9,901 articles
Miscarriage of justice
Miscarriage of justice: an unjust or improper judicial outcome, chiefly wrongful conviction of the innocent. Key causes include eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, and flawed forensic evidence; remedies span CCRC review and compensation schemes.
Misdemeanor
Misdemeanor: a criminal offense less serious than a felony, typically punishable by under 12 months in jail. About ten million US misdemeanor cases are filed yearly, vastly outnumbering felonies, with major collateral consequences.
Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation is a false or misleading statement, or a material omission that misleads, made to induce reliance; it can make a contract voidable and may ground rescission or damages.
Missile Technology Control Regime
The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal, non-treaty export control arrangement founded by the G-7 in 1987 to restrict missiles and UAVs capable of delivering WMD; it has 35 Partners, Category I/II annex lists, and a strong presumption to deny Category I transfers.
Mississippi State Penitentiary
Mississippi State Penitentiary, also called Parchman or Parchman Farm, is Mississippi's oldest prison, opened in 1901 on about 18,000 acres in Sunflower County; it houses death row, hosts executions, and was the subject of the Gates v. Collier litigation and 2022 DOJ findings.
Missives of sale
Missives of sale are the exchange of formal letters between buyer's and seller's solicitors that form the binding contract for property sale in Scots law, concluded by a final unqualified acceptance, usually using the Scottish Standard Clauses, with no deposit typically paid.
Missouri Compromise
Missouri Compromise, 1820 US federal law: admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, banned slavery north of 36°30' in the Louisiana Territory; repealed 1854, voided by Dred Scott 1857.
Missouri Executive Order 44
Missouri Executive Order 44, the 1838 Mormon Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn Boggs, ordered Latter-day Saints exterminated or expelled from Missouri; rescinded by Governor Christopher Bond on June 25, 1976.
Missouri Plan
The Missouri Plan, or Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, adopted by initiative in November 1940, is a merit-based judicial selection method: a nonpartisan commission nominates three candidates, the governor appoints one, and voters later retain or reject the judge.
Mistake (contract law)
Mistake in contract law is an erroneous belief of fact or law at contract formation that may void or voidable a contract. Covers common, mutual, and unilateral mistake, Bell v Lever Bros, Solle v Butcher, Great Peace, Restatement rules, and UNIDROIT Principles.
Mitsero murders
The Mitsero murders were seven killings of migrant women and two children by Cypriot National Guard captain Nicos Metaxas (alias Orestes35) between 2016 and 2018, uncovered in April 2019 near Mitsero, Cyprus's first serial killer case.
Mock execution
Mock execution: simulated killing making a victim believe death is imminent, also called fake or staged execution. A form of psychological torture prohibited under the ICCPR and UN human rights findings, documented in Iraq and Iran cases.
Mock trial
Mock trial: simulated courtroom exercise in which students play attorneys, witnesses, and judges. Distinct from appellate moot court; spans 14th-century origins, NHSMTC and AMTA competitions, and professional training.
Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC), formally the Model Penal and Correctional Code, is a 1962 American Law Institute model criminal code drafted under Herbert Wechsler; 37 states adopted parts of it, and its mens rea and attempt doctrines shaped U.S. criminal law.
Modern treaty-making in Canada
Modern treaty-making in Canada is the negotiation of Indigenous land claims through comprehensive agreements, a policy begun in 1973 with the first treaty signed in 1975.
Modification and termination of child support
Modification and termination of child cover the legal procedures for changing or ending a child support order, which courts vary only when circumstances have materially changed since the original order.
Modus vivendi (diplomacy)
Modus vivendi (plural modi vivendi), in diplomacy, a temporary or provisional international agreement meant to be replaced by a more permanent arrangement; usually informal, never requiring ratification, as in the 1905 Dominican and 1941 US-Japan cases.
Moe Greene
Moe Greene is the fictional Jewish mobster and Las Vegas casino owner in The Godfather, played by Alex Rocco, modeled on Bugsy Siegel and killed by a shot through the eye, the "Moe Greene Special."
Moe incest case
The Moe incest case is an Australian criminal case from Moe, Victoria, in which a man was sentenced in 2010 to over 22 years in prison for decades of incest against his daughter.
Moge v Moge
Moge v Moge is a 1992 Supreme Court of Canada decision by Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé that rejected the self-sufficiency model and adopted compensatory spousal support under the 1985 Divorce Act.
Mohamed Amra
Mohamed Amra, alias "La Mouche" (The Fly), born 1994 in Rouen, is a French drug trafficker freed by an armed commando at the Incarville toll booth on May 14, 2024, in an attack killing two prison officers, then recaptured in Bucharest in February 2025 and held in France's high-security prisons.
Mohammad Hidayatullah (محمد ہدایت اللہ)
Mohammad Hidayatullah (محمد ہدایت اللہ), 11th Chief Justice of India (1968–70) and sixth Vice President (1979–84), twice acting President; the only person to hold all three offices.
Mohammed Bedjaoui
Mohammed Bedjaoui (born 1929) is an Algerian jurist, diplomat, and ICJ judge and president. Distinguished from namesakes by his ILC special rapporteurship on state succession (1967-1981), the 1983 Vienna Convention, and his 1979 New International Economic Order scholarship.
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (شاہ بانو بیگم)
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (شاہ بانو بیگم), 1985 Indian Supreme Court case holding Section 125 CrPC maintenance applies to divorced Muslim women beyond iddat; led to the 1986 Muslim Women Act.
Moisés Vieites
Moisés Vieites was a Cuban lawyer and judicial writer of Havana who worked on penal-law reform and was nominated for the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize.
Money laundering
Money laundering conceals the criminal origin of proceeds through placement, layering, and integration. Also called AML's target offense; governed by FATF standards since 1989; estimated at 2-5% of global GDP.
Mongolia–Russia border agreements
The Mongolia–Russia border agreements are the treaties settling Mongolia's northern border, anchored by the 1915 Treaty of Kyakhta and the 1994 and 1996 trilateral protocols fixing the trijunctions with China.
Mongolian Constitution of 1924
The Mongolian Constitution of 1924 is generally regarded as Mongolia's first codified constitution, adopted on 26 November 1924 to establish the Mongolian People's Republic and begin nearly seven decades of socialist rule.
Mongolian Constitution of 1960
The Mongolian Constitution of 1960 was the fundamental law of the Mongolian People's Republic, its third constitution, proclaiming the attainment of socialism and serving until replaced in 1992.
Mongols Motorcycle Club
Mongols Motorcycle Club (Mongol Nation, Mongols MC), founded December 5, 1969 in Montebello, California, is a predominantly Hispanic 1% outlaw motorcycle club, rival of the Hells Angels, subject of RICO prosecutions and a trademark forfeiture case.