Latin for Lawyers

DELIVERY

DELIVERY [L. de + liberare ] The act of turning something over to someone else. The object delivered. In law, delivery of an object or of a document affecting legal rights or duties may be a manifestation of intent to transfer an interest in property, as when a donor delivers a gift to the donee, or a grantor delivers a deed to the grantee. In these cases, delivery evidences the intent to transfer possession or control. Actual delivery is the physical transfer of possession. Constructive delivery is transfer of property by delivery of a document or object representing the property; examples: delivery of a key from landlord to tenant to evidence transfer of control over leased property; delivery of a deed to land to repre sent transfer of title and control. DEMAND [L. de + mando, mandare / to order, command, charge, entrust] To insist upon; to claim. To summon. To require by force, legal authority or legal right. To make a formal request requiring action or response. In law, a request initiated by one party which requires response by another party. A demand note is a note payable by the maker or endorser upon demand of the holder. A demand loan is a loan payable by the borrower upon demand of the lender. A defendant in a felony trial has a constitutional right to demand a jury trial. One party to a contract may be required to demand performance by the other before claiming a default. DEMENTIA [ L. demens / senseless, insane] A mental condition resulting in reduced comprehension and function, usually including loss of memory and ability to recognize abstractions. DE MINIMIS [L. smallest, the least important] Insignificant; minute; frivolous. In law, something so trivial the court will not act upon it, as in a de minimis crime. DE MINIMUS NON CURAT LEX The law takes no notice of insignificant things. The law will not bother with trifles. DEMISE [L. demittere / to send or put down; to lower. A transfer of property by the sovereign] The word is now used in two senses. In the first sense, it means either to transfer, convey or lease an estate in land, or the conveyance or lease itself. In the second sense, the word means death. This meaning derives from the fact that a transfer from the sovereign usually took effect at his death. In this sec ond sense, it may refer to a person or an event, as in the demise of commu nism . As an extension of this second sense, the word is used to mean a devise or inheritance which takes effect upon death.

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