Prescription
A method of acquiring rights through the silence of the legal owner.
Known in common law jurisdiction as "statute of limitations."
When used in a real property context, the term refers to the acquisition
of property rights, such as an easement, by long and continued use or
enjoyment. The required duration of continued use or enjoyment, before
legal rights are enforceable, is usually written in a state's law known
as "statute of limitations."
Prima
facie
(Latin) A legal presumption which means "on the face of it"
or "at first sight". Law-makers will often use this device
to establish that if a certain set of facts are proven, then another
fact is established prima facie. For example, proof of mailing a letter
is prima facie proof that it was received by the person to whom it was
addressed and will accepted as such by a court unless proven otherwise.
Other situations may require a prima facie case before proceeding to
another step in the judicial process so that you would have to at least
prove then that at first glance, there appears to be a case.
Principal
An agent's master; the person for whom an agent has received instruction
and to whose benefit the agent is expected to perform and make decisions.
Private
law
Law which regulates the relationships between individuals. Family, commercial
and labour law are examples of private law because the focus of those
kinds of laws is the relationships between individuals or between corporations
or organisations and individual, with the government a bystander. They
are the counter part to public law.
Public
law
Those laws which regulate (1) the structure and administration of the
government, (2) the conduct of the government in its relations with
its citizens, (3) the responsibilities of government employees and (4)
the relationships with foreign governments. Good examples are criminal
and constitutional law. It can be distinguished from private law, which
regulates the private conduct between individuals, without direct involvement
of the government. For example, an unsolicited punch in the nose would
constitute a crime for which the government would prosecute under criminal
law but for which there would also be a private legal action possible
by the injured party under tort law, which is private law although governments
can be held responsible under tort law. As you can see, the line is
often hard to draw between public and private law.
Probation
A kind of punishment given out as part of a sentence which means that
instead of jailing a person convicted of a crime, a judge will order
that the person reports to a probation officer regularly and according
to a set schedule. It is a criminal offence not to obey a probation
order and is cause for being immediately jailed. If someone is "on
probation", that means that they are presently under such a Court
order. These orders may have special conditions attached to them such
as not to leave the city, drink alcohol, consume drugs, not to go to
a specific place or contact a certain person.
