General (not jurisdiction-specific)

A person who is not licensed to practice law. A non-lawyer may represent himself or herself in court; in federal court, parties may plead and conduct their own cases personally (28 U.S.C. § 1654). A non-lawyer generally may not represent another person, and a corporation may appear in federal court only through licensed counsel (Rowland v. California Men’s Colony, 506 U.S. 194 (1993)). Some states license certain non-lawyer legal professionals to provide limited services, such as Utah’s licensed paralegal practitioners and Arizona’s legal paraprofessionals.

A person trained in the law and licensed by a state’s highest court or bar to practice law. In U.S. usage, “lawyer” and “attorney” mean the same thing. Lawyers’ conduct is governed by each state’s rules of professional conduct, most of which are based on the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

A self-propelled passenger vehicle designed for travel on roads. In law, an automobile is one kind of motor vehicle. Most statutes use the broader term “motor vehicle” and define it for their own purposes, so read the definition section of the law you are applying.

A formal statement opposing a question, an item of evidence, a discovery request or a ruling, together with the reason. At trial, a party preserves a claim of error about admitted evidence by making a timely objection or motion to strike on the record and stating the specific ground, unless it is apparent from the context (Fed. R. Evid. 103(a)(1)). Discovery responses must state objections with specificity (Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(4), 34(b)(2)(B)–(C)).

A term each statute defines for its own purposes, generally covering self-propelled vehicles used on roads, including automobiles, trucks, buses and motorcycles. For example, California defines a motor vehicle as a vehicle that is self-propelled (Cal. Veh. Code § 415(a)), and Texas defines it as a self-propelled vehicle or one powered by overhead trolley wires (Tex. Transp. Code § 541.201(11)). A narrower federal definition in 18 U.S.C. § 31, which refers to vehicles “used for commercial purposes,” applies only to the federal criminal provisions in that chapter. It does not control state traffic, registration or licensing laws. We have not found a court decision holding that driver licensing laws do not reach a car used only for personal, non-commercial travel; courts that have addressed the argument, such as State v. Hershberger, 27 Kan. App. 2d 485, 5 P.3d 1004 (2000), ruled the other way.

The judge’s ruling agreeing with an objection. When an objection to a question is sustained, the witness does not answer it; when an objection to evidence is sustained, the evidence is excluded or, if already heard, may be stricken.

Permission from a government authority to do something that would otherwise be unlawful, such as driving on public roads, practicing law or operating certain businesses. The Supreme Court has upheld state laws requiring motor vehicles to be registered and drivers to be licensed (Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U.S. 610 (1915)). In property law, a license is a personal, usually revocable permission to enter or use another’s land, and in intellectual property it is permission to use a patent, copyright or trademark.

Has two meanings. First, the judge’s ruling rejecting an objection, so the question may be answered or the evidence admitted. Second, a precedent is overruled when a court with authority to do so decides that the earlier decision is no longer good law.

Replaced by something later that takes its place. A statute, rule or regulation is superseded when a later enactment replaces it, and a court decision may be “superseded by statute.” In civil cases, an amended pleading generally supersedes the original, so the amended version becomes the operative pleading.

A contract in which a buyer purchases goods — most often a motor vehicle — and agrees to pay the price plus a finance charge in installments over time, while the seller, or a finance company or bank it assigns the contract to, keeps a security interest in the goods until they are paid for. These contracts are regulated by state retail installment sales laws, such as Texas Finance Code chapter 348 and California’s Automobile Sales Finance Act (Civ. Code § 2981 and following), and the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z require disclosure of terms such as the annual percentage rate, finance charge, amount financed and total of payments. The FTC Holder Rule (16 C.F.R. § 433.2) requires consumer credit contracts covered by it to include a notice that preserves the buyer’s claims and defenses against a later holder.