Concepts that apply broadly; check your own jurisdiction.
In legal writing, something that exists only because the law created it. Courts often call a corporation a “creature of the state” or an agency a “creature of statute,” meaning it has only the powers that the law creating it gives it. For example, a federal agency can act only within the authority Congress granted.
An item of personal property, meaning property other than land and buildings. Cars, furniture, livestock and equipment are chattels. Under UCC Article 9, a security interest in chattels is called a security interest in goods, and “chattel paper” is a record showing both a debt and a security interest in specific goods.
The legal relationship created when a surety agrees to be responsible for another person’s obligation to a creditor. It involves three parties: the principal obligor, the creditor and the surety. The Restatement (Third) of Suretyship and Guaranty describes the rules, including the surety’s right to be repaid by the principal obligor. A promise to answer for another’s debt usually must be in writing under the statute of frauds.
A person who promises to answer for another person’s debt or obligation if that person does not perform. A co-signer on a loan and a bonding company that issues a bail or performance bond are common examples. Under UCC § 3-419, a person who signs a negotiable instrument to help another party get credit is an accommodation party with liability similar to a surety’s.
The body of rules a church makes to govern its own organization, clergy, sacraments and members. The best-known example is the Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, issued in 1983. Canon law binds members within the church, but civil courts in the United States do not enforce it as law, and the First Amendment generally keeps them from deciding church doctrine.
A rule or principle. In law, the word usually refers to the canons of construction, the rules courts use to interpret statutes and contracts, such as reading words in context. It also refers to rules of professional or judicial ethics, such as the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, and to the rules of a church.
In most courts, a trustee who is not a lawyer cannot represent a trust in a lawsuit. The main exception arises when the trustee is the only person with any interest in the trust, such as a sole settlor who is also the sole trustee and sole beneficiary.
A trust can protect property in some ways but not others. It can avoid probate and keep a family’s affairs private. Protection from creditors, however, depends on who the beneficiary is, what the trust says and when the property was transferred.
A common law trust is a trust created under the general principles of trust law rather than under a special statute. Most private trusts are both common law trusts and unincorporated. Neither label changes the trust code, tax rules or creditor rules that apply.
A revocable trust can be changed or canceled by the settlor during life. An irrevocable trust generally cannot. That one difference changes who controls the property, how it is taxed and whether creditors can reach it.
Looking for a state's court rules instead? See procedures for all 50 states and D.C.