Law lexicon
Diversity of citizenship - The condition when the party on one side of a lawsuit is a citizen of one state and the other party is a citizen of another state; such cases are under the jurisdiction of federal courts.
Diversion - The process of removing some minor criminal, traffic, or juvenile cases from the full judicial process, on the condition that the accused undergo some sort of rehabilitation or make restitution for damages.
Docket - An abstract or listing of all pleadings filed in a case; the book containing such entries; trial docket is a list of or calendar of cases to be tried in a certain term.
Docket control - A system for keeping track of deadlines and court dates for both litigation and non-litigation matters.
Domicile - The place where a person has his permanent home to which he intends to return.
Double jeopardy - Putting a person on trial more than once for the same crime. It is forbidden by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Due process of law - The right of all persons to receive the guarantees and safeguards of the law and the judicial process. It includes such constitutional requirements as adequate notice, assistance of counsel, and the rights to remain silent, to a speedy and public trial, to an impartial jury, and to confront and secure witnesses.
Elements of a crime - Specific factors that define a crime which the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt in order to obtain a conviction: (1) that a crime has actually occurred, (2) that the accused intended the crime to happen, and (3) a timely relationship between the first two factors.
Embezzlement - The fraudulent appropriation by a person to his own use or benefit or property or money entrusted to him by another.
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.
Encyclopedia - A book or series of books arranged alphabetically by topics containing information on areas of law, including citations to support the information.
Enjoin - To order a person to perform, or to abstain and desist from performing a specified act or course of conduct. See injunction.
Entity - A person or legally recognized organization.
Entrapment - The act of inducing a person to commit a crime so that a criminal charge will be brought against him.
Entry - A statement of conclusion reached by the court and placed in the court record.
Environment - The conditions, influences, or forces which affect the desirability and value of property, as well as the effect on people's lives.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - A federal agency created to permit coordinated and environment effective governmental action to preserve the quality of the environment.
Equal Protection of the Law - The guarantee in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that all persons be treated equally by the law.
Equitable action - An action which may be brought for the purpose of restraining the threatened infliction of wrongs or injuries, and the prevention of threatened illegal action.
Source: Jurist International.
