Free Legal Encyclopedia: Ministerial to National Education Association
Minitrial
The minitrial is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure that is used by businesses and the federal government to resolve legal issues without incurring the expense and delay associated with court litigation. The mini-trial does not result in a formal adjudication but is a vehicle for the parties to arrive at a solution through a structured settlement process. It is used most effectively…
Sherman Minton
Sherman Minton. U.S. SUPREME COURT Minton suffered serious health problems for several years and resigned from the Court for health reasons in 1956. He died on April 9, 1965, in New Albany, Indiana. …
Misfeasance
Generally, a civil defendant will be liable for misfeasance if the defendant owed a duty of care toward the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty of care by improperly performing a legal act, and the improper performance resulted in harm to the plaintiff. For example, assume that a janitor is cleaning a restroom in a restaurant. If he leaves the floor wet, he or his employer could be liable …
Misprision - Further Readings
The failure to perform a public duty. Misprision is a versatile word that can denote a number of offenses. It can refer to the improper performance of an official duty. In Arkansas, for example, rule 60 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a judgment, decree, or order may be vacated or modified "for misprisions of the clerk." In this sense misprision refers to negle…
Misrepresentation
An assertion or manifestation by words or conduct that is not in accord with the facts. To create liability for the maker of the statement, a misrepresentation must be relied on by the listener or reader. Also, the speaker must know that the listener is relying on the factual correctness of the statement. Finally, the listener's reliance on the statement must have been reasonable and justif…
Missouri Compromise of (1820) - Further Readings
The issue of slavery had been troublesome since the drafting of the Constitution. Slave-holding states, concerned that they would be outvoted in Congress because their white population was much smaller than that of the free states, extracted concessions. Under the Constitution, representation of the U.S. House of Representatives was based on the total white population and three-fifths of the black…
Mistake of Fact - Further Readings
An error that is not caused by the neglect of a legal duty on the part of the person committing the error but rather consists of an unconscious ignorance of a past or present material event or circumstance or a belief in the present existence of a material event that does not exist or a belief in the past existence of a material event that did not exist. Mistake of fact can be a factor in reducing…
Mistake of Law
A misconception that occurs when a person with complete knowledge of the facts reaches an erroneous conclusion as to their legal effect; an incorrect opinion or inference, arising from a flawed evaluation of the facts. Generally, a mistaken belief about a law is no defense to a violation of that law. All persons are presumed to know and understand the law, except minors, persons who lack mental ca…
Mistrial
A courtroom trial that has been terminated prior to its normal conclusion. A mistrial has no legal effect and is considered an invalid or nugatory trial. It differs from a "new trial," which recognizes that a trial was completed but was set aside so that the issues could be tried again. A judge may declare a mistrial for several reasons, including lack of jurisdiction, incorrect jury…
John Newton Mitchell
Mitchell became rich and prominent as a municipal bond lawyer, devising new ways for states and municipalities to finance construction projects. He met Richard M. Nixon in 1962, when Nixon joined a prominent New York law firm. At that time Nixon appeared to have no political future; he had lost the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial election. In 1967 Mitchell's…
William De Witt Mitchell
William de Witt Mitchell was a distinguished lawyer who became the fifty-fourth attorney general of the United States. Mitchell was born on September 9, 1874, in Winona, Minnesota. He was the son of William Mitchell, a distinguished justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court for whom the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul is named. The younger Mitchell left Minnesota at the age of fourteen to…
Mitigating Circumstances
Circumstances that may be considered by a court in determining culpability of a defendant or the extent of damages to be awarded to a plaintiff. Mitigating circumstances do not justify or excuse an offense but may reduce the severity of a charge. Similarly, a recognition of mitigating circumstances to reduce a damage award does not imply that the damages were not suffered but that they have been p…
Mitigation of Damages
The use of reasonable care and diligence in an effort to minimize or avoid injury. In contract law the non-breaching party should mitigate damages or risk a reduction in recovery for the breach. For example, assume that a property owner and home builder contract for the construction of a home in exchange for payment of $50,000. Assume further that the builder begins constructing the home but that …
Model Acts
The ALI was founded in 1923 by a group of American judges, lawyers, and law professors. Its goal was to resolve uncertainty and complexity in American law by promoting clarification and simplicity in the law. Since its founding, the organization has worked with other scholarly organizations to draft model and uniform statutes that may be adopted by the various state legislatures. The ABA also appr…
Model Penal Code - Further Readings
Members of the American Law Institute (ALI), a group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars whose purpose is to clarify and improve the law, began working on the Model Penal Code in 1952. The group had abandoned two previous attempts to create a model criminal code. The third attempt took ten years, and the ALI produced numerous drafts, reports, and revisions. Herbert Wechsler, a Columbia Law Scho…
Modification
A change or alteration in existing materials. Modification generally has the same meaning in the law as it does in common parlance. The term has special significance in the law of contracts and the law of sales. The parties to a completed and binding contract are free to change the terms of the contract. Changes to a preexisting contract are called contract modifications. If the parties agree to m…
Modus Operandi
[Latin, Method of working.] A term used by law enforcement authorities to describe the particular manner in which a crime is committed. The term modus operandi is most commonly used in criminal cases. It is sometimes referred to by its initials, M.O. The prosecution in a criminal case does not have to prove modus operandi in any crime. However, identifying and proving the modus operandi of a crime…
Money Laundering - Further Readings
The process of taking the proceeds of criminal activity and making them appear legal. Criminals want their illegal funds laundered because they can then move their money through society freely, without fear that the funds will be traced to their criminal deeds. In addition, laundering prevents the funds from being confiscated by the police. Money laundering usually consists of three steps: placeme…
Monopoly - History, Government Regulation, Exemptions, Further Readings
An economic advantage held by one or more persons or companies deriving from the exclusive power to carry on a particular business or trade or to manufacture and sell a particular item, thereby suppressing competition and allowing such persons or companies to raise the price of a product or service substantially above the price that would be established by a free market. In a monopoly, one or more…
Monroe Doctrine
On December 2, 1823, Monroe presented the terms of the Monroe Doctrine, which Adams had helped to develop. The doctrine contained four significant elements: the American continents were to be regarded as independent, with no further settlement by European nations; the nations of the Western Hemisphere were deemed republics, as opposed to the European system of monarchies; European intervention in …
James Monroe
Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on April 28, 1758. He attended the College of William and Mary at the age of 16 but left in 1776 to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was wounded at the Battle of Trenton but served until the end of the war. James Monroe. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In 1823 Monroe presented the most significant measure of his administration, the Monroe Doctrine. D…
Charles-Louis de Secondat Montesquieu Baron de la Brède et de - Further Readings
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French social and political philosopher whose ideas about laws and government had great influence on the leaders of the American Revolution and the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. Montesquieu was born January 18, 1689, in La Brède, France, just outside of Bordeaux, to an aristocratic family with considerable land…
Montgomery Bus Boycott - Further Readings
Several of Rosa Parks' friends were members of the Women's Political Council (WPC), an organization of black professionals founded in 1946. As early as 1953, WPC members had been actively pursuing changes in bus segregation law through communications with Mayor W.A. Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man on December 1, 1955, sparked the 11-month long M…
William Henry Moody
Moody established a private practice in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and served as the city solicitor for two years (1888–1890). In 1890 he William H. Moody. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Shortly after the Borden case, the Republicans nominated Moody to a seat in Congress. He was elected to the House of Representatives in November 1895 and became one of its most influential members. On Apri…
Alfred Moore
Moore was a youth during the country's difficult transition from British colony to independent nation. Born on May 21, 1755, in New Hanover County, North Carolina, he was the son of Maurice Moore, a colonial judge. Moore studied in Boston before being educated in law by his father, and he was admitted to the North Carolina bar at the age of twenty in 1775. Soon after, he fought against the …
Moot Court - Further Readings
A method of teaching law and legal skills that requires students to analyze and argue both sides of a hypothetical legal issue using procedures modeled after those employed in state and federal appellate courts. In the mid-1700s moot courts in the United States had a tradition of debate and oratory revered in undergraduate institutions such as Yale College. Moot court exercises have changed in the…
Moral Law - Cross-references
The rules of behavior an individual or a group may follow out of personal conscience and that are not necessarily part of legislated law in the United States. Moral law is a system of guidelines for behavior. These guidelines may or may not be part of a religion, codified in written form, or legally enforceable. For some people moral law is synonymous with the commands of a divine being. For other…
Moral Relativism
Notwithstanding this flexible approach to law, moral relativism often plays a significant role in the shaping of law and the punishment of criminals. In 2002, U.S. News & World Report cited a Zogby International poll of 401 randomly selected college seniors, which was commissioned by the National Association of Scholars. According to the results, 73 percent of the students interviewed indic…
Moratorium
A suspension of activity or an authorized period of delay or waiting. A moratorium is sometimes agreed upon by the interested parties, or it may be authorized or imposed by operation of law. The term also is used to denote a period of time during which the law authorizes a delay in payment of debts or performance of some other legal obligation. This type of moratorium is most often invoked during …
Mormon Church - Further Readings
Joseph Smith based his teachings on his translation of hieroglyphic messages revealed to him on several golden plates. Smith's translation of these divine messages is known as the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon and the Bible form the basis of Mormon belief. During the early 1800s, Smith and his followers settled in Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri, where they were persecuted…
Mortgage
A legal document by which the owner (i.e., the buyer) transfers to the lender an interest in real estate to secure the repayment of a debt, evidenced by a mortgage note. When the debt is repaid, the mortgage is discharged, and a satisfaction of mortgage is recorded with the register or recorder of deeds in the county where the mortgage was recorded. Because most people cannot afford to buy real es…
Carol Elizabeth Moseley-Braun
Carol Moseley-Braun was the first woman and first African-American to serve as assistant majority leader of the Illinois House of Representatives; later, she became the first woman and first African-American to hold executive office in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. In 1992, she became the first African-American woman from Carol Moseley-Braun. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS the state of Illinois t…
Most-Favored-Nation Status
A method of establishing equality of trading opportunity among states by guaranteeing that if one country is given better trade terms by another, then all other states must get the same terms. In the twentieth century, the history of world trade is dominated by the move from protective tariffs to free trade. International agreements have permitted most of the world's nations to export their…
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
MADD was founded by a small group of California women in 1980 after 13-year-old Cari Lightner was killed by a hit-and-run driver who had previous drunk driving convictions. Although the offender was sentenced to two years in prison, the judge allowed him to serve time instead in a work camp and a halfway house. Candy Lightner, the victim's mother, worked to call attention to the need for mo…
Motion
In the U.S. judicial system, procedural rules require most motions to be made in writing and can require that written notice be given in advance of a motion being made. Written motions specify what action the movant is requesting and the reasons, or grounds, for the request. A written motion may contain citations to case law or statutes that support the motion. A motion almost always contains a re…
Motive
An idea, belief, or emotion that impels a person to act in accordance with that state of mind. Proof of motive is not required in a criminal prosecution. In determining the guilt of a criminal defendant, courts are generally not concerned with why the defendant committed the alleged crime, but whether the defendant committed the crime. However, a defendant's motive is important in other sta…
Constance Baker Motley - Further Readings
Motley was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 14, 1921, one of nine children. The America in which Motley grew up was segregated. As a child going to a beach in Milford, Constance Baker Motley. THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE Connecticut, Motley was turned away because of the color of her skin. When she returned home, she asked her parents, both West Indian immigrants, why the color of her …
Movant
One who makes a motion before a court. The applicant for a judicial rule or order. Generally, it is the job of the movant to convince a judge to rule, or grant an order, in favor of the motion. Rules and legal precedent within particular jurisdictions, as well as the type of motion sought, dictate the burdens of proof and persuasion each party must meet when a court considers a motion. A summary j…
Movie Rating - Further Readings
A classification given to a commercially released motion picture that indicates to consumers whether the film contains sex, profanity, violence, or other subject matter that may be inappropriate for persons in certain age groups. In the movie business, a better rating is generally a lower rating. Movies typically make more money when they appeal to the widest possible audience. This rule holds tru…
Robert Swann Mueller III - Further Readings
Mueller was born in New York City on August 7, 1944. He graduated from Princeton University in 1966. He also received a master's degree in International Studies from New York University. In 1973, he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he also served on the Law Review. Mueller served for three years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He spent o…
Multidistrict Litigation
Congress has given the federal judicial system a mechanism to help manage complex and protracted civil lawsuits that are related to each other. Under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1407, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has the authority to transfer related cases to one federal judge for "coordinated and consolidated pre-trial discovery" in advance of trial. The panel is composed…
Municipal Corporation - Further Readings
An incorporated political subdivision of a state that is composed of the citizens of a designated geographic area and which performs certain state functions on a local level and possesses such powers as are conferred upon it by the state. A municipal corporation is a city, town, village, or borough that has governmental powers. A municipality is a city, town, village, or, in some states, a borough…
Murder - Women Murdered On The Job, Mass Murders And Serial Killings
The unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse. Some jurisdictions still use the term malice aforethought to define intentional murder, but many have changed or elaborated on the term in order to describe more clearly a murderous state of mind. California has retained the malice aforethought definition of murder (Cal. Penal Code § 187 [West 1996]). It also maint…
Francis William Murphy
Murphy served for nine years as an associate justice. He wrote 199 opinions. Inherently suspicious of government power and passionately devoted to the rights of the weak, Murphy supported civil rights in nearly every case. He scorned the federal government's treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, for example, and at other times sided with the claims of workers and religious mi…
Music Publishing - Further Readings
The contractual relationship between a songwriter or music composer and a music publisher, whereby the writer assigns part or all of his or her music copyrights to the publisher in exchange for the publisher's commercial exploitation of the music. Publishing income comes from various sources, but it is separate from income derived from retail sales of recordings. Income from recording sales…
Ellen Spencer Mussey
At a time when women in the United States were often excluded from higher education, Ellen Spencer Mussey helped found a coeducational law school to promote the social and economic advancement of women. Mussey was born May 13, 1850, in Geneva, Ohio, to Platt Rogers Spencer and Persis Duty Spencer. After attending Lake Erie Seminary, in Painesville, Ohio, and Rockford Seminary, in Rockford, Illinoi…
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini. GALE This expulsion radically changed Mussolini's political outlook. He founded Il Popol d'Italia (The People of Italy), a strident newspaper that argued that Italy should enter the war against Germany. When Italy did join the war, Mussolini enlisted in the army and served from 1915 to 1917, when he was wounded. After the war Mussolini started his own politi…
Mutual Fund - Further Readings
A fund, in the form of an investment company, in which shareholders combine their money to invest in a variety of stocks, bonds, and money-market investments such as U.S. Treasury bills and bank certificates of deposit. Mutual funds provide a form of investment that is both relatively safe and relatively lucrative. Mutual funds offer investors the advantages of professional management of invested …
My Lai Massacre
The Vietnam War began in the 1940s as a war of liberation between Vietnamese nationalists called the Viet Minh and the French who controlled Vietnam. The Viet Minh sought help from Communist China in the mid-1950s, bringing the conflict to the attention of the United States. In 1954 the French were decisively defeated, and the country was temporarily divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. M…
NAACP
In 1941 the NAACP established its Washington, D.C., bureau as the legislative advocacy and lobbying arm of the organization. The bureau does the strategic planning and coordination of NAACP political action and legislation program. It acts as the liaison between NAACP units and government agencies, and it coordinates the work of other organizations that support NAACP programs and proposals. The bu…
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund - Further Readings
In the early 2000s the Fund continued its fight in support of equal education and affirmative action. In February 2003 the LDF filed briefs in two major suits that challenged the use of race-conscious criteria in the admissions programs of the University of Michigan law school and its undergraduate School of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In June the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Unive…
Ralph Nader - Further Readings
After Princeton, Nader attended Harvard Law School, where he edited the Harvard Law Record, and graduated with distinction in 1958. Ralph Nader. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS It was at Harvard that he first became interested in auto safety. After studying auto-injury cases, in 1958 he published his first article on the subject, "American Cars: Designed for Death," in the Harvard Law Re…
Name
The designation of an individual person or of a firm or corporation. A word or combination of words used to distinguish a person, thing, or class from others. The method by which an individual can change his or her name is usually prescribed by state statutes and involves filing a certificate in, or making an application to, a court. Whether or not a name change will be granted is ordinarily a mat…
Napoleonic Code
The first modern organized body of law governing France, also known as the Code Napoleon or Code Civil, enacted by Napoléon I in 1804. …
Naral Pro-Choice America
The NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1977, supports research and legal work, publishes substantive policy reports, mounts public education campaigns and other communications projects, and provides leadership training for grassroots activists. The NARAL Foundation and NARAL employ a computerized state-by-state database, NARAL*STAR (State Tracking of Abortion…
Nation of Islam - Further Readings
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization whose origins are somewhat mysterious. Wallace D. Fard, later known as Master Wallace Fard Muhammad, established the NOI in Detroit during the 1930s. Fard Muhammad, a traveling salesman who sold African silks and advocated self-sufficiency and independence for African Americans, taught Elijah Poole the history of what Fard Muhamma…
National Association of Broadcasters
The organization was founded in 1922, when radio broadcasting was in its infancy. Founded as the National Association of Radio Broadcasters, it changed its name to the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters in 1951, when it absorbed the Television Broadcasters Association. In 1958 it changed its name to the National Association of Broadcasters. In 1985 it absorbed the Daytime Br…
National Association of Manufacturers
NAM was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1895, in the midst of a economic recession. Many major manufacturers saw a need to find new markets for their products in other countries. At its organizing convention, NAM adopted a number of objectives, including the retention and supply of home markets with U.S. products, extension of foreign trade, development of reciprocal trade relations between the Un…
National Association of Realtors
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is made up of residential and commercial realtors who are brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, and counselors, and others working in the real estate industry. NAR began as the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges in 1908 with a membership of 120. In 2003 its membership numbered over 840,000, making it the world's largest pr…
National Cooperative Bank
The National Consumer Cooperative Bank (NCCB) was created and chartered by the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act (92 Stat. 499, 12 U.S.C.A. 3001), enacted on August 20, 1978. The bank is directed by the act to encourage the development of new and existing cooperatives. The bank provides specialized credit and technical assistance to eligible cooperatives that provide goods, services, housing,…
National Council of La Raza - Further Readings
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States. The NCLR was founded in 1968 as a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing discrimination and poverty and to improving the lives and economic opportunities of Hispanic Americans. The NCLR has over 270 formal affiliates serving 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Ri…
National Credit Union Administration - Programs And Activities
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is responsible for chartering, insuring, supervising, and examining federal credit unions (FCUs) and for administering the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. The NCUA also manages the Central Liquidity Facility, a mixed-ownership government corporation, the purpose of which is to supply emergency loans to member credit unions. A credit …
National Education Association
The National Education Association (NEA) is a nonprofit and nonpartisan professional organization made up of elementary and secondary school teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, and others interested in public education. The NEA, which was founded in 1857, is the oldest and largest U.S. organization dealing with public education. The organizat…