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Law Dictionary & Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Ed. • The Law Dictionary Ask a Legal Question Submit Article Law Dictionary My Account FAQ Contact Us Support Site Search Login or Sign up The Law Dictionary Search The Law Dictionary Search Home Law Forum Law Guide Law Journal Lawyers Legal Forms & Files Inbox Alerts Law Dictionary & Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Ed. The Law Dictionary by TheLaw.com includes over 23,000 legal terms, abbreviations and maxims written by our staff and includes definitions from Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition. You can browse our online dictionary, add a definition, or download the law dictionary app for the iPhone and iPad in the App Store or download the law dictionary app for Android devices at Google Play . Please let us know if you would like to add a definition or believe that a correction should be made in our growing legal resource! Search New Legal Definitions SCURRILOUS The making or spreading of defamatory statements about another person, typically of a scandalous, vulgar and denigrating nature, with the intention of damaging the victim’s reputation. Slanderous of defamatory statements that are intended to be malicious in nature. COURT FEE A fee (such as a “ filing fee “) which may be imposed upon a litigant in order begin a lawsuit or start a legal dispute resolution case. The fee may represent covering administrative costs. In India this can refer to stamps that may be attached to court documents which instruct the payment of fees. It may also refer to collections matters. See also “ Court Costs “. NOSCITUR A SOCIIS Latin meaning literally “it is known from its associates.” A word whose meaning is uncertain, questionable or doubtful can be understood and defined by its association with surrounding words and its context. This concept is frequently used in canons of construction or interpreting and understanding the meaning of the words in a legal statute, ordinance or law. Example of Noscitur A Sociis A law required that explosives must be held within a “case or canister.” The matter before the court involved a defendant who used a bag made of cloth. By reading words that appear around the statute and from a discussion of the matter by legislature, it became clear that the intent of legislature was that the container for carrying should be at least as strong the canister. See Foster v Diphwys Casson (1887) 18 QBD 428. ACTUAL MALICE The “actual malice” defines the level of proof needed to establish a libel case for defamatory statements made regarding public figures or public officials. Actual Malice requires intent or reckless disregard for the truth – “knowledge that the information was false” or published “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” Reckless disregard for the truth requires more than negligence and failure to follow up with generally acceptable reporting standards. It also requires a belief that the statements made were reasonably false. The actual malice standard is most well known from its use in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan , 376 U.S. 254 (1964), where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public officials who sued a defendant for making defamatory statements needed to prove that the defendants made them with actual malice in order to succeed in a libel lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court gave this case Constitutional importance by highlighting the extent of First Amendment rights of free speech and the power of the press. Excerpt from New York Times v. Sullivan We are required in this case to determine for the first time the extent to which the constitutional protections for speech and press limit CEILING Generally the upper or top interior surface of a room or area. In contract law a ceiling is usually intended to refer to a highest price or level to occur under an agreement. See also “ floor ” referring to the lowest or bottom price or level of a contractual agreement. CURATIVE ACTION An action taken to cure or fix a legal defect. For example, under the Code of Federal Regulations (25 CFR 150.7 – Curative action to correct title defects) which deals with real estate law. The Land Titles and Records Office can initiate an action to “cure” or fix defects in the record which are discovered during the recording of title documents or examination of titles. See also “ curative “. ZUBULAKE FACTORS The Zubulake Factors are used by a court to determine whether cost shifting is appropriate to shift the burden of costs of compliance with an electronic discovery request from the receiving party to the requesting party. (See Federal Rule 26(b)(2) more specifically.) The factors are the product of a series of decisions in Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC , 216 F.R.D. 280 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) and which are often referred to by number, including specifically Zubulake I, 217 F.R.D. at 322 and Zubulake III, 216 F.R.D. at 284. The extent to which the request is specifically tailored to discover relevant information; The availability of such information from other sources; The total costs of production compared to the amount in controversy; The total costs of production, compared to the resources available to each party; The relative ability of each party to control costs and its incentive to do so; The importance of the issues at stake in the litigation; and The relative benefits to the parties of obtaining the information. The first two factors are also known as the “Marginal Utility Test” which concerns the necessity of requiring the receiving party to provide the requested electronic evidence and whether it may be more easily available via alternatives. The middle three are known as the “cost FEE SHIFTING Shifting fees to be paid by one party to another party. Typically it refers to the action of a court awarding legal costs associated with something from one party to another. For example, a court may award legal costs of the successful party to a lawsuit upon the losing party to the lawsuit (so that the losing party must pay both its own legal costs as well as the attorneys’ fees and costs of the winning party.) S ee also “ cost shifting ” – often used concerning legal issues surrounding electronic evidence and discovery. COST SHIFTING When a court imposes or shifts the costs associated with legal compliance from one party to another. A good example of cost shifting occurs with electronic evidence and electronic discovery compliance. The general presumption under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is that the party responding to a request for electronic discovery will bear the costs of compliance with the request. (A receiving party receives a subpoena to provide e-mails to the requesting party.) However, a court can shift the costs associated with the electronic discovery request from the receiving party to the requesting party if the discovery does not pass the Federal Rule Federal Rule 26(b)(2) proportionality test (which includes the “ Zubulake Factors “). See also “ fee shifting “. CYBERSTALKING Cyberstalking is the use of electronic or online communications technology to stalk, harass or intimidate another person or party. Most frequently it is used in reference to activities on the Internet or via mobile telecommunications networks. Cyberstalking activities may include threats or may just constitute monitoring of another without their knowledge and consent. It may also include defamatory statements or accusations and is frequently a means of a stalker intending to unduly influence, intimidate or control the victim. Cyberstalking is a criminal offense under various state statutes which can include stalking, slander and harassment laws. Some states have specifically enacted Cyberstalking laws, such as Florida 784.048(d) which defines the term as follows: “Cyberstalk” means to engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing...