Legal Dictionary

contract

1) n. an agreement with specific terms between two or more persons or entities in which there is a promise to do something in return for a valuable benefit known as consideration. Since the law of contracts is at the heart of most business dealings, it is one of the three or four most significant areas of legal concern and can involve variations on circumstances and complexities. The existence of a contract requires finding the following factual elements: a) an offer; b) an acceptance of that offer which results in a meeting of the minds; c) a promise to perform; d) a valuable consideration (which can be a promise or payment in some form); e) a time or event when performance must be made (meet commitments); f) terms and conditions for performance, including fulfilling promises; g) performance, if the contract is "unilateral". A unilateral contract is one in which there is a promise to pay or give other consideration in return for actual performance. A bilateral contract is one in which a promise is exchanged for a promise. Contracts can be either written or oral, but oral contracts are more difficult to prove. In some cases a contract can consist of several documents, such as a series of letters, orders, offers and counteroffers. There are a variety of types of contracts: "conditional" on an event occurring; "joint and several," in which several parties make a joint promise to perform, but each is responsible; "implied," in which the courts will determine there is a contract based on the circumstances. Parties can contract to supply all of another's requirements, buy all the products made, or enter into an option to renew a contract. The variations are almost limitless. Contracts for illegal purposes are not enforceable at law. 2) v. to enter into an agreement.

contractor

n. 1) a person or entity that enters into a contract. 2) commonly, a person or entity that agrees to construct a building or to provide or install specialized portions of the construction. The party responsible for the overall job is a "general contractor," and those he/she/it hires to construct or install certain parts (electrical, plumbing, roofing, tile-laying, etc.) are "subcontractors," who are responsible to the general contractor and not to the property owner. An owner must be sure that the subcontractors are paid by the general contractor by demanding and receiving proof of payment, or the subcontractor will be entitled to payment from the owner based on a mechanic's lien against the property. 3) a person who performs services but is not an employee, often called an "independent contractor."

contributory negligence

n. a doctrine of common law that if a person was injured in part due to his/her own negligence (his/her negligence "contributed" to the accident), the injured party would not be entitled to collect any damages (money) from another party who supposedly caused the accident. Under this rule, a badly injured person who was only slightly negligent could not win in court against a very negligent defendant.

controlled substance

n. a drug which has been declared to be illegal for sale or use, but may be dispensed under a physician's prescription. The basis for control and regulation is the danger of addiction, abuse, physical and mental harm (including death), the trafficking by illegal means, and the dangers from actions of those who have used the substances.

conversion

n. a civil wrong (tort) in which one converts another's property to his/her own use, which is a fancy way of saying "steals." Conversion includes treating another's goods as one's own, holding onto such property which accidentally comes into the convertor's (taker's) hands, or purposely giving the impression the assets belong to him/her. This gives the true owner the right to sue for his/her own property or the value and loss of use of it, as well as going to law enforcement authorities since conversion usually includes the crime of theft.

conveyance

n. a generic term for any written document which transfers (conveys) real property or real property interests from one party to another. A conveyance must be acknowledged before a notary (or if a court judgment be certified as the same as the document on file) and recorded with theRecorder of Deeds.

conviction

n. the result of a criminal trial in which the defendant has been found guilty of a crime.

cooperative housing

n. an arrangement in which an association or corporation owns a group of housing units and the common areas for the use of all the residents. The individual participants own a share in the cooperative which entitles them to occupy an apartment as if they were owners, to have equal access to the common areas and to vote for members of the board of directors which manages the cooperative. A cooperative differs from a condominium project in that the owners of the condominium units actually own their space and a percentage interest in the common area. In a cooperative there are often restrictions on transfer of shares such as giving priority to other members, limits on income or maximum sales price.

copartner

n. one who is a member of a partnership. The prefix "co" is a redundancy, since a partner is a member of a partnership. The same is true of the term "copartnership."

coroner

n. a county official with the responsibility to determine the cause of death of anyone who dies violently (by attack or accident), suddenly, or suspiciously. The coroner or one of his/her staff must examine the body at the scene of such a death and make a report. If the cause is not obvious or certified by an attending physician, then the coroner may order a "coroner's inquest" which requires an autopsy (postmortem). If that is not conclusive, the coroner may hold a hearing as part of the inquest, although this is rare due to scientific advances in pathology.

corporation

n. an organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities), which can sue or be sued, and (unless it is non-profit) can issue shares of stock to raise funds with which to start a business or increase its capital. One benefit is that a corporation's liability for damages or debts is limited to its assets, so the shareholders and officers are protected from personal claims, unless they commit fraud. For private business corporations the articles of incorporation filed with the Secretary of State of the incorporating state must include certain information, including the name of the responsible party or parties (incorporators and agent for acceptance of service), the amount of stock it will be authorized to issue, and its purpose Corporation shareholders elect a board of directors, which in turn adopts bylaws, chooses the officers and hires top management (which in smaller corporations are often the directors and/or shareholders). Annual meetings are required of both the shareholders and the board, and major policy decisions must be made by resolution of the board (which often delegates much authority to officers and committees).

corpus delicti

n. (corpus dee-lick-tie) Latin for the substantial fact that a crime has been committed, and in popular crime jargon, the body of the murder victim.

corroborate

v. to confirm and sometimes add substantiating (reinforcing) testimony to the testimony of another witness or a party in a trial

cosign

v. to sign a promissory note or other obligation in order to share liability for the obligation

cost of completion

n. the amount of money (damages) required to complete performance (finish the job) when a contract has been breached by the failure to perform. Example: when a general contractor breaches by not completing a house, the cost of completion is the actual cost of bringing in a new builder to finish what is left to do. The actual costs become the measure of damages rather than an estimate of cost based on percentage of work to be done.

cotenancy

n. the situation when more than one person has an interest in real property at the same time, which may include tenancy in common, joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety.

counsel

1) n. a lawyer, attorney, attorney-at-law, counsellor, counsellor-at-law, solicitor, barrister, advocate or proctor (a lawyer in admiralty court), licensed to practice law. 2) v. to give legal advice.

count

n. each separate statement in a complaint which states a cause of action which, standing alone, would give rise to a lawsuit, or each separate charge in a criminal action. For example, the complaint in a civil (non-criminal) lawsuit might state: First Count (or cause of action) for negligence, and then state the detailed allegations; Second Count for breach of contract; Third Count for debt and so forth. In a criminal case each count would be a statement of a different alleged crime. There are also so-called common counts which cover various types of debt.

counterclaim

n. a retaliatory claim by a defendant against a plaintiff in a lawsuit included in the defendant's answer and intending to off-set and/or reduce the amount of the plaintiff's original claim against the defendant.

counterpart

n. in the law of contracts, a written paper which is one of several documents which constitute a contract, such as a written offer and a written acceptance. Often a contract is in several counterparts which are the same but each paper is signed by a different party, particularly if they are in different localities.

course of employment

adj. actively involved in a person's employment at a particular time, most likely when an accident occurred, which is required to make a claim for work-related injury under Worker's Compensation Acts.

court calendar

n. the list of matters to be heard or set for trial or hearing by a court.

court docket

n.See also: docket

court of law

n. any tribunal within a judicial system.

court-martial

1) n. a military court for trying offenses in violation of army, navy or other armed service rules and regulations, made up of military officers, who act as both finders of fact (in effect, a jury) and as arbiters (judges) of the law applying to the case. 2) v. to charge a member of the military with an offense against military law or to find him/her guilty of such a violation.