Define That Term #128

The most recent term was legatee, which is defined as:

n. a person or organization receiving a gift of an object or money under the terms of the will of a person who has died. Although technically a legatee does not receive real property (a devisee), "legatee" is often used to designate a person who takes anything pursuant (according) to the terms of a will. The best generic term is beneficiary, which avoids the old-fashioned distinctions between legatees taking legacies (personal property) and devisees taking devises (real property), terms which date from the Middle Ages. See also: beneficiary devise devisee legacy will.

Today's term is:

rational basis.

As always, no dictionaries, please.

 

Comments

[Richard]

rational basis: term that has such fluid and ill defined meaning that courts employ it regularly to justify outcomes they wanted to reach anyway. See also, "rationalization", "judicial activism", and "making stuff up."