In the practice of law, a code is an organized compilation of existing laws. It is a collection of all the laws in force, including the enacted laws and case law, covering a complete legal system or a specific area. A code can make the...
criminal law
codefendant
A codefendant is one of multiple defendants jointly sued in the same civil action or formally accused of committing the same crime. For instance, if A sues B and C, B and C are codefendants.
If a defendant sues a different...
codified
To be codified is to be defined or otherwise included in a legislative statute. It is sometimes used in a wider sense to refer to principles that can be found not just in statutes, but also in constitutions, administrative rules, and other...
collateral estoppel
Collateral estoppel is an important doctrine in the fields of criminal law and civil procedure.
In criminal law, collateral estoppel protects criminal defendants from being tried for the same issue in more than one criminal...
collateral order doctrine
The collateral order doctrine is an exception to the general rule against allowing interlocutory appeals (appeals on a temporary order issued during the course of litigation). This doctrine traces its origins to the case Cohen v. Beneficial...
color
Color, in a legal sense, refers to the appearance of a thing, as distinguished from the thing itself.
For example, the color of law refers to the appearance of legal authority or an apparently legal right, and is often used to...color of law
Color of law refers to the appearance of legal authority or an apparently legal right that may not exist. The term is often used to describe the abuse of power under the guise of state authority, and is therefore illegal. The term was used in...
color of office
Color of office refers to a person acting as if they are in an official capacity as an employee of a governmental unit, but taking action that is not authorized. In other words, an office holder acts under the color of office when they take...
colorable claim
A colorable claim is a plausible legal claim. This means that the claim is “strong enough” to have a reasonable chance of being valid if the legal basis is generally correct and the facts can be proven in court. Note that the claim need not...
command responsibility
Command responsibility is a jurisprudential doctrine in international criminal law permitting the prosecution of military commanders for war crimes perpetrated by their subordinates. The first legal implementations of command responsibility...