Law reference data
Legal systems, terminology, and landmark cases.
Topic guide
What Law covers
Law reference data gives the building blocks of legal systems rather than rules for any one jurisdiction: the families of legal systems (common law, civil law and others), what makes a contract, the vocabulary of criminal law, the kinds of intellectual property and a set of the most cited amendments to the United States Constitution. Law varies by country and changes over time, and the same word can mean different things in different systems, so these entries are orientation and not advice. Whenever a question depends on a particular jurisdiction, the first answer is which one.
Key ideas
- Jurisdiction
- The authority of a court or government over a place, person or subject. Most legal questions begin with whose law applies.
- Common law vs civil law
- Common law develops through judicial precedent; civil law is organized in codes, with statutes as the primary source.
- Burden of proof
- Who must prove a claim and to what standard: beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases, a lower balance-of-probabilities standard in most civil cases.
- Mens rea and actus reus
- The guilty mind and the guilty act. Most crimes require both.
- Consideration
- Something of value exchanged to make a promise enforceable in common-law contract law.
- Intellectual property
- Legal rights over creations of the mind: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and designs.
- Precedent
- A prior decision that courts follow in similar cases, binding in common-law systems.
Common pitfalls
- Applying one country's rule to another. Terms of copyright, felony definitions and contract formalities differ.
- Treating a summary as legal advice; real cases turn on facts, jurisdiction and recent changes.
- Assuming 'copyright', 'trademark' and 'patent' are interchangeable. They protect different things for different periods.
- Confusing the burden of proof in criminal and civil cases.
Using it from an agent
- Ask for or state the jurisdiction before answering, and say that the answer is general information.
- Recommend consulting a qualified lawyer for decisions with legal consequences.
- Quote terms and thresholds with the source and year, since statutes are amended.
Start with: Legal Systems · Intellectual Property Types
Datasets in Law
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Contract Formation Elements
Essential elements required to form a valid contract.
11 entries -
Criminal Law Terms
Fundamental terms in criminal law.
21 entries -
Intellectual Property Types
Categories of intellectual property protection.
9 entries -
Legal Systems
Major legal systems around the world.
6 entries -
Major US Constitutional Amendments
Key amendments to the United States Constitution.
21 entries
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