Legal Word Of The Day Forum

[Curious George]

Okay, so I find myself with a fair amount of anxiety over my upcoming 1L -- I don't know squat about the law. My gut says to prep, but the current 1Ls say "No way, you silly goose!".

So, what to do...? If I do nothing, I'll feel even more anxiety. So, maybe just a little? A compromise? Some vocab! *Collective sigh*

From the number of topics and posts I read on hear expressing what I feel are the same concerns, I figured that perhaps we could use a little "fun" here on this forum.

So, I decided that I'd start a little "Word of the day" thread.

Provided there is at least some interest, I'll try to post a new word each day with a definition. You can then feel free to post a reply using that word -- a funny sentence, perhaps. Anything lighthearted that might familiarize you (and others) with this word, it's meaning, and it's context. Some may be easy, some may be hard. Some you'll likely already know, but hopefully some will be new to you.


Without further ado:

5/10: Antitrust - Of or relating to legislation preventing or controlling trusts or other monopolies, with the intention of promoting competition in business.
5/11: Replevin - A procedure whereby goods wrongfully taken or detained may be provisionally restored to their owner pending the outcome of an action to determine the rights of the parties concerned.
Word of the day for May 12th:
5/12: Force majeure - Unforeseeable circumstance that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

[20090922]

Mike wished he could file an antitrust suit against the local pimp, as he is very upset over the rising prices in the last couple of years due to mafia support.

[TTT-LS]

.

[lishi]

Well good thing you approve, because if you didn't I'd have to lock the thread immediately

But I like the thead too. I think it could be fun, although I'm not very creative or funny.

[bocifious]

no way you will be ready for law school unless you have memorized Black's Law Dictionary by day 1...

[Curious George]

Relative to the other astronomically stupid things some 0Ls are openly thinking about doing (e.g. law preview, reading E&Es over the summer), this thread seems harmless and maybe fun. Not that it matters, but I approve since your proposed project (1) involves little time investment, (2) has a potentially social/light-hearted angle to it, and (3) costs effectively $0.

Other suggested words for use/discussion in the future:
- Replevin
- Sua Sponte
- Appellant/Appellee
- Respondeat Superior
- Standing
- Least (Lowest) Cost Avoider
- Coase's Theorem
- Stare Decisis
- Scienter
- Demurrer
- Writ of Cert

With a few exceptions, those were all terms that I didn't know very well at the beginning of my 1L year (wow, feels odd to describe 1L as a thing of the past!), and which were important in one way or another to the coursework.

On that note, if any of you 1Ls have any vocab suggestions such as these, please drop me a PM with them. Feel free to include your own definition with them as well, if you'd like.

[Doobs789]

Estoppel

[ErissaK]

wtf is a tort...

[20090922]

Your mom is a tort, when I came over she didn't give me cookies and I died from diabetes.

Basically, it's when person A does something, or fails to do something, and that causes injury to person B.

If person A purposefully does the action, it is tort of battery.
If person A purposefully neglects to do the action, it is the tort of negligence.

[lishi]

I HATE ESTOPPEL!!!!!

[Ipsa Dixit]

IDK why, but when when I think of the word estoppel, I always imagine Diana Ross singing, "Estop in the name of love" (and now that's stuck in my head.)

And demurrer is pretty much my favorite legal word. If only I could inject it into modern slang!

[Corsair]

..

[TTT-LS]

m

[lishi]

I think I hated it because when I took a Contracts class, that was the one thing I didn't understand. And everyone and their mom told me how easy it is to get. And now I understand it on a basic level, but for some reason I just get all confused with it when talking about specific cases and how it works.

I don't know. I guess I'm just special.


P.S. Contracts is a required course for all business majors at my school.

[muddywaters]

Mandamus.

Nunc Pro Tunc.

Pro se.

[Curious George]

Word of the day for May 11th:

Replevin - A procedure whereby goods wrongfully taken or detained may be provisionally restored to their owner pending the outcome of an action to determine the rights of the parties concerned.

[chup]

Other suggested vocab words:
- en banc
- per curiam
- testator
- prosecutrix

- menage à trois.

Wait...

[Curious George]

Word of the day for May 12th:

Force majeure - Unforeseeable circumstance that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

[Eriro]

ehhh, let me know if this is far from correct:

Is there any sort of force majeure which would allow me to receive my degree without having to defend my thesis?

[Hachi]

Limited Liability - concept whereby a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability

[Grad_Student]

res ipsa loquitur?

[TTT-LS]

-

[mumbling2myself]

res ipsa loquitur?

mumbling2myself has a really good definition of this one. It involves crayons.

It's more of an idea of torts as a whole, which all boils down to the court being the mommy and the P's/D's being toddlers.

Res ipsa = "That crayon didn't put itself on the walls!"

[Grad_Student]

^ haha I like it.

[mumbling2myself]

^ haha I like it.

A shocking amount of torts law, from the assessment of damages to theories of negligence to the hand formula, fit into that meme.