Law Dictionary Definitions

black maria.Slang. A locked van used by the police to transport prisoners to and from jail.[Blacks Law 8th]

blackmail suit.See SUIT.[Blacks Law 8th]

blackmail,n.1. A threatening demand made without justification; EXTORTION. Cf. FEEMAIL; GRAYMAIL; GREENMAIL(1), (2). [Cases: Extortion and Threats  25.1. C.J.S. Threats and Unlawful Communications §§ 2–20.] — blackmail,vb. “[Blackmail is] a certain rate of Money, Corn, Cattle, or other consideration, paid to some inhabiting upon, or near the borders, being persons of name and power, allied…

black-lung disease.See PNEUMOCONIOSIS. [Blacks Law 8th]

blacklist,vb. To put the name of (a person) on a list of those who are to be boycotted or punished <the firm blacklisted the former employee>. — blacklist,n.[Blacks Law 8th]

blackletter law.One or more legal principles that are old, fundamental, and well settled. • The term refers to the law printed in books set in Gothic type, which is very bold and black. — Also termed hornbook law.[Blacks Law 8th]

black-leg labor.See SCAB.[Blacks Law 8th]

Black Hand.Hist. Any of several secret societies that were active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. • Most of these organizations were composed of anarchists or separatists and engaged in terrorism. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a loosely knit Sicilian–Italian criminal organization called the Black Hand extorted money from Italian…

black economy.See SHADOW ECONOMY.[Blacks Law 8th]

black codes.(usu. cap.) Hist. 1.Antebellum state laws enacted to regulate slavery. 2. Laws enacted shortly after the Civil War in the ex-Confederate states to restrict the liberties of the newly freed slaves to ensure a supply of inexpensive agricultural labor and to maintain white supremacy. “Clearly, leaders of the old South who survived the war…