Definitions

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Cabin
A small, roughly built house.

Condominium
A building or complex in which units of property, such as apartments, are owned by individuals and common parts of the property, such as the grounds and building structure, are owned jointly by the unit owners. To view our condominium lease/rental agreement, click here.

Consent
To permit, approve, or agree; comply or yield.

Contract
An agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.

Case
Case law is the law developed in the court system through the written opinions of judges. The U.S. courts follow precedent in order to develop consistency in the way law is applied and provide a predictable outcome to guide peoples' actions.

Cause of Action
A cause of action is a right to bring a lawsuit. A person or entity may have a cause of action limited by the time frame set forth by statute for bringing a lawsuit. A cause of action may exist under the common law (judge made law) or granted by statutes. In order to have a valid cause of action, all the legally defined elements of a claim must exist.

Character Witness
A character witness is a person who testifies in a trial on behalf of a person as to that person's reputation for honesty and morality both by the personal knowledge of the witness and the person's reputation in the community. A character witness usually is required to live in the same community as the person they testify about.

Circumstantial Evidence
Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence which creates an inference from which a main fact may be inferred. For example, circumstantial evidenceof a murder is not based on first-hand eyewitness accounts, but may consist of threats made, fingerprints at the crime scene, or the presence of the accused in the vicinity of the crime.

Cohabitation
Cohabitation is generally defined as two people living together as if a married couple. State laws vary in defining cohabitation. Some states have statutes which make cohabitation a criminal offense under adultery laws. Under one state's law, cohabitation means "regularly residing with an adult of the same or opposite sex, if the parties hold themselves out as a couple, and regardless of whether the relationship confers a financial benefit on the party receiving alimony. Proof of sexual relations is admissible but not required to prove cohabitation."

Commercial
Commercial law governs the broad areas of business, trade, commerce, sales, and consumer transactions. Commercial law covers numerous issues of law, such as contracts, banking, bankruptcy, credit transactions, secured transactions, real estate and others. There are numerous laws at the state and federal level governing commercial law practices.

Common Law
Common law is the system of deciding cases that originated in England and which was latter adopted in the U.S.. Common law is based on precedent (legal principles developed in earlier case law) instead of statutory laws. It is the traditional law of an area or region created by judges when deciding individual disputes or cases. Common law changes over time.

Credit Cards
A credit card is any type of arrangement or agreement in which any domestic lender or credit card bank, whether directly or indirectly through any domestic lender acting as its agent, gives a debtor the privilege of using a credit card or other credit instrument of any type in transactions out of which debt arises. The debt may arise by the domestic lender or credit card bank honoring a draft or other order, whether written, verbal or electronic, for the payment of money and which is created, authorized, issued or accepted by the debtor or by the domestic lender or credit card bank paying or agreeing to pay the debtor's obligation.

Co-sign
Co-sign means to add an additional signature to that of the principal's to verify the authenticity of the principal's signature. Co-signing also refers to sharing the liability for payment of a promissory note or other obligation by adding one's signature to such note or obligation.

Conviction
A conviction is the outcome of a trial in which a criminal defendant is found guilty. A defendant in a criminal trial may be convicted by a judge or jury if the prosecutor proves their case beyond a reasonable doubt. In a jury trial, the number of jurors required to convict varies by state.

Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements are used to impose confidentiality obligations on parties receiving information on materials from disclosing parties which consider such information or material to be confidential. Drafting the appropriate contract requires consideration of some key issues. One important consideration is to identify, with particularity, the information which is confidential. There may be limitations on what information is deemed confidential, such as information already known to the signing party, or information made public, through government agency order, etc. Another issue is whether you are the party receiving or disclosing such information.

Contracts
Contracts are agreements that are legally enforceable. A contract may involve a duty to do or refrain from doing something, and the failure to perform such duty is called a breach of contract. The law provides remedies if a promise is breached- aiming to restore the person wronged to the position they would occupy if the contract had not been breached, rather than punish the breaching party.

Complaints
In a civil action, the complaint is the document that initiates a lawsuit. The complaint outlines the alleged facts of the case and the basis for which a legal remedy is sought. In a criminal action, a complaint is the preliminary charge filed by the complaining party, usually with the police or a court. The party filing the complaint is usually called the plaintiff and the party against whom the complaint is filed is called the defendant or defendants. Complaints are pleadings and must be drafted carefully to properly state the factual as well as legal basis for the claim, although some states have approved complaint forms which can be filled in by an individual.

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