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, Preface
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
This dictionary has been written by a distinguished team of academic
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford oxa sm-
and practising lawyers. It is intended primarily for those without a
Oxford University Press is a department ofthe University of Oxford.
It furthers the University's objective ofexcellence in research. scholarship, qualification in law who nevertheless require some legallmowledge
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© Market House Books Ltd
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1983,1990,1994,1997,2002,2003 Written in concise English, without the unnecessary use of legal
The moral rights of the author have been asserted jargon, the book will also be of considerable value to members ofthe
Database right Oxford University Press (maker) public who come into contact with the law and lawyers - house
First published 1983 as A Concise Dictionary oflaw
buyers, motorists, and hire purchasers are among those who cannot
Second edition 1990 escape the effects of legislation or the unique prose style in which it
Third edition 1994 is usually expressed.
Reissued in new covers with corrections 1996 In the five years since the last edition of the dictionary was
Fourth edition 1997
Fifth edition 2002 published there have been radical changes in the English legal
Reissued with new covers 2003 system, most notably in the areas of civil procedure (resulting from
All rights reserved. No part of this pubiication may be reproduced, the Access to Justice Act 1999 and the Civil Procedure Rules - the so-
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outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, at the time of publication, the entries to which they apply will
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You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover An asterisk (*) placed before a word in a definition indicates that
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British Library Cataioguing in Publication Data entries simply refer the reader to another entry, indicating either that
Data available they are synonyms or abbreviations or that they are most
Library of Congress Cataioging in Publication Data conveniently explained, together with related terms, in one of the
Data available dictionary's longer articles. The use of the pronoun 'he' (rather than
ISBN0-19-860756-3 'he or she') in entries has been adopted to simplify the construction of
6 sentences; it does not imply that the subject matter relates exclusively
Typeset in Swift by Market House Books Ltd,
to males.
Printed in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St Ives pic
E.A.M.
2001