Glossary of Legal Terms Beginning with V

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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Duhaime Lawisms

The foreboding courtroom setting discourages meaningful participation beyond lawyers and judges. The judge presiding on high, robed to emphasize his authoritative dominance, armed with the power to control the process, is rarely challenged. Lawyers, by their deference, and by standing when addressing the judge, reinforce to the community the judge's pivotal importance. All of this combines to encourage the community to believe judges uniquely and exclusively possess the wisdom and resources to develop a just and viable result. They are so grievously wrong. Judge Barry Stuart, Yukon Territorial Court, R v Moses, 71 C.C.C. (3d) 347 (1992)