wex definitions

A no-knock warrant is a search warrant authorizing police officers to enter certain premises without first knocking and announcing their presence or purpose prior to entering the premises. Such warrants are issued where an entry pursuant to the knock-and-announce rule (ie. an announcement prior to entry) would lead to the destruction of the objects for which the police are searching or would compromise the safety of the police or another individual.

Knock-and-announce rule: an overview

Under the common law knock-and-announce rule, a police officer executing a search warrant generally must not immediately force his or her way into a residence. Instead, he or she must first knock, identify himself or herself and his or her intent, and wait a reasonable amount of time for the occupants to let him or her into the residence.

Curtilage includes the area immediately surrounding a dwelling, and it counts as part of the home for many legal purposes, including searches and many self-defense laws. When considering whether something is in a dwelling's curtilage, courts consider four factors:

Abortion: an overview

In 1973, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, changed the legal status of abortion by striking down a Texas law that criminalized abortion except as a means of saving the mother’s life. The case pitted individual privacy rights against States’ interest in regulating the life of the fetus.

Seamen who are injured while at sea are entitled to maintenance and cure from their employers. Maintenance is a seaman's day-to-day living expenses. Cure is the seaman's medical costs. Employers are only obligated to pay maintenance and cure until the seaman is fit for duty, or until he has reached a point where additional medical treatment will not help him. See Calmar S.S. Corp. v. Taylor, 303 U.S. 525 (1938).

Sometimes, a person buying real property gives the seller a mortgage on the property as part of the deal to buy the property. This is called a purchase money mortgage, because this type of mortgage usually replaces part or all of the cash that the buyer would otherwise pay the seller. For example, a buyer might pay for a $500,000 house with a $400,000 bank mortgage, $60,000 in cash, and a $40,000 purchase money mortgage.

Definition

A term in a loan agreement that requires the borrower to pay off the loan immediately under certain conditions.

In some states, mortgagors who default on their loans and lose their mortgaged property may recover their property by exercising a right of redemption. To exercise the right, mortgagors must pay their lenders the full amount of their unpaid debt, plus any additional default-related fees. Rights of redemption are governed by state law, which varies on whether and how long rights of redemption persist after foreclosure.

Most deed of trust mortgages include a power-of-sale clause. This clause allows the trustees in deed of trust mortgages to do non-judicial foreclosures on delinquent borrowers - that is, foreclose without going to court.

See Mortgage Law.

Housing Courts are special courts used by many large cities to deal with disputes between landlords and tenants, cases involving housing code violations, and similar housing-related cases. Usually, these courts have special, abbreviated procedures. See Eviction.