All Legal Terms by letter D

Damages :- Damages in civil actions refers most generally to money or other relief awarded to the prevailing party. Ordinarily, damages are compensatory in nature, and are intended to compensate or restore the claimant to a prior position. Punitive damages are additional amounts of money awarded to the plaintiff from the defendant for the purpose of punishing the defendant, and to deter other potential wrongdoers from similar bad behavior. Punitive damages are reserved for cases where the wrong committed was of an wanton and willful nature, or was intentional.


D/B/A, Doing Business As :- The term D/B/A, or d/b/a, is an acronym for "doing business as." A d/b/a is a name, other than the given name of the owner, by which a business is known to the public. When suit is filed against a small unincorporated business, the party must be the actual owner. The petition will name the party as, for example, John Doe, doing business as, or d/b/a, Marty's Shoe Store.


Deadly Force :- In criminal law, deadly force is considered to be the amount of force exerted by a wrongdoer that has the clear potential to cause an injury capable of leading to the death of the victim.


Dead Man's Statute :- In evidence law, the Dead Man's Statute is a rule that renders inadmissible all evidence of oral promises or declarations of a person who is dead at the time of trial when the testimony is offered as proof of the claims against the dead person's estate. The evidence is inadmissible on the ground that the dead person is unavailable to affirm or deny the evidence.
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Death Taxes :- A death tax is one that occurs on property transferred from the estate of a person that has died to another person. Simply put, a death tax is an estate tax or an inheritance tax.


Debenture :- A debenture is a promissory note or bond backed by the credit and earnings history of a corporation, but which is not secured by any pledge or lien on any specific property of the corporation. It is in fact an unsecured debt.


Debit Information :- A debit is an account entry made on the left side of a ledger, noting either an increase in asset amount or a decrease in the liabilities.


Debt :- A debt is simply a legal obligation to pay money from one person to another that is enforceable by the courts. A moral obligation to pay money is not enforceable and is therefore not a debt, in the strict sense of the term.


Debt-Equity Management Ratio :- The debt-equity management ratio is an accounting legal term that refers to the average of total assets divided by the average of stockholders' equity. This measure in effect quantifies the utilization of debt relative to equity.


Debt Financing Information :- Debt financing is borrowing money by issuing long term bonds, notes, or mortgages.


Debtor :- One who is indebted to another is called a debtor. One who owes another some money or property, based upon a debt.


Decedent :- A dead person. Usually, this term is used in wrongful death cases referring to the claimant's dead relative..


Deceptive Advertising :- A bad practice used by advertisers, the most common example of deceptive advertising practice is called bait-and-switch, where an advertisement appears for one product that entices customers to the store but the products advertised were never in stock and a substitute is offered instead. False and misleading advertising can be actionable and is not protected by free speech rules. Note that mere puffery of a product's attributes is not considered to be false and misleading.


Decision :- Another name for judgment, finding, or order where the context refers to a judicial decision. This is a conclusion of a court case based on the law and the facts, usually meant to conclude the matter entirely, or at least put to final rest some issue central to the case.
Declaration :- A statement of fact made by a person. At common law, the declaration was the first pleading of the claimant setting forth the facts that he believes entitles him to judgment.


Declaratory Judgment :- A court proceeding filed specifically to obtain a ruling that declares a status or right of a party, or the application of contractual language to a particular existing situation.


Decree :- The written final ruling of the court in a case. The decree will govern the parties as to the issues litigated. Appeals will be based on what appears in the decree, or how things in the decree got there.


Deduction :- In tax law, a deduction is that part which is taken away, such as the deductions one is allowed from gross income, to arrive at what is called the net income, upon which the tax will be assessed.


Deed :- A written document, signed by the grantor, or seller, that delivers title to real property to another.


Deed of Gift :- A written document, signed by the grantor, or seller, that delivers title to real property to another without consideration.


Discount Broker :- An investment broker that offers fewer financial services than the traditional full service brokerage house is known as a discount broker. The discount broker will charge much less in commissions for buy and sell trade orders. The discount broker will offer less research and advice to the investor. There are what are called "Deep Discount Brokers" who go even further by doing nothing other than executing the investor's trades orders. Deep discounters will charge flat fees on some transactions, rather than percentage commissions.


Deep Pocket :- A person or entity perceived to have sufficient assets and sufficient liability such that a personal injury case becomes financially viable. Without the deep pocket, some injury claims are not brought.


Defamation :- An intentionally false communication that causes injury to another person's good nature or reputation. To be defamatory, the communication must be published or spoken to someone and most jurisdictions require a showing of damages.