Duhaime's Law Dictionary

D
Legal definitions for terms and concepts beginning with D

Dolus Eventualis
Awareness of the likely outcome of an action.
Domesday Book
An 1086 land census conducted in England.
Domestic Animal
A pet; dogs, cats or other tame animals or birds and which serve some purpose for its owner or others.
Domestic Violence
An assault or battery upon another member of a family or, in some jurisdictions, threatening words.
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
The property (i.e. tenement) or piece of land that benefits from, or has the advantage of, an easement.
Dominion
A self-governing colony of the British Empire (now the British Commonwealth).
Dominion Utile
Latin: the property rights of a tenant; exclusive right to use a thing
Dominium Directum
Latin: qualified ownership of a land: not having possession or use of property but retaining ownership.
Domitae Naturae
Animals which are of a nature easily tamed and may be readily domesticated.
Domus Sua Cuique Est Tutissimum Refugium
Latin: Every man's house is his refuge.
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
The recipient of a trust; either the trustee or the beneficiary.
Donor
The person who donates property to the benefit of another, usually through the legal mechanism of a trust.
Dotage
The gradual and inevitable deterioration of cognitive functioning caused by aging.
Double-Blind Photographic Identification
The presentation of an array of photos to a crime victim for the purposes of identifying the perpetrator, by an officer neither involved in the investigation nor aware of who the suspect is.
Double Costs
A punitive measure against a litigant for that party’s failure, in all of the circumstances, to have accepted an offer to settle that should have been accepted.
Double Dipping
Double recovery of funds or property through two different sources effectively or potentially doubling the entitlement.
Double Escrow
The secret use of escrow funds with those of another escrow fund, for the purposes of financial gain by the holder of the escrow funds, and without the knowledge of the owners of the two funds.
Double Hearsay
Recitals of statements of others within a statement that is itself hearsay; an out-of-court declaration containing another out-of-court declaration.
Double Jeopardy
A prohibition against being tried or sentenced twice for the same offense.
Double Patenting
An attempt by a patentee to receive two consecutive patents on essentially the same invention thus extending the term of exclusivity.
Double Plea
Two or more pleas which includes a contradictory alternative.
Double Recovery
Double dipping; accessing funds or property through two different sources effectively or potentially doubling the entitlement.
Double Ticketing
A sales strategy in which a merchant puts two price tags on a product to lure the consumer to the till where he/she is asked to pay the higher of the two ticketed prices.
Dower
A widow's life estate interest in her husband's real property if he died intestate.
Doyle Rule
(USA) A rule of criminal process that the use for impeachment purposes of a defendant's silence, at the time of arrest and after receiving Miranda warnings, violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Dragnet Clause
A clause in a credit agreement which purports to secure future liabilities.
Drawee
The bank which has the drawer's checking account from which a check is to be paid.
Drawer
The person who signs a check to his or her bank ordering the latter to pay the face amount of the check to the payee.
Drawn and Quartered
A horrific and barbaric punishment imposed upon traitors pursuant to ancient common law: partial hanging, disembowelling and cutting of body into quarters.
Droit d'aubaine
French: an ancient right to keep the property of any deceased foreign subject.
Droit de naufrage
French: an ancient right of any land-owner to claim the wreck and men (as slaves) of any ship which wrecked upon waters adjacent to his land.
DSM-IV
The American Psychiatric Association mental disorder manual and classification.
Dual Criminality
A typical requirement of extradition treaties: that the conduct alleged constitute a crime in both the demanding and the delivering state.
Dual Sovereignty Doctrine
A maxim of law which allows the double prosecution of a person by more than one state for the same crime, where both states have jurisdiction for the prosecution, and notwithstanding the double jeopardy rule.
Duces Tecum
Latin: bring with you.
Ducking Stool
A contraption of medieval English justice comprised of a chair in which a convict was affixed and then immersed repeatedly into a body of water.
Due Care
The degree of care which a person of ordinary prudence would exercise under the same or similar circumstances.
Due Diligence
Reasonable verifications and precautions taken to identify or prevent foreseeable risks.
Duel
The fighting of two persons, one against the other, by pre-arranged appointment, as a form of ultimate dispute resolution.
Due Process
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.
Dummy Corporation
A corporation created solely for the purpose of insulating an individual or another corporation from liability in either contract or import.
Dum Sola
Latin: for so long as she remains unmarried.
Dum Sola et Casta Vixerit
Latin: for so long as she remains single (unmarried) and chaste.
Dum Vidua
Latin: for so long as she remains a widow.
Dunnage
Materials used by ships to secure and protect cargo.
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.
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