Glossary

• ACASAdvisory Conciliation and Arbitration...
• AbandonwareSoftware which is no longer being maintained, released or supported by the...
• AbetTo counsel, procure or command someone to commit a...
• Absolute DischargeThis is when a court takes no further action against an offender, although their offence and discharge will appear on their criminal...
• Absolute InterestThe entitlement to the item of property which is not limited by any other person’s...
• Abstract of TitleThis is a summary of all legal documents which relate to a...
• Abuse of ProcessThis is "something so unfair and wrong that the court should not allow a prosecutor to proceed with what is in all other respect a regular proceeding" (Hui Chi-Ming v...
• AcceptanceThe unconditional agreement to an...
• AccusedThe person who has allegedly committed a criminal...
• Acknowledgement of serviceThis must be filed by a defendant if they are unable to file their defence within a specified period or if they wish to dispute the jurisdiction of a...
• Acoustic ShockThis is where a sudden burst of sound can temporarily or even permanently damage the eardrum and cause excruciating...
• AcquisitionThis is the purchase of one company by another without a merger...
• AcquittalThe discharge of a defendant following a verdict or direction of "not...
• ActAct of Parliament - primary legislation enacted by...
• ActionProceedings issued in the County or High Court. (Now known as...
• Actus ReusThe act of committing a...
• Address for ServiceThis is where one party will accept the delivery or service of legal...
• AdjournmentThe temporary suspension of the hearing of a...
• AdjudicationJudgment or decision in a...
• Administration orderThis is a court order which requires a debtor to pay money to the court, which then distributes it amongst any...
• Administrative CourtPart of the High Court which deals with Judicial...
• AdministratorA person appointed by the Court to manage the estate of a deceased...
• Admissible(Evidence) which is allowed to be used in a...
• Adoption OrderThe court order when a child is...
• AdversarialThe system of justice used in British courts for trying to get at the truth, based upon argument between two...
• Adverse PossessionThis is the process which results in the acquisition of legal title of land, without actually paying for...
• AdvocateSomeone (generally a Barrister or Solicitor) who represents a party in a Court...
• Affidavit A written statement which is confirmed on oath or by...
• AffirmAlternative to swearing a document on oath to promise that it is...
• Agency AgreementThis is an agreement which allows one party (the Agent) to sell products (goods or services) on behalf of another (the Principal) in return for commission...
• AgentSomeone who is appointed to act on behalf of another party, the...
• Allocation questionnaireThis is issued to all parties after a defence has been filed, and is used to decide which track the case will be allocated...
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)This is the collective term for the ways in which parties can settle civil disputes without the need for a formal court...
• Ambulatory WillA will which can still be changed because the settlor is...
• Annual General Meeting (AGM) A company must hold a meeting of shareholders once each calendar...
• AnnulTo declare no longer...
• Anton Piller OrderThis requires a defendant to allow a claimant’s solicitors to search the defendant's premises and remove all items covered by the order. These are now known as Search...
• AppealAn application to a higher court for a review of the decision of a lower...
• AppellantPerson who instigates an...
• ApplicantThe person who is bringing the proceedings to...
• Arbitration The process of using an independent third party, agreed by both sides, to settle disputes without going to...
• Articles of AssociationA document which is required to incorporate a UK...
• AsbestosisExposure to cancer-causing asbestos (in the...
• AssentA formal document which is required when transferring ownership to a person who is entitled to the property following the death of the...
• AssetsAny property or rights which do not inlclude land or interest in...
• Assisted PersonA party to legal proceedings who is receiving legal...
• Attachment of EarningsAn order which directs a Debtor's employer to regularly deduct an amount from their earnings for payment to the...
• AuthorThe programmer (or their employer) of a software...
• Authorised Share Capital Shares which are available to be...
• AwardThe amount of damages assessed by a...
• BSD LicenceBerkeley Software Distribution Licence - a type of Open Source software licence with few...
• BailA Defendant's release from custody pending their next appearance in...
• BailiffCounty Court Officer who can serve Court documents and execute...
• BankruptA debtor who, either upon voluntary petition or one invoked by their creditors, is judged legally...
• BankruptcyThe state of being...
• BarThe body to which all Barristers...
• BarristerLegal professionals who have rights of audience before all...
• Basic ChargesGeneral charges incurred for legal...
• Basic DisclosureSome forms of employment require a Criminal Conviction Certificate, which will show all convictions held at national level which are not...
• Bench WarrantA warrant issued by a judge for a defendant who is missing which requires them to be arrested and brought before...
• BeneficiaryA beneficiary is someone who stands to gain as a result of a bequest made in a will or who receives something from an...
• BequestA gift of Chattels or Assets by...
• Bill Of IndictmentA written statement of the charges against a defendant who is sent for trial to the Crown...
• Bill of CostsA detailed statement of a party's...
• BinaryExecutable program or a data...
• Bind OverA court order which requires a person to carry out some...
• Bona FideIn good...
• Breach of ContractThis occurs when a party to a contract fails to abide by the agreed...
• Break ClauseThis is a clause which allows a tenant to end a lease at specific times during the period of the...
• BriefWritten instructions and history of a case which is sent to a...
• BullyingThis occurs when someone tries to intimidate, humiliate or undermine another...
• Burden of ProofThe standard of proof which must be shown in order to win a...
• Business NameSole Traders and Partnerships can either trade under their own names or have a separate name, known as a Business...
• Calderbank LetterThis is a letter making an offer of settlement prior to the case going to hearing, similar to a Part 36...
• Carbon Monoxide PoisoningSome people have encountered problems with gas applicances on holiday - which can lead to illness and even...
• Care OrderThis is an order which places a child in the care of the local...
• Carpal Tunnel SyndromeThis occurs, often in the workplace, when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at the...
• Case NumberA unique reference number which is allocated to each...
• CautionWarning given by a Police...
• Caveat EmptorThis essentially means "buyer beware" - a principle which still stands in property...
• Certificate of TitleThis is a document which certifies the legal ownership of...
• ChambersOffices used by a barrister. Alternatively, a private Court from which the public are excluded in which a Judge may conduct certain...
• Chancery DivisionA section of the High Court, divided between Chancery Chambers and Bankruptcy and Companies...
• ChargeSecurity for the payment of a debt upon sale of a...
• Charging OrderThis is a charge imposed by the court on the debtor's property to secure payment of the sum that is due and also An order directing that a charge be registered at the Land Registry on property owned by a...
• ChattelThis refers to any property except freehold...
• Child MaintenanceMoney due from a non-resident parent to the parent with whom the child...
• Circuit JudgeCircuit judges must be lawyers who have held a 'right of audience' for at least ten years, and must also have served either part-time as a recorder on criminal cases or full-time as district judges on civil cases before they can be...
• CivilMatters concerning private rights as opposed to offences against the...
• Civil PartnerA member of a same-sex...
• ClaimProceedings issued in the County or High Court. Previously known as an...
• Claim FormForm on which a Claim is issued (previously known as a...
• ClaimantPerson issuing a Claim (previously known as the...
• Clean break This is where financial matters are agreed by the parties in full and final settlement and there is no ongoing financial arrangement between them either in terms of income or...
• Click-Wrap LicenceThis is a licence for software either downloaded from a website or loaded from disk, where the licence terms are accepted on screen by following a "click to accept"...
• Closed SourceSoftware which does not allow its code to be manipulated by...
• Co-RespondentA person joined as a party to...
• CodicilA codicil is an addition or amendment to an existing...
• Coexistence AgreementTrademark coexistence describes a situation in which two different enterprises use a similar or identical trademark to market a product or service without necessarily interfering with each other’s...
• Collaborative LawA form of dispute resolution in which family lawyers and their clients agree in writing to reach a settlement without court...
• Collective AgreementAn agreement reached through negotiations between a trade union and an...
• Comfort LetterA document which is issued to back up an agreement but which does not have any contractual...
• Commissioner of OathsSolicitors authorised by the Lord Chancellor to administer oaths and affirmations to a statement of...
• CommittalThe procedure of directing the case to the Crown Court to be dealt with, following examination by the Magistrates of a case involving an indictable or either way...
• Committal OrderAn order of the Court placing someone in...
• Common HoldA form of freehold land ownership, as an alternative to long leasehold...
• Common LawLaw established by precedent from judicial...
• Common Law PartnerA partner who you live with but to whom you are not...
• Commons Registration SearchA search at the local authority to check that the property is not registered as common...
• Community Punshment OrderA sentence which requires a young person to complete unpaid community work for a period of 40-240...
• Community Rehabilitation OrderThis is equivalent to a Supervision Order, but it's for young people aged...
• Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA)This is a deal between an insolvent company and its...
• CompensationSum of money paid in respect of loss, breakage, hardship, inconvenience or personal...
• CompletionWhen the buyer of a property becomes the new owner of the...
• Compromise AgreementThis is an agreement which is entered into by an employee and employer, preventing an employee’s right to a claim against their...
• ConciliationThis is where disputing parties attempt to reach an agreement out of...
• Concurrent SentanceA direction by a Court that a number of sentences of imprisonment should run at the same...
• Concurrent User LicenceA software licence which depends upon the number of people who use the software at any one...
• Concurrent WritThis is a duplicate of an original...
• Conditional DischargeA discharge of a convicted defendant without sentence on condition that they do not re-offend within a specified period of...
• Conditional Fee AgreementsSee No Win No...
• Conditional Fee ArrangementThis is a contractual agreement for a case being pursued on a “no win no fee”...
• ConditionsConditions form the basis of a contract - if one of them fails or is broken, the contract is...
• Conduct MoneyMoney paid to a witness in advance of the hearing of a case as compensation for time spent attending...
• Confidentiality agreementAn agreement made to protect confidential information in case it needs to be disclosed to another...
• Conjoined AppealThis is when appeal claims are joined in...
• Consecutive SentanceThis is an order for a subsequent sentence of imprisonment to commence as soon as a previous sentence...
• Consent OrderAn order which is negotiated and agreed by both parties and sanctioned by the...
• ConsiderationSomething which must be given by either side in a...
• Constructive DismissalWhen an employee is forced to resign because of an employer's...
• Contempt of CourtDisobedience or wilful disregard to the judicial...
• Contingent WillA will which will only become effective if some condition is...
• ContractThis document will be signed by the person selling and the person buying the property and will be sent to their...
• Contract Of ServiceA contract under which a person agrees to consider themselves an...
• Contract for ServiceA contract with a person who is...
• Contributory NegligencePartial responsibility of a claimant for the injury in respect of which they claim...
• ConveyanceThe legal work which needs to be undertaken when buying or selling a...
• ConvictionTo be found in violation of a law by a judge or...
• CopyleftThis term describes the practice of using copyright law to remove restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of a work for others and requiring that the same freedoms be preserved in modified...
• CopyrightThis protects material, such as literature, art, music, sound recordings, films and broadcasts from being copied without...
• CorroborationEvidence by one person confirming that of another or supporting...
• Costs orders An order in court proceedings determining who should pay for each party’s...
• CounselA...
• CountAn individual offence set out in an...
• CounterclaimA claim made by a defendant against a claimant in an...
• County CourtCourt dealing with civil...
• County Court Judgment CCJThis is a judgment of a county court which orders a defendant to pay a sum of money to a...
• CourtBody with judicial...
• Court Order The recorded decision of a judge, once he has heard and considered the evidence from all parties in the...
• Court RoomPlace where cases are...