Glossary of Tort Law Terms
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Legal
Glossaries Index
Damages: The financial
compensation awarded to someone who suffered an injury or was harmed
by someone else's wrongful act.
Debtor: Person who owes money.
Decision: The judgment
rendered by a court after a consideration of the facts and legal
issues before it.
Deed: A written legal document
that describes a piece of property and outlines its boundaries. The
seller of a property transfers ownership by delivering the deed to
the buyer in exchange for an agreed upon sum of money.
Defamation: The publication of
a statement that injures a person's reputation. Libel and slander
are defamation.
Default Judgment: A ruling
entered against a defendant who fails to answer a summons in a
lawsuit.
Default: The failure to
fulfill a legal obligation, such as neglecting to pay back a loan on
schedule.
Defendant: In civil matters,
the defendant is the person or organization that is being sued.
Defense Table: The table where
the defense lawyer sits with the defendant in the courtroom.
Defined Benefit Plan: A type
of retirement plan that specifies how much in benefits it will pay
out to a retiree.
Deposition: Part of the
pre-trial discovery (fact-finding) process in which a witness
testifies under oath. A deposition is held out of court with no
judge present, but the answers often can be used as evidence in the
trial.
Direct Evidence: Evidence that
stands on its own to prove an alleged fact, such as testimony of a
witness who says she saw a defendant pointing a gun at a victim
during a robbery.
Direct Examination: The
initial questioning of a witness by the party that called the
witness.
Directed Verdict: A judge's
order to a jury to return a specified verdict, usually because one
of the parties failed to prove its case.
Disbursements: Legal expenses
that a lawyer passes on to a client, such as for photocopying,
overnight mail and messenger services.
Discovery: Part of the
pre-trial litigation process during which each party requests
relevant information and documents from the other side in an attempt
to "discover" pertinent facts.
Dismissal with Prejudice: When
a case is dismissed for good reason and the plaintiff is barred from
bringing an action on the same claim.
Docket: A log containing brief
entries of court proceedings.
Double Jeopardy: Being tried
twice for the same offense.
Due Process: The idea that
laws and legal proceedings must be fair. The Constitution guarantees
that the government cannot take away a person's basic rights to
"life, liberty or property, without due process of law."
Courts have issued numerous rulings about what this means in
particular cases.
Duty to Warn: The legal
obligation to warn people of a danger. Typically, manufacturers of
hazardous products have a duty to warn customers of a product's
potential dangers and to advise users of any precautions they should
take.
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