This best-selling dictionary is an authoritative and comprehensive source of jargon-free legal information. It contains over 4,200 entries that clearly define the major terms, concepts, processes, and the organization of the English legal system. Entries have been fully updated for this new edition to reflect the very latest legislation, including the substantial new Companies Act that affects company law, and the Constitutional Reform Act that affects the positions of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice, and the Law Lords. This edition also includes expanded coverage of criminology and law enforcement. Highlighted feature entries discuss key topics in detail, for example adoption law, the appeals system, statement of terms of employment, and terrorism acts, and there is a useful Writing and Citation Guide that specifically addresses problems and established conventions for writing legal essays and reports. Now providing more information than ever before, this edition features recommended web links for many entries, which are accessed and kept up to date via the Dictionary of Law companion website.Described by leading university lecturers as 'the best law dictionary' and 'excellent for non-law students as well as law undergraduates', this classic dictionary is an invaluable source of legal reference for professionals, students, and anyone else needing succinct clarification of legal terms. Focusing primarily on English law, it also provides a one-stop source of information for any of the many countries that base their legal system on English law.