Glossary of Legal Terms Beginning with T

Duhaime's Law Dictionary

T: Legal definitions for terms and concepts beginning with T

Ta'azir: Muslim law: discretionary and corrective punishments for minor crimes.
Taft-Hartley: The name of an American federal labor law which sought to equalize legal responsibilities of labor organizations and employers; i.e., balance the Wagner Act, which, it was felt, may have gone to far in protecting union rights.
Take-Down Lights: Bright police cruise lights directed at a person while shadowing the cruiser occupants.
Take Down Notice: A notice sent to an Internet service provider allleging and detailing unlawful publishing activity
Take From The Table: A term of parliamentary law and procedure that revives a motion that had been, previously tabled.
Talaq: Muslim law: The right given to a Muslim man to divorce his wife by mere unequivocal statement.
Tales: The act of supplementing a jury otherwise incomplete.
Tales de circumstantibus: An order to the local sheriff to round up as many new jurors as may be required to complete a jury on which one or more jurors are missing or have been successfully challenged.
Talesmen: Additional jurors summoned to complete a jury.
Tamper: To interfere improperly or in violation of the law such as to tamper with a document.
Tar and Feather: The punishment of an offender by covering with hot tar and then feathers.
Tax: A payment to a public authority, required by statute, for a public purpose.
Tax Amnesty: An opportunity afforded to a tax payer to rectify errors or omissions in past tax years or returns.
Taxation of Costs: The formal quasi-judicial review of a bill of costs or other determination of costs payable by one litigant to another.
Tax Avoidance: To avoid taxes by arranging one's affairs so as not to incur tax.
Tax Evasion: A prohibited or illegal act or omission which is designed to reduce a person’s tax liability.
Temozolomide: A chemotherapy, pharmaceutical product especially effective in treating brain cancer, often in combination with radiation.
Temporal Jurisdiction: Jurisdiction of a state or of a court of law over a legal action as it may be affected by the effects or passage of time.
Tenancy: A contract by which the owner of real property (the landlord), grants exclusive possession of that real property to another person (tenant), in exchange for the tenant's periodic payment of some sum of money (rent).
Tenancy By The Entireties: A form of common law co-ownership where, when real property was transferred to a husband and a wife, the property could not be seized or sold unless both spouses agreed or by ending the marriage.
Tenant: A person to whom a landlord grants temporary and exclusive use of land or a part of a building, usually in exchange for rent.
Tenants In Common: Share a specified proportion of ownership rights in real property and upon the death of a tenant in common, that share is transferred to the estate of the deceased tenant.
Tender: An unconditional offer of a party to a contract to perform their part of the bargain.
Tender of Amends: An offer to settle an emerging claim.
Tenement: Property that could be subject to easements.
Tenendum: Latin: to be held. In law, that part of a contract in which an interest in real property is created that sets out the extent or limitations of that interest.
Tenure: A right of holding or occupying land or a position for a certain amount of time.
Terminal Condition: An incurable and irreversible condition caused by injury, disease, or illness that would cause death within a reasonable period of time in accordance with accepted medical standards, and where the application of life-sustaining treatment would serve only to prolong the process of dying.
Terminal Year: A portion of a calendar year from and including January 1 to a person's date of death.
Territorial Sea: Waters adjacent to a state's coast and subject to its sovereignty.
Terrorism: Violence against civilians intended to intimidate a population or a government from taking or abstaining from an act.
Terry Search: A justifiable protective search for weapons, even in the absence of probable cause to arrest, where there is a suspicion that an individual is armed and dangerous.
Testament: A document to take effect upon the death of the author and in which his or her chattels are transferred to a new owner.
Testamentary Capacity: The legal ability to sign a will.
Testamentary Freedom: The freedom of individuals to dispose of their property upon death as they see fit.
Testamentary Trust: A trust created by a will and which takes effect upon the death of the testator.
Testator: The signatory of a valid will.
Testimony: The oral evidence of a witness in a judicial proceeding, such as a trial.
Theft: To steal an item of property.
Theocracy: A form of government which defers not to civil development of law, but to an interpretation of the will of a God as set out in religious scripture and authorities.
Theory of the Case: A short, succinct statement of the theme of an action as evidence will be presented, organized and support at trial.
Thin Skull Rule: An additional exposure in tort liability towards persons who are particularly vulnerable or more fragile than the norm, who may have inherent weaknesses or a pre-existing vulnerability or condition; the tort-feasor takes his victim as he finds them; he compensates for all damages he caused, even if damages are elevated compared to a norm because the plaintiff was thin skulled.
Third Party: A person who is not privy to a contract or a party in a lawsuit.
Third Party Claim: A claim made by a defendant within existing legal proceedings seeking to enjoin a person not party to the original action, to enforce a related duty.
Thirteenth (13th) Amendment: An 1865 amendment to the US Constitution that forbids slavery and forced labor except, as regards the latter, as punishment for crime.
Threat: A menace designed to intimidate the person on whom it is directed to take some action, and which carries with it some sanction if not performed.
Tidal Waters: Bodies of water within a state's territorial waters and that are subject to the ebb and flow of ordinary tides, whether navigable or not, and usually excluding harbors or lakes.
Tied Selling: Where a supplier sells on condition that the buyer to the purchase of another associated or "tied" product.
Time-Bar Clause: A clause in a contract which sets a strict deadline within which either party may bring a dispute to either a court or to arbitration.
Time of the Essence: A contractual term requiring performance within a specified time.

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