misdemeanour

Definition

A criminal offense that's serious enough to get you in trouble but not quite felony-level career-ruining. Think petty theft, vandalism, or public intoxication rather than grand larceny. In the US, misdemeanants typically serve less than a year in county jail and get to keep their voting rights, unlike their felonious counterparts.

Example Usage

She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of shoplifting and was sentenced to community service and probation.

Source: Legal terminology, criminal law

Related Terms

Beginner

hearsay

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Intermediate

upheld

When a higher court agrees with a lower court's decision, essentially saying "yeah, they got it right the first time" and dashing the hopes of whoever appealed. It's the judicial equivalent of your boss backing up your manager's decision after you complained to HR. Once upheld, the original ruling stands and everyone moves on (whether they like it or not).

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Intermediate

soft cell

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Intermediate

appellate

The fancy adjective describing courts that exist solely to tell lower courts whether they screwed up or not. Appellate courts don't retry cases or hear new evidence—they just review what happened below and decide if the law was applied correctly. It's basically the legal system's quality control department.

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Advanced

blue sky laws

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Intermediate

stare decisis

The legal doctrine requiring courts to follow precedents set by previous decisions, Latin for 'to stand by things decided.' It's why lawyers obsessively cite old cases and why bad precedents haunt us for generations.

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