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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 26 2008, 11:33 AM EDT (current) | FDU_Soule | 100 words added, 2 photos added, 1 photo deleted |
| Jul 28 2008, 2:42 PM EDT | FDU_Soule |
Changes
Key: Additions Deletions
| FEATURED DEFINITION: AVATAR | ||
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Glossary alphabetically.
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Words starting with letter "A"
| Word being defined | Definition | Notes: source, link, etc... |
| Abandonment Laws | laws governing how to dispose of property or how to make a bona fide attempt to locate the owner before disposal. Abandoned personal property is that to which the owner has voluntarily relinquished all right, title, claim and possession, with the intention of terminating his ownership, but without vesting ownership in any other person, and without the intention of reclaiming any future rights therein. | |
| Abatement | Generally refers to a lessening or reduction of something. It may refer to the removal of a problem which is contrary to public or private policy, or endangers others. | |
| Abeyance | A condition of undetermined ownership, as of an estate that has not yet been assigned. Property is in abeyance when the ownership has yet to be determined. | |
| Abstention | When the Supreme Court refuses to hear a case it has jurisdiction over or declines to consider a question of state law arising from a case being appealed from a state court. | |
| Abuse of process | A cause of action that arises when one party willfully misuses the legal process to injure another. | |
| Abuse of Public Office | When public servant commits the crime of misuse of confidential information if in contemplation of official action by himself or by a governmental unit with which he is associated, or in reliance on information to which he has access in his official capacity and which has not been made public. | |
| Abuse of discretion | When a court does not apply the correct law or if it bases its decision on a clearly erroneous finding of a material fact. A court may also abuse its discretion when the record contains no evidence to support its decision. Abuse of discretion is one of the reasons a court of appeals may use to reverse the trial court judgment. | |
| ACCESS POINT -Wireless: | Definition: Wireless access points (APs or WAPs) are specially configured nodes on wireless local area network  s (WLANs). Access points act as a central transmitter and receiver of WLAN radio signals.Access points used in home or small business networks are generally small, dedicated hardware devices featuring a built-in network adapter, antenna, and radio transmitter. Access points support Wi-Fi wireless communication standards. Although very small WLANs can function without access points in so-called "ad hoc" or peer-to-peer mode, access points support "infrastructure" mode. This mode bridges WLANs with a wired Ethernet LAN and also scales the network. | |
| Accord and satisfaction | An agreement between two parties to settle a dispute by compromise. | |
| Accounts | A term that covers a wide variety of subjects, such as bank accounts, trust accounts, and other Legally related accounts - each account is a contract. Over the Internet there are now available "Digital Accounts which are not connected (anonymous) to your legal personage (your NAME). | |
| Accretion | In the employment context,the addition, without an election, of a group of employees to an existing bargaining unit. Accretion occurs be operation of law. | |
| Acid rain or acid deposition | Form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, or hail) containing high levels of sulfuric or nitric acids. Acid rain is produced when sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxides combine with atmospheric moisture. Acid rain can contaminate drinking water, damage vegetation and aquatic life, and erode buildings and monuments. Automobile exhausts and the burning of high-sulfur industrial fuels are thought to be the main causes. | |
| Acknowledgement | The section at the end of a document where a notary public or other witness verifies that the signer of the document states he/she actually signed it. | |
| Act of God | Anatural catastrophe which no one can prevent. | |
| Actuarial value | The value of cash, investments, and other property belonging to a pension plan. | |
| Ad damnum | The parts or sections of a legal complaint that specifies the damages that were suffered and claimed by the plaintiff. The ad damnum clause will usually set forth a specific amount in dollars that the plaintiff asks the court to award. | |
| Ad hoc | a Latin phrase which means "for this [purpose]". It generally signifies a solution that has been custom designed for a specific problem or task, is non-generalizable, and cannot be adapted to other purposes. Common examples are organizations, committees and commissions created at national or international level for a specific task, or in other fields the term may refer for example to a tailor-made suit, a handcrafted network protocol or a purpose-specific equation. | |
| Ad testificandum | Term used to refer to an order issued by a court to appear to give testimony and may be directed to a prisoner through a writ of habeus corpus ad testificandum or to a civilian through a subpoena ad testificandum. | |
| Addendum | An addition. Used to add supplemental terms or conditions to a contract or make corrections or supply omissions to a document. An addendum is often used to supply additional terms to standardized contracts | |
| Ademption | The act of revoking a gift mentioned in a will by destruction, or selling or giving away the gift before death. | |
| Ad Valorem Tax | Latin term meaning "based on value," | |
| Admiralty law (and Maritime) | The distinct body of law (both substantive and procedural) governing navigation and shipping, including "citizens on a Ship" (citizenship's) where the Captains word is law and Rights are left on land. Under admiralty, the ship's flag determines the source of law. | |
| Adverse possession | Ameans by which someone may acquire title to the land of another through certain acts over a defined period of time. Such acts must continue uninterrupted for the time period defined by state laws, which vary by state. In general, the acts of possession must be overt, hostile, exclusive, uninterrupted, and under a claim of right, | |
| Affidavit | A written statement signed under oath | |
| Affiliates | 1) On the Internet a Affiliate is a company who pays for sales referred to their company, this is called affiliate marketing. 2) n the legal system, Affiliates are business concerns, organizations, or individuals that control each other or that are controlled by a third party. Control may consist of shared management or ownership; common use of facilities, equipment, and employees; or family interest. | |
| Age | World cycle, approximately 2,150 years, determined by the relation of the earth, sun and constellations of the zodiac. | |
| Age discrimination | the practice of letting a person's age unfairly become a prejudicial factor in their participation in something, be it a community, job, or other benefit. | |
| Age of consent | The legally defined age at which a person is no longer required to obtain parental consent. | |
| Agency coupled with an interest | When an agent has possession or control of the property of his principal and possesses a legal rights against interference by third parties. It is an agency relationship in which the agent is given an estate or interest in the property that is the subject of the agency. It is distinguished from situations in which an agent merely derives proceeds or profits from transactions. | |
| Agistment contract | a subcategory of bailment contracts, under which someone (the agistor) agrees to keep and care for the animals of another. Under the UCC humans are defined as Chattel (an animal) which can be possessed. | |
| Ahankara | (Sans.) The conception of "I," self-consciousness or self-identity; the "I," or egoistical and Mayavic principle in man, due to our ignorance which separates our "I" from the Universal One-Self. Personality, egoism also | |
| Ajna Center or Chakra | The energy center (chakra) between the eyebrows. Directing center of the personality. Its correspondence on the physical level is the pituitary gland. | |
| Akasha | Sanskrit root "kas" — to radiate or shine. Higher correspondence of ether and relates to the substance which is Buddhi. (2) Vitalized matter, or substance animated by latent heat. The akasha is everywhere, in it we live and move and have our being. | |
| Akashic Record | Records of all karmic action "impressed" upon the ethers. | |
| Alchemy | Chemistry of the finer/subtler energy forces of nature and the various conditions of matter in which they are found to operate. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in Alchemy compared to the four elements-fire, air, water, and earth, and are each capable of a three-fold constitution, i.e., fixed, unstable, and volatile. | |
| Alcyone |  Central Star of the Pleiadies | |
| Ananada | (Sans.) Bliss, joy, felicity, happiness. A name of a favorite disciple of Gautama, the Lord Buddha | |
| Allegations | Charges one party expects to prove in a lawsuit | |
| Amicus curiae | ALatin term meaning "friend of the court". A person or an organization which is not a party to the case but has an interest in an issue before the court may file a brief or participate in the argument as a friend of the court. | |
| anjin | In Buddhism, the settled mind, tranquil mind, a parallel term to shinjin, true entrusting. | |
| Arbitration | A proceeding where both sides submit their dispute to the binding decision of arbitrators rather than judges.a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons (the "arbitrators", "arbiters" or "arbitral tribunal"), by whose decision (the "award") they agree to be bound. | |
| Assignment | The transfer of a right or interest by one party to another. | |
| Assault and battery | A harmful, offensive, unpermitted touching of one person by another. | |
| Assumpsit | An express or implied agreement to perform an oral contract. An express assumpsit is where one undertakes verbally or in writing, not under seal, or on record, to perform an act, or to pay a sum of money to another. | |
| Assumption | Astatement that is presumed to be true without concrete evidence to support it. In the business world, assumptions are used in a wide variety of situations to enable companies to plan and make decisions in the face of uncertainty. | |
| Attorney in fact | A person appointed by another to transact business on his or her behalf; the person does not have to be a lawyer. | |
| Authorized User | Any person granted express, implied or apparent authority to use the account. | |
| Autocracy | Form of government where the monarch is unlimited by law. The autocrat has uncontrolled and undisputed authority, such as a Captain of a ship, including citizens (cargo) on board. | |
| autodidactic gnosticism | Self-taught | This word comes from: psychedeliack |
| Avatar | avatar is a computer user's representation of himself or herself, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities,[2]. It is an “object” representing the embodiment of the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user.[4] Origin: Sanskrit "an embodiment, a bodily manifestation of the Divine." 1) An embodiment, as of a quality or concept; an archetype 2) A temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity | Your Free Digital University is a "Avatar." |
| Avalokitesvara | The Bodhisattva of Compassion, companion of Amida Buddha, as personification of his virtue of compassion, along with Mahāsthāmaprāpta (Seishi), the personification of wisdom. |
