ACADEMIC TOPICS

Accrue has two common definitions:

Accumulated earnings represent a company’s net profit after having distributed dividends to the stockholders. It is often used in accounting to determine how much net profits a company has left after having paid dividends.

• llcs-corporations-partnerships

Acknowledgment refers to a formal declaration before an official that one has executed a particular legal document. Some common usages of the term “acknowledgment” in a legal sense include: 

Actual authority is an agent's power to act on behalf of a principal because such power was expressly or impliedly conferred. Express actual authority is when a principal directly tells the agent that they have the authority to take certain action.

Actual notice is a notice that is given directly to a party or is personally received by a party informing them of a case that could affect their interests.

Actus reus refers to the act or omission that comprise the physical elements of a crime as required by statute. Actus reus includes only a voluntary affirmative

• criminal law
• mens rea
• mental state
• criminal act

The Latin translation of ad litem is "for the suit."

Examples:

Ad seriatim refers to following a specific order or sequence. It is a Latin word meaning “one after another or in a series.” 

For example, an attorney might work on projects ad seriatim by completing them in the order in which they were assigned or by their deadlines. 

[Last reviewed in December of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]

Ad valorem translated directly from Latin, means "according to [the] value [of something].” In practical use, the term is used in taxation to designate taxes levied against property, real or personal, at a certain rate based upon the property's value. 

• Latin terms

Ad valorem is a Latin phrase that translates to “according to the value.”