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- Oath
- A religious or solemn affirmation to tell the truth or to take a certain
action.
- Obiter dictum
- Latin: an observation by a judge on a matter not specifically before the
court or not necessary in determining the issue before the court; a side
opinion which does not form part of the judgment for the purposes of
stare decisis
May also be referred to as "dicta"
or "dictum."
- Obligee
- The person who is to receive the benefit of someone else's obligation;
that "someone else" being the obligor. Also called a "promisee."
Some countries refer to the recipient of family support as an "obligee".
- Obligor
- A person who is contractually or legally, committed or obliged, to
providing something to another person; the recipient of the benefit being
called the obligee. Also known as the "promisor."
- Obscenity
- An elusive concept used in the context of criminal law to describe a
publication which is illegal because it is morally corruptive. The common law
has struggled with this word as society has evolved towards greater tolerance
of alternative sexual behavior. Historically, it included any lewd material
which had no apparent social value, which was offensive to contemporary
community standards of decency, and even material which tended to invoke
impure sexual thoughts. As an example of a modern definition, Canada has
defined obscene material as any publication a dominant characteristic of which
is the undue exploitation of sex, or of sex and crime, horror, cruelty or
violence.
- Obstructing justice
- An act which tends to impede or thwart the administration of justice.
Examples include trying to bribe a witness or juror or providing law
enforcement officers with information known to be false.
- Offense
- A crime; any act which contravenes the criminal law of the state in which
it occurs. Spelled "offence" in Commonwealth countries.
- Offer
- A explicit proposal to
contract
which, if accepted, completes the contract and binds both the person that made
the offer and the person accepting the offer to the terms of the contract. See
also "acceptance".
- Ombudsman
- A person whose occupation consists of investigating customer complaints
against his or her employer. Many governments have ombudsmen who will
investigate citizen complaints against government services.
- Omnibus bill
- A draft law before a legislature which contains more than one substantive
matter, or several minor matters which have been combined into one bill,
ostensibly for the sake of convenience. The omnibus bill is an "all or
nothing" tactic.
- Onus
- Latin: the burden. It is usually used in the context of evidence. The onus
of proof in criminal cases lies with the state. It is the state that has the
burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt. In civil cases, the onus of proof
lies with the plaintiff who must prove his case by balance of probabilities.
So "onus" refers both to the party with the burden, and to the scope of that
burden, the latter depending whether the context is criminal or civil.
- Open-ended agreement
- An agreement or
contract
which does not have an ending date but which will continue for as long as
certain conditions, identified in the agreement, exist.
- Order
- A formal written direction given by a member of the judiciary; a court
decision without reasons.
- Ordinance
- An executive decision of a government which has not been subjected to a
legislative assembly (contrary to a statute). It is often detailed and not, as
would be a statute, of general wording or application. This term is in disuse
in many jurisdictions and the words "regulations" or "bylaws" are preferred.
- Orphan
- A person who has lost one or both of his or her natural parents.
- Out-of-court settlement
- An agreement between two litigants to settle a matter privately before the
Court has rendered its decision.
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