Legal and Academic Vocabulary Review

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering terms, definitions, and contextual usage from the provided lecture notes.

Sisyphean

Requiring endless effort with little or no chance of success; inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus.

Essentialism

The belief that people or groups possess fixed, inherent characteristics that define them.

Gratuitous

Unnecessary, unwarranted, or excessive; sometimes given freely without reason.

Propriety

Standards of appropriate, correct, or socially acceptable behavior.

Purvey

To supply, distribute, or spread something, especially information, goods, or ideas.

Epistemic

Relating to knowledge, belief, justification, or how we know what we know.

Exculpate

To clear someone from blame, fault, or guilt, especially through evidence showing they were not responsible.

Majoritarianism

A political or social system in which the preferences of the numerical majority are given priority, sometimes at the expense of minority groups.

Interrogatories

Formal written questions that one party in a lawsuit sends to another party, which generally must be answered under oath.

Dispositive

Decisive in resolving an issue, claim, or case; having the effect of determining the outcome.

Arbiter

A person or institution with the authority to judge, decide, or determine a dispute or standard.

Querulous

Habitually complaining, argumentative, or inclined to raise grievances.

Propounded

Put forward an idea, theory, argument, or question for consideration or discussion.

Canonized

Formally recognized as authoritative, exemplary, or part of an accepted body of important works or ideas.

Subsume

To include or absorb something within a broader category, concept, rule, or principle.

Derogated

Detracted from, diminished, or departed from a right, rule, standard, or obligation.

Schematic

Presented according to a simplified plan, structure, or conceptual framework rather than in full detail.

Underclass

A socially and economically disadvantaged group that experiences persistent poverty, exclusion, or limited access to social mobility.

Adjectival

Relating to, functioning as, or having the characteristics of an adjective.

Extracorporeal

Existing, occurring, or taking place outside the body.

Multivalent

Having several meanings, interpretations, functions, effects, or forms at the same time.

Indignation

Anger or resentment provoked by something perceived as unjust, offensive, or morally wrong.

Perjurious

Characterized by or involving perjury; deliberately false while given under oath.

Obfuscate

To make something unclear, confusing, or difficult to understand, often deliberately.

Stare decisis

The principle that courts should generally follow established judicial precedents when deciding similar cases.

Literalism

An approach to interpretation that emphasizes the ordinary or literal meaning of words, sometimes at the expense of broader context or purpose.

Social location

A person's position within society as shaped by intersecting social characteristics and structures, such as class, race, gender, disability, or nationality.

Normative claim

A statement about what ought to be the case, usually expressing a judgment about what is right, desirable, permissible, or valuable rather than merely describing what exists.

Proposition

A statement, claim, or idea put forward for consideration or argument; in logic, a statement capable of being true or false.

Structural inequality

Inequality produced or maintained by the organization, institutions, policies, and recurring practices of society rather than solely by individual acts of discrimination.

Discriminatory treatment

Unfavourable or differential treatment of a person or group on the basis of a protected or socially salient characteristic.

Adverse effects

Harmful or disadvantageous consequences resulting from an otherwise neutral rule, policy, practice, or decision; particularly important in discrimination analysis.

Improper exercise of discretion

The use of legally granted decision-making power in a manner inconsistent with its purpose, relevant legal constraints, or principles governing lawful decision-making.

Credibility assessment

The process by which a court or other decision-maker evaluates whether and to what extent testimony or other evidence should be believed.

Procedural unfairness

A failure to provide the degree of fairness required in the process through which a legal or administrative decision is made.

Unconstitutional state action

Government conduct that violates constitutional requirements, limitations, or protected rights.

Failure to consider relevant context

A decision-maker's omission of circumstances or information materially relevant to the issue being decided.

Inappropriate remedy

A form of legal relief that is unsuitable, unavailable, disproportionate, or insufficiently connected to the legal wrong established.

Countenance

As a verb, to tolerate, permit, approve of, or accept something; as a noun, a person's face or facial expression.

Solicitous

Showing attentive concern, care, or consideration; in legal writing, often describing an especially protective or careful approach toward a person, interest, or right.

Propagation

The act or process of spreading, transmitting, reproducing, or promoting something, including ideas, beliefs, information, organisms, or signals.

Constructionism

The view that concepts, categories, meanings, or aspects of reality are produced through social, cultural, or intellectual processes rather than simply existing as fixed or natural facts.

Cessation

The stopping, ending, or discontinuation of an activity, condition, process, or action.

Contemporaneous

Existing, occurring, or produced during the same period of time as something else.

Illusory

Appearing to be real, meaningful, or substantial but actually lacking reality, substance, or genuine effect.

Supposition

An assumption, belief, or proposition accepted or considered without conclusive evidence that it is true.