Latin for Lawyers

DACTYLOGRAPHY

DACTYLOGRAPHY [L. dactyl / finger + graphium / a stylus, a pointed instrument] The study of fingerprints and their use in identifying each human being sepa rately from all others. DAMAGE, DAMAGES [L. damnum / loss, injury, damage] The law makes a distinction between damage and damages. Damage is the loss or harm which a person suffers from the wrong of another and which is recognized as requiring reimbursement or compensation. Damages constitute the reimbursement or compensation itself; i.e., the money awarded by the courts to anyone who has suffered loss or injury through the acts or omissions of another. DAMNATUS [L. damnare / to condemn, sentence, punish] Illegal. Also condemned, found guilty, sentenced for a crime. DAMNOSA HEREDITAS [L. damnosus / causing loss or damage, ruinous + hereditas / inheritance] Anything acquired or inherited which creates more burdens than benefits; e.g., a bequest saddled with onerous debts. See HAEREDITAS DAMNOSA DAMNUM ABSQUE INJURIA [L. damnum / loss, damage + absque / with out + iniuria / wrong, injustice] Literally, harm or loss without wrong. The rules which distinguish between those wrongs which are legally compensible or recognized by the courts and those which are not. Some examples of harm which are not recognized by the courts: when harm results from a lawful activity or process; when the injuries fall outside a definable legal right; and when the damage is caused by an act of God. DAMNUM FATALE [L. damnum + fatalis / concerned with destiny or fate] Loss or injury resulting from the intervention of fate rather than from a cause within the control of human beings. The term would embrace acts of God such as lightning, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

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