Law Dictionary Definitions

beggar-thy-neighbor policy.A government’s protectionist course of action taken to discourage imports by raising tariffs and instituting nontariff barriers, usu. to reduce domestic unemployment and increase domestic output. • This term is sometimes applied to competitive currency devaluation.[Blacks Law 8th]

beg,vb.1. To request earnestly; to beseech. 2.Hist. To request to be appointed as guardian for (a person).3.Hist. To request that someone be appointed as guardian for. 4. To ask for charity, esp. habitually or pitiably.[Blacks Law 8th]

  before the fact.In advance of an event of legal significance.[Blacks Law 8th]

before first action,adv. Patents. After the filing of a patent application but before the mailing of any office action by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner. • For example, an applicant typically files an information disclosure statement before first action, and often files preliminary amendments as well. [Cases: Patents  104. C.J.S. Patents §§ 145–147,…

before-and-after theory.Antitrust. A method of determining damages for lost profits (and sometimes overcharges), whereby the plaintiff’s profits are examined before, during, and after the violation to estimate the reduction in profits due to the defendant’s violation. — Also termed before-and-after method. Cf. YARDSTICK THEORY; MARKET-SHARE THEORY. “In its simplest form, the [before-and-after] theory looks at…

bedrip.Hist. A copyhold tenant’s service of reaping the landlord’s grain. — Also spelled bederepre; biderepe.[Blacks Law 8th]

bederepre. See BEDRIP. [Blacks Law 8th]

beaupleader (boh-plee-d<<schwa>>r). [Law French “fair pleading”] Hist. 1.A fine imposed for bad or unfair pleading. 2. A writ of prohibition that prevented a sheriff from taking a fine for bad pleading. • The Statute of Marlbridge (1267) prohibited the taking of fines for this type of pleading. See PROHIBITION(2). BEAUTY CONTEST beauty contest.Slang. A meeting…

be at the horn.Scots law. See PUT TO THE HORN.[Blacks Law 8th]

  beat,n.1. A law-enforcement officer’s patrol territory. 2. A colloquial term for the principal county subdivision in some southern states, such as Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. 3. A voting precinct.[Blacks Law 8th]