Dictionary of Legal Terms by Gifis Steven H.;

Author:Gifis, Steven H.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2015-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

M

MACHINATION that which is devised; a device; a hostile or treacherous scheme; an artful design or plot.

MACRS see depreciation [MODIFIED ACCELERATED COST RECOVERY SYSTEM].

MAFIA see organized crime.

MAGISTRATE l. a public civil officer, invested with some part of the legislative, executive or judicial power. 2. In a narrower sense, the term includes only inferior judicial officers, such as justices of the peace.

UNITED STATES [FEDERAL] MAGISTRATE appointed by U.S. District Court judges, magistrates have powers that include the ability to hear and determine specified pretrial motions pending before a district court, to conduct hearings, including evidentiary hearings, and to submit proposed findings of facts and recommendations for disposition.

MAGNA CARTA [MAGNA CHARTA] the “great charter” to which King John gave his assent in 1215, and that is considered the fundamental guarantee of rights and privileges under English law.

MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY ACT federal statute requiring warranties for consumer products to be written in easily understood language and providing the Federal Trade Commission with better means of protecting consumers.

MAIL BOX RULE a rule that an acceptance made in response to an offer is valid and forms a binding contract at the time of dispatch of the acceptance, as when it is placed in the mailbox, if that method of accepting is a reasonable response to the offer.

MAIM at common law, to deprive a person of such a part of his or her body as to render that person less able to fight or defend himself or herself than that person would otherwise have been. See mayhem.

MAIN PURPOSE RULE see statute of frauds.

MAINTAIN to continue, to support, to sustain; to hold or keep in any particular state or condition; in terms of “maintaining” a nuisance, includes both knowledge of the nuisance and preserving and continuing its existence by some positive act or by acquiescence.

MAINTENANCE see criminal maintenance.

MAJORITY, AGE OF the age when a person is considered legally responsible for all his or her activities and becomes entitled to the legal rights held by citizens generally.

MAJORITY OPINION see opinion.

MAKER in commercial law, one who executes a note, or indorses it before its delivery to the payee, and who thereby assumes an absolute obligation to make payment on the note.

EXAMPLE: Before a supplier ships any goods to Creative Bottle Company, the supplier requires the company to sign a promissory note explaining payment terms and dates and also obliging Creative Bottle to meet those terms. Creative Bottle is the maker of the note since it is the one who has to make the payments.

MALA IN SE see malum in se.

MALA PROHIBITA see malum prohibitum.

MALFEASANCE the doing of an illegal and unlawful act; wrongdoing, especially a violation of the public trust by a public official.

EXAMPLE: Franz hopes to get re-elected and accepts a bribe to fund his campaign from the Widgets Corporation in exchange for the promise of providing them future government contracts. Franz has committed malfeasance.

Compare misfeasance; nonfeasance.

MALICE the state of mind that accompanies the intentional doing of a wrongful act without justification and in wanton or willful disregard of the plain likelihood that harm will result.

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