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Vacate
To set aside.

Vagrant
A tramp or homeless person.

Vehicle
Any thing that is designed to transport persons or objects. A bicycle has been held to be a vehicle.

Vendor
The seller; the person selling.

Venire
A writ summoning persons to court to act as jurors. (See venire facias in Foreign Words Glossary.)

Venue
This has the same meaning as in everyday English except that in a legal context it usually refers specifically to the location of a judicial hearing. For example, if a criminal case has a very high media profile in a particular city, the "venue" may change to another city to ensure objective witnesses (i.e. that would not have been spoiled by media speculation on the crime).

Verba fortius accipiuntur contra proferentem
Latin: a principle of construction whereby if words of a contract are ambiguous, of two equally possible meanings, they should be interpreted against the author of the words and not against the other party.

Verdict
The decision of a jury. In criminal cases, this is usually expressed as "guilty" or "not guilty".In a civil case, the verdict would be a finding for the plaintiff or for the defendant.

Vicarious liability
When a person is held responsible for the tort of another even though the person being held responsible may not have done anything wrong. This is often the case with employers who are held vicariously liable for the damages caused by their employees.

Videlicet
Latin for "to wit" or "that is to say." "Viz.", which is the abbreviation of videlicet, is much more commonly used. It is often found in legal documents to advise that what follows provides more detail about a preceding general statement. For example: "The defendant committed adultery; viz., on April 15th, at approximately 10:30 pm, he had sexual intercourse with Ms Jane Doe."

Vir
Latin: man or husband. Vir et uxor censentur in lege una persona is an old (and long abandoned in most countries) legal principle meaning that man and wife are considered to be one person in law.

Vis
An abbreviation of the Latin word videlicet. Short for "namely" or "that is to say."

Visa
An official endorsement on a document or passport denoting that the bearer may proceed.

Void or void ab initio
Not legally binding. A document that is void is useless and worthless; as if it did not exist.For example, in many countries, contracts for immoral purposes are said to be "void":unenforceable and not recognized by the courts. A good example is a contract to commit a serious crime such as murder.

Voidable
The law distinguishes between contracts which are void and those which are voidable. Some contracts have such a latent defect that they are said to be void (see definition of "void" above). Other have more minor defects to them and are voidable at the option of the party victimized by the defect. For example, contracts signed by a person when they are totally drunk are voidable by that person upon recovering sobriety.