Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| acquis | (French) a particular piece or section of European Union legislation. |
| acta | official minutes of a proceeding. |
| affidavit | a written statement, confirmed by oath, to be used as evidence. |
| assumpsit | a contract (not under seal); a suit for breach of such a contract. |
| backbond | a deed attaching a qualification or condition to the terms of a conveyance or other instrument. |
| bailbond | a bond given by a prisoner as his or her surety on being bailed. |
| breviate | a summary, a brief compendium; a lawyer's brief. |
| brocard | an elementary legal principle or maxim. |
| capias | a writ authorizing the arrest of a person > CAPIASES. |
| capitular | a statute passed in a chapter or ecclesiastical court; a member of a chapter > CAPITULARS; (adj.) relating or belonging to a chapter in a cathedral > CAPITULARLY. |
| capitulary | a collection of ordinances, esp. of Frankish kings. |
| carta charta | a charter. |
| casebook | a law textbook. |
| caveat | a warning, qualification, or explanation; (verb) to enter a caveat, a legal notice. |
| certiorari | a writ from higher court to lower court requesting a transcript > CERTIORARIS. |
| charta | see CARTA. |
| charter | any formal writing in evidence of a grant, contract, or other transactions. |
| cital | a summons to appear, as before a judge. |
| codifiable | able to be codified. |
| cognovit | an instrument in writing whereby a defendant in an action acknowledges a plaintiff's demand to be just. |
| contrat | a contract, an agreement. |
| covenant | a mutual agreement of two or more persons or parties; (verb) to make a covenant. |
| covenantal | relating to a COVENANT. |
| curfew | a regulation concerning the hours which one may keep. |
| custumal | a written record of laws and customs. |
| decree | an order by someone in authority; an edict or law; (verb) to order by decree. |
| decreet | the final judgment of the Court of Session, or of an inferior court, by which the question at issue is decided. |
| decretory | relating to or having the force of a decree. |
| dedimus | a writ to commission private persons to do some act in place of a judge, as to examine a witness, etc > DEDIMUSES. |
| denisation | a legal term relating to letters of citizenship. |
| distringas | a writ commanding the sheriff to distrain a person by his goods or chattels, to compel a compliance with something required of him > DISTRINGASES. |
| edict | an authoritative order having the force of law. |
| edictal | relating to an EDICT > EDICTALLY. |
| elegit | a writ of execution on a debtor's property. |
| escrow | a deed in the hands of a third party, to take effect when a condition is fulfilled. |
| firman | a decree or judicial decision; a passport, a licence. |
| gangbo | a civil order restricting the activities of a gang member. |
| habendum | the part of a deed that limits the extent of ownership. |
| headnote | a note at the head of a page or chapter; in law reports, an abstract of a case, showing the principles involved and the opinion of the court. |
| irade | (Turkish) a written decree of the Sultan of Turkey. |
| jurat | a memorandum at the end of an affidavit showing to whom it was sworn. |
| latitat | a writ based on the supposition that a person is in hiding. [L. latitare, -atum (3rd person singular present latitat), frequentative of latere, to be in hiding]. |
| lawbook | a book containing or dealing with laws. |
| lettre | letter, as in e.g. lettre de cachet, a royal warrant. |
| mandamus | a writ instructing that an action should be performed > MANDAMUSES; (verb) to issue such a writ > MANDAMUSES, MANDAMUSING, MANDAMUSED. |
| mittimus | a warrant granted for sending a charged person to jail > MITTIMUSES. |
| miniment muniment | a record fortifying or proving a claim, esp. a title deed to land. |
| nochel notchel | notice that will not be responsible for another's debts; (verb) to give such notice. |
| nomography | a treatise on laws; an exposition of the form proper for laws. |
| notchel | see NOCHEL. |
| noverint | a writ, beginning with the words noverint universi, let all men know. |
| pactum | a pact > PACTA. |
| placit placet | a decree or determination; a dictum. |
| placitum | the decision of a court or an assembly > PLACITA. |
| praecipe precipe | a writ commanding something to be done, or requiring a reason for neglecting it. |
| prenup | a prenuptial agreement. |
| proviso | a provision or condition in a deed or other writing > PROVISOES or PROVISOS. |
| quitclaim | a deed relinquishing a claim, such as a mining title; (verb) to draw up such a deed. |
| ragman ragment | a document with pendent seals. |
| reddendum | a reserving clause in a lease > REDDENDA. |
| statute | a law expressly enacted by the legislature (as distinguished from a customary or common law. |
| statutory | of or related to STATUTE > STATUTORILY. |
| subpena subpoena | a writ commanding attendance (e.g. of a witness); (verb) to compel appearance in court by such a writ. |
| supersedeas | a stay order (to stay an execution or legal proceedings) > SUPERSEDEASES. |
| supplicavit | formerly, a writ issued by the King's Bench or Chancery for taking the surety of the peace against a person. |
| syngraph | a writing or contract signed by both or all parties. |
| testatum | one of the clauses of an English deed > TESTATUMS or TESTATA. |
| tolt | a kind of writ in Old English law. |
| transumpt | a copy, a transcript; esp. one of a legal document. |
| ukase | a proclamation by a Russian emperor or government having the force of law. |
| venire | a judicial writ or precept directed to the sheriff, requiring him to cause a certain number of qualified persons to appear in court at a specified time, to serve as jurors in said court. |
| vidimus | attested copy; inspection of accounts. [L.' we have seen']. |
| warrandice | a guarantee; a clause in a deed by which the grantor binds himself or herself to make good to the grantee the right conveyed. |
| whereas | a statement introduced by 'whereas'; the preamble of a formal document > WHEREASES. |
| writ | a legal or financial document. |