BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY® Definitions of the Terms and Phrases of American and English Jurisprudence, Ancient and Modern By HENRY CAMPBELL BLACK, M. A. SIXTH EDITION BY THE PUBLISHER'S EDITORIAL STAFF Coauthors JOSEPH R. NOLAN Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and JACQUELINE M. NOLAN-HALEY Associate Clinical Professor, Fordham University School of Law Contributing Authors M. J. CONNOllY Associate Professor (Linguistics), College of Arts & Sciences, Boston College STEPHEN C. HICKS Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA MARTINA N. All BRANDI Certified Public Accountant, Bolton, MA ST. PAUL, MINN. WEST PUBLISHING CO. 1990 "BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY" is a registered trademark of West Publishing Co. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. COPYRIGHT @ 1891, 1910, 1933, 1951, 1957, 1968, 1979 WEST PUBLISHING CO. COPYRIGHT @ 1990 By WEST PUBLISHING CO. 50 West Kellogg Boulevard P.O. Box 64526 St. Paul, Mn 55164-0526 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Black, Henry Campbell, 1850-1927. [Law dictionary] Black's law dictionary / by Henry Campbell Black. - 6th ed. / by the publisher's editorial staff; contributing authors, Joseph R. Nolan ... let al.] p. cm. ISBN 0-314-76271-X 1. Law-United States-Dictionaries. 2. Law-Dictionaries. I. Nolan, Joseph R. II. Title. KF156.B53 1990 340' .03-dc20 90-36225 CIP ISBN 0-314-76271-X ISBN 0-314-77165-4 deluxe Black's Law Dictionary 6th Ed. 2nd Reprint-1990 PREFACE This new Sixth Edition starts a second century for Black's Law Dictionary-the standard authority for legal definitions since 1891. Nearly every area of the law has undergone change and develop­ ment since publication of the Fifth· Edition in 1979. This period has seen particular change and expansion in such areas as tax, finance, commercial transactions, debtor-creditor relations, tort liability, em­ ployment, health care, environment, and criminal law. Congress and the states continue to legislate new rights and remedies; the courts continue to define and redefine legal terms; the states are increasingly adopting uniform or model laws and rules; and new causes of action and legal concepts continue unabated. The vocabulary of the law has likewise continued to change and expand to keep pace. This has necessitated not only a significant expansion of new words and terms for inclusion in this Sixth Edition, but also a reexamination of all existing entries for currentness of legal usage. Indicative of this growth is that this new edition required the addition or revision of over 5,000 legal words and terms. Thousands of other changes were required to update or supplement supporting cita­ tions. As with prior editions, considerable effort has been made in this Sixth Edition to provide more than basic definitions of legal words and terms. In those instances where traditional legal concepts and doc­ trines have over the years been either superseded, modified or supple­ mented by court decisions or legislation, such developments and changes are fully reflected. Additionally, because so many areas of law and practice are now governed by uniform or model acts and rules, such major sources of law as the Uniform Commercial Code, Restatements of the Law, Model Penal Code, and Federal Rules are fully reflected. Similarly, the growth and importance of federal laws, with their impact on matters that were traditionally state or local in nature, is evidenced with a considerable number of new entries and citations covering federal acts, agencies, departments and courts. Likewise, the ever expanding importance of financial terminology has necessitated the inclusion of numerous new tax, finance, and accounting terms. Examples of word usages, with citations, have been added through­ out to illustrate how specific terms are used or applied in various legal contexts. iii PREFACE Because of the inter-relationship of so many legal words and terms, the number of internal cross-references has been greatly increased. The number of abbreviation entries has also been substantially expand­ ed, as has the Table of Abbreviations. A number of changes have been made to the pronunciation guides to make this feature even more helpful. A comprehensive explanation of these guides is set forth on pages vii-xiv with a shorter pronuncia­ tion Key appearing on the inside front cover. New and revised words and terms for this Sixth Edition were prepared by Joseph R. Nolan, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Su­ preme Judicial Court, and Jacqueline M. Nolan-Haley of Fordham University School of Law. The pronunciation transcription system and guides were prepared by M.J. Connolly, Associate Professor of Linguis­ tics, Boston College. Words and terms of the United Kingdom were revised and updated by Professor Stephen C. Hicks, Suffolk University Law School. Tax and accounting terms were updated and expanded by Martina N. Alibrandi, Certified Public Accountant, Bolton, Massachu­ setts. A Final Word of Caution The language of the law is ever-changing as the courts, Congress, state legislatures, and administrative agencies continue to define, rede­ fine and expand legal words and terms. Furthermore, many legal terms are subject to variations from state to state and again can differ under federal laws. Also, the type of legal issue, dispute, or transaction involved can affect a given definition usage. Accordingly, a legal dictionary should only be used as a CCstarting point" for definitions. Additional research should follow for state or federal variations, for further or later court interpretations, and for specific applications. Helpful sources for supplemental research are CCWords and Phrases" and WESTLAW. THE PUBLISHER St. Paul, Minn. July, 1990 iv CONTENTS Page Preface ____________________________________________________________________________________ iii The Pronunciation of Latin ______________________________________________________ vii Outline of Latin Pronunciations _____________________________________________ ix Transcription System ________________________________________________________________ xi Guide to Pronunciation Symbols ____________________________________________ xii Text of Definitions___ _______ __ _____ ___ _______ ______ __ _______________ ________ __ _____ 1 Appendices Table of Abbreviations __________________________________________________________ 1623 The Constitution of the United States ____________________________________1639 Time Chart of the United States Supreme Court ____________________ 1651 Organizational Chart of United States Government ________________ 1655 Table of British Regnal Years _______________________________________________1657 * v THE PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN A majority of the Latin terms in this revised edition of Black's Law Dictionary, and also occasional English and foreign terms, have been provid­ ed with pronunciation entries. The pronunciations follow a descriptive scheme and are based on actual usage rather than on any attempt to prescribe a uniform pronunciation. Where alternate pronunciations exist and philologically more cappropriate' pronunciation generally receives first listing, however. The entries provide an acceptable pronunciation in a transcription system compatible with the major varieties of North American English and extendable to other pronunciations. Despite its continuing decline as a working language of scholarship and jurisprudence, Latin still supplies a formidable stock of legal terms and phrases. The ability to use a Latin phrase correctly and pronounce it with authority and consistency belongs to the equipment of a well-rounded jurist. Those who actually study Latin today, however, will in all probability learn a pronunciation (either the reformed philological or the Italianate) at vari­ ance with the Anglo-Latin system which prevails in legal and medical spheres. Injection of the cnewer' school pronunciations actually serves to increase confusion and uncertainty: Where masculine plural alumni and feminine plural alumnae were once differentiated in speech as / �lamnay / and /�lamniy/ respectively, one widespread variant of the philological pro­ nunciation actually reverses the opposition with masculine / �lamniy / and feminine / �lamnay /. The status of amicus curiae, traditionally pronounced / �mayk�s kyuriyiy /, now has variants I�miyk�s kuriyayI (adapted philologi­ cal), lamiykus kuriyeyl (Italianate), and numerous hybrids. A parliamenta­ rian of the old school, perhaps even well versed in Latin, adjourns a meeting sine die / sayniy dayiy I only to have a junior colleague suggest that the ccorrect' pronunciation is / siyney diyey I. Strictly speaking, of course, any attempt at ccorrect' pronunciations of foreign terms can at best be only weak approximations. The linguistic contortions of a purist attempting to weave foreign sounds and intonations into the texture of an English sentence usually strike us as pedantic or affected. Although Julius Caesar may have pronounced his name something like Iyuwliyus kaysar/ and later Romans may have called him Icheyzar/, few speakers of English have place for anything other than the Anglo-Latin I juwl(i)y�s siyz�r / . Three major systems of Latin pronunciation, outlined below, coexist in the English-speaking world. Each has its proper cultural and scholarly context. The reformed (or new, or philological, or Roman) pronunciation represents a modification to English speech habits of the reconstructed sounds of Latin as it must have been in the classical