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Elements of a crime
Specific factors that define a crime which the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt in order to obtain a conviction: (1) that a crime has actually occurred, (2) that the accused intended the crime to happen, and (3) a timely relationship between the first two factors.

Eminent Domain
The power of the government to take private property for public use through condemnation.

En Banc
All the judges of a court sitting together. Appellate courts can consist of a dozen or more judges, but often they hear cases in panels of three judges. If a case is heard or reheard by the full court, it is heard en banc.

Encyclopedia
A book or series of books arranged alphabetically by topics containing information on areas of law, including citations to support the information.

Enjoining
An order by the court telling a person to stop performing a specific act.

Entity
A person or legally recognized organization.

Entrapment
The act of inducing a person to commit a crime so that a criminal charge will be brought against him.

Entry
A statement of conclusion reached by the court and placed in the court record.

Environment
The conditions, influences, or forces which affect the desirability and value of property, as well as the effect on people's lives.

Environmental Protection (EPA)
A federal agency created to permit coordinated and environment effective governmental action to preserve the quality of the . Agency

Equal Protection of the Law
The guarantee in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that all persons be treated equally by the law.

Equity
Justice administered according to fairness; the spirit or habit of fairness in dealing with other persons.

Escheat
The process by which a deceased person's property goes to the state if no heir can be found.

Escrow
Money or a written instrument such as a deed that, by agreement between two parties, is held by a neutral third party (held in escrow) until all conditions of the agreement are met.

Esquire
In the United States the title commonly appended after the name of an attorney. In English law a title of dignity next above gentleman and below knight. Title also given to barristers at law and others. Abbreviated: Esq.

Estate
A person's property.

Estate tax
Generally, a tax on the privilege of transferring property to others after a person's death. In addition to federal estate taxes, many states have their own estate taxes.

Estoppel
An impediment that prevents a person from asserting or doing something contrary to his own previous assertion or act.

Ethics
Of or relating to moral action and conduct; professionally right; conforming to professional standards.

Evidence
Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.

Exceptions
Declarations by either side in a civil or criminal case reserving the right to appeal a judge's ruling upon a motion. Also, in regulatory cases, objections by either side to points made by the other side or to rulings by the agency or one of its hearing officers.

Exclusionary Rule
The rule preventing illegally obtained evidence to be used in any trial.

Execute
To complete; to sign; to carry out according to its terms.

Executor
A personal representative, named in a will, who administers an estate.

Exempt property
All the property of a debtor which is not attachable under the Bankruptcy Code or the state statute.

Exhibit
A document or other item introduced as evidence during a trial or hearing.

Exonerate
Removal of a charge, responsibility, or duty.

Ex parte
On behalf of only one party, without notice to any other party. For example, a request for a search warrant is an ex parte proceeding, since the person subject to the search is not notified of the proceeding and is not present at the hearing.

Ex parte proceeding
Action Circumstances which render a crime less aggravated, heinous, or reprehensible than it would otherwise be.

Expungement
The process by which the record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed.

Extradition
The surrender of an accused criminal by one state to the jurisdiction of another.

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Fair market value
The value for which a reasonable seller would sell an item of property and for which a reasonable buyer would buy it.

Family law
Those areas of the law pertaining to families, i.e., marriage, divorce, child custody, juvenile, paternity, etc.

Federal Aviation Agency (FAA)
A federal agency which regulates air commerce to promote aviation Administration safety.

Federal Bureau of (FBI)
A federal agency which investigates all violations of federal Investigation laws.

Federal Communications (FCC)
A federal agency which regulates interstate and foreign Commission communications by wire and radio.

Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC)
An agency which insures deposits in banking institutions in Corporation the event of financial failure.

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
An agency which provides mediators to assist in labor-management disputes.

Federal Register
A daily publication which contains federal administrative rules and regulations.

Federal Supplement
Books which gives the government certain control and power to regulate discharge of pollutants into the nation's waters in an effort to achieve clean waters.

Federal Unemployment Tax
A tax levied on employers based on employee wages paid. (FUTA tax)

Felony
A serious criminal offense. Under federal law any offense punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

Fiduciary
A person or institution who manages money or property for another and who must exercise a standard care imposed by law, i.e., personal representative or executor of an estate, a trustee, etc.

File
To place a paper in the official custody of the clerk of court/court administrator to enter into the files or records of a case.

Filing Fee
The fee required for filing various documents.

Finding
Formal conclusion by a judge or regulatory agency on issues of fact. Also, a conclusion by a jury regarding a fact.

Food and Drug (FDA)
A federal agency which sets safety and quality standards for Administration food, drugs, cosmetics, and household substances.

Foreclosure
A court proceeding upon default in a mortgage to vest title in the mortgagee.

Forfeiture
A cancellation. A legal action whereby a contract purchaser following default loses all his interest in the property.

Fraud
A false representation of a matter of fact which is intended to deceive another.