Black’s Law Dictionary: Abandonment - Abavia

Abandonment - Abavia August 3, 2010
author: Dustin Wetton

Another day, another top five listings in what Laurus Law Group is calling “the Book”:

1)abandonment – Here is another word from the Book with so many uses and definitions, yet it is also a very importantly used word. Abandonment is the “relinquishing of a right or interest with the intention of never again claiming it.” According to Black, it is often used by courts as a synonym for “rescission” in contract law, but it is important to note the differences. Under a contract, if the contract is abandoned, it means one of the parties has accepted the other party’s situation of nonperformance and the result. A rescission on the other hand is a termination or discharge of the contract as a whole.

Abandonment is also used in family law, where a spouse abandons or deserts the other spouse or child willfully, with or without the intent to return. In this context there is a distinction between malicious and voluntary abandonment, yet I can’t see how a “voluntary” desertion is not malicious, as it must be willfully done. Maybe an abused spouse who finally escaped the prison of her home could be a candidate for a voluntary abandonment subject.

Lastly, abandonment is used in bankruptcy law. Under bankruptcy, a trustee can release property that is part of the bankruptcy estate if it has become a burden or is inconsequential to the estate. The property is not abandoned to the streets for the mass, but is instead abandoned back to the original owner, the debtor. This is an example of an extreme word in a non-extreme case. “I’m sorry debtor, but we must abandon your vehicle in this bankruptcy, I hope you understand.”

2)abarnare – “to detect or disclose a secret crime.” This makes me think of Sherlock Holmes. Those are some great stories of detecting and disclosing crimes, more often than not, secret crimes. I guess there would be difficulty in detecting and disclosing obvious crimes. That just wouldn’t make a good detective story at all. Holmes = abarnarish (not sure if that is the correct mutation of the word.)

3)abatement– To abate is to take away from something. I first came across this word while studying for the GRE test prior to taking the LSAT…yes, I was a bit confused and had a lot of time on my hands. Although the top definition is “the act of eliminating or nullifying,” while studying for the California Bar and in learning of estate planning, this word became one of my favorite flash-cards. Under estate planning, abatement refers to a reduction of a devise, either a general or a specific, to an heir because the estate was not properly funded to pay its debts. This is a common mistake that occurs when an estate plan is not updated correctly and the deceased creates devisees that are not realistic in connection with their recent life status. Thus, before you have your heirs loose out to your debtors because of abatement, ensure that your estate plan is up-to-date!

4)Abatement clause– No, this is not related to the above definition. While it is the clause that allows tenants to abandon their obligation to pay rent, this is not due to a contract nonperformance or because of the inability to prepare better for debt owed at death. This clause is used in a lease to “release the tenant from the rent obligation when an act of God precludes occupancy.” While this is a vital clause, it is not necessarily guaranteed to be in your lease. Also, this clause normally is in association only with residential leases, not commercial. Also, there is no general idea of what an act of God is. While some may argue that an act of God is any act, it is normally understood to be the wrath of God, such as floods, lightning, wild-fires and the like of destruction.

5)abavia – if you read yesterday’s blog and were curious if abamita’s mom had a proper title too, from their great-great-great-grandchild perspective, you’re in luck because they do. It is called an abavia. This term is “a great-great-great-grandmother.” Wow. Hopefully, if your ancestors were mature enough, your abavia would be about a 100 years, or five generations, older than you. Also, if my math is correct, you should have a total of 16 abavias. That’s a lot of family. My new goal is to try and start using these terms and tell people why I have brown hair, “we’ll you see, my abavia’s…”

If you have any questions or comments regarding this blog, email us at blog@lauruslaw.com

Laurus Law Group Project: Black’s Law Dictionary, "A - Abalienation"

Laurus Law Group Project: Black’s Law Dictionary
This is a notification. Laurus Law Group, in pursuit of spicing things up, has decided to engage its blog in a new direction: Black’s Law Dictionary. The goal is to accomplish the whole dictionary, and write about it. This idea was rooted in the book The Know-it-All by A.J. Jacobs and by a recent movie titled “Julie & Julia”, with the theme in both situations being the conquering of lengthy and informative books such as Black’s Law Dictionary.

Now to the details. The exact book that will be used is Black’s Law Dictionary 7th Edition, edited by Garner of West Group. This book is huge. Not including the appendixes or prefixes, the total page count totals up to over 1600 pages. Not only that, but each page has anywhere from 1 to 20 listings of words or topics. Thus, to fulfill my due diligence in this project, Laurus Law will not report on every single subject in the book, but instead will write about the five top listings, ranked according to our lawyers. The top five listings will be written of hopefully each day, so readers try and keep up.

Why are we doing this??? Well, Black’s Law Dictionary is a corner-stone of cement in the legal community. Law students, judges, lawyers, and professors have relied upon this book since 1891 when it was first published by Henry Black. There are thousands of versions and languages that this book has been transcribed into and there are even on-line versions and pocket versions of this same book. With so much of the world depending upon this book for their legal definitions, Laurus Law believes that the lay people of the world should have their crack at understanding its terms. Thus, our project.

Therefore, with no further ado, let’s start with the five top listings of the day.

A - Abalienation August 2, 2010
author: Dustin Wetton

1) A – There are many definitions for this word, and while it may seem ultra-common and obvious, what better place to start the dictionary but with the letter “a”. One great start to defining it is how it is practically used in the legal world with the reference to “a hypothetical person.” For instance, when talking about a real estate transaction, the legal community would say “a transfer Blackacre to b.” Thus, in those situations, facts of who the people could be are of little importance, and the focus should be on the other facts of the situation.

Another definition used in the Book is “a grade as ranked by Standard & Poor’s.” With this definition, the rankings of the S&P are of AAA to C from high to low based on their opinion of a stock. Thus, to be sure not to miss anything, the Book has made sure that when A is in a document, it could be in reference to its ranking system, which is somewhere between AAA and C, but who knows what “A” ranking really stands for.

My favorite and last definition for “a” is “a scarlet letter worn as punishment by a person convicted of adultery.” Yes, this was used in The Scarlet Letter, but it was also a common practice in the colonies during the founding of America. This is a great reference to legal history and how not only adultery used to be a crime, but how the punishment matched the act committed. The secrecy of adultery was punished with the constant announcement of its action. How grand of an idea. Oh “a”, how we will miss you.

2) abacinate – “to blind a person by placing a red-hot iron or metal plate in front of the eyes.” Ouch. With my wild guess, I would have to assume that this was a type of punishment used and not a crime, yet I could be wrong. What is even more interesting to me is that the item of metal was not placed into the eye of the person, but instead was placed “in front” of their eyes to blind. It was as if they were trying to be mean, but not too mean. Also, this is the name of a modern band, with very peculiar artwork.

3) ab actis – Latin is found throughout the Book. This is because much of our legal codes have derived from Roman law and thus we have adopted many of their sayings. The word “ab” means “by” or “of.” Here, this word “ab actics” is “an officer responsible for public records, registers, journals, or minutes.” This is in reference not to a modern day clerk, but instead to an officer under Roman law. Yes, even back in the day of the empire, there were individuals recording, registering, and journaling everything in the legal system. This is a hard job, and one with a long history, thus, the next time you go into the court house, pay a little respect to these individuals.

4) ab agendo – there is that ab again. Here though, this word is relating to the inability to act, or more properly, “unable to act or incapacitated for business or transactions of any kind.” I wonder when this word was first used. It could be those with the inability to act in battle, or those who tried to sell their chicken, but were unable to act in a transaction of that kind for their spouse would not let them get rid of the family chicken. Any of which would be completely ab agendoed out.

5) abamita – “a great-great-great aunt.” Or in other words, the sister of one of your great-great-grandparents. Thank God they have a term for this. It is so much easier to say this word rather than the repetitive and confusing “great’s.” Yet, my curiosity is aroused as to whether there are many living abamita’s. The number must be small, but it is very possible to have one living. If any of you readers have a living abamita, I would love to hear all about it.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this blog, email us at blog@lauruslaw.com