" D "

Damages :    A cash compensation ordered by a court to offset losses or suffering caused by another’s fault or negligence. 

Dangerous offender :    A person convicted of serious crimes and who is likely to re-offend.  

Death         :    Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions and irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. 

Death penalty :    Also known as capital punishment, this is the most severe form of corporal punishment as it is requires law enforcement officers to kill the offender. 

de bonis non :    Latin and short for de bonis non administratis. A word used exclusively in estate matters and refers to situations where an estate is abandonoed by an administrator only partially administered and someone must be appointed to complete the administration of the residue of the estate; those assets not yet administered. 

Debtor     :        A person who owes money, goods or services to another, the latter being referred to as the creditor. 

Decapitation :    The act of beheading a person, usually instantly such as with a large and heavy knife or by guillotine, as a form of capital punishment. 

Decedent     :    An individual who has died. 

Decree absolute :    The name given to the final and conclusive court order after the condition of a decree nisi is met. 

Decree nisi :    A provisional decision of a court which does not have force or effect until a certain condition is met such as another petition brought before the court or after the passage of a period time, after which it is called a decree absolute. 

Deed     :    A written and signed document which sets out the things that have to be done or recognitions of the parties towards a certain object. 

Deem     :    To accept a document or an event as conclusive of a certain status in the absence of evidence or facts which would normally be required to prove that status. 

De facto     :    Latin: as a matter of fact; something which, while not necessarily lawful or legally sanctified, exists in fact. - 

Defalcation :    1. Defaulting on a debt or other obligation such to account for public or trust funds. Usually used in the context of public officials. 2. Defalcation has another legal meaning referring to the setting-off of two debts owed between two people by the agreement to a new amount representing the balance. 

Defamation :    An attack on the good reputation of a person, by slander or libel. 

Defeasance :    A side-contract which contains a condition which, if realized, could defeat the main contract.

Defendant :    The person, company or organization who defends a legal action taken by a plaintiff and against whom the court has been asked to order damages or specific corrective action redress some type of unlawful or improper action alleged by the plaintiff. 

Defense Attorney or Defence Counsel :    Lawyers who represent persons facing criminal charges. 

Dehors     :    French for outside. In the context of legal proceedings, it refers to that which is irrelevant or outside the scope of the debate. 

De jure     :    Latin: 'of the law.' The term has come to describe a total adherence of the law.

Delegatus non potest delegare :    One of the pivotal principles of administrative law: that a delegate cannot delegate. 

Demand letter :    A letter from a lawyer, on behalf of a client, that demands payment or some other action, which is in default.

Demarche :    A word coined by the diplomatic community and referring to a strongly worded warning by one country to another and often, either explicitly or implicitly, with the threat of military consequence. 

De minimis non curat lex :    Latin: a common law principle whereby judges will not sit in judgement of extremely minor transgressions of the law. 

Demurrer :    This is a motion put to a trial judge after the plaintiff has completed his or her case, in which the defendant, while not objecting to the facts presented, and rather than responding by a full defence, asks the court to reject the petition right then and there because of a lack of basis in law or insufficiency of the evidence. 

De novo     :    Latin: new. This term is used to refer to a trial which starts over, which wipes the slate clean and begins all over again, as if any previous partial or complete hearing had not occurred. 

Deportation :    The removal of a foreign national under immigration laws for reasons such as illegal entry or conduct dangerous to the public welfare. 

Deposition :    The official statement by a witness taken in writing (as opposed to testimony which where a witnesses give their perception of the facts verbally). 

Descendant :    Those person who are born of, or from children of, another are called that person’s descendants. 

Detinue     :    A common law action similar to conversion and also involving the possession of property by the plaintiff may also ask for damages for the duration of the possession.

Devastavit :    Latin for 'he has wasted.' This is the technical word referring to a personal representative who has mismanaged the estate and allowed an avoidable loss to occur. 

Devise     :    The transfer or conveyance of real property by will. 

Dichotomy:    a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities

Dicta or 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 called 'obiter dictum.

Diplomacy :    Peaceful representations between states.

Diplomat     :    An official representative of a state, present in another state for the purposes of general representation of the state-of-origin or for the purpose of specific international negotiations on behalf of the diplomat's state-of-origin. 

Diplomatic Immunity :    Immunity extended to diplomat officers from criminal and civil jurisdiction of their host state. 

Directed Verdictred:         becomes disabled.

Disbursement :    Miscellaneous expenses other than lawyer fees and court costs (i.e. filing fees) which paid on behalf of another person and for which reimbursement will eventually be demanded of that person. 

Discretionary trust :    A trust in which the settlor has given the trustee full discretion to decide which (and when) members of a group of beneficiaries is to receive either the income or the capital of the trust.  

Disrate     :    A term of maritime law where an officer or other seaman is either demoted in rank or deprived of a promotion.

Dissent     :    To disagree. The word is used in legal circles to refer to the minority opinion of a judge which runs contrary to the conclusions of the majority. 

Dissolution :    The act of ending, terminating or winding-up a company or state of affairs. 

Distraint     :    The right of a landlord to seize the property of a tenant which is in the premises being rented, as collateral against a tenant that has not paid the rent or has otherwise defaulted on the lease, such as wanton disrepair or destruction of the premises. 

District Attorney :    A lawyer in the USA charged with prosecution of criminal charges on behalf of the government. 

Diversity Jurisdiction :    Jurisdiction of a US federal court to dispose of a matter meeting a monetary threshold and between residents of different states. 

Dividend :    A proportionate distribution of profits made in the form of a money payment to shareholders, by a for-profit corporation. Dividends are declared by a company's board of directors. 

Divorce :    The final, legal ending of a marriage, by Court order. 

Divorce a mensa et thoro :    An obselete form of divorce order which did not end the marriage but allowed the parties to reside separate; in effect, a legal or judicially-sanctioned separation of two married persons. 

DNA     :    Abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid. A chromosome molecule which carries genetic coding unique to each person with the only exception of identical twins (that is why it is also called 'DNA fingerprinting'). 

Docket :    An official court record book which lists all the cases before the court and which may also note the status or action required for each case. 

Doctrine :    A rule or principle or the law established through the repeated application of legal precedents. 

Domicile :    The permanent residence of a person; a place to which, even if he or she were temporary absent, they intend to return. 

Dominant tenement :    Used when referring to easements to specify that property (i.e. tenement) or piece of land that benefits from, or has the advantage of, an easement.

Dominion directum :    Latin: the qualified ownership of a landlord, not having possession or use of property but retaining ownership.

Dominion utile     :    Latin: the property rights of a tenant. While not owning the property in a legal sense, the tenant, as having dominion utile, enjoys full and exclusive possession and use of the property.  

Donatio mortis causa :    A death-bed gift, made by a dying person, with the intent that the person receiving the gift shall keep the thing if death ensues. 

Donee     :    Another word to describe the beneficiary of a trust. 

Donor     :    The person who donates property to the benefit of another, usually through the legal mechanism of a trust. 

Double Jeopardy :    A prohibition against being tried or sentenced twice for the same offense. 

Dower     :    Dower: a widow's life estate interest in an intestate's real property 

Duces tecum :    Latin: bring with you. Used most frequently for a species of subpoena (as in subpoena duces tecum) which seeks not so much the appearance of a person before a court of law, but the surrender of a thing (eg. a document or some other evidence) by its holder, to the court, to serve as evidence in a trial.  

Due process :    A term of US law which refers to fundamental procedural legal safeguards of which every citizen has an absolute right when a state or court purports to take a decision that could affect any right of that citizen. 

Dum casta     :    Latin: for so long as she remains chaste. 

Dum sola     :    Latin: for so long as she remains unmarried. 

Dum vidua     :    Latin: for so long as she remains a widow. 

Duplex     :    A house which has separate but complete facilities to accommodate two families as either adjacent units or one on top of the other. 

Duress     :    Where a person is prevented from acting (or not acting) according to their free will, by threats or force of another, it is said to be 'under duress'.