Latin for Lawyers

PER DIEM

PER DIEM [L. per + dies / day, daytime] By the day; over the course of a day. Describes compensation, wages or sal ary paid for a single day’s services. Wages calculated by the day. Also, an allowance for a day’s travel, food or lodging expenses by an employee who is away from home or on a special assignment; e.g., a juror is given a per diem allowance. PEREMPTORY [L. perimere / to destroy, do away with, ruin] Allowing no response, contradiction or dispute. Imperious, arrogant. In the law, a peremptory challenge is the arbitrary elimination of a juror without explanation or cause. Each party may use a limited number of peremptory challenges. A peremptory instruction is an instruction by the trial judge to a jury requiring a prescribed finding upon the determination of certain facts. See PRECATORY PERIL [L. periculum / risk, danger; also, trial, test, proof] Exposure to risk or damage. The cause of a loss or damage. In insurance law, the event or contingency which is insured against by the policy, e.g., fire, theft, etc. The term perils of the sea is applied by maritime lawyers to natural accidents which occur at sea without the intervention of man and which can not be prevented by the exercise of care, e.g., hurricanes, typhoons, sudden squalls, etc. PER INFORTUNIUM [L. per + infortunium / misfortune, bad luck; punish ment] By accident. By misadventure or chance. Unintended, happenstance. PERISHABLE [L. per + ire / to go] Anything liable or bound to spoil, as in perishable goods . PERJURY [L. per + iurare / to swear, take an oath] A false swearing, a falsehood, a lie. A knowingly false statement made under oath or under circumstances requiring the truth, during the course of a judi cial proceeding, or in an affidavit, or in another setting in which the law requires and expects the truth, as in a criminal trial. The crime of making a false statement about a material matter while under oath. See SUBORN PERMISSIVE [L. permitto, permittere / to allow to pass; to let go; to yield] Anything allowed or permitted. Something allowed but not compelled; an option. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the defendant may inter pose a permissive counterclaim whether or not the claim arose from the same transaction or occurrence as that alleged by the plaintiff. Permissive joinder is

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