Bahrain Lawyer Registration Exam key terms
Bahrain Lawyer Registration Exam · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Offer (Ijab)
- Related: Acceptance (Qabul), Consent (Rida)
A definite proposal by one party to another setting out the essential terms of a contract, made with the intention of creating a binding relationship if the other party accepts it.
- Acceptance (Qabul)
- Related: Offer (Ijab), Contract Formation
The unqualified agreement by the offeree to every term of the offer, communicated to the offeror within the period allowed, which brings the contract into existence.
- Consent (Rida)
- Related: Offer (Ijab), Defect of Consent
The free and informed will of a party to enter a transaction, which is vitiated where it results from mistake, fraud, duress, or exploitation of weakness, allowing rescission.
- Defect of Consent
- Related: Consent (Rida), Rescission
A flaw in the will behind an agreement, such as error, fraud, violence, or undue influence, that undermines the validity of the transaction and may ground an action to annul it.
- Rescission
- Related: Defect of Consent, Specific Performance
The judicial or agreed unwinding of a contract, returning the parties to their prior positions and extinguishing obligations arising from it, often available where consent was defective or performance impossible.
- Specific Performance
- Related: Damages, Rescission
A court order compelling a defaulting party to carry out its promised obligation in kind rather than pay damages, granted where performance remains possible and damages would be inadequate.
- Damages
- Related: Specific Performance, Causation
Monetary compensation awarded to a party for loss caused by another's breach or wrongful act, assessed to restore the claimant to the position it would have occupied had the wrong not occurred.
- Causation
- Related: Damages, Foreseeability
The link between a party's act or omission and the loss suffered, requiring the harm to flow directly from the wrong without an intervening event that breaks the chain.
- Foreseeability
- Related: Causation, Damages
The test limiting recoverable loss to harm that a reasonable person in the wrongdoer's position would have anticipated at the time of the act or contract.
- Commercial Registration
- Related: Trader, Commercial Company
The official entry of a trader or company in the commercial register kept by the competent ministry, a precondition for lawful trading and for asserting commercial status against third parties.
- Trader
- Related: Commercial Registration, Commercial Acts
A person who carries on commercial activities in their own name, habitually and for profit, and who thereby becomes subject to the commercial obligations, books, and insolvency rules.
- Commercial Acts
- Related: Trader, Commercial Company
Transactions classified as commercial by law, whether by nature such as sale for resale or by the trader's form, which attract commercial law and jurisdiction rather than ordinary civil rules.
- Commercial Company
- Related: Commercial Registration, Limited Liability Company
An entity formed by two or more persons contributing capital or services to pursue profit and share results, taking one of the statutory forms such as joint stock or limited liability.
- Limited Liability Company
- Related: Commercial Company, Piercing the Corporate Veil
A company whose capital is divided into shares and whose members are liable for its debts only up to the value of their contributions, unless the corporate veil is pierced.
- Piercing the Corporate Veil
- Related: Limited Liability Company, Legal Personality
The doctrine allowing courts to disregard a company's separate personality and hold members or managers personally liable where the entity was used to commit fraud or conceal wrongdoing.
- Legal Personality
- Related: Piercing the Corporate Veil, Commercial Company
The capacity of an entity to hold rights, incur obligations, own property, and sue or be sued in its own name, distinct from the persons who formed or control it.
- Actus Reus
- Related: Mens Rea, Criminal Liability
The external physical element of an offence, comprising the prohibited conduct, any required circumstances, and any resulting consequence attributed to the accused.
- Mens Rea
- Related: Actus Reus, Criminal Liability
The mental element of an offence, such as intention or negligence, which must accompany the prohibited conduct before a person can be convicted of the crime.
- Criminal Liability
- Related: Actus Reus, Mens Rea
The condition of being legally answerable for an offence, established when the prohibited act, the required mental state, and the absence of a defence are all proved.
- Presumption of Innocence
- Related: Burden of Proof, Criminal Liability
The principle that an accused is treated as innocent until guilt is proven to the required standard by the prosecution, which bears the burden of establishing the charge.
- Burden of Proof
- Related: Presumption of Innocence, Standard of Proof
The obligation of a party to persuade the court of a fact's existence, which in criminal matters rests on the prosecution and in civil matters on the party asserting the claim.
- Standard of Proof
- Related: Burden of Proof, Evidence
The degree of certainty a party must reach to discharge its burden, being proof beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases and a preponderance of evidence in civil cases.
- Evidence
- Related: Standard of Proof, Admissibility
The material, whether testimony, documents, or things, presented to the court to establish or disprove facts in issue, admissible only if relevant and lawfully obtained.
- Admissibility
- Related: Evidence, Burden of Proof
The quality of being receivable by a court, determined by relevance, reliability, and compliance with legal rules on how the material was obtained or produced.
- Jurisdiction
- Related: Competence, Service of Process
The authority of a particular court to hear and decide a dispute, determined by subject matter, value, location, and the connection of the parties to the forum.
- Service of Process
- Related: Jurisdiction, Default Judgment
The formal delivery of legal papers to a party in the manner the law requires, which informs them of proceedings and starts time limits for responding.
- Default Judgment
- Related: Service of Process, Jurisdiction
A ruling entered in favour of the claimant when the defendant fails to appear or respond within the prescribed period, subject to the defendant's right to challenge it.
- Probation Period
- Related: End-of-Service Benefit, Unfair Dismissal
A statutory initial period of employment during which the employer may terminate without notice or end-of-service entitlement, provided the worker is not retained beyond the maximum allowed.
- End-of-Service Benefit
- Related: Probation Period, Unfair Dismissal
The gratuity payable to a worker on termination, calculated on the basis of final wage and length of service according to the statutory formula.
- Unfair Dismissal
- Related: Probation Period, End-of-Service Benefit
Termination by an employer for a reason other than those permitted by law, or without proper procedure, entitling the worker to compensation or reinstatement.
- Mahr
- Related: Khul, Divorce (Talaq)
The bridal dower that a husband undertakes to give his wife under the marriage contract, which becomes her property and is a legal consequence of the marriage.
- Khul
- Related: Mahr, Divorce (Talaq)
A dissolution of marriage initiated by the wife, who offers to return her dower or give other consideration in exchange for the husband's agreement or a court order freeing her.
- Divorce (Talaq)
- Related: Mahr, Khul
The unilateral repudiation of a marriage by the husband, subject to formalities, registration, and revocation rules, with financial consequences such as the waiting period and maintenance.
- Iddah
- Related: Divorce (Talaq), Khul
The waiting period a woman must observe after dissolution of the marriage or the husband's death, during which remarriage is barred and certain rights and maintenance continue.
- Land Registration
- Related: Title Deed, Indefeasibility
The systematic recording of title to land and rights over it in the official register, giving public notice and protecting registered interests against later unregistered claims.
- Title Deed
- Related: Land Registration, Mortgage
The official instrument evidencing ownership of a registered plot, identifying the owner, the land, and any encumbrances noted in the register.
- Indefeasibility
- Related: Land Registration, Title Deed
The principle that a registered title cannot be challenged by later unregistered interests or by earlier claims that were not recorded, subject to limited statutory exceptions.
- Mortgage
- Related: Title Deed, Land Registration
A security interest over immovable property granted to secure a debt, entitling the creditor to enforce against the property if the debtor defaults, subject to registration.
- Legality
- Related: Judicial Review, Ultra Vires
The constitutional principle that public authorities may act only where the law authorises them, and that administrative decisions must be founded on a valid legal basis.
- Ultra Vires
- Related: Legality, Judicial Review
The doctrine that an act of a public authority beyond the powers granted by law is invalid, a ground on which courts may annul the decision.
- Judicial Review
- Related: Legality, Ultra Vires
The court's power to examine the lawfulness of administrative decisions and annul those that are unlawful, procedurally improper, or made in abuse of discretion.
- Conflict of Interest
- Related: Client Confidentiality, Duty of Loyalty
A situation where a lawyer's personal, financial, or other interest, or a duty to another client, could compromise the independent judgment owed to a client, requiring disclosure or withdrawal.
- Client Confidentiality
- Related: Conflict of Interest, Legal Privilege
The lawyer's duty to keep information learned in the professional relationship secret, continuing after the engagement ends, subject only to narrow exceptions permitted by law.
- Legal Privilege
- Related: Client Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest
The protection that shields confidential communications between lawyer and client from disclosure in legal proceedings, belonging to the client and waivable only by the client.
- Duty of Loyalty
- Related: Conflict of Interest, Client Confidentiality
The obligation of a lawyer to act solely in the client's best interests, avoiding conflicting engagements and personal dealings that could harm the client.
- Advocacy
- Related: Duty of Loyalty, Legal Privilege
The professional activity of representing a client before courts and tribunals, presenting evidence and argument within the limits of the law and professional rules.
- Treaty
- Related: Customary International Law, Ratification
A written agreement between states governed by international law, which creates binding obligations and may require domestic implementation before it affects private rights.
- Customary International Law
- Related: Treaty, Ratification
Rules formed by consistent state practice accepted as legally required, binding states generally without the need for a treaty, subject to persistent objection.
- Ratification
- Related: Treaty, Customary International Law
The formal act by which a state confirms its consent to be bound by a treaty it has signed, after which the treaty enters into force for that state.
- Ratio Decidendi
- Related: Obiter Dictum, Precedent
The legal reasoning essential to a court's decision, which binds lower courts as precedent, as distinct from observations that are merely incidental.
- Obiter Dictum
- Related: Ratio Decidendi, Precedent
A remark by a judge on a point not necessary to the decision, which is persuasive only and does not create a binding rule for later cases.
- Precedent
- Related: Ratio Decidendi, Obiter Dictum
The principle that earlier decisions of higher courts should guide later cases with materially similar facts, promoting consistency and predictability in the law.
- Competence
- Related: Jurisdiction, Ultra Vires
The legal authority of a body or official to act within a defined field, and an essential element of a valid administrative decision or court ruling.