Archives: Glossary

Any being or entity the law recognizes as having rights and duties. It includes human beings and entities such as corporations. Compare natural person and legal personality.

A corporation made up of a single office and the successive people who hold it, used for example by some religious officials to hold property for the office rather than for themselves.

A single human being. Statutes often use “individual” to mean a human being, as distinguished from an organization. For example, under 1 U.S.C. § 1, unless the context indicates otherwise, the word “person” in federal statutes includes corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies and joint stock companies, as well as individuals — so an individual is one kind of person, and corporations and other organizations are other kinds. Many statutes define “individual” or “person” for their own purposes.

A member of a nation or state who owes it allegiance and is entitled to its protection. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and of the state where they reside.

An organization that the law treats as separate from its members or owners, such as a corporation, limited liability company or partnership. Whether an entity has its own legal personality depends on the law that creates or governs it.

Latin for “you have the body.” A court order, or writ, requiring that a person held in custody be brought before the court so it can decide whether the detention is lawful. The U.S. Constitution provides that the privilege of the writ shall not be suspended unless, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it (art. I, § 9).

The ability the law recognizes for a person to take legal action, such as making a contract, suing or being sued. Minors and people under guardianship may have limited capacity. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(b) explains how capacity to sue or be sued is decided in federal court.

The official chronological publication of every law and concurrent resolution enacted by Congress, arranged by the order of enactment and cited by volume and page, such as 48 Stat. 112.

The compilation of the general and permanent laws of the United States, arranged by subject into titles and prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives.

For the United States Code, a title that Congress has enacted as law itself. Under 1 U.S.C. § 204, the text of a positive-law title is legal evidence of the law, while the other titles are prima facie evidence of the law.