Glossary

Easement appurtenant exists when a property owner has a right to an adjacent property owned by another person. The easement is attached to the property and may be conveyed to a new owner when the property to which it is attached is conveyed. In other words, an easement appurtenant is for the benefit of the owner of adjacent property because of the ownership of that property and does not exist separate from the property.

An easement by prescription arises when one person uses another person's land for some time period during which the owner of the property does not object to the use of the property.

The "ecclesiastical exception," also known as the "ministerial exception," is a legal doctrine that exempts religious institutions from antidiscrimination laws with regard to their employment relationships with ministers. With a foundation in the First Amendment's protections of the practice of religion, the ministerial exception is an affirmative defense in the event that a religious institution is sued by one of its employees who qualifies as a "minister."

Ecological risk assessment is the application of a formal framework, analytical process, or model to estimate the effects of human actions on a natural resource and to interpret the significance of those effects in light of the uncertainties identified in each component of the assessment process. Such analysis includes initial hazard identification, exposure and dose-response assessments, and risk characterization.

Economic capital is the market value of assets minus fair value of liabilities. Used in practice as a risk-adjusted capital measure; specifically, the amount of capital required to meet an explicit solvency constraint (e.g., a certain probability of ruin).

The economic cost of ruin (ECOR) is an enhancement to the probability of ruin concept (and thus shortfall risk) in which the severity of ruin is also reflected. Technically, it is the expected value of the shortfall. In an analogy to bond rating, it is comparable to considering the salvage value of a bond in addition to the probability of default. For insurance companies, the equivalent term is expected policyholder deficit (EPD), and represents the expected shortage in the funds due to policyholders in the event of liquidation.

Economic damages are court awards to an injured persons in an amount sufficient to compensate for his or her actual monetary loss. Examples of monetary damages include awards for lost wages and medical expenses.

Economic loss doctrine is a legal principle that precludes recovery by an injured party for purely economic damages if there is no privity of contract with the tortfeasor. This argument has been used by design professionals to avoid liability for claims by contractors, tenants, and others who suffered economic loss as a result of design errors or omissions.

Economic or use value is the value of the future income stream attributable to an item of property.

Economic value added is a corporate performance measure that stresses the ability to achieve returns above the firm's cost of capital. It is often stated as net operating profits after tax, less the product of required capital, times the firm's weighted average cost of capital.