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Academic subjects

29 Nov 2021

20 Basic Law Terms Every Student Should Know

Interested in learning about Law? We've got you covered. With this easy to understand introduction to the subject we break down 20 basic law terms every student should know.

by Bethan Courtie · 13 min read

As a subject, law can seem pretty intimidating to those who haven’t studied it before. There are a lot of different types of law, so it can be difficult to know where to start when it’s a brand new subject. Law is a competitive career to go into, even to those who studied it at university level. It also takes longer than most careers to become fully trained, for example, becoming a barrister in the UK takes a total of five years minimum - three years of undergraduate study, one year for a Bar course and one year of pupillage in a chambers. 

It can therefore help to get some experience learning about the subject before you decide to study it. A great way to do this is with an online course so you get an idea of the whole subject, can choose which areas of Law you prefer and with the help of an expert tutor can choose the next steps of your academic journey. 

Law terminology can seem like a whole different language to those who have no experience in the field. If you are looking at choosing law as an undergraduate degree, or as an A-Level option, we have come up with some basic UK law terms and definitions that will give you a head start and a bit of an insight into the subject. 

1. Mens Rea

Mens Rea refers to criminal intent and literally translates from Latin to “guilty mind”. In UK law this has to be proved in order to prosecute a crime. Latin law terminology can be the hardest to interpret, but Mens Rea is easy to understand once you get into it. There are three different categories that Mens Rea can fall under:

Intention

Intention is the element of Mens Rea with the highest amount of fault, as a person who commits a crime with intent can be assumed to be more responsible than crimes caused by recklessness or negligence. 

Intention can be categorised into two areas; direct and oblique intent. Direct intention is the easiest to understand aspect of intent; this is when someone intends to commit or bring around a certain result and it does happen. Oblique intent is a bit harder to understand; this occurs when someone intends to bring around a certain result but is also aware that the consequences of their actions will bring around another result, i.e., spending time in prison. 

Recklessness

Recklessness is the aspect of Mens Rea that refers to taking unnecessary risk, for example, choosing to speed in your car while driving in torrential rain is adding ‘unnecessary risk’ to your journey. 

Negligence

Negligence has to do with falling below the standards of a reasonable person. The main role for negligence in criminal law is when gross negligence manslaughter is discussed. An example of this could be a mother not feeding her baby and as a result of this the infant dies. 

A difficult aspect of negligence in Mens Rea is the idea of a reasonable person. If someone is not in their right mind, for example perhaps the mother is suffering from postpartum depression and it could therefore be argued that she is not in her reasonable mind. 

2. Actus Reus

In UK law, Actus Reus and Mens Rea must be considered together. As we now know, Mens Rea refers to the mental intent to the crime, Actus Reus refers to the actual crime itself. 

Put very simply, this is the result of a voluntary bodily movement that results in a crime being committed. It is then the job of the prosecution in a criminal case to prove there was Mens Rea. 

3. Reasonable Doubt

Reasonable doubt is the one of the most important law terms you should know, and is the standard of proof that is needed in criminal cases. You may have heard the phrase “beyond reasonable doubt.” This means that after the evidence has been put forward by both the defence and prosecution, there is no doubt for a rational person that the crime was committed. 

It is the judge and jury who decide after hearing all the evidence that there is no reasonable doubt the crime was committed with Mens Rea. 

4. Reasonably Foreseeable

Reasonably foreseeable refers to the idea that a reasonable person has to be able to predict or expect any harmfulness in their actions. For example, if you are driving your car above the speed limit during a torrential rain storm, it is reasonably foreseeable that you might crash your car and cause damage. 

Similarly to Mens Rea, there is the issue of what determines a “reasonable” person. This can be defined as “a hypothetical individual who approaches any situation with the appropriate amount of caution and then sensibly takes action”. This standard was created to provide courts and juries with an objective test that can be used when deciding whether a person's actions were negligent or not. 

5. Trespass to the Person

Trespass to the person is a rare example of a law term that you could work out what it means just from the title. It can be defined as a direct or intentional interference with a person’s body or liberty. Literally trespassing on a person. There are three main forms of trespass to a person: 

Assault

An assault can be defined as an attempt or threat to hurt another person, with intent to do so (you remember Mens Rea). The main thing to remember with assault in trespass to the person is that it always refers to non physical matters. Actual contact is not necessary in assault.

Battery 

While assault refers to verbal and non physical matters, battery occurs when there is physical contact. Again, there has to be intention which is easier to prove when there is physical contact with another person. It doesn’t matter whether the force is applied directly to the person or to anything coming into contact with it. For example, throwing water at someone is assault, but if water goes on them, it is battery. 

False Imprisonment 

False imprisonment is defined as being the unlawful restraint of a person which affects the person's freedom of movement. If someone wrongfully prevents someone from leaving a room, a vehicle or a building when they want to leave, this is false imprisonment. 

6. Tort

When I first heard this legal term, I was thinking of dessert… it’s definitely not that! Tort (without an ‘e’) is a law term that refers to the name of the civil law that allows individuals who have had a wrong committed against them to to claim damages against the person who committed the wrong. The aim of this is to return individuals back to the position they were in before the wrongful act was committed against them. 

As tort refers solely to the civil proceedings, this means the only outcome will be compensation of damages. For an outcome of jail time, for example, this would need to be a criminal case. It is possible to do both a civil and criminal case simultaneously. 

7. WestLaw

WestLaw is the name of the UK database that holds full text access to UK case law, legislation, legal journals and much more. This is helpful to students of Law to research previous legal cases, and understand the dynamics of a courtroom in practice. 

8. Leasehold

A leasehold is a law term that is commonly used in Land Law, and is good to understand before you begin exploring the subject. In its simplest terms, having a leasehold means you own the property, but the land upon which the property is built is owned by the freeholder. 

To be a leaseholder means you are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the property. This includes the interior walls and floorboards, but usually excludes the exterior or structural walls. 

9. Freehold

A freehold, as you might have guessed, means that you own the property and the land on which the property exists. In the UK, most houses are freeholds and most flats and apartments are leaseholds. 

If your property is leasehold, you can buy the freehold from the freeholder along with other leaseholders, for example, other people living in the block of flats. The benefits of this are that as a freeholder, you have more control over your home and the costs you pay out.

10. Acquit

In legal terms, to acquit means to certify the innocence of someone charged with a crime. This judgement can be made by the jury on the trial or by the judge who determines there is insufficient evidence for a conviction or for further proceedings. An acquittal removes all guilt in law and the person is free to go.

11. Affidavit

An affidavit is a written statement which is sworn before a person authorised to administer affidavits, for example, a solicitor. Affidavits are similar to witness statements, however while a witness statement is just a statement of truth, an affidavit is an oath; basically a legal promise. 

The purpose of an affidavit is to formally legitimise a claim and when used properly, can sway a court's decision. Affidavits are commonly used in divorce proceedings, property disagreements, debt disputes and much more. In some cases affidavits are voluntarily, but can be mandatorily requested. 

12. Indict

If someone is indicted in court, they are officially accused of a serious crime. An indictment is a document that contains the charges faced by the defendant at trial in the Crown Court. Each of the charges of an indictment is known as a ‘count’. For example “the defendant is charged with two counts of actual bodily harm”, means the defendant has two charges against them for actual bodily harm.

13. Hostile witness

A hostile witness is a witness who refuses to testify in support of the people who called them to testify, or testifies in a way which differs from their original statement. In the UK, if you are called by the court to testify as a witness, you are legally obliged to do so; this is what could prompt a witness to become hostile if they do not want to appear in court. 

14. Libel

Libel is a law term that refers to defamation against a person. It is generally classified as slander when it is spoken, and libel when the defamation is written or recorded. Defamation occurs when something is said about a person that is not true and subsequently damages their reputation. 

The most common examples of libel cases in everyday life are often between a celebrity and a news media outlet. For example, this famous case between Morrisey suing NME magazine for defamation. As this was a written magazine, this falls under libel law. The conclusion of this case is that NME wrote an apology to Morrisey, but no damages were paid or retractions of the original article. 

Libel cases can be more difficult to prove as language is perceived through context and interpretation; what one person might take away from a phrase, another person might interpret completely differently. 

15. Summons

In legal terminology, a summons is an official demand for an individual to appear in court. Earlier I referred to the idea of someone being a hostile witness because they had no choice but to appear in court, this person would have got a summons to appear as a witness. This is not a request but a legal demand. 

Anyone can be summoned to court if the lawyers on the case believe it will be beneficial. This could include witnesses or professional testimony.

16. Mitigation

Now, this legal term is a bit of a complicated one. Mitigation in its simplest form means ‘reduction.’

In criminal law, you may have heard of the phrase “mitigating circumstances,” and this refers to crimes that are committed under circumstances that need to be taken into consideration when sentencing an offender. For example, if a starving man steals a loaf of bread, this circumstance is taken into consideration in mitigation of his sentence. 

In civil cases, matters are often proved in mitigation for damages.  For example, in a divorce, evidence may be given against the wife's character from the husband's lawyers in the hope of getting him more damages than her when dividing the assets. 

17. Writ 

Writ is a civil legal term for receiving a document from a court that tells you that you will be involved in legal proceedings and explains what you must do. Writs are drafted by judges, courts, barristers or other individuals who have judicial jurisdiction and are concerned with damages (remember that civil cases are about money, and criminal cases are about jail). 

The person on the receiving end of the writ can either apply to the court for a stay of enforcement, pay the debt in full, apply to the court to pay in instalments or apply to the court to set aside a default judgement. 

18. Settle

To ‘settle’ in court means both parties have reached an agreement. The majority of disputes end in settlement or compromise rather than being decided by a court - this not only saves the individuals a lot of money but also saves the courts time. A settlement can be achieved by negotiation or as a result of mediation.

It is often in the best interest of the individuals to settle their disputes outside of court, if this is possible, as the costs of hiring lawyers and going to court are usually more than expected. 

19. Remand 

Remand” is the legal term for when an individual will go to prison until their hearing at a magistrates court. Reasons for courts doing this are primarily because it is in the interest of the greater community, if the person is high risk to others or at risk of not attending the hearings.

A person will be put on remand if they; have been charged with a serious crime, have been convicted of a serious crime in the past, the police think you may not go to your hearing, the police think you might commit another crime while on bail or you have been given bail before and not stuck to the terms. 

20. Plaintiff 

A plaintiff is someone who makes a legal complaint against someone else in a court. This is the person who is pressing charges or suing someone else. An example of a plaintiff is a wife who is filing for divorce. 

The opposite of the plaintiff is the defendant who is accused of having done something illegal. When you see “NAME v NAME” in a court proceeding, the first name is the plaintiff and the second the defendant. 

Summary

Hopefully these definitions of basic law terms have helped you to understand the subject a bit more, or even just better understand what they’re talking about on Suits! If you are looking to pursue an education in Law, it can be helpful to get some experience of studying the subject beforehand so you know which aspects you most enjoy. 

At Melio, our online Law course is one of the most popular for students to choose. This subject is offered on our Academic Online Courses, where you can learn with a group of like-minded students (no more than 8) and a world class tutor for two weeks. This course will challenge your fundamental notions of law and order. You’ll see how the law aims to solve problems on both a national and international level, and learn how to make your case like a lawyer.  

Alternatively, our One-on-One Tutorials are our more bespoke courses, giving you a personalised experience with one of our expert tutors. This course is designed to fit around your schedule in hourly sessions (starting at 10). You will get to question what is meant by ‘justice’, delve into topics about Law that fascinate you or get a thorough overview of the subject. 

For more information on our Law courses, visit our website or contact our admissions team.

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