Legal words and their usage: Kidnap to Witness

1. K to N

• Kidnap: to take a minor out of lawful guardianship, or a person out of India, without consent. He was charged with kidnapping a twelve-year-old from her school.
• Lawyer: a person qualified to advise on law and represent clients. Gandhi said a lawyer’s true function is to unite parties riven asunder.
• Liability: legal responsibility. The employer’s liability for his driver’s negligence is vicarious.
• Litigation: the process of taking a dispute to court. The brothers spent ten years in litigation over the property.
• Maintenance: money a person is legally bound to pay for the support of a spouse, child or parent. The magistrate ordered him to pay monthly maintenance to his wife.
• Minor: a person below eighteen years. A minor cannot enter into a binding contract.
• Murder: culpable homicide with the intention or knowledge required by law (BNS s. 101). He was convicted of murder for stabbing his rival.
• Mortgage: transfer of an interest in property as security for a loan. He mortgaged his house to the bank for a business loan.
• Negligence: failure to take the care a reasonable person would take. The hospital was held liable for the negligence of its nurse.
• Notification: a formal announcement by Government, usually in the Official Gazette. The new rules came into force by a notification in the Gazette.
• Notice: formal information to a person of a fact or claim. The landlord served a notice on the tenant to vacate.

2. O and P

• Oath: a solemn promise to tell the truth. The witness took an oath before giving evidence.
• Objection: a protest against a question or evidence in court. Counsel raised an objection to the leading question.
• Partnership: relation between persons who agree to share the profits of a business carried on by all or any of them acting for all. The two doctors entered into a partnership to run a clinic.
• Partition: division of joint property among co-owners. The brothers filed a suit for partition of the ancestral land.
• Perjury: deliberately giving false evidence on oath. The witness who lied about the date was prosecuted for perjury.
• Petition: a formal written request to a court or authority. She filed a writ petition in the High Court.
• Petitioner: the person who files a petition. The petitioner sought a direction to the municipality to clear the drains.
• Plaintiff: the person who brings a civil suit. The plaintiff claimed possession of the shop.
• Plaint: the written statement of claim with which a civil suit begins. The plaint was rejected because it disclosed no cause of action.
• Pleadings: the plaint and written statement, setting out each party’s case. A party cannot lead evidence beyond his pleadings.
• Privity: the relation between parties to a contract. A stranger to the contract cannot sue on it for want of privity.
• Pre-emption: a right to buy property before it is offered to others. The neighbour claimed a right of pre-emption when the land was sold to an outsider.
• Proviso: a clause beginning “Provided that” that qualifies or excepts from the main provision. The proviso to the section allows the court to extend the time.
• Prosecutor: the lawyer who conducts the case for the State. The Public Prosecutor opposed the bail application.
• Prosecution: the conduct of criminal proceedings against a person; also the side that does it. The prosecution failed to prove the motive.
• Procedure: the method of conducting a case. Article 21 requires a procedure that is fair, just and reasonable.
• Presumption: an inference a court draws until it is disproved. There is a presumption of innocence in favour of every accused.
• Punishment: a penalty imposed for an offence. Community service has been added as a punishment under the BNS.

3. R and S

• Right: a legally protected interest. The right to vote is a statutory right.
• Remedy: the means of enforcing a right. Damages are the usual remedy for breach of contract.
• Remand: sending an accused back to custody, or a case back to a lower court. The magistrate remanded the accused to police custody for seven days.
• Redemption: getting back mortgaged property by repaying the loan. The mortgagor paid the dues and sued for redemption.
• Respondent: the party against whom a petition or appeal is filed. The respondent State filed its counter-affidavit.
• Regulation / Rule: subordinate law made under a statute. The University framed rules for attendance.
• Sentence: the punishment awarded after conviction. Gandhi received a sentence of six years’ simple imprisonment.
• Settlement: an agreed end to a dispute; also a deed settling property. The parties reached a settlement in the Lok Adalat.
• Statute: an Act of the legislature. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita is the statute that replaced the IPC.
• Summon (verb): to order a person to come to court. The court summoned the bank manager as a witness.
• Summons (noun): the written order to appear. A summons was served on the defendant.
• Surety: a person who undertakes responsibility for another’s debt or appearance. His uncle stood surety for his bail.

4. T to W

• Title: legal ownership of property. The buyer checked the seller’s title deeds before paying.
• Transfer: passing property or a right from one person to another. A gift is a transfer without consideration.
• Tort: a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, remedied by damages. Defamation is both a crime and a tort.
• Trespass: unlawful entry on another’s land or interference with person or goods. He was sued for trespass for grazing cattle in his neighbour’s field.
• Trial: the judicial examination of a case. The trial lasted three years.
• Vicarious (liability): liability for another’s wrong. A master is vicariously liable for torts committed by his servant in the course of employment.
• Verdict: the finding of a jury or court on the facts. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
• Void: having no legal effect from the start. An agreement to commit a crime is void.
• Voidable: valid until set aside at the option of one party. A contract induced by fraud is voidable at the option of the deceived party.
• Warrant: a written order of a court authorising arrest or search. The magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest.
• Witness: a person who gives evidence. The eye-witness identified the accused in court.
• Will: a legal declaration of how a person’s property is to pass after death. By his will he left the house to his daughter.

5. Words set from outside the list

• Advocate: a lawyer enrolled with a Bar Council and entitled to practise. Only an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act may argue in the High Court.
• Bona fide: in good faith, genuine. He was a bona fide purchaser who did not know of the earlier sale.
• Court, Lawyer, Respondent: see the list above and the previous note.

How this is examined

From this half: lawyer, respondent (January 2026); advocate, counsel, juvenile, notification, proviso, statute, verdict, will (January 2026, 100); court, trespass (June 2025); liability, transfer, issue (June 2025, 100). Five or eight sentences, one mark each.