Color of office refers to a person acting as if they are in an official capacity as an employee of a governmental unit, but taking action that is not authorized. In other words, an office holder acts under the color of office when they take...
criminal law
colorable claim
A colorable claim is a plausible legal claim. This means that the claim is “strong enough” to have a reasonable chance of being valid if the legal basis is generally correct and the facts can be proven in court. Note that the claim need not...
command responsibility
Command responsibility is a jurisprudential doctrine in international criminal law permitting the prosecution of military commanders for war crimes perpetrated by their subordinates. The first legal implementations of command responsibility...
commitment
Commitment is a promise to do something or act in a particular way. A commitment can refer to a contract or an obligation to undertake something, often regarding financial or moral responsibility, like financial commitments (the amount a...
common law
Common law is law that is derived from judicial decisions instead of from statutes. American courts originally fashioned common law rules based on English common law until the American legal system was sufficiently mature to create common law rules...
common law lien
A common law lien is a lien that is created due to common law and does not depend on any statute or contract for its existence. Unless abolished by statute or judicial decision, common law liens generally have the force of law in each U.S....
community service
Community service is unpaid work that benefits the community. A judge can often sentence a convicted defendant to community service as an alternative to a jail sentence.
Some common uses of the term “community service” in...
commutation
Commutation means the substitution of one thing for another.
Some common uses of the term “commutation” in a legal sense include:
In criminal law, commutation refers to reducing or lessening a sentence or punishment...commute a sentence
To “commute a sentence” is the power to substitute a sentence imposed by the judiciary for a lesser sentence. In other words, it means the power to reduce or lessen a sentence resulting from a criminal conviction. For example, a ten-year...
competence
Competence is the capacity or minimal ability to do something; the mental and physical ability to carry out a given task. A few examples are: competence to stand trial, competence to be executed, competence to hold public office, and...