Legal Dictionary

Copyright

A legal device that gives the creator of literary, artistic, musical or other creative work the sole right to publish and sell that work. Copyright owners have the right to control the reproduction of their work, including the right to receive payment for that reproduction. An author may grant or sell those rights to others, including publishers and recording companies. Violation of copyright is called infringement. The typical duration of copyright is the author’s life plus fifty years.

Corroborate

To add weight or credibility by additional or confirming facts or evidence. The testimony of a witness is said to be corroborated when it is shown to correspond with the representation of some other witness or to accord with some facts otherwise known or established.

Course of business

Activities that are normal and necessary for running a business, as opposed to out of the ordinary activities.

Course of dealing

A clearly recognisable pattern of previous conduct between parties to a business transaction. Where such conduct becomes the subject of litigation, a court will examine what the parties intended when they entered into the contract. The supposition will be that the parties drew up the contract taking into account the customary manner in which business has previously been transacted prior to signing the contract, and that customary behaviour, or course of dealing, will be highly relevant to ascertaining the intentions of the parties.

Covenant

A binding promise, usually contained in the deed of a piece of real property, to engage in or refrain from a specified action (including a restrictive covenant, which is a restriction on the use of property).

Culpable

Blameable; involving the breach of a legal duty or the commission of a fault. The term connotes fault rather than guilt.

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DLD

DLD stands for Dubai Land Department, a government entity established on January 24, 1960, to handle all matters related to the legalization of real estate transactions in the Emirate of Dubai. On September 18, 2013, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, issued the Law No. (7) of 2013 Concerning the Land Department which defines objectives of DLD as the government entity responsible for regulation and registration of real estate property and promotion of real estate investment. The department also actively develops the necessary legislation to propel the real estate sector in Dubai and distributes knowledge in real estate. Today, DLD provides more than 160 services going beyond just registration and titling. Organisational structure of Dubai Land Department includes: Real Estate Registration which documents and retains real estate rights in the land registry system (the registration arm); Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) which regulates the real estate sector in the emirate (the regulatory arm); Real Estate Investment Management & Promotion Center supports national and international real estate investors, develops the real estate investment environment and promotes direct and long-term investments (the investment arm); Rental Disputes Settlement Center (also known as Rental Committee) which deals with rent disputes arising between those involved in the real property rental sector and other related sectors (the judicial arm); Dubai Real Estate Institute (DREI) which aims to create, spread and sustain real estate knowledge in the market (the educational arm).

Dactylography

The scientific study of fingerprints for the purposes of identification.

De minimis

Latin for not enough to be considered.

Debenture

A medium to long term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. It originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowledges it, but in some countries the term is now used interchangeably with bond, loan stock or note. A debenture is like a certificate of loan evidencing the fact that the company is liable to pay a specified amount with interest, and although the money raised by the debentures becomes part of the company’s capital structure, it does not become share capital.

Defamation

Damaging the reputation of a person or a group of people by publishing or saying bad things about them that are not true. More specifically, saying words which amount to defamation is slander and defamation in other forms, such as printed words or images, is libel.

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Demurrage

The sum which is fixed by a contract of carriage, or which is allowed, as remuneration to the owner of a ship (or other freight vehicle), for the detention of his vessel beyond the number of days allowed by the contract (or charter-party) for loading or unloading or for sailing the ship. It is also the period in which a chartered ship remains in the charterer’s possession beyond the agreed transportation time.

Dilapidated

Describes something that is in disrepair or decay, but more often refers to the disrepair for which a tenant may be liable when he has agreed to give up a property in good repair, or a landlord may be liable when he has agreed to keep the structure of the property in good repair.

Disclosure

In litigation, the requirement to provide copies of all relevant documents to the other party before trial; the giving of information which would otherwise be kept secret; the process of sharing information.

Dismissal

Termination of employment against the will of an employee; the end of an action or claim before a judgment has been delivered, often during the very early stages.

Doctrine

In legal usage, it is a body of inter-related rules (usually common law and built over a long period of time) associated with a legal concept or principle.