A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V W

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en banc - All the judges of an appellate court sitting together to hear oral arguments in a case of unusual significance and to decide the case.

enjoin - To require a person, through the issuance of an injunction, to perform or to abstain from some specific act.

equal protection of the law - Guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that all persons receive equal treatment under law.

equitable action - An action that may be brought for the purpose of restraining the threatened infliction of wrongs or injuries, and the prevention of threatened illegal action. An action seeking an injunction is an equitable action.

escheat - The process by which a deceased person's property goes to the state if no heir can be found.

escrow - Money or a written instrument such as a deed that, by agreement between two parties, is held by a neutral third party (held in escrow) until all conditions of the agreement are met.

estate - Applies to all that a person owns. An estate consists of personal property (car, household items, and other tangible items), real property, and intangible property, such as stock certificates and bank accounts, owned in the individual name of a person.

et al.- And others.

evidence - Any form of proof presented by a party for the purpose of supporting its factual allegations or arguments before the court.

exclusionary rule - A judge-made rule that prevents unconstitutionally obtained evidence from being used in court to build a case against a criminal defendant.

execute - To complete the legal requirements (such as signing before witnesses) that make a will valid. Also, to execute a judgment or decree means to put the final judgment of the court into effect.

executor - A personal representative, named in a will, who administers an estate.

exemplary damages - An order to pay money as a form of punishment or deterrence from future error that has caused legal injury; also known as punitive damages.

exhibit - A paper, document or other article produced and exhibited to a judge or jury during a trial or hearing.

ex parte - By or for one party; done for, on behalf of, or on the application of, one party only.

ex post facto - After the fact. The Constitution prohibits the enactment of ex post facto laws-laws that make punishable as a crime an act done before the passing of the law.

expungement - The official and formal elimination of part of a record.

extradition - The process by which one jurisdiction (state or nation) surrenders to another jurisdiction a person accused or convicted of a crime in the other state.

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