certiorari
(sersh-oh-rare-ee) a writ (order) of a higher court to a lower court to send all the documents in a case to it so the higher court can review the lower court's decision. Certiorari is most commonly used by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is selective a ...

cestui que trust
(properly pronounced ses-tee kay, but lawyers popularly pronounce it setty kay) from old French. 1) an old-fashioned expression for the beneficiary of a trust.

cestui que use
(pronounced ses-tee kay use or setty kay use) n. an old-fashioned term for a person who benefits from assets held in a trust for the beneficiary's use. The term "beneficiary" is now used instead. See also: beneficiary cestui que trust trus ...

chain of title
The succession of title ownership to real property from the present owner back to the original owner at some distant time.

challenge
The right of each attorney in a jury trial to request that a juror be excused. There may be a "challenge for cause" on the basis the juror had admitted prejudice or shows some obvious conflict of interest (e.g. the juror used to work for th ...

challenge for cause
A request that a prospective juror be dismissed because there is a specific and forceful reason to believe the person cannot be fair, unbiased or capable of serving as a juror. Causes include acquaintanceship with either of the parties, one of the at ...

chambers
The private office of a judge, usually close to the courtroom so that the judge can enter the court from behind the bench and not encounter people on the way.