Glossary

Conduct that undermines or interferes with the administration of justice or which deliberately insults or breaches an order of a court. It is punishable, on “committal”, by imprisonment or a fine. The person who commits contempt is known as a “contemnor”. Examples of contempt of court include: Disobeying or ignoring a court order Taking photos… Continue reading

Latin maxim (“against who proffers”) expressing the rule that an ambiguous term in a contract should be construed in favour of the party against whom it is relied upon or asserted, rather than in favour of the person asserting or relying on it.… Continue reading

Copyright is an intellectual property right relating to a creative work, which generally belongs to the creator (author) of that work, but which can be assigned to another person (the holder of the copyright). The types of creative work to which copyright can attach (or in which it can ‘subsist’) are defined in section 1… Continue reading

Alternative name for the prosecution in criminal cases brought in the name of the Queen or King, under the title Regina or Rex. Thus a case cited as R v Brown may be spoken about orally as “The Crown against Brown”. Most public criminal prosecutions in England and Wales are brought by the Crown Prosecution… Continue reading

Independent public body headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and  charged with the management of criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. The CPS decides which cases that have been investigated by the police and other investigative organisations should be prosecuted. It determines the appropriate charges in more serious or complex cases, and advises… Continue reading

Cur adv vult or CAV are abbreviations for Curia advisari vult, which is Latin for “the court wished to be advised”. It is used in a law report to indicate that the court’s judgment was reserved, as opposed to being given extempore.… Continue reading

Often shortened to “de minimis”, this Latin phrase means that the law does not take account of trifling matters, or matters of little or no value or importance. In other words, there is a threshold beneath which the law, in all its intellectual might and procedural majesty, does not deign to concern itself. It is… Continue reading

The process of defending (resisting or opposing) a criminal or civil case, or the argument or document put forward in response to such a case. A person who defends a case is known as the defendant, but their legal team is collectively known as “the defence”. In a criminal case, a defence is an argument… Continue reading

The person against whom a criminal prosecution or a civil claim in law is brought. In Scotland the word used is defender. In criminal cases the person may also be described as the accused, or in older reports, the prisoner.  … Continue reading

A design is defined by section 213 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as “the design of the shape or configuration (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of an article”. A design right is a property right relating to an original design, which comes into existence only once it has… Continue reading