the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do | the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception |
the collection of rules imposed by authority | the appropriation (of ideas or words etc) from another source |
| a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit) |