abuse
Criminal mistreatment of others with whom one has, or has had, a continuing relationship of some kind. Abuse arises in four categories: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect ...
Adlerian
Of or relating to the school of psychoanalysis, called individual psychology, founded in 1911 by the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler (1870–1937). See compensation, Diana complex, fictional ...
African customary law
This useful, albeit disputed, term denotes a body of largely unwritten laws that have been derived from social practices regarded as obligatory by the communities concerned. The account below is ...
alimony
N.Formerly, financial provision made by a husband to his wife when they are living apart. Alimony is now known as maintenance or financial provision.
Anderson v Gorrie
(1895)By the early 1890s British judges had erected an almost impregnable barrier to protect themselves from lawsuits brought by litigants disgruntled by judges' actions or (more often) by words ...
Anglo-Saxon Law
The law of the various Germanic peoples who conquered much of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries laid the foundation for the medieval common law. Anglo-Saxon law's norms, institutions ...
Bolton v Stone
(1951)Few cases in the history of the common law are as well known as that of Bolton v Stone (1951). On an afternoon in August 1947, members of the ...
breach of trust
Any improper act or omission by a trustee or other person in a fiduciary position contrary to the duties imposed upon him by the terms of the trust. A breach need not be deliberate or dishonest. In ...
civil liability for breach of statutory duty
Broadly understood ‘breach of statutory duty’ describes any breach of a tortious duty created by statute. Some statutes, for example the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 and Part I of the ...
civil trials
The civil trial is a procedure for the just determination of disputes, primarily between private persons (including companies); but public authorities and the Crown may also be parties. The civil ...
closed-shop agreement
A collective agreement requiring members of a particular group of employees to be or become members of a specified trade union. A pre-entry agreement is one that prohibits an employer from engaging a ...
cohabitation
Living together under one roof in a marital, de facto marital, or marriage-like relationship in the absence of a formal marriage, whether the partners are heterosexual or homosexual. See also ...
compensation culture
A culture in which many citizens have come to believe that for all ills that befall them another must be to blame, and that compensation by way of damages should therefore be sought. It is often ...
compensation levy
A levy to fund compensation for some purpose related to the class of people on whom the levy falls. Thus a compensation levy is ordered to be paid by an ...
compensation neurosis
A collection of symptoms presented by a person who has the prospect of receiving financial compensation for an industrial injury, failed surgical operation, car accident, or the like, susceptible to ...
compounding an offence
The offence of accepting or agreeing to accept consideration for not disclosing information that might assist in convicting or prosecuting someone who has committed an indictable offence ...
compulsory acquisition
(or compulsory purchase or resumption)The power of the state to acquire an interest in private property for a higher public purpose without the consent of the owner, usually subject ...
concealing indictable offences
The offence under s 5 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 of accepting or agreeing to accept consideration for not disclosing information that might assist in convicting or prosecuting someone who has ...
Contract Law
One of the eleven core subjects a law student must pass to qualify as a candidate for admission to practise law. See Priestley eleven.The principles of contract law govern ...
contributory negligence
A person's carelessness for his own safety or interests, which contributes materially to damage suffered by him as a result partly of his own fault and partly of the fault of another person or ...
