An agent is a person authorized to act on behalf of another person. The party an agent is authorized to act for is known as the principal. A principal-agent relationship can either be intentionally created or created by implication through...
individual rights
alienable
Alienable means transferable.
An interest in property is alienable if it may be conveyed by one party to another. In general, all private property is alienable unless some contractual, common law, or statutory restriction...
anti-contact rule
The anti-contact rule, also known as rule 4.2 of professional conduct, is a rule prohibiting lawyers from discussing subject matter of any case they’re working on with someone the lawyer knows to be represented by another lawyer in the matter...
arraignment
An arraignment is the first step in a criminal proceeding where the defendant is brought in front of the court to hear the charges against them and enter a plea.
See, e.g. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin 500 U.S. 44 (1991...
assisted suicide
As noted in the Supreme Court of New Mexico case Morris v. Brandenburg, assisted suicide is the act of actively aiding other people in the taking of their own lives. Physician-assisted suicide, a subset of assisted suicide, involves the...
autopsy rights
Autopsy rights are those given to the deceased and the next of kin to determine whether and to what extent autopsies should be performed. Typically, the individual (prior to death) and next of kin get to decide whether an autopsy is performed...
bail
Bail is the money a defendant pays as a guarantee that they will show up in court at a later date. A failure to return triggers the bond obligation and allows the court to keep any money given as security. According to the American Bar...
bail bond
Bail bond is an agreement to pay the court if a criminal defendant fails to meet the terms of conditional release from custody. Many bail bonds are signed by the defendant and the defendant's sureties (e.g., a bondsman). Some bail bonds are...
bailment
A 'bailment' is defined as a non-ownership transfer of possession. Under English common law, the right to possess a thing is separate and distinct from owning the thing. Interestingly, as a result of this distinction, in some jurisdictions,...
bench trial
Bench trial refers to the type of trial that does not involve a jury but is conducted by the judge alone, in which the judge both decides the facts of the case and applies the law. The word bench in the law is in reference to the judge, so a...