legal education and practice

Shifting the burden of proof refers to transferring the responsibility of producing evidence or persuading the fact-finder from one party to the other.

A shotgun charge (also referred to as dynamite, nitroglycerin, third-degree or Allen charge) refers to jury instructions given by a court to a hung jury to encourage it to continue deliberating until it reaches a

The sidebar is the area in front of or next to the bench that is removed from the witness stand and the jury box. Judges will often call attorneys to speak confidentially with the judge privately so that the jury cannot hear what is discussed. 

A signal is a word or phrase briefly indicating the relevance of one or more cited sources. In formal legal writing, a signal often appears at the start of a citation sentence.

See order of signals for an index of different signals and their definitions.

Under federal firearms law, a “silencer” or a “firearm muffler” is defined under 18 U.S.C.

A silent partner, also known as a dormant partner, is an investor in a partnership who contributes capital but does not participate in the day-to-day management or operations of the business.

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The phrase sine qua non is Latin for “without which not.” When something is described as sine qua non, it is a necessary or indispensable requirement. The phrase represents an essential element, component, or condition of something else.

[Last reviewed in July of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]

Situs means the location of property or an item for legal purposes. Where the situs of something is depends on the type of item and can have important legal consequences. For most physical items the situs is the place where the object is located presently such as a house or a purse. However, for intangible items like a patent, the situs normally is where the property is registered.

Slander is a false statement, usually made orally, which defames another person. Unlike libel, damages from slander are not presumed, and must be proven by the party suing. See, e.g. TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources, 509 U.S. 443 (1993).

Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP suit) refers to lawsuits brought by individuals and entities to dissuade their critics from continuing to produce negative publicity. By definition, SLAPP suits do not have any true legal claims against the critics. People bring SLAPP suits because they can either temporarily prevent their critics from making public statements against them or more commonly to make critics spend all of their time and resources defending the SLAPP suits.

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