Free Legal Encyclopedia: Purge to Recovered Assets Incentivization Fund (RAIF)
Henry Putzel Jr.
The U.S. Supreme Court appointed Putzel its reporter of decisions in 1964, the thirteenth person to hold the position. As reporter, Putzel was responsible for the accuracy of each opinion, the preparation of headnotes and a syllabus that summarizes the decisions, and the actual publication of each volume of decisions. During his 15-year tenure, he edited or co-edited 64 volumes (nos. 376–44…
Quantum Meruit - Further Readings
[Latin, As much as is deserved.] In the law of contracts, a doctrine by which the law infers a promise to pay a reasonable amount for labor and materials furnished, even in the absence of a specific legally enforceable agreement between the parties. A party who performs a valuable service for another party usually enters into a written contract or agreement before performing the service, particula…
Quasi Contract
A quasi contract is a contract that exists by order of a court, not by agreement of the parties. Courts create quasi contracts to avoid the unjust enrichment of a party in a dispute over payment for a good or service. In some cases a party who has suffered a loss in a business relationship may not be able to recover for the loss without evidence of a contract or some legally recognized agreement. …
Quasi in Rem Jurisdiction
Both in rem and quasi in rem jurisdiction are based on the presence of the party's property within the court's territorial authority. In each instance the court may exercise jurisdiction without the actual presence of the party in court. The distinction between the two types of jurisdiction involves the nature of the dispute to which each applies and the extent of the authority each …
Quasi-Judicial
The action taken and discretion exercised by public administrative agencies or bodies that are obliged to investigate or ascertain facts and draw conclusions from them as the foundation for official actions. Complaints against administrative agencies often arise when an agent denies benefits or places restrictions on an individual. For example, a homeowner who seeks to build another structure on h…
Quasi-Legislative
The capacity in which a public administrative agency or body acts when it makes rules and regulations. Administrative agency rules are made only with the permission of elected lawmakers, and elected lawmakers may strike down an administrative rule or even eliminate an agency. In this sense quasi-legislative activity occurs at the discretion of elected officials. Nevertheless, administrative agenci…
Question of Fact - Further Readings
An issue that involves the resolution of a factual dispute or controversy and is within the sphere of the decisions to be made by a jury. A question of fact is a factual dispute between litigants that must be resolved by the jury at trial. It is an issue that is material to the outcome of the case and requires an interpretation of conflicting views on the factual circumstances surrounding the case…
Question of Law
An issue that is within the province of the judge, as opposed to the jury, because it involves the application or interpretation of legal principles or statutes. On appeal, the trial court's ruling on a question of law generally receives closer scrutiny than a jury's findings of fact. Being present at the trial, the fact finder is in a better position than the appeals court to evalua…
Qui Tam Actions - Further Readings
Civil actions maintained by private persons on behalf of both themselves and the government to recover damages or to enforce penalties available under a statute prohibiting specified conduct. The term qui tam is short for the Latin qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, which means "who brings the action for the king as well as for himself." Qui tam actions a…
Quid Pro Quo
[Latin, What for what or Something for something.] The mutual consideration that passes between two parties to a contractual agreement, thereby rendering the agreement valid and binding. In common usage, quid pro quo refers to the giving of one valuable thing for another. Quid pro quo has the same meaning in the law but with varying implications in different contexts. Quid pro quo, or the exchange…
Quiet Enjoyment
Quiet enjoyment is a right to the undisturbed use and enjoyment of real property by a tenant or landowner. The right to quiet enjoyment is contained in covenants concerning real estate. Generally a covenant is an agreement between two parties to do or refrain from doing something. Other rights related to quiet enjoyment may be tailored to specific situations. For example, at least one court has fo…
Quiet Title Action
A proceeding to establish an individual's right to ownership of real property against one or more adverse claimants. An action to quiet title is a lawsuit filed to establish ownership of real property (land and buildings affixed to land). The plaintiff in a quiet title action seeks a court order that prevents the respondent from making any subsequent claim to the property. Quiet title actio…
in Re Quinlan - Further Readings
In 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan, age twenty-two, stopped breathing and lapsed into a coma. Quinlan's treating physicians determined that in addition to being comatose, Quinlan was in a "chronic persistent vegetative state" and could not survive without the assistance of a respirator. Further, the physicians believed that Quinlan had no chance of recovery and could not Nearly ev…
Quitclaim Deed - Further Readings
An instrument of conveyance of real property that passes any title, claim, or interest that the grantor has in the premises but does not make any representations as to the validity of such title. A quitclaim deed is a release by the grantor, or conveyor of the deed, of any interest the grantor may have in the property described in the deed. Generally a quitclaim deed relieves the grantor of liabil…
Quo Warranto
A legal proceeding during which an individual's right to hold an office or governmental privilege is challenged. In old English practice, the writ of quo warranto—an order issued by authority of the king—was one of the most ancient and important writs. It has not, however, been used for centuries, since the procedure and effect of the judgment were so impractical. Currently th…
Racial and Ethnic Discrimination - Further Readings
Acts of bias based on the race or ethnicity of the victim. …
Racial Profiling - Should Police Practice Racial Profiling?, Further Readings
The consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin by an officer of the law in deciding when and how to intervene in an enforcement capacity. Police officers often profile certain types of individuals who are more likely to perpetrate crimes. Many of these suspects are profiled because of activities observed by police officers. For example, if someone who is obviously poor is frequently seen…
Racketeering - Rico In Need Of Feform, Further Readings
Racketeering, as it is commonly understood, has always coexisted with business. In the United States, the term racketeer was synonymous with members of organized-crime operations. Organized crime continued to proliferate in the 1960s. After investigating and debating organized-crime legislation for approximately 20 years, beginning with Senate committee hearings conducted in 1951 by Tennessee Sena…
Railroad - The Robber Barons, Further Readings
The idea of using rails for transportation was first conceived in the sixteenth century. The first railroads used wooden rails to guide horse-drawn wagons. In the eighteenth century, cast-iron wheels and rails were used in Europe and England, and by the nineteenth century, horses had been replaced by many steam-driven engines as the source of power. The first public railroad equipped for steam-pow…
Railroad Retirement Act
Congress first passed the Railroad Retirement Act in 1934 to reward the hard work done by railroad workers, recognize the national benefits conferred by railroad work, and encourage the retirement of older railroad workers. By offering the means for railroad workers "to enjoy the closing days of their lives with peace of mind and physical comfort," Congress intended to provide jobs t…
Roberta Cooper Ramo - Further Readings
She was also the first ABA president with a technological bent, proselytizing for decades about the need for modern management techniques and computerization in running law firms. Ramo, the daughter of a Western clothing retailer, was born August 8, 1942, in Denver, Colorado. She graduated from the University of Colorado magna cum laude in 1964. She then entered the University of Chicago Law Schoo…
Asa Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph. FISK UNIVERSITY LIBRARY His life's work grew out of a request by Pullman car porters to help them organize a union. In the 1920s railroads dominated U.S. transportation. The dining cars, club cars, and sleeping cars of passenger trains were staffed by African American porters, who earned their money primarily from the tips of passengers. Ignored by the American F…
Edmund Jennings Randolph
Randolph was born on August 10, 1753, in Williamsburg, Virginia. He attended William and Mary College and then studied law with his father, who was a prominent lawyer and the king's attorney in the colony of Virginia. As the American Revolution approached, Randolph sided with the independence movement, while his father remained loyal to the crown. In 1775 Randolph's father, mother, a…
Jeannette Rankin
Rankin was born on June 11, 1880, on a ranch near Missoula, Montana. The oldest of seven children, Rankin was first among a family of high achievers. One of Rankin's sisters became dean of women at the University of Montana, and another taught in the English department there. Rankin's only brother and Jeannette Rankin. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS another sister became well-known, pol…
Robert Rantoul Jr.
Rantoul was born on August 13, 1805, in Beverly, Massachusetts. He attended private schools before enrolling at Harvard University. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and practiced law in Salem. Rantoul served in the Massachusetts legislature for several terms before becoming U.S. attorney for the district of Massachusetts. He was briefly a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representati…
Rape - New Approach To Treating Rape Victims, Rape Shield Laws: Can They Be Fair?, Further Readings
A criminal offense defined in most states as forcible sexual relations with a person against that person's will. Rape is the commission of unlawful sexual intercourse or unlawful sexual intrusion. Rape laws in the United States have been revised over the years, and they vary from state to state. Historically, rape was defined as unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman against her will. The…
Rational Basis Test - Further Readings
Courts employ various standards of review to assess whether legislative acts violate constitutionally protected interests. The U.S. Supreme Court has articulated the rational basis test for those cases where a plaintiff alleges that the legislature has made an arbitrary or irrational decision. When a court employs the rational basis test, it usually upholds the constitutionality of the law, becaus…
John Bordley Rawls - Further Readings
Rawls was born on February 21, 1921, in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1943 and his doctorate from Princeton in 1950. Rawls was an instructor at Princeton between 1950 and 1952, before attending Oxford University in England as a Fulbright Fellow. Upon his return to the United States in 1953, he served as a professor at Cornell University (1…
Ronald Wilson Reagan - Further Readings
Ronald Reagan. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Dixon, Illinois. He attended nearby Eureka College and graduated in 1932. He worked as a radio and sports announcer at several stations in Iowa before he was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout. He signed an acting contract with the Warner Brother…
Real Estate
Land, buildings, and things permanently attached to land and buildings. Also called realty and real property. The sale and lease of real estate in the United States are major economic activities and are regulated by state and federal laws. The two major types of real estate are commercial and residential real estate. Commercial real estate involves the sale and lease of property for business purpo…
Reasonable Doubt
A standard of proof that must be surpassed to convict an accused in a criminal proceeding. The reasonable doubt standard is not used in every stage of a criminal prosecution. The prosecution and defense need not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that every piece of evidence offered into trial is authentic and relevant. If a prosecutor or defendant objects to a piece of evidence, the objecting party …
Reasonable Force
The amount of force necessary to protect oneself or one's property. Reasonable force is a term associated with defending one's person or property from a violent attack, theft, or other type of unlawful aggression. It may be used as a defense in a criminal trial or to defend oneself in a suit alleging tortious conduct. If one uses excessive force, or more than the force necessary for …
Reasonable Woman
In evaluating alleged sexual harassment, the reasonable person standard is an objective standard of perception based on a fictitious, reasonable person. Using this standard in a sexual harassment case, the fact finder would ask whether a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position would have felt that the respondent's actions constituted grounds for a sexual harassment claim. By co…
Receiver - Obligations, Compensation
Courts appoint receivers to take custody, manage, and preserve money or property that is subject to litigation so that when the final judgment is rendered, the property remains available to accomplish what has been ordered. The power to appoint a receiver is rarely utilized by the courts, and only upon a showing that it is required to preserve the property. Receivership cannot properly be used to …
Receiving Stolen Property - Elements - Defenses, Punishment, Civil Remedies, Federal Law
The offense of acquiring goods with the knowledge that they have been stolen, extorted, embezzled, or unlawfully taken in any manner. An honest, although mistaken, belief that property is not stolen is a defense to the crime of receiving stolen property. Intoxication is another defense, but the intoxication must be severe enough to prevent any knowledge that the property was stolen. Infancy and in…
Recidivism - Further Readings
The behavior of a repeat or habitual criminal. A measurement of the rate at which offenders commit other crimes, either by arrest or conviction baselines, after being released from incarceration. In March 2003, the Supreme Court ruled on two separate cases Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 123 S. Ct. 1179, 155 L. Ed. 2d 108 (2003), and Lockyer v. Andrade,, 538 U.S. 63, 123 S. Ct. 1166, 155 L. Ed. …
Recognition
A nation is not truly sovereign and independent unless other nations recognize its sovereignty. Formal recognition operates to assure a new state that it will be permitted to hold its place and rank as an independent political body among the nations. Recognition takes effect from the time it is given as if the state had always existed, and a new government can carry forward international projects …
Recording of Land Titles - Further Readings
A process by which proof of ownership of real property is filed in the appropriate county office or court to allow purchasers, creditors, and other interested parties to determine the status of the property interests therein. In nearly every state the validity of a conveyance, as between grantor (seller) and grantee (purchaser), is not affected by whether the deed is filed in the public records or…
Recovered Memory - Further Readings
The heightened awareness of child sexual abuse that developed in the 1980s also brought with it the controversial topic of recovered memory. Some mental health therapists contended that children repress memories of abuse so completely that years later they have no memory of it. These therapists believed that through the use of recovered memory therapy, victims are able to recover the memories of t…