100 Most Important Legal Terms for Law Entrance Exams

100 Important Legal Terms

1. Abatement- act of eliminating
2. Abessive- denoting absence of a case
3. Abjure- to pronounce solemnly on oath
4. Absist- passing away of any legal right
5. Accrue- to come into existence as an enforceable right or claim.
6. Ad interim- in the mean time i.e. for a temporary period of time.
7. Adjudicate- to make an official judgement or decision upon a certain issue by a competent authority i.e. to determine the rights of the parties to the suit
8. Accede- to consent or agree
9. Accroach- to exercise power without authority
10. Agnates- relatives whose relationship can be traced wholly through males
11. Arson- crime of unlawfully destroying property by fire
12. Antimony- a contradiction in law
13. Accessory- a person who is concerned in the crime but does not actually commit the crime
14. Ad hoc- formed for a particular purpose
15. Affiant- one who makes an affidavit
16. Affray- unlawful fighting or use of force to intimidate others
17. Alien –a person who resides within the border of the country but is not subject of that country
18. Alms- charitable donations
19. Alimony- a court ordered allowance that one spouse pays to the other spouse for maintenance and support while they are separated.
20. Annulment- judicial act of nullifying
21. Approver- an accomplice who turn’s prosecutors witness
22. Battery- crime of actual or intended use of physical force on a person
23. Bear- one who sells stocks or shares short i.e. without possessing what he sells but intending to buy in later when the prices has fallen
24. Bequest- act of giving personal property by will
25. Blasphemy- attacking religion or religious tenets
26. Bootlegging- the illegal manufacture, distribution, or sale of goods, especially alcohol or recordings.
27. Bottomry- a system of merchant insurance in which a ship is used as security against a loan to finance a voyage, the lender losing their money if the ship sinks.
28. Bull- one who buys shares not intedning to take delivery but to resell at a higher price
29. Banco- a seat or bench of justices
30. Buggery- act consisting of anal intercourse which is considered as unnatural in law
31. Bullpen- It refers to an area in a prison where prisoners are kept in close confinement.
32. Burglary- illegal entry of a building with intent to commit a crime, especially theft.
33. Caveat- a warning or proviso
34. Charge- framing of formal accusation against someone in a criminal court
35. Conclusive proof- when a fact when proved is considered as conclusive proof of another then the court shall presume such fact and no evidence to rebut this presumption will be allowed to be given by the court.
36. Corporeal- physical objects which are capable of physical manifestation
37. Censure- an official reprimand
38. Chattel- movable property
39. Condonation- the pardoning of an offence
40. Consanguinity- consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person i.e. relationship by blood
41. Contranband- prohibited by law
42. Covenant- an agreement in writing to do or not to do something
43. Dactylography- it refers to the scientific study of fingerprints as a method of identification
44. Derogation- an exemption from or relaxation of a rule or law
45. Doli in capax: deemed incapable of forming the intent to commit a crime or tort by reason small age.
46. Deputation- service outside the parent department
47. Domicile- place or country of residence which recognized legally.
48. Dysonomy- bad laws
49. Emancipation- the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation
50. Droit- a legal right or claim
51. Duress- act done under threat or fear
52. Exonerate- to free a person from blame or a duty imposed on him
53. Embezzlement- theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one’s trust or belonging to one’s employer.
54. Encumbrance- a liability on property
55. Extradition- an act where one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to their law enforcement.
56. Fiat- a command
57. Foeticide- crime of killing a baby in the womb of the mother
58. Fiduciary- a relationship based on trust or good faith
59. Fugitive- a person who flees or escapes
60. Gale- a periodic payment of rent
61. Garnish- money exacted from a new prisoner by other prisoners or as jailer’s fee
62. Germane- pertinent to legal issue pending before the court
63. Graft- it is a form of political corruption, being the unscrupulous use of a politician’s authority for personal gain.
64. Gist- the ground or essence of legal action
65. Gratuitous- without legal consideration
66. Graymail- refers to solicited bulk email messages that are not spam
67. Honorarium- payment of services given voluntarily
68. Hypothecation- the practice where a debtor pledges collateral to secure a debt or as a condition precedent to the debt, or a third party pledges collateral for the debtor
69. Ibid- from the same source
70. Inchoate- already started but not completed
71. Inculpatory- to make a person liable for the guilt
72. Inter vivos- transfer between living persons
73. Intra vires- acts done within the powers
74. Indictment- a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime
75. Intestate- not having made a will before one dies.
76. Jeofail- an error or oversight in pleading
77. Kin- blood relatives
78. Leet- a criminal court
79. Magna carta- one of the greatest common law documents and is foundation of constitutional liberty
80. Malefaction- a crime or offence
81. Moratorium- a legal authorization to debtors to postpone payment
82. Novation- a new obligation between the same parties
83. Parole- the temporary or permanent release of a prisoner before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour.
84. Plutocracy- rule of the wealthy
85. Quasi- as if it were
86. Reclusion- Punishment involving civil degradation (as in the loss of the right to own property) and incarceration with hard labor.
87. Reprieve- cancel or postpone the punishment of (someone, especially someone condemned to death)
88. Retoreon- an act of lawful retaliation in kind for another nation’s unfriendly or unfair act
89. Rubric- the title of a statue or code
90. Sine a die- without a fixed day
91. Status quo- present condition
92. Summon- also called Citation, in law, the document issued by a court ordering a specific person to appear at a specific time for some specific purpose
93. Traverse- deny an allegation
94. Uterine- blood of same mother and not father
95. Verbatim- exactly, word for word
96. Vest- to clothe with legal right
97. Withersake- an enemy
98. Zabeta- a stated tariff
99. Zero- point from which reckoning begins
100. Zap: to destroy Read: 9 Important Legal Maxims for CLAT 2025