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| "Also known as" Ex: Anne Dunlap gets married and changes her name to Anne Albert. A legal document referring to Anne may say, "Anne Dunlap AKA Anne Albert. |
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| "Doing business as" Ex: Anne owns a small store called "Napa Grocers" and is sued. She would be sued as "Anne, d.b.a. NAPA GROCERS. |
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| Stands for et alis, meaning "And another" Ex: Jeff and his sister Nancy own a home together. In a legal document Jeff and Nancy may be reffered to as "Jeff et al," meaning Jeff and others. |
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| "And wife" Rarely used because it is sexist. Ex: Jeff and his wife own a property, so on a legal document they will be reffered to as "Jeff et ux" |
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| "And similar type things" Ex: A statement might read, "The house contained an assortment of chairs, tables, lamps, etc." |
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| "Upon the relation or report" Ex: When a private citizen brings a matter to the attention of the government, and the government sues on behalf of that person (ex: US ex rel Jeff Dunlap vs. Peter Morgan) |
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| "In the matter of" Ex: A caption of Anne's probate file would read: "In re Anne Dunlap, Defendant" means, "In the matter of Anne Dunlap, Defendant." |
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| "Versus"; designates opposing parties. Ex: The lawsuit is "Anne vs. Walmart." meaning that Anne is one party and Walmart is the other. |
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| "That is to say"; the phrase before this is said is going to be further clarified. Ex: A statement might read, "Anne was convicted of a violent crime; to wit, first degree murder." |
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| "From the beginning" Ex: A contract can be "void ab initio" which means it was void from the beginning and never existed. |
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| "For a particular purpose" Ex: An ad hoc committee is a committee that was formed for a single purpose. |
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| "Forever" (without limits) Ex: Anne said to me, "The speech was so boring it seemed he talk ad infinitum" meaning, it seemed that he talked forever. |
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| Signifies that a person is known by another name. Ex: Anne is a criminal, and has many aliases. In California she is known as Anne Dunlap but in Kentucky known as Lisa Long. She could be referred to as "Anne Dunlap alias Lisa Long." |
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| "By way of argument" Ex: An attorney may make an argument for the sak oe discussion, which they will introduce with the word "arguendo." |
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| "Good faith" Ex: Anne is a bonda fide purchaser for the value of the real estate, and is therefore entitled to the proection of the recording laws. |
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| "In contemplation of death" Ex: Jeff learns he has a year to live, so he transfers all of his assets to his heirs. These transfers were made "causa mortis." |
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| "Against" Ex: The opponent's position is contra to all known laws on the subject, and will not prevail. |
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| "The body" Ex: The corpus (principal amount) of the trust is $3,000. |
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| "By virtue of the office" Ex: Someone is given a position or office merely because of his or her title. |
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| "After the fact" Ex: Jeff rode his skateboard on the sidewalk downtown. Later, the city council passed a law making the act of riding a skateboard downtown illegal. Since Jeff committed the act when it was legal, he won't be charged. |
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| Impoverished; lacking financial ability to sustain one's self. Ex: A person who cannot support his or herself financially. In a criminal case, a indigent is entitled to a free attorney. |
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| "In the form of a pauper" Ex: An indigent person can file pleadings as a pauper without paying court fees or costs. This is called filing in forma pauperis. |
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| "In the place of the parents" Ex:When a person acts as a parent and accepts responsibilities of a parents without actually being one. Ex: A child is sent to a boarding school. While at the school, the school actings in loco parentis, and has the right to make decisions regarding the minor's well-being and freedom. |
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| "Among other things" Ex: Someone may say, "This complaint alleges inter alia that Jeff stole my money." He means, "Among other things, Jeff stole my money." |
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| "By the fact itself"; means that a result was the logical and natural consequence of a particular fact. Ex: The statement, "The flood, ipso facto, destroyed all of my crops, which is why I will declare bankruptcy" shows that bankruptcy is the natural consequence of a flood destroying crops. |
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| "Oral" Ex: Oral understandings between parties can't modify the written contract. |
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| "Per day; by the day" Ex: Jeff is a juror and is paied $12 per diem to serve. |
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| "By itself" Ex: The fact itself is sufficient without any further explanation. |
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| "On its face" Ex: It is suffiecient without support of outside facts. Unlike per se (an absolute certainty), prima facie is only a presumption that the item is sufficient. |
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| "As a matter of form" Ex: When the Court and attorneys do things just to follow the proper form without really being concerned about the underlying issue. |
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| "In proportion"/ "according to the rate" Ex: The heirs divided up the trust pro rata-- they each received 50%. |
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| "To defeat; to overcome" Ex: The witness for the plaintiff introduces damaging evidence. The defendant then introduces a witness to rebut the evidence. |
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