S
Legal definitions for terms and concepts beginning with S

Sabbath Breaking
Doing business on a Sunday.
Sadism
Delight in physical or mental cruelty.
Salary
Regular payment for services.
Sale
The exchange of goods or services for consideration.
Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex
Latin: the welfare of an individual yields to that of the community.
Salvage
The rescue of vessels or cargo in peril at sea, and the reward thereof.
Salvor
A person who engages in salvage.
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.
Sariqa
Muslim law: theft.
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.
Scaccarium
Latin: chess game but in English law, the exchequer, usually in reference to the Court of Exchequer.
Scandalizing the Court
Personal scurrilous abuse of a judge as a judge.
Scenes A Faire
Elements of an original work that are so trite or common that they are not captured by copyright.
Schizophrenia
A severe, chronic and generally disabling mental disorder that severely disrupts normal thoughts, speech and behavior.
School
A place for education of a lower grade, usually below a college or university.
School Board
An elected body corporate which manages delegated powers in regards to the delivery of education services within a defined territory.
School Bus
A vehicle which transports children to or from school activities for compensation.
Scienter
Latin: actual or guilty knowledge; knowingly.
Scintilla Juris
Latin: a spark of legal right.
Scold
A troublesome and angry woman who, by brawling and wrangling amongst her neighbours, breaks the public peace, increases discord and becomes a public nuisance.
Scolding
A medieval offense; women who were verbally disputative; who incited or agitated against the public peace.
Scott v Avery Clause
A contract between two parties that they will submit any dispute between them to arbitration before taking any court action.
Scrivener
A literate person who sells his reading or writing services to illiterate others.
Scrutineer
A person enlisted to assist in the conduct of a vote.
Seal
A waxed impression proving authenticity of a document.
Sealing Order
A Court order that restricts access to or disclosure of any record or document filed in a proceeding.
Search
A probing exploration for something that is concealed or hidden from the searcher.
Search Warrant
A court order 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.
Secret Trust
A trust where, to a stated beneficiary, the donor secretly communicates that he/she holds title in trust for another.
Securities
Negotiable instruments which yield dividends or interest.
Security
Something given to ensure the payment of a loan.
Security Deposit
Money paid to another to be held as security for the occurrence of a specified event.
Security for Costs
Payment or deposit of money or some form of security in lieu thereof, into court, by a litigant to secure the payment of such costs if such person does not prevail.
Se Defendendo
Latin: self-defence.
Sedition
The speaking or publishing of words which excite public disorder or defiance of lawful authority.
Seisin
The legal possession of property; historically, possession under claim of freehold.
Seizure
A dispossession of something against the will of the possessor.
Self-Benefit Trust
A trust created by a settlor and to the settler's exclusive benefit during his or her lifetime.
Self-Defence
A person is not responsible for an act if the conduct is carried-out in self-defence of self or of another.
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 judgment given to a person who has been convicted (i.e. found to be guilty) of a crime.
Sentencing Circle
A sentencing opportunity at which an accused hopes to favourably influence the court passing sentence, by convening a conciliatory pre-sentence meeting between offender and victim.
Separate Property
A marital property regime wherein property acquired or owned by a married person and which, notwithstanding the marriage or, where recognized, a marriage-like relationship, remains the separate property of the spouse 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.
Sequestered Jury
A jury which has been confined to a location where they can be shielded from outside distractions while their deliberations are ongoing.
Sequestration
The taking of someones 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.
Servitude
From Roman law and now a feature of civil law; equivalent to the common law's easement: access rights over, under or on the property of another.
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