Duhaime's Law Dictionary

V
Legal definitions for terms and concepts beginning with V

Vacatur
Latin: to set aside a judgment.
Vagrancy
A criminal offence of being intentionally unemployed and thereby neglecting to maintain himself or his family.
Vagrant
A tramp or homeless person.
Vagueness
A law which lacks in precision as not to give sufficient guidance for legal debate.
Valeat Quantum Valere Potest
Latin: it shall have effect as far as it can have effect.
Valuation
An expert's assessment, appraisal or opinion as to the market value of an item of property.
Vana Est Illa Potentia Quae Nunquam Venit In Actum
Latin: power is vain if never put into action.
Vassal
A subservient, usually land-based relationship to another under the feudal system.
Vehicle
Any thing that is designed to transport persons or objects.
Venditio
Latin: a sale.
Venditio Bonorum
Latin: sale of goods.
Vendor
The seller; the person selling.
Venue
Location or proposed district of a judicial hearing.
Verba Fata
Latin: faded, obsolete words.
Verba Fortius Accipiuntur Contra Proferentem
Latin: a contract is interpreted against the person who wrote it.
Verdict
French: truth told; the decision of a jury.
Vertical Restraint
Special condition or term offered to select distributors by a supplier in order to manipulate trade.
Vessel
Watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.
Vetrovec Warning
Canada: a warning given by a judge to a jury in regards to the frailities of the evidence tendered by certain witnesses.
Vexatious Action
Litigation undertaken to annoy or oppress.
Vexatious Litigant
An individually who habitually or persistently engages in legal proceedings, without having a legitimate claim requiring resolution.
Vicarious Liability
Liability for the tort of another even though the person being held responsible may not have done anything wrong.
Videlicet
Latin: to wit or that is to say.
Vienna Code
An international classification standard for, where present, the figurative element(s) of a trade-mark.
View
The displacement of a judge and jury to the location of events which are being described at trial.
Vigilantibus Et Non Dormientibus Jura Subveniunt
Latin: the law assists those that are vigilant with their rights, and not those that sleep thereupon.
Villeinage
A form of slavery under the English feudal land system; the Lord owned a villein outright, as a chattel.
Vinculum Juris
Latin: a legal bound.
Vir
Latin: man or husband.
Virus
A minute parasitic microorganism.
Visa
A permit issued by a state allowing for the temporary visit by a citizen of another, for a period of time and a specific purpose.
Viva Voce
Latin: by voice.
Viz
Latin: to wit, that is to say.
Voidable
A legal entitlement, such as a contract, that is extinguishable at the option of a party.
Void or Void Ab Initio
Not legally binding. A document that is void is useless and worthless; as if it did not exist.
Voir Dire
A mini-hearing held during a trial on the eligibility of prospective jurors or the admissibility of contested evidence.
Volenti Non Fit Injuria
Latin: to one who is willing, no harm is done.
Voluntary Disclosure
A tax amnesty program whereby a delinquent taxpayer discloses information not previously reported to a tax agency, and by doing so voluntarily, avoids liability to penalty or prosecution normally associated with prior non-disclosure.
Voluntary Waste
The possessor's direct acts or activity of harming property which he or she holds for another, as in a trustee for a trust beneficiary.
Voyage
In maritime law, the time of a ship's transit from one place to another.
Voyeurism
The secret viewing of another person in a place where that person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, for the purposes of the viewer's sexual arousal
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