Free Legal Encyclopedia: Deed of covenant to Direct Tax
Defamation
Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. Where the plaintiff in a defamation action is a private citizen who is not in the public eye, the law extends a lesser degree of constit…
Defeasance Clause
A provision of a mortgage—an interest in land given to a mortgagee-lender to secure the payment of a debt—which promises that the mortgagor-borrower will regain title to the mortgaged property when all the terms of the mortgage have been met. the mortgagor would at that time regain title to the property. If the mortgagor failed to pay the debt, even by only one day, the mortgagee�…
Defect
Imperfection, flaw, or deficiency. A fatal defect is one that, due to its serious nature, serves to nullify a contract. A sample form letter providing notice to manufacturer for a product defect. …
Defense
The forcible repulsion of an unlawful and violent attack, such as the defense of one's person, property, or country in time of war. A frivolous defense is one that entails a vacuous assertion, which is not supported by argument or evidence. The rules of federal procedure provide that on motion such defense may be ordered stricken from the pleadings. A meritorious defense is one that involve…
Defense Department - Office Of The Secretary, Joint Chiefs Of Staff, The Department Of Defense In The Response To Terrorism - Structure
The Department of Defense (DOD) is the executive department in the federal government that is responsible for providing the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of the United States. The major elements of the military forces under its control are the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, consisting of about 1.5 million men and women on active duty. They are backed, in…
Defense of Marriage Act of (1996)
In 1994, the Hawaii legislature changed the marriage law to explicitly state that the contract of marriage applied only to marriages between a man and a woman. Despite this change and the reluctance of the state supreme court to address the issue again, supporters of traditional marriage around the United States voiced concern that same-sex marriage could be legitimized. If this happened in Hawaii…
Defense Research Institute
The institute publishes For the Defense (monthly), Brief Bank Index (annually), and a membership directory. It also maintains a data base of expert witnesses for defense litigation purposes. …
Delegation
A sending away; a putting into commission; the assignment of a debt to another; the entrusting of another with a general power to act for the good of those who depute him or her; a body of delegates. The transfer of authority by one person to another. The body of delegates from a state to a national nominating convention or from a county to a state or other party convention. The whole body of dele…
Democratic Party
The Democratic Party of the late 1990s supports liberal government policies in social and economic matters. The early party disapproved of federal involvement. Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe—Virginians who were each elected president of the United States—favored limited powers for the national government. Jackson had benefited from growth in the nation's population and f…
Democratic-Republican Party
Virtually all the leading political figures of the new country, starting with Washington, believed that political parties would polarize citizens and paralyze government. Hamilton and Jefferson agreed with this notion, but by 1793 the two groups that they represented had broken off into separate factions. Hamilton's group became the Federalists, while Jefferson's faction adopted the …
Demonstrative Evidence - Further Readings
Evidence other than testimony that is presented during the course of a civil or criminal trial. Demonstrative evidence includes actual evidence (e.g., a set of bloody gloves from a murder scene) and illustrative evidence (e.g., photographs and charts). Many trial attorneys view the presentation of evidence to the jury as analogous to the presentation of information by a teacher to students. As in …
Demonstrative Legacy
Courts often interpret provisions of a will that appear to grant specific legacies of money or shares of stock as demonstrative legacies to avoid the consequences of ademption where it is clear that the testator intended the gift to be made in any event. …
Demurrage
A separate freight charge, in addition to ordinary shipping costs, which is imposed according to the terms of a carriage contract upon the person responsible for unreasonable delays in loading or unloading cargo. In maritime law, demurrage is the amount identified in a charter contract as damages payable to a shipowner as compensation for the detention of a ship beyond the time specified by a char…
Demurrer
An assertion by the defendant that although the facts alleged by the plaintiff in the complaint may be true, they do not entitle the plaintiff to prevail in the lawsuit. The pleadings of the parties to a lawsuit describe the dispute to be resolved. The plaintiff sets out the facts that support the claim made in the complaint, and the defendant then has an opportunity to respond in an answer. …
Dependent Relative Revocation
The doctrine that regards as mutually interrelated the acts of a testator destroying a will and executing a second will. In such cases, if the second will is either never made or improperly executed, there is a rebuttable presumption that the testator would have preferred the former will to no will at all, which allows the possibility of probate of the destroyed will. Some jurisdictions decline to…
Depletion Allowance
Federal law allows the owners of mining operations, such as this copper mine in southeastern Arizona, to claim a tax deduction upon the depletion of the mine's natural deposits. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS A tax deduction authorized by federal law for the exhaustion of oil and gas wells, mines, timber, mineral deposits or reserves, and other natural deposits. Frequently, the ownership of s…
Deportation
The transfer of an alien, by exclusion or expulsion, from the United States to a foreign country. The removal or sending back of an alien to the country from which he or she came because his or her presence is deemed inconsistent with the public welfare, and without any punishment being imposed or contemplated. The grounds for deportation are set forth at 8 U.S.C.A. § 1251, and the procedur…
Deposition - Further Readings
The testimony of a party or witness in a civil or criminal proceeding taken before trial, usually in an attorney's office. Deposition testimony is taken orally, with an attorney asking questions and the deponent (the individual being questioned) answering while a court reporter or tape recorder (or sometimes both) records the testimony. Deposition testimony Depositions, the pretrial tes…
Depreciation
The gradual decline in the financial value of property used to produce income due to its increasing age and eventual obsolescence, which is measured by a formula that takes into account these factors in addition to the cost of the property and its estimated useful life. Depreciation arises from a strong public policy in favor of investment. Income-producing assets such as machines, trucks, tools, …
Alan Morton Dershowitz
Dershowitz, born September 1, 1938, in Brooklyn, was raised in the orthodox Jewish area of Boro Park, New York. He attended Yeshiva University High School, where a principal advised the unexceptional but talkative student to seek a career "where you use your mouth, not your brains" (Keegan 1992). He apparently ignored that advice, graduating magna cum laude from Brooklyn College and …
Descent and Distribution - Origin Of The Law, Persons Entitled, Law Governing, Property Subject To Descent And Distribution - Stepparents Stepchildren, Operation and Effect of a Will, Debts of Intestate Estate
Ordinarily, a stepparent does not inherit from the estate of a deceased stepchild. Similarly, stepchildren do not inherit from their step-parent unless the terms of a statute grant them this right. Rights under intestacy laws are only taken away by a properly executed will disposing of the testator's entire property. These laws can, however, operate in case of partial intestacy where part o…
Desertion
In desertion cases, it is not necessary to prove the emotional state of the abandoning spouse, but only the intent to break off matrimonial ties with no animus revertendi, the intention to return. In some jurisdictions, the law is stringent regarding divorce grounds. In such instances, an Enoch Arden decree might be labeled a dissolution of the marriage rather than a divorce. Desertion is frequent…
Detectives
Individuals whose business it is to observe and provide information about alleged criminals or to discover matters of secrecy for the protection of the public. Private detectives are those who are hired by individuals for private protection or to obtain information. A private detective is licensed but is not ordinarily considered to be a public officer. In cases where private detectives perform th…
Determinate Sentence - Further Readings
A sentence to confinement for a fixed or minimum period that is specified by statute. Determinate sentencing encompasses sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum sentences, and enhanced sentences for certain crimes. Sentencing guidelines allow judges to consider the individual circumstances of the case when determining a sentence, whereas mandatory minimum and enhanced-sentence statutes leave litt…
Deterrence
A theory that criminal laws are passed with well-defined punishments to discourage individual criminal defendants from becoming repeat offenders and to discourage others in society from engaging in similar criminal activity As a result, philosophers, criminologists, judges, lawyers, and others have debated whether and to what extent any criminal justice system actually serves as a deterrent. Deter…
Charles Devens
Charles Devens was born April 4, 1820, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1838 and received a doctor of laws degree in 1877. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840 and began a career that encompassed military and legal achievements. Devens participated in the Massachusetts Senate during 1848 and 1849, followed by service as U.S. marshal from 1849 to 18…
Thomas Edmund Dewey
Thomas E. Dewey. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Thomas Edmund Dewey was born March 24, 1902, in Owosso, Michigan. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1923 from the University of Michigan and a bachelor of laws degree from Columbia University in 1925. After his admission to the bar in 1925, Dewey established his legal practice before becoming U. S. Attorney for the Southern District Dewey&#x…
John Dickinson
John Dickinson was born November 8, 1732, in Talbot County, Maryland. He was educated at the College of New Jersey (today known as Princeton University), where he earned a doctor of laws degree in 1768. He also pursued legal studies at the Middle Temple, Inn of the Court, England. After his admission to the Philadelphia bar in 1757, Dickinson established a prestigious legal practice in that city a…
Digest
A collection or compilation that embodies the chief matter of numerous books, articles, court decisions, and so on, disposed under proper heads or titles, and usually by an alphabetical arrangement, for facility in reference. An index to reported cases, providing brief statements of court holdings or facts of cases, which is arranged by subject and subdivided by jurisdiction and courts. As a legal…
Diligence
There may be a high degree of diligence, a common degree of diligence, and a slight degree of diligence, with their corresponding degrees of negligence. Common or ordinary diligence is that degree of diligence which persons generally exercise in respect to their own concerns; high or great diligence is, of course, extraordinary diligence, or that which very prudent persons take of their own concer…
Diplomatic Agents
Government representatives who are sent by one country to live and work in another, to serve as intermediaries between the two countries. The concept of diplomatic agents residing in another country dates to the fifteenth century, but the role of diplomats has evolved with the passage of time. Originally, agents were asked to help to work out specific negotiations between countries. Nowadays, thei…
Diplomatic Immunity - Further Readings
Established in large part by the Vienna conventions, diplomatic immunity is granted to individuals depending on their rank and the amount of immunity they need to carry out their duties without legal harassment. Diplomatic immunity allows foreign representatives to work in host countries without fully understanding all the customs of that country. However, diplomats are still expected to respect a…