Glossary of Tort Law Terms

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Legal Glossaries Index

Bad Faith: Dishonesty or fraud in a transaction, such as entering into an agreement with no intention of ever living up to its terms or knowingly misrepresenting the quality of something that is being bought or sold.

Bailment: A legal relationship created when a person gives property to someone else for safekeeping. To create a bailment the other party must knowingly have exclusive control over the property. The receiver must use reasonable care to protect the property.

Bench Trial: Also called court trial. A trial held before a judge and without a jury.

Bifurcation: Splitting a trial into two parts: a liability phase and a penalty phase. In some cases, a new jury may be impaneled to deliberate for the penalty phase.

Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Binder: An outline of the basic terms of a proposed sales contract between a buyer and a seller.

Board of Directors: The group of people elected by a corporation's shareholders to make major business decisions for the company.

Bond: A document with which one party promises to pay another within a specified amount of time. Bonds are used for many things, including borrowing money or guaranteeing payment of money.

Brief: A written document that outlines a party's legal arguments in a case.

Burden of Proof: The duty of a party in a lawsuit to persuade the judge or the jury that enough facts exist to prove the allegations of the case. Different levels of proof are required depending on the type of case.

Buy-Sell Agreement: An agreement among business partners that specifies how shares in the business are to be transferred in the case of a co-owner's death.

By-Laws: A corporation's rules and regulations. They typically specify the number and respective duties of directors and officers and govern how the business is run.