Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

458 Specialist

based on relationships with or transfers from the seller. 2. The same as a quitclaim deed (see that word) in a few states.

Specialist 1. Generally, a person with expertise in a particular field; often, a person who has been board certified. 2. A member of a securities exchange who is assigned the duty of fair market making in a particular stock or other security.

Specialty 1. A contract under seal. 2. A building that can be used only for limited purposes unless greatly modified.

Specie 1. Coins, especially gold and silver coins. 2. In specie performance of a contract means doing exactly what the contract says to do; and return of an item in specie means return of the exact, not a similar or replacement, item.

Specific Exact. For example, specific intent is an intent to commit the exact crime charged, not merely a general intent to commit some crime or merely a generally guilty mind; and a specific bequest is a gift in a will of a precisely identifiable object such as “the family Bible.”

Specific performance See performance.

Specification 1. A detailed description or list of particulars, such as the list of things a soldier is accused of in a military trial or the “description of the invention” part of a patent application. 2. Changing raw material into a product (such as grapes into wine), with the effect that title to the raw materials passes, and the owner of the raw materials is left with only financial rights (such as the right to sue for their value if the raw materials were not paid for).

Spectrograph A machine used to produce voice prints (see that word). Speculate 1. Make a risky (speculative) investment in the hopes of making a big profit. A person who does this is a speculator. 2. Conjecture; theorizing. Speculation is usually accepted in a trial only from expert

witnesses and only in limited ways.

Speculative damages Damages that will not be awarded by a court because they are based on possible, but unlikely future events. Contrast future damages.

Speech In regard to freedom of speech: speaking, writing, gesturing, and any other way of communicating ideas. See also symbolic speech.

Speech or debate clause The provision of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1) that protects U.S. senators and congressmen against suits and arrests for almost everything they say in the legislative chambers.

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Speedy trial A trial free from unreasonable delay. A trial conducted according to regular rules as to timing; not necessarily a fast trial or a trial as soon as you want one. The federal government has a Speedy Trial Act (18 U.S.C. 3162 (1975)) to implement this Sixth Amendment requirement in criminal cases. Many states have similar laws.

Spendthrift A person who spends money wildly and whose property the state may allow a trustee to look after. This protection of a person’s property against himself, herself, or creditors is called a spendthrift trust. These trusts are also set up privately through wills and trusts to enable one person to give money or property to another without fear that it will be squandered.

Spin-off A new corporation created from an existing corporation that sets up and funds the new corporation and gives the shares of the new corporation to the old corporation’s stockholders. The process is also called a spin-off. Compare with split-off and split-up.

Spirit Broad purpose or meaning. See letter for contrast and details. Also see liberal construction.

Split See the following words and see stock split.

Split action A lawsuit to recover only part of a single claim. When this is done, the rest of the claim usually may not be raised in a second lawsuit.

Split decision An appellate court decision with at least one dissenting judge. Also see opinion.

Split income Allowing a married couple to pay taxes as if each earned his or her income separately or as if each earned half the total income separately.

Split order See order.

Split sentence A criminal sentence in which one part is enforced and another part is not.

Split-off A new corporation created from an existing corporation that sets up and funds the new corporation and gives the shares of the new corporation to the old corporation’s stockholders in exchange for some of their shares in the old corporation. The process is also called a split-off. Compare with spin-off and split-up.

Split-up The process of dividing a corporation into two or more separate new corporations, giving its shareholders the shares of these new corporations, and then going out of business. Compare with spin-off and split-off.

Spoliation 1. Destruction by an outsider; for example, alteration of a check by someone who has nothing to do with it. 2. The failure by one

460 Spontaneous statement (or declaration or exclamation) rule

side in a trial to come forward with evidence in its possession (and the inferences that the other side may ask the judge and jury to draw from this failure). 3. Destruction of evidence. 4. Violent and illegal seizure of property.

Spontaneous statement (or declaration or exclamation) rule The rule that makes most statements about an event or condition admissible as evidence (even though they are hearsay) if they were spoken during or immediately after the event or condition. The older rule was that the statement had to be an excited utterance (made while still under stress), but most courts now allow present sense impressions (no need for excitement).

Spot Immediate. For example, a spot exchange rate is the conversion rate for money exchanged at the time the rate is quoted.

Spot trading Selling something for immediate delivery with immediate payment. The spot price is the price of things sold this way.

Spot zoning Changing the zoning of a piece of land without regard for the zoning plan for the area.

Spread The difference between two prices, amounts, dates, or numbers; for example, between bid and asked (see that phrase) prices in commodity trading. Spread is also the name given to many complex transactions involving commodity trading or arbitrage (see that word).

Sprinkling trust A trust that gives income to many persons at different times.

Spurious Not genuine. For example, a spurious class action is a joining together of several persons’ claims in one lawsuit for the sake of the court’s efficiency, even though the claims are different and couldn’t normally be part of a class action; and a spurious $5 bill is one that has some things right about it (such as the fact that it was made on proper plates), but some things wrong (such as the signature). It is not genuine, but only partly counterfeit.

Squatter’s right The “right” to ownership of land merely because you have occupied it for a long time. This is different from adverse possession (see that word) and is not recognized as a right in most places.

Squeeze-out A merger or other change in a corporation’s structure that is done by majority owners to get rid of (or further reduce the power or claims of) minority stockholders (see that word). See also freeze-out.

Stakeholder 1. A person with an interest at stake. A corporation’s stakeholders include its owners, officers, employees, and, more

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loosely, its suppliers and customers or even the communities in which it operates. 2. A person chosen by others to hold something that is in dispute between them while the dispute is worked out in court or in some other way, or a person who holds a bet for others.

Stale Too late, so without legal effect; for example, a stale check has been made uncashable because it has been held too long. State law often sets this time period. See statute of limitations and laches.

Stalking The crime of repeatedly following, threatening, or harassing another person in ways that lead to a legitimate fear of physical harm. Some states define stalking more broadly as any conduct with no legitimate purpose that seriously upsets a targeted person, especially conduct in violation of a protective order.

Stamp tax A tax on transactions such as real estate sales, paid (or once paid) by purchasing stamps to put on the transaction document.

Stand 1. The place where a witness sits to testify. 2. Remain valid or effective. 3. Refuse to change. 4. To stand trial is to be a defendant in a trial, usually a criminal trial. 5. To stand mute is to raise no objections in a trial, to assert a privilege against self-incrimination in a criminal trial, or to refuse to plead “guilty” or “not guilty” in a criminal trial. In this last situation, the judge usually enters a “not guilty” plea for the defendant. 6. A stand-still is an agreement in which one or both sides agree to not proceed with some action for a stated or indefinite time period.

Standard 1. Conforming to accepted practice. 2. A model; something accepted as correct. 3. A minimum requirement against which something is judged or measured. For example, the standard of care in negligence cases is the level of care a reasonable person would use in similar circumstances, and the standard of need for receiving welfare is the total need of that size and type of family as determined by the state. See also standard of proof.

Standard deduction A specified dollar amount subtracted from taxable income by persons who do not itemize deductions on their income tax returns.

Standard of proof A level of certainty to which something must be proved. In a criminal prosecution, a defendant’s guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. And in a civil lawsuit, claims must usually be proved by a preponderance of the evidence, but sometimes to the higher standard of clear and convincing evidence.

Standard Oil Co. of N.J. v. U.S. (221 U.S. 1) The 1911 U.S. Supreme Court decision that broke up the world’s largest monopoly as a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

462 Standing

Standing 1. A person’s right to bring (start) or join a lawsuit because he or she is directly affected by the issues raised. This is called “standing to sue.” 2. Reputation. 3. A standing committee of a house of a legislature is a regular committee, with full power to act within a subject area. 4. See stand.

Star chamber A court in old England that had the power to arbitrarily punish persons who disobeyed the king. The phrase star chamber law is used to describe a lack of procedural fairness or the handing out of overly harsh punishments by a judge.

Star page 1. An asterisk or star plus a page number next to text in an unofficial (often annotated ) reporter to show where the same text appears in the official reporter. 2. A reference to a page in an earlier edition of a book. 3. Star paging is also a way to show the page breaks in a printed document on a computer screen or to request a specific document page in a computer search.

Stare decisis (Latin) “Let the decision stand.” The rule that when a court has decided a case by applying a legal principle to a set of facts, the court should stick by the principle and apply it to all later cases with clearly similar facts unless there is a strong reason not to, and that courts below must apply the principle in similar cases. This rule helps promote fairness and reliability in judicial decision making. See also precedent. [pronounce: star-e de-si-sis]

Starker exchange A delayed, tax-deferred exchange of real estate held for business purposes. It works like this: first sell business property #1 and have the sales proceeds held beyond your constructive receipt by a third party such as a bank trust department, then designate business property #2 within the required time limit, and finally complete the purchase within another time limit. There will be no tax due on profit from property #1 until #2 is sold or taken out of business use.

Stat. 1. Statute(s). 2. Immediately! (Short for the Latin statim.) (Not stet.)

State 1. Say; set down; or declare. 2. The major political subdivision of the U.S. (State action is action by a state, such as New York, or private action that must be enforced by the government.) 3. A nation. (An act of state is by a country, such as France.) 4. Condition; situation. 5. Short for the Department of State, the U.S. cabinet department that handles relations with foreign countries.

State of mind exception An exception to the hearsay rule: An out-of- court statement by a person, which reveals or explains the reason why that person did something, spoken when the thing was done, may be used as evidence even if the person is available to testify.

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State of the case The procedural status of a case: not ready for trial, ready for trial, in trial, or awaiting appeal.

State secrets Facts that the U.S. need not reveal to a court (or to anyone else) because they might hurt national security or another equally important national interest.

Stated 1. Regular. For example, a stated meeting of a board of directors is one held at regular intervals according to law or charter. 2. Settled or agreed upon. For example, a stated account is an agreed amount owing.

Statement 1. Any assertion, whether oral, written, or implied by conduct, intended to be an assertion of fact, of intent, etc. 2. A document laying out facts. For example, a statement of account or bank statement lists all the transactions made by a customer for that month, and a statement of affairs in a bankruptcy proceeding is meant to be a complete list of the debtor’s financial records, assets, and debts. 3. There are several technical accounting statements that supplement a corporation’s basic balance sheet in its reports. These include: statements of income (profits and losses; earnings per share; money in and out for such things as wages, supplies, interest, taxes, etc., all compared with prior years); changes in financial position or sources and application of funds (cash balances, working capital, etc.); changes in accounting (the way inventory is valued, the way assets are depreciated, etc.); owners’ equity (basically, assets minus liabilities, but for a corporation, it is measured by paid-in capital plus retained earnings); and retained earnings (basically, profit kept by a corporation after paying out profits as dividends, etc.).

State’s attorney See district attorney.

State’s evidence A general word for testimony for the prosecution, given by a person who was involved in a crime, against others who were involved in the same crime, especially if the testimony is given in return for a grant of immunity, for a reduction of charges, etc. Giving such testimony is called “turning state’s evidence.”

States’ rights All rights of the states of the U.S., especially those rights reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment. The philosophy of states’ rights is that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted to give the greatest possible powers to the states rather than to the federal government.

Station house Police station.

Statuable Statutory.

464 Status

Status 1. A basic condition. The basic legal relationship of a person to the rest of the community. A status crime is one that depends solely on a person’s status (what the person is) rather than on something he or she has done. Most status crime laws are no longer constitutional, but states have gotten around the problem by defining a prohibited status (for example, being an alcoholic) as a prohibited act (“found intoxicated in a public place”), or by restricting behavior without calling it a crime (for example, putting a child in an institution for being “beyond parental control”). A youth who is under court supervision for repeated acts that are not crimes is a status offender. 2. The state of things. For example, status quo is the existing state of things or the way things are at a particular time. Status quo ante means “the way things were before”; for example, before a contract was made.

Statute A law passed by a legislature. [pronounce: stah-chute] Statute of frauds Any of various state laws, modeled after an old Eng-

lish law, that require many types of contracts (such as contracts for the sale of real estate or of goods over a certain dollar amount, contracts to guarantee another’s debt, and certain long-term contracts) to be signed and in writing to be enforceable in court.

Statute of limitations (or repose) See limitation.

Statute of uses See use.

Statute of wills Any of various state laws, modeled after an old English law, that require a will to be in writing, signed, and properly witnessed to be valid. See also holograph.

Statutes at large A collection of all statutes passed by a particular legislature (such as the U.S. Congress), printed in full and in the order of their passage. The U.S. Statutes at Large also contains joint resolutions, constitutional amendments, presidential proclamations, etc.

Statutory Having to do with a statute; created, defined, or required by a statute. [pronounce: stah-chu-tory]

Statutory construction See construction.

Statutory crime An act that is a crime because a law or regulation was passed against it, not necessarily because it is morally evil. See also malum prohibitum and strict liability.

Statutory employer A company that may be responsible under workers’ compensation laws for the employees of an independent contractor if the work done is a regular part of the company’s business.

Statutory rape See rape.

Stay 1. Stop or suspend. For example, when a judge stays a judgment, the judge stops or delays its enforcement. 2. A stoppage or suspen-

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sion. For example, stoppage of the enforcement of the judgment in definition no. 1 is called a “stay of judgment.” 3. Stay laws are statutes that suspend legal actions, usually to protect debtors in times of national financial crisis.

Stenographic recording The taking down of testimony by a court reporter who uses a paper-punching device, a tape recorder, a shorthand notebook, or other device to record testimony and court proceedings, and then types an exact copy later. Nonstenographic recording involves the use of a tape recorder, videotape, etc., without a court reporter to run or transcribe it.

Step transaction A series of transactions that are viewed by the I.R.S. as one transaction for tax purposes.

Step up (or down) basis An increase (or reduction) in the basis (see that word) of a property for income tax purposes that usually occurs when heirs take a dead person’s property. The property’s basis then becomes the market value (or the alternative valuation date value).

Stet Undo the deletion. (Let it stand, from the Latin stare, “ to stand.”). Stet is written near marked deleted words to have them put back in. (Not stat.)

Steward A shop steward.

Stifling a prosecution Taking money for agreeing not to prosecute a person for a criminal offense. This may be a crime.

Stipulation 1. An agreement between lawyers on opposite sides of a lawsuit. It is often in writing and usually concerns either court procedure (for example, an agreement to extend the time in which a pleading is due) or agreed-upon facts that require no proof. 2. A demand. 3. One point in a written agreement.

Stirpes (or stirpital or stipital) See per stirpes.

Stock 1. The goods held for sale by a merchant. 2. Shares of ownership in a corporation. Stock is often divided into preferred (getting a fixed rate of income before any other stock) and common (the bulk of the stock). 3. There are various types of corporate stock. Some of these are: assessable (the owner may have to pay more than the stock’s cost to meet the company’s needs); blue-chip (has excellent investment ratings); callable or redeemable (can be bought back by the company at a prestated price); control (describes that amount of stock, often much less than a majority, that can control the company); cumulative (gets unpaid dividends before any common stock is paid); donated (given back to the company for resale); floating (on the open market for sale); growth (bought for an increase in value,

466 Stock association

not dividends); guaranteed (dividends guaranteed by another company); letter (a letter is required stating that the buyer will not resell before a certain time); listed (traded on an exchange); participation (gets a share of profits); penny (sells for less than one dollar and is often speculative); and registered (registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission). 4. For capital, convertible, etc., stock, see those words. 5. For stock: dividend, market, option, warrant, etc., see those words. 6. Other “stock” words follow here.

Stock association A joint stock company.

Stock control Maintaining records of inventory (goods held or for sale). Stock dividend Profits of stock ownership (dividends) paid out by a corporation in more stock rather than in money. This additional stock

reflects the increased worth of the company.

Stock law district An area where cows, sheep, etc., are prohibited from running free.

Stock rights Rights to buy more stock in a corporation at a future time, given to existing stockholders (or to their successors) by a document (usually a warrant). See also pre-emptive rights under pre-emption.

Stock split A dividing of a company’s stock into a greater number of shares without changing each stockholder’s proportional ownership.

Stockholder’s derivative suit A lawsuit in which a shareholder of a corporation sues in the name of the corporation because a wrong has been done to the company and the company itself will not sue.

Stockholder’s equity A corporation’s net worth (assets minus liabilities) expressed, not in terms of the assets themselves (buildings, inventory, etc.), but in terms of the corporation’s capital stock, capital surplus, and retained earnings (see those words).

Stop and frisk A quick, temporary detention and “pat down” by a police officer of a person whom the officer suspects of being armed. This is called a “Terry-type stop” for the case (Terry v. Ohio) establishing less stringent rules for less than a full search.

Stop order 1. A customer’s instruction to his or her bank to refuse payment on a check the customer has written to another person. 2. An instruction from a customer to a stockbroker to buy a particular stock at a price above the current market price or sell it at a price below the current price. A stop-limit order states a price above which it can’t be bought and below which it can’t be sold, and a stop-loss order is an instruction to buy or sell at a particular price. 3. An order from a judge, from an administrative agency, etc., that tells a person to stop doing

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something, such as building a house without a permit. See also injunction and cease and desist order.

Stoppage in transit Halt the delivery of goods even after they have been given to a carrier (railroad, etc.), especially when done as a matter of right by the seller when the buyer is insolvent or is otherwise unable or unwilling to pay for the goods.

Straddle Buy both put and call (see those words) options for the same stock.

Straight sentence See sentence no. 2.

Straight-line depreciation Dividing the cost of a thing used in a business by the number of years in its useful life and deducting that fraction of the cost each year from taxable income. See also accelerated depreciation under depreciation deduction.

Stranger A person who takes no part in a deal in any way; a third party.

Straw (or straw man, woman, or person) 1. A “front;” a person who is put up in name only to take part in a deal. This is sometimes done to transfer property more easily or to conceal a true participant in a deal. See also street name. 2. A man who stood around outside a court in old England and was hired by lawyers to give false testimony. 3. An argument set up purely to be knocked down. This is sometimes done to divert attention from the real point because your opponent will win that one.

Stream of commerce Goods held within a state for a short while, but which come from another state and will go to another state, are in the stream of commerce and cannot be taxed by the state.

Street certificate A share of stock signed in blank, so anyone can transfer it.

Street name 1. The name of a stock brokerage company. Stock or other securities held in the stockbroker’s own name instead of the customer’s (for convenience, to hide the owner’s name, because the stock was bought on margin, etc.) are held in a street name. See also book entry. 2. The made-up name used by investment companies, banks, etc., to hide the real owners of stock, of a business, etc. Also called “straw,” “front name,” and “nominee.”

Stretchout More work for the same pay.

Strict Exact; precise; governed by exact rules. Strict construction of a law means taking it literally or “what it says, it means” so that the law should be applied to the narrowest possible set of situations. Compare with liberal construction. Also see letter of the law and construction. Strict construction of a contract means that any ambiguous