|
| |
- Magna Carta
- Charter to which subscribed King John of England on June 12, 1215 in which
a basic set of limits were set on the King's powers. King John had ruled
tyrannically. His barons rebelled and committed themselves to war with King
John unless he agreed to the Charter. Held to be the precursor of
habeas
corpus as Article 39 of the Magna Carta held that no man shall
be "imprisoned, exiled or destroyed ... except by lawful judgment of his peers
or by the law of the land".
Click here to see the
full text of the Magna Carta.
- Maintenance
- Refers to the obligation of one person to contribute, in part or in whole,
to the cost of living of another person. Maintenance is usually expressed in a
currency amount per month as in "$450 a month maintenance." Some countries
prefer the words "support" (spousal or child) or "alimony"
but they all mean the same thing.
- Malfeasance
- Doing something which is illegal. Compare with
misfeasance and
nonfeasance.
- Mandamus
- A writ which commands an individual, organization (eg. government),
administrative tribunal or court to perform a certain action, usually to
correct a prior illegal action or a failure to act in the first place.
- Manslaughter
- Accidental
homicide
or homicide which occurs without an intent to kill, and which does not occur
during the commission of another crime or under extreme provocation.
- Maritime law
- A very specific body of law peculiar to transportation by water, seamen
and harbors.
- Marriage
- The state-recognized, voluntary and exclusive contract for the lifelong
union of two persons. Most countries do not recognize marriage between
same-sex couples or
polygamous
marriages.
- Massachusetts trust
- A unique way to organize a business where the property is bought by, or
transferred to, a trustee (such as a trust company) and the trustee issues
trust "units", which the investors, or their designates, hold as
beneficiaries. This is a common way to structure a large real estate purchase.
- Matrimony
- The legal state of being married. Ecclesiastics
talk of the "holy" state of matrimony.
- Mediation
- The most popular form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), mediation
involves the appointment of a mediator who acts as a facilitator assisting the
parties in communicating, essentially negotiating a settlement. The mediator
does not adjudicate the issues in dispute or to force a compromise; only the
parties, of their own volition, can shift their position in order to achieve a
settlement. The result of a successful mediation is called a "settlement."
Compare with
arbitration.
- MOU
- Abbreviation fo "Memorandum of Understanding." A document which, if
meeting the other criteria, can be, in law, a
contract.
Generally, in the world of commerce or international negotiations, a MOU is
considered to be a preliminary document; not a comprehensive agreement between
two parties but rather an interim or partial agreement on some elements, in
some cases a mere agreement in principle, on which there has been accord. Most
MOU's imply that something more is eventually expected.
- Mens rea
- Latin for "guilty mind." Many serious crimes require the proof of "mens
rea" before a person can be convicted. In other words, the prosecution must
prove not only that the accused committed the offence but that he (or she) did
it knowing that it was prohibited; that their act (or omission) was done with
an intent to commit a crime.
- Minor
- A person who is legally underage. It varies between 21 and 18 years of
age. Each state sets an age threshold at which time a person is invested with
all legal rights as an adult. For many new adults, this may mean access to
places serving alcohol and the right to purchase and consume alcohol, smoke
cigarettes and drive a car. But there are many other legal rights which a
minor does not have such as, in some states, the right to own land, to sign a
contract or to get married.
- Minutes
- The official record of a meeting. Some minutes include a summary (not
verbatim) of the discussion along with any resolutions. Other minutes just
contain a record of the decisions. Minutes start off with the name of the
organization, the place and date of the meeting and the name of those person's
present. Minutes are prepared by the
corporate secretary and signed by either the president or secretary.
- Miranda warning
- Also known as the "Miranda Rule, this is the name given to the requirement
that police officers, in the U.S.A., must warn suspects upon arrest that they
have the right to remain silent, that any statement that they make could be
used against them in a court of law, that they have the right to contact a
lawyer and that if they cannot afford a lawyer, that one will be provided
before any questioning is so desired. Failure to issue the Miranda warning
results in the evidence so obtained to not be admissible in the court. The
warning became a national police requirement when ordered by the US Supreme
Court in the 1966 case Miranda v. Arizona and that is how it got the
name.
- Misdemeanor
- (USA) A crime of lesser seriousness than a
felony where
the punishment might be a fine or prison for less than one year.
- Misfeasance
- Improperly doing something which a person has the legal right to do.
Compare with malfeasance and
nonfeasance.
- Mis-joinder
- When a person has been named as a party to a law suit when that person
should not have been added. When this is asserted, a court will usually
accommodate a request to amend the court documents to strike, or substitute
for, the name of the mis-joined party. Compare with
non-joinder.
- Misrepresentation
- A false and material statement which induces a party to enter into a
contract.
This is a ground for
rescission
of the
contract.
- Mistrial
- A partial or complete trial which is found to be null and void and of no
effect because of some irregularity. The sudden end of trial before it would
ordinarily end because of some reason which invalidates it. Once a mistrial is
declared, the situation is as if the trial had never occurred. Some common
reasons for a mistrial include a deadlocked jury, the death of a juror or a
serious procedural and prejudicial mistake made at the trial which cannot be
corrected.
- Mitigating circumstances
- These are facts that, while not negating an offence or wrongful action,
tend to show that the defendant may have had some grounds for acting the way
he/she did. For example,
assault,
though provoked, is still assault but provocation may constitute mitigating
circumstances and allow for a lesser sentence.
- Mitigation of damages
- A person who sues another for damages has a responsibility to minimize
those damages, as far as reasonable. For example, in a
wrongful dismissal suit, the person that was fired should make some effort
to find another job so as to minimize the economic damage on themselves.
- Modus operandi
- Latin: method of operation. Used by law enforcement officials to refer to
a criminal's preferred method of committing crime. For example, car thief
"George" may have a break and enter technique that leaves a long scratch mark
on the door. Upon discovery of a stolen vehicle with such a mark, the law
enforcement officials might include "George" in the list of suspects because
the evidence at the crime scene is consistent with his "modus operandi."
- Moiety
- Half of something. For example, it can be said that
joint tenants
hold a moiety in property. In old criminal law, there were "moiety acts" which
allowed half of the fine money to be handed over to the informer.
- Monopoly
- A commercial advantage enjoyed by only one or a select few companies in
which only those companies can trade in a certain area. Some monolopoies are
legal, such as those temporarily created by patents. Others are secretly built
by
conspiracy between two or more companies and are prohibited by law.
- Moot
- Also called a "moot point": a side issue, problem or question which does
not have to be decided to resolve the main issues in a dispute.
- Moot court
- Fictional or hypothetical trial, usually hosted by law schools, as
training for future barristers or litigators.
- Moratorium
- The temporary suspension of legal action against a person.
- Mortgage
- An interest given on a piece of land, in writing, to guarantee the payment
of a debt or the execution of some action. It automatically becomes void when
the debt is paid or the action is executed. In some jurisdictions, it entails
a conveyance of the land until the debt is paid in full. The person lending
the money and receiving the mortgage is called the mortgagee; the person who
concedes a mortgage as security upon their property is called a mortgagor.
- Murder
- Intentional
homicide
(the taking of another person's life), without legal justification or
provocation.
|
