Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases

Stroud's Judicial Dictionary has for over 100 years been the starting point for research into the meaning of all words and phrases that come to be used in a legal context. Stroud records how any expression that occurs in a statute or other legal document has been construed by the courts or defined in legislation. It provides the ideal companion to Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law (which provides an authoritative definition of technical legal concepts).

Stroud is regularly cited to and by the senior courts as a primary reference when determining ranges of meaning given to different terms in legal contexts: from standard terms like "building", "conduct", "damage" and "repair", where the reader always needs to keep up with cross-contextual development of usage, through to niche terms where the reader might not guess that they have received judicial or legislative attention, such as "cheating", "cuckooing", "exoneration", "febrile fit", "liquidity", "roofing works", "sham marriage" and "tampering." 

The Tenth Edition adds terms helpfully defined for the first time or in a new way, such as "cloud computing service", "computerised model", "energy crop", "laser", and "screening opinion". At the same time it updates all the standard entries.

Edited and updated by Daniel Greenberg CB, Counsel for Domestic Legislation, House of Commons.

Key features:

• Provides the judicial definitions of terms or words established in decided cases or statutes
• An authoritative guide to the present construction of words and phrases occurring in legislation, decided cases and other legal documents
• Sets out, where applicable, the evolution of a term’s meaning
• Assists practitioners in construing legislation and other documents or in the drafting of documents
• A practical source of guidance for the setting out of definitions of particular concepts in the drafting of contracts and other legal documents
• Comprehensive coverage across three volumes of terms from the obscure to the everyday
• Includes both historic and contemporary terms
• Where a term is used in a number of legal areas the entry is broken down and sub-divided to ensure ease of use
• The text is regularly updated via supplementation
• Linked and common terms are cross-referenced ensuring different usage of words is covered
• Also includes references to definitions contained in statutes
• Includes Ministerial statements and other material where helpful
• Entries are reviewed and examined to ensure the work contains only terms that will be of assistance to modern research.