The Most Confusing Words in Law That Learners Should Remember

 

1. Bail and Bale

Bail - The payment of an amount to a law court for a person accused of a crime.

e.g. After his hearing, the judge decided to reduce his bail to 50%.

Bale -a large bundle of materials that are tightly wrapped with wire or rope.
     
e.g. We can make bales from materials like cotton, hay, paper, wool and so on.

2. Prosecute and Persecute

Prosecute means to take legal action against any person or group regarding a crime.
     
For e.g. The preachers of religious intolerance were prosecuted and punished for their offence.

If you are treated harshly or cruelly by the people owing to your religion, race and political beliefs, you are persecuted by them.
    
For e.g. Black people are still persecuted by the fair people.

3. Illicit and Elicit

Illicit means illegal or anything that is prohibited by the laws and rules.
    
For e.g. He was sentenced to jail for smuggling illicit drugs into the country.

When you draw out or provoke someone for response, you elicit them.
    
For e.g. The police tried to elicit the information from the criminal by torturing him.

4. Licence and License

Licence is an official document that permits you to use or have something.

For example, when you are eligible to drive a bike or car, you receive a driving licence.
 e.g. I got the driving licence at the age of 30.

License is used as a noun which means when someone has got the authority to do something.
     
  e.g. He finally got the license on commercial building construction.

5. Patrol and Petrol

Patrol is the act of moving around the area by a group of law enforcement for observation and inspection.
     
  e.g. Some gamblers were caught by the police while patrolling.

Petrol is a liquid substance refined from petroleum which is used as a fuel to drive the internal combustion engines of the vehicles.

  e.g. The government has increased the price of petrol due to ban on diesel vehicles.

6. Crime, Sin, and Vice

They are related to some acts against rules and regulations.
Hence, they are used in different context accordingly.

Crime - An illegal act committed by someone for which they are punished legally.     

e.g. Last year, crime against women increased by 10 percent across the country.
     
Sin is an act of committing wrong things against religious or moral laws.
     
e.g. Committing murder is not considered as a sin, in fact, it is a crime.

Vice - It refers to an immoral behavior or criminal activities as per law.
     
e.g. Its difficult for any girl to marry him. Vices like drinking and gambling are his dear friends.

7. Confess and Admit

Confessing something means to reveal the truth particularly in the context of sin or crime,.
     
e.g. The culprit confessed his mistake and asked for forgiveness.
   
Admit your mistake means accepting the guilt without expecting forgiveness.
     
e.g. The man admitted that he had committed a crime.

8. Obvious and Oblivious

Obvious means to express something very clearly that can be easily understood.
     
  e.g. After talking to John for few minutes, it was obvious that he was very good at English.

Oblivious describes someone who is unaware of people or things going nearby.
     
  e.g. You should not be oblivious about the needs of your family.

9. Differ and Defer

Differ - Subjects that are not related to each other or which have opposite meaning.
      
  e.g.  how does the cost differ from price?

Defer - When you delay something for sometime, you defer it.

  e.g. In absence of the required facts, the decision on the issue has been deferred till tomorrow.

10. Heir and Air

Heir - A person who is legally entitled to inherit the property of another person.
      
e.g. Nita is the obvious heir of XYZ Group.

Air - An invisible substance which is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and other gases that surrounds earth and forms atmosphere.
      
  e.g. Please, can you open the window for ventilation of fresh air?