united-states civil-law legal-writing pleadings
Can you use definitions for adverbs instead of nouns and personal nouns in a legal context?
<p>Legal definitions where nouns and persons are defined are common place reality of legal writing. We also see often times events and conduct be subject to definitions, and be referred to by a shortened reference.</p>
<p>Is it possible to describe the <em>manner</em> of an event or conduct by defining such manner and using such definition as reference later?</p>
<p>For example: Can you say negligently and/or tortuously hereinafter described as &quot;Actionably&quot;, and use &quot;Actionably&quot; in lieu of the other 4 words thereafter throughout a legal document?</p>
<p>I'm interested in any examples, primarily under U.S. law, but also would be interesting to see if other jurisdictions accepted such languages or Actionably denied. :)</p>

<p>Yes though usually adverbs are not subject to statutory definition, so case law resolves most interpretive questions. But, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1515" rel="nofollow noreferrer">18 USC 1515</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(b) As used in section 1505, the term “corruptly” means acting with an
improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including
making a false or misleading statement, or withholding, concealing,
altering, or destroying a document or other information.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www1.law.umkc.edu/suni/crimlaw/mpc_provisions/model_penal_code_default_rules.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Model Penal Code</a> defines a number of adverbs: this is <a href="https://casetext.com/statute/kentucky-revised-statutes/title-50-kentucky-penal-code/chapter-501-general-principles-of-liability/section-501020-definition-of-mental-states" rel="nofollow noreferrer">applied in Kentucky</a>.</p>

<p>It isn't common to do so.</p>
<p>Normally, you would define an &quot;incident&quot; or an &quot;occurrence&quot; or a &quot;scheme&quot;, for certain events that happened, but you would ordinarily reserve the legal effect of what happened to a separate spelled out cause of action for each such type of wrong.</p>
<p>If you need to say something like &quot;negligently and/or tortuously&quot; frequently, you are probably using poor legal form and style (besides which, &quot;negligently&quot; is a subset of &quot;tortiously&quot;).</p>
