an employer) will be held legally responsible for knowing what his or her agent (such as an employee) knows and for what that agent does.

Solemn Formal, correct, and serious. To solemnize is to perform a formal ceremony, and solemnity of contract is the principle that any contract is enforceable, no matter how seemingly unfair, if it is correctly formalized (and there are no defenses, such as fraud, illegality, or unconscionability).

Solicitation 1. Asking for; enticing; strongly requesting. This may be a crime if the thing being urged is a crime. 2. A lawyer’s drumming up business in too aggressive a way. This is prohibited by the lawyer’s

Rules of Professional Conduct.

Solicitor 1. A lawyer in England who handles all legal matters except trial work (which is done by a barrister). 2. The name for the head

456 Solicitor general

lawyer for many towns and other government bodies. 3. A person who seeks business or contributions.

Solicitor general The second-ranking U.S. government lawyer, in charge of all civil suits involving the U.S.

Solidarity A contract with joint and several (see that word) liability on one or both sides.

Solvency 1. The ability to pay debts as they come due. 2. Having more assets than liabilities.

Solvent See solvency.

Son of Sam law A law that prevents a convicted criminal from profiting by selling story rights. These state laws, intended to compensate victims, have been greatly restricted on First Amendment grounds.

Sophisticated (or accredited) investor A person who has the background and knowledge to understand what he or she is getting into when buying shares in a business venture. Some stock sales can avoid S.E.C. registration and disclosure requirements by selling to only sophisticated investors who can afford the investment in a private offering.

Sound 1. Whole; in good condition; healthy. 2. “Sounds in” means “relates to” or “is primarily.” For example, a lawsuit sounds in damages if the only remedy requested is damages (money), as opposed to other remedies such as specific performance. (“Sounds in” is sometimes used to mean that the facts presented by a plaintiff can support only one possible remedy, so the lawsuit “sounds in” that remedy.)

Sovereign immunity The government’s freedom from being sued. In many cases, the U.S. government has waived immunity by a statute such as the Federal Tort Claims Act. See also government instrumentality doctrine.

Speaker The chairperson or head of a legislative body, such as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Speaking Bringing up matters that are not found within the legal papers of the case. This was not previously allowed (such things as speaking demurrers and speaking motions were prohibited), but bringing up new matters is now usually permitted by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Special 1. Limited. For example, a special indorsement is the signing over of something to one particular person; and a court of special jurisdiction can handle only limited matters, such as probate cases. 2. Unusual; not regular. For example, a special session is an extra meeting of a court or legislature. 3. For special court martial, mas-

Special warranty deed 457

ter, partner, verdict, etc., see those words. Some other “special” words follow.

Special act (or law) A private law.

Special appearance Showing up in court for a limited purpose only, especially to argue that the court lacks jurisdiction (see that word) over you or your client. Special appearances have been replaced in federal courts and many state courts by motions or pleadings for the same purpose.

Special assessment A real estate tax that singles out certain landowners to pay for special benefits (improvements such as a sidewalk that will, at least in theory, benefit all of those owners, but not the rest of the taxpayers).

Special damages See consequential damages.

Special exception 1. See special use permit. 2. An exception (see that word) based on the wording, rather than the content, of an opponent’s claim.

Special facts rule The rule that corporate insiders must reveal certain types of financial and ownership information to stockholders, especially when fairness would be served by revealing the information.

Special interest A group with members who share a common goal or interest, especially a group that lobbies the government to influence the passage or enforcement of laws.

Special interrogatories Written questions asked by a judge to a jury to see if the jury’s answers conflict with the jury’s verdict.

Special law A private law.

Special pleading See pleading.

Special trust Any trust that is either a ministerial trust or a discretionary trust (see those words).

Special use permit (or permit of exception) Government permission to use property in a way that is allowed by zoning rules, but only with a permit. (This is not a variance.)

Special use valuation The valuation of real estate, especially of farmland, according to its current use as opposed to its highest and best use. Special use valuation is sometimes allowed when calculating estate tax.

Special warranty deed 1. A deed (having fewer promises and protections than a general warranty deed) that includes the formal, written promise to protect the buyer against claims of ownership of the property that are