Latin for Lawyers

L ATIN FOR L AWYERS

to assert the privilege of non-disclosure when called as a witness or otherwise asked to reveal the confidence. CONFIRM, CONFIRMATION [L. com + firmus / firm, pp. of firmo, firmare / to make firm; strengthen] To approve or ratify. To reiterate or reassert the truth or validity of a fact. To remove doubt about. To support or strengthen. To give formal endorsement or approval to, as to confirm a reorganization plan in bankruptcy or, the decision of a lower court by an appellate court. To vote in favor of a nomination for office. Also, to express in writing a commitment to the terms of a contract previously made orally. CONFISCATE [L. confiscare / to lay upon, seize for the public treasury, deprive, confiscate] To take or seize private property for use by the government, usually without compensation. Due process protections imbedded in the federal Constitution usually prevent acts of non-compensatory confiscation except in time of war and in the exercise of the police power. Recently, prosecutors have confis cated the private property of persons accused or convicted of a crime even when the property is not related to the crime itself. See CONDEMNATION; EMINANT DOMAIN; EXPROPRIATE CONFLICT [L. conflictus , pp. of confligere / to throw together; to strike or col lide] A dispute or disagreement. War or a fight or battle. Any competition, as between athletes, business competitors, ideas, political parties, etc. To be dif ferent from or antagonistic to. A conflict of interest is the antagonism between two relationships or two responsibilities, as, for example, the con flict between the personal interests of an elected representative and his responsibility to sound legislative principles or the conflict in a lawyer between his own interests and those of his client or between the competing interests of two different clients. A conflict of laws arises when the laws of two states or jurisdictions, both of which apply to the facts at issue, differ in their resolution of the issues presented. CONFLICTUS LEGEM [L. conflictus / conflict + lex, legis / law] A conflict between laws. Conflict of Laws is the legal discipline which deals with the questions raised by the competing laws of two or more relevant juris dictions, and the principles involved in deciding and applying the appropriate laws.

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