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A B
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G H
I J
K L M
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X Y Z #
Click on the first letter of the
word from the list above to go to the appropriate
section of the glossary.
- E -
Elements of a Crime: Specific factors that define a
crime which the prosecution must prove beyond a
reasonable doubt in order to obtain a conviction. The
elements that must be proven are (1) that a crime has
actually occurred, (2) that the accused intended the
crime to happen, and (3) a timely relationship between
the first two factors. Eminent Domain: The power of
the government to take private property for public use
through condemnation.
Emotional Distress: Mental anguish.
Employee Verification Form: In a workers'
compensation case, it's a bi-annual report of earnings
to be completed by the injured employee. The form is
required to be returned to the insurance carrier
within 30 days of receipt or benefits may be stopped.
En Banc: All the judges of a court sitting
together. Appellate courts can consist of a dozen or
more judges, but often they hear cases in panels of
three judges. If a case is heard or reheard by the
full court, it is heard en banc.
Enjoining: An order by the court telling a person
to stop performing a specific act.
Entrapment: A defense to criminal charges alleging
that agents of the government induced a person to
commit a crime he or she otherwise would not have
committed.
Equal Protection of the Law: The guarantee in the
Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that all
persons be treated equally by the law. Court decisions
have established that this guarantee requires that
courts be open to all persons on the same conditions,
with like rules of evidence and modes of procedure;
that persons be subject to no restrictions in the
acquisition of property, the enjoyment of personal
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which do not
generally affect others; that persons are liable to no
other or greater burdens than such as are laid upon
others, and that no different or greater punishment is
enforced against them for a violation of the laws.
Equitable Remedies: Remedies that do not include
monetary settlements. Examples include injunctions and
restraining orders.
Equity: Generally, justice or fairness.
Historically, equity refers to a separate body of law
developed in England in reaction to the inability of
the common-law courts, in their strict adherence to
rigid writs and forms of action, to consider or
provide a remedy for every injury. The king therefore
established the court of chancery, to do justice
between parties in cases where the common law would
give inadequate redress. The principle of this system
of law is that equity will find a way to achieve a
lawful result when legal procedure is inadequate.
Equity and law courts are now merged in most
jurisdictions.
Error: In the legal sense, a mistaken
interpretation of facts or application of the law that
can prove grounds for an appeal.
Escheat (es-chet): The process by which a deceased
person's property goes to the state if no heir can be
found.
Escrow: Money or a written instrument such as a
deed that, by agreement between two parties, is held
by a neutral third party (held in escrow) until all
conditions of the agreement are met.
Estate: An estate consists of personal property
(car, household items, and other tangible items), real
property, and intangible property, such as stock
certificates and bank accounts, owned in the
individual name of a person at the time of the persons
death. It does not include life insurance proceeds
unless the estate was made the beneficiary) or other
assets that pass outside the estate (like joint
tenancy asset).
Estate Tax: Generally, a tax on the privilege of
transferring property to others after a person's
death. In addition to federal estate taxes, many
states have their own estate taxes.
Estoppel: A person's own act, or acceptance of
facts, which preclude his or her later making claims
to the contrary.
Et al: And others.
Evidence: Proof of a probative matter presented at
trial for the purpose of inducing belief in the minds
of the jury or judge. Evidence comes in a variety of
forms, including testimony, writings, tangible
objects, and exhibits.
Exemplary Damages or Punitive Damages: Compensation
greater than is necessary to pay a plaintiff for a
loss. These damages are awarded because the loss was
aggravated by violence, oppression, malice, fraud or
wanton and wicked conduct on the part of the
defendant. Such damages are intended to punish the
defendant for his evil behavior or make an example of
him or her.
Exempt Property: In bankruptcy proceedings, this
refers to certain property protected by law from the
reach of creditors.
Exceptions: Declarations by either side in a civil
or criminal case reserving the right to appeal a
judge's ruling upon a motion. Also, in regulatory
cases, objections by either side to points made by the
other side or to rulings by the agency or one of its
hearing officers.
Exclusionary Rule: The rule preventing illegally
obtained evidence to be used in any trial.
Execute: To complete the legal requirements (such
as signing before witnesses) that make a will valid.
Also, to execute a judgment or decree means to put the
final judgment of the court into effect.
Executor: A personal representative, named in a
will, who administers an estate.
Exhibit: A document or other item introduced as
evidence during a trial or hearing.
Exonerate: Removal of a charge, responsibility or
duty.
Expert: A witness who may give an opinion in court
based on the particular competence of that witness.
Ex Parte: On behalf of only one party, without
notice to any other party. For example, a request for
a search warrant is an ex parte proceeding, since the
person subject to the search is not notified of the
proceeding and is not present at the hearing.
Ex Parte Proceeding: The legal procedure in which
only one side is represented. It differs from
adversary system or adversary proceeding.
Ex Post Facto: After the fact. The Constitution
prohibits the enactment of ex post facto laws. These
are laws that permit conviction and punishment for a
lawful act performed before the law was changed and
the act made illegal.
Extenuating Circumstances: Circumstances which
render a crime less aggravated, heinous, or
reprehensible than it would otherwise be.
Expungement: Official and formal erasure of a
record or partial contents of a record.
Extradition: The process by which one state or
country surrenders to another state, a person accused
or convicted of a crime in the other state.
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