Legal Definitions
A collection of legal definitions used by personal injury lawyers. Please feel free to email us if you have any questions regarding any of these definitions.
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- Abet
To encourage someone (or assist someone) to commit...
Category: Legal Glossary - Absolute Discharge
Instead of convicting an accused, a sentencing judge may...
Category: Legal Glossary - Accident Benefits
Benefits provided to an individual injured in a motor vehicle accident...
Category: Legal Glossary - Act
The definition of Act is a bill passed through legislature that becomes...
Category: Legal Glossary - Action
A formal civil law proceeding; sometimes called a "lawsuit"...
Category: Legal Glossary - Adjuster
A person whose occupation is to investigate insurance claims or...
Category: Legal Glossary - Aid
To provide assistance to someone knowing they...
Category: Legal Glossary - Appearance
Showing up to court; appearances can be made by...
Category: Legal Glossary - Assize
A session of a common law court, usually to hear serious cases...
Category: Legal Glossary - At Bar
A definition used to describe a case that is...
Category: Legal Glossary - Attendant Care
A type of accident benefit to support an individual with...
Category: Legal Glossary - Attorney General
Main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions...
Category: Legal Glossary - Automatism
An act where a person is not aware of his...
Category: Legal Glossary - Bail
"Judicial interim release"; the pledge of cash to secure the release...
Category: Legal Glossary - Bill
A proposed Act or Statute...
Category: Legal Glossary - Bona Fide
Latin; meaning good...
Category: Legal Glossary - Break and Enter
Intent to commit a crime by wrongfully breaking any part...
Category: Legal Glossary - Brain Injury
An injury that has impaired brain function. Brain injuries may affect...
Category: Legal Glossary - Canadian Bill of Rights
A federal statute and bill of rights passed by Parliament in 1960...
Category: Legal Glossary - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Signed into law in 1982, a part of the Constitution of Canada guaranteeing certain political...
Category: Legal Glossary - Caregiver Benefit
A benefit that is paid weekly to compensate a family when the...
Category: Legal Glossary - Case Manager
A healthcare professional who organizes the delivery of services...
Category: Legal Glossary - Catastrophic Impairment
The most severe type of personal injury. This type of impairment...
Category: Legal Glossary - Caveat
A formal warning.
Category: Legal Glossary - Challenge for Cause
The right of a party involved in a jury trial to remove a juror...
Category: Legal Glossary - Conspiracy
An agreement between two or more persons...
Category: Legal Glossary - Circumstantial Evidence
Evidence which does not prove truth in an issue directly, but may...
Category: Legal Glossary - Cite or Citation
Reference to a published or...
Category: Legal Glossary - Claim
A formal document stating a requested right...
Category: Legal Glossary - Claimant
A person who has been injured and has requested...
Category: Legal Glossary - Co-Conspirator
An individual who has been charged or uncharged and is...
Category: Legal Glossary - Compensatory Damages
Monetary awards to the plaintiff for damages that have actually...
Category: Legal Glossary - Concurrent Sentence
Legal sentences for different offences...
Category: Legal Glossary - Conditional Discharge
Certain conditions laid out by a judge that need to be satisfied by the accused,...
Category: Legal Glossary - Conditional Sentence
A sentence of person of less than two years ordered to be served while...
Category: Legal Glossary - Consecutive Sentence
A sentence for an offence that must be served consecutively, rather...
Category: Legal Glossary - Contemnor
A person who has been convicted...
Category: Legal Glossary - Contempt of Court
A common law offence that is disobedient, obstructive...
Category: Legal Glossary - Cross Examination
The examination (asking questions) of a witness...
Category: Legal Glossary - Damages
A cash compensation awarded after a personal injury...
Category: Legal Glossary - Deductible
A legislative amount that a Defendant has the right to deduct from the total...
Category: Legal Glossary - Defendant
The individual, company or organization being sued in a personal injury lawsuit, most...
Category: Legal Glossary - Direct Evidence
Differs from circumstantial evidence, direct evidence is the recounting..
Category: Legal Glossary - Duty
A legal obligation to take action or not take action as specified...
Category: Legal Glossary - Economic Loss
When compensation is being determined to a personal injury victim, it is necessary to...
Category: Legal Glossary - Emotional Distress
Personal injury victims may require compensation for emotional distress...
Category: Legal Glossary - Examination in Chief
Also referred to as direct examination, whereby a lawyer has the opportunity...
Category: Legal Glossary - Extortion
Wrongful threats or violence to an individual through the use of aggression...
Category: Legal Glossary - False Pretence
A fictitious representation of a fact (past or present) made by an individual...
Category: Legal Glossary - First Degree Murder
Unlawful murder that is planned and deliberate, or murder committed by one...
Category: Legal Glossary - Forseeability
Anticipation that a personal injury may occur through the action...
Category: Legal Glossary - Fraud
A knowingly deceitful or deceptive wrong act intended to manipulate...
Category: Legal Glossary - Functional Limitations
Restrictions in physical and mental capabilities that occur as a result...
Category: Legal Glossary - Future Damages
An evaluation of future costs incurred as a result of a personal injury...
Category: Legal Glossary - Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)
A neurological scale used to assess the degree of brain impairment from a personal...
Category: Legal Glossary - Health Care Expenses
Health Care Expenses are a broad category of tort entitlement and benefits...
Category: Legal Glossary - Homicide
The deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another, also referred...
Category: Legal Glossary - Income Replacement Benefits
Benefits that any person injured in a car accident has the right to receive...
Category: Legal Glossary - Insane Automatism
An act where a person is not aware of his or her actions or the consequences...
Category: Legal Glossary - Intentional Torts
Personal injuries caused out of malevolence, stubbornness or...
Category: Legal Glossary - Intermittent Sentence
A sentence of less than 90 days that can be served in sections,...
Category: Legal Glossary - Law Reports
Accurate reportings of...
Category: Legal Glossary - Law Society
A legislative body created by the Legal Professions Act to which all lawyers...
Category: Legal Glossary - Legislation
The act of making (writing) or...
Category: Legal Glossary - Legislature
The provincial equivalent of the federal Parliament (elective) called the Legislative...
Category: Legal Glossary - Limitations Period
A period of time after a personal injury incident for legal proceedings...
Category: Legal Glossary - Long-time Offender
A wrongdoer convicted of numerous offences who has demonstrated...
Category: Legal Glossary - Loss of Consortium
Loss of interest in sexual activity between partners as the outcome...
Category: Legal Glossary - Maximum Sentence
The longest possible term of imprisonment or fine that can...
Category: Legal Glossary - Mediation
A process in civil law proceedings where negotiations involve a third party to...
Category: Legal Glossary - Minimum Sentence
The smallest amount of time that can be...
Category: Legal Glossary - Negligence
Failing to act as a sensible and rational person under the same circumstances. Negligence can be...
Category: Legal Glossary - Non-Earner Benefit
A personal injury accident benefit that can be requested by individuals who were...
Category: Legal Glossary - Non-Insane Automatism
A disassociative state not caused by a disease of the mind where the person...
Category: Legal Glossary - Offence
A liable violation of a section of the Criminal Code, in which...
Category: Legal Glossary - Pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow someone who has served a sentence to be free...
Category: Legal Glossary - Parole
An early, conditional release of persons serving sentences in prison. A parole officer...
Category: Legal Glossary - Particulars
Detailed information or facts...
Category: Legal Glossary - Personal Injury Law
Law practice that centres on persons who have been injured in an...
Category: Legal Glossary - Plaintiff
The person who initiates a law suit stating that they have been...
Category: Legal Glossary - Pleading
The core documents exchanged between parties in a law suit that sets out facts...
Category: Legal Glossary - Pre-Claim Examination
An option for an assessment by the insurance company/adjuster before any claims are paid. Prior to paying...
Category: Legal Glossary - Preliminary Inquiry
An initial inquiry heard before a Provincial Court Judge to determine...
Category: Legal Glossary - Presumption of Innocence
A primary belief of criminal law that assumes every person charged with...
Category: Legal Glossary - Pre-Trial Conference
A meeting between the plaintiff's lawyer, the defendant's lawyer and a Superior...
Category: Legal Glossary - Privilege
A legal advantage or right to keep some very limited kinds of communications...
Category: Legal Glossary - Product Liability Law
Law for which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who...
Category: Legal Glossary - Punitive Damages
are special and highly exceptional damages meant to punish...
Category: Legal Glossary - Reasonable Doubt
The test for guilt in a criminal law case which requires the trier of fact...
Category: Legal Glossary - Reasonable Person Standard
A standard test in personal injury law cases where the Defendant's actions...
Category: Legal Glossary - Registry
A court office where documents...
Category: Legal Glossary - Self-Defence
A justified force of action used to defend oneself, one's property...
Category: Legal Glossary - Specific Deterrence
An objective of sentencing, which in a proper case requires a term of imprisonment...
Category: Legal Glossary - Statement of Claim
A document prepared by the Plaintiff's lawyer claiming the facts relied upon...
Category: Legal Glossary - Statement of Defence
A document prepared by the Defendant's lawyer in response to...
Category: Legal Glossary - Statute
A law or Act enacted by Parliament...
Category: Legal Glossary - Strict Liability Law
Theory in Product Liability Law that states that a company does not need to be...
Category: Legal Glossary - Suspended Sentence
After sentencing, a judge may wish to suspend the passing of the sentence...
Category: Legal Glossary - Theft
An offence committed when an individual steals an item...
Category: Legal Glossary - Threshold
Testing standards used to determine if an injured person involved in a car accident can qualify...
Category: Legal Glossary - Tort Law
An area of law that involves an injury to a person or property or wrong committed by the Defendant...
Category: Legal Glossary - Uttering
Action of using a false...
Category: Legal Glossary - Writ of Summons
A legal command given by an individual (plaintiff) directing a person...
Category: Legal Glossary - Young Offenders Act
A federal statute that governs the examination of persons under the age...
Category: Legal Glossary