Confidentiality

Definition

A legal obligation not to disclose information shared in confidence. Confidential relationships (attorney-client, doctor-patient) are legally protected.

Example Usage

The settlement agreement included strict confidentiality provisions prohibiting either party from discussing the terms.

Origin

From Latin 'confidentia' (trust); used in English law since medieval times

Fun Fact

Confidentiality can outlive people—attorney-client privilege survives death, protecting someone's secrets even after they're gone

Source: Evidence law; contract law doctrine

Related Terms

Beginner

Contract

A binding agreement between two or more parties. A piece of paper that supposedly prevents one party from lying, even though everyone knows both sides interpret it differently.

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

patents

Government-granted monopolies that reward inventors with exclusive rights to profit from their innovations, or alternatively, legal weapons that companies stockpile to sue each other into oblivion. These intellectual property instruments theoretically encourage innovation but frequently just enrich patent trolls and lawyers. The patent system protects everything from life-saving drugs to the rounded corners on smartphones, with approximately equal enthusiasm.

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Docket

The court's official record and schedule of cases, documents, and deadlines. It's the court's to-do list, and missing a deadline because you didn't check it is not a valid excuse.

⚖️ Legal

Advanced

extenuate

To legally tiptoe around the severity of wrongdoing by citing 'special circumstances' that definitely weren't personal failings. The fine art of saying 'yes, I did it, BUT...' in the most formal way possible.

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

detention

The legal holding pattern nobody wants to join—when authorities keep you cooling your heels pending trial or as punishment, because freedom must apparently wait. Basically, the court's way of saying 'don't go anywhere.'

⚖️ Legal

Intermediate

Litigation Hold

A legal obligation to preserve all potentially relevant documents and data once a lawsuit is reasonably anticipated. Your permission to never delete another email again.

⚖️ Legal

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