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Terminology used by courts usually is based on carefully crafted
legal definitions. What may appear as common usage and meaning may be
far from the legal application because of specific legal requirements.
The primary sources for these requirements, when determining an accurate
legal definition, are:
- Statutory Legal Definitions - Most large bodies of
legislation and acts contain a list of defined terms for use in the
application of new laws. In bankruptcy cases, these terms appear in
Section 101 of the Code. The actual legal definition is subject to
clarification, and may also included expansions, restrictions and
modification of the clear meaning either through legislative
amendments or case opions.
- Amended Legal Definitions - merely because a statute
appears in the United States Code, or Revised Civil Statutes enacted
by states, frequent amendments alter legal definitions. The amended
definition rarely appears in the actual text, but is included within
periodic supplements which should be included in the back of each
volume. Merely checking the main text of statutes is clearly
negligent, and must also include verification of supplements for the
existence or nonexistence of amendments.
- Case Law Legal Definitions - In the process of rendering
appellate decisions, courts frequently clarify conflicts of laws,
resolve novel legal issues, and expand factual situations in which
existing laws apply. Judicial opions are the third primary source for
the creation of legal definitions, tests, and factors ruling
applications of definitions, which in turn, become attached to legal
definitions in usage.
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