Restitution
Under ancient English common law, when a party enforced a court judgement
and then that judgement was overturned on appeal, the appellant could
ask the appeal court for "restitution", or financial compensation
placing that appellant in the same position as if the original legal
decision had not been enforced. A new strain of common law has also
developed called "restitution", closely associated with unjust
enrichment, whereby a person is deprived of something of value belonging
to them, can ask a court to order "restitution". The best
example is asking a court to reverse or correct a payment made in error.
Resulting
trust
A trust that is presumed by the court from certain situations. Similar
to a constructive trust but for resulting trusts, the court presumes
an intention to create a trust; the law assumes that the property is
not held by the right person and that the possessor is only holding
the property "in trust" for the rightful owner. In constructive
trusts, the courts don't even bother with presuming an intention; they
simply impose a trust from the facts.
Retainer
A contract between a lawyer and his (or her) client, wherein the lawyer
agrees to represent and provide legal advice to the client, in exchange
for money. The signed retainer begins the client-lawyer relationship
from which flow many responsibilities and duties, primarily on the lawyer,
including to provide accurate legal advice, to monitor limitation dates
and to not allow any conflict of interest with the relationship with
the client.
Reversion
A future interest left in a transferror or his (or her) heirs. A reservation
in a real property conveyance that the property reverts back to the
original owner upon the occurence of a certain event. For example, Jim
gives Bob a bulding using the words "to Bob for life". Upon
the death of Bob, the property reverts back to Jim or to Jim's heirs.
Differs from a remainder in that a remainder takes effect by an act
of the parties involved. A reversion takes effect by operation of the
law. Nor is a reversion a "left-over" as is a remainder. Rather,
it reverts the entire property.
Riparian
rights
Special rights of people who own land that runs into a river bank (a
"riparian owner" is a person who owns land that runs into
a river). While not an ownership right, riparian rights include the
right of access to, and use of the water for domestic purposes (bathing,
cleaning and navigating). The extent of these rights varies from country
to country and may include the right to build a wharf outwards to a
navigable depth or to take emergency measures to prevent flooding.
