Latin for Lawyers

DEPOSITION DE BENE ESSE A deposition by a witness who cannot attend at a trial and which is read in substitution for his testimony. See DE BENE ESSE DEPOSITORY The place or building in which an institutional depositary is housed or con ducts business; e.g., a bank, insurance company, credit union or trust com pany. DE PRAESENTI For the present. DEPRAVED [L. de + pravus / deformed, vicious, rotten] Evil, corrupt. In criminal law, a depraved mind is one which exhibits a funda mental lack of morality or an indifference to the lives or safety of others. DEPRECIATION [L. de + pretium / value, price] A reduction or loss in value. The process in accounting by which the cost of a capital asset is allocated over its estimated life. The annual deduction permit ted on tax returns for that portion of the capital value of an asset charged to that tax year. An estimation of the loss in value of an asset over a period of time, attributable to wear and tear or decay. DEPRIVATION [L. de + privare / to strip, deprive of] A taking away, seizure or confiscation of the property, rights or privileges of a person. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution — the due process amendment — guarantees to each citizen freedom from the deprivation of his private property by the federal or state governments without just compensa tion. DE QUO JURE By what right? DE RECTO [L. de + rego, regere, / to guide, direct ( rectus / straight, right)] A writ of right granted to a petitioner to restore his rights to property. DERELICTION [L. derelinquere / to forsake, neglect, abandon] A failure or neglect of duty. The abandonment or neglect of property. Also, land created by the gradual withdrawal of waters, such as a new beach cre ated by the withdrawal of the ocean. See ACCRETION ; AVULSION; DILUVION

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