Abatement: a diminishment, a reduction

Abrogate: to cancel, destroy, revoke or void

Abscond: to vanish, to travel covertly out of the court's jurisdiction

Abstention: a legal policy whereby one court declines to exercise its jurisdiction and defer to a different court

Abuse of Discretion: a standard applied by appellate courts in reviewing the exercise of discretion by trial courts, administrative agencies and other entities

Abuse of Process: the improper use of the legal process

Acceleration: to speed up, to hasten

Accord: agreement

Accrue: to accumulate, to collect, to come into existence, as to a right or cause of action, to come into existence as an enforceable legal claim

Action (At Law): a legal right whereby one party prosecutes another for a wrong

Actionable: giving rise to a cause of action

Actionable Tort: the failure to perform a legal duty created by statute or common law owed by one party to another which such failure results in injury

Act of God: forces of nature which are impossible to predict

Actual Damages: losses which are proven to have incurred as a result of the wrongful act of another

Ad Damnum: (lat.) the amount of damages demanded normally in the context of a lawsuit

Additur: an increase by the court in the amount of damages awarded by the jury

Adjourn: to suspend; to delay a court proceeding through recess

Adjudication: a determination of the controversy and a pronouncement of a judgment based on evidence presented

Ad Litem: (lat.) for the lawsuit

Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction: jurisdiction over actions related to events occurring on navigable waters

Admission: voluntary acknowledgment that certain facts do exist or are true

Alienation of Affections: a tort based upon willful, malicious or intentional interference of a marriage relation by a third party

Alter Ego: (lat.) the other self. Under this legal doctrine, the law will disregard the personal liability an individual has as a result of the existence a corporate entity and will regard an act as the act of the individual rather than solely the act of the corporation

American Bar Association (A.B.A.): a national organization of lawyers and law students

Amicus Curiae: (lat.) a friend of the court

Annotation: citing a particular case of statute

Annuity: a contract that provides for the payment of a fixed sum usually over a period of time, and often utilized to fund a structured settlement

Annul: to make void, to do away with

Answer: the court papers filed on behalf of the defendant in response to plaintiff's complaint