Daniel Oran - Oran's Dictionary of the Law

518 Waive

Waive Give up, renounce, or disclaim a privilege, right, or benefit with full knowledge of what you are doing. [pronounce: wave]

Waiver The voluntary giving up of a right (see waive). For example, waiver of immunity is the act of a witness who gives up the constitutional right to refuse to give evidence against himself or herself and who proceeds to testify. A criminal defendant waives immunity merely by going on the witness stand.

Waiving time Allowing a court to take a longer time than usual to try you on a criminal charge.

Walsh-Healey Act (41 U.S.C. 35) A 1936 federal law that set up minimum wage, hour, and work condition standards for employees working for contractors on federal jobs.

Want 1. Desire. 2. Lack.

Wanton 1. Reckless, heedless, or malicious. 2. Weighing about two thousand pounds. 3. Floating in broth. 4. In need.

War crimes Actions that violate international laws of the conduct of war. Individuals may be punished for war crimes by national or international courts. Since the Nuremberg trials following World War II, these crimes include crimes against humanity such as the systematic torture of civilians.

War powers clauses The U.S. constitutional clauses (Article I, Section 8, Clauses 11-14) that give Congress the power to declare war and raise armies and give the president the power to carry on the war.

Ward 1. A division of a city for elections and other purposes. 2. A person, especially a child, placed by the court under the care of a guardian.

Warehouse receipt A piece of paper proving that you own something stored in a warehouse. A warehouse receipt may be a negotiable instrument.

Warehouser (or warehouseman) A person in the business of storing goods. A warehouser’s lien is the right of a person storing goods to keep them until storage charges have been paid.

Warrant 1. Promise or guaranty, especially in a contract or in a deed (see warranty). 2. Written permission given by a judge (or magistrate, etc.) to a police officer (or sheriff, etc.) to arrest a person, conduct a search, seize an item, etc. A warrant given directly from a judge to a police officer to arrest a person is a bench warrant. 3. See subscription warrant under subscribe. 4. Promise that certain facts are true. 5. The name for certain documents authorizing the payment or collection of money.

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Warranty 1. Any promise (or a presumed promise, called an implied warranty) that certain facts are true. 2. In land law, a warranty is a promise or guaranty in a deed that the title of land being sold is good and is complete (“marketable”). (See general and special warranty deeds. See also quitclaim deed.) 3. In the law of buildings, a construction or home owners warranty is the promise that it was built right, and a warranty of habitability is the implied promise to buyers or renters that a house is fit to live in. 4. In commercial law, a warranty is either no. 2 or no. 3. 5. In consumer law, a warranty is the same as in the previous definitions, plus any obligations imposed by law on a seller that benefit a buyer; for example, the warranty that goods are merchantable and the warranty that goods sold as fit for a particular purpose are fit for that purpose. Also, under federal law, if a written consumer warranty is not “full” (as to labor and material for repairs) it must be labeled limited warranty in the sales contract.

Wash sale 1. Selling something and buying something else that is basically the same thing. The word often is used to describe the nearly simultaneous buying and selling of shares of the same stock. 2. Rescission (see that word) is sometimes called a “wash” because all original rights, liabilities, and property (or their monetary equivalent) are returned. 3. A sale with no profit or loss.

Waste 1. Abuse or destruction of property in your rightful possession, but belonging to someone else, or in which someone else has certain rights. 2. Loss of another’s assets due to mismanagement. 3. See also wasting.

Waste-book A merchant’s log of rough notes of transactions as they occur. Also called a “blotter.”

Wasting Depleting; depletable; being used up. A wasting asset is some valuable natural resource (such as growing timber, mineral deposits, oil, etc.) which, when removed, normally qualifies for a depletion allowance (see that word) under income tax laws; a wasting property is a right to a wasting asset, a lease of limited duration, a patent right, etc.; and a wasting trust is a trust that gets used up by making scheduled payments to the trust’s beneficiary.

Water rights The right to use water from a river, stream, ditch, pipe, etc. (sometimes for a specific purpose or amount). See also riparian rights.

Watered stock A stock issue that is sold as if fully paid for, but that is not (often because some or all of the shares were given out for less than full price).

520 Waybill

Waybill A document made out by a carrier that includes the “who, what, where, how, and when” of goods shipped. See also bill of lading.

Ways and Means The name for the committee of the U.S. House of Representatives (and of some state legislatures) responsible for raising the tax revenue that funds all government activity.

Weight of evidence Evidence that is more convincing than opponent’s evidence, not necessarily the larger quantity.

Welfare 1. Public financial assistance to certain categories of poor persons. 2. Health, happiness, and general well-being. 3. See general welfare clause.

Well-pleaded complaint doctrine The federal rule that a defendant cannot get removal of a lawsuit from state court to federal court unless the plaintiff’s complaint shows that the case involves federal law. Compare with artful pleading doctrine.

WESTLAW A computerized legal research source.

Wharton rule Concert of action rule.

Whereas A vague word, often used to mean “because.” When placed at the beginning of a legislative bill, “whereas” introduces the explanation for why the bill should be passed and made law.

Whereby (and other “where” words) A vague word meaning “by means of,” “how?” or several other things. This word, like other vague, formal “where” words (whereas, wherefore, whereof, whereon, whereunder, whereupon, etc.), is usually best left out of a sentence or replaced by a specific thing, place, idea, etc.

Wherefore A vague word, often used in a complaint to begin the section in which the plaintiff spells out exactly what he or she wants from the defendant or wants the court to do.

Whipsaw strike 1. A strike that is particularly harsh to convince other companies to give in to union demands. 2. A strike against a company in which the union uses the added pressure of allowing the company’s competitors to continue working by not striking them.

Whistleblower An employee who brings organizational wrongdoing to the attention of government authorities. Government laws protect some whistleblowers. See also qui tam.

White Acre See Black Acre.

White knight A corporation that buys a company to save it from a takeover that the company’s officers do not want.

White slave The original word for a woman involved in a Mann Act (see that word) violation.

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White-collar crimes 1. Commercial crimes like embezzlement, price fixing, etc. 2. Nonviolent crimes.

Whole law A state or country’s internal law plus its conflict of laws rules. See also renvoi.

Whole life Life insurance with continuing premium payments (which stop if the policy becomes fully paid), a sum paid at death, and, usually, a cash surrender value.

Wholesale Sale (usually in quantity) to intermediaries or to retailers rather than to consumers of the product.

Widow’s (or widower’s) allowance That part of a dead spouse’s money and property that a person may take free of all claims under some state laws.

Widow’s (or widower’s) election That part of a dead spouse’s money and property that a person may choose to take under state law, rather than accepting what was given in the spouse’s will. This is usually equal to what the person would get if there is no will. The process is sometimes called waiving the will.

Wildcat strike A strike without the consent of the union.

Wild’s case An old English case that said if a person gives property in a will “to John and his children,” unless the will clearly means something else, if John has children at the time the will is made, the children take the land jointly with John; but if John has no children when the will is made, John gets the land, but it goes to any children after he dies.

Will 1. Desire; choice. For example, a tenant at will is a person who is permitted to use land or a building only as long as the owner desires the tenant to stay. 2. A document in which a person tells how his or her property is to be handed out after death. If all the necessary formalities have been taken care of, the law will help carry out the wishes of the person making the will. For the various types of wills (holograph, mutual, nuncupative, reciprocal, etc.), see those words.

Will substitutes Refers to such things as life insurance, joint ownership of property, trusts, and other devices that partially eliminate the need for a will.

Willful 1. Intentional; deliberate; on purpose. 2. Obstinate; headstrong; without excuse. 3. With evil purpose.

Wilson v. Lane (118 S.Ct. 2068) The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision that a police department violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches when it permits newspersons to accompany police into a home for a search or arrest.

522 Wind up

Wind up Finish current business, settle accounts, and turn property into cash in order to end a corporation or a partnership and split up the assets. See also dissolution.

Windfall profits Profits that come unexpectedly, that come through no effort or financial cost, or that are much greater than deserved.

Wiretap An electronic or other intercept of the contents of a communication. Government wiretaps must be authorized by a judge for probable cause and private wiretaps must have the consent of one participant (in some states, all participants).

Wish Anything from “mildly desire” to “strongly command.” Avoid or define the word in legal drafting.

With all faults As is.

Withdraw Remove a thing (withdraw money from an account), remove yourself (withdraw as a candidate for office), remove another person (withdraw a juror from a jury), remove from consideration (withdraw an objection in a trial), or remove all possible connections (see withdrawal from conspiracy or criminal action).

Withdrawal from conspiracy or criminal action More than merely ceasing participation. To avoid prosecution for a conspiracy, a person must also disclose the conspiracy to law enforcement authorities, and to avoid prosecution for other criminal activity (often an attempt), a person must also try to prevent the crime through disclosure or direct action.

Withholding of evidence Hiding, destroying, or removing objects, records, etc., because they may be needed by a court. This may be a crime.

Withholding tax 1. The money an employer takes out of an employee’s pay and turns over to the government as prepayment of the employee’s income tax. 2. A tax on dividends, interest, and other income paid to certain people, including people in other countries.

Within the statute Defined, prohibited, or permitted by the statute. Use a more precise term if possible.

Without day See sine die.

Without recourse A phrase used by an indorser (signer other than original “maker”) of a negotiable instrument (check, etc.) to mean that if payment is refused, he or she will not be responsible.

Witness 1. A person who observes an occurrence (such as an accident), an event, or the signing of a document. 2. A person who makes a sworn (under oath) statement that can be used as evidence (in a court, legislature, hearing, etc.). 3. For material witness and expert

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witness, see those words; and for “witness against self,” see selfincrimination.

Wobbler 1. A crime that “wobbles” between being a felony and a misdemeanor, so it can be punished as either.

Words and Phrases A large set of lawbooks that defines legal (and many nonlegal) words by giving actual quotes from cases.

Words of art Technical terms that are used in a special way by a particular profession. They are also called “terms of art.”

Words of limitation The words in a deed or will that tell what type of estate or rights the person being given land receives.

Words of purchase The words in a deed or will that tell who is to get the property.

Work (made) for hire A copyrightable work for which the employer (or hiring person), not the person hired to do the work, is the “author” and owner. Employee work is usually work for hire unless there is a signed writing to the contrary, but a “specially commissioned work” is a work for hire only if it is of a specified type and there is a signed writing that the work is “made for hire.”

Work release program Daytime release of prisoners to work, with return to the prison for nights and weekends.

Workers’ compensation laws Laws passed in most states to pay money to workers injured on the job, regardless of negligence. Businesses pay into a fund to support those payments.

Working capital A company’s current assets minus current liabilities.

It is one measure of the company’s ability to meet its obligations and to take advantage of new opportunities. See also current ratio and quick assets.

Working papers Proof-of-age certificates to satisfy minimum age laws.

Workout An agreement to refinance, restructure, or discharge a debt that is overdue or in bankruptcy.

Work-product rule The principle that a lawyer need not show the other side in a case any facts or things gathered for the case unless the other side can convince the judge that it would be unjust for the things to remain hidden and that there is a special need for them. This is also called the “qualified attorney work-product privilege.” See also qualified privilege.

Work-to-rule A work slowdown in which formal work rules are so closely followed that production slows down.

World Court The International Court of Justice.

524 Worthier title doctrine

Worthier title doctrine 1. Historically, the rule that if persons who inherit something in a will would get exactly the same thing by being intestate heirs (see those words), their “worthier title” is to get it as if intestate heirs instead. 2. Today, in different forms in those states that use it, the rule creates a rebuttable presumption that a person did not mean to limit a remainder interest to his or her heirs.

Wraparound 1. A second mortgage on a property that includes payments on a low-interest-rate first mortgage. This is done by buyers who don’t want to lose the first mortgage and sellers who can’t finance the sale without being willing to keep their names on the first mortgage. It is also done by lenders who finance work on older buildings. 2. A new mortgage that makes payments on old mortgages on several properties at once.

Wrap-up clause A zipper clause.

Writ A judge’s order requiring that something be done outside the courtroom or authorizing it to be done. The most common writ is a notice to a defendant that a lawsuit has been started and that if nobody comes to court to defend against it, the plaintiff may win automatically. If the writ cannot be served (delivered properly), a second one (called an “alias writ ”) may be used. Other types of writs include prerogative (unusual) writs such as habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari and quo warranto (see those words), writs of attachment, error, execution (see those words) and many others. These include papers that are no longer strictly “writs” but have become part of the court’s ordinary processes as judgments and orders.

Write up (down) Update financial records to show the increased (decreased) value of property.

Writeoff 1. An uncollectible debt. 2. A business or investment loss that can usually be claimed as a tax loss.

Writer A person who sells options.

Writings Anything expressed in words, symbols, and numbers, whether written, printed, photocopied, etc.

Written directive See advance directive.

Written law A statute, constitution, treaty, regulation, ordinance, etc., as opposed to unwritten law (see that word).

Wrong A violation of a person’s legal rights, especially a tort.

Wrongful birth action A medical malpractice lawsuit, brought by the parents, based on a doctor’s failure to provide proper information (to advise, diagnose, or test properly), which results in the birth of a child

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with serious birth defects. This is different from a malpractice claim based on procedures that cause birth defects.

Wrongful death action A lawsuit brought by the dependents of a dead person against the person who caused the death. Damages (money) will be given to compensate the dependents for their loss if the killing was negligent or willful. See also survival statute.

Wrongful life action A medical malpractice lawsuit, similar to a wrongful birth action, brought on behalf of the child. When the issue is life itself, rather than the defects, the suit usually fails.

Wrongful pregnancy (or conception) action A medical malpractice lawsuit based on a doctor’s failure to properly perform a sterilization or abortion (or a lawsuit based on a contraceptive drug or device failure).

Wyoming v. Houghton (119 S.Ct. 1297) The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision that a police officer with probable cause to search a car may inspect a passenger’s belongings found in the car because passengers have a reduced “expectation of privacy” regarding their belongings, as opposed to their person, in a car.

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