General (not jurisdiction-specific)

Not public; belonging to or concerning individuals or private organizations rather than the government. Private law governs relationships between individuals and entities, such as contracts, property and torts. A private right of action exists when a statute allows private persons — not just the government — to sue to enforce it; many statutes do not create one.

A legally protected interest or entitlement — something the law allows a person to have or do, and that others must respect. Rights come from constitutions, statutes, contracts and the common law. A right is traditionally distinguished from a privilege, a permission the government may grant or withhold; but modern due process law does not turn on that label — once the state grants a benefit such as a driver’s license, it cannot take it away without procedural due process (Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535 (1971)).

An advantage, gain or payment. A beneficiary is the person entitled to the benefit of a trust, insurance policy or will. In contract damages, the “benefit of the bargain” is what the injured party would have received if the contract had been performed. Government benefits include payments such as Social Security.

The person named in a will to administer the deceased person’s estate — collecting assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing property to beneficiaries — once appointed by the probate court. Many states use the broader term personal representative, which also covers an administrator appointed when there is no will.

Has several meanings. A decedent’s estate is all the property and debts a person leaves at death, administered in probate. An estate in land is an interest in real property, such as a fee simple or a life estate. In bankruptcy, the estate is created when the case begins and generally includes all of the debtor’s legal and equitable interests in property (11 U.S.C. § 541(a)).

The ending of a trust when the same person becomes the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary, so that legal and equitable title are held by one person; a trust generally requires a separation of the two. The term is also used for combining two or more trusts into one, which the Uniform Trust Code allows after notice to the qualified beneficiaries if the result does not impair any beneficiary’s rights or adversely affect achievement of the trusts’ purposes (Uniform Trust Code § 417), in states that have adopted it.

Has several meanings. In corporate law, a merger combines two or more entities into one surviving entity under state statutes. In contract and property law, a merger (or integration) clause states that the written agreement is the parties’ complete agreement, and the terms of a real estate purchase contract generally merge into the deed at closing. In procedure, a claim merges into the judgment entered on it. In trust law, when one person becomes the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary, the legal and beneficial interests merge and the trust generally ends. Uniform Trust Code § 402(a)(5) reflects this by requiring that the same person not be the sole trustee and sole beneficiary.

Has several meanings. Most often it means ownership of property and the legal right to it, along with the documents that show it — for real estate, the recorded deeds in the chain of title; for vehicles, a state certificate of title. It also means a major division of a code, such as Title 28 of the U.S. Code, and the name of a document or position.

To transfer title to, or an interest in, property — usually real estate — from one person to another, typically by a deed. The transfer is called a conveyance.

Any way of disposing of or parting with property or an interest in property, such as a sale, gift, assignment or lien. The Bankruptcy Code defines “transfer” broadly to include the creation of a lien and each mode, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing of or parting with property or an interest in property (11 U.S.C. § 101(54)).