Federal and state tax laws require a quarterly payment of estimated taxes due from corporations, trusts, estates, non-wage employees, and wage employees with income not subject to withholding. Individuals must remit at least 100 percent of their prior year tax liability or 90 percent of their current year tax liability in order to avoid an underpayment penalty. Corporations must pay at least 90 pe…
When Congress first debated the Ethics and Government Act in the late 1970s, it seemed as if the nation had been through a long nightmare of ethics scandals, with Watergate being only the most prominent and devastating. The purpose of the act was to increase public confidence in the level of integrity of federal government officials, to deter conflicts of interest from arising, and to stop unethic…
The branch of philosophy that defines what is good for the individual and for society and establishes the nature of obligations, or duties, that people owe themselves and one another. In modern society, ethics define how individuals, professionals, and corporations choose to interact with one another. Although the law does influence the conduct of some professions, many ethical issues cannot be se…
Paula Louise Ettelbrick is a lawyer and activist for lesbian and gay rights, and a lifelong advocate of public service. She was the first staff attorney for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and served as its legal director from 1988 to 1993. Ettelbrick was born October 2, 1955, on a U.S. Army base in Stuttgart, Germany. Growing up in a devout Catholic family, she was taught by her parents …
The term involuntary euthanasia is used to describe the killing of a person who has not explicitly requested aid in dying. This term is most often used with respect to patients who are in a persistent vegetative state and who probably will never recover consciousness. …
William M. Evarts. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Evarts was born February 16, 1818, in Boston. He graduated from Yale University in 1837 and then attended Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1841 and subsequently established a successful legal practice. From 1849 to 1853, Evarts acted as assistant district attorney for the New York District. Following the end of the Civil War,…
By antagonizing powerful white supremacists, Evers put himself in constant danger in his home state. When he was shot and killed by a sniper on June 12, 1963, many Mississippians were not surprised. Upon his death, Evers became an early martyr in the African American struggle for equal rights. More than thirty years later, when Byron de la Beckwith finally was convicted of Evers's assassina…
Following her husband's assassination, Evers-Williams assumed his position as NAACP field secretary. Then, in 1964, she decided to move with her three young children to Claremont, California, and begin a new life. In 1967, she published For Us the Living, a memoir of her life with her late husband. She earned a degree in sociology at Pomona College in 1968, and then became director of plann…
Any matter of fact that a party to a lawsuit offers to prove or disprove an issue in the case. A system of rules and standards that is used to determine which facts may be admitted, and to what extent a judge or jury may consider those facts, as proof of a particular issue in a lawsuit. …
[Latin, On one side only.] Done by, for, or on the application of one party alone. An ex parte judicial proceeding is conducted for the benefit of only one party. Ex parte may also describe contact with a person represented by an attorney, outside the presence of the attorney. The term ex parte is used in a case name to signify that the suit was brought by the person whose name follows the term. A…
[Latin, "After-the-fact" laws.] Laws that provide for the infliction of punishment upon a person for some prior act that, at the time it was committed, was not illegal. The Constitution did not provide a definition for ex post facto laws, so the courts have been forced to attach meaning to the concept. In Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 386, 1 L. Ed. 648 (1798), the U.S. Supreme Cou…
The act of excepting or excluding from a number designated or from a description; that which is excepted or separated from others in a general rule or description; a person, thing, or case specified as distinct or not included; an act of excepting, omitting from mention, or leaving out of consideration. Express exclusion of something from operation of contract or deed. An exception operates to tak…
The exclusionary rule has been in existence since the early 1900s. Before the rule was fashioned, any evidence was admissible in a criminal trial if the judge found the evidence to be relevant. The manner in which the evidence had been seized was not an issue. This began to change in 1914, when the U.S. Supreme Court devised a way to enforce the Fourth Amendment. In Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S…
The process whereby an official, usually a sheriff, is directed by an appropriate judicial writ to seize and sell as much of a debtor's nonexempt property as is necessary to satisfy a court's monetary judgment. With respect to contracts, the performance of all acts necessary to render a contract complete as an instrument, which conveys the concept that nothing remains to be done to m…
A presidential policy directive that implements or interprets a federal statute, a constitutional provision, or a treaty. The president's power to issue executive orders comes from Congress and the U.S. Constitution. Executive orders differ from presidential proclamations, which are used largely for ceremonial and honorary purposes, such as declaring National Newspaper Carrier Appreciation …
The right of the president of the United States to withhold information from Congress or the courts. Finally, the third development in executive privilege resulted from Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. United States, 157 F. Supp. 939, 141 Ct. Cl. 38 (Cl. Ct. 1958). In this case, Kaiser President Richard Nixon cited executive privilege when he refused to release tapes of his conversat…
Those who are designated by the terms of a will or appointed by a court of probate to manage the assets and liabilities of the estate of the deceased. States require court supervision for the settlement of estates for a number of reasons. Courts ensure that the assets of an estate will be properly collected, preserved, and assessed; that all relevant debts of the deceased and taxes will be paid; a…
This .22-caliber revolver used by John Hinckley in his assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan was submitted as evidence in Hinckley's 1982 trial. An exhibit is tangible evidence submitted to a court for inspection during the course of trial proceedings. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS remedies before filing her suit in federal court, because such a requirement would be inconsist…
Testimony about a scientific, technical, or professional issue given by a person qualified to testify because of familiarity with the subject or special training in the field. Generally speaking, the law of evidence in both civil and criminal cases confines the testimony of witnesses to statements of concrete facts within their own observation, knowledge, and recollection. Testimony must normally …
Explosives are a necessity in a developing world. They allow building contractors to excavate land and clear pathways for road building. However, explosives are inherently dangerous, and, despite strict government regulation, even the authorized use of explosives may cause injuries or property damage. When injury or damage occurs, an aggrieved person may seek redress in civil court. Strict liabili…
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, commonly known as Eximbank, facilitates and helps to finance exports of U.S. goods and services. Eximbank has implemented a variety of programs to meet the needs of the U.S. exporting community, according to the size of the transaction. These programs take the form of direct lending, or the issuance of guarantees and insurance so that exporters and priv…
A law executed to explain the actual meaning and intent of a previously enacted statute. Courts have stated that Congress has the power to declare the proper construction of a statute by subsequent legislation. Courts are generally bound to apply subsequent legislative construction in lawsuits involving transactions that occurred after the enactment of the legislation. Provisions of expository sta…
Clear; definite; explicit; plain; direct; unmistakable; not dubious or ambiguous. Declared in terms; set forth in words. Directly and distinctly stated. Made known distinctly and explicitly, and not left to inference. Manifested by direct and appropriate language, as distinguished from that which is inferred from conduct. The word is usually contrasted with implied. Express authority is plainly or…
The taking of private property for public use or in the public interest. The taking of U.S. industry situated in a foreign country, by a foreign government. President Truman issued an executive order to expropriate 88 steel mills, including this one in Youngstown, Ohio. The Supreme Court held in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.v. Sawyer that the president did not have the power to take priva…