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To help you understand some of the legal language, you will find this legal glossary useful. We include English and Latin terms that are in common use in law. Just click on the word or expression to find the definition:
| BATTERED WOMAN'S SYNDROME (BWS) |
| A condition characterized by a history of repetitive spousal abuse and learned helplessness — or the subjective inability to leave an abusive situation. BWS has been defined by California courts as "a series of common characteristics that appear in women who are abused physically and psychologically over an extended period of time by the dominant male figure in their lives; a pattern of psychological symptoms that develop after somebody has lived in a battering relationship; or a pattern of responses and perceptions presumed to be characteristic of women who have been subjected to continuous physical abuse by their mates[s]." |
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| BATTERY |
| Unlawful physical violence inflicted upon another without his or her consent; 2. an intentional and offensive touching or wrongful physical contact with another without consent, that results in some injury or offends or causes discomfort. |
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| BESTIALITY |
| sexual relations with animals. |
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| BIGAMY |
| the crime of marrying one person while still legally married to another person. |
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| BODILY INJURY |
| In general usage the term refers to physical harm to a human being. In cases of assault and battery, however, the term refers to the unlawful application of physical force upon the person of the victim -- even when no actual physical harm results. |
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| BLACKMAIL |
| A form of extortion in which a threat is made to disclose a crime or other social disgrace. |
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| BREACH OF PEACE |
| Any unlawful activity that unreasonably disturbs the peace and tranquillity of the community. Also, "an act calculated to disturb the public peace" |
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| BRIBERY |
| "The offense of giving or receiving a gift or reward intended to influence a person in the exercise of a judicial or public duty." |
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| BUGGERY |
| A term which has generally been understood to mean anal intercourse. |
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| BURDEN OF PROOF |
| The mandate, operative in American criminal courts, that an accused person is assumed innocent until proven guilty, and which tasks the prosecution with proving the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. |
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| BURGLARY |
| The breaking and entering of a building, locked automobile, boat, etc. with the intent to commit a felony or theft. Also, the entering of a structure for the purposes of committing a felony or theft offense. |
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| BUT-FOR RULE |
| A method for determining causality which holds that "without this, that would not be," or "but for the conduct of the accused, the harm in question would not have occurred." capital murder. |
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