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Year-and-a-day rule -The principle that a death cannot be attributed to another person's wrongful conduct usless the death occurred within a year and a day of the conduct. This principle has been abandoned in some states.

Yeas and nays -Describes oral voting in a legislature, usually one by one, calling each name in turn.

Yellow dog contract -An employment contract in which an employer requires an employee to promise that he or she will not join a union. These are now illegal.

Younger doctrine -The principle that federal courts should usually abstain from deciding a case when there is a pending state court criminal case involving the same subject and the same people.

Youthful offenders -Persons treated as juvenile delinquents, rather than as adult criminals.

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