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Articles > Get Prepared > Glossary Of Legal Terms
Glossary Of Legal Terms
This is a general list of legal terms associated with the divorce process. If you want us to add a legal term or if you have a suggestion for a better description of any term, please contact us so that we can add it to the list.
Adjournment - When a case is put off to a later date.
Affidavit - A written declaration made under oath before a notary public or other authorised officer.
Agent - An independent person or company with authority to act on behalf of another.
Appellant - Person, person's organization or corporation that starts an appeal in a court. Applicants, appellants, respondents, defendants, etc., are generally called 'parties'.
Applicant - Person, person's organization or corporation that starts a case in a court. Applicants, appellants, respondents, defendants, etc., are generally called 'parties'.
Barrister - A lawyer who presents cases in higher courts.
Decree nisi - The first order the Family Court makes to end a marriage. Usually a month later there is a decree absolute.
Decree absolute- The final order the Family Court makes to end a marriage, usually a month after the decree nisi.
Decree of nullity - The order of the Family Court that a marriage never legally existed.
Defendant - Person brought to court and charged with a criminal offence. Applicants, appellants, respondents, defendants, etc., are generally called 'parties'.
Dissolution of marriage - The legal term for a divorce; the end of the marriage, which is officially finished after the decree absolute.
Dissent - To differ in opinion.
Interrogatories - A method of formal discovery wherein a lawyer serves upon the other party's lawyer a written document consisting of a set of questions. The party served must answer the questions, under oath and in writing.
Judgment - An oral or written statement by a judge or judges, arbitrator or arbitrators, of a court or tribunal as to a decision reached in regard to a cause tried or argued before the court or tribunal, setting out the law as applied in the case and detailing the reasons upon which the decision is based.
Mediation - (From Latin mediare : 'to be in the middle.') Bringing about a peaceful settlement or compromise between parties to a dispute through the benevolent intervention of an impartial third party.
Obiter dictum - A judge's statement made during a judgment, but not part of the reason for the decision.
Plaintiff - A party who initiates a civil action.
Precedents - Judgments quoted as an authority for deciding a similar set of facts; must come from an equivalent or higher court. precedent: (From Latin præcedens : 'going before in time').
Prima facie case - ( Prima facie is Latin for 'at first sight' or 'on first consideration.') A showing of sufficient evidence to initially establish a petitioner's case. If such a case is made out, the opposing party is then required to respond; if not, the case will be dismissed.
Ratio decidenti - The legal reasoning on which a judgment is based.
Rites - Religious or solemn ceremonies that must be observed.
Subpoena - A subpoena compels the appearance of a person at a trial to testify and to produce documents. A subpoena is a court order, and if properly issued and disobeyed, the disobedient person could be in contempt of court.
Summons - A document issued by a court directing a person to appear before it.
Trial - Judicial examination and determination of issues between parties with or without a jury.
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