Free Legal Encyclopedia: Tonnage tax to Umpire
Torrens Title System
A system for recording land titles under which a court may direct the issuance of a certificate of title upon application by the landowner. The Torrens title system is a method of registering titles to real estate. Real estate that is recorded using this method is also called registered property or Torrens property. The system is used in the British Commonwealth countries, including Canada, and in…
Tort Law - Intentional Torts, Breast Implant Lawsuits, Negligence, Strict Liability, Causation, Damages, Immunity
A body of rights, obligations, and remedies that is applied by courts in civil proceedings to provide relief for persons who have suffered harm from the wrongful acts of others. The person who sustains injury or suffers pecuniary damage as the result of tortious conduct is known as the plaintiff, and the person who is responsible for inflicting the injury and incurs liability for the damage is kno…
Totten Trust
An arrangement created by a person depositing his or her own money in his or her own name in a bank account for the benefit of another. A sample Totten trust A Totten trust is a tentative trust, revocable at will, until the depositor dies or completes the gift in his or her lifetime by some unequivocal act or declaration, such as delivery of the pass-book or notice to the beneficiary. If th…
Isaac Toucey
Isaac Toucey was born on November 5, 1796, in Newtown, Massachusetts. He studied law as a young man and was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1818. After practicing law in Hartford, Connecticut, for several years, he was appointed state's attorney in 1822, and held that office until 1835. Nevertheless, Toucey capitalized on the national stature he attained as attorney general. He was elect…
Town - Powers, Meetings, Boards Or Councils, Taxation, Claims - Taxpayer's Suit
A civil and political subdivision of a state, which varies in size and significance according to location but is ordinarily a division of a county. The terms township and town are frequently used interchangeably in certain geographic locations, although in some parts of the United States the term township denotes a group of several towns. Since towns can be formed only from contiguous territory, t…
Townshend Acts
In 1767 Parliament decided to reduce the property tax in England. To compensate for the deficit, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, proposed legislation that would raise revenue from various taxes directed at the colonists. These laws, called the Townshend Acts, imposed duties on the importation of such articles as lead, glass, paint, tea, and paper into the colonies. The money collec…
Tracing
Persons who have been victims of fraud, misappropriation, or mistake may reclaim their property through the equitable remedy called tracing. Tracing makes such victims secured creditors in bankruptcy claims, which means by law they are the first to claim their share of a bankrupt's assets. Tracing can be invoked only if two requirements are met: victims must be able to identify their proper…
Trade Dress - Further Readings
A product's physical appearance, including its size, shape, color, design, and texture. To establish a claim for trade dress infringement, a company must demonstrate the distinctiveness of its product's appearance. Trade dress will not receive protection from infringement unless it is unique, unusual, or widely recognized by the public. Courts have found a variety of trade dress to b…
Trade Name
Names or designations used by companies to identify themselves and distinguish their businesses from others in the same field. Trade names are used by profit and non-profit entities, political and religious organizations, industry and agriculture, manufacturers and producers, wholesalers and retailers, sole proprietorships and joint ventures, partnerships and corporations, and a host of other busi…
Trade Secret
Any valuable commercial information that provides a business with an advantage over competitors who do not have that information. In general terms trade secrets include inventions, ideas, or compilations of data that are used by a business to make itself more successful. Specifically, trade secrets include any useful formula, plan, pattern, process, program, tool, technique, mechanism, compound, o…
Trade Union
An organization of workers in the same skilled occupation or related skilled occupations who act together to secure for all members favorable wages, hours, and other working conditions. Trade unions are entitled to conduct a strike against employers. A strike is usually the last resort of a trade union, but when negotiations have reached an impasse, a strike may be the only bargaining tool le…
Trade Usage
Any system, custom, or practice of doing business used so commonly in a vocation, field, or place that an expectation arises that it will be observed in a particular transaction. Trade usage supplements, qualifies, and imparts particular meanings to the terms of an agreement for the purpose of the agreement's interpretation. Contractual language cannot be interpreted out of the context of t…
Trademarks - Origins And Development Of Trademark Law, In The King's Name, Trademark Registration, Trademark Infringement
Distinctive symbols of authenticity through which the products of particular manufacturers or the salable commodities of particular merchants can be distinguished from those of others. A trademark is a device, word or combination of words, or symbol that indicates the source or ownership of a product or service. A trademark can be a name, such as Adidas, or a symbol, such as McDonald's gold…
Trading Stamps and Coupons
A comprehensive term for any type of tickets, certificates, or order blanks that can be offered in exchange for money or something of value, or for a reduction in price when a particular item is purchased. U.S. businesses attempt to attract customers by using advertising, promising low prices, and claiming to offer high-quality goods and services. Another way of attracting business is by offering …
Transfer
To remove or convey from one place or person to another. The removal of a case from one court to another court within the same system where it might have been instituted. An act of the parties, or of the law, by which the title to property is conveyed from one person to another. Transfer encompasses the sale and every other method, direct or indirect, of (1) disposing of property or an interest th…
Transfer of Assets
The conveyance of something of value from one person, place, or situation to another. A will is a common way of transferring assets. The testator, the person writing and signing the will, states in writing how the assets of his estate shall be divided and transferred upon his death. The estate of the testator is subject to inheritance taxes, but the remainder is transferred to the heirs and benefi…
Transnational Corporation
Any corporation that is registered and operates in more than one country at a time; also called a multinational corporation. A transnational, or multinational, corporation has its headquarters in one country and operates wholly or partially owned subsidiaries in one or more other countries. The subsidiaries report to the central headquarters. The growth in the number and size of transnational corp…
Transnational Law
All the law—national, international, or mixed—that applies to all persons, businesses, and governments that perform or have influence across state lines. Transnational law regulates actions or events that transcend national frontiers. It involves individuals, corporations, states, or other groups—not just the official relations between governments of states. An almost infinite…
Transportation Department - Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Office of the Secretary of Transportation
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) establishes overall transportation policy for the United States. Under the DOT umbrella are 11 administrations whose jurisdictions include highway planning, development, and construction; urban mass transit; railroads; aviation; and the safety of ports, highways, and oil and gas pipelines. Decisions made by the department in conjunction with appropriate …
Mililani B. Trask - Further Readings
Mililani B. Trask, a native Hawaiian attorney, is the leader of a Hawaiian sovereignty movement that seeks the establishment of a separate nation for native Hawaiians and the return of the state-managed lands to which native Hawaiians are legally entitled. Trask returned to Hawaii and joined the growing native struggle over land control and development. She began community organizing on sovereignt…
Traverse
For example, a plaintiff could bring a lawsuit in order to collect money that he claimed the defendant owed him. If the defendant answered the plaintiff's claim by stating in answer that she did not fail to pay the money owed on the date it was due, this is a denial of a fact essential to the plaintiff's case. The defendant can be said to traverse the plaintiff's declaration o…
Roger John Traynor - Further Readings
In 1940 Governor Culbert Olson appointed Traynor to the California Supreme Court, making him the first law school professor to be appointed directly to the court. Although he had little experience in private practice, Traynor had earned renown as one of the nation's leading tax scholars. Over the next three decades, he wrote more than 950 opinions and continued his scholarly work, writing m…
Treason - Further Readings
The betrayal of one's own country by waging war against it or by consciously or purposely acting to aid its enemies. The crime of treason requires a traitorous intent. If a person unwittingly or unintentionally gives aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States during wartime, treason has not occurred. Similarly, a person who pursues a course of action that is intended to benefit the Un…
Treaties in Force
Treaties in Force lists those treaties and other agreements that had not expired on the date of publication, had not been repudiated by the parties, had not been replaced by other agreements, or had not otherwise been terminated. It employs the term treaties in its broad, generic sense as alluding to all international agreements of the United States. In its narrower sense, in the United States, th…
Treaty
Though a treaty may take many forms, an international agreement customarily includes four or five basic elements. The first is the preamble, which gives the names of the parties, a statement of the general aims of the treaty, and a statement naming the plenipotentiaries (the persons invested with the power to negotiate) who negotiated the agreement and verifying that they have the power to make th…
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the U.S. Revolutionary War and granted the thirteen colonies political independence. A preliminary treaty between Great Britain and the United States was signed in 1782, but the final agreement was not signed until September 3, 1783. The surrender of the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, ended the major military hostilities of the Revolution…
Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference began in January 1919. The conference was dominated by David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Wilson of the United States, with Vittorio Orlando of Italy playing a lesser role. These leaders agreed that Germany and its allies would have no role in negotiating the treaty. The first of Wilson's Fourteen Points stated that it was essen…
Trent Affair
In 1861, the newly established Confederacy appointed two emissaries to represent its government overseas. James Murray Mason was assigned to London, England, and John Slidell was sent to Paris, France. The two envoys successfully made their way to Havana, Cuba, where they boarded an English ship, the Trent, which set sail on November 7. The next day, the San Jacinto, a Union warship under the comm…
Trial - Historical Background, Pretrial Matters, Trial Participants, Trial Process
A judicial examination and determination of facts and legal issues arising between parties to a civil or criminal action. In the United States, the trial is the principal method for resolving legal disputes that parties cannot settle by themselves or through less formal methods. The chief purpose of a trial is to secure fair and impartial administration of justice between the parties to the action…
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire - Further Readings
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire that took place in New York City on March 25, 1911, remains a landmark event in the history of U.S. industrial disasters. The fire that claimed the lives of 146 people, most of them immigrant women and girls, caused an outcry against unsafe working conditions in factories and sweatshops located in New York and in other industrial centers throughout the United S…
Robert Trimble
Trimble was born on November 17, 1776, in Augusta County, Virginia. His family moved to central Kentucky when Trimble was a young boy. He was educated at the Kentucky Academy in Woodford County, Kentucky, before reading the law with two prominent attorneys in the area. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1800 and established a lucrative law practice in Paris, Kentucky. commission that settled a…
Trover
The action of trover originally served the plaintiff who had lost property and was trying to recover it from a defendant who had found it. Soon the lost and found portions of the plaintiff's claim came to be considered a legal fiction. The plaintiff still included them in the complaint, but they did not have to be proved, and the defendant had no right to disprove them. This brought the dis…
Harry S. Truman - Further Readings
At that point Truman entered politics, developing an association with Thomas J. Pendergast, the Democratic leader who ran Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri. With Pendergast's backing, Truman became a county judge in 1922, at a time when a law degree was not required to be a judge. Truman proved an able judge and administrator, but anti-Pendergast forces defeated him in 1924. He was r…
Trust - Basic Concepts, Private Trusts, Creation Of Express Trusts, Methods Of Creation, Protection Of Beneficiary's Interest From Creditors
A relationship created at the direction of an individual, in which one or more persons hold the individual's property subject to certain duties to use and protect it for the benefit of others. Individuals may control the distribution of their property during their lives or after their deaths through the use of a trust. There are many types of trusts and many purposes for their creation. A t…
Trustee
An individual or corporation named by an individual, who sets aside property to be used for the benefit of another person, to manage the property as provided by the terms of the document that created the arrangement. A trustee manages property that is held in trust. A trust is an arrangement in which one person holds the property of another for the benefit of a third party, called the beneficiary.…
Sojourner Truth - Further Readings
In 1829 she moved to New York City and worked as a domestic servant. Since childhood she had experienced visions and heard voices, which she attributed to God. Her mystic bent led her to become associated with Elijah Person, a New York religious missionary. She worked and preached with Person in the streets of the city, and in 1843 she had a religious experience in which she believed that God comm…
Tuskegee Syphilis Study - Further Readings
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study constituted one of the most shameful acts in the history of American medicine. The repercussions of this study, which allowed 400 African American men afflicted with syphilis to go untreated for a period of almost 40 years, are felt to this day. It resulted in new laws governing medical experiments on humans, and—some would argue—a legacy of suspicion of t…
Elbert Parr Tuttle
Because racial segregation was law throughout most of the South, the Fifth Circuit became the United States' proving ground for civil rights in the late 1950s and 1960s. Tuttle and fellow judges John R. Brown, of Houston, Texas, Richard T. Rives, of Montgomery, Alabama, and Tuttle probably reflected on his own schooling when championing equal education for all. He was born July 17, 189…
Twelfth Amendment - Further Readings
The Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Framers of the U.S. Constitution provided for an indirect method of presidential selection. Under this arrangement each state was authorized to appoint as many electors as it had senators and representatives in Congress. This electoral college, as it came to be called, was empowered to choose the president, and the person receiving the seco…
Twentieth Amendment
The Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Twentieth Amendment was proposed on March 2, 1932, and ratified on January 23, 1933. The amendment moved the date on which new presidential and vice presidential terms begin as well as the date for beginning new congressional terms, ended the abbreviated congressional session that had formerly convened in even-numbered years, and fixed pr…
Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Further Readings
The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: Section 3 deals with a situation in which the president communicates in writing to Congress that he is "unable to discharge the powers and duties" of the office. The vice president then assumes the role of acting president. The vice president continues in this role unless and until the president is able to transmit a declarat…
Twenty-First Amendment
The Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed on February 20, 1933, and ratified on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to repeal another amendment, the Eighteenth, and the only one to be ratified by state conventions rather than by state legislatures. Prohibition was supported most strongly in rural areas. In urban areas enforcement was …
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The abolition of the poll tax was not a controversial issue, even at a time of fierce southern resistance to racial desegregation. The amendment was limited to federal elections, however, leaving state elections outside its scope. Following the ratification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court abandoned the Breedlove preceden…
Twenty-Second Amendment
The Twenty-second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Twenty-second Amendment was proposed on March 24, 1947, and ratified on February 27, 1951. The amendment imposed term limits on the office of president of the United States. After the 1946 election, which produced Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, the Republicans sought to prevent a repetition of Roosevelt's act…
Twenty-Seventh Amendment - Further Readings
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: In 1982 Gregory Watson, a twenty-year-old student at the University of Texas, wrote a term paper arguing for ratification of the amendment. Watson received a 'C' grade for the paper and then embarked on a one-man campaign for the amendment's ratification. From his home in Austin, Texas, Watson wrote letters to state …
Twenty-Sixth Amendment
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971. The ratification period of 107 days was the shortest in U.S. history. The amendment, which lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, was passed quickly to avert potential problems in the 1972 elections. Nevertheless, the drive for lowering th…
Twenty-Third Amendment
The Twenty-third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The Twenty-third Amendment was proposed on June 16, 1960, and ratified on March 29, 1961. The amendment rectified an omission in the Constitution that prevented residents of the District of Columbia from voting in presidential elections. Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to accept land from the states and administe…
Tying Arrangement
An agreement in which a vendor conditions the sale of a particular product on a vendee's promise to purchase an additional, unrelated product. In a tying arrangement, the product that the vendee actually wants to purchase is known as the "tying product," while the additional product that the vendee must purchase to consummate the sale is known as the "tied product.�…
John Tyler
In 1823 Tyler returned to the Virginia legislature, where he served two years. In 1825 he was elected governor of Virginia, and in 1827 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. During his nine years in the Senate, Tyler opposed several of President Andrew Jackson's policies though he and Jackson were both Democrats. In 1832 South Carolina issued its nullification policy, declaring its right …
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest not-for-profit federation of businesses, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations in the United States. As of 2003, the chamber was comprised of 3000 state and local chambers and 830 business associations. There were also 92 U.S. Chambers of Commerce abroad. Businesses that make up the chamber range from Fortune 500 co…
U.S. Civil War
On July 21, 30,000 Union troops marched on Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. They were routed at the Battle of Bull Run and forced to retreat to Washington, D.C. The defeat shocked Lincoln and Union leaders, who called for 500,000 new troops for the Union Army of the Potomac. The Army of the Potomac, however, did not have such success. A Union summer offensive against Confederate…
U.S. Code
A multivolume publication of the text of statutes enacted by Congress. Until 1926, the positive law for federal legislation was published in one volume of the Revised Statutes of 1875, and then in each sub-sequent volume of the statutes at large. In 1925, Congress authorized the preparation of the U.S. Code and appointed a revisor of statutes to extract all the sections of the Revised Statutes of …
U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims - Further Readings
Consisting of one chief judge and two to six associate judges—all appointed to a term of 15 years by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate—the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has the "power to affirm, modify, or reverse a decision of the [BVA] or to remand the matter, as appropriate" (38 U.S.C.A. § 4051 (a) [recodi…
U.S. Courts of Appeals
The U.S. Courts of Appeals are intermediate federal appellate courts. Created in 1891 pursuant to Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the courts relieve the U.S. Supreme Court from the burden Each state is assigned on the basis of its geographical location to one of eleven judicial circuits. The District of Columbia has its own circuit; U.S. territories are assigned to the first, third…
U.S. Information Agency - Further Readings
The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) was the public diplomacy arm of the U.S. government. The USIA existed "to further the national interest by improving United States relations with other countries and peoples through the broadest possible sharing of ideas, information, and educational and cultural activities" (22 U.S.C.A. § 1461 [1988]). Generally, this intention meant that th…
U.S. Marshals Service
The service is responsible for providing support and protection for the federal courts, including security for more than 700 judicial facilities and more than 2,000 federal judges and magistrates, as well as trial participants such as jurors and attorneys. In recent year this responsibility has increased due to a dramatic escalation in threats against members of the judiciary. The service also ope…
U.S. Postal Service - Further Readings
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) processes and delivers mail to individuals and businesses within the United States. The service seeks to improve its performance through the development of efficient mail-handling systems and operates its own planning and engineering programs. The service is also responsible for protecting the mails from loss or theft and apprehending those who violate postal laws. A…
U.S. Sentencing Commission - Further Readings
By the 1950s and 1960s, the theories surrounding effective punishment changed again. Facing criticism that indeterminate sentencing was giving judges and parole boards too much discretion and not reducing crime, a number of state legislatures passed laws that called for mandatory minimums for certain crimes. Proponents of the deterrence model contended that people would be deterred from committing…
Office of U.S. Trade Representative - Further Readings
The U.S. trade representative is a cabinet-level official with the rank of ambassador who is directly responsible to the president and the Congress. The USTR is responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy and for leading or directing negotiations with other countries on such matters. Through an interagency structure, the USTR coordi…
Ultimate Facts
Information essential to a plaintiff's right of action or a defendant's assertion of a defense. By the 1930s legal commentators agreed that the need to plead ultimate facts was hindering the cause of justice. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which were adopted in 1938, eliminated the ultimate fact requirement and changed the philosophy behind the plaintiff's complaint and…
Ultra Vires - Further Readings
[Latin, Beyond the powers.] The doctrine in the law of corporations that holds that if a corporation enters into a contract that is beyond the scope of its corporate powers, the contract is illegal. The doctrine of ultra vires played an important role in the development of corporate powers. Though largely obsolete in modern private corporation law, the doctrine remains in full force for government…
Umpire
Arbitration is the submission of a dispute to an unbiased third person designated by the parties to the controversy, who agree in advance to comply with the decision. Arbitration is quicker, less expensive, and more informal than a court proceeding. Commercial arbitration and labor arbitration are commonplace in the United States. Persons who hear these types of dispute resolution cases are called…