Oath
A religious or solemn affirmation to tell the truth or to take
a certain action.
Obiter
dictum
Latin: an observation by a judge on a matter not specifically
before the court or not necessary in determining the issue before
the court; a side opinion which does not form part of the judgment
for the purposes of stare decisis May also be referred to as "dicta" or "dictum."
Obligation
amount of money to be paid as support by the responsible
parent and the manner by which it is to be paid
Obligee
The person who is to receive the benefit of someone else's
obligation; that "someone else" being the obligor.
Also called a "promisee." Some
countries refer to the recipient of family support as an "obligee".
Obligor
A person who is contractually or legally, committed or obliged,
to providing something to another person; the recipient
of the benefit being called the obligee. Also known
as the "promisor."
Obscenity
An elusive concept used in the context of criminal law to
describe a publication which is illegal because it is
morally corruptive.
The common law has struggled with this word as society
has evolved towards greater tolerance of alternative
sexual
behavior. Historically,
it included any lewd material which had no apparent social
value, which was offensive to contemporary community standards
of decency,
and even material which tended to invoke impure sexual
thoughts. As an example of a modern definition, Canada
has defined
obscene material as any publication a dominant characteristic
of which
is the undue exploitation of sex, or of sex and crime,
horror, cruelty or violence.
Obstructing
justice
An act which tends to impede or thwart the administration
of justice. Examples include trying to bribe a witness
or juror
or providing
law enforcement officers with information known to be
false.
OCSE
Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement
Offense
A crime; any act which contravenes the criminal law
of the state in which it occurs. Spelled "offence" in
Commonwealth countries.
Offer
A explicit proposal to contract which, if accepted,
completes the contract and binds both the person
that made the offer
and the person accepting the offer to the terms
of the contract. See also "acceptance".
Offset
amount of money taken from a parent`s State or
Federal income tax refund to satisfy a child
support debt
Offshore Banking & Trusts/Asset Protection
an area of law that involves financial transactions
under the laws of a country other than the United
States. Some
countries (particularly in the Caribbean) are
popular nations of financial
transactions since they have little corporate
regulation or taxes and only moderate management
fees. Professional
trustees
in the
country perform routine contacts with the local
government but
take no active part in management
Ombudsman
A person whose occupation consists of investigating
customer complaints against his or her employer.
Many governments
have ombudsmen who
will investigate citizen complaints against
government services.
Omnibus
bill
A draft law before a legislature which contains
more than one substantive matter, or several
minor matters
which
have been
combined into one bill, ostensibly for the
sake of convenience. The omnibus
bill is an "all or nothing" tactic.
Onus
Latin: the burden. It is usually used in
the context of evidence. The onus of proof
in
criminal cases
lies with
the state. It
is the state that has the burden of proving
beyond reasonable doubt.
In civil cases, the onus of proof lies
with the plaintiff who must prove his case by
balance of
probabilities.
So "onus" refers
both to the party with the burden, and
to the scope of that burden, the latter
depending whether the context is criminal
or civil.
Open-ended
agreement
An agreement or contract which does not
have an ending date but which will continue
for
as long
as certain
conditions, identified in the agreement,
exist.
OPM
Office of Personnel Management
Order
A formal written direction given by
a member of the judiciary; a court
decision without
reasons.
Ordinance
An executive decision of a government
which has not been subjected to
a legislative assembly (contrary
to a statute).
It is often
detailed and not, as would be
a statute,
of general wording or application.
This term
is in disuse
in many jurisdictions
and
the words "regulations" or "bylaws" are
preferred.
Orphan
A person who has lost one or both
of his or her natural parents.
Out-of-court
settlement
An agreement between two litigants
to settle a matter privately
before the
Court has
rendered its decision.
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