780 articles
Entitlement to spousal maintenance
Entitlement to spousal maintenance is the threshold legal question of whether one spouse must support the other, decided by need, ability to pay, and statutory grounds.
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Environmental Protection Act 1990 (1990 c. 43), UK statute consolidating pollution control, waste duty of care (ss. 33-34), statutory nuisance abatement notices (Part III), and litter duties (Part IV), still in force and amended.
Erie railroad and federal general common law in tort
Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins is a 1938 Supreme Court decision holding there is no federal general common law, so diversity courts must apply state law.
Escrow
Escrow is a financial arrangement in which a neutral third party holds money or assets for two transacting parties and releases them once agreed contract conditions are satisfied.
Estate (land)
An estate in land is a legal interest in real property defining the holder's rights; in common law, a person holds an estate rather than owning land outright.
Estate (law)
Estate (law): in common law property, an interest in land defined by duration rather than ownership, covering fee simple absolute, life estates, defeasible fees, leaseholds, and future interests, distinguishing common law estates from civil law ownership.
Estate of Jeffrey Epstein
Estate of Jeffrey Epstein, including the 1953 Trust: probate estate of the financier who died August 10, 2019, administered in USVI Superior Court by executors Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, which paid about $121 million to roughly 150 abuse survivors and settled with the Virgin Islands for $105 million.
Estate of Michael Jackson
Estate of Michael Jackson: probate estate of the singer (d. 2009), run by executors John Branca and John McClain under his 2002 will; assets include Mijac Music and masters; sold Sony/ATV stake for $750M in 2016 and half his catalog to Sony for ~$600M in 2024.
Estate planning
Estate planning is arranging a person's affairs through wills, trusts, and powers of attorney so assets are managed and distributed as wished at death or incapacity.
Estate sale
Estate sale (tag sale, estate liquidation): a public sale of most or all of a home's contents, typically after death, downsizing, divorce, or debt, run over 1-3 days by professional liquidators charging 25-40% commission.
Estate tax in the United States
Estate tax in the United States, also called the death tax, is a federal transfer tax on property at death under Form 706, unified with the gift tax. The 2026 exemption is $15 million per person ($30 million married) under the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with rates from 18% to 40%.
Estoppel
Estoppel is an equitable doctrine barring a party from contradicting prior statements, conduct, or established facts. Covers promissory, proprietary, judicial, and issue estoppel, with divergent shield-versus-sword rules in England, Australia, and the United States.
EU AI Liability Directive
The EU AI Liability Directive (AILD) was a proposed EU directive, presented in 2022, that would have eased civil claims for AI-caused damage; it was withdrawn in 2025.
European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law
European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL), Europäisches Zentrum für Schadenersatz- und Versicherungsrecht, a non-profit research association founded 1999 in Vienna; institutional home of the European Group on Tort Law and its Principles of European Tort Law.
European civil code
European civil code: proposed unified EU private-law codification, also pursued via the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) and the withdrawn Common European Sales Law; never enacted for lack of EU legislative competence.
European Group on Tort Law
European Group on Tort Law (Tilburg Group): scholarly association founded 1992/1993 by Jaap Spier that drafted the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL), published 2005 with Springer, and is revising them with Vienna-based ECTIL.
European tort law
European tort law: the national tort and delict systems of Europe (France, Germany, England as core models), EU harmonised rules such as the 1985/2024 Product Liability Directive, and academic harmonisation projects like the Principles of European Tort Law.
Eviction
Eviction is the legal removal of a renter from a home via court process; also called forced eviction in human rights law. Covers procedure stages, Article 8 ECHR proportionality review, US and Global South patterns, and consequences.
Ex gratia
Ex gratia (Latin, "as a favour"): voluntary payments made without admission of legal liability or obligation, used by governments for maladministration redress, disaster and conflict relief, and in charity, insurance, and employment settlements.
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio is a common law maxim barring claims founded on a claimant's own illegal or immoral conduct. Classic statement by Lord Mansfield in Holman v Johnson (1775); modern approach set out in Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42.
Executor
Executor: a person named in a will and confirmed by a probate court to settle a deceased person's estate, collecting assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing property; distinct from a court-appointed administrator.
Failure of consideration
Failure of consideration, or failure of basis, is a legal concept in contract law where a valid contract becomes unenforceable because the consideration is no longer valuable.
False imprisonment
False imprisonment, also known as unlawful detention or wrongful confinement, is the intentional confinement of a person without consent or legal authority, recognized as both a crime and a tort.
Family Code of Russia
The Family Code of Russia, adopted as Law No. 223-FZ in December 1995, is the federal statute governing marriage, divorce, property, alimony, and child placement, in force since 1996.
Family Code of Ukraine (Сімейний кодекс України)
The Family Code of Ukraine (Сімейний кодекс України) is the statute, adopted in January 2002, that governs marriage, divorce, parental rights, adoption, and alimony in Ukraine.
Family court
Family court: specialized courts hearing divorce, custody, support, adoption, and domestic violence matters. Origins in US juvenile (Chicago 1899) and domestic relations courts (1910); models include integrated family courts and England and Wales's FPR 2010 system.
Family Court (England and Wales)
The Family Court is the single court that hears family proceedings in England and Wales, created on 22 April 2014 under the Crime and Courts Act 2013.
Family Court of Australia
Family Court of Australia: federal superior court established 1975 for complex family law trials and appeals; since 1 September 2021 continued as Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1) with 35 specialist judges.
Family Law Act (Ontario)
Family Law Act (Ontario), R.S.O. 1990, c. F.3, is the provincial statute governing family property equalization, the matrimonial home, support obligations, and domestic contracts for married and some common-law couples in Ontario, enacted in 1986.
Family Law Act 1975
The Family Law Act 1975 is an Australian law governing divorce and family disputes, known for introducing no-fault divorce and creating the Family Court of Australia.