To authenticate means to prove or verify the authenticity of a thing; to show something to be genuine or real. To authenticate may also be to officially attest to the authenticity of something or to give authority by proof or by other legally required formalities.
See: Authentication.
[Last reviewed in June of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
In regards to contracts or other documents, authentication means to sign or to execute the document.
The "automobile exception" is an exception to the general requirement of a warrant for searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment.
Autopsy, borrowed from the Greek autopsia, meaning “the act of seeing with one’s own eyes,” means the detailed medical examination and/or dissection of a dead body to determine the cause of death or for any scientific and medical purpose. Most of the time, autopsies are used to determine disease, injury, and cause of death of an individual in a criminal investigation.
Avowal is a declaration made by an attorney during the trial process.
The best evidence rule applies when a party wants to admit the contents of a writing, recording, or photograph at a trial, but that the original is not available.
A bias is to exhibit a pre-existing inclination or prejudice for or against someone or something.
Biased assimilation is the tendency to interpret information in a way that supports a desired conclusion. This tendency leads parties to place undue credibility on evidence that supports that conclusion while also unduly discounting information that contradicts it.
Brady material is derived from the United States Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland in 1963.
