Glossary Terms D - F

Damages: Money payment recovered in the courts for an injury or loss caused by an unlawful act or omission or negligence of another.

Decedent: A deceased person.

Decision: The judgment reached or given by a court of law.

Declaratory Judgment: Judicial adjudication of the rights of the parties in a lawsuit made to clarify the parties' legal positions.

Decree: An order of the court. A final decree is one that fully and finally disposes of the litigation. An interlocutory decree is a preliminary order that often disposes of only part of a lawsuit.

Defamation: That which tends to injure a persons reputation. Libel is published defamation, whereas slander is spoken.

Default: A failure to respond to a lawsuit within the specified time.

Default Judgment: A judgment entered against a party who fails to appear in court or respond to the charges.

Defendant: In civil law, the party defending a lawsuit ; the party against whom the plaintiff seeks to recover damages from.

Demurrer: Defendant's claim that even if the allegations in a complaint are true, they are not sufficient to impose any liability on the defendant.

De Novo: A new. A trial de novo is a new trial of a case.

Deposition: Testimony of a witness taken under oath, but not in a courtroom. May be used to discover evidence prior to trial or to preserve testimony for use in court at a later time.

Deponent: The person who testifies at a deposition.

Descent and Distribution Statutes: State laws that provide for the distribution of estate property of a person who dies without a will. Same as intestacy laws.

Dicta: Plural of "obiter dictum." A remark made by a judge in a legal opinion that is irrelevant to the decision and does not establish a precedent.

Directed Verdict: Now called Judgment as a matter of Law. An instruction by the judge to the jury to return a specific verdict.

Direct Evidence: Generally, eyewitness evidence. Compare with circumstantial evidence.

Direct Examination: The first questioning of witnesses by the party on whose behalf they are called.

Disability: In the legal sense, lack of legal capacity to perform some act. Used in a physical sense in connection with workers' compensation acts and is a composite of (a) actual incapacity to perform employment tasks and the wage loss resulting therefrom and (b) physical bodily impairment which may or may not be incapacitating.

Disbarment: Form of discipline of a lawyer resulting in the loss (often permanently) of that lawyer's right to practice law. It differs from censure (an official reprimand or condemnation) and from suspension (a temporary loss of the right to practice law).

Disclaim: To refuse a gift made in a will.

Discovery: The pretrial process by which one party discovers the evidence that will be relied upon in the trial by the opposing party.

Disfigurement: A technical term in workers' compensation cases for a serious and permanent scar to the head, neck, or face.

Dismissal with Prejudice: Final judgment against the plaintiff which prohibits bringing an action on the same cause of action in the future. In contrast, "dismissal without prejudice" allows the plaintiff to sue again for the same cause of action.

Dismissal: The termination of a lawsuit. A dismissal without prejudice allows a lawsuit to be brought before the court again at a later time. In contrast, a dismissal with prejudice prevents the lawsuit from being brought before a court in the future.

Dissent: To disagree. An appellate court opinion setting forth the minority view and outlining the disagreement of one or more judges with the decision of the majority.

Diversion: The process of removing some minor criminal, traffic, or juvenile cases from the full judicial process, on the condition that the accused undergo some sort of rehabilitation or make restitution for damages.

Docket: A list of cases to be heard by a court or a log containing brief entries of court proceedings.

Doctrine of avoidable consequences or mitigation of damages: Imposes a duty on victims of a tort to take reasonable steps to minimize their damages after an injury has been inflicted.

Domicile: The place where a person has his or her permanent legal home. A person may have several residences, but only one domicile.

Double Jeopardy: Putting a person on trial more than once for the same crime. It is forbidden by the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Dram shop: A drinking establishment where alcoholic beverages are served to be drunk on the premises.

Dram Shop Act: In Alabama , this statute imposes liability on drinking establishments, like bars and restaurants, for harm resulting from the establishment's service of alcohol to visibly intoxicated persons.

Due Process of Law: The right of all persons to receive the guarantees and safeguards of the law and the judicial process. It includes such constitutional requirements as adequate notice, assistance of counsel. and the rights to remain silent, to a speedy and public trial, to an impartial jury, and to confront and secure witnesses.

Duty: In negligence cases, a "duty" is an obligation to conform to a particular standard of care. A failure to so conform places the actor at risk of being liable to another to whom a duty is owed for an injury sustained by the other of which the actor's conduct is a legal cause. See reasonable man doctrine.

Elements of a Crime: Specific factors that define a crime which the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt in order to obtain a conviction. The elements that must be proven are (1) that a crime has actually occurred, (2) that the accused intended the crime to happen, and (3) a timely relationship between the first two factors.

Eminent Domain: The power of the government to take private property for public use through condemnation.

Emotional Distress: Mental anguish.

Employee Verification Form: In a workers' compensation case, it's a bi-annual report of earnings to be completed by the injured employee. The form is required to be returned to the insurance carrier within 30 days of receipt or benefits may be stopped.

En Banc: All the judges of a court sitting together. Appellate courts can consist of a dozen or more judges, but often they hear cases in panels of three judges. If a case is heard or reheard by the full court, it is heard en banc.

Enjoining: An order by the court telling a person to stop performing a specific act.

Entrapment: A defense to criminal charges alleging that agents of the government induced a person to commit a crime he or she otherwise would not have committed.

Equal Protection of the Law: The guarantee in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that all persons be treated equally by the law. Court decisions have established that this guarantee requires that courts be open to all persons on the same conditions, with like rules of evidence and modes of procedure; that persons be subject to no restrictions in the acquisition of property, the enjoyment of personal liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which do not generally affect others; that persons are liable to no other or greater burdens than such as are laid upon others, and that no different or greater punishment is enforced against them for a violation of the laws.

Equitable Remedies: Remedies that do not include monetary settlements. Examples include injunctions and restraining orders.

Equity: Generally, justice or fairness. Historically, equity refers to a separate body of law developed in England in reaction to the inability of the common-law courts, in their strict adherence to rigid writs and forms of action, to consider or provide a remedy for every injury. The king therefore established the court of chancery, to do justice between parties in cases where the common law would give inadequate redress. The principle of this system of law is that equity will find a way to achieve a lawful result when legal procedure is inadequate. Equity and law courts are now merged in most jurisdictions.

Error: In the legal sense, a mistaken interpretation of facts or application of the law that can prove grounds for an appeal.

Escheat (es-chet): The process by which a deceased person's property goes to the state if no heir can be found.

Escrow: Money or a written instrument such as a deed that, by agreement between two parties, is held by a neutral third party (held in escrow) until all conditions of the agreement are met.

Estate: An estate consists of personal property (car, household items, and other tangible items), real property, and intangible property, such as stock certificates and bank accounts, owned in the individual name of a person at the time of the persons death. It does not include life insurance proceeds unless the estate was made the beneficiary) or other assets that pass outside the estate (like joint tenancy asset).

Estate Tax: Generally, a tax on the privilege of transferring property to others after a person's death. In addition to federal estate taxes, many states have their own estate taxes.

Estoppel: A person's own act, or acceptance of facts, which preclude his or her later making claims to the contrary.

Et al: And others.

Evidence: Proof of a probative matter presented at trial for the purpose of inducing belief in the minds of the jury or judge. Evidence comes in a variety of forms, including testimony, writings, tangible objects, and exhibits.

Exemplary Damages or Punitive Damages: Compensation greater than is necessary to pay a plaintiff for a loss. These damages are awarded because the loss was aggravated by violence, oppression, malice, fraud or wanton and wicked conduct on the part of the defendant. Such damages are intended to punish the defendant for his evil behavior or make an example of him or her.

Exempt Property: In bankruptcy proceedings, this refers to certain property protected by law from the reach of creditors.

Exceptions: Declarations by either side in a civil or criminal case reserving the right to appeal a judge's ruling upon a motion. Also, in regulatory cases, objections by either side to points made by the other side or to rulings by the agency or one of its hearing officers.

Exclusionary Rule: The rule preventing illegally obtained evidence to be used in any trial.

Execute: To complete the legal requirements (such as signing before witnesses) that make a will valid. Also, to execute a judgment or decree means to put the final judgment of the court into effect.

Executor: A personal representative, named in a will, who administers an estate.

Exhibit: A document or other item introduced as evidence during a trial or hearing.

Exonerate: Removal of a charge, responsibility or duty.

Expert: A witness who may give an opinion in court based on the particular competence of that witness.

Ex Parte: On behalf of only one party, without notice to any other party. For example, a request for a search warrant is an ex parte proceeding, since the person subject to the search is not notified of the proceeding and is not present at the hearing.

Ex Parte Proceeding: The legal procedure in which only one side is represented. It differs from adversary system or adversary proceeding.

Ex Post Facto: After the fact. The Constitution prohibits the enactment of ex post facto laws. These are laws that permit conviction and punishment for a lawful act performed before the law was changed and the act made illegal.

Extenuating Circumstances: Circumstances which render a crime less aggravated, heinous, or reprehensible than it would otherwise be.

Expungement: Official and formal erasure of a record or partial contents of a record.

Extradition: The process by which one state or country surrenders to another state, a person accused or convicted of a crime in the other state.

Fact Question: Issues in a trial or hearing concerning facts and how they occurred, as opposed to questions of law. Fact questions are for the jury to decide, unless the issues are presented in a non-jury or bench trial, in which case the judge would decide fact questions. Questions of law are decided by a judge. Findings of fact are generally non-appealable, while rulings on questions of law are subject to appeal.


Family Practitioner: A physician who has a general health care practice and no specialization.

Felony: Crimes of a graver or more serious nature than misdemeanors.

Fiduciary: A person having a legal relationship of trust and confidence to another and having a duty to act primarily for the others benefit, e.g., a guardian, trustee, or executor.

File: To place a paper in the official custody of the clerk of court/court administrator to enter into the files or records of a case.

Final Receipt: In a workers' compensation case, it's the form presented by the insurance carrier for the injured employee's signature so that benefits will stop upon return to work.

Final Judgement: The written ruling on a lawsuit by the judge who presided at trial. This completes the case unless it is appealed to a higher court. Also called a final decree or final decision.

Finding: Formal conclusion by a judge or regulatory agency on issues of fact. Also, a conclusion by a jury regarding a fact.

Fracture: A break or crack in a bone.

top of page Return to Glossary