Does the word “elements” have a special meaning in Legalese?
Elements are used frequently in all kinds of legalese and it’s usually fine to say that. Lawyers and judges love “tests.” And each test has a certain amount of elements. To directly answer your one question, it would be fine to say elements of jurisdiction. For example, for federal diversity jurisdiction, it would be fine to say the elements are (1) diversity of citizenship and (2) a claim in excess of $75,000. Some might say jurisdictional prerequisites. Sometimes, the presence of certain facts does not make it certain that a result will occur. For example, in law sometimes we’ll say “factors.” There may be ten factors to consider in whether to give one the death penalty. If six are present, that does not mean that we give the guy the death penalty, but we might.
