To request additional definitions,
email lawbook@jurisdictionary.com.

Natural Law

A very misunderstood concept that refers to the order of things outside human authority and control. For example, it is widely considered a matter of natural law that one person has not the right to murder another without the authority of the state (as an executioner is authorized to take the condemned man’s life by lethal injection or a soldier is authorized to take the enemy’s life in combat during a declared war). Some people confuse natural law with the edicts for human behavior set out in their respective "bibles" or books of the law preserved by religious orders, however natural law is not codified. It just is. The Oriental concept of Karma is an expression of natural law. Another is the Quaker view, "If thou wouldst have a friend, thou must be a friend." More recently natural law is expressed as, "What goes around comes around!"

Unlike man’s law, nobody can violate natural law and "get away with it", because natural law is part of the order of the universe. Evil begets evil. Good begets good. Man’s legislation has nothing to do with it.

To paraphrase an old Beatles song, "The love we get is equal to the love we give."

Negligence

Carelessness, i.e., without care or concern for consequence. Since everyone has a duty to care for others and protect them from injury by using common sense and caution, careless acts that damage others, even when no injury was intended, may give rise to a cause of action. A tort, for example, may be intentional (such as when one slanders another) or negligent (as when one rear-ends another on the highway). Both acts give rise to a cause of action.

Negligent

With negligence, q.v.

Never

Not at all. Not in any degree whether large or small. Not at any time. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

Nonwaiver

A condition sometimes included in a contract or other agreement specifying that a particular circumstance of set of circumstances may not be construed as a waiver of rights otherwise established by the contract or agreement.

For example, where A owes payments to B on a certain date, a nonwaiver may provide that B does not waive his rights under the agreement by failing to demand payment in a timely manner. This comes up frequently in rental or lease agreements where a tenant fails to pay on time and the landlord includes the nonwaiver provision so it is clear that the landlord reserves his rights whether or not he initiates eviction or otherwise demands payment, etc.

Notarial

Of or having to do with a notary, e.g., a notarial signature. 

Notarize

To affix to a document the signature and seal of a notary attesting that the person signing the document either gave his oath (i.e., was sworn) or his affirmation, thus submitting that person to the authority of the court to punish him for perjury if the statements made in the notarized document are later found to be false.

Notary

An officer of the state authorized by law to administer oaths and accept affirmations. Many courts will not permit persons other than officers of the court to file papers with the clerk unless the papers are notarized. Notaries are typically required to file a bond with the state and give their own oath to uphold their office in accordance with law as a prerequisite to the issuance of their notarial seal.

Notice

Either denotes delivery of some communication or the communication itself, e.g., Notice of Hearing.

There may be "actual notice" or "constructive notice", but always notice is in reference to the communication delivered.

The word "notice" by itself has no "legal" effect unless connected to the communication that is delivered.

Notwithstanding

In spite of.

EXAMPLE: "The boy was allowed to play on the team, notwithstanding the fact that he refused to practice."

Novation

When an existing contract is replaced by another, the new agreement is sometimes called a novation. 

This may happen in many ways. For example, a promise to give 5 cows for 3 pigs might be replaced by a promise to give 38 chickens for the 3 pigs. Or the original farmer might make a deal with his neighbor who agrees to step into his shoes and give 9 sheep for the three pigs.

Any renewal of a prior obligation, whether by substitution of the value being given for the bargain or by substitution of one or more of the bargaining parties themselves, is called a novation.

Nunc Pro Tunc

Nunc Pro Tunc (Latin "now for then") is a term reverting a present circumstance to an earlier time, as if that circumstance had existed from the beginning. A trial court ruling on terms of a contract, for example, might decree the terms modified retroactively, i.e., from the time the contract was entered. If the contract originally provided for an unjust result, the nunc pro tunc order corrects the problem.