Latin for Lawyers

L ATIN FOR L AWYERS

PROVISO [L. providere / to look forward] A condition, stipulation or limitation. A clause in a contract, deed, statute, or other legal document, which expresses or contains a condition or restriction. These clauses usually begin with such words as “upon condition that”, “pro vided that”, “with the understanding that.” PROVOKE, PROVOCATION [L. pro + voco, vocare / to call, summon ( pro vocare , to excite, arouse, challenge, summon before authority)] To incite or arouse to anger. To stimulate into violence. An act by one person which arouses sufficient anger, resentment and fury in another to cause him to lose his control and reason, and, in extreme cases, to commit an illegal or criminal act. If the act committed in response to the provocation is a homi cide, the provocation may be considered sufficient to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter; the test for manslaughter is whether the homicide was the act of a reasonable person in the heat of passion and without time to regain control of his reason. PROXIMATE (CAUSE) [L. proximitas / nearness, closeness] Immediately preceding. In the law of torts, the proximate cause of an injury is a negligent act without which the injury would not have occurred and which is not followed or interrupted by another superseding, intervening or contrib uting cause. Most courts require, however, that the injury be the reasonably foreseeable consequence of the negligent act in order to impose tort liability. The proximate cause is also called the direct cause or the legal cause . See INTERVENING CAUSE PROXY [L. procurare / to take care of, to look after; to take over or manage] The authority to act for another, as through a power of attorney. A signed for mal document giving an agent the power to exercise a right in the principal’s place, such as the right to vote corporate stock or to act for a unit owner in a condominium. A corporation which solicits proxies in advance of a stock vote must also furnish the shareholder with a proxy statement containing enough information to permit an informed decision. A health care proxy is a formal written agency giving someone the right to make decisions about the care and treatment of another when she becomes physically or mentally inca pable to act for herself. A proxy marriage is a marriage performed in the absence of the bride or groom; the missing party authorizes someone else to stand in his or her place during the ceremony. PRUDENT [L. prudens , prudentis / foreseeing, discrete, sagacious, cautious, careful, judicious] Cautious in thought and conduct. Wont to exercise sound judgment in dealing with risks and problems. Thoughtful, sagacious. Managing matters carefully.

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