Blasphemy is a common-law offense and also an offense by statute in certain jurisdictions. It must be uttered in the presence of another person or persons or published in order to be an offense. Mere use of profanity is not considered blasphemy. Blasphemy statutes are rarely, if ever, enforced today. …
A close writ—unlike a patent writ—is closed up, sealed on the outside, and not open to inspection by the public. In former times, such a writ could have been directed to the sheriff rather than the lord of a particular manor. …
An action in which the parties submit a formal written enumeration of facts that they both accept as correct and complete so that a judge can render a decision based upon conclusions of law that can be drawn from the stated facts. A case agreed on is also known as an amicable action, a case stated, or a friendly suit. …
A detailed statement of the mutual debit and credit demands between parties to which no further changes can be made on either side. A closed account is distinguishable from an account stated, which remains open for the purposes of adjustment and set-off. …
A segment of a town or city surrounded by streets and avenues on at least three sides and usually occupied by buildings, though it may be composed solely of vacant lots. The section of a city enclosed by streets that is described by a map which indicates how a portion of land will be subdivided. …
A type of business corporation that is owned and operated by a small group of people. A closed corporation is also known as a close corporation, a family corporation, an incorporated partnership, and a chartered partnership. In this type of corporation all of the functions are usually performed by the same parties. These individuals serve as shareholders, officers, and directors and are involved i…
The practice of illegally frightening homeowners by telling them that people who are members of a particular race, religion, or national origin are moving into their neighborhood and that they should expect a decline in the value of their property. The purpose of this scheme is to get the homeowners to sell out at a deflated price. An unscrupulous real estate agent will subsequently sell the vacat…
Legal principles enunciated and embodied in judicial decisions that are derived from the application of particular areas of law to the facts of individual cases. As opposed to statutes—legislative acts that proscribe certain conduct by demanding or prohibiting something or that declare the legality of particular acts—case law is a dynamic and constantly developing body of law. Each c…
There is dispute over whether the blood feud was legal under Teutonic or Anglo-Saxon law. "Devil Anse" Hatfield, pictured with members of his family. The Hatfield-McCoy feud, which lasted almost 30 years, is perhaps the most infamous example of a blood feud. BETTMANN/CORBIS During the ninth-century reign of Alfred, a feud could lawfully commence only after an attempt was made …
A shop in which persons are required to join a particular union as a precondition to employment and to remain union members for the duration of their employment. Among the workers' rights legalized by the NLRA was the right to enter into a "closed shop" agreement. It differs from a union shop, in which all workers, once employed, must become union members within a specified pe…
Between 1979 and 1989, MacKinnon was a visiting professor at a number of prominent law schools, including her alma mater, Yale. Although she was a prolific writer and a popular teacher, her views and her actions concerning pornography made her a controversial public figure. Her radical feminist theories challenged the legitimacy of the legal system and mainstream liberal thought. She argued that m…
A written record of arrests and other occurrences maintained by the police. The report kept by the police when a suspect is booked, which involves the written recording of facts about the person's arrest and the charges against him or her. …
A system of instruction or study of law focused upon the analysis of court opinions rather than lectures and textbooks; the predominant method of teaching in U.S. law schools today. Langdell viewed the law as a science and believed that it should be studied as a science. Law, he said, Each doctrine, Langdell said, arrived at its present state by slow degrees, growing and extending through centurie…
A phrase used to describe the ownership, management, and operation of a corporation by a small group of people. In a closely held corporation, the same people often act as shareholders, directors, and officers, and no outside investors exist. …
A publication that establishes the correct form of case citations or of references to a legal authority showing where information can be found. A volume that explains the organization of a state government and provides the names of state officials. The proper title is "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation." In a generic sense, this term also refers to a report issued by the Joi…
A term used in Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution to describe the structure by which actual, conflicting claims of individuals must be brought before a federal court for resolution if the court is to exercise its jurisdiction to consider the questions and provide relief. …
A state or local law that prohibits commercial activities on Sunday. In 1781, the Reverend Samuel Peters published A General History of Connecticut, in which he used the term blue laws to refer to a set of laws that the Puritans had enacted in the 1600s to control morality. He claimed that the laws were printed on blue paper, hence the terminology. Historians, however, have concluded that this cla…
A case stated is also called an amicable action, a case agreed on, or a friendly suit. …
The final transaction between a buyer and seller of real property. At the closing, all agreements between buyer and seller are finalized, documents are signed and exchanged, money passes to the seller, and title to the property passes to the buyer. Closings generally take place at the office of the title company, which issues title insurance to both buyer and lender. This insurance is issued after…
A group of highly qualified persons selected by a court on the request of either party to a lawsuit to decide complex and specialized disputes. …
The final factual and legal argument made by each attorney on all sides of a case in a trial prior to a verdict or judgment. In an age when jury consultants warn about short attention spans, contemporary attorneys shy away from arch rhetoric. Most lawyers want to reach the jury's emotions through plain, but pointed, speech. Rhetorical questions are still used powerfully; quotations from lit…
Almost all states have adopted blue sky laws, regulating the sale of securities—investments in bonds, mutual funds, limited partnerships, and so forth. These laws acquired their name as early as 1917, when the Supreme Court issued a decision on "speculative schemes which have no more basis than so many feet of 'blue sky'" (Hall v. Geiger-Jones Co., 242 U.S. 539, …
The procedure by which debate is formally ended in a meeting or legislature so that a vote may be taken. Cloture is a means of terminating a filibuster, which is a prolonged speech on the floor of the Senate designed to forestall legislative action. …
A group of people comprising the governing body of a corporation. The shareholders of a corporation hold an election to choose people who have been nominated to direct or manage the corporation as a board. In the past nearly all states required that at least three directors run a corporation. The laws have changed, however, since many corporations have only one or two shareholders and therefore re…
A method of accounting that considers only money actually received as income and only money actually paid out as expense. …
An apparent claim or encumbrance, such as a lien, that, if true, impairs the right of the owner to transfer his or her property free and clear of the interests of any other party. The existence of a cloud on title casts doubt upon the ability of an owner of real property to convey marketable title to his or her land, thereby lessening its value. The owner must present evidence to dispel the cloud …
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…
Part of the executive branch of state government authorized to grant pardons, and restore civil and political rights, to individuals convicted of crimes. A pardon, in the legal sense, releases an individual from punishment or penalty, but does not necessarily exonerate them of guilt. Unlike the federal government, where the president possesses the power to pardon persons convicted of felonies, man…
The amount of money that an insurance company pays the insured upon cancellation of a life insurance policy before death and which is a specific figure assigned to the policy at that particular time, reduced by a charge for administrative expenses. The cash surrender value of an insurance policy is not based upon its actual value, but upon its reserve value—the face amount of the contract d…
Charles O'Conor achieved prominence as a New York attorney and as counsel for the prosecution in the trial of the notorious Tweed Ring. In 1871 O'Conor began a four-year term as special deputy attorney general for New York State. During his tenure he acted as counsel for the prosecution in the trial of William M. ("Boss") Tweed and his followers, who controlled a corrup…
All 50 states have governing bodies that oversee the administration of public education. A number of states call the body that administers the state college and university system the board of regents. The word regent is an English term that originally meant ruler. In the British university system, a regent presided over academic debates; this association with higher education increased over time. …
Irregular, occasional, or accidental; happening without being planned or foreseen. The term is used to describe an event that is unanticipated or unusual. A casual sale is one that is not customary, or done in the usual course of business—such as a jeweler occasionally selling vacuum cleaners. …
The principal part of anything as distinguished from its subordinate parts, as in the main part of an instrument. An individual, an organization, or an entity given legal recognition, such as a corporation or "body corporate." A compilation of laws known as a "body of laws." …
An arrest; a seizure of a defendant. A sheriff or other public officer can be ordered by a court to arrest a defendant and the officer executes the order by taking the body of the defendant into custody. The order itself may be called a capias, or capias ad satisfaciendum (Latin for "that you take him in order to satisfy it"). …
A serious or fatal accident. A person or thing injured, lost, or destroyed. A disastrous occurrence due to sudden, unexpected, or unusual cause. Accident; misfortune or mishap; that which comes by chance or without design. A loss from such an event or cause, as by fire, shipwreck, lightning, etc. An inevitable casualty is one that occurs through no fault of anyone. It happens totally without desig…
That which is unqualified or unconditional. A categorical imperative is a rule, command, or moral obligation that is absolutely and universally binding. …
Lee's father was a well-educated farmer with extensive landholdings in Virginia. His mother, Lucy Grymes Lee, had been admired and courted by George Washington prior to her marriage. In fact, Lee's mother continued to cultivate Washington's interest long after her marriage—and it was largely owing to her influence that Lee's brother, Henry Lee III (a future gener…
A description of uniform language used normally in legal documents that has a definite, unvarying meaning in the same context that denotes that the words have not been individually fashioned to address the legal issue presented. …
An organization composed of people who voluntarily meet on a regular basis for a mutual purpose other than educational, religious, charitable, or financial pursuits. A club is any kind of group that has members who meet for a social, literary, or political purpose, such as health clubs, country clubs, book clubs, and women's associations. The term club is not a legal term per se, but a grou…
A prefix that denotes jointness or the state of being conjunct or united. To be together, with, or not separate from; conjoint or combined. A corespondent in a lawsuit is one who is joined as a defendant in the suit. A co-owner is a person who owns something in conjunction with another person. A co-administrator is one who jointly handles the management of property with one or more persons. …
[Latin, In good faith.] Honest; genuine; actual; authentic; acting without the intention of defrauding. …
[Latin, In contemplation of approaching death.] A phrase sometimes used in reference to a deathbed gift, or a gift causa mortis, since the giving of the gift is made in expectation of approaching death. A gift causa mortis is distinguishable from a gift inter vivos, which is a gift made during the donor's (the giver's) lifetime. For example, an elderly man is suffering from pneumonia…
A grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, who was Napoleon's youngest brother, Charles Joseph Bonaparte was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 9, 1851. After graduating from Harvard College in 1871, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1874. Bonaparte returned to Baltimore and established a private practice. At the time, public corruption of elected officials was widespread in the United S…
Written documents by which a government, corporation, or individual—the obligor—promises to perform a certain act, usually the payment of a definite sum of money, to another—the obligee—on a certain date. The most common type of bond is the simple bond. This bond is sold with a fixed interest rate and is then redeemed at a set time. Several varieties of simple bonds exi…
Each separate antecedent of an event. Something that precedes and brings about an effect or a result. A reason for an action or condition. A ground of a legal action. An agent that brings something about. That which in some manner is accountable for a condition that brings about an effect or that produces a cause for the resultant action or state. A suit, litigation, or action. Any question, civil…
A systematic and comprehensive compilation of laws, rules, or regulations that are consolidated and classified according to subject matter. …
The current value of an asset. The book value of an asset at any time is its cost minus its accumulated depreciation. (Depreciation reflects the decrease in the useful life of an asset due to use of the asset.) Companies use book value to determine the point at which they have recovered the cost of an asset. The calculation of book value is important in determining the value of a company that is b…
[French, famous case.] A trial or lawsuit in which the subject matter or a participant is particularly newsworthy, unusual, or sensational and that typically attracts a great deal of media attention. For example, the case of Scott Peterson, accused of the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, was a cause célèbre in 2003. …
To meet this need, Congress created the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) as a more permanent and better organized source of federal regulations. The original methods employed in compiling the code are still used. Documents are selected from the Federal Register and arranged in a scheme of fifty titles, some of which are the same as the titles used to organize federal statutes in the U.S. Code.…
The procedure by which law enforcement officials record facts about the arrest of and charges against a suspect such as the crime for which the arrest was made, together with information concerning the identification of the suspect and other pertinent facts. This information is written down on the police blotter in the police station. The process of booking may also include photographing and finge…
The fact or combination of facts that gives a person the right to seek judicial redress or relief against another. Also, the legal theory forming the basis of a lawsuit. …
The Code of Hammurabi was a comprehensive set of laws, considered by many scholars to be the oldest laws established; they were handed down four thousand years ago by King Hammurabi of Babylon. This stele shows King Hammurabi (c. 1780 B.C.) standing before Shamash, a Sumerian sun god associated with justice. The law code is set out in cuneiform writing below the figures. GIANNI DAGLI ORTI/CORB…
The process of systematically and methodically recording the financial accounts and transactions of an entity. Double-entry bookkeeping is an accounting system that requires that for every financial transaction there must be a debit and a credit. When merchandise is sold for cost, there is a debit to cash and a credit to sales. …
[Latin, Let him beware.] A warning; admonition. A formal notice or warning given by an interested party to a court, judge, or ministerial officer in opposition to certain acts within his or her power and jurisdiction. Originally, a caveat was a document that could be served on either a judge or a public official to give him or her notice that he or she should discontinue a certain proceeding until…
[Latin, Let the buyer beware.] A warning that notifies a buyer that the goods he or she is buying are "as is," or subject to all defects. When a sale is subject to this warning the purchaser assumes the risk that the product might be either defective or unsuitable to his or her needs. A seller who is in the business of regularly selling a particular type of goods has still greater re…
To yield up; to assign; to grant; to surrender; to withdraw. Generally used to designate the transfer of territory from one government to another. …
A colloquial phrase that refers to the solemnization or formalization of a marriage. In a number of states there must be a celebration of a marriage through some type of official government ceremony before a marriage will be legally recognized. …
A collection of rules governing the conduct of judges while they serve in their professional capacity. …
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 to…
A document that is executed by a person who had previously made his or her will, to modify, delete, qualify, or revoke provisions contained in it. A codicil effectuates a change in an existing will without requiring that the will be reexecuted. The maker of the codicil identifies the will that is to be changed by the date of its execution. The codicil should state that the will is affirmed except …
Charles Warren, a prominent lawyer and legal historian, is best known for his three-volume study, The Supreme Court in U.S. History, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Warren was born on March 9, 1868, in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard College, receiving his A.B. in 1889. He then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1892. He was admitted to the bar that same year, and began to…
The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, was an event that exemplified the growing tension between the American colonies and England which would subsequently result in the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. In 1767 the English Parliament had levied an import tax on tea, glass, paper, and lead. The duties were labeled the Townshend Acts—part of a series of unpopular taxes directed at the colonist…
The collection and systematic arrangement, usually by subject, of the laws of a state or country, or the statutory provisions, rules, and regulations that govern a specific area or subject of law or practice. The term codification denotes the creation of codes, which are compilations of written statutes, rules, and regulations that inform the public of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Civil l…
A contract, in maritime law, by which money is borrowed for a specified term by the owner of a ship for its use, equipment, or repair for which the ship is pledged as collateral. If the ship is lost in the specified voyage or during the limited time, the lender will lose his or her money according to the provisions of the contract. A contract by which a ship or its freight is pledged as security f…
The intimidation of a victim to compel the individual to do some act against his or her will by the use of psychological pressure, physical force, or threats. The crime of intentionally and unlawfully restraining another's freedom by threatening to commit a crime, accusing the victim of a crime, disclosing any secret that would seriously impair the victim's reputation in the communit…
The adjective "cognizable" has two distinct (and unrelated) applications within the field of law. A cognizable claim or controversy is one that meets the basic criteria of viability for being tried or adjudicated before a particular tribunal. The term means that the claim or controversy is within the power or jurisdiction of a particular court to adjudicate. …
The power, authority, and ability of a judge to determine a particular legal matter. A judge's decision to take note of or deal with a cause. …
Natural or artificial separations or divisions between adjoining properties that show their limits. Boundaries are used to establish private and public ownership by determining the exact location of the points at which one piece of land is distinguishable from another. They are also used to mark the functional and jurisdictional limits of political subdivisions. For example, in the United States, …
[Latin, He has confessed the action.] The written confession made by a defendant admitting the merits of the action brought against him or her by a plaintiff. The confession is usually based upon designated conditions, given in court, and impliedly empowers the plaintiff's attorney to sign judgment and issue execution for its enforcement. …
Areas that are set aside by public authority or private persons for the burial of the dead. A public cemetery is open for use by the community at large while a private cemetery is used only by a small segment of a community or by a family. A cemetery includes not only the actual grave sites but also surrounding areas such as avenues, walks, and grounds. Cemeteries are not governed by laws that app…
An extraordinary document by which a debtor authorizes his or her creditor's attorney to enter a confession in court that allows judgment against the debtor. A creditor may ask the borrower to sign a cognovit note when credit is extended. If the debtor falls into arrears the creditor can obtain a judgment against the person without notification to the debtor. There is usually little the deb…
Name for a category of persons who are offered a promised gratuity in return for "hunting" down and capturing or killing a designated target, usually a person or animal. Bounty hunters can be defined broadly as a category of persons who track down someone or something for money. A bounty is a subsidy that is paid to a category of persons who have performed a public service. Bounty is…
A living arrangement in which an unmarried couple lives together in a long-term relationship that resembles a marriage. Couples cohabit, rather than marry, for a variety of reasons. They may want to test their compatibility before they commit to a legal union. They may want to maintain their single status for financial reasons. In some cases, such as those involving gay or lesbian couples, or indi…
James Dale joined the Cub Scouts in 1978 at the age of eight. Three years later he became a Boy Scout and remained one until he turned 18. By all accounts, Dale was an exemplary scout, eventually achieving the status of Eagle Scout, the highest rank to which a scout can aspire. In 1989 Dale applied for adult membership and was approved. He then served as an assistant troop scoutmaster in Matawan, …
A classic example of this is a consumer boycott whereby a group of customers refuses to purchase a particular product in order to indicate their dissatisfaction with excessive prices or the offensive actions of a particular manufacturer or producer. …
Booker T. Washington. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Possessed of a quick and lively intelligence, Washington was fascinated by the books he saw at the Ruffners' house and, with Mrs. Ruffner's encouragement, became determined to get a higher education. When Washington was 16, he made a long trek on foot to attend the Hampton Agricultural Institute in Virginia. The institute had been foun…
A provision of an insurance policy that provides that the insurance company and the insured will apportion between them any loss covered by the policy according to a fixed percentage of the value for which the property, or the person, is insured. Insurance is intended to spread the risk of any loss among every insured who purchases a particular type of policy from an insurance company and the comp…
On the Court, Washington almost always followed the lead of Chief Justice Marshall. The two had been friends since their student days and shared political sympathies. Marshall, widely viewed as the greatest leader of the Court Washington also made independent contributions to the Court. He wrote the first part of the decision in Ogden v. Saunders, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 213, 6 L. Ed. 606 (1827),…
In 1956 Hoover interpreted a recent federal law—the Communist Control Act of 1954 (50 U.S.C.A. § 841)—as providing the general authority for a covert campaign against the U.S. Communist party. Officially, the law stripped the party of "the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies created under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States.�…
The suppression or proscription of speech or writing that is deemed obscene, indecent, or unduly controversial. Throughout history, societies practiced various forms of censorship in the belief that the community, as represented by the government, was responsible for molding the individual. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato advocated various degrees of censorship in The Republic; th…
A formal, public reprimand for an infraction or violation. From time to time deliberative bodies are forced to take action against members whose actions or behavior runs counter to the group's acceptable standards for individual behavior. In the U.S. Congress, that action can come in the form of censure. Censure is a formal and public condemnation of an individual's transgressions. I…
The cold war began in the aftermath of World War II. Although only recently allied against Germany, the United States and the Soviet Union saw their relationship quickly dis-integrate. The division of Europe, with the Soviet bloc countries sealed off behind what Churchill called the "iron curtain," had been the first blow. A fear that Communism would A family sits in their bomb s…
An official count of the population of a particular area, such as a district, state, or nation. Census data are also used to allocate federal and state funding and services. By the mid-1990s, more than $50 billion in federal aid for education, housing, and health programs to states and cities was distributed annually based on census numbers. In addition, census information is used in academic rese…
Related; indirect; not bearing immediately upon an issue. The property pledged or given as a security interest, or a guarantee for payment of a debt, that will be taken or kept by the creditor in case of a default on the original debt. …
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…
Much of the center's work has involved international causes and foreign clients. In the early 1970s, the CCR sued the U.S. government to discover answers regarding U.S. citizens missing in Chile and U.S. involvement in the support of Chilean leader Salvador Allende. The group has broken ground in the battle to establish the right to sue foreign governments or individuals in U.S. courts. In …
An attempt to impeach or overturn a judgment rendered in a judicial proceeding, made in a proceeding other than within the original action or an appeal from it. A collateral attack may also be made upon a judicial proceeding in a single state. …
The legal arm of the Brady Center is the Legal Action Project (LAP). Its goal is to "represent gun violence victims and the public interest in the courts." For example, LAP provides free legal assistance to victims in lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers, and owners. And it pushes for legislation that will force the gun industry to improve the safety in gun design and to chang…
On April 19, 1995, following a 51-day standoff, federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. A fire, later determined to have been set by the Davidians, destroyed the compound and killed 57 of its residents. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS search and arrest warrants on members of the Branch Davidian religious cult at the apocalyptic sect's compound near Waco, Texas. Four…
Cass Gilbert was the U.S. architect responsible for the traditional style and regal proportions seen in many of the nation's finest public buildings—including the Supreme Court Building, in Washington, D.C. His remarkable body of work included federal, state, municipal, educational, and religious structures as well as facilities designed for commercial, industrial, and private use. G…
Individuals employed, during conciliation, to investigate the facts of a particular dispute and to submit a report stating the facts and proposing terms for the resolution of the differences. …
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 politic…
A doctrine by which an earlier decision rendered by a court in a lawsuit between parties is conclusive as to the issues or controverted points so that they cannot be relitigated in subsequent proceedings involving the same parties. The application of the collateral estoppel doctrine promotes the speedy administration of justice by preventing the continuous, duplicative litigation of fruitless clai…
A successor to property—either by will or descent and distribution—who is not directly descended from the deceased but comes from a parallel line of the deceased's family, such as a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or cousin. …
In real estate transactions, an assurance or guaranty of title made by the holder of the title to the person to whom the property is conveyed. …
After his military service, Hooks attended Howard University, in Washington, D.C., and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1944. Hooks then traveled to Chicago to study law at DePaul University. Although Hooks wanted to enroll in a Tennessee law school, he could not do so because law schools in Tennessee refused to admit African Americans. Hooks graduated with a doctor of laws degree from …
As part of the 2001 reorganization, three new business centers were developed: the Center for Beneficiary Choices, the Center for Medicare Management, and the Center for Medicaid and State Operations. The Center for Beneficiary Choices provides beneficiaries with information about Medicare, Medicare Select, Medicare+Choice, and Medigap options. It also manages the Medicare+Choice plans, consumer r…
A collective bargaining agreement is the ultimate goal of the collective bargaining process. Typically, the agreement establishes wages, hours, promotions, benefits, and other employment terms as well as procedures for handling disputes arising under it. Because the collective bargaining agreement cannot address every workplace issue that might arise in the future, unwritten customs and past pract…
Rush resumed his work as a physician, teacher, and lecturer. In 1783, he helped to found Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and became one of its trustees. In 1786, he founded the Philadelphia Dispensary, a clinic that provided free medical services to poor people. He advocated limitations on the use of alcohol and tobacco, encouraged the use of clinical research and instruction, and adv…
A common-law right of action for breaking a commitment to enter into matrimony. The right of action for breach of a marriage promise has been abolished in a majority of states. Unless there is a legally justifiable reason, an unwillingness to perform one's promise to marry creates a breach of promise to marry. Mere postponement of the wedding does not constitute a breach unless it is done a…
A comprehensive term encompassing acts or conduct that seriously endanger or disturb public peace and order. Statutes commonly require that conduct constituting a breach of the peace must be clearly a type of misbehavior resulting in public unrest or disturbance. As an example, a prostitute who solicited men walking by on a public street from her window was found guilty of breaching the peace, but…
To use physical force to separate or damage a solid object. The slightest physical force—for example, lifting a latch, releasing a bolt, or opening an unlocked door or window—is enough to constitute breaking. …
The CIA is headquartered at a 258-acre compound in Langley, Virginia, and maintains twenty-two other offices in the Washington, D.C., area. The main compound includes a printing plant that produces phony documents, such as birth certificates, passports, and driver's licenses, for use by its agents. The plant also produces the President's Daily Brief, an eight-page CIA document that i…
Glass was born January 4, 1858, in Lynchburg, Virginia, the youngest of twelve children. His mother, Augusta Christian Glass, died when he was two years old, and Glass was raised by a sister ten years older than he. His father, Robert H. Glass, was the editor of the Daily Republic. Carter Glass. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Following the Civil War, Glass's father turned down an offer of reap…
A volume of the American Digest System that arranges by subject summaries of court opinions reported chronologically in the various units of the National Reporter System during the period from 1658 to 1896. There are over four hundred subject classifications within the digest, each corresponding to a legal concept, such as evidence. All the cases for the period covered in the Century Digest that d…
Brewster was born in Salem County, New Jersey, on October 13, 1816. In 1834 he graduated from Princeton College. Like many other aspiring lawyers of the period, Brewster did not attend law school. Instead these aspirants "read law" by performing various clerical and administrative duties for a lawyer who had already been admitted to the bar. Brewster studied under a Philadelphia atto…
A written document that is official verification that a condition or requirement has, or has not, been met. A written assurance issued from a court that is notification to another officer, judge, or court of procedures practiced therein. A document (such as a birth certificate) prepared by an official during the course of his or her A sample birth certificate regular duties, and which may b…
The term college is a general one that encompasses a wide range of higher-education institutions, including those that offer two- to four-year programs in the arts and sciences, technical and vocational schools, and junior and community colleges. The term university specifically describes an institution that provides graduate and professional education in addition to four-year post-secondary educa…
A written recognition by a bank of a deposit, coupled with a pledge to pay the deposited amount plus interest, if any, to the depositor or to his or her order, or to another individual or to his or her order. A sample certificate of deposit …
A certificate of occupancy is evidence that the building complies substantially with the plans and specifications that have been submitted to, and approved by, the local authority. It complements a building permit—a document that must be filed by the applicant with the local authority before construction to indicate that the proposed construction will adhere to zoning laws. In legal practic…
The violent contact of one vehicle—such as an automobile, ship, or boat—with another vehicle. Collision insurance is a type of policy that motorists purchase to cover property losses in the event of a car accident. …
An agreement between two or more people to defraud a person of his or her rights or to obtain something that is prohibited by law. Virtually all jurisdictions have adopted no-fault divorce statutes or laws that allow a couple to obtain a divorce without traditional fault grounds, such as adultery or cruel and inhuman treatment. Because of this development, collusive divorces should diminish in num…
A written order made by a depositor to a bank to pay a certain sum to the person designated—the payee—which is marked by the bank as A sample certified check "accepted" or "certified," thereby unconditionally promising that the bank will pay the order upon its presentation by the payee. A certified check is considered the equivalent of cash since th…
The appearance or semblance of a thing, as distinguished from the thing itself. The thing to which the term color is applied does not necessarily have to possess the character imputed to it. A person who holds land under color of title does not have actual title to it. …
The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties. No written agreement is necessary to prove the crime of bribery, but usually a prosecutor must show corrupt intent. Bribery charges may involve public officials or private individuals. In the world of professional sport…
A photocopy of a document, judgment, or record that is signed and attested to as an accurate and a complete reproduction of the original document by a public official in whose custody the original has been placed for safekeeping. …
The appearance of a legal right. The act of a state officer, regardless of whether or not the act is within the limits of his or her authority, is considered an act under color of law if the officer purports to be conducting himself or herself in the course of official duties. …
A description of an act by an officer done without authority under the pretext that he or she has an official right to do the act by reason of the officer's position. …
Structures constructed over obstructions to highways or waterways, such as canals or rivers, in order to provide continuous and convenient passages for purposes of transportation. A bridge includes the necessary abutments and approaches that make it accessible. A public bridge that spans obstructions to a public highway is built on land owned by the state government for public use, while a private…
A writ that a superior appellate court issues in its discretion to an inferior court, ordering it to produce a certified record of a particular case it has tried, in order to determine whether any irregularities or errors occurred that justify review of the case. A sample writ of certiorari Certiorari is an extraordinary prerogative writ granted in cases that otherwise would not be entitled…
The appearance of a legally enforceable right of possession or ownership. A written instrument that purports to transfer ownership of property but, due to some defect, does not have that effect. A document purporting to pass title to land, such as a deed that is defective due to a lack of title in the grantor, passes only color of title to the grantee. It has been held that in order to pass color …
A brief may also contain a synopsis of the evidence and name the witnesses to be presented during the trial. Copies of briefs must be submitted to the court where the case will be heard and to the opposing party. An appellate brief is a writing that must be filed with an appellate court so that the court may evaluate whether the decision of the lower court should be reversed because of some error …
The act of relinquishing one's right. A surrender, relinquishment, or assignment of territory by one state or government to another. The territory of a foreign government gained by the transfer of sovereignty. …
False; counterfeit; something that is false but has the appearance of truth. …
[French, He or she who.] The person for whom a benefit exists. A cestui que trust is a person for whose benefit a trust is created; a beneficiary. Although legal title of the trust is vested in the trustee, the cestui que trust is the beneficiary who is entitled to all benefits from a trust. A cestui que vie is the person whose life is used to measure various things, such as the duration of a trus…
One who becomes obligated, an obligor, under a negotiable instrument—such as a check or promissory note—by signing his or her name along with the name of the original obligor, thereby promising to pay on it in full. …
The bright line rule exists to bring clarity to a law or regulation that could be read in two (or more) ways. Often a bright line is established when the need for a simple decision outweighs the need to weigh both sides of a particular issue. The court arrived at this figure because it realized that to do otherwise could leave employers open to lawsuits if they replaced a worker with someone who w…
An abbreviation for the Latin word confer, meaning "compare." The use of this abbreviation indicates that another section of a particular work or another case or volume contains contrasting, comparable, or explanatory opinions and text. …
In patent law a combination is distinguishable from an aggregation in that it is a joint operation of elements that produces a new result as opposed to a mere grouping together of old elements. This is important in determining whether or not something is patentable, since no valid patent can extend to an aggregation. …
Charles Hamilton Houston. FISK UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Houston was born September 3, 1895, in Washington, D.C. His father, William Houston, was trained as a lawyer and worked for a while as a records clerk to supplement the family's income; his mother, Mary Ethel Houston, worked as a hairdresser. Houston's father eventually began practicing law full-time and later became a law prof…
To initiate legal proceedings; to start an action for judicial relief. …
An abbreviation for cost, freight, and insurance that is used in a sales contract to indicate that the purchase price quoted for the goods by the seller includes the expense incurred by the seller for shipment of such goods and for insurance of the goods against loss or destruction until their arrival at the destination named by the buyer. The abbreviation C.F.&I. is synonymous with the abb…
An illegal compact between two or more persons to unjustly restrict competition and monopolize commerce in goods or services by controlling their production, distribution, and price or through other unlawful means. …
Benjamin Chew Howard was a lawyer who served as the Supreme Court reporter of decisions from 1843 to 1861. Benjamin C. Howard. U.S. SUPREME COURT As reporter, Howard was primarily responsible for editing, publishing, and distributing the Court's opinions. He replaced Richard Peters, who was fired after he disagreed with several of the justices about whether their opinions should be p…
Judicial comity is the granting of reciprocity to decisions or laws by one state or jurisdiction to another. Since it is based upon respect and deference rather than strict legal principles, it does not require that any state or jurisdiction adopt a law or decision by another state or jurisdiction that is in contradiction, or repugnant, to its own law. Comity of states is the voluntary acceptance …
The movement and location of physical evidence from the time it is obtained until the time it is presented in court. Judges in bench trials and jurors in jury trials are obligated to decide cases on the evidence that is presented to them in court. Neither judges nor jurors may conduct their own investigations into the underlying facts of a given case. In fact, state and federal court rules prohibi…
Cargo ships docked in Newark, New Jersey. Commerce includes the transport of goods by sea. AP/WIDE WORLD Although the terms commerce and trade are often used interchangeably, commerce refers to large-scale business activity, while trade describes commercial traffic within a state or a community. …
New York City and to probe the state's insurance industry. His work not only resulted in ground-breaking regulatory plans, later highly influential across the United States, but also catapulted Hughes into a political career. He immediately ran for governor of New York and twice won election to that office as a politician known for independence of mind and commitment to administrative …
A list of successive owners of a parcel of land, beginning from the government, or original owner, to the person who currently owns the land. …
Wesley was born in 1892 in Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1917 and a law degree from Northwestern University in 1922. He practiced law in Muskogee, Oklahoma, with John Atkins, but the pair moved to Houston in 1927 to engage in additional business opportunities, including a real estate firm, an insurance company, and a newspap…
A type of sales plan that convinces individuals to make purchases based upon the promise that their payment will be reduced for each new purchaser they recommend to the seller. …
A judge's private room or office wherein he or she hears motions, signs papers, and performs other tasks pertaining to his or her office when a session of the court, such as a trial, is not being held. Business transacted in a private setting is said to be done "in chambers." …
A description of the 1895 title dispute between the United States and Mexico that arose over a tract of land in El Paso, Texas, known as "El Chamizal." The Boundary Commission was unable to agree on a boundary line and a convention was signed by the two governments on June 24, 1910, establishing another commission to decide the issue. Because the new commission departed from the term…
Champerty is the process whereby one person bargains with a party to a lawsuit to obtain a share in the proceeds of the suit. Maintenance is the support or promotion of another person's suit initiated by intermeddling for personal gain. To lend money to an individual who would not otherwise be able to afford to bring a lawsuit is not maintenance unless the lender intends to gain substantial…
A secretary, secretary of state, or minister of a king or other high nobleman. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in England is like the secretary of the U.S. treasury, but in former times he also presided over a court called the Court of Exchequer, which at first heard disputes over money owed to the king but eventually heard a wide variety of cases involving money. This jurisdiction was founded on …
The old English court in which the monarch's secretary, or Chancellor, began hearing lawsuits during the fourteenth century. …
Proof or attestations about an individual's moral standing, general nature, traits, and reputation in the general community. …
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas survived tense, nationally televised Senate confirmation hearings in 1991 to become the second African American in U.S. history to reach the Supreme Court. Thomas's first job out of law school was as assistant to Missouri's Republican attorney general John C. Danforth. Thomas specialized in tax and environmental issues. In 1977, he accepted a positio…
An encumbrance, lien, or claim; a burden or load; an obligation or duty; a liability; an accusation. A person or thing committed to the care of another. The price of, or rate for, something. A retail store may attach a finance charge to money owed by a customer on a store account. A public charge is a person who has been made a ward of the state who requires public support due to illness or povert…
As a verb, to transmit programs or signals intended to be received by the public through radio, television, or similar means. As a noun, the radio, television, or other program received by the public through the transmission. …
Eliminate or write off. The term charge-off is used to describe the process of removing from the records of a company something that was once regarded as an asset but has subsequently become worthless. A classic case is the bad debt, which is an uncollectible debt. A bad debt is a permissible business tax deduction, and a non-business bad debt may also be claimed as a charge-off in the year the de…
The provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress exclusive power over trade activities among the states and with foreign countries and Indian tribes. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution empowers Congress "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among several States, and with the Indian Tribes." The term commerce as used in the Constitution means busin…
The law favors charitable trusts, sometimes called public trusts, by according them certain privileges, such as an advantageous tax status. Before a court will enforce a charitable trust, however, it must examine the charity and evaluate its social benefits. The court cannot rely on the view of the settlor, the one who establishes the trust, that the trust is charitable. In order to be valid, a ch…
An individual or firm employed by others to plan and organize sales or negotiate contracts for a commission. In order to determine whether or not an individual is acting as a broker in a transaction, the type of services that are performed must be examined. …
Founded in 1927, the Brookings Institution is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to research, education, and publication in the fields of economics, foreign policy, and government. It states as its principal purposes: "to aid in the development of sound public policies and to promote public understanding of issues of national importance." Brookings maintains a 55,000-volume library…
Organizations created for the purpose of philanthropic rather than pecuniary pursuits. A charity is a group designed to benefit society or a specific group of people. Its purpose may be educational, humanitarian, or religious. A charity goes beyond giving relief to the indigent, extending to the promotion of happiness and the support of many worthy causes. The law favors charities because they pro…
The bridge was immediately successful and immensely profitable. Prompted by its popularity, the Massachusetts Legislature in 1792 chartered the building of a second bridge, known as the West Boston Bridge. To appease the proprietors of the Charles River Bridge, who faced competition from the West Boston Bridge, the state of Massachusetts extended the Charles River Bridge charter from forty to seve…
A grant from the government of ownership rights in land to a person, a group of people, or an organization such as a corporation. A document embodying a grant of authority from the legislature or the authority itself, such as a corporate charter. The leasing of a mode of transportation, such as a bus, ship, or plane. A charter-party is a contract formed to lease a ship to a merchant in order to fa…
Foltz was born July 16, 1849, in New Lisbon, Henry County, Indiana, the second of five children, and the only girl, to Elias Willets Shortridge and Telitha Cumi Harwood Shortridge, both of Indiana. Her father was at times a druggist, a lawyer, and a preacher in the Campbellite Church. The Foltzes lived on a farm in Iowa, where they had the first three of their five children. In 1871, Foltz'…
Originally part of the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was created in 1903, the Department of Commerce was established as a separate entity by law on March 4, 1913 (U.S.C.A. § 1501). The secretary of commerce sits on the president's cabinet along with the secretaries of the 13 other executive agencies of the federal government and other selected executive officials. Formerly …
Chattels are synonymous with goods or personalty. A sample chattel mortgage …
Born on June 8, 1917, in Fort Collins, Colorado, White was the son of working class parents. As a youth, he picked beets in the poor community, but he excelled in athletics and scholastics. He attended the University of Colorado on an academic scholarship and, in 1937, became the premier running back in college football. So accomplished was "Whizzer" White on the gridiron that when h…
The rights of the lender who gives a chattel mortgage are valid only against others who know or should know of the lender's security interest in the property. Since the borrower possesses the property, others cannot realize that a chattel mortgage exists without notice. Each state, therefore, has developed a system for recording instruments showing the existence of chattel mortgages for par…
A writing or writings that evidence both a monetary obligation and a security interest in or a lease of specific goods. In many instances chattel paper will consist of a negotiable instrument coupled with a security agreement. When a transaction is evidenced both by such a security agreement or a lease and by an instrument or a series of instruments, the group of writings taken together constitute…
Chávez was born March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Arizona, one of five children in a family that lived on a small farm for a time. When he was a child, the family was pushed onto the road as migrant laborers when Chávez's parents lost the family farm during the Great Depression. Later, he often spoke of what he felt was the unjust way in which his family had lost their property through…
The CLLA maintains over 40 committees covering various areas of commercial law and other topics, such as world peace through law and world trade. Its activities include educational programs on legal issues of public interest and importance. Along with the American Bankruptcy Institute, it also sponsors the American Board of Certification (ABC), a non-profit organization that serves to improve and …
A written order instructing a bank to pay upon its presentation to the person designated in it, or to the person possessing it, a certain sum of money from the account of the person who draws it. A check must contain the phrase "pay to the order of." A check differs from a draft in that a check is always drawn on a bank, while a draft is an order for payment drawn on anyone, includin…
A system whereby an employer regularly deducts a portion of an employee's wages to pay union dues or initiation fees. The checkoff system is very attractive to a union since the collection of dues can be costly and time-consuming. It prescribes the manner in which dues are paid by deductions in earnings rather than through individual checks sent directly to the union. Unions are thereby ass…
With the creation of the U.S. Constitution and a national government, political and legal policy-makers had to determine how to deal with Native American tribes that resided on lands granted to them by treaties. By the 1820s, U.S. policy toward what was regarded as the "Indian problem" was one of forced removal and resettlement to lands to the west. In 1830, Congress passed the India…
The execution of Caryl Chessman in the gas chamber of San Quentin Prison on May 3, 1960, ended a twelve-year struggle between Chessman and the justice system that culminated in international rage at the treatment of the prisoner. Caryl Chessman appealed his conviction 42 times, but it was never overturned. He was executed in 1960 after 12 years on death row. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS The trial l…
Chicago was controlled politically by Mayor Richard J. Daley and his Democratic followers. When Chicago was chosen as the site for the Democratic Convention, groups of protestors decided to seize the opportunity to converge on that city to stage demonstrations and publicly espouse their views against U.S. participation in the Vietnam War. The protestors arrived from all over the nation, establishi…
The Chicago Jury Project was an investigation of the role and functions of the jury in the U.S. legal system. The inquiry was conducted by the University of Chicago Law School with funding from the Ford Foundation. Its primary goal was to join the social scientist and the lawyer in a working relationship in which they could share their unique skills and experiences with each other, along with amas…
During his brief tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court, Curtis made a lasting impact with his dissent in Dred Scott and his majority opinion in Cooley v. Board of Wardens, 53 U.S. 299, 13 L. Ed. 996 (1851). Curtis was one of two dissenters in Dred Scott, which the majority opinion viewed as the final word on the legal merits of slavery and the issue of citizenship for African Americans. Chief Justice R…
Born on February 22, 1901, in Troy, Kansas, Whittaker was the son of farmers. As a teenager, he knew that he wanted to be a lawyer: the ambitious high school student enrolled in law school during his senior year. Graduating in 1923 from the University of Kansas City Law School, where he was recognized for his talents as an orator, he passed the state bar and immediately began practicing for the la…
Among contemporary movements in U.S. law, few have had as much influence as the Chicago school. This school of thought helped revolutionize legal thinking on economics from the 1970s to the 1980s. At the heart of its philosophy is the idea that economic efficiency should be the goal of national policy and law. This argument left its mark, in particular, in the area of antitrust, where the Chicago …
The chief justice's primary duty is to preside over all Supreme Court proceedings, both those open to the public and those held in private. The chief justice traditionally opens and closes the public sessions in which the Court hears oral arguments. He or she wields the most influence in closed-door proceedings. The chief justice determines which decisions the Court will discuss in conferen…
A written instrument or document such as a check, draft, promissory note, or a certificate of deposit, that manifests the pledge or duty of one individual to pay money to another. Commercial paper is ordinarily used in business transactions, since it is a reliable and expedient means of dealing with large sums of money and minimizes the risks inherent in using cash, such as the increased possibili…
Cushing was born January 17, 1800, in Salisbury, Massachusetts, descending from a family with roots in colonial Massachusetts. A gifted student, he tutored classmates in mathematics and philosophy, and he graduated from Harvard at the age of seventeen. He studied law in Boston and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1821. The same year, he moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts, and established …
Combining things into one body. The term commingling is most often applied to funds or assets. When a fiduciary, a person entrusted with the management of funds other than his or her own in trust, mixes trust money with that of others, the fiduciary is commingling funds and thereby breaching his or her fiduciary duty. A member of a corporation's board of directors commingles funds when he o…
Physical, sexual, or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child. In 1962, an article in a major medical journal again brought national attention to the issue by identifying the symptoms that can indicate child abuse. The article, by Dr. Henry Kempe, appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and discussed a diagnosis for child abuse. The article resulted in widespread awa…
The commission holds public hearings, publishes findings and reports, and maintains a toll-free phone line by which people may make complaints regarding civil rights. The commission disseminates the information it gathers but cannot enforce existing civil rights laws. It offers its findings and makes recommendations to the president and to Congress. Many of the commission's recommendations …
In 1924 the state of Virginia passed a law that provided for the sterilization of "mental defectives" and "feeble-minded" persons who were confined to certain state institutions, when, in the judgment of the superintendents of those institutions, "the best interests of the patients and of society" would be served by their being made incapable of producing …
The supervision and nurturing of a child, including casual and informal services provided by a parent and more formal services provided by an organized child care center. According to a 1997 study by the Urban Institute, an estimated 76 percent of preschool children with mothers who are employed are cared for by someone other than their parents. According to these statistics, center-based day-care…
A person charged with the management or direction of a board, a court, or a government agency. A commissioner has the power and responsibility to administer laws or rules that relate to a specific subject matter over which he or she has authority. Generally, he or she is appointed specially, as in the case of a commissioner of court. …
Benjamin Vaughn Abbott was born June 4, 1830, in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from New York University in 1850 and was admitted to the New York bar in 1852. From 1855 to 1870 Abbott, in collaboration with his brother Austin, wrote a series of law treatises and reports, including Digest of New York Statutes and Reports (1860). The series led to Abbott's New York Digest, the most recen…
The criminal offense of anal or oral copulation by penetration of the male organ into the anus or mouth of another person of either sex or copulation between members of either sex with an animal. …
The United States has a central federal government, the authority of which is restricted to those powers given to it by the Constitution. Each state has its own system of legislative and judicial functions that operate in areas not within the exclusive control of the federal government. Attempts have been made to provide an organized system of uniform legislation throughout the states. The Commiss…
An organization that exists to accumulate a fund, composed of subscriptions and savings of its members, to help facilitate the purchase or construction of real estate by such members by lending them the necessary funds. …
Proceedings directing the confinement of a mentally ill or incompetent person for treatment. Each state has its own detailed statutory scheme providing for the involuntary commitment of individuals who might be mentally ill or incompetent. These statutes usually contain language defining the types of mental illnesses and conditions covered by the law, as well as certain conditions that are exclude…
A series of ordinances enacted by a state or local governmental entity, establishing minimum requirements that must be met in the construction and maintenance of buildings. Building codes have been used by governmental units for centuries to ensure that buildings remain safe and sanitary. Early settlements in the United States drafted codes for such purposes as restrictions on the use of wooden ch…
Compensation paid to a lender by a borrower for the lender's promise to give a mortgage at some future time. …
A building line is also known as the "set back" requirement. …
An individual or group of people to whom authority has been delegated by a larger group to perform a particular function or duty. A part of a legislative body made up of one or more individuals who have been assigned the task of investigating a certain issue and reporting their observations and recommendations to the legislature. The Senate has various committees, such as the Committee on Nuclear …
The organization was established in 1915 by building officials from nine states and Canada. Their purpose was to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas about building safety and construction regulation. In 1950, BOCA published the BOCA Basic Building Code. This was the organization's first model code. Within one year, the BOCA code had been adopted by fifty cities. BOCA cur…
A tangible item that may be bought or sold; something produced for commerce. Commodities are defined as marketable goods or wares, such as raw or partially processed materials, farm products, or jewelry. Intangibles, such as human labor, services, or advertising, are generally not considered to be commodities. …
A sale of all or most of the materials, supplies, merchandise, or other inventory of a business at one time that is not normally done in the ordinary course of the seller's business. A bulk transfer is not the same as a secured transaction. …
A printing of public notices and announcements that discloses the progress of matters affecting the general public and which usually includes provisions for public comment. A summarized report of a newsworthy item for immediate release to the public. The official publication of an association, business, or institution. …
The onus on a party to refute or to explain evidence presented in a case. The burden of going forward, also called the burden of producing evidence, burden of production, or the burden of proceeding, requires a party in a lawsuit to refute or explain each item of evidence introduced that damages or discredits his or her position in the action, as a trial progresses. Suppose a person is charged wit…
District and state courts base their decisions on state laws, which vary greatly among states. If a case challenges the constitutionality of a state law or—in rare instances—a state's jurisdiction (i.e., its right to decide the case), then the U.S. Supreme Court may issue an opinion. Standards for changing custody awards are similarly vague, although most states' criter…
The CCC is managed by a board of directors and is subject to the general supervision and direction of the secretary of agriculture, who is an ex officio director and chairperson of the board. The board consists of seven members (in addition to the secretary of agriculture) who are appointed by the president of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In carrying out its …
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal regulatory agency for futures trading, was established by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 1389; 7 U.S.C.A. 4a), approved October 23, 1974. The commission began operation in April 1975 and its authority to regulate futures trading was renewed by Congress in 1978. Its authority was again renewed with the Comm…
Federal and state legislation that protects children by restricting the type and hours of work they perform. The specific purpose of child labor laws is to safeguard children against harm generally associated with child labor, such as exposure to hazardous, unsanitary, or immoral conditions, and overwork. Child labor legislation primarily applies to business enterprises, but in some states nonprof…
The duty of a party to plead a matter to be heard in a lawsuit. The onus on the defendant to introduce or raise the defense for consideration in the lawsuit. This concept is also referred to as burden of allegation. …
Regardless of the terminology, it is illegal for an adult to touch any portion of a child's body with a "lewd and lascivious" intent. Usually, consent is not a matter of consideration, and is not available as a defense to a charge of child molestation. Even in cases where it can be proven that the minor victim was a willing participant, a sex act or improper touching is still …
An individual or business that advertises to the public that it is available for hire to transport people or property in exchange for a fee. A common carrier is legally bound to carry all passengers or freight as long as there is enough space, the fee is paid, and no reasonable grounds to refuse to do so exist. A common carrier that unjustifiably refuses to carry a particular person or cargo may b…
A duty placed upon a civil or criminal defendant to prove or disprove a disputed fact. Burden of proof can define the duty placed upon a party to prove or disprove a disputed fact, or it can define which party bears this burden. In criminal cases, the burden of proof is placed on the prosecution, who must demonstrate that the defendant is guilty before a jury may convict him or her. But in some ju…
Child pornography is the visual representation of minors under the age of 18 engaged in sexual activity or the visual representation of minors engaging in lewd or erotic behavior designed to arouse the viewer's sexual interest. However, the Supreme Court drew the line with so-called "virtual" depictions of child pornography. In 1996 Congress passed the Child Pornography Preven…
A system of administration wherein there is a specialization of functions, objective qualifications for office, action according to the adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority and delegated power. Organizations such as the armed forces or administrative agencies are common examples of bureaucracies. …
Common counts are no longer used for pleading purposes but have been replaced by complaints according to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and state codes of civil procedure. …
A set of circumstances in which two individuals die apparently simultaneously. In a common disaster there is no certainty of who died first, an important issue that frequently arises in the determination of the inheritance of property or the distribution of proceeds of a life insurance policy. …
An archaic designation of property set aside and regulated by the local, state, or federal government for the benefit of the public for recreational purposes. Common lands established by the Federal government are known as public lands. …
The criminal offense of breaking and entering a building illegally for the purpose of committing a crime. …
The ancient law of England based upon societal customs and recognized and enforced by the judgments and decrees of the courts. The general body of statutes and case law that governed England and the American colonies prior to the American Revolution. The principles and rules of action, embodied in case law rather than legislative enactments, applicable to the government and protection of persons a…
The early royal courts in England that administered the law common to all. …
A payment that a noncustodial parent makes as a contribution to the costs of raising her or his child. In the mid-1990s, as never before, child support became a topic of urgent U.S. national discussion. The system that awards and enforces child support was declared inadequate by state and federal policy makers. Failures in the system were blamed for child poverty rates, long-term dependence on gov…
The CDF has taken a stand against cutting federal programs that benefit poor children. Leading its list are the Head Start and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition programs. Although viewed as a liberal organization, it has blasted presidential administrations from Jimmy Carter's to George H.W. Bush's whenever budgets have been threatened. It has attacked social spending cuts…
Darrow was the master of the courtroom drama. One striking and effective aspect of his legal style was his physical appearance in the courtroom. He wore rumpled suits—often bared to shirtsleeves and suspenders—and let his tousled hair hang into his face. He had a halting walk and slouching stance, and his habits of smoking long cigars slowly during the proceedings and even reading an…
For his next phase of training, Koop and his family moved to Philadelphia. There, he took an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital, followed by a residency at University of Pennsylvania Hospital. After residency, in 1946, Koop became surgeon-in-chief of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He was 29 years old. Koop's surgeon general's reports and frequent testimony influenced th…
A fundamental question in marriage is whether the union is legally recognized. This question is important because marriage affects property ownership, rights of survivorship, spousal benefits, and other marital amenities. With so much at stake, marriage has become a matter regulated by law. In the United States, the law of marriage is reserved to the states and thus governed by state law. All stat…
The system of rules and principles that governed the forms into which parties cast their claims or defenses in order to set an issue before the court. A defendant faced a similar array of established responses. The defendant could, for example, deny the plaintiff's right to legal relief even if the facts alleged were true. Such a response was known as a demurrer. A defendant could choose to…
The opportunity for children to participate in political and legal decisions that affect them; in a broad sense, the rights of children to live free from hunger, abuse, neglect, and other inhumane conditions. The issue of children's rights is poorly defined in legislation and by the courts, partly because U.S. society as a whole has not decided how much autonomy to grant children. Although …
The professional growth of baseball—and some of its headaches—followed a natural economic progression. Much of the sport's origin is shrouded in myth, but it is thought that it got off to its humble start sometime in the nineteenth century. The first organized contest probably happened on June 19, 1846, between two amateur teams: the New York Nine and the Knickerbockers. In 18…
Trial-level courts of general jurisdiction. One of the royal common-law courts in England existing since the beginning of the thirteenth century and developing from the Curia Regis, or the King's Court. In the United States only Pennsylvania has courts of common pleas with the authority to hear all civil and criminal cases. In most states courts of common pleas have been abolished and their…
The minimum, fundamental constituents, foundation, or support of a thing or a system without which the thing or system would cease to exist. In accounting, the value assigned to an asset that is sold or transferred so that it can be determined whether a gain or loss has resulted from the transaction. The amount that property is estimated to be worth at the time it is purchased, acquired, and recei…
A person who frequently or habitually causes public disturbances or breaks the peace by brawling or quarreling. …
Although such proceedings are typically civil actions, a few states have established such actions as criminal proceedings. …
Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States began during the 1850s' Gold Rush, which eclipsed a period of great poverty in China. Chinese laborers flocked to California, where they soon became an exploited workforce because even the meager wages they earned in California represented far more than they could have earned in their homeland. By the 1870s, clear resentment existed among American…
Evidence of participation in the ownership of a corporation that takes the form of printed certificates. …
[Latin, common error makes law.] Another expression for this idea is "common opinion," or communis opinio. In ancient Rome, the phrase expressed the notion that a generally accepted opinion or belief about a legal issue makes that opinion or belief the law. Judges have pointed out that universal opinion may also be universal error. Until the error is discovered, however, the belief c…
Physical combat engaged in by an accuser and accused to resolve their differences, usually involving a serious crime or ownership of land. It was recognized by the English king from the eleventh to seventeenth centuries. Trial by battel was introduced into England by William the Conqueror. It was based upon the belief that the winner of the battle, which was tried by God, was the party who was in …
A commercial venture or an occupation that has become subject to governmental regulation by virtue of its offering essential services or products to the community at large. A business affected with a public interest remains the property of its owner, but the community is considered to have such a stake in its operation that it becomes subject to public regulation to the extent of that interest. …
The law requires employers with one hundred or more employees to provide their workers with sixty days' layoff notice when fifty or more workers at a single site will lose their jobs and when affected workers will constitute at least one-third of that site's work force. If 500 or more employees are laid off, however, such notice is required regardless of the percentage of site worker…
Perfected, complete, or certain. A choate right is an undefeatable right that is totally valid and cannot be subsequently lessened or altered by later claims. If someone purchases a plot of land totally free from encumbrances, that person has a choate property interest in the land. A choate lien is one to which nothing further must be done to make it enforceable. Elements such as the identity of t…
A condition created by sustained physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, which creates a variety of physical and emotional symptoms. Violence of any kind is traumatic to victims, and the thought that someone could exert extreme violence against a loved one or a child is repulsive. Battered-child syndrome and battered-spouse syndrome are both the result of repeated violence—beatings, choki…
In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to the bar and established his legal firm in Northampton, Calvin Coolidge. © HARRIS & EWING Massachusetts, where he practiced until 1919. He became councilman in Northampton in 1899, then city solicitor from 1900 to 1901, clerk of courts in 1904, and member of the General Court of Massachusetts from 1907 to 1908. In 1910, he was elected mayo…
The directors and officers of a corporation are responsible for managing and directing the business and affairs of the corporation. They often face difficult questions concerning whether to acquire other businesses, sell assets, expand into other areas of business, or issue stocks and dividends. They may also face potential hostile takeovers by other businesses. To help directors and officers meet…
A rule of evidence that allows routine entries made customarily in financial records, or business logs or files kept in the regular course of business, to be introduced as proof in a lawsuit when the person who made such notations is not available to testify. …
A system of social organization in which goods are held in common. Communism in the United States is something of an anomaly. The basic principles of communism are, by design, at odds with the free enterprise foundation of U.S. capitalism. The freedom of individuals to privately own property, start a business, and own the means of production is a basic tenet of U.S. government, and communism oppos…
At common law, an intentional unpermitted act causing harmful or offensive contact with the "person" of another. Battery is concerned with the right to have one's body left alone by others. Battery is both a tort and a crime. Its essential element, harmful or offensive contact, is the same in both areas of the law. The main distinction between the two categories lies in the pe…
The Communist Party Cases were a series of cases during the 1950s in which the federal government prosecuted Communist Party members for conspiring and organizing the party to advocate the overthrow of the U.S government by force and violence. The criminal conviction of Eugene Dennis, under the Smith Act, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1951. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Smith Act. Dennis unsucc…
Franklin's varied career had a lasting effect on U.S. law and politics. As a leading local figure, he established and shaped many of the fundamental institutions of Philadelphia and colonial Pennsylvania. Before the Revolutionary War (1775–83), Franklin served as envoy to Great Britain for several colonies. Though he first advocated reconciliation with Britain, he eventually supporte…
The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers (CEOs) representing the top corporations in the United States, joined together to examine and advocate for public policy that will "foster vigorous economic growth and a dynamic global economy." Established in 1972 by 200 leading executives from major U.S. corporations, the Roundtable was founded upon the idea that…
The right to bring a lawsuit to recover chattels, money, or a debt. A chose in action is a comprehensive term used to describe a property right or the right to possession of something that can only be obtained or enforced through legal action. It is used in contradistinction to chose in possession, which refers to cases where title to money or property is in one person but possession is held by an…
An unincorporated business organization created by a legal document, a declaration of trust, and used in place of a corporation or partnership for the transaction of various kinds of business with limited liability. A business trust is similar to a traditional trust in that its trustees are given legal title to the trust property to administer it for the advantage of its beneficiaries who hold equ…
The Christian Coalition is a nonprofit organization that serves as a powerful lobby for politically conservative causes. Under federal tax law, the organization is permitted to lobby for political issues but cannot endorse political candidates. The Christian Coalition has primarily sought the support of born-again evangelical Christians, but since 1996 it has attempted to build alliances with Roma…
In 1932 Communist Party presidential candidate William Z. Foster (left) received 102,991 votes. He is pictured with his running mate James W. Ford, the first African American to run for vice president. BETTMANN/CORBIS …
Few academicians achieve the public recognition and professional respect accorded to historian Charles Austin Beard. His polemic An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States stirred debate among fellow scholars and the U.S. public by contradicting the popular understanding of how and why the United States was founded. A brilliant, original thinker, Beard achieved a unique pr…
In order to be liable in negligence, the defendant's conduct must constitute the proximate cause, or direct cause, of the plaintiff's injury. The concept of proximate cause encompasses both legal cause and factual cause, and the "but for" rule pertains to the latter. It is also referred to as the sine qua non rule, which means "without which not," or an in…
In 1993, CLS backed passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 2000bb, et seq., a response to the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 110 S. Ct. 1595, 108 L. Ed. 2d 876. Smith upheld a denial of unemployment benefits to Native Americans who had been fired from their jobs for using …
A philosophy that combines traditional aspects of law enforcement with prevention measures, problem-solving, community engagement, and community partnerships. From the 1930s to the 1960s, U.S. law enforcement relied on a professional policing model. This model was based on hierarchical structures, efficient response times, standardization, and the use of motorized patrol cars. Although this model …
One who is the holder or possessor of an instrument that is negotiable—for example, a check, a draft, or a note—and upon which a specific payee is not designated. A negotiable instrument that is payable to "bearer" or to "cash" or to "the order of cash," that is, not naming a payee, is a bearer instrument, and is called "bearer"…
Butler entered politics in 1827, serving in the New York State Legislature for six years. He subsequently acted as U.S. attorney general from 1833 to 1838; during this time he also fulfilled the duties of secretary of war from 1836 to 1837. In 1838, Butler returned to New York and served as U.S. district attorney from 1838 to 1841 and from 1845 to 1848. Butler died November 8, 1858, in Paris,…
Benjamin Franklin Butler achieved prominence as a politician and military officer. Butler was born November 5, 1818, in Deer-field, New Hampshire. After graduating in 1838 from Waterbury College, now known as Colby College, Butler was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840. Elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853 and the Massachusetts Senate in 1859, he also served a tour …
Laws vary among the states that recognize community property; however, the basic idea is that a husband and wife each acquire a one-half interest in what is labeled community property. A determining factor in the classification of a particular asset as community property is the time of acquisition. Community property is ordinarily defined as everything the couple owns that is acquired during the m…
Cesare Bonesano Beccaria was an expert in law and economics and put forth new principles in both fields which were widely accepted throughout Europe. Beccaria's ideas were published in 1764 in his Essay on Crimes and Punishments. The book was well received throughout Europe and greatly influenced changes in European economic and legal systems. He died November 8, 1794, in Milan. …
Charles Henry Butler served as the Supreme Court reporter of decisions from 1902 to 1916. While reporter, Butler edited and published volumes 187 to 241 of the United States Reports, the official publication of the opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court. During his tenure with the Court, he also was a delegate to the Hague Peace Conference in 1907. He later authored A Century at the Bar of the Supreme…
A territorial or geographical division of a country or state. A circuit is the judicial territory over which a court has the jurisdiction to hear cases. …
A sentencing option for persons convicted of crimes in which the court orders the defendant to perform a number of hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the public. …
Doe was born in 1830 in Derry, New Hampshire. He came from a wealthy and prominent family, and thus it was not surprising that he would matriculate at Dartmouth College. After graduating in 1849 he studied law with a New Hampshire lawyer for several years. At this time in the United States most aspiring lawyers "read the law" as Doe did, apprenticing themselves until they were ready …
A specific tribunal that possesses the legal authority to hear cases within its own geographical territory. A circuit court is ordinarily an inferior trial-level court; appeals are heard by superior courts possessing the requisite jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of a circuit court generally extends over a number of counties or districts wherein the court sits. The name circuit court can be traced h…
Information and testimony presented by a party in a civil or criminal action that permit conclusions that indirectly establish the existence or nonexistence of a fact or event that the party seeks to prove. The following examples illustrate the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence: If John testifies that he saw Tom raise a gun and fire it at Ann and that Ann then fell to the groun…
Modification, exchange, or substitution. Commutation is the replacement of a greater amount by something lesser. To commute periodic payments means to substitute a single payment for a number of payments, or to come to a "lump sum" settlement. The change from consecutive prison sentences to concurrent sentences is a commutation of punishment. …
Mental reliance on or acceptance of a particular concept, which is arrived at by weighing external evidence, facts, and personal observation and experience. Belief is essentially a subjective feeling about the validity of an idea or set of facts. It is more than a mere suspicion and less than concrete knowledge. Unlike suspicion, which is based primarily on inner personal conviction, belief is fou…
The rules and regulations enacted by an association or a corporation to provide a framework for its operation and management. Bylaws may specify the qualifications, rights, and liabilities of membership, and the powers, duties, and grounds for the dissolution of an organization. …
A paper commonly used in various courts—such as a probate, matrimonial, or traffic court—that is served upon an individual to notify him or her that he or she is required to appear at a specific time and place. Reference to a legal authority—such as a case, constitution, or treatise—where particular information may be found. Cases are published in a series of books call…
An agreement, treaty, or contract. The term compact is most often applied to agreements among states or between nations on matters in which they have a common concern. …
Bella Abzug. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS With her raspy voice, New York accent, and trademark floppy hat, Abzug was one of the most recognizable public figures in recent U.S. history. Bella Savitsky was born on July 24, 1920, in New York City and was raised in the Bronx. The daughter of Russian immigrant Jews, her father was a butcher who operated the "Live and Let Live" meat market.…
A volume or set of volumes that is a record of the status of cases or statutes. A citator is a guide published primarily for use by judges and lawyers when they are in the process of preparing such papers as judicial decisions, briefs, or memoranda of law. Its purpose is to provide a judicial history of cases and statutes as well as to make a note of new cases. A citator indicates whether or not t…
To notify a person of a proceeding against him or her or to call a person forth to appear in court. To make reference to a legal authority, such as a case, in a citation. Cases, statutes, constitutions, treatises, and other similar authorities are cited to support a certain view of law on an issue. When writing a legal brief, an attorney may wish to strengthen his or her position by referring to c…
An organization of individuals conducting a commercial or industrial enterprise. A corporation, partnership, association, or joint stock company. …
The counsel or group of advisers of a king or other chief executive of a government. A group of individuals who advise the president of the United States. …
The idea that men and women should receive equal pay when they perform work that involves comparable skills and responsibility or that is of comparable worth to the employer; also known as pay equity. Many jobs are segregated by sex. For example, approximately 80 percent of all office secretaries are female, and approximately 99 percent of all construction workers are male. Both jobs demand valuab…
The idea of fault in divorce actions stemmed from the idea that a marriage remained alive until one partner's guilt destroyed it. This gave rise to problems such as people lying in court to obtain a divorce when both parties mutually wanted to end the marriage. When a divorce based upon comparative rectitude occurs, the spouse with less fault might acquire rights denied to the other spouse,…
The cable TV industry exploded from modest beginnings in the 1950s into a service that by 2003 reached 69 percent of all U.S. households that had television. Cable was initially a response to a need for improved transmission in areas where signals were weak or nonexistent. By the 1960s, consumers began to demand not only better reception but also more signals. This demand fueled the exponential gr…
Learned Hand served as a U.S. district court judge from 1909 to 1924 and on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 1924 to 1951. Although he was a great and respected legal figure, he was never appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hand cannot be classified as a liberal or conservative because he did not allow his personal biases to affect his judicial positions. He was careful to base his decision…
In an inferior, subordinate, or lower place in regard to any entity. A court below is a lower court through which a case has passed. A case is removed for review from the court below to the court above, or a higher court. The forum where a lawsuit is initially brought is called an inferior court, or the court below. …
A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. …
A forum of justice comprised of the judge or judges of a court. The seat of the court occupied by the judges. The bench is used to refer to a group of judges as a collective whole. It is a tribunal or place where justice is administered. To appear before the full bench means to appear before the entire group of judges of the court. …
A list of cases that are awaiting trial or other settlement, often called a trial list or docket. A special calendar is an all-inclusive listing of cases awaiting trial; it contains dates for trial, names of counsel, and the estimated time required for trial. It is maintained by a trial judge in some states and by a court clerk in others. Calendar call is a court session during which the cases tha…
Possessing the necessary reasoning abilities or legal qualifications; qualified; capable; sufficient. A court is competent if it has been given jurisdiction, by statute or constitution, to hear particular types of lawsuits. A testator is competent to make a will if he or she understands what a will is and its effects, the nature and extent of the property involved, and the relationships with the p…
A trial conducted before a judge presiding without a jury. …
Information that proves a point at issue in a lawsuit. Competent evidence is admissible evidence in contrast to incompetent or inadmissible evidence. …
Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1830, in Fairfield, Vermont. He achieved prominence as a politician and as president of the United States. An 1848 graduate of Union College, Arthur was admitted to the New York City bar in 1851, and he established a legal practice in New York City that same year. With the onset of the Civil War, Arthur served as quartermaster general and inspector general o…
A process that is initiated by the court pro se in order to attach or arrest a person. An order that a judge, or group of judges, issues directly to the police with the purpose of directing a person's arrest. …
To convoke or summon by public announcement; to request the appearance and participation of several people—such as a call of a jury to serve, a roll call, a call of public election, or a call of names of the members of a legislative body. In contract law, the demand for the payment of money according to the contract terms, usually by formal notice. In securities, a contract that gives a per…
A plaintiff; a person who commences a civil lawsuit against another, known as the defendant, in order to remedy an alleged wrong. An individual who files a written accusation with the police charging a suspect with the commission of a crime and providing facts to support the allegation and which results in the criminal prosecution of the suspect. Once the suspect is indicted, the state becomes the…
A provision in an agreement between a private individual and a foreign state that says, in effect, that "aliens are not entitled to rights and privileges not accorded to nationals, and that, therefore, they may seek redress for grievances only before local authorities." Under the Calvo Clause, a claimant waives the right to apply to his or her government or to another forum for prote…
The Fourteenth Amendment, through the inclusion of the phrase "all persons," was specifically enacted in 1868 specifically to grant citizenship to former slaves. Since 1924, it has been judicially interpreted to include American Indians. U.S. citizenship does not divest an Indian of tribal citizenship but, rather, coexists with it. The Fourteenth Amendment does not, however, make chi…
To be in camera is to be in private or in chambers. …
Benjamin Barr Lindsey achieved prominence for his work in the juvenile court. Lindsey was born November 25, 1869, in Jackson, Tennessee. He received honorary degrees from the University of Denver and Notre Dame University and was admitted to the bar in 1894. In 1928 he was also admitted to the California bar. In 1900 Lindsey became judge of the juvenile court of Denver, remaining on the bench unti…
An incorporated or voluntary nonprofit organization that has been created primarily to protect and aid its members and their dependents. Beneficial association is an all-inclusive term that refers to an organization that exists for the mutual assistance of its members or its members' families, relatives, or designated beneficiaries, during times of hardship, such as illness or financial nee…
A lawsuit brought to enforce, redress, or protect rights of private litigants—the plaintiffs and the defendants—not a criminal proceeding. A criminal proceeding is called a penal action to distinguish it from civil actions. …
Observance; conformity; obedience.…
Charles Sumner served as U.S. senator from Massachusetts for 23 years starting in 1851. His career in the Senate was a turbulent one, marked by much controversy. Sumner was born January 6, 1811, in Boston, Massachusetts. Sumner graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor of arts degree in 1830 and a bachelor of laws degree in 1833. Charles Sumner. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRA…
Profits or advantages from property derived from the terms of a trust agreement. A beneficiary of a trust has a beneficial interest in the trust property, the legal title of which is held by the trustee. The beneficiary receives the advantages of ownership of the property which the trustee holds and distributes according to the terms of the trust agreement. …
Civil death is provided for by statute in some states. Most civil death statutes apply only to offenders who have been sentenced to a life term. …
A beneficiary of a trust has beneficial use of the trust property, the legal title to which is held by the trustee. …
A symbolic, non-violent violation of the law, done deliberately in protest against some form of perceived injustice. Mere dissent, protest, or disobedience of the law does not qualify. The act must be nonviolent, open and visible, illegal, performed for the moral purpose of protesting an injustice, and done with the expectation of being punished. …
An organization or a person for whom a trust is created and who thereby receives the benefits of the trust. One who inherits under a will. A person entitled to a beneficial interest or a right to profits, benefit, or advantage from a contract. …
Developments in the 1970s changed the picture. Technology had improved, making TV cameras far less disruptive, and the electronic media was demanding the same access to trials enjoyed by the print media. The ABA became much more tentative about its hard-line position. Its Committee on Fair Trial-Free Press recommended that the ABA revise its standards. Encouraged to experiment, a number of states …
In France, the civil law is set forth in the comprehensive French Civil Code of 1804, also known as the Code Napoléon. France exported this legal system to the New World when it settled Louisiana in 1712. When the French ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762, the new Spanish governor replaced French civil law with Spanish civil law. France regained control of the territory in 1803 and the United…
A contract made by an insolvent or financially pressed debtor with two or more creditors in which the creditors agree to accept one specific partial payment of the total amount of their claims, which is to be divided pro rata among them in full satisfaction of their claims. A composition with creditors is an agreement not only between the debtor and the creditors but also between the creditors the…
Harrison was born August 20, 1833, in Ohio. After graduating from Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, he moved to Indianapolis to practice law. There he became involved in Republican politics, serving as city attorney, secretary of the Republican state committee, and supreme court reporter for Indiana. During the Civil War, he joined the Union Army. Within a month he was promoted to colonel and com…
In old England, the privilege of clergy that allowed them to avoid trial by all courts of the civil government. Benefit of clergy existed to alleviate the severity of criminal laws as applied to the clergy. It was, however, found to promote such extensive abuses that it was ultimately eliminated. Benefit of clergy does not exist in the United States today. The phrase "without the benefit of…
In 1992, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a rancher, teacher, judo champion, and jewelry designer became the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate in more than 60 years. Campbell was born April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California, the son of Albert Valdez Campbell, who was part Northern Cheyenne Indian, and Mary Vierra, a Portuguese immigrant. His mother was a patient and occasional employee at a …
Interest generated by the sum of the principal and any accrued interest. Interest is normally compounded on a daily, quarterly, or yearly basis. The more often interest is compounded, the larger the principal will grow and the greater the interest the new principal will produce. …
A criminal offense consisting of the acceptance of a reward or other consideration in exchange for an agreement not to prosecute or reveal a felony committed by another. Compounding a felony is encompassed in statutes that make compounding offenses a crime. …
A criminal act in which a person agrees not to report the occurrence of a crime or not to prosecute a criminal offender in exchange for money or other consideration. The offense is also committed when a person accepts remuneration for encouraging a witness to be absent from a trial or employs any unlawful tactics to delay a criminal proceeding. The individual compounding the crime must be aware of…
In 1963, author Betty Naomi Goldstein Friedan's first book, The Feminine Mystique, launched the feminist movement, which eventually expanded the lifestyle choices for U.S. women. By the 1990s, she had also become a spokesperson for older and economically disadvantaged people and was recognized and honored by women outside the United States for her global leadership and influence on women&#x…
To embrace, cover, or include; to confine within; to consist of. In the law governing patents—grants of an exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell an invention or product for a term of years—the term comprise indicates inclusion rather than limitation. When a patent claim states that a particular product is comprised of certain elements, this means that other elements may …
Resolution of a dispute by mutual agreement to avoid a lawsuit. A valid compromise and settlement can be in any form, written or verbal. A writing is not required unless specified by statute, court rule, or the terms set by the parties. When the agreement is written, it must clearly state the intentions of the parties. A compromise and settlement must have the same elements as a contract: parties …
The methods, procedures, and practices used in civil cases. Generally, criminal trials are used by the government to protect and provide relief to the general public by attempting to punish an individual. Civil trials can be used by anyone to enforce, redress, or protect their legal rights through court orders and monetary awards. The two types of trials are very different in character and thus ha…
The term bequeath applies only to personal property. A testator, to give real property to someone in a testamentary provision, devises it. Bequeath is sometimes used as a synonym for devise. …
On the administrative level it created a temporary body for resolving disputes, the binational Extraordinary Challenge Committee, which was given a seven-year commission to hear appeals. Not surprisingly, this issue had been the most troublesome during the negotiations preceding the FTA; it proved slightly problematic in practice, too, with the United States generally losing its complaints. Noneth…
A comptroller, which is often synonymous with auditor, generally has specific duties including the supervision of revenue, the examination and certification of accounts, and the inspection, examination, or control of the accounts of other public officials. A state comptroller's major function is the final auditing and settling of all claims arising against the state. The chief financial off…
A bequest is not the same as a devise (a testamentary gift of real property) although the terms are often used interchangeably. When this occurs, a bequest can be a gift of real property if the testator's intention to dispose of real property is clearly demonstrated in the will. There are different types of bequests. A charitable bequest is a gift intended to serve a religious, educational,…
Artificial channels for the conveyance of water, used for navigation, transportation, drainage, or irrigation of land. As a general rule, states supervise the construction and operation of canals by private canal companies. The site of the canal is selected by the state. State law determines the manner of acquiring property used for construction or maintenance of canals. Condemnation or appropriat…
The method employed by which a person wanted as a witness, or for some other purpose, in a civil or criminal action is forced to appear before the court hearing the proceeding. Compulsory process encompasses not only a subpoena, which is a command to appear at a particular time and location to provide testimony upon a certain matter, but also a bench warrant, which is a written order commanding a …
These actions outraged the Canadian and British governments, who disputed the U.S. claim that it controlled not just the three-miles of sea bordering the Pribilof Islands but the entire Bering Sea. After several years of tensions and additional vessel seizures, the three countries agreed to arbitration by an international tribunal in Paris. The tribunal issued its decision in 1893. It rejected the…
In early legal practice, one of several character witnesses produced by someone accused of a crime or by a defendant in a civil suit to attest, in court, that he or she believed the defendant on his or her oath. The use of character witnesses in a lawsuit by a party is derived from the old practice of summoning compurgators to buttress one's case. …
A plaintiff is entitled to have an instrument canceled only if he or she has acted equitably in dealings with the defendant. The principles of equity apply to any case in which this equitable remedy is sought. …
An original document or object offered as proof of a fact in a lawsuit as opposed to a photocopy of, or other substitute for, the item or the testimony of a witness describing it. Best evidence, also known as primary evidence, usually denotes an original writing, which is considered the most reliable proof of its existence and its contents. If it is available to, and obtainable by, a party, it mus…
Personal liberties that belong to an individual, owing to his or her status as a citizen or resident of a particular country or community. One effect of legislation and judicial decisions concerning civil rights has been an increase in the number of women in what were traditionally male jobs. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS the people in other states in favor of its own citizens. …
When CALR was first developed in the 1970s, it borrowed Boolean search techniques from the field of computer programming. A Boolean search looks for a particular term or group of terms in a specific relationship to one another. CALR Boolean searches can include limits with respect to time: for example, court opinions are always dated, so an attorney can use a Boolean search to look for cases relea…
Sexual relations between a human being and an animal. …
Any church's or religion's laws, rules, and regulations; more commonly, the written policies that guide the administration and religious ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. Since the fourth century, the Roman Catholic Church has been developing regulations that have had some influence on secular (non-church-related) legal procedures. These regulations are called canons and are c…
Federal legislation enacted by Congress over the course of a century beginning with the post-Civil War era that implemented and extended the fundamental guarantees of the Constitution to all citizens of the United States, regardless of their race, color, age, or religion. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 granted to victims of unlawful discrimination the right to seek money damages, jury trials, and ba…
The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal prosecution: that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the crime, thereby overcoming the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty. If the jurors or judge have no doubt as to the defendant's guilt, or if their only doubts are unreasonable…
Canon law is the set of rules a church or religion establishes for itself in order to make administrative and ecclesiastical (religious) decisions. The Roman Catholic Church has an elaborate body of canon law that has been evolving since the fourth century and which has played a historical role in the development of public law. The society's written opinions are advisory only and carry no a…
The use of a computer to take or alter data, or to gain unlawful use of computers or services. The first federal computer crime legislation was the Counterfeit Access Device and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 1030), passed by Congress in 1984. The act safeguards certain classified government information and makes it a misdemeanor to obtain through a computer financial or credit…
A predisposition or a preconceived opinion that prevents a person from impartially evaluating facts that have been presented for determination; a prejudice. …
The Computer Law Association, Inc., was formed in 1973 to fill the need for mutual education by lawyers concerned with the unique legal considerations related to the evolution, production, marketing, acquisition, and use of computer communications technology. The association is committed to providing lawyers and law students concerned with the legal and practical aspects of computers, computer ser…
Clement Furman Haynsworth Jr. was a controversial judge on a federal appellate court who was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court but failed to win confirmation. Reaction to Haynsworth's nomination was mixed. Some commentators thought him to be a competent nominee, if not particularly distinguished, whereas others expressed disappointment at his conservative judicial views. No U.S…
The division of a legislative or judicial body into two components or chambers. …
The system of basic rules and maxims applied by a court to aid in its interpretation of a written document, such as a statute or contract. In the case of a statute, certain canons of construction can help a court ascertain what the drafters of the statute—usually Congress or a state legislature—meant by the language used in the law. When a dispute involves a contract, a court will ap…
The Comstock Law of 1873 was a federal law that made it a crime to sell or distribute materials that could be used for contraception or But the United States was undergoing rapid change during this period. The industrial revolution was making a large number of jobs available to members of both sexes, and women were taking advantage of this opportunity by entering the workforce in unprecedented num…
The canons of ethics have been replaced by the code of Professional Responsibility which sets forth the standards of professional conduct prescribed for lawyers in their professional dealings. …
The ability, capability, or fitness to do something; a legal right, power, or competency to perform some act. An ability to comprehend both the nature and consequences of one's acts. Capacity relates to soundness of mind and to an intelligent understanding and perception of one's actions. It is the power either to create or to enter into a legal relation under the same conditions or …
The crime of refusing to disclose the birth or death of a newborn child. The offense is entirely statutory in nature, and state laws differ on its elements. In some jurisdictions the essence of the offense is the deliberate concealment of the birth; in others it is the willful concealment of the death. Intent to conceal the birth or death must be proven in order to obtain a conviction. …
One judicial proceeding that is divided into two stages in which different issues are addressed separately by the court. A common example of a bifurcated trial is one in which the question of liability in a personal injury case is tried separately from and prior to a trial on the amount of damages to be awarded if liability is found. A bifurcated trial in such a case is advantageous because if the…
[Latin, That you take.] The name for several different kinds of writs, or court orders, all of which require an officer to take the defendant into custody. For example, a capias ad audiendum judicium is a writ that orders the defendant brought back before the court after an appearance in which the person has been found guilty of a misdemeanor. A capias ad satisfaciendum orders the sheriff to take …
The designation given to government employment for which a person qualifies on the basis of merit rather than political patronage or personal favor. …
Property held by a taxpayer, such as houses, cars, stocks, bonds, and jewelry, or a building owned by a corporation to furnish facilities for its employees. The determination of what constitutes a capital asset is essential to the tax treatment of the profits from the sale of property as capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. …
Combatants loyal to President Charles Taylor gather in Monrovia, Liberia, during a July 2003 ceasefire in that nation's civil war. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS …
Langdell was born in the small farming town of New Boston, New Hampshire, on May 22, 1826. With the financial assistance of his two sisters, and a later scholarship, Langdell was educated at Exeter Academy. He entered Harvard College in 1848 but left after only one year to begin his legal education by clerking in a law office, a common method of training for lawyers in those days. Within eighteen …
An agreement formed by an exchange of a promise in which the promise of one party is consideration supporting the promise of the other party. A bilateral contract is distinguishable from a unilateral contract, a promise made by one party in exchange for the performance of some act by the other party. The party to a unilateral contract whose performance is sought is not obligated to act, but if he …
Many states require that laws must be passed by their state legislatures in the form of a bill. For example, the Texas Constitution requires that "no law shall be passed, except by bill, and no bill shall be so amended in its passage through either House, as to violent change its original purpose." Tex. Const. art. III, § 30. Likewise, the California Constitution may not make …
Civiletti was born July 17, 1935, in Peekskill, New York. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1957 and a law degree from the University of Maryland in 1961. He served from 1961 to 1962 as clerk to William Calvin Chesnut, a U.S. district judge for Maryland. From 1962 to 1964, he worked as assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore. Civiletti then turned to private pract…
Determinative; beyond dispute or question. That which is conclusive is manifest, clear, or obvious. It is a legal inference made so peremptorily that it cannot be overthrown or contradicted. A conclusive presumption cannot be refuted; no evidence can rebut it, as in the presumption that a child who is below a certain age has a fundamental inability to consent to sexual relations. Conclusive eviden…
A bill of attainder is prohibited by Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the Constitution because it deprives the person or persons singled out for punishment of the safeguards of a trial by jury. …
A municipal body composed of citizen representatives charged with the investigation of complaints by members of the public concerning misconduct by police officers. Such bodies may be independent agencies or part of a law enforcement agency. Generally, the power of a civilian review board is restricted to reviewing an already completed internal police investigation, and commenting on it to the Chi…
To agree; coincide; act together. To concur is to evidence consent in an affirmative or concrete manner as opposed to merely acquiescing or silently submitting to a decision. In appellate court practice, a judge may file a concurring opinion, which expresses accord with the conclusions of the majority opinion filed in the same lawsuit but at the same time separately states the judge's reaso…
A three-party negotiable instrument in which the first party, the drawer, presents an order for the payment of a sum certain on a second party, the drawee, for payment to a third party, the payee, on demand or at a fixed future date. A bill of exchange is distinguishable from a promissory note, since it does not contain a promise and the drawer does not expressly pledge to pay it. It is similar to…
An abbreviation for chief justice, the principal presiding judge or the judge with most seniority on a particular court, as well as an abbreviation for circuit judge, the judge of a particular judicial circuit. …
Simultaneous; converging; of equal or joint authority. Concurrent power is the authority of Congress and the state legislatures to make laws on the same subject matter while working independently of one another. Concurrent negligence involves the negligent acts of at least two people that, although they might not have occurred at exactly the same moment, produce a single, indivisible injury. Concu…
The abbreviation for Corpus Juris Secundum, which is a comprehensive encyclopedia of the principles of American law. The main body of text discusses the general principles of the title. It is supported by footnotes that contain citations to relevant decisions that are reported in the various digests and reporters. A brief statement of the case is sometimes included in the footnote. Each volume of …
Ownership or possession of real property by two or more individuals simultaneously. …
A document signed by a carrier (a transporter of goods) or the carrier's representative and issued to a consignor (the shipper of goods) that evidences the receipt of goods for shipment to a specified designation and person. Carriers using all modes of transportation issue bills of lading when they undertake the transportation of cargo. A bill of lading is, in addition to a receipt for the …
To demand or assert as a right. Facts that combine to give rise to a legally enforceable right or judicial action. Demand for relief. A claim also means an interest in, as in a possessory claim, or right to possession, or a claim of title to land. …
The authority of several different courts, each of which is authorized to entertain and decide cases dealing with the same subject matter. …
A written statement used in both civil and criminal actions that is submitted by a plaintiff or a prosecutor at the request of a defendant, giving the defendant detailed information concerning the claims or charges made against him or her. …
The section of a modern complaint that states the redress sought from a court by a person who initiates a lawsuit. A civil action is commenced with the filing of a complaint with the court. The person who is seeking money damages or a court order, called the plaintiff, files a complaint, which notifies or warns the defendant that legal action has begun. Within a complaint, the claim for relief por…
An action of Congress passed in the form of an enactment of one house, with the other house in agreement, which expresses the ideas of Congress on a particular subject. A concurrent resolution does not have the legal impact of a joint resolution, which has the force of official legislative action. It is more commonly employed as a method of expressing an opinion on some question. Commendations to …
Court orders issued in duplicate originals; several orders issued at the same time for the same purpose. A court could, for example, issue concurrent writs ordering the arrest of a person whose whereabouts were unknown, or it could issue concurrent writs for service on several defendants in a single lawsuit. A court may issue concurrent writs for the arrest of a person whose whereabouts are un…
When land is condemned through eminent domain, owners must be paid just compensation and provided with notice and an opportunity to defend their rights. …
A declaration of individual rights and freedoms, usually issued by a national government. A list of fundamental rights included in each state constitution. A sample motion for bill of particulars The concept of a bill of rights as a statement of basic individual freedoms derives in part from the English Bill of Rights, passed in 1689 (see appendix volume for primary document). This doc…
The lawful infliction of death as a punishment; the death penalty. Capital punishment continues to be used in the United States despite controversy over its merits and over its effectiveness as a deterrent to serious crime. A sentence of death may be carried out by one of five lawful means: electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, gas chamber, and firing squad. As of 2003, 38 states employed capi…
A future and uncertain event upon the happening of which certain rights or obligations will be either enlarged, created, or destroyed. A condition may be either express or implied. An express condition is clearly stated and embodied in specific, definite terms in a contract, lease, or deed, such as the provision in an installment credit contract that, if the balance is paid before a certain date, …
A sample bill of sale …
All shares constituting ownership of a business, including common stock and preferred stock. The amount of shares that a corporate charter requires to be subscribed and paid, or secured to be paid, by shareholders. The amount of stock that a corporation may issue; the amount actually contributed, subscribed, or secured to be paid on. The liability of the corporation to its shareholders after credi…
Subject to change; dependent upon or granted based on the occurrence of a future, uncertain event. A conditional payment is the payment of a debt or obligation contingent upon the performance of a certain specified act. The right to demand back payment if the condition fails is generally reserved. …
The owner of a business may capitalize the expense of renovating a factory to maximize his or her after-tax profits, since such expenses may be used to decrease the pretax profits, thereby reducing the amount of profits subject to taxation. An individual may compute the net worth of shares of stock, in order to treat them as capital assets for income tax purposes. Such treatment often results in m…
Non-interest-bearing promissory notes issued by the government and backed by its faith and credit to be paid when presented by their holders, which are in the form of currency and are intended to be circulated and exchanged in the community as money. …
An assessment levied by the government upon a person at a fixed rate regardless of income or worth. Since it is a tax upon the individual, and not upon merchandise, a capitation tax is frequently labeled a head tax. A poll tax is a capitation tax. …
A written document that records the essential provisions of a contract of insurance and temporarily protects the insured until an insurance company has investigated the risks to be covered, or until a formal policy is issued. A receipt for cash or for a check that is deposited by a prospective buyer with the seller to secure the right to purchase real estate at terms that have been agreed upon by …
A lawsuit that allows a large number of people with a common interest in a matter to sue or be sued as a group. Initially, a class action could be brought only in equity cases, disputes in which the parties did not necessarily seek monetary damages but instead might desire some other type of relief. The adoption of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938 broadened the scope of the …
Source of law that a judge must evaluate when making a decision in a case. For example, statutes from the same state where a case is being brought, or higher court decisions, are binding authority for a judge. According to Article VI of the Constitution—the Supremacy Clause—all laws made pursuant to the Constitution are considered the supreme law of the land. They are entitled to leg…
The standardized heading of a legal instrument, such as a motion or a complaint, which sets forth the names of the parties in controversy, the name of the court, the docket number, and the name of the action. …
A section, phrase, paragraph, or segment of a legal document, such as a contract, deed, will, or constitution, that relates to a particular point. …
The statement provides that such bill is subject to the provisions of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (46 U.S.C.A. § 1300 et seq. [1936]), the federal legislation that governs the rights, obligations, and liabilities arising out of the relation of issuer to holder of the ocean bill of lading, in regard to the loss or damage of goods. …
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was a New York state court judge, an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, and an influential legal scholar. In 1913, after twenty-three years in private practice, Cardozo was nominated and elected as a judge on the New York Supreme Court, the state's trial-level bench. Only six weeks later, he was designated to serve temporarily as an associate judge on the C…
Two common forms of multiple-unit dwellings, with independent owners or lessees of the individual units comprising the multiple-unit dwelling who share various costs and responsibilities of areas they use in common. A condominium is a multiple-unit dwelling in which there is separate and distinct ownership of individual units and joint ownership of common areas. For example, in an apartment house,…
In the law of negligence, the standard of reasonable conduct determines the amount of care to be exercised in a situation. The care taken must be proportional to the apparent risk. As danger increases, commensurate caution must be observed. Slight care is the care persons of ordinary prudence generally exercise in regard to their personal affairs of minimal importance. Reasonable care, also known …
In marriage, the voluntary pardoning by an innocent spouse of an offense committed by his or her partner conditioned upon the promise that it will not recur. Whether or not condonation has taken place is important in the area of maintenance or support obligations. In many states, remedies for nonsupport will be granted only when there is a showing that the husband has been guilty of a serious mari…
The association or banding together of two or more persons for the purpose of committing an act or furthering an enterprise that is forbidden by law, or that, though lawful in itself, becomes unlawful when made the object of the confederacy. More commonly called a conspiracy. The union of two or more independent states for the purpose of common safety or a furtherance of their mutual goals. …
The criminal taking of a motor vehicle from its driver by force, violence, or intimidation. Carjackers are often thought by the public to target older persons, women, and tourists—groups of conspicuous vulnerability. However, statistics from 1992 to 1996 show that individuals between the ages of 25 and 49 were more likely to be the victims of such a crime (3.6 out of every 10,000 persons) t…
A measure or measures undertaken to prevent conception. The birth control pill is one of the most widely used forms of birth control. In the 1950s, birth control advocate Margaret Sanger raised 150,000 dollars to pay for research into the development of the birth control pill by Dr. Gregory Pincus. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS obscene materials or articles addressing or for use in the prevention of…
Free from doubt, burden, or obstacle; without limitation; plain or unencumbered. The term is used to mean unambiguous or definitive and has various applications. For example, a clear intent to make a gift means that there is no doubt that the donor had the intent to relinquish all dominion and control over the property. Clear and convincing proof is evidence that establishes a firm belief in a per…
A standard applied by a jury or by a judge in a nonjury trial to measure the probability of the truthfulness of particular facts alleged during a civil lawsuit. The standard of clear and convincing proof—also known as "clear and convincing evidence"; "clear, convincing, and satisfactory"; "clear, cognizant, and convincing"; and "clear, unequi…
Lockwood was born October 24, 1830, in Royalton, New York. A graduate of Genessee College in Lima, New York, in 1857, Lockwood received an honorary master of arts degree from Syracuse University in 1871 and a doctor of laws degree in 1908. Before her admission to the Washington, D.C., bar in 1873, Lockwood taught school from 1857 to 1868. She began her fight for women's rights with her work…
Copulation; the act of a man having sexual relations with a woman. Penetration is an essential element of sexual intercourse, and there is carnal knowledge if even the slightest penetration of the female by the male organ takes place. It is not required that the hymen be ruptured or the vagina entered. …
A body of laws, statutes, and rules enacted by southern states immediately after the Civil War to regain control over the freed slaves, maintain white supremacy, and ensure the continued supply of cheap labor. For the next several months, southern states sought a way to restore for the white majority what the Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment had tried to deny them, supremacy, control, and ec…
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., writing for a unanimous Court, stated that speech could be punished if "the words are used in such circumstances and of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." According to Holmes, the leaflets in Schenck were printed during wartime with the intent …
Colloquial term used to describe northern judges during the post-Civil War era who traveled to the South to serve on southern courts, typically for personal gain. "Carpetbag" refers to the judges's practice of carrying their possessions with them in carpetbags. Threatened with impeachment, many of these judges left the bench. Not all the charges against the carpetbag judges we…
Unencumbered or unrestricted legal ownership that is free from doubt as to its validity. The phrase implies that ownership is not subject to claims by anyone but the person holding title. It is also called marketable title, or title that can be easily transferred or sold because of its lack of encumbrances. …
Judah Philip Benjamin (1811–84) was the Confederacy's first attorney general. Appointed by President Davis, Benjamin was confirmed on March 5, 1861, and served until November 21, 1861, when he was named secretary of war. As attorney general, he wrote 13 opinions on such matters as agricultural products tariffs, mail route contracts, and defense appropriations. …
A union of states in which each member state retains some independent control over internal and external affairs. Thus, for international purposes, there are separate states, not just one state. A federation, in contrast, is a union of states in which external affairs are controlled by a unified, central government. …
Individuals or businesses that are employed to deliver people or property to an agreed destination. The two main types of carriers are common carriers and private carriers. A common carrier, such as a railroad, airline, or business that offers public transportation, customarily transports property and individuals from one location to another, thus offering its services for the hire of the general …
A term used to describe basic principles of law that are accepted by a majority of judges in most states. The term probably derives from the practice of publishers of encyclopedias and legal treatises to highlight principles of law by printing them in boldface type. …
The right of an individual or organization that publicly advertises itself for hire for the transportation of goods to keep possession of the cargo it has delivered to a destination until the person who is liable to pay the freight charges plus any other expenses incurred by its shipment has done so. Not all carriers are automatically entitled to have a lien for nonpayment of freight charges. A pr…
Leniency or mercy. A power given to a public official, such as a governor or the president, to in some way lower or moderate the harshness of punishment imposed upon a prisoner. …
On May 2, 1967, armed members of the Black Panther Party enter the California state capital to protest a bill restricting the carrying of arms in public. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS the building. TV cameras followed the group's progress to the legislative chambers, where they were stopped by police officers, Seale shouting, "Is this the way the racist government works—[you] wo…
The Carrington Report represented the combined efforts of a committee of legal scholars, but Professor Carrington, due to his role as chairperson, was instrumental in compiling the report. It aroused some controversy among legal educators and commentators at the time of its publication because of the extensiveness of its proposed changes in legal education, particularly in terms of revisions of la…
A breach of the duty owed by a member of the clergy (e.g., trust, loyalty, confidentiality, guidance) that results in harm or loss to his or her parishioner. A claim for clergy malpractice asserts that a member of the clergy should be held liable for professional misconduct or an unreasonable lack of competence in his or her capacity as a religious leader and counselor. One of the earlier claims f…
Also, because the Black Power movement was never a formally organized movement, it had no central leadership, which meant that different organizations with divergent agendas often could not agree on the best course of action. The more radical groups accused the more mainstream groups of capitulating to whites, and the more mainstream accused the more radical of becoming too ready to use violence. …
A mistake made in a letter, paper, or document that changes its meaning, such as a typographical error or the unintentional addition or omission of a word, phrase, or figure. A mistake of this kind is a result of an oversight. Such an error was mistakenly, not purposely, written and should be readily remedied without objection. If the amount of money owed a plaintiff by the defendant is mistakenly…
A fictitious designation that legal writers use to describe a piece of land. The term Blackacre is often used in comparison with Whiteacre in order to distinguish one parcel of land from another. …
The designation of the process by which net operating loss for one year may be applied, as provided by federal tax law, to each of several taxable years following the taxable year of such loss. …
A person employed in an office or government agency who performs various tasks such as keeping records or accounts, filing, letter writing, or transcribing. One who works in a store and whose job might include working as a cashier, selling merchandise, or waiting on customers. A law clerk is either a law student employed by a licensed attorney to do mundane legal tasks and learn the law in the pro…
Payments made to satisfy expenses incurred as a result of ownership of property, such as land taxes and mortgage payments. Disbursements paid to creditors, in addition to interest, for extending credit. …
A list of individuals or organizations designated for special discrimination or boycott; also to put a person or organization on such a list. Many types of blacklists are legal. For example, a store may maintain a list of individuals who have not paid their bills and deny them credit privileges. Similarly, credit reports can effectively function as blacklists by identifying individuals who are poo…
A person who employs or retains an attorney to represent him or her in any legal business; to assist, to counsel, and to defend the individual in legal proceedings; and to appear on his or her behalf in court. …
The crime involving a threat for purposes of compelling a person to do an act against his or her will, or for purposes of taking the person's money or property. The term blackmail originally denoted a payment made by English persons residing along the border of Scotland to influential Scottish chieftains in exchange for protection from thieves and marauders. In blackmail the threat might co…
In war, an agreement between two hostile powers for the delivery of prisoners or deserters, or authorizing certain nonhostile intercourse between each other that would otherwise be prevented by the state of war, for example, agreements between enemies for intercommunication by post, telegraph, telephone, or railway. Although illegal in the United States, foreign cartels influence prices within the…
State funds that compensate clients of attorneys who have stolen their money. Monies for these funds come from attorney registration and bar association fees. A key feature of client security funds is the funding mechanism: a portion of an attorney's annual registration or bar association fee is allocated to the fund. A victim of misappropriation files a claim with a client security board, …
Clifford was born on December 25, 1906, in Fort Scott, Kansas, and spent his childhood in St. Louis. He entered Washington University, in St. Louis, in September 1923. In the fall of 1925, after two years as an undergraduate, he entered the university's law school. He received his law degree in 1928 and practiced law in St. Louis until entering the navy in 1944. Clifford had been associated…
Trent Lott has served the U.S. government for over three decades. He was elected to both houses of the U.S. Congress and served subsequent terms as a member from the state of Mississippi. Comments suggesting his endorsement of segregationist views resulted in an uproar that led to his resignation as the Senate Majority Leader in December 2002. As a U.S. Senator from Mississippi, Trent Lott has bee…
Although the Commentaries might seem antiquated by current standards, Blackstone's work represented a tremendous advance in the study of law and played a significant role in the development of the American legal system. …
Lacking something essential to fulfillment or completeness; unrestricted or open. A space left empty for the insertion of one or more words or marks in a written document that will effectuate its meaning or make it legally operative. A printed legal form in which the standard or necessary words are printed in their proper order with spaces left open, to be filled with names, dates, figures, and ad…
Caesar Augustus Rodney served as U.S. attorney general from 1807 to 1811. His term as attorney general was unusual in that he served in both the Jefferson and Madison administrations. A member of a prominent Delaware family, Rodney held many positions in state government as well as in the federal government. Rodney was born on January 4, 1772, in Dover, Delaware. His father was Thomas Rodney, …
The writing of the name of a person who holds a negotiable instrument on the back of the document without specifically designating to whom the paper is to be paid, which transfers the rights that the signer had in the instrument to the person who presents it for payment. When a person endorses a paycheck, for example, with just a signature, such as "John Jones," then the bank is auth…
A parcel of land that is surrounded by a boundary of some kind, such as a hedge or a fence. To culminate, complete, finish, or bring to an end. To seal up. To restrict to a certain class. A narrow margin, as in a close election. A person can close a bank account; a trial may be closed after each lawyer has concluded his or her presentation in the case at bar. …
