" S "

 

Sanction :    To sanction can mean to ratify or to approve but it can also mean to punish. The sanction of a crime refers to the actual punishment, usually expressed as a fine or jail term. 

Sanctuary :    A special criminal law option available in Medieval times to persons who had just committed a crime, allowing them to seek refuge in a church or monastery. 

Sarbanes-Oxley Act:    An American federal law, 2002, which substantially revised and strengthened securities laws and their administration in the aftermath of high profile corporate accounting scandals such as that involving Enron. 

Satisfaction guaranteed :    A term in a sales or services contract in which the seller defers to the buyer the sole and unilateral discretion as to whether or not the goods or services tendered are acceptable. In the event the price is not paid, no cause of action exists unless the buyer acting in good faith is satisfied, no matter how good the goods or services are in terms of quality. 

School Law :    The law as it relates to education. 

Scienter         :    Latin for actual or guilty knowledge; knowingly. 

Search warrant :    A court order (i.e. signed by a judge) that gives a police the permission to enter private property and to search for evidence of the commission of a crime, for the proceeds of crime or property that the police suspect may be used to commit a crime or a regulatory offence. 

secundum allegata et probata - It is the duty of a judge to decide according to the allegations and the proofs.

Seisin     :    The legal possession of property. In law, the term refers more specifically to the possession of land by a freeholder. 

Semayne's Case:    A 1604 English case that established the right of a home-owner to defend his premises against intrusion ("every man's house is his castle") yields to those seeking to enter with lawful authority such as to make an arrest. 

Sentence:    The punishment given to a person who has been convicted (i.e. found to be guilty) of a crime. It may be time in jail, community service or a period of probation. 

Separate Property:    A marriage property legal term; property acquired before or during a marriage, or otherwise owned by a married person and which, notwithstanding the marriage or, where recognized, a marriage-like relationship, remains the separate property of one or the other of the spouses who acquired or to whom was gifted the item of property. 

Separation Agreement:    A private contract between separating spouses resolving issues of joint, family or marital property or assets, support and child responsibilities. 

Sequestration :    The taking of someone's property, voluntarily (by deposit) or involuntarily (by seizure), by court officers or into the possession of a third party, awaiting the outcome of a trial in which ownership of that property is at issue. 

Servient tenement:    The land which suffers or has the burden of an easement. The beneficiary of the easement is called a dominant tenement. 

Servitude :    From Roman law, referring to rights of use over the property of another; a burden on a piece of land causing a land owner to suffer access by another. 

Settlor     :    The person who actually creates a trust by donating property to be managed and administered by a trustee but from which all profits would go to a beneficiary. 

Sex         :    Sex: gender, as in male or female. Also refers to sexual intercourse. 

Sexual harassment:    A term used in human rights legislation and referring primarily to harassment in employment situations, related to sex or gender, which detrimentally affects the working environment. 

Sexual intercourse:    Penetration of a man's penis into a woman's vagina. 

Sexual orientation:    Sexual orientation is commonly understood to mean an individual's orientation or preference in terms of sexual relationship with others - whether homosexual or heterosexual. 

Share     :    A portion of a for-profit corporation bought by cash. 

Shared custody :    A family law support or maintenance term referring to a situation where a child spends about an equal amount of time in the care and home of each of the two separated or divorced parents, and the parents share the legal rights in regards to the child. 

Shareholder :    Persons who own shares in a for-profit corporation. 

Shareholder agreement:    A contract between the shareholders of the company and the company itself, in which certain things, usually the purview of the board of directors, are detailed. 

Silent partner :    A person who invests in a company or partnership but does not take part in administering or directing the organization; he or she just shares in the profits or losses. 

Simony     :    The crime of corruption for the purpose of a Church or religious benefit. 

Sine die     :    Adjourned without giving any future date of meeting or hearing. 

Sine quo non    :    Sine qua non or conditio sine qua non (plural sine quibus non) was originally a Latin legal term for "(a condition) without which it could not be" or "but for...". It refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. 

Slander     :    Verbal or spoken defamation. 

Slander of title :    Intentionally casting aspersion on someone's property including real property, a business or goods (the latter might also be called slander of goods). 

Slavery     :    When a person (called master) has absolute power over another (called slave) including life and liberty. 

Small claims:    A regular court but which has simplified rules of procedure and process to deal with claims of a lesser value.

Socage     :    A term of the feudal system which referred to the tenure which was exchanged for certain goods or services which were not military in nature. 

Society     :    A group of people formed as a separate organization and which has as a stated purpose some charitable or benevolent purpose either in regards to the public at-large or in regards to the common interests of the members, and which operates as nearly as possible at cost. 

Sodomy     :    synonymous with buggery and referring to unnatural sex acts, including copulation, either between two persons of the same sex or between a person and an animal (the latter act is known as bestiality). 

Solicitor     :    A lawyer that restricts his or her practice to the giving of legal advice and does not normally litigate. 

Solicitor's Lien :    A lawyer’s right to retain client’s document and property pending payment of the lawyer’s bill. 

Sovereign     :    Has two meanings. The first one is a technical word for the monarch (king or queen) of a particular country as in the Sovereign of England is Queen Elizabeth. The other meaning of the word is to describe the supreme legislative powers of a state: that they are totally independent and free from any outside political control or authority over their decisions.

Specific Performance:    A remedy in the event of breach of contract, whereby the Court orders a party found in breach of his/her contractual obligations to perform their specific duty as set out in the contract. 

Split custody :    A child custody decision which results in the splitting up of the children; that legal custody of one or more of the children is with the father, and that of one or more of the other children are with the mother. 

Springing power of attorney :    A Power of Attorney that takes effect only upon the occurrence of a specified event. 

Sprinkling trust:    Discretion given to a trustee to distribute income from a trust fund disproportionately between beneficiaries. 

Spy / Spies :    A person who acts clandestinely or on false pretences to endeavour to obtain information of or within another state with the intention of communicating or selling it to others. 

Standing committee :    A term of parliamentary law which refers to those committees which have a continued existence; that are not related to the accomplishment of a specific, once-only task as are ad hoc or special committees. 

Stare decisis:    (Latin) A basic principle of the law whereby once a decision (a precedent) on a certain set of facts has been made, another Court of the same rank will apply that decision in cases which subsequently come before it embodying the same set of facts. 

State     :    A term of international law: those groups of people which have acquired international recognition as an independent country and which have four characteristics; permanent and large population with, generally, a common language; a defined and distinct territory; a nations to refer to what international law calls states. 

Statement of Claim:    The document which initiates the judicial process culminating in trial. 

Statement of Defence :    A defendant's written answer or reply to a statement of claim, admitting or denying each and every one of the facts contained in the statement of claim and alleging such facts as the defendant wishes to assert at trial in opposition to the plaintiff's case. 

Statutes     :    The written laws approved by legislatures, parliaments or houses of assembly (i.e., politicians). Also known as legislation. 

Statutory rape :    The common law definition of rape has not proven adequate to reflect modern values. It is limited to sex without consent and with a woman, and only where the victim is not the wife of the rapist. Many states have enacted laws which include under the charge of rape, sex with a minor even if done with the minor’s consent, sex without consent regardless of whether the victim is male or female, and sex without consent regardless of the matrimonial bond between victim and rapist. 

Statutory trust :    A trust created by the effect of a statute. 

Stirpes     :    Latin: the offspring of a person; his or her descendants. -

Strict liability :    Tort liability which is set upon the defendant without need to prove intent, negligence or fault; as long as you can prove that it was the defendant's object that caused the damage. 

stricto sensu  :       According to/in its strict sense

Subinfeudation :    The process whereby, under the feudal system of tenure, a person receiving a grant of land from a lord, could himself become a landlord by subdividing and subletting that land to others. 

Sub judice:    A matter that is still under consideration by a court; still subject to active litigation. 

Subordination :    To be subject to the orders or direction of another; of lower rank. 

Subpoena :    Latin: an order of a court which requires a person to be present at a certain time and place or suffer a penalty (subpoena means, literally, under penalty). 

Subrogation :    When you pay off someone’s debt and then try to get the money from the debtor yourself. 

Subservient tenement :    The real property that supports or endures an easement. The real property benefitting from an easement is called the dominant tenement. 

Substituted service:    If a party appears to be avoiding service of court documents, a request may be made with the court to, instead of personal service (i.e. giving the document directly to the person), that the document be published in a local newspaper, served on a person believed to frequent the person or mailed to his (or her) last known address. 

Successor :    A person who takes over the rights of another. 

Sui juris     :    A person who possesses full civil rights and is not under any legal incapacity such as being bankrupt, of minor age or mental incapacity. Most adults are sui juris. 

Summary conviction offence:    In Canada, a less serious offence than indictable offences for which both the procedure and punishment tends to be less onerous. 

Summary Judgment :    A court order dismissing a claim summarily, upon application, and based on the allegation that there is no claim or defence with a reasonable prospect of success. 

Summary Trial :    A disposition of litigation by way of affidavit evidence only or by use of truncated process. 

Summons :    In the USA, this is one of the initial documents issued in a civil suit; giving the defendant notice of the claim and an opportunity to defend it. 

Supra         :    (Latin for "above") is an academic and legal citation signal used when a writer desires to refer a reader to an earlier-cited authority. For example, an author wanting to refer to a source in his or her third footnote would cite: See supra note 3. Or for text in that note: See supra text accompanying note 3.

Surety     :    The person who has pledged him or herself to pay back money or perform a certain action if the principal to a contract fails, as collateral, and as part of the original contract. 

Surety Bond :    A three party bond contract in which a third party (the surety) backs up a principal by agreeing to honour the principal's obligation(s) towards the obligee of a bond in the event of the latter's default. 

Susceptible :    Admitting or capable of some specified treatment, accessible or especially liable or subject to some influence, capable of being affected emotionally. e.g. susceptible to various interpretations.

 

Synallagmatic contract:    A civil law term for a reciprocal or bilateral contract: one in which both parties provide consideration. A contract of sale is a classic example, where one party provides money and the other, goods or services. A gift is not a synallagmatic contract.

Synonyms :     Synonyms are different words with identical or at least similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek σύν ("syn") "with" and ὄνομα ("onoma") "name."