Selected Entries

Inns of Court

Organizations that provide preparatory education for English law students in order to teach them to practice in court.

Year Books

Books of legal cases, or reporters, published annually in England from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century.

In Re Gault

Originally, juvenile court was a place for the informal resolution of a broad range of matters concerning children. The hearings were not adversarial. Instead, they focused on the juvenile's best interests. A juvenile was brought to the juvenile court, the prosecution presented evidence, the juvenile and other witnesses gave testimony, and the juvenile court judge made a decision based on the perceived best interests of the juvenile.

Controversy

An actual dispute between individuals who seek judicial resolution of their grievances that have arisen from a conflict of their alleged legal rights.

Frustration

In the law of contracts, the destruction of the value of the performance that has been bargained for by the promisor as a result of a supervening event.

Justification

A sufficient or acceptable excuse or explanation made in court for an act that is otherwise unlawful; the showing of an adequate reason, in court, why a defendant committed the offense for which he or she is accused that would serve to relieve the defendant of liability.

Encyclopaedia