Library›Law and your rights›Legal Lexicon

Legal Lexicon

Legal Lexicon is the legal-language and sources-of-authority surface of the SoapBox civic ecosystem, published at lexicon.soapbox.community. Its full title is Legal Lexicon & Sources of Authority. It explains the words the law uses and, separately, which texts actually carry legal weight — as reference, not as legal advice.

What it covers

• Legal dictionaries vs. the law — why a dictionary definition and a controlling legal definition are not the same thing.
• Founding-era meaning — how the original public meaning of a term is recovered and used.
• American vs. British common law — where the two diverge and why it matters to a U.S. reader.
• Sources of authority — the distinction between binding and merely persuasive authority.
• An American legal lexicon — a glossary of terms with a plain gloss and a source.

Editorial rule

Consistent with the rest of the SoapBox Law surface, the material is sourced and descriptive — facts, not verdicts — and is not legal advice.

See also

• SoapBox Law
• Legal Doctrines
• The Case Law of Us

Sources

• lexicon.soapbox.community

Coverage

Describes the surface's sections and its editorial rule as published.

Filed under  Law and your rights