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H

Legal definitions for terms and concepts beginning with H
Habeas Corpus
Latin: a court petition which orders that a person being detained be produced before a judge for a hearing to decide whether the detention is lawful. expanded legal definition of Habeas Corpus
Habitual Offender
A person who is convicted and sentenced for crimes over a period of time and even after serving sentences of incarceration, demonstrates a propensity towards future criminal conduct. expanded legal definition of Habitual Offender
Habitual Residence
Ordinary residence. expanded legal definition of Habitual Residence
Halliday Order
A special Court order in regards to document disclosure where, in special cases, a lawyer for a litigant, as an officer of the Court, first review documents from specified sources, or at large, and identifies and proposes to set aside and distinguish documents weighed relevancy, for reasons of privilege, privacy, confidentiality, or the potential personal embarrassment of the party given the personal nature of the information in a document. expanded legal definition of Halliday Order
Harassment
Unsolicited words or conduct which tend to annoy, alarm or abuse another person. expanded legal definition of Harassment
Hatch Act
An American statute which controls political activity of government employees. expanded legal definition of Hatch Act
Hearsay
Evidence that is offered by a witness of which they do not have direct knowledge but, rather, their testimony is based on what others have said to them. expanded legal definition of Hearsay
Heir
A beneficiary of a will or an intestacy. expanded legal definition of Heir
Henson Trust
A discretionary trust for a person in receipt of social assistance or disability benefits designed to top-up that person's income but without making them ineligible. expanded legal definition of Henson Trust
Hereditament
Something which can be inherited. expanded legal definition of Hereditament
Heresy
A historic criminal offence comprised of the act of public denial of Christian doctrines. expanded legal definition of Heresy
Heritable Obligation
A legal obligation or right which is not extinguished by the death of the person who held those rights, or was liable for the obligation, but are transfered to the estate. expanded legal definition of Heritable Obligation
High Seas
A term of international and maritime law; the open ocean, not part of the exclusive economic zone, territorial sea or internal waters of any state. expanded legal definition of High Seas
Himalaya Clause
A clause in a transportation contract purporting to extend liability limitations which benefit the carrier, to others who act as agents for the carrier such as stevedores or longshoremen. expanded legal definition of Himalaya Clause
Hitman Scam
A consumer scam usually conducted by email in which the recipient is approached by an alleged assassin who seeks money in lieu of completing his task. expanded legal definition of Hitman Scam
Hockey
A game played on ice in which opposing teams of six players each, try to drive a small black hard rubber disk called a puck into the oppising goal by hitting it with a curved stick. expanded legal definition of Hockey
Hodge's Case
A rule limiting the use of circumstantial evidence in the trial of a criminal offence. expanded legal definition of Hodge's Case
Holograph Will
A will written entirely in the testator’s handwriting and not witnessed. expanded legal definition of Holograph Will
Home-Country Rule
A form of international agreement in which a host country allows a foreign national to continue to fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of his country of origin even as regards acts or commerce in the host country. expanded legal definition of Home-Country Rule
Home Invasion
A break and enter of occupied residential premises with forced confinement, assault or battery of occupants. expanded legal definition of Home Invasion
Homicide
The word includes all occasions where one human being, by act or omission, takes away the life of another. expanded legal definition of Homicide
Homosexuality
Sexual contact and between two persons of the same sex as man and man or woman and woman. expanded legal definition of Homosexuality
Hostile Witness
During an examination-in-chief, a lawyer is not allowed to ask leading questions of their own witness. But, if that witness openly shows hostility against the interests (or the person) that the lawyer represents, the lawyer may ask the court to declare the witness 'hostile', after which, as an exception of the examination-in-chief rules, the lawyer may ask their own witness leading questions. expanded legal definition of Hostile Witness
Hotchpot
The mixing of property for the purposing of effecting a proportionate division. expanded legal definition of Hotchpot
Hue and Cry
A community fugitive containment strategy of medieval England where a yell went up denouncing a crime and the offender and all within earshot took up the chase. expanded legal definition of Hue and Cry
Human Right
An individual's statutory right to equal treatment and free from discrimination prohibited by statute and which, generally, provides a civil remedy to provide compensation or to punish such discrimination when it is reported. expanded legal definition of Human Right
Hung Jury
A jury which is unable to arrive at a required unanimous or near unanimous verdict. expanded legal definition of Hung Jury
Husband-Wife Privilege
A special right that married persons have to keep communications between them secret and even inaccessible to a court of law. expanded legal definition of Husband-Wife Privilege
Hybrid Offence
A criminal offence for which the prosecutor has the option of charging as an offence punishable by summary conviction or as an indictable offence. expanded legal definition of Hybrid Offence
Hypothec
A charge on property upon which an unpaid creditor may enforce payment of the debt. expanded legal definition of Hypothec

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Unless otherwise noted, this article was written by Lloyd Duhaime, Barrister, Solicitor, Attorney and Lawyer (and Notary Public!). It is not intended to be legal advice and you would be foolhardy to rely on it in respect to any specific situation you or an acquaintance may be facing. In addition, the law changes rapidly and sometimes with little notice so from time to time, an article may not be up to date. Therefore, this is merely legal information designed to educate the reader. If you have a real situation, this information will serve as a good springboard to get legal advice from a lawyer.

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