Legal Dictionary

custody

Legal Definition of custody

Noun

  1. Means the charge and control of a child including the right to make all major decisions such as education, religious upbringing, training, health and welfare. Custody, without qualification usually refers to a combination of physical custody and legal custody. For other varieties of custody, see joint custody, split custody and divided custody.

Derived terms

Definition of custody

Etymology

    From Latin custodia ("a keeping, watch, guard, prison") < custos ("a keeper, watchman, guard").

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /'kʌstədiː/ (Estuary English)

Homophones

  • custardy (in some dialects)

Noun

custody (uncountable)

  1. Possession of something or someone.

Derived terms

Related terms

  • custodial
  • custodian

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.



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