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Disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct, also called breach of the peace or disturbing the peace, is a misdemeanor covering conduct that disturbs public peace, morals, or safety, varying by jurisdiction and often challenged as vague or overbroad.
Dispute resolution
Dispute resolution is the set of processes by which contending parties settle a disagreement, from court adjudication to out-of-court methods such as mediation, arbitration, and negotiation.
Dissenting opinion
Dissenting opinion: a judge's written disagreement with a court's majority decision, with no legal effect but potential future influence. Traces US Supreme Court practice from seriatim opinions to John Marshall's single-opinion custom and William Johnson's 1805 first dissent.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union (Распад СССР), December 1991 breakup of the USSR into 15 republics via Belavezha Accords, Gorbachev's December 25 resignation, Russian succession to the UN seat, and debt, treaty, and nuclear succession.
Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact ended the Soviet-led military alliance in 1991, with military structures disbanded in February and political organs dissolved in July.
District attorney
District attorney (DA): the chief local prosecutor for a US county or judicial district, also called state's attorney or county attorney. Holds broad charging discretion, is elected in most states, and faces election-year sentencing effects.
District court
U.S. district courts, also called federal district courts, are the 94 primary trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary, created by the Judiciary Act of 1789, hearing nearly all federal civil and criminal cases with appeals to circuit courts.
District courts in Scotland
District courts in Scotland were lay summary criminal courts for minor offenses from 1975 until their abolition under the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007.
District magistrate
District Magistrate (DM), also called District Collector or Deputy Commissioner, is India's senior district executive officer. Created as the Collector in 1772, unified with the magistracy in 1859, it handles law and order, revenue, elections, licensing, and preventive detention.
District of Columbia v. Heller
District of Columbia v. Heller is a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, decided 5-4, that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep a handgun at home for self-defense.
Diversion program
Diversion program: alternative to prosecution or incarceration routing defendants into treatment, education, or community service; includes pretrial, prosecutor-led, police-led (LEAD), mental health, and juvenile diversion, with mixed recidivism evidence and lower case costs.
Diversity jurisdiction
Diversity jurisdiction lets U.S. federal district courts hear civil cases between citizens of different states or countries under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, requiring over $75,000 in controversy and complete diversity, with CAFA 2005 class-action rules.
Dividend
Dividend: a distribution of a corporation's profits to shareholders, typically cash and typically quarterly, declared by the board of directors. Key mechanics: record date, ex-dividend date, types, theories, and US tax treatment.
Divisions of the world in Islam
Divisions of the world in Islam: dār al-Islām (abode of Islam) and dār al-ḥarb (abode of war), with dār al-ʿahd as a third abode of treaty; classical Islamic jurisprudence's territorial classifications, their Hanafi criteria, and modern reinterpretations.
Divorce
Divorce is the court-ordered legal dissolution of a marriage. Key facts: no-fault divorce began in California in 1969, reached all 50 US states by 2010, and England adopted it in 2022.
Divorce Act (Canada)
The Divorce Act (Loi sur le divorce), R.S.C. 1985, c. 3 (2nd Supp.), is Canada's federal divorce statute: sole ground marriage breakdown, one-year habitual-residence jurisdiction, and parenting orders with 60-day relocation notice since March 1, 2021.
Divorce in European civil-law jurisdictions
Divorce in European civil-law jurisdictions is governed by codified family law, with grounds of fault, irretrievable breakdown, acceptance, and mutual consent converging toward divorce by consent.
Divorce in Islam
Divorce in Islam (talaq, khula, faskh) is the dissolution of marriage under Islamic family law: the husband's unilateral talaq, the wife's khula, and judicial faskh, across Sunni and Ja'fari schools and modern state codes from Egypt to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Divorce law
Divorce law is the body of law under which courts dissolve marriages and grant spouses the right to remarry, covering grounds for divorce, waiting periods, property division, and support.
Divorce law in Canada
Divorce law in Canada is governed by the federal Divorce Act, which grants divorce on the ground of marriage breakdown, proved by one year of separation, adultery, or cruelty.
Divorce law in Commonwealth jurisdictions
Divorce law in Commonwealth jurisdictions covers Canada and Australia, whose no-fault regimes grant divorce on the sole ground of marriage breakdown, usually proven by one year of separation.
Divorce law in England and Wales
Divorce law in England and Wales governs how a marriage is legally ended by court. Since April 2022 it has required only a statement of irretrievable breakdown, with no fault.
Divorce law in the United States
Divorce law in the United States is set entirely by state law, with no federal statute; all 50 states offer no-fault divorce, California first in 1969.
Divorce of same-sex couples
Divorce of same-sex couples: legal dissolution of same-sex marriages, also called same-sex divorce. Distinguished by pre-Obergefell jurisdiction barriers, wed-locked couples, the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, and child-parentage issues.
Divorce Reform Act 1969
Divorce Reform Act 1969 (c. 55), English and Welsh statute in force 1 January 1971 that made irretrievable breakdown the sole divorce ground, proved by five facts, replacing fault grounds; consolidated in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (c. 11) is an England and Wales statute introducing no-fault divorce: it replaced the five fault facts with a statement of irretrievable breakdown, allowed joint applications, barred contesting, and set a 20-week minimum period, in force 6 April 2022.
Dixie Mafia
Dixie Mafia: a loose confederation of white Southern criminals active from the 1960s, based in Biloxi, Mississippi, with no formal hierarchy or ties to La Cosa Nostra; known for Gulf Coast corruption and the 1987 Sherry murders.
DLA Piper
DLA Piper is a global law firm formed in 2005 by the merger of the UK firm DLA and the US firm Piper Rudnick, with about 3,000 attorneys.
Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев)
Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев), Russian president 2008–2012 during the Putin-Medvedev tandem, then prime minister 2012–2020 and Security Council deputy chairman; known for the modernization agenda, the 2011 castling, and post-2022 hawkishness.
Dnepropetrovsk maniacs
Dnepropetrovsk maniacs (дніпропетровські маніяки): Viktor Sayenko and Igor Suprunyuk, two 19-year-old Ukrainians who killed 21 people in Dnipro in June–July 2007, filmed some attacks, and received life sentences in 2009; accomplice Hanzha got 9 years.