A few words of basic legal vocabulary -- click on the word to see the explanation.

The explanations contain hyperlinks to the other words on the list as well as links to internet sites that
will help you understand and remember the words.
You can hear the words pronounced by clicking on the soundfile icon .
The explanations are generally grouped by family of words. For instance, you will find accusation under
accuse, and burglary under burglar.
The typography used in the explanations uses a difference in the size of the letters to indicate which
syllable of the word is stressed. Illustrative sentences are put in italics.
A:
accuse, acquit, act, action, advocate, affirm, allege, appeal, arrest, attorney, award

B:
ban, barrister, bench, bill, bind, break (a law), break in, bring (an action), burden of proof, burglar

C:
capital punishment, case, cause of action, charge, civil, claim, commit, common law, complaint,
condemn, contract, convict, copyright, counsel, court, crime, custody

D:
damages, decision, defendant, dissent, dock (the), duty

E:
enact, enforce, estate, evidence

F:
fault, felony, file, fine

G:
guilty

H:
hearing, hold, homicide, House of Commons, House of Lords, House of Representatives, human rights

I:
illegal, imprison, indict, infraction, infringe, innocent, intellectual property

J:
judge, judgment, judicial review, jurisdiction, jury

L:
landlord, landmark, law, lawful, lawsuit, lawyer, lease, legal, legislate, liability, litigate

M:
magistrate, manslaughter, misdemeanor, murder

N:
negligence

O:
offense, onus of proof, overrule, overturn, own

P:
patent, personal property, plaintiff, plea, precedent, probate, proof, property, prosecute

R:
real estate, remedy, responsibility, reverse, right, rob, rule

S:
sale, sentence, settle, solicitor, standard of proof, statute, steal, sue, suit, swear

T:
tenant, testify, theft, title, tort, trial, tribunal

U:
uphold

V:
violate

W:
will, witness