Res Law and Legal Definition
Res is the Latin term for ‘thing”. It includes movables, immovables, and real property. It can also be the subject matter of a trust; corpus. For example, the stock certificate is the res of the trust.. Legal proceedings can be initiated against res which can be an object, a subject matter , or a status. For example, in maritime cases, claims are made against vessels, which is a res. Proceedings against res will be called an action in rem. However, res do not mean tangible personal property. In matrimonial cases, res refer to the marital status of parties to the action.