Latin for Lawyers

SINE DIE

SINE DIE [L. sine + dies / day as opposed to night; a day in time; twenty-four hours] Without a day, without time; without setting a new date. A court or legislative body adjourns sine die when it adjourns without appointing a day on which to sit or assemble again. SINE PROLE [L. sine / without + proles / progeny, descendants; race, stock] Without issue. SINE QUA NON Without which, not; that without which a thing cannot be. The essential thing upon which another depends for its existence. SINGLE [L. singularis / alone, single, individual] Alone; unaccompanied by others. Not married. Consisting of one in number. Affecting only one person. The single publication rule is a rule of the law of libel which limits the plaintiff to one cause of action despite publication of multiple copies of libellous matter. The number of copies distributed does not enlarge the causes of action beyond one, but becomes relevant on the issue of damages. Single-entry bookkeeping is a simple system of bookkeeping in which each transaction is recorded only once. In double-entry bookkeeping, each transaction is recorded twice, both as a debt and a credit. SITUS The location or place of a thing. In law, the place with respect to which a right is fixed or determined. The situs of real property is its physical location, not the place where its owner is found. SLANDER [L. scandalum / stumbling block (from Greek scandalon / trap, offense)] Formerly used to describe both written and oral defamatory statements, slan der is now generally limited to unprivileged defamatory oral statements made about an individual to a third party. The words must tend to defame the indi vidual in his reputation, office, trade or business. The tort of oral defamation requires the negligent or intentional speaking of false and defamatory words which are unprivileged and are spoken to a third person and which are action able regardless of harm (i.e., per se ) or because they cause special harm to the individual spoken about (i.e., per quod ). Restatement Second, Torts, §558. Slander of title consists of false or malicious statements — both oral and written — disparaging a person’s title to property, real or personal, causing him special damages (which must be proved). See SCANDAL

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