Subject to answer to the Jaw; accountable; responsible; liable to punishment. Miller v. Com., 1 Duv. (Ky.) 17. Also means tractable, that may be easily led or governed: formerly applied to a wife who is governable by her husband. Cowell. … [Read more...]

Latin: From ambiguus, doubtful, uncertain, obscure. Ambiguity; uncertainty of meaning. Ambiguitas latens, a latent ambiguity; ambiguitas patens, a patent ambiguity. See Ambiguity. Ambiguitas veborum latens verifl eatione suppletnr; nam quod ex facto oritur ambignnm verificatione facti tol litur. A latent ambiguity in the language may be removed by evidence; for whatever … [Read more...]

To improve; to make better by change or modification. See Alter. Law Dictionary - Alternative Legal Definition To alter or change, such as a pleading, a contract, a motion. … [Read more...]

Legal maxim and Latin for an ambiguity is most strongly construed against the party using it. Also see contra preferendum where a court will hold in favor of the understanding of a party who did not create a contract clause and against a drafter in its interpretation. This is done since the party that drafted the clause had the power to make the clause clear as to its meaning … [Read more...]

In old English law. A penalty imposed upon a person by way of disgrace or infamy, as a punishment for any offense, or for the purpose of making reparation for any injury done to another, as the walking into church in a white sheet, with a rope about the neck and a torch in the hand, and begging the pardon of God, or the king, or any private individual, for some delinquency. … [Read more...]