The name of an order in writing, issuing from a court and directing the sheriff or other officer to convey a person to a prison, asylum, or reformatory, and directing the jailer or other appropriate official to receive and safely keep the person until his or her fate shall be determined by due course of law.
A case or point that is not subject to a judicial determination because it involves an abstract question or a pretended controversy that has not yet actually arisen or has already passed. Mootness usually refers to a court's refusal to consider a case because the issue involved has been resolved prior to the court's decision, leaving nothing that would be affected by the court's decision.
Oral or written request made by a party to an action before, during, or after a trial, upon which a court issues a ruling or order.
The unlawful killing of a human being with deliberate intent to kill. Murder in the first degree is characterized by premeditation; murder in the second degree is characterized by a sudden and instantaneous intent to kill or to cause injury without caring whether the injury kills or not.
Failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances.
A person acting without formal appointment as guardian for the benefit of an infant, a person of unsound mind not judicially declared incompetent, or other person under some disability.
A phrase that describes complaints brought by the police that will not be filed with the court (at the prosecutor’s discretion).
Language in a will that provides that a person who makes a legal challenge to the will's validity will be disinherited.
A civil case in which parties may resolve their dispute without a formal finding of error or fault.
Decision by a prosecutor not to go forward with charging a crime. It translates to "I do not choose to prosecute." Also loosely called nolle pros.
