Law Terminology:

1. Law= is a set of rules and standards of conduct in a society that have (1) a general
application in the society (2) have been developed by an authority to the society (3) have an
associated penalty imposed upon violators

2. Supremacy Clause=is when federal and state laws are in conflict then FEDERAL law shall
be SUPREME

3. Statute=is a passage of law; the product of the law making of a legislature and it may add
details to the govt. Framework

4. Constitution=is the basic fundamental law in a state → written&unwritten; flexible&rigid

Written:
Written Constitution is one which the fundamental principles concerning state
administration are embodied and which has, as a specific document, been passed by
a specific body.
U.S Constitution, Indian Constitution and Bangladesh Constitution are Written
Constitution.
Unwritten:
On the other hand, where the constitution has not been passed formally as a
specific document by a specific body and the fundamental principles concerning
state administration exist in political customs, judicial decisions and in some
scattered documents, the constitution is unwritten one.
British Constitution is great example for unwritten constitution

Flexible:
The distinction between Rigid and Flexible Constitution rests upon the method by
which the constitution may be changed. The Constitution which can be amended by
ordinary law making procedure is called Flexible Constitution. Ordinary law making
procedure means, making law by simple majority.
British Constitution is flexible constitution.

Rigid:
On the other hand the constitution which can not be amended by ordinary law making
process, need two-third majority for amended Constitution.
Bangladesh Constitution is rigid constitution.

5. Criminal law= defines the breaches of duty to society at large; actors are defendant versus
prosecutor or district attorney; burden of proof is that the prosecutor MUST establish
defendants guilt without reasonable doubt; punishment: imprisonment and/or fines

6. Civil law=duties owed by one person to another; a duty to exercise resonable care with
regard to others-law of negligence (contract law, tort law); actors: defendant versus plaintiff;
burden of proof is that the plaintiff must establish defendants liability by the preponderence
of the evidence; punishment: compensatory or punitive damages (social work, etc.)

7. Sources of law: treaties, constitutions, statutes, EU laws-directives, International law,

Administrative decisions, Ordinances, courts, codes of law, executive branch
 8. Jurisdiction=a right to hear a case; it refers to the power to deal with a case; in the legal
sense, refers to the boundary of authority

9. Rule of law (Magna Carta-first legal document, establishing freedoms and rights for
citizens)=is the principle forming the basis of the justice system. It holds that everyone is
equal under the law, and that no one is above the law. Citizens do not have the right to
choose which laws they are going to observe and which ones they will ignore.
→ The state is base on The Rule of Law- /Separation of Powers; Check and Balances; Equal before
law-imunities for president&diplomats; democracy-representative, popular; Individual rights and
freedoms/ and also on the Constitution, which limits the power of a government and gives freedom
to the individuals

10. Separation of powers=Separation of powers refers to a system of government in which

power is not centralized in one person or agency. Guaranteed by the constitution.

11. Judicial Review=is the examination of the actions of the executive, legislative and
administrative branches of government by a country’s court system to determine whether
those actions conform to the dictates of some previously established higher
authority=constitution! The power to INTERPRET the constitution.

12. Common law =is the law of a PRECEDENT-Judges create common law by writing
opinions about cases that bind lower courts in lower jurisdictions. The foundation for
common law is formed by torts, property, and contracts.

13. Bill=it is a proposed statute NOT yet approved. (first draft and proposed law or statute
which has been formally tabled before a legislative assembly for consideration.
A bill becomes legislation or a statute when the appropriate parliamentary or legislative assembly
has approved it by holding a vote and in the result, giving it the requisite number of approval votes)

14. Amendment= alteration (uprava, změna) of the provisions of a legal document. The term
usually refers to the alteration of astatuteor a constitution, but it is also applied in
parliamentary law to proposed changes to a bill or motion under consideration, and in
judicial procedure to the correction of errors. Or a statement such as in the constitution.

15. Impeachment= (obžaloba, pochybení; US státního uředníka)-To make an accusation

against; to charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper
tribunal;
To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.

16. Enumerated powers=are powers given to the federal government by the terms of the U.S.
Constitution; that the federal government had essentially all powers that were not explicitly
denied it by the constitution

17. Defamation= An act of communication that causes someone to be shamed, ridiculed, held
in contempt, lowered in the estimation of the community, or to lose employment status or
earnings or otherwise suffer a damaged reputation. Slander-oral defamation; libel=written
defamation

18. Court system in the USA- Inferior courts=courts of records->district courts-> apellant
courts-> supreme courts
federal district courts->federal court of appeals
 19. Court system in the Czech Republic-district-> regional->high->supreme
and constitutional court which is out of the system

20. Necessity= Whatever is done through necessity, is done without any intention, and as the act
is done without will, and is compulsory, the agent is not legally responsible; indeed
necessity is itself a law which cannot be avoided nor infringed.

21. Self-defense= A defense to certain criminal charges involving force (e.g. murder).

22. Insanity= insanity may serve as an affirmative defense to criminal acts and thus does not
need to negate an element of the prosecution's case such as general or specific intent

23. Convention (UK)=An agreement or compact, particularly an international agreement

(Geneva convention)

24. Capacity in Law=Power provided under law to a natural person or a juridical person to

enter into binding contracts, and to sue and be sued in its own name.

25. Torts=A negligent or intentional civil wrong not arising out of a contract or statute. These
include "intentional torts" such as battery or defamation, and torts for negligence.

26. Double Jeopardy of Justice (Res Judicata=already subject to judicial determination) =A

prohibition against being tried or sentenced twice for the same offense.

27. Concurring opinion=A concurring opinion is one which agrees with the court's decision,
but offers further commentary. It is used to explain the reasoning of a particular judge. A
concurring opinion may agree with the outcome decided in the court's opinion, but would
have reached the same result for a different reason.

28. Dissenting opinion= is the opinion of a judge of a court of appeals, including the U.S.
Supreme Court, which disagrees with the majority opinion

29. Majority opinion=the opinion joined by a majority of the court (generally known simply
as `the opinion

30. to dismiss a case=In court, a motion to dismiss is a request from one side in a legal dispute
for the judge to expel a case from the court’s consideration. The motion may ask the judge
to dismiss the case due to a variety of factors. Courts allow motions to dismiss in order to
boost speed and efficiency of the court system by weeding out cases that are inappropriate.
motion to dismiss asserts that the plaintiff or prosecutor is not legally entitled to receive a
court-imposed remedy, regardless of the veracity of the facts. Judges may dismiss cases with
or without prejudice, the difference being whether the claimant has the right to sue on the
same cause of action at a later date.

31. to sustain= in trial practice, for a judge to agree that a question asked of a witness is
objectionable. Thus, an attorney asks the witness a question, and the opposing lawyer
objects, saying the question is "irrelevant, immaterial and incompetent," "leading,"
"argumentative," or some other objection. If the judge agrees he/she will rule "sustained,"
meaning the objection is sustained (approved) and the question cannot be asked or plaintiff
answered. However, if the judge finds the question proper, he/she will "over-rule" the
 objection.

32. to overrule= to reject an attorney's objection to a question of a witness or admission of

evidence. By overruling the objection, the trial judge allows the question or evidence in
court. If the judge agrees with the objection he/she "sustains" the objection and does not
allow the question or evidence. 2) to decide (by a court of appeals) that a prior appeals
decision on a legal issue was not correct, and is therefore no longer a valid precedent on that
legal question. 

33. to appeal= A person who initiates an appeal—the appellant, sometimes called the plaintiff
in error, must file a notice of appeal, along with the necessary documents, to commence
appellate review. The person against whom the appeal is brought, the appellee, then files a
brief in response to the appellant's allegations.

34. Jury= A group of individuals selected and sworn in to serve as the finders of fact in a civil
or criminal trial, or in the case of a grand jury, to decide whether the facts warrant an
indictment of the defendant.

35. Defendant= the one being sued

36. Plaintiff= the one who is suing in the civil trial (in criminal trial it's the prosecutor)

37. who decides question of law and the question of a fact?

38. To amend=to change

39. to refer=direct attention

40. Negligence= The failure to use reasonable care. The doing of something which a reasonably
prudent person would not do, or the failure to do something which a reasonably prudent
person would do under like circumstances. A departure from what an ordinary reasonable
member of the community would do in the same community. → if not for the negligence,
the loss, injury or damage would not have occurred.

41. trespass to land= One is liable to another for trespass, irrespective of whether he thereby
causes harm to any legally protected interest of the other, if he intentionally (a) enters the
land in the possession of the other, or causes a third thing or person to do so, (b) remains on
the land or (c) fails to remove a thing he is under a duty to remove.

42. Assault= Whenever one person makes a willful attempt or threat to injure someone else,
and also has an apparent, present ability to carry out the threat such as by flourishing or
pointing a dangerous weapon or device at the other. An "assault" may be committed without
actually striking or injuring another person.

43. Battery= A battery is the unlawful touching the person of another by the aggressor himself,
or any other substance put in motion by him. It must be either wilfully committed, or
proceed from want of due care. Hence an injury, be it never so small, done to the person of
another, in an angry, spiteful, rude or insolent manner, as by spitting in his face, or any way
touching him in anger, or violently jostling him, are batteries in the eye of the law.

44. Conversion= Torts. The unlawful turning or applying the personal goods of another to the
use of the taker, or of some other person than the owner; or the unlawful destroying or
 altering their nature.

45. strict liability= Liability even when there is no proof of negligence. Often applicable in
product liability cases against manufacturers, who are legally responsible for injuries caused
by defects in their products, even if they were not negligent.

46. encompass=include

47. acceptance= Concept summary:

There is a valid acceptance if there is: (1) Intent=objectively manifested (2)Exactnessno material
changes from the offer (3)Communication=stipulated (specified); by expressly or impliedly
authorized means; by an authorized means

48. Contract= (Offer → Acceptance → Consideration)= > an agreement with specific terms
between two or more persons or entities in which there is a promise to do something in
return for a valuable benefit known as consideration.

49. offer=

50. mail box rule= in contract law, making a written offer or acceptance of offer valid if sent in
the mail, with postage, within the time in which the offer must be accepted, unless the offer
requires acceptance by personal delivery on or before the specified date. The rule may also
apply to mailing payments of insurance premiums when due. However, relying on this so-
called "rule" can be dangerous, since the party awaiting the acceptance or payment may
cancel the offer if there is no response in hand when the time runs out.

51. mirror rule= also referred to as an unequivocal and absolute acceptance requirement states
that an offer must be accepted exactly without modifications. The offeror is the master of his
own offer. An attempt to accept the offer on different terms instead creates a counter-offer,
and this constitutes a rejection of the original offer

52. quasi-contract= obligation that the law creates in the absence of an agreement between the
parties. It is invoked by the courts where Unjust Enrichment, which occurs when a person
retains money or benefits that in all fairness belong to another, would exist without judicial
relief.

53. promissory estoppal= in the law of contracts, the doctrine that provides that if a party
changes his or her position substantially either by acting or forbearing from acting in
reliance upon a gratuitous promise, then that party can enforce the promise although the
essential elements of a contract are not present.

54. Damages= Monetary compensation that is awarded by a court in a civil action to an

individual who has been injured through the wrongful conduct of another party

55. bill of rights= A declaration of individual rights and freedoms, usually issued by a national
government. A list of fundamental rights included in each state constitution.

56. principles of criminal liability=

57. precedent= A court decision that is cited as an example or analogy to resolve similar
questions of law in later cases.
 58. minor=An infant or person who is under the age of legal competence

59. murder=The unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse.
versus manslaughter=
→ The essential distinction between the two offenses is that malice aforethought (předem
promyšlený zlý čin) must be present for murder, whereas it must be absent for manslaughter.
Manslaughter is not as serious a crime as murder. On the other hand, it is not a justifiable or
excusable killing for which little or no punishment is imposed.

60. remedies in different types of law=civil=fines, social work; criminal=imprisonment

61. ČR/ Usa (3 principles that differ) Čr-1) PRESIDENT IS ONLY A SYMBOL
(Representative), USA- ,á větší práva , spolupráce s Executive branch 2) In ČR WE HAVE
ONLY ONE Constitution but in USA 51 becouse they are federal state and they have one
Federal Constitution which is supreme nad těma ostatníma state constitution, vždycky se
budou řídit tou federal , that is Supremacy Clause. 3) Čr má Civil law system , ale USA má
Common law tkz. UCC tzn Uniform commercial law 4) V Čr sometime contract is
unforceeble(nevinutitelný) and some contracts has to be written např Insurance, sale of real
estate, employment contract last will, v USA je common law sets the rule to the contract
law. 5) In Čr we have district, regional, high,supreme , the Constitutional court is out of the
system a týká se politiků, presidenta, ale I normálních lidí, když jsou v právu v té constituci,
ale nejsou v právu např. Freedom of speech Defamation but in USA they have 1)State Court
(inferior courts)- Courts of records, District court, Appeal Court, Supreme Court ( 2) Federal
6) Procedures of Legal system (postupy) in Čr it is Inquisitor and in the USA it is Adversory
system . 7) In USA they have Jury (vois dire)-question of law, chosen randomly people , it
is more just (spravedlivý) justice and in the CZ we have not jury