Eminent Domain
The power of the government to take private property for public use through condemnation.
En Banc
All the judges of a court sitting together. Appellate courts can consist of a dozen or more judges, but often they hear cases in panels of three judges. If a case is heard or reheard by the full court, it is heard en banc.
Enjoining
An order by the court telling a person to stop performing a specific act.
Entrapment
A defense to criminal charges alleging that agents of the government induced a person to commit a crime he or she otherwise would not have committed.
Equal Protection of the Law
The guarantee in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution that all persons be treated equally by the law.
Equitable Relief
The person is requesting a judge to order someone to do or not do something because monetary damages would not adequately remedy the injury suffered.
Equity
Generally, justice or fairness. The principle of equity in the legal system is intended to guide a judge in finding a way to achieve a lawful result when legal procedure is inadequate.
Escheat
The process by which a deceased person's property goes to the state if no heir can be found.
Escrow
Money or a written instrument such as a deed that, by agreement between two parties, is held by a neutral third party (held in escrow) until all conditions of the agreement are met.
Estate
An estate consists of personal property (car, household items, and other tangible items), real property, and intangible property, such as stock certificates and bank accounts, owned in the individual name of a person at the time of the person's death.