Legal Terms — Q

A method of making an offer of proof in which counsel examines a witness question by question outside the jury's presence so the court can create a clear record of excluded evidence.

A Latin term used to specify that an individual or entity is regarded in a designated capacity or role.

A note or query used in legal writing to flag a point as doubtful or open to further examination.

A formal inquiry or investigation into facts, allegations, or legal issues conducted by a court, commission, or party in a proceeding.

A Latin term for profit, especially from a business in Roman law. Historically, it refers to an acquisition by purchase as distinguished from inheritance.

A status or attribute that satisfies the legal criteria for eligibility, classification, or authority in a given context.

A threshold determination by the court that a witness possesses knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education sufficient to supply specialized opinion testimony.

A beneficiary who on the date qualification is determined is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal. The category also reaches those who would become distributees or permissible distributees if the interests of current distributees ended on that date without terminating the trust or if the trust itself terminated on that date.

A beneficiary of a trust who on the date qualification is determined is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal. The term also reaches a beneficiary who would become a distributee or permissible distributee if the interests of current distributees ended on that date without terminating the trust or if the trust itself terminated on that date.

Directors who are both disinterested in and independent with respect to a specified transaction or proceeding. The category excludes any director nominated or elected by an interested party and any director who serves on the board of another corporation alongside a non-qualified director.

A protection afforded government officials from civil damages liability for discretionary acts performed within the scope of their duties. The shield applies unless the official's conduct violates clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.

A form of official immunity that shields government officials from civil liability for discretionary acts performed within the scope of their duties. Officials receive this protection unless their conduct violates clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.

A person who satisfies statutory eligibility criteria to serve on a grand jury. The court must summon enough such persons to form a panel of sixteen to twenty-three members when the public interest requires it.

A conditional privilege that protects a person from liability for publishing defamatory matter when the publication serves an important interest of the publisher, the recipient, or the public. The privilege is lost if the publisher abuses it by acting with malice, recklessness, or by publishing to an excessive audience.

Shares entitled to vote on a director's conflicting interest transaction except those held by the interested director or a related person of the director. The corporation determines the pool of qualified shares after receiving required written notice from the director identifying nonqualified holdings. A majority of votes cast by holders of qualified shares can render the transaction effective for purposes of statutory safe-harbor provisions.

A person with firsthand knowledge of an organization's recordkeeping practices who can establish the foundational elements for admitting business records under the hearsay exception. The witness need not have created the record or observed the underlying events but must be able to describe the regular course of business and the routine practice of making such records.

A purchaser of a controllable electronic record or an interest in a controllable electronic record that obtains control of the controllable electronic record for value, in good faith, and without notice of a claim of a property right in the controllable electronic record. The purchaser acquires its rights in the controllable electronic record free of a claim of a property right in the controllable electronic record. A qualifying purchaser of a controllable account or controllable payment intangible obtains control of the account or payment intangible by obtaining control of the controllable electronic record that evidences it.

A Latin maxim providing that the duration of a reasonable time is not fixed by statute or rule but instead depends on the discretion of the judges in light of the particular facts.

The process by which a court determines the monetary compensation due for a breach of contract or tortious injury. The assessment focuses on placing the injured party in the position performance or non-injury would have produced, subject to limits such as certainty, foreseeability, and mitigation.

An amount or portion. The measure of something required or permitted, such as the quantum of evidence needed to support a finding or the quantum of assets subject to an interest.

A historical procedure in equity by which a court submits the determination of damages to a jury.

The minimum amount or quality of proof required to satisfy a legal standard such as conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

A dispute or heated argument between parties.

To annul or void a legal process, document, or prior ruling by judicial order. The order terminates the effectiveness of the targeted item when grounds such as privilege, improper service, or lack of authority are established.

An adverbial prefix indicating that a thing resembles but is not identical to the thing named. It denotes legal fictions or analogies in which one concept receives treatment similar to another despite material differences.

An obligation created by law to prevent unjust enrichment when one party confers a measurable benefit on another that the recipient appreciates and retains under circumstances rendering retention inequitable. The obligation arises without any actual agreement between the parties and supplies a remedy measured by the value of the benefit conferred.

An obligation or right arising by operation of law as if from a contract though no actual agreement exists. The fiction supports restitution to prevent unjust enrichment when one party confers a measurable benefit on another under circumstances making retention unfair.

A form of jurisdiction in which a court adjudicates a personal claim against a nonresident defendant by seizing property of the defendant located in the forum. The judgment is limited to the value of the seized property and does not bind the defendant personally.

A jurisdictional basis that permits a court to adjudicate claims against a nonresident defendant by seizing property belonging to the defendant that is located within the forum state. When the claim is unrelated to the property, the mere presence of the asset does not satisfy due process. The minimum contacts standard that governs in personam jurisdiction therefore applies to this form of jurisdiction as well.

A legal obligation imposed by courts to prevent unjust enrichment when one party has conferred a benefit on another under circumstances making retention of the benefit inequitable. The obligation arises without regard to any agreement between the parties and permits recovery measured by the value of the benefit conferred or the sum necessary to restore the status quo.

A legal fiction that imposes an obligation resembling a contractual duty to prevent one party from retaining a benefit unjustly conferred by another. The obligation arises from the equitable principle that a person shall not enrich himself at the expense of another even though no actual agreement exists between the parties. Recovery is measured by the reasonable value of the benefit retained.

A claim based on a contract implied in law that imposes a duty to pay the reasonable value of benefits received to prevent unjust enrichment. No actual agreement between the parties is required. Recovery is measured by the value of services or goods conferred rather than by any bargained-for expectation.

A restitutionary doctrine that imposes an obligation to pay the reasonable value of benefits conferred to prevent unjust enrichment when no enforceable contract exists between the parties.

A legal obligation imposed by law without regard to the parties' assent when one person has conferred a measurable benefit on another and retention of that benefit would be unjust. The obligation arises to restore the status quo by requiring payment of the reasonable value of the benefit received. Recovery is measured by the value of the enrichment rather than by any promise or expectation damages.

A duty imposed by law upon a party to compensate another to prevent unjust enrichment. The obligation arises when one party confers a measurable benefit under circumstances making retention without payment inequitable. The law implies the duty regardless of the parties' actual intent or any agreement.

A restitutionary remedy at law that restores a party to the position occupied before a transaction by requiring payment of the reasonable value of benefits conferred. It prevents unjust enrichment when no enforceable contract exists or when an agreement is avoided.

An equitable doctrine that imposes restitutionary obligations on a party who has received a benefit from another's performance or reliance when no enforceable contract exists, to prevent unjust enrichment.

An equitable remedy that permits recovery of the reasonable value of benefits conferred on another party to prevent unjust enrichment when no enforceable contract exists between them.

A remedy imposed by law to prevent unjust enrichment by requiring a party who has received a benefit to make restitution measured by the value of that benefit to the conferring party.

A legal fiction that imposes an obligation to pay the reasonable value of benefits conferred to prevent unjust enrichment when no enforceable contract exists between the parties.

A residuary category of private wrongs in Roman law characterized by vicarious or strict liability. The law imposes an obligation even though the defendant may not be at fault.

An individual who has assumed parental responsibilities through consistent caregiving and bonding with a child without formal adoption or biological ties. Recognition turns on factors such as residence in the household, assumption of permanent duties without compensation, holding the child out as one's own, and the child's best interests.

A classification receiving intermediate scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause because the characteristic shares some indicia of suspectness, such as immutability and a history of purposeful unequal treatment, yet remains somewhat more likely than race to serve as a legitimate basis for distinction.

A hybrid cause of action that combines elements of tort and contract. Recovery is permitted for actual reliance expenditures and certain personal harms such as reputational injury, mental anguish, or physical detriment, but not for lost expectancy benefits.

A complaint founding an action. The plaintiff's count or declaration that initiates a proceeding and states the cause of action.

A historical term for the plaintiff or complaining party in a legal action.

A disputed issue whose resolution turns on the evaluation of evidence and the circumstances of the particular case rather than on the application or interpretation of legal rules. The trier of fact, whether jury or judge in a bench trial, must determine the truth or falsity of the matter presented.

An issue reserved for judicial determination that concerns the application or interpretation of legal rules rather than the resolution of disputed facts.

A shared legal or factual issue arising in litigation that permits joinder of parties or supports class certification when it is common to multiple claims.

A format for eliciting testimony in which counsel poses successive questions to a witness who provides responsive answers, used to present offers of proof when evidence is excluded.

A structured method for making an offer of proof in which counsel examines a witness through questions and answers rather than a narrative summary. The court may direct this format when evidence is excluded to create a precise record of the excluded testimony while preventing its suggestion to the jury.

A maxim of real property law holding that anything affixed to land becomes part of the realty. The rule determines when goods lose their separate character as personal property and pass with title to the land under real property principles.

A thing or benefit given by one party in a reciprocal exchange for another thing or benefit.

An exchange of one thing or action for another of comparable value that supplies the mutual consideration supporting a contract or other reciprocal arrangement.

An allegation that one party conditioned a benefit, opportunity, or official action on the recipient's provision of a specific favor or return performance. The claim requires proof of a direct reciprocal exchange rather than mere influence or access.

A contribution given in direct exchange for a specific official action or personal benefit. The exchange creates the risk of corruption or its appearance even when no explicit bargain is proven.

A form of sexual harassment in which a person in authority conditions employment or housing benefits on submission to unwelcome sexual advances. The claim requires proof that the harassment was based on sex and that tangible job or housing consequences followed from refusal or acceptance.

A reciprocal exchange in which one party confers a benefit or value in return for a specific action or favor by the other.

An implied covenant in every lease that the landlord will not interfere with the tenant's possession and use of the premises. The covenant is breached by actual eviction, partial actual eviction, or constructive eviction arising from the landlord's conduct or from paramount title.

An implied covenant in a lease that protects a tenant's right to undisturbed possession and use of the leased premises without substantial interference from the landlord or those claiming under the landlord. The covenant is breached when the landlord substantially interferes with the tenant's permissible use, allowing the tenant to claim constructive eviction or other remedies.

A period of forty or ninety days after the effective date of a registration statement or the first bona fide public offering of a security during which dealers must deliver a prospectus in covered transactions to qualify for the exemption from registration and prospectus delivery requirements under section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933. The period extends to ninety days for first-time issuers that have not previously sold securities under an effective registration statement. This interval ensures investors receive current information before dealers may freely trade without full compliance obligations.

A covenant or warranty that assures the grantee or buyer of undisturbed possession of property free from interference by superior title claims or actions attributable to the grantor or landlord. The covenant runs with the land in deeds and supports claims for damages or rent abatement when breached by eviction from all or part of the premises. Breach occurs upon actual interference with the contemplated use rather than the mere existence of a superior interest.

A historical form of conveyance that transfers whatever interest the grantor holds in land without any covenants or warranties regarding title.

A historical act of renunciation by which a grantor relinquishes any claim or interest in land. The act transfers whatever interest the grantor holds without covenants or warranties of title.

A formal discharge or acquittal from a debt, obligation, or duty.

A historical sheriff's return made after a defendant had been called to five successive county courts without appearing. The return authorized the coroners to order the defendant outlawed and deprived of the benefits of the law.

To leave or surrender possession of real property.

A deed that conveys whatever interest the grantor possesses in the described property. It contains no covenants or warranties of title.

A deed that transfers whatever interest the grantor holds in the property without any covenants or warranties regarding title.

A form of deed that conveys whatever interest the grantor possesses in the property without any covenants or warranties of title. The grantee receives only the grantor's existing rights and bears the risk of any title defects.

A deed that conveys whatever interest the grantor holds in the property without any covenants or warranties of title.

A form of deed that transfers whatever interest the grantor holds in real property. It contains no covenants of title and provides no assurance that the grantor possesses any particular estate or that title is free from defects.

A release or discharge from a debt or obligation. The document serves as evidence of the release.

A phrase denoting the intention or motive with which an act is performed. Courts examine the actor's purpose or state of mind to determine whether a required mental element such as express malice, fraudulent intent, or intent to create a property interest has been satisfied.

A Latin phrase meaning as regards or with regard to. It limits the scope of a statement or legal rule to a particular person, matter, or aspect while leaving other applications unaffected.

A maxim holding that whatever is built upon or affixed to land becomes part of the land itself.

A term denoting a person or thing that existed or held a status at an earlier time. It identifies a prior holder of an office, position, or relation without implying current status.

A minimum number of members of a deliberative body who must be present to transact business.

A minimum number of members or directors required to be present at a meeting before the body may validly transact business. The requirement ensures that decisions reflect sufficient participation and prevents a small subset from binding the larger group. Governing documents or statutes may raise or lower the default but often impose a floor such as one third of the fixed number of directors.

A proportional share assigned to a person or group as an allotment.

A statement or passage exactly reproduced from a speaker or writer and attributed to that source. Deliberate alteration of such a quotation attributed to a public figure can constitute knowledge of falsity and thus actual malice if the alteration results in a material change in the meaning conveyed by the statement.

An adverbial phrase indicating that an act, acceptance, or transmission may be accomplished by any method or means. The phrase supplies flexibility when a rule or instrument does not restrict the manner of performance.

A Latin phrase denoting that a specified action or determination may occur at any time the requisite conditions arise. The phrase signals that timing restrictions do not apply once the triggering facts exist.