Legal Dictionary

injury

n. any harm done to a person by the acts or omissions of another. Injury may include physical hurt as well as damage to reputation or dignity, loss of a legal right or breach of contract. If the party causing the injury was either willful (intentionally causing harm) or negligent then he/she is responsible (liable) for payment of damages for the harm caused. Theoretically, potential or continuing injury may be prevented by an order of the court upon a petition for an injunction.

innuendo

n. from Latin innuere, "to nod toward." In law it means "an indirect hint." "Innuendo" is used in lawsuits for defamation (libel or slander), usually to show that the party suing was the person about whom the nasty statements were made or why the comments were defamatory.

insanity

n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior. Insanity is distinguished from low intelligence or mental deficiency due to age or injury. If a complaint is made to law enforcement, or to medical personnel that a person is evidencing psychotic behavior, he/she may be confined to a medical facility long enough to be examined by psychiatrists who submit written reports to the local court. A hearing is then held before a judge, with the person in question entitled to legal representation, to determine if she/he should be placed in an institution or special facility. The person ordered institutionalized at the hearing may request a trial to determine sanity. Particularly since the original hearings are often routine with the psychiatric findings accepted by the judge. In criminal cases, a plea of "not guilty by reason of insanity" will require a trial on the issue of the defendant's insanity (or sanity) at the time the crime was committed. In these cases the defendant usually claims "temporary insanity" (crazy then, but okay now). The traditional test of insanity in criminal cases is whether the accused knew "the difference between right and wrong," following the "M'Naughten rule" from 19th century England. A claim by a criminal defendant of his/her insanity at the time of trial requires a separate hearing to determine if a defendant is sufficiently sane to understand the nature of a trial and participate in his/her own defense. If found to be insane, the defendant will be ordered to a mental facility, and the trial will be held only if sanity returns.

insertion

n. the addition of language at a place within an existing typed or written document, which is always suspect unless initialled by all parties.

insider trading

n. the use of confidential information about a business gained through employment in a company or a stock brokerage, to buy and/or sell stocks and bonds based on the private knowledge that the value will go up or down. The victims are the unsuspecting investing public.

inspection of documents

n. the right to examine and copy the opposing party's papers in a lawsuit which are relevant to the case. A demand (legal request) may be made, but the categories of documents must be stated so that the other party can know what he/she must produce. If the opposition either refuses to produce some documents or appears to hold back, the party wanting to see the documents can bring a "motion to produce" requesting a court order to produce and a penalty (sanctions) to be paid for failure to honor the demand. A party may also use a subpena duces tecum to obtain specific documents if they are known to exist. All of these procedures are part of the discovery process, intended to give both sides extensive pre-trial information. Such exchanges of documents can lead to settlement, minimize surprises at trial and keep one side from hiding material, thus preventing the other from being able to introduce relevant material at trial. However, it is well known that many law firms obfuscate, delay, pretend to misunderstand requests and fail to be forthcoming.

instruction

n. an explanation of the law governing a case which the judge gives orally to the jury after the attorneys have presented all the evidence and have made final arguments, but before the jury begins deliberations.

insufficient evidence

n. a finding (decision) by a trial judge or an appeals court that the prosecution in a criminal case or a plaintiff in a lawsuit has not proved the case because the attorney did not present enough convincing evidence. Insufficient evidence usually results in dismissal of the case after the prosecution or the plaintiff has completed his/her introduction of evidence or, if on appeal, reversal of the judgment by the trial court.

insured

n. 1) the person or entity who will be compensated for loss by an insurer under the terms of a contract called an insurance policy. 2) the person whose life is insured by life insurance, after whose death the benefits go to others.

intangible property

n. items such as stock in a company which represent value but are not actual, tangible objects.

inter alia

(in-tur eh-lee-ah) prep. Latin for "among other things". This phrase is often found in legal pleadings and writings to specify one example out of many possibilities. Example: "The judge said, inter alia, that the time to file the action had passed".

inter vivos

(in-tur veye-vohs) adj. Latin for "among the living", usually referring to the transfer of property by agreement between living persons and not by a gift through a will. It can also refer to a trust (inter vivos trust) which commences during the lifetime of the person (trustor or settlor) creating the trust as distinguished from a trust created by a will (testamentary trust), which comes into existence upon the death of the writer of the will.

interest

n. 1) any and all, partial or total right to property or for the use of property, including an easement to pass over a neighboring parcel of land, a possibility of acquiring title upon the happening of some event, or outright title. While most often referring to real property, one may have an interest in a business, a bank account or any article. 2) the financial amount (money) paid by someone else for the use of a person's money, as on a loan or debt, on a savings account in a bank, on a certificate of deposit, promissory note or the amount due on a judgment. Interest is usually stated in writing at the time the money is loaned. There are variable rates of interest, particularly on savings accounts which depend on funding from the Reserve or other banks and are controlled by the prevailing interest rates on those funds. Maximum interest rates on loans made by individuals are controlled by statute. To charge more than that rate is usury, the penalty for which may be the inability of a creditor to collect through the courts. The interest rates demanded by lending institutions are not so restricted. Simple interest is the annual rate charged for a loan, and compound interest includes interest upon interest during the year. 3) one's involvement in business, activities or with an individual which is sufficient to create doubt about a witness being objective-damaging his/her credibility. 4) one's involvement in business, activities or with an individual which is sufficient connection to give a person "standing" (the right based on interest in the outcome of the lawsuit or petition) to bring a lawsuit on a particular matter or act on behalf of other people.

interlineation

n. the act of writing between the lines of a document, usually to add something that was omitted or thought of later. The issue (debated question) is whether both parties to a document (a contract, for example) had agreed upon the addition or whether the new words were part of the document (like a will) when it was signed. Good practice is either to have all parties initial the change at the point of the writing or have the document re-typed and then signed.

interlocutory decree

n. a court judgment which is temporary and not intended to be final until either a) other matters come before the judge, or b) there is a specified passage of time to determine if the interlocutory decree (judgment) is "working" (becomes accepted by both parties) and should become final.

interpleader

n. the procedure when two parties are involved in a lawsuit over the right to collect a debt from a third party, who admits the money is owed but does not know which person to pay. The debtor deposits the funds with the court ("interpleads"), asks the court to dismiss him/her/it from the lawsuit and lets the claimants fight over it in court.

interrogatories

n. a set of written questions to a party to a lawsuit asked by the opposing party as part of the pre-trial discovery process. These questions must be answered in writing under oath or under penalty of perjury within a specified time. Normal practice is for the lawyers to prepare the questions and for the answering party to have help from his/her/its attorney in understanding the meaning (sometimes hidden) of the questions and to avoid wording in his/her answers which could be interpreted against the party answering. Objections as to relevancy or clarity may be raised either at the time the interrogatories are answered or when they are used in trial.

intervene

v. to obtain the court's permission to enter into a lawsuit which has already started between other parties and to file a complaint stating the basis for a claim in the existing lawsuit. Such intervention will be allowed only if the party wanting to enter into the case has some right or interest in the suit and will not unduly prejudice the ability of the original parties to the lawsuit to conduct their case.

intervention

n. the procedure under which a third party may join an on-going lawsuit, providing the facts and the law issues apply to the intervenor as much as to one of the existing contestants. The determination to allow intervention is made by a judge after a petition to intervene and a hearing on the issue. Intervention must take place fairly early in the lawsuit, shortly after a complaint and answer have been filed and not just before trial since that could prejudice one or both parties who have prepared for trial on the basis of the original litigants. Intervention is not to be confused with joinder, which involves requiring all parties who have similar claims to join in the same lawsuit to prevent needless repetitious trials based on the same facts and legal questions, called multiplicity of actions.

intestate

adj. referring to a situation where a person dies without leaving a valid will. This usually is voiced as "he died intestate," "intestate estate," or "intestate succession".

intoxication

n. 1) the condition of being drunk as the result of drinking alcoholic beverages and/or use of narcotics. In the eyes of the law this definition may differ depending on the situation to which it is applied. 2) as it applies to drunk driving, the standard of intoxication between .08 and .10 alcohol in the bloodstream, or a combination of alcohol and narcotics which would produce the same effect even though the amount of alcohol is below the minimum. 3) as it applies to public drunkenness the standard is subjective, meaning the person must be unable to care for himself, be dangerous to himself or others, be causing a disturbance or refuse to leave or move along when requested. 4) a defense in a criminal case in which the claim is made by the defendant that he/she was too intoxicated to form an intent to commit the crime or to know what he/she was doing, where the amount of intoxication is subjective but higher than for drunk driving. There is also the question if the intoxication was an intentional aforethought to the crime ("I wanted to get drunk so I had the nerve to kill her"). Unintentional intoxication can show lack of capacity to form an intent and thus reduce the possible level of conviction and punishment, as from voluntary (intentional) manslaughter down to involuntary (unintentional but through a wrongful act) manslaughter. However, in vehicular manslaughter, the intoxication is an element in the crime, whether getting drunk was intentional or not, since criminal intent was not a factor.

inure

v. result in. Commonly used in legal terminology in the phrase: "to inure to the benefit of John".

inverse condemnation

n. the taking of property by a government agency which so greatly damages the use of a parcel of real property that it is the equivalent of condemnation of the entire property. Thus the owner claims he/she is entitled to payment for the loss of the property (in whole or in part) under the constitutional right to compensation for condemnation of property under the government's eminent domain right.

investment

n. the money put into use for profit, or the property or business interest purchased for profit.

involuntary

adj. or adv. without intent, will or choice. Participation in a crime is involuntary if forced by immediate threat to life or health of oneself or one's loved ones and will result in dismissal or acquittal.