The Heritage Foundation is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt institution and is governed by an independent board of trustees. It relies on the private financial support of individuals, foundations, and corporations for its income and accepts no government funds and performs no contract work. Currently, it receives support from more than 200,000 contributors. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. The He…
Speed was born March 11, 1812, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He was the son of Kentucky pioneers John Speed and Lucy Gilmer Fry Speed and counted among his ancestors a Revolutionary War hero (Captain James Speed) and an English historian (John Speed). Speed attended local schools and then St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky. After graduating from St. Joseph's in 1828, he was e…
A group of people who form an ascending chain of power or authority. Officers in a government, for example, form an escalating series of ranks or degrees of power, with each rank subject to the authority of the one on the next level above. In a majority of hierarchical arrangements, there are a larger number of people at the bottom than at the top. Originally, the term was used to mean government …
An attorney appointed by the federal government to investigate and prosecute federal government officials. Independent counsel are attorneys who investigate and prosecute criminal activity in government. They hold people who make and implement laws accountable for their own criminal activity. The need for independent counsel arises from the conflict of interest posed by having the established crim…
An abbreviation for Doctor of Juridical Science, a degree awarded to highly qualified individuals who have successfully completed a prescribed course of advanced study in law after having earned J.D. and LL.M. degrees. The standards for admission to J.S.D. programs are stringent. Although specific academic requirements for acceptance into a J.S.D. program vary from one law school to another, ordin…
Horace Harmon Lurton epitomized late-nineteenth-century judicial conservatism. Whether he was on the state or federal bench, restraint characterized Lurton's opinions. After a successful period in private practice in the 1860s and 1870s, Lurton won election to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1886. He was its chief justice in 1893; a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Ci…
Although the United States has a firmly established two-party system, independent parties play an important role in U.S. politics. Democrats and Republicans win the vast majority of federal, state, and local elections, but independent candidates often reflect popular attitudes and concerns. Most independent parties—also known as third parties—begin in response to a specific issue, ca…
The reason for the choice lies in the Framers' approach to the larger question of impeachment. Although borrowing language from the law they knew best, they explicitly chose not to imitate the English model of impeachment. Traditionally, this approach had allowed the British Parliament to conduct a simple review of charges and then remove officials by a majority vote. Instead, the Framers i…
That which is uncertain or not particularly designated. …
A book containing references, alphabetically arranged, to the contents of a series or collection of documents or volumes; or a section (normally at the end) of a single volume or set of volumes containing such references to its contents. Statistical indexes are also used to track or measure changes in the economy (for example, the Consumer Price Index) and movement in stock markets (for example, S…
The set of volumes that lists what has appeared in print from 1926 to the present in the major law reviews and law-oriented magazines in various countries—usually organized according to author, title, and subject, and containing a table of cases. The Index to Legal Periodicals is now available in an on-line form through the Online Computer Library Center, Inc., based in Dublin, Ohio. The da…
MacVeagh was born on April 19, 1833, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He attended school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, before entering Yale College, where he graduated in 1853. He studied law in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In 1859 he became district attorney of Chester County, Pennsylvania. President James Garfield appointed him attorney general on March 5, 1881, b…
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), passed by Congress in 1978, intended to limit the historical practice of removing Native American children from their tribe and family and placing them in a non-Indian family or institution (25 U.S.C.A. §§ 1901–1963). The stated purpose of the act is to "[p]rotect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and…
Born March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, Madison was the first of 11 children in his family. His father, James Madison Sr., was the wealthiest landowner in Orange County, Virginia, and provided Madison with a stable and comfortable upbringing. Eleanor Conway Madison, his mother, was an affectionate woman who gave the family emotional support throughout her ninety-eight years of life. Madison…
Signs; indications. Circumstances that point to the existence of a given fact as probable, but not certain. For example, indicia of partnership are any circumstances which would induce the belief that a given person was in reality, though not technically, a member of a given firm. …
Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on April 28, 1758. He attended the College of William and Mary at the age of 16 but left in 1776 to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was wounded at the Battle of Trenton but served until the end of the war. James Monroe. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In 1823 Monroe presented the most significant measure of his administration, the Monroe Doctrine. Du…
A written accusation charging that an individual named therein has committed an act or omitted to do something that is punishable by law. The purpose of an indictment is to inform an accused individual of the charge against him or her so that the person will be able to prepare a defense. A sample indictment …
Probative matter that does not proximately relate to an issue but that establishes a hypothesis by showing various consistent facts. …
Ferraro was born August 26, 1935, in Newburgh, New York, the fourth child of a tight-knit family enjoying prosperity. The good life did not last. When she was eight, her father, Dominick Ferraro, an Italian immigrant and successful restaurant and dime-store owner, died of a heart attack. Two of Ferraro's brothers had preceded him in death. Bad investments left her mother, Antonetta L. Corri…
A main road or thoroughfare, such as a street, boulevard, or parkway, available to the public for use for travel or transportation. It is essential that a highway be established in a manner recognized by the particular jurisdiction, whether it be by extended use—prescription—or by dedication to the public by the owner of the property subject to the consent of public authorities. Prio…
A means by which an individual can receive certain federal tax advantages while investing for retirement. The federal government has several reasons for encouraging individuals to save money for their retirement. For one, the average life span of a U.S. citizen continues to increase. Assuming that the average age of retirement does not change, workers who retire face more years of retirement and m…
To sign a paper or document, thereby making it possible for the rights represented therein to pass to another individual. Also spelled endorse. …
An indorsement on a negotiable instrument, such as a check or a promissory note, has the effect of transferring all the rights represented by the instrument to another individual. The ordinary manner in which an individual endorses a check is by placing his or her signature on the back of it, but it is valid even if the signature is placed somewhere else, such as on a separate paper, known as an a…
The seizure of a commercial vehicle—airplane, ship, or truck—by force or threat of force. …
An advantage or benefit that precipitates a particular action on the part of an individual. In the law of contracts, the inducement is a pledge or promise that causes an individual to enter into a particular agreement. An inducement to purchase is something that encourages an individual to buy a particular item, such as the promise of a price reduction. Consideration is the inducement to a contrac…
Sir Henry James Sumner Maine was a leading nineteenth-century English jurist. Maine's writings on the social and historical bases of all legal Henry Maine. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS systems have been recognized for their clarity of thought and style, although modern commentators have criticized Maine for overgeneralization. Maine first achieved prominence with the publication of Ancient La…
A labor organization composed of members employed in a particular field, such as textiles, but who perform different individual jobs within their general type of work. …
From 1906 to 1928, the IWW was responsible for 150 strikes, including a miners' strike in Goldfield, Nevada, from 1906 to 1907; a textile workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912; a 1913 silk workers' strike in Paterson, New Jersey; and a miners' strike in Colorado from 1927 to 1928. Despite its radicalism, the IWW was responsible for several gains for organi…
Hirohito was the emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989. His reign encompassed a period of Japanese Hirohito, emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989, in his coronation robes. Hirohito was born in Tokyo on April 29, 1901, and was educated in Japan. He became emperor on December 25, 1926, at a time when Japanese parliamentary government suggested that democracy and international cooperation would con…
Notoriety; condition of being known as possessing a shameful or disgraceful reputation; loss of character or good reputation. …
Minority; the status of an individual who is below the legal age of majority. …
Born on January 14, 1940, in Nashville, Tennessee, Bond was the son of black educators. His Julian Bond. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Bond's success led to his name being placed in nomination for vice president at the 1968 Democratic Convention, a first for a black man. The nomination was symbolic; he was too young to serve and so withdrew his name. In Georgia, he served as a state represent…
Hoffa rose from obscure origins to stand in the national spotlight. He was born February 14, 1913, in Brazil, Indiana, where his family lived by modest means. His father, a coal driller, died of an occupational respiratory disease when Hoffa was seven. The second of four children, Hoffa, an athletic, shy B-student, quit school after the ninth grade to work full-time as a stock boy in a department …
Common law held an infant, also called a minor or child, to be a person less than 21 years old. Currently, most state statutes define the age of majority to be 18. Although a person must attain the age of majority to vote, make a will, or hold public office, children are increasingly being recognized by society, legislatures, and the courts as requiring greater protections and deserving greater ri…
In the law of evidence, a truth or proposition drawn from another that is supposed or admitted to be true. A process of reasoning by which a fact or proposition sought to be established is deduced as a logical consequence from other facts, or a state of facts, already proved or admitted. A logical and reasonable conclusion of a fact not presented by direct evidence but which, by process of logic a…
An agreement or contract in which one party agrees to hold the other free from the responsibility for any liability or damage that might arise out of the transaction involved. For example, a company might agree in an employee's contract to pay the judgment if the person is successfully sued for injuries sustained by a plaintiff if the employee is acting within the scope of his or her author…
This term may denote any court subordinate to the chief appellate tribunal in the particular judicial system (e.g., trial court); but it is also commonly used as the designation of a court of special, limited, or statutory jurisdiction, whose record must show the existence and attaching of jurisdiction in any given case. …
To continue in possession of an office and exercise the functions associated therewith following the expiration of the term thereof. To retain possession as a tenant of real property following the termination of the lease or tenancy at will. A hold over tenant is also known as a tenant at sufferance, since the tenant has no estate or title to the property but only possession thereof. …
Flaw, defect, or weakness. In a legal sense, the term infirmity is used to mean any imperfection that renders a particular transaction void or incomplete. For example, if a deed drawn up to transfer ownership of land contains an erroneous description of it, an infirmity exists in the transaction. …
The formal accusation of a criminal offense made by a public official; the sworn, written accusation of a crime. The purpose of an information is to inform the accused of the charge against him, so that the accused will have an opportunity to prepare a defense. …
In 1964 a Texas jury convicted Jack Ruby of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS national television as Ruby shot Oswald while the Dallas police were attempting to move Oswald from the police station to another location. Questions about how Ruby was able to gain access to the police station and why he killed Oswald have …
A standard phrase added to qualify a statement made under oath; a phrase indicating that a statement is made, not from firsthand knowledge but, nevertheless, in the firm belief that it is true. …
James Barr Ames was born June 22, 1846, in Boston. He achieved prominence as an educator and concentrated his career efforts at Harvard. A graduate of Harvard College in 1868, Ames earned a master of arts degree in 1871 and attended Harvard Law School in 1872. He received several doctor of laws degrees from various universities, including the University of Pennsylvania in 1899, Northwestern Univer…
A comprehensive term applied to the property, whether real, personal, or both, owned by an individual or a business. The legal principle derived from a judicial decision. That part of the written opinion of a court in which the law is specifically applied to the facts of the instant controversy. It is relied upon when courts use the case as an established precedent in a subsequent case. A holding …
Assent to permit an occurrence, such as surgery, that is based on a complete disclosure of facts needed to make the decision intelligently, such as knowledge of the risks entailed or alternatives. A sample informed-consent form …
Stanbery, the son of Jonas Stanbery, a physician, was born February 20, 1803, in New York. He moved with his family from New York to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1814. An excellent student, Stanbery required greater academic challenge than early Zanesville schools could provide. Recognizing his scholastic aptitude, his father made arrangements for him to attend Washington College, in Pennsylvania. He grad…
A corporation that limits its business to the ownership of stock in and the supervision of management of other corporations. …
[Latin, Below, under, beneath, underneath.] A term employed in legal writing to indicate that the matter designated will appear beneath or in the pages following the reference. …
A day of recreation; a consecrated day; a day set apart for the suspension of business. …
Violation or infringement; breach of a statute, contract, or obligation. The term infraction is frequently used in reference to the violation of a particular statute for which the penalty is minor, such as a parking infraction. …
The encroachment, breach, or violation of a right, law, regulation, or contract. …
The act of making a perfect copy of a particular instrument, such as a deed, lease, or will, from a rough draft so that it may be properly executed to achieve its purpose. …
A will or deed written entirely by the testator or grantor with his or her own hand and not witnessed. State laws vary widely in regard to the status of a holographic will. Some states absolutely refuse to recognize any will not in compliance with the formal statutory requirements pertaining to the execution of the will. Many states that do not recognize holographic wills executed by their own cit…
Derived from the essential nature of, and inseparable from, the object itself. …
The right to local self-government including the powers to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; to license; to tax; and to incur debt. Home rule involves the authority of a local government to prevent state government intervention with its operations. The extent of its power, however, is subject to limitations prescribed by state constitutions and statutes…
To receive property according to the state laws of intestate succession from a decedent who has failed to execute a valid will, or, where the term is applied in a more general sense, to receive the property of a decedent by will. …
Property received from a decedent, either by will or through state laws of intestate succession, where the decedent has failed to execute a valid will. …
The department's main goal is to protect U.S. citizens against terrorists. It brings together people from 22 agencies to protect the nation's borders, help state and local safety officials better respond to catastrophes, research treatments against biological threats, and coordinate intelligence on terrorists. The administration's rationale: better communication is the key to …
A process of a participatory democracy that empowers the people to propose legislation and to enact or reject the laws at the polls independent of the lawmaking power of the governing body. The purpose of an initiative, which is a type of election commenced and carried out by the people, is to permit the electorate to resolve questions where their elected representatives fail to do so or refuse to…
The process of dividing a particular state or territory into election districts in such a manner as to accomplish an unlawful purpose, such as to give one party a greater advantage. Redistricting is usually used to adjust the populations of election districts to achieve equality in representation among those districts. Sometimes, however, it is used for unlawful ulterior motives. Then it crosses t…
A court order by which an individual is required to perform, or is restrained from performing, a particular act. A writ framed according to the circumstances of the individual case. An injunction commands an act that the court regards as essential to justice, or it prohibits an act that is deemed to be contrary to good conscience. It is an extraordinary remedy, reserved for special circumstances i…
To interfere with the legally protected interest of another or to inflict harm on someone, for which an action may be brought. To damage or impair. The term injure is comprehensive and can apply to an injury to a person or property. …
Henry Marie Brackenridge was an eminent lawyer, statesman, and author. As an author, Brackenridge wrote many publications, including Views of Louisiana (1814); History of the Late War (1816); Voyage to South America (1819); Letters to the Public, (1832); and History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania (1859). Brackenridge died January 18, 1871, in Pittsburgh. …
A fallacious statement that causes intentional damage to an individual's commercial or economic relations. Any type of defamatory remark, either written or spoken, that causes pecuniary loss to an individual through disparagement of a particular business dealing. …
A comprehensive term for any wrong or harm done by one individual to another individual's body, rights, reputation, or property. Any interference with an individual's legally protected interest. One who is injured might be able to recover damages against the individual who caused him or her harm, since the law seeks to provide a remedy for every injury. …
Bracton's exact date of birth early in the thirteenth century is unknown. His family, whose name sometimes appears as Bratton or Bretton, owned land near Devon, England. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the brother of King Henry III, and William de Raleigh, a prominent common-law judge, were important benefactors who helped advance Bracton's legal career. By 1240 Bracton had the job of civ…
Canals, lakes, rivers, water courses, inlets, and bays that are nearest to the shores of a nation and subject to its complete sovereignty. Inland waters, also known as internal waters, are subject to the total sovereignty of the country as much as if they were an actual part of its land territory. A coastal nation has the right to exclude foreign vessels, subject to the right of entry in times of …
The GI Bill created a comprehensive package of benefits, including financial assistance for higher education, for veterans of U.S. military service. The benefits of the GI Bill are intended to help veterans readjust to civilian life following service to their country and to encourage bright, motivated men and women to volunteer for military duty. This legislation came in two parts: the Servicemen&…
An individual who lacks housing, including one whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations; an individual who is a resident in transitional housing; or an individual who has as a primary residence a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.…
Attorney, politician, and reformer of U.S. public education Horace Mann transformed the nation's schools. Mann was a gust of wind blowing through the doldrums of nineteenth-century teaching. In 1837, he left a promising career in law and politics to become Massachusetts's first secretary of education. In this capacity, he rebuilt shoddy schools, instituted teacher Horace Mann. AR…
An insurance protection program offered by a number of builders of residential dwellings in the United States. Homeowner's warranty, commonly known as HOW, was developed by the Home Owner's Warranty Corporation and protects the original homeowner of a new home for a period of ten years against major structural defects. If such defects occur, the builder, and not the original buyer, i…
Mann was born October 20, 1856, in McLean County, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1876 and then attended the Union College of Law (now known as the James R. Mann. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Northwestern University Law School). Following his admission to the Illinois bar in 1881, Mann joined a prominent Chicago law firm and achieved success as a business attorney. Mann bec…
In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with breaking into and entering a poolroom with intent to commit a misdemeanor, a combination of offenses that constituted a felony under Florida law. He could not afford a lawyer, and he requested to have one appointed by the court. Nearly twenty years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had held in Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455, 62 S.…
The dwelling house and its adjoining land where a family resides. Technically, and pursuant to the modern homestead exemption laws, an artificial estate in land, created to protect the possession and enjoyment of the owner against the claims of creditors by preventing the sale of the property for payment of the owner's debts so long as the land is occupied as a home. Homestead exemption sta…
An individual who, as a regular business, provides accommodations for guests in exchange for reasonable compensation. An inn is defined as a place where lodgings are made available to the public for a charge, such as a hotel, motel, hostel, or guest house. A guest is a transient who receives accommodations at an inn, transiency being the major characteristic distinguishing him or her from a boarde…
In this context of controversy and war, the Homestead Act offered a simple plan to achieve the goals of the North. As yet not fully settled, western states would be populated with a flood of homesteaders—individual farmers whose hard work would create a new agricultural industry. On its face, the law was generous. Anyone who was at least twenty-one years of age, the head of a family, or a m…
An individual is an innocent or goodfaith purchaser when he or she buys something, paying valuable consideration, without actual or constructive notice of any legal infirmity in the sale. The purchaser of a gold bracelet for $500 from a jewelry store cannot be charged with notice that the bracelet was stolen. …
A voluntary transfer of property or of a property interest from one individual to another, made gratuitously to the recipient. The individual who makes the gift is known as the donor, and the individual to whom the gift is made is called the donee. If a gratuitous transfer of property is to be effective at some future date, it constitutes a mere promise to make a gift that is unenforceable due to …
Ancient preparatory colleges where qualified clerks studied the drafting of writs, which was a function of the officers of the Court of Chancery. …
Initially, in 1955 and 1956, thirteen states enacted a law called an Act Concerning Gifts of Securities to Minors. The New York Stock Exchange and the Association of Stock Exchange Firms sponsored the development of the law, to make it possible to donate shares of stock to children without the creation of a formal trust. The scope of the law was subsequently expanded to encompass all gifts to mino…
Void; not active; ineffectual. The term inoperative is commonly used to indicate that some force, such as a statute or contract, is no longer in effect and legally binding upon the persons who were to be, or had been, affected by it. …
The killing of one human being by another human being. Under the early common law, murder was a felony that was punishable by death. It was defined as the unlawful killing of a person with "malice aforethought," which was generally defined as a premeditated intent to kill. As U.S. courts and jurisdictions adopted the English common law and modified the various circumstances that cons…
The determination or findings of a body of persons called to make a legal inquiry or the report issued after their investigation. The foundation of the modern jury system can be traced back to the Carolingian empire of medieval Europe during the eighth to the tenth centuries. The monarchs used a procedure called inquest, or inquisition, to help them consolidate their authority in the realm. They c…
As a verb, to accept a bill of exchange, or to pay a note, check, or accepted bill, at maturity. To pay or to accept and pay, or, where a credit so engages, to purchase or discount a draft complying with the terms of the draft. In the United States, the customary title of courtesy given to judges, and occasionally to some other officers, as, "his honor," "your honor," &…
An arrangement whereby property is placed in the hands of another to be used for specific noncharitable purposes where there is no definite ascertainable beneficiary—one who profits by the act of another—and that is unenforceable in the absence of statute. Trusts for the erection of monuments, the care of graves, the saying of Masses, or the care of specific animals, such as a cat, d…
A method of legal practice in which the judge endeavors to discover facts while simultaneously representing the interests of the state in a trial. In the inquisitorial system, the presiding judge is not a passive recipient of information. Rather, the presiding judge is primarily responsible for supervising the gathering of the evidence necessary to resolve the case. He or she actively steers the s…
Gilpin was brought up near Philadelphia and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. Henry D. Gilpin. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS He graduated, as valedictorian of his class, in 1819 and began to study law with a local attorney. In 1822, he was admitted to the bar but he did not establish a practice. Instead, he went to work as an agent for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company. The posi…
Hoover was born August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa. His father and mother died when he was young, and he was raised by an uncle in Oregon. He entered the first first-year class at Stanford University and graduated in 1895 with a degree in mining engineering. He became an expert on managing and reorganizing mines throughout the world. He spent time in Australia and China before setting up his ow…
James M. Wayne. ARCHIVE PHOTOS, INC. elected mayor of Savannah. His local political career soon gave way to a judicial one. In 1819 he was elected judge of the Savannah Court of Common Pleas, and in 1822 he became a judge of the superior court. Southerners detested Wayne's decision to remain on the Court during the war. Yet even as he was denounced as a traitor and his property …
A primer; a book explaining the basics, fundamentals, or rudiments of any science or branch of knowledge. The phrase hornbook law is a colloquial designation of the rudiments or general principles of law. A colloquial reference to a series of textbooks that review various fields of law in summary, narrative form, as opposed to casebooks, which are designed as primary teaching tools and include man…
Persons taken by an individual or organized group in order to force a state, government unit, or community to meet certain conditions: payment of ransom, release of prisoners, or some other act. …
In insurance law, a combustion that cannot be controlled, that escapes from where it was initially set and confined, or one that was not intended to exist. A hostile fire differs from a friendly fire, which burns in a place where it was intended to burn, such as one confined to a fireplace or furnace. …
A witness at a trial who is so adverse to the party that called him or her that he or she can be cross-examined as though called to testify by the opposing party. …
A defense asserted by an accused in a criminal prosecution to avoid liability for the commission of a crime because, at the time of the crime, the person did not appreciate the nature or quality or wrongfulness of the acts. The insanity defense is used by criminal defendants. The most common variation is cognitive insanity. Under the test for cognitive insanity, a defendant must have been so impai…
The original "hot line" agreement was a memorandum of understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union reached in 1963 to establish a direct communications link between the governments of the two nations. …
Provision in a contract that allows a creditor to make an entire debt come due if there is good reason to believe that the debtor cannot or will not pay. …
A doctrine that provides that the police may enter the premises where they suspect a crime has been committed without a warrant when delay would endanger their lives or the lives of others and lead to the escape of the alleged perpetrator; also sometimes called fresh pursuit. Hot pursuit is one such exigent circumstance. It usually applies when the police are pursuing a suspected felon into privat…
An incapacity to pay debts upon the date when they become due in the ordinary course of business; the condition of an individual whose property and assets are inadequate to discharge the person's debts. …
Mary Beth Whitehead entered into a contract with William Stern in which she agreed to be artificially inseminated with Stern's sperm. At the time, Mary Beth was married to Richard Whitehead, with whom she had two children. In the Surrogate Parenting Agreement Mary Beth agreed that after the baby was born she would relinquish the baby to Stern and his wife Elizabeth and would permit the term…
The process of combining and assimilating property belonging to different individuals so that the property can be equally divided; the taking into consideration of funds or property that have already been given to children when dividing up the property of a decedent so that the respective shares of the children can be equalized. …
An examination or investigation; the right to see and duplicate documents, enter land, or make other such examinations for the purpose of gathering evidence. The inspection of documents relevant to issues in a lawsuit is an important element of discovery. …
Born January 2, 1797, in Charleston, South Carolina, to a wealthy French Huguenot father, both Legare and his sister, Mary, enjoyed a privileged upbringing and social advantages. But the family's money and influence could not cure the boy's severe physical deformity. Prevented from strenuous physical activity, Legare turned his attention to scholarly pursuits, at which he excelled. L…
The Glass-Steagall Act, also known as the Banking Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 162), was passed by A group of congressmen look on as President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Glass-Steagall Act on June 16, 1933. Senators Carter Glass (light suit) and Henry S. Steagall stand on either side of the president. BETTMANN/CORBIS Congress in 1933 and prohibits commercial banks from engaging in the investm…
Confinement to one's home or another specified location instead of incarceration in a jail or prison. House arrest has been used since ancient times as an alternative to criminal imprisonment, often imposed upon people who either were too powerful or too influential to be placed in an actual prison. Hereditary rulers, religious leaders, and political figures, whose imprisonment might spur a…
Regular, partial portion of the same debt, paid at successive periods as agreed by a debtor and creditor. An installment loan is designed to be repaid in certain specified, ordinarily equal amounts over a designated period, such as a year or a number of months. A sample installment loan agreement …
For more than a quarter of a century, Jack Bertrand Weinstein has championed the fight for an independent judiciary. As a federal district judge—and later chief judge—for the Eastern District of New York, he has written, lectured, and testified about the importance of fostering strong, free-thinking jurists in the U.S. courts. As a young judge, he exerted his independence by eschewin…
Current or present. When composing a legal brief, an attorney might use the phrase the instant case in reference to the case currently before the court to distinguish it from other cases discussed. …
Harvesting for free distribution to the needy, or for donation to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to the needy, an agricultural crop that has been donated by the owner. Gleaning raises legal liability issues, especially with respect to the quality of the food donated and any harmful effects that may come from donated food. A group of statutes known as Good Samaritan laws are mea…
To incite, stimulate, or induce into action; goad into an unlawful or bad action, such as a crime. The term instigate is used synonymously with abet, which is the intentional encouragement or aid of another individual in committing a crime. …
Nixon then hired St. Clair to argue against disclosure of the tapes and to prevent the House of Representatives from voting impeachment charges against the president. In the Judiciary Committee proceedings, St. Clair was permitted to hear the evidence, question witnesses, and present a defense. He argued that Nixon could be impeached only on hard proof that the president had committed serious crim…
An annotation, explanation, or commentary on a particular passage in a book or document, which is ordinarily placed on the same page or in the margin to elucidate or amplify the passage. …
For example, to institute an action is to commence it by the filing of a complaint. …
The value inherent in an active, established company as opposed to a firm that is not yet established. The value of the assets of a business considered as an operating whole. As a component of business value, going concern value recognizes the many advantages that an existing business has over a new business, such as avoidance of start-up costs and improved operating efficiency. In this sense, the…
The commencement or initiation of anything, such as an action. An establishment, particularly one that is eleemosynary or public by nature. An institution can be any type of organized corporation or society. It may be private and designed for the profit of the individuals composing it, or public and nonprofit. …
Altering the organization of a corporation from ownership and control by a small group of people, as in a close corporation, to ownership by the general public, as in a publicly held corporation. When a corporation goes public, it opens up the sale of shares of its stock to the public at large. …
The lower chamber, or larger branch, of the U.S. Congress, or a similar body in the legislature of many of the states. The U.S. House of Representatives forms one of the two branches of the U.S. Congress. The House comprises 435 members who are elected to two-year terms. The U.S. Constitution vests the House with the sole power of introducing bills for raising revenue, making it one of the most in…
The act of using physical force to gain access to, and entering, a house with an intent to commit a felony inside. …
A formal or legal written document; a document in writing, such as a deed, lease, bond, contract, or will. A writing that serves as evidence of an individual's right to collect money, such as a check. …
An agreement that provides key executives with generous severance pay and other benefits in the event that their employment is terminated as a result of a change of ownership at their employer corporation; known more formally as a change-of-control agreement. Golden parachutes are provided by a firm's board of directors and, depending on the laws of the state in which the company is incorpo…
Individuals who comprise a family unit and who live together under the same roof; individuals who dwell in the same place and comprise a family, sometimes encompassing domestic help; all those who are under the control of one domestic head. For the purposes of insurance, the terms family and household are frequently used inter-changeably. …
A principle of corporate law that permits a court to disregard the corporate existence of a subsidiary corporation when it is operated solely for the benefit of the parent corporation, which controls and directs the activities of the subsidiary while asserting the shield of limited liability. …
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the principal federal agency responsible for programs concerned with housing needs, fair housing opportunities, and improving and developing U.S. communities. Several program areas within HUD carry out the department's goals and functions. The assistant secretary for housing, who also acts as the federal housing commissioner, underwri…
A right, benefit, or advantage arising out of property that is of such nature that it may properly be indemnified. In the law of insurance, the insured must have an interest in the subject matter of his or her policy, or such policy will be void and unenforceable since it will be regarded as a form of gambling. An individual ordinarily has an insurable interest when he or she will obtain some type…
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1900, Briggs was one of a small group of American international lawyers in the twentieth century who did not hold a law degree. He received an A.B. from West Virginia University in Morgan-town, West Virginia, in 1921 and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1925. Over the next four years, he studied international law in Brussels, Belgium…
Otis was born on February 5, 1725, in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. His father, James Otis Sr., was a prominent merchant and political figure in the colony. Otis graduated from Harvard College in 1743 and was admitted to the bar in 1748. He moved his law practice from Plymouth, Massachusetts, to Boston in 1750 and was appointed advocate general of the Boston vice-admiralty court in 1756. He serv…
George W. Crockett. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Crockett served as a judge of the Detroit Recorder's (Criminal) Court from 1966 to 1978. His years on the bench included a term as presiding judge in 1974. He retired from the recorder's court in 1978, but soon returned to public service. In 1980, Representative Charles C. Diggs Jr. (D-Mich.), one of the few people who had befriend…
Born July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells-Barnett was the oldest of eight children of James Wells and Elizabeth Warrenton Wells. After the Civil War, her father was a carpenter and a leader in local Reconstruction activities. Wells-Barnett attended Shaw University (later renamed Rust College), an African American school for all grade levels established in Holly Springs in 1866 by Fr…
Orderly and lawful action; conduct that is deemed proper for a peaceful and law-abiding individual. The definition of good behavior depends upon how the phrase is used. For example, what constitutes good behavior for an elected public officer may be quite different from that expected of a prisoner who wants to have his or her sentence reduced or to earn privileges. …
Legally adequate or substantial grounds or reason to take a certain action. An employee is said to be discharged for good cause if the reasons for the termination are work related. However, if the employer simply did not like the employee's personality, this would not ordinarily constitute good cause, unless the employee held a position, such as a salesperson, for which a likable personalit…
Honesty; a sincere intention to deal fairly with others. Good faith is an abstract and comprehensive term that encompasses a sincere belief or motive without any malice or the desire to defraud others. It derives from the translation of the Latin term bona fide, and courts use the two terms interchangeably. Where a nonmerchant purchases property that the seller lacks legal title to convey, the iss…
The Good Samaritan doctrine is used by rescuers to avoid civil liability for injuries arising from their negligence. Its purpose is to encourage emergency assistance by removing the threat of liability for damage done by the assistance. However, the assistance must be reasonable; a rescuer cannot benefit from the Good Samaritan doctrine if the assistance is reckless or grossly negligent. Three key…
A contract whereby, for specified consideration, one party undertakes to compensate the other for a loss relating to a particular subject as a result of the occurrence of designated hazards. In an insurance contract, one party, theinsured, pays a specified amount of money, called a premium, to another party, the insurer. The insurer, in turn, agrees to compensate the insured for specific future lo…
The amount of time deducted from time to be served in prison on a given sentence, at some point after the prisoner's admission to prison, contingent upon good behavior or awarded automatically by the application of a statute or regulation. Good time can be forfeited for misbehavior. In some jurisdictions, prisoners may not earn good time during their first year of their sentence. …
Basic rights that fundamentally and inherently belong to each individual. Human rights are freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations. Human rights are distinct from civil liberties, which are freedoms established by the law of a particular state and applied by that state in its own jurisdiction. …
The person who obtains or is otherwise covered by insurance on his or her health, life, or property. The insured in a policy is not limited to the insured named in the policy but applies to anyone who is insured under the policy. …
The favorable reputation and clientele of an established and well-run business. The value of good will is ordinarily determined as the amount a purchaser will pay for a business beyond the monetary value of its tangible property and money owed to it. Good will is regarded as a property interest in and of itself, although it exists only in connection with other property, such as the name or locatio…
An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. …
Goods is a term of flexible context and meaning and extends to all tangible items. …
In international conflicts and other crises, HRW provides current information about conflicts—focusing on the human rights situation on the ground—while the conflicts or crises are underway. The purpose of HRW is to increase the price of human rights abuse, thereby helping to decrease the incidents of such abuses. HRW is the largest human rights organization based in the United State…
A rising or rebellion of citizens against their government, usually manifested by acts of violence. Under federal law, it is a crime to incite, assist, or engage in such conduct against the United States. …
A rule that provides that any organization run by a branch of the government is immune from taxation. …
Completed; made whole or entire. Desegregated; converted into a nonracial, nondiscriminatory system. A contract that has been adopted as a final and complete expression of an agreement between two parties is an integrated agreement. A school that has been integrated has been made into one in which students, faculty, staff, facilities, programs, and activities combine individuals of different races…
Gloria Steinem is one of the most important feminist writers and organizers of the late twentieth century. Since the 1960s, Steinem has been a political activist and organizer who has urged equal opportunity for women and the breaking down of gender roles. As a writer she has produced influential essays about the need for social and cultural change. Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, O…
An agreement is integrated when the parties adopt the writing or writings as the final and complete expression of the agreement. …
James Overton Broadhead was born May 29, 1819, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia from 1835 to 1836, studied law in St. Louis, Missouri, and received his license and established his law practice in Bowling Green, Missouri, in 1842. In 1845, Broadhead began his political career as a member of the Missouri Constitutional Convention. In the following year he particip…
The Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), also known as Ginnie Mae, is a corporation wholly owned by the federal government. Created by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, 825 Stat. 491, GNMA is designed to support the federal government's housing programs by establishing a secondary market for the sale and purchase of residential mortgages. During the late 1960s, the …
Humphrey was born in Wallace, South Dakota, on May 27, 1911. He grew up in Doland, South Dakota, where his father ran the local drugstore. He received a degree from the Denver College of Pharmacy in 1933 and helped run the family drugstore before entering the University of Minnesota. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1939, he earned a master's degree from Louisiana State …
The process of organizing the attorneys of a state into an association, membership in which is a condition precedent to the right to practice law. Integration is usually attained by enactment of a statute that grants authority to the highest court of the state to integrate the bar, or by rule of court in the exercise of its inherent power. When the bar is integrated, all attorneys within an area, …
Henry David Thoreau was a nineteenth-century philosopher and writer who denounced materialistic modes of living and encouraged people to act according to their own beliefs of right and wrong, even if doing so required breaking the law. His writings, especially his call for nonviolent resistance to government injustice, have inspired many later reformers. Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Conco…
A political subdivision in old England. Under the Saxons, each shire or county in England was divided into a number of hundreds, which were made up of ten tithings each. The tithings were groups of ten families of freeholders. The hundred was governed by a high constable and had its own local court called the Hundred Court. The most remarkable feature of the hundred was the collective responsibili…
The GPO is overseen by the Congressional Joint Committee on Printing. The head of the GPO works under the title public printer and is appointed by the president of the United States with the consent of the Senate. The public printer is also legally required to be a "practical printer versed in the art of bookbinding" (44 U.S.C.A. § 301). The GPO uses a variety of printing and …
A trial jury duly selected to make a decision in a criminal case regarding a defendant's guilt or innocence, but who are unable to reach a verdict due to a complete division in opinion. …
The bringing together of separate elements to create a whole unit. The bringing together of people from the different demographic and racial groups that make up U.S. society. Months after the Brown v. Bd. of Ed. decision, two schools at military bases in Virginia were first opened to black children. Although not yet required of public schools, the Defense Department ordered the racial integrat…
State laws governing debtor and creditor transactions emphasize the importance of prompt action by creditors to ensure payment of the debtor's outstanding debts. For example, the first creditor to attach the debtor's property is most likely to be paid. The quicker the creditor acts to seize or "grab" the debtor's assets, the greater the chance the creditor'…
Wheaton was born on November 27, 1785, in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Rhode Island College (today known as Brown University) and then studied law in France in 1802. Upon his return that year he established a law practice in Providence. Wheaton attended court sessions, accurately reported oral arguments and the written decisions of the Court, collected the decisions, and then publis…
In insurance law, a period beyond the due date of a premium (usually thirty or thirty-one days) during which the insurance is continued in force and during which the payment may be made to keep the policy in good standing. The grace period for payment of the premium does not provide free insurance or operate to continue the policy in force after it expires by agreement of the parties. Grace period…
Tax structured so that the rate increases as the amount of income of taxpayer increases. …
Henry Peter Brougham, also known as Baron Brougham and Vaux, achieved prominence as a lawyer and statesman. Brougham gained fame in 1820 as chief attorney for Queen Caroline, also known as Caroline of Brunswick. Caroline had married George, Prince of Wales, in 1795, and after giving Henry Peter Brougham. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS A leader in the field of educational reform, Brougham particip…
A colloquial term referring to the unlawful acquisition of public money through questionable and improper transactions with public officials. Graft is the personal gain or advantage earned by an individual at the expense of others as a result of the exploitation of the singular status of, or an influential relationship with, another who has a position of public trust or confidence. The advantage o…
South Dakota and Georgia illustrate the sort of hunting laws typically maintained by a state. In South Dakota hunting is regulated by Title 41 of the South Dakota Codified Laws Annotated, Section 41-1-1 et seq. Under Title 41 hunters must obtain from the game, fish, and parks commission a license for the privilege of hunting in South Dakota. Other states maintain similar commissions or boards to i…
Henry L. Stimson. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Stimson wrote a diplomatic note to both China and Japan, informing them that the United States would not recognize territorial or other changes made in violation of U.S. treaty rights. The "Stimson Doctrine" was invoked as the rationale for successive economic embargoes against Japan du…
Henry Billings Brown was an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1890 to 1906. Born to a wealthy family on March 2, 1836, at South Lee, Massachusetts, Brown attended private schools as a child. His father, a prosperous merchant and manufacturer, saw to it that Brown attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1856. After graduation, Brown traveled in Europe for a year, then returned to …
Cummings was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 30, 1870. He attended Yale University where he received his undergraduate degree in 1891 and two years later, his law degree. Cummings was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1893 and began a private practice in Stamford. He rose in prominence as a litigator, becoming a member of the New York bar. He also was admitted to practice before a number of f…
In New York state, a separate proceeding in a criminal action conducted solely for the purpose of determining the admissibility of the extrajudicial statements made by the defendant. The name Huntley hearing is derived from the case of People v. Huntley, 15 N.Y. 2d 72, 255 N.Y.S. 2d 838, 204 N.E. 2d 179 (1965), which set forth the hearing requirement. …
Immanuel Kant shook the foundations of Western philosophy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This author and professor did his most important writing between 1781 and 1790 while working at the University of Königsberg, where he spent most of his life. Kant's philosophical model not only swept aside the ideas of the so-called empiricists and rationalists who came b…
Henry Baldwin was a prominent Pennsylvania attorney and politician who later became an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served for fourteen years. Henry Baldwin. CORBIS After the death of his first wife, Baldwin married Sally Ellicott, and they established a residence in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. In 1816, Baldwin was elected representative to the U.S. Congress for …
After reviewing English treatises and numerous cases construing the term due process of law, the Court affirmed Hurtado's conviction. Only persons accused of federal crimes are entitled to a presentment or indictment of a grand jury. The Court refused to declare the proceedings that led to Hurtado's conviction under state law as violative of due process of law. Like an indictment, th…
A panel of citizens that is convened by a court to decide whether it is appropriate for the government to indict (proceed with a prosecution against) someone suspected of a crime. The grand jury was considered important enough to be incorporated into the U.S. Constitution, and has remained largely unchanged. Grand juries are used in the federal and most state courts. Federal grand juries use a sta…
Intellectual property laws give owners the exclusive right to profit from a work for a particular limited period. For copyrighted material, the exclusive right lasts for 70 years beyond the death of the author. The length of the right can vary for patents, but in most cases it lasts for 20 years. Trademark rights are exclusive for ten years and can be continually renewed for subsequent ten-year pe…
A category of larceny—the offense of illegally taking the property of another—in which the value of the property taken is greater than that set for petit larceny. …
A lack of moderation. Habitual intemperance is that degree of intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquor which disqualifies the person a great portion of the time from properly attending to business. Habitual or excessive use of liquor. …
A portion of a statute that provides that the law is not applicable in certain circumstances due to preexisting facts. Grandfather clauses, which were originally intended to prevent black people from voting, were named for provisions adopted by the constitutions of some states. Such amendments sought to interfere with an individual's right to vote by setting forth difficult requirements. Fo…
A determination to perform a particular act or to act in a particular manner for a specific reason; an aim or design; a resolution to use a certain means to reach an end. Intent is a mental attitude with which an individual acts, and therefore it cannot ordinarily be directly proved but must be inferred from surrounding facts and circumstances. Intent refers only to the state of mind with which th…
In 1867, the American farmer was in desperate straits. Needing better educational opportunities and protection from exorbitant prices charged by middlemen, the farmers decided to form an independent group to achieve their goals. An 1873 Granger promotional poster printed in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Granger Movement experienced rapid growth following the Panic of 1873 and peaked by 1875. LIBRARY O…
Inter alia is also used when reporting court decisions to indicate that there were other rulings made by the court but only a particular holding of the case is cited. …
To confer, give, or bestow. A gift of legal rights or privileges, or a recognition of asserted rights, as in treaty. In the law of property, the term grant can be used in a deed to convey land, regardless of the number and types of rights conferred or the promises made by the transferor to the transferee. It is a comprehensive term that encompasses more specific words of transfer, such as assign, …
[Latin, Between the living.] A phrase used to describe a gift that is made during the donor's lifetime. In order for an inter vivos gift to be complete, there must be a clear manifestation of the giver's intent to release to the donee the object of the gift, and actual delivery and acceptance by the donee. An inter vivos gift is distinguishable from a gift causa mortis, which is made…
An individual to whom a transfer or conveyance of property is made. In a case involving the sale of land, the buyer is commonly known as the grantee. …
A system in which lawyers place certain client deposits in interest-bearing accounts, with the interest then used to fund programs, such as legal service organizations who provide services to clients in need. Originating in Canada and Australia in the 1960s, interest on lawyers trust account (IOLTA) programs made their first appearance in the United States in Florida in 1981. Since then, all 50 st…
Stone was born on October 11, 1872, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. He graduated from Amherst College in 1894 and Columbia Law School in 1898. Admitted to the New York bar the year of his graduation, Stone became a member of a prominent New York City law firm. He was also a part-time instructor at Columbia Law School from 1899 to 1902. In 1902 Stone left his law firm to become a professor of law a…
The portion of an instrument of conveyance, such as a deed, containing the words that transfer a present interest from the grantor to the grantee. …
Hans Kelsen was a European legal philosopher and teacher who emigrated to the United States in 1940 after leaving Nazi Germany. Kelsen is most famous for his studies on law and especially for his idea known as the pure theory of the law. With the rise of the Nazi government, he left Germany and emigrated to Switzerland in 1933. He taught at the Graduate Institute of International Studies of t…
Brownell was born in Peru, Nebraska, on February 20, 1904. In 1924, he graduated from the University of Nebraska and then attended Yale Law School. After receiving his law degree in 1927, Brownell was admitted to the New York State bar and worked for the noted law firm of Root, Clark, Buckner, Howland & Ballentine for two years. In 1929, he joined the law firm of Lord, Day & Lord. …
An individual who conveys or transfers ownership of property. In real property law, an individual who sells land is known as the grantor. …
A man and woman who are legally married to one another and are thereby given by law specific rights and duties resulting from that relationship. There is a strong public policy in favor of marriage. Because of this, a husband and wife are not always able to determine their duties and privileges toward one another; instead, these rights and responsibilities are set forth by special legal principles…
The doctrine of intergovernmental immunity is frequently invoked in taxation cases. In Davis v. Michigan Department of Treasury, 489 U.S. 803 (1989), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state of Michigan was in violation of federal law when it exempted state and local government pensions from taxation but levied taxes on federal government pensions. At the time, more than two dozen other states …
A master reference book, ordinarily kept in the office of official records of a particular county, which lists all recorded deeds as evidence of ownership of real property. This index contains the volume and page number where an instrument can be found in the record books. The grantor-grantee index is frequently used to conduct a title search on property. By consulting the index, an individual can…
To pledge property as security or collateral for a debt. Generally, there is no physical transfer of the pledged property to the lender, nor is the lender given title to the property, though he or she has the right to sell the pledged property in the case of default. …
[Latin, In the meantime: temporary; between.] An interim dean of a law school, for example, is an individual who is appointed to fill the office of dean during a temporary vacancy or a period during which the regular dean is absent due to an illness or disability. …
In the mid-1970s, there was no guarantee of speedy disposition of litigation in the federal courts. The courts of appeals, in particular, faced widespread crises because the volume of appeals far exceeded the capacity of the courts to decide them. The Ninth Circuit court was no exception, and, because of its enormous backlog of cases, was the subject of much discussion among scholars, Congress, an…
Bestowed or granted without consideration or exchange for something of value. The term gratuitous is applied to deeds, bailments, and other contractual agreements. A gratuity is something given by someone who has no obligation to give and can be used in reference to a bribe or tip. …
An assumption or theory. During a criminal trial, a hypothesis is a theory set forth by either the prosecution or the defense for the purpose of explaining the facts in evidence. It also serves to set up a ground for an inference of guilt or innocence, or a showing of the most probable motive for a criminal offense. …
An individual who is permitted, although not invited, to enter another individual's property and who provides no consideration in exchange for such permission. …
A mixture of assumed or established facts and circumstances, developed in the form of a coherent and specific situation, which is presented to an expert witness at a trial to elicit his or her opinion. When a hypothetical question is posed, it includes all the facts in evidence needed to form an opinion and, based on the assumption that the facts are true, the witness is asked whether he or she ca…
The Interior Department is a federal agency responsible for U.S. natural resources and for land owned by the federal government. The department fulfills this responsibility by promulgating and enforcing numerous regulations concerning natural resources and public lands. The head of the department is the secretary of the interior, who sits on the president's cabinet and reports directly to t…
Money, also known as a tip, given to one who provides services and added to the cost of the service provided, generally as a reward for the service provided and as a supplement to the service provider's income. Legend suggests that the term "tip" originated from an innkeeper's sign, "To Insure Promptness." Traditionally, patrons gave gratuity to those prov…
An abbreviation of the Latin ibidem, meaning "in the same place; in the same book; on the same page." …
The process of writing between the lines of an instrument; that which is written between the lines of a document. An interlineation frequently appears in a contract that has been typed and signed. If the parties agree that a sentence is to be inserted between the lines to clarify a particular provision, the new sentence is known as an interlineation. The new line should be initialed and dated to i…
Named Leslie Lynch King Jr., when born July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, Ford spent most of his childhood in Grand Rapids, where his mother settled in 1914 after divorcing his father. When Ford was three years old, his mother remarried, and the future president was adopted by and renamed after his stepfather, Gerald Ford Sr. Ford was a gifted athlete in high school and a college all-star on champ…
The basis or essence of a grievance; the issue upon which a particular controversy turns. The gravamen of a criminal charge or complaint is the material part of the charge. In English ecclesiastical law, the term gravamen referred to a grievance of which the clergy complained before the bishops in convocation. …
[Latin, The same.] Used to indicate a reference that has previously been made and typically abbreviated "id." in legal and scholarly bibliographic citations. …
The relationship that exists between the board of directors of one corporation with that of another due to the fact that a number of members sit on both boards and, therefore, there is a substantial likelihood that neither corporation acts independently of the other. …
Securities fraud, also called investment fraud, involves the offer of bogus stocks or high-return investment opportunities, market manipulation schemes, pyramid and Ponzi schemes, or other "get rich quick" offerings. In its May 2002 issue, Internet Scambusters cited a study by Gartner G2 showing that online merchants lost $700 million to Internet fraud in 2001. By comparison, the rep…
Provisional; interim; temporary; not final; that which intervenes between the beginning and the end of a lawsuit or proceeding to either decide a particular point or matter that is not the final issue of the entire controversy or prevent irreparable harm during the pendency of the lawsuit. Interlocutory appeals are restricted by state and federal appellate courts because courts do not want pieceme…
James Knox Polk, eleventh president of the United States, served just one term in office, but in that time he was extremely influential in shaping the country's evolution into a large and politically formidable nation. Polk's primary achievements came in the area of foreign affairs, where he completed the annexation of Texas; James K. Polk. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS directed the Mex…
James Bryce, also known as the Viscount Bryce of Dechmont, was born May 10, 1838, in Belfast, Ireland. He attended Glasgow and Heidelberg Universities and received a bachelor of arts degree from Oxford University in 1862. Bryce entered Parliament in 1880 and remained a member until 1907. During this time, he also performed diplomatic duties—serving as undersecretary of foreign affairs in 18…
Horace Gray. ARCHIVE PHOTOS, INC. Gray attended Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1848 he entered Harvard Law School; he received his law degree one year later. After two years of working in various law offices, Gray opened his own firm in Boston, where he practiced law until 1864. In addition to practicing law, Gray worked as reporter and editor of the Massachusetts Reports,…
An abbreviation for the Latin id est, "that is to say, meaning." …
Kent was born July 31, 1763, in Putnam County, New York. In 1777 he entered Yale University. The Revolutionary War periodically disrupted his studies. During one of his forced suspensions, Kent read Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–69), which led him to decide on a legal career. Following college he secured a clerkship with the attorney general of Ne…
Stowe attended Catharine's Hartford Female Seminary, one of the only schools open to young women at the time. She received an excellent education, and blossomed as a writer under her sister's tutelage. In 1832, she accompanied her sister and father to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Catharine opened another school and Harriet Beecher Stowe. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION …
Wickersham was born on September 19, 1858, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended Lehigh University from 1873 to 1875 and received a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1880. Before he graduated, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. He practiced for two years in Philadelphia before moving to New York City where he joined the established law firm of Strong and Cadwa…
James Buchanan achieved prominence as a statesman and as the fifteenth president of the United States. Buchanan became unpopular in 1854 with his involvement in the creation of the Ostend Manifesto, which provided for the purchase by the United States of Cuba from Spain; if Spain refused to sell, the manifesto gave the United States the right to seize the country forcibly. Cuba would then become a…
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty on December 8, 1987. The treaty called for an elimination of an entire class of short- and intermediate-range nuclear missiles. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Several successor states to the Soviet Union, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, continue to implement the treaty. Other European nations, includin…
In the late 1990s, the Gray Panthers launched a national campaign that targeted jobs and workers' rights and universal health care. In 2001 the organization launched "Stop Patient Abuse Now" (SPAN) a coalition of more than 125 national, state, and local organizations representing A member of the Gray Panthers takes part in a 1984 Boston rally calling for the elimination of…
An inspection and verification of the financial records of a company or firm by a member of its own staff to determine the accuracy and acceptability of its accounting practices. …
Subtitle C contains the law of employment taxes. It consists of chapters on general provisions relating to employment taxes and other sections dealing with federal insurance contributions, railroad retirement taxes, and federal unemployment taxes. Subtitle E covers alcohol, tobacco, and other excise taxes. Chapter 53 deals with machine guns, destructive devices, and certain other firearms. Subtitl…
Johnson chose John Gardner to head the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Gardner, who was sworn in on July 27, 1965, was a psychologist, an authority on education, and had previously been head of the Carnegie Corporation. Widely respected by members of both parties (he was a Republican) Gardner helped carry out Johnson's goals and agenda; in some circles he was known as th…
The popular name for the Alien Registration Receipt Card issued to all immigrants entering the United States on a non-temporary visa who have registered with and been fingerprinted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The name green card comes from the distinctive coloration of the card. …
Kevorkian became a focus of national attention in 1990, after he assisted the suicide of Janet Adkins, a 45-year-old woman who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative disease of the brain that causes memory loss and intellectual impairment. Adkins had heard through the media about Kevorkian's invention of a "suicide machine" that allowed individuals who w…
The Green Party blossomed as an outgrowth of the environmental and conservation movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1970, Charles Reich published The Greening of America, a popular extended essay that effectively inserted environmentalism into politics. Reich, along with anarchist Murray Bookchin, helped inspire a worldwide environmental movement. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, environmental acti…
Greenberg was born December 22, 1924, in New York City. His parents, Bertha Rosenberg and Max Greenberg, were immigrants from Eastern Europe who stressed the importance of education for their children. Although they were not involved in Civil Rights or politics, they inculcated in their children a deep concern for disadvantaged people. This early awareness of the plight of society's less fo…
A corporation's attempt to stop a takeover bid by paying a price above market value for stock held by the aggressor. The increase in corporate mergers in the 1980s made the hostile corporate takeover a familiar event. Before the decade's multi-billion-dollar takeovers, corporate mergers usually involved a mutual agreement. In contrast, hostile takeovers ignore the target corporation&…
The condition before the law, or the social status, of a child whose parents were not married to each other at the time of his or her birth. The term nonmarital child is also used inter-changeably with illegitimate child. …
The U.S. tax system, which the IRS oversees and administers, is based on the principle of voluntary compliance. According to the IRS, this means "that taxpayers are expected to comply with the law without being compelled to do so by action of a federal agent; it does not mean that the taxpayer is free to decide whether or not to comply with the law." …
Having disposed of the threshold issue, Stewart examined the Georgia statutory framework. He found the framework constitutional, as each element worked to prevent the arbitrary and disproportionate death sentences criticized in Furman. Gregg had argued that other elements undercut the statutory framework. These included prosecutorial discretion, plea-bargaining and executive clemency. Stewart reje…
Not permitted or allowed; prohibited; unlawful; as an illicit trade; illicit intercourse. …
A statement that appears to assure a performance and form a contract but, when scrutinized, leaves to the speaker the choice of performance or non-performance, which means that the speaker does not legally bind himself or herself to act. When the provisions of the purported promise render the performance of the person who makes the promise optional or completely within his or her discretion, pleas…
The function of the ICJ is to resolve disputes between sovereign states. Disputes may be placed before the court by parties upon conditions prescribed by the U.N. Security Council. No state, however, may be subject to the jurisdiction of the court without the state's consent. Consent may be given by express agreement at the time the dispute is presented to the court, by prior agreement to a…
Not essential or necessary; not important or pertinent; not decisive; of no substantial consequence; without weight; of no material significance. …
Through the grievance procedure system, workers' complaints are usually communicated through their union to management for consideration by the employer. …
The final act in a series of provocations leading to a particular result or event, directly producing such result without the intervention of any further provocation. For example, if an individual who was driving while intoxicated crashed his or her car and was killed, the immediate cause of death was the crash. The proximate cause, however, was the individual's state of intoxication. …
McGranery was born July 8, 1895, in Philadelphia. His Irish Catholic parents, Patrick McGranery and Bridget Gallagher McGranery, were devout, hardworking, and practical. They sent McGranery to local parochial schools, and they did not discourage their son when he chose to quit school and enter the workforce. McGranery was a high-school student when he landed his first full-time job at a Philadelph…
The entrance into a country of foreigners for purposes of permanent residence. The correlative term emigration denotes the act of such persons in leaving their former country. …
McGrath was born November 28, 1903, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and reared in nearby Providence. His father, James J. McGrath, worked as a knitter in a woolen mill before venturing into real estate and insurance. He rose to prominence through his association with the Independent Order of Foresters (a fraternal insurance organization), handling the company's affairs in the New England state…
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S. Ct. 1678, 14 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1965), was a landmark Supreme Court decision that recognized that a married couple has a right of privacy that cannot be infringed upon by a state law making it a crime to use contraceptives. Two Connecticut statutes provided that any person who used, or gave information or assistance concerning the use of, contraceptives was…
Impending; menacingly close at hand; threatening. Imminent peril, for example, is danger that is certain, immediate, and impending, such as the type an individual might be in as a result of a serious illness or accident. The chance of the individual dying would be highly probable in such situation, as opposed to remote or contingent. For a gift causa mortis (Latin for "in anticipation of de…
The body of law that governs the legal relations between or among states or nations. To qualify as a subject under the traditional definition of international law, a state had to be sovereign: It needed a territory, a population, a government, and the ability to engage in diplomatic or foreign relations. States within the United States, provinces, and cantons were not considered subjects of intern…
Membership is open to countries willing to abide by terms established by the board of governors, which is composed of a representative from each member nation. General terms include obligations to avoid manipulating exchange rates, abstain from discriminatory currency practices, and refrain from imposing restrictions on the making of payments and currency transfers necessary to foreign trade. The …
Great; culpable; general; absolute. A thing in gross exists in its own right, and not as an appendage to another thing. Before or without diminution or deduction. Whole; entire; total; as in the gross sum, amount, weight—as opposed to net. Not adjusted or reduced by deductions or subtractions. …
Will was among the first to use pretrial scheduling conferences, pretrial orders, and standardized pretrial order forms to organize and supervise the course of a trial from the outset. His aversion to lengthy and costly trials caused him to be, at times, an outspoken critic of the U.S. trial lawyers. He was a longtime crusader for higher professional standards and better practice skills within the…
The calculation of the value of the gross estate is the first step in the computation that determines whether any estate tax is owed to federal or state governments. Federal and state laws define gross estate for purposes of taxation. Under federal law, the gross estate includes proceeds of life insurance policies that are payable to the decedent's estate, as well as policies to which the d…
Rising to the top of his field, Kissinger became a driving force behind Harvard's efforts Henry Kissinger. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS The two terms of Nixon's presidency elevated Kissinger's power. Named first to the position of assistant for national security affairs, a high-level post, he soon eclipsed the president's secretary of state, William P. Rogers, in visibil…
The financial gains received by an individual or a business during a fiscal year. …
An indifference to, and a blatant violation of, a legal duty with respect to the rights of others. …
Grotius was born April 10, 1583, in Delft, Netherlands. A brilliant student, Grotius attended the University of Leiden, received a law degree at the age of fifteen, and was admitted to the bar and began his legal practice at Delft in 1599. It was at this time that he became interested in international law, and, in 1609, wrote a preliminary piece titled Mare liberum, which advocated freedom of the …
Exemption from performing duties that the law generally requires other citizens to perform, or from a penalty or burden that the law generally places upon other citizens. …
Narrow channels of marginal sea or inland waters through which international shipping has a right of passage. …
McReynolds was born on February 3, 1862, in Elkton, Kentucky, the son of a prominent surgeon. McReynolds graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1882 and then attended the University of Virginia law school, graduating in 1884. He established a law practice in Nashville and became a successful business attorney. In 1900 he was appointed a professor of law at Vanderbilt. As McReynolds and the Court …
Perpetual consideration paid for the use and occupation of real property to the individual who has transferred such property, and subsequently to his or her descendants or someone to whom the interest is conveyed. Ground rent agreements have sometimes required the payment of rent for a term of ninety-nine years, with renewal at the option of the party who pays it. In this type of agreement, the le…
The basis or foundation; reasons sufficient in law to justify relief. …
In the 1950s, medical breakthroughs resulted in new vaccines to combat such diseases as polio and measles. States responded by requiring mandatory immunization for schoolchildren. One result was the near eradication of diseases that had previously been crippling or fatal. A second, unforeseen result was adverse side effects of the vaccines, which led to lawsuits against drug companies. Between the…
Legal services provided under a plan to members, who may be employees of the same company, members of the same organization, or individual consumers. These trends cleared the way for a broad expansion of group legal services. The chief benefit of such plans is discounted legal fees. Legal advice is often expensive. As in group health insurance, volume produces savings: the buying power of a large …
The act of the clerk of the court in making up a list of the jurors who have been selected for the trial of a particular cause. All the steps of ascertaining who shall be the proper jurors to sit in the trial of a particular case up to the final formation. …
In the early 1970s, other countries began to join ARPANET, and within a decade it was widely accessible to researchers, administrators, and students throughout the world. The National Science Foundation (NSF) assumed responsibility for linking these users of ARPANET, which was dismantled in 1990. The NSF Network (NSFNET) now serves as the technical backbone for all Internet communications in the U…
One of the procedures for the peaceful settlement of international disputes is mediation, which is the direct participation by a third country, individual, or organization in resolving a controversy between states. The mediating state may become involved at the request of the parties to the dispute or on its own initiative. In its role as mediator the intervening state will take part in the discus…
Favoring neither; disinterested; treating all alike; unbiased; equitable, fair, and just. …
One to whom a guaranty is made. This word is also used, as a noun, to denote the contract of guaranty or the obligation of a guarantor, and, as a verb, to denote the action of assuming the responsibilities of a guarantor. …
In the law of evidence, the testimony of a witness is impeached by earlier statements that the witness has made if they are inconsistent with the statements to which the witness testifies. …
As increasing numbers of businesses and consumers rely on the Internet and other forms of electronic communication to conduct transactions; illegal activity using the very same media is similarly on the rise. Fraudulent schemes conducted via the Internet are generally difficult to trace and prosecute, and they cost individuals and businesses millions of dollars each year. Securities fraud, also ca…
As a verb, to agree to be responsible for the payment of another's debt or the performance of another's duty, liability, or obligation if that person does not perform as he or she is legally obligated to do; to assume the responsibility of a guarantor; to warrant. As a noun, an undertaking or promise that is collateral to the primary or principal obligation and that binds the guarant…
An equitable proceeding brought by a third person to have a court determine the ownership rights of rival claimants to the same money or property that is held by that third person. Interpleader is a form of equitable relief. Equitable remedies are ways for courts to enforce rights other than by issuing a judgment for money damages. Interpleader is employed when two or more parties seek ownership o…
Burton was born June 22, 1888, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. He attended Bowdoin College, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated summa cum laude in 1909. He then entered Harvard Law School where he received his bachelor of laws degree in 1912. He married Selma Florence Smith and the couple set out to take advantage of opportunity in the burgeoning Midwest. They settled in Cleveland …
In 1902, Daugherty established the law firm of Daugherty, Todd & Rarey; he remained a senior member of the firm until his appointment as U.S. attorney general in 1921. Daugherty had become acquainted with rising Republican star Harry M. Daugherty. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Warren G. Harding, who served as lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1904 to 1905. Daugherty became involved in Harding&#…
A provision contained in a written document, such as a contract, deed, or mortgage, whereby one individual undertakes to pay the obligation of another individual. …
Interpol was established in 1923, with the General Secretariat—the international headquarters—located in Lyons, France. Delegates from member countries meet once a year to discuss police problems and admit new members. Each member nation maintains and staffs its own national central bureau. In the United States, the bureau is located in Washington, D.C. The U.S. bureau is under the d…
Wilson taught government at Harvard University from 1961 until 1987. He then taught management and public policy at UCLA from 1985 to 1997. In the early 2000s Wilson was the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy. Wilson has served on a number of national commissions related to public policy. In 1966 he was chair of the White House Task F…
A person lawfully invested with the power, and charged with the obligation, of taking care of and managing the property and rights of a person who, because of age, understanding, or self-control, is considered incapable of administering his or her own affairs. …
The process of inserting additional words in a complete document or instrument in such manner as to alter its intended meaning; the addition of words to a complete document or instrument. Interpolation is synonymous with interlineation. …
A process that is used to charge, try, and remove public officials for misconduct while in office. Impeachment is a fundamental constitutional power belonging to Congress. This safeguard against corruption can be initiated against federal officeholders from the lowest cabinet member, all the way up to the president and the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Besides providing the authority fo…
The art or process of determining the intended meaning of a written document, such as a constitution, statute, contract, deed, or will. When the intended meaning of the words in a document is obscure and conjecture is needed to determine the sense in which they have been used, mixed interpretation occurs. In such a case, the words express an individual's intent only when they are correctly …
Guardians are adults who are legally responsible for protecting the well-being and interests of their ward, who is usually a minor. A guardian ad litem is a unique type of guardian in a relationship that has been created by a court order only for the duration of a legal action. Courts appoint these special representatives for infants, minors, and mentally incompetent persons, all of whom generally…
A disability or obstruction that prevents an individual from entering into a contract. Infancy, for example, is an impediment in making certain contracts. Impediments to marriage include such factors as consanguinity between the parties or an earlier marriage that is still valid. …
Written questions submitted to a party from his or her adversary to ascertain answers that are prepared in writing and signed under oath and that have relevance to the issues in a lawsuit. Sample interrogatories by a plaintiff, directed to a corporation …
Isaac Toucey was born on November 5, 1796, in Newtown, Massachusetts. He studied law as a young man and was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1818. After practicing law in Hartford, Connecticut, for several years, he was appointed state's attorney in 1822, and held that office until 1835. Nevertheless, Toucey capitalized on the national stature he attained as attorney general. He was elect…
The crime of pretending to be another individual in order to deceive others and gain some advantage. The crime of false impersonation is defined by federal statutes and by state statutes that differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In some states, pretending to be someone who does not actually exist can constitute false impersonation. For example, suppose Bill attempts to evade prosecution for a…
The law required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but it did not empower the federal government to fix specific rates. It prohibited trusts, rebates, and discriminatory fares. It also required carriers to publish their fares, and allowed them to change fares only after giving the public ten days' notice. …
Irrelevancy; the flaw of bearing no reasonable relationship to the issues or proceeding at hand. An impertinent question is one that is immaterial or has no logical relation to the issue or controversy before the court. …
A procedural device used in a civil action whereby a defendant brings into the lawsuit a third party who is not already a party to the action but may ultimately be liable for the plaintiff's claim against the defendant. Impleader is most commonly used where the third party, often an insurance company, has a duty to indemnify, or contribute to the payment of, the plaintiff's damages. …
The first independent regulatory agency created by the federal government, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulated interstate surface transportation between 1887 and 1995. Over its 108-year history, the agency regulated and certified trains, trucks, buses, water carriers, freight forwarders, pipelines, and many other elements of interstate transportation. Congress established the ICC to…
Inferred from circumstances; known indirectly. In its legal application, the term implied is used in contrast with express, where the intention regarding the subject matter is explicitly and directly indicated. When something is implied, its meaning is derived from the words or actions of the individuals involved. For example, when one individual gives another a gift, the recipient's accept…
Consent that is inferred from signs, actions, or facts, or by inaction or silence. Implied consent differs from express consent, which is communicated by the spoken or written word. Implied consent is a broadly based legal concept. Whether it is as valid as express consent depends on the situation and the applicable law. For example, the owner of a car generally is liable for an accident caused by…
A voluntary arrangement between two or more states that is designed to solve their common problems and that becomes part of the laws of each state. Interstate compacts in the United States were first used by the American colonies to settle boundary disputes. After the American Revolution, states continued to use interstate compacts to meet their various needs. Although these compacts were necessar…
A separate act or omission that breaks the direct connection between the defendant's actions and an injury or loss to another person, and may relieve the defendant of liability for the injury or loss. Civil and criminal defendants alike may invoke the intervening cause doctrine to escape liability for their actions. A defendant is held liable for an injury or loss to another person if the d…
The legal relationship that exists between a person (the guardian) appointed by a court to take care of and manage the property of a person (the ward) who does not possess the legal capacity to do so, by reason of age, comprehension, or self-control. The term guardian refers to a person appointed by a court to manage the affairs of another person who is unable to conduct those affairs on his or he…
An individual who is not already a party to an existing lawsuit but who makes himself or herself a party either by joining with the plaintiff or uniting with the defendant in resistance of the plain-tiff's claims. …
The first guest statutes appeared in 1927, in Connecticut and Iowa (1927 Conn. Pub. Acts 4404, ch. 308, § 1 [repealed 1937]; Iowa Code Ann. § 321.494 [Supp. 1983]). Coinciding with a burst in manufacturing that increased the number of automobiles produced, the laws arose to meet the growing number of suits resulting from car accidents. By 1939, the last year in which a guest statute …
A promise, arising by operation of law, that something that is sold will be merchantable and fit for the purpose for which it is sold. Every time goods are bought and sold, a sales contract is created: the buyer agrees to pay, and the seller agrees to accept, a certain price in exchange for a certain item or number of items. Sales contracts are frequently oral, unwritten agreements. The purchase o…
A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. Intervention of right arises when the intervenor, the person who seeks to become a party to an existing lawsuit, can satisfactorily show that his or her interest is not adequately represented by the present parti…
An individual is guilty if he or she is responsible for a delinquency or a criminal or civil offense. When an accused is willing to accept legal responsibility for a criminal act, he or she pleads guilty. Similarly, a jury returns a verdict of guilty upon finding that a defendant has committed a crime. In the event that a jury is not convinced that a defendant has committed a crime, jurors can ret…
The state or condition of dying without having made a valid will or without having disposed by will of a segment of the property of the decedent. …
Import quotas are a form of protectionism. An import quota fixes the quantity of a particular good that foreign producers may bring into a country over a specific period, usually a year. The U.S. government imposes quotas to protect domestic industries from foreign competition. Import quotas are usually justified as a means of protecting workers who otherwise might be laid off. They also can raise…
The description of a person who dies without making a valid will or the reference made to this condition. …
Government regulation of the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms. To many, the language of the amendment appears to grant to the people the absolute right to bear arms. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the amendment merely protects the right of states to form a state militia (United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174, 59 S. Ct. 816, 83 L. Ed. 1206 [1939]). Even before the Miller…
Historically, a person who entered a contract was bound to perform according to his or her promised duties, regardless of whether it became impossible to do so. Thus, early U.S. courts did not recognize the defense of impossibility of performance. Courts noted that if the parties to a contract had desired to take into account any events that may develop after they reached an agreement, then they s…
A state in which a person's normal capacity to act or reason is inhibited by alcohol or drugs. Generally, an intoxicated person is incapable of acting as an ordinary prudent and cautious person would act under similar conditions. In recognition of this factor, the law may allow intoxication to be used as a defense to certain crimes. In many jurisdictions, intoxication is a defense to specif…
Information necessary for the determination of an issue in a lawsuit that is gleaned from the provisions of a document itself, as opposed to testimony from a witness or the terms of other writings that have not been admitted by the court for consideration by the trier of fact. …
Taxes or duties; taxes levied by the government on imported goods. …
To result; to take effect; to be of use, benefit, or advantage to an individual. …
[Latin, You have the body.] A writ (court order) that commands an individual or a government official who has restrained another to produce the prisoner at a designated time and place so that the court can determine the legality of custody and decide whether to order the prisoner's release. A writ of habeas corpus directs a person, usually a prison warden, to produce the prisoner and justif…
Null; void; without force or effect; lacking in authority. For example, a will that has not been properly witnessed is invalid and unenforceable. …
Meredith was born June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. He was one of ten children of Roxy Patterson Meredith and Moses Cap, a poor farmer in Kosciusko. As a young child, Meredith became aware of racism. He would refuse the nickels and dimes that a local white man regularly gave to black children, calling the gifts degrading. More painful was the realization he made as a young man on a trip to…
An itemized list of property that contains a description of each specific article. Inventory of a company, for example, is the annual account of stock taken in the business, or the quantity of goods or materials in stock. The term is also used to describe a list made by the executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased individual. …
The portion of a deed to real property that begins with the phrase To have and to hold and that provides a description of the ownership rights of the transferee of such property. Whereas a granting clause contains the words of transfer of an interest, a habendum clause defines the estate granted and declares the extent of the interest conveyed. For example, such a clause might say:"To have …
In ecclesiastical law, one of the formalities by which an archbishop confirms the election of a bishop. During the feudal ages, the rite by which an overlord granted a portion of his lands to his vassal. The investiture ceremony, which took place in the presence of other vassals, consisted of the vassal taking an oath of fealty to the overlord who, in turn, gave him a clod of dirt or a twig, symbo…
Fitness for occupancy. The requirement that rented premises, such as a house or apartment, be reasonably fit to occupy. A warranty of habitability begins at the commencement of the tenancy and continues for its duration. …
Regular or customary; usual. A habitual drunkard, for example, is an individual who regularly becomes intoxicated as opposed to a person who drinks infrequently. A habitual criminal is a legal category that has been created by a number of state statutes by which serious penalties can be imposed on individuals who have been repeatedly convicted of a designated crime. …
The act by which an owner or occupier of particular land or premises encourages or attracts others to enter, remain in, or otherwise make use of his or her property. Common examples of those who extend invitations are the proprietors of stores, theaters, or banks, since they invite the general public to enter and utilize their facilities. An individual who enters property as a result of an invitat…
Henry Ward Beecher was one of the most prominent U.S. ministers of the nineteenth century as well as an active participant in various reform movements. Beecher excelled as a speaker and in 1863 he went on a lecture tour throughout England and spoke in support of the Union position in the Civil War. In 1875, Beecher, regarded as one of the United States' foremost preachers, was involved in a…
The Hague Tribunal was established by the Hague Peace Conference in 1899 to provide a permanent court accessible at all times for the resolution of international differences. The court was granted jurisdiction over all arbitration cases, provided the parties thereto did not decide to institute a special tribunal. In addition, an international bureau was established to act as a registry for the tri…
An action taken by the president in which he or she proposes not to spend all or part of a sum of money appropriated by Congress. …
An individual who enters another's premises as a result of an express or implied invitation of the owner or occupant for their mutual gain or benefit. For example, a customer in a restaurant or a depositor entering a bank to cash a check are both invitees. The owner or occupier of the premises onto which an invitee goes has a duty to exercise reasonable care for such invitee's protec…
Substantial difficulty or inconvenience in following a particular course of action, but not such insurmountability or hopelessness as to make performance impossible. …
An itemized statement or written account of goods sent to a purchaser or consignee by a vendor that indicates the quantity and price of each piece of merchandise shipped. A consular invoice is one used in foreign trade. It is signed by the consul of the nation to which the merchandise is shipped. Such an invoice facilitates the entry through the destination country, since the quality and value of …
[Latin, Let it be printed.] A license or allowance, granted by the constituted authorities, giving permission to print and publish a book. This allowance was formerly necessary in England before any book could lawfully be printed, and in some other countries is still required. …
An admission, especially by an individual who has been accused of a crime, that is not freely offered but rather is precipitated by a threat, fear, torture, or a promise. Miranda has been criticized by those who see it as an unfair restriction on law enforcement. Nevertheless, empirical studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s have concluded that the Miranda warnings have not appreciably reduced t…
An example of bylaws Despite these significant contributions, Byrnes was not happy on the Court. He wanted to be more actively involved in the country's war effort. In October 1942, after only sixteen months on the Court, Byrnes resigned his seat. He left the Court at the request of President Roosevelt to become director of the newly created Office of Economi…
Incarceration; the act of restraining the personal liberty of an individual; confinement in a prison. …
The act of unlawfully killing another human being unintentionally. Most unintentional killings are not murder but involuntary manslaughter. The absence of the element of intent is the key distinguishing factor between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. In most states involuntary manslaughter results from an improper use of reasonable care or skill while performing a legal act, or while commit…
Justice Day was troubled by the expansive reading of the Commerce Clause by Congress. If the Court had upheld this law, "all manufacture intended for interstate shipment would be brought under federal control." He concluded that the framers of the Constitution would never have envisioned such a broad grant of authority, for it undercut the power of the states to regulate commerce wit…
Additions or alterations to real property that increase the value thereof. Improvements to land, for example, might include the planting of crops, the construction of fences, and the digging of wells. …
The term involuntary servitude is used in reference to any type of slavery, peonage, or compulsory labor for the satisfaction of debts. Two essential elements of involuntary servitude are involuntariness, which is compulsion to act against one's will, and servitude, which is some form of labor for another. Imprisonment without forced labor is not involuntary servitude, nor is unpleasant lab…
Huey Newton. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS Newton was designated minister of defense and was a spokesperson for the party. The party drew national attention in May 1967, when six armed Panthers and about twenty supporters burst into the California Assembly at Sacramento to protest its plan to ban possession of loaded firearms within city limits. Though Newton did not participate in that event, the O…
Bell practiced law in Savannah, Georgia, and Rome, Georgia, from 1947 to 1953, after which he moved to Atlanta to work in the prestigious firm of King and Spalding, where he eventually earned the position of managing partner. Bell also became involved in politics, serving from 1959 to 1961 as chief of staff to Governor S. Ernest Vandiver, of Georgia. Bell also served as cochairman of the Atlanta C…
Attributed vicariously.…
[Latin, He himself said it.] An unsupported statement that rests solely on the authority of the individual who makes it. A court decision, for example, that is in conflict with a particular statute might be said to have no legal support with the exception of the ipse dixit of the court. …
The comprehension attributed or charged to a person because the facts in issue were open to discovery and it was that person's duty to apprise himself or herself of them; more accurately described as knowledge. For example, if the stairway leading to a retail store is defective and a patron is injured on the stairway, the store owner cannot evade liability for the patron's injury by …
[Latin, By the fact itself; by the mere fact.]…
As a noun, a haven, or a space of deep water so sheltered by the adjacent land and surroundings as to afford a safe anchorage for ships. …
Information regarding particular facts or circumstances that the law permits to affect the legal rights of a person who has no firsthand knowledge of them but who should have learned of them because his or her agent or representative had direct knowledge of that information and a duty to report it to him or her. …
The enterprise seemed designed to circumvent the will of Congress. In the early 1980s, after bitter debate, Congress had passed legislation barring the use of federal monies to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Through a series of amendments to appropriations bills enacted between 1982 and 1986, known as the Boland amendments, this legislation blocked the Reagan administration's wish to …
Absent limitation or restriction.…
Iredell was born October 5, 1751, in Lewes, England. At age seventeen he began working in his family's mercantile business in North Carolina and also undertook the study of law. He was licensed to practice law in 1771. In the next few years, he became active in the Revolutionary cause, arguing that the colonies not separate from England and advocating in his writings that the conflict be re…
In chambers; in private. A judicial proceeding is said to be heard in camera either when the hearing is had before the judge in his or her private chambers or when all spectators are excluded from the courtroom. …
Shared in respect to title, use, or enjoyment; without apportionment or division into individual parts. Held by several for the equal advantage, use, or enjoyment of all. …
The manner in which the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute copies of various intellectual productions may be obtained in foreign countries. In 1989, the United States for the first time became a signatory to the oldest and most widely approved international copyright treaty, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (828 U.N.T.S. 221, S. Treaty Doc. No. 99-27…
A divorce premised on the ground of irreconcilable differences is considered a no-fault divorce since there is no need to establish that one party is more responsible or at fault for the end of the marriage than the other. …
[Latin, In extremity.] A term used in reference to the last illness prior to death. A causa mortis gift is made by an individual who is in extremis. …
A defect, failure, or mistake in a legal proceeding or lawsuit; a departure from a prescribed rule or regulation. An irregularity is not an unlawful act, however, in certain instances, it is sufficiently serious to render a lawsuit invalid. For example, a number of states have statutes that require the appointment of a guardian to represent the interests of a child who is being sued. The failure t…
[Latin, In the character or manner of a pauper.] A phrase that indicates the permission given by a court to an indigent to initiate a legal action without having to pay for court fees or costs due to his or her lack of financial resources. …
Unrelated or inapplicable to the matter in issue. Irrelevant evidence has no tendency to prove or disprove any contested fact in a lawsuit. …
The legal doctrine of harmless error is found in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, extensive case law, and state statutes. It comes into use when a litigant appeals the decision of a judge or jury, arguing that an error of law was made at trial that resulted in an incorrect decision or verdict. The appellate court then must decide whether the error was serious enough to strike down the deci…
Of the same class, category, or species. A loan is repaid in kind when a substantially similar article is returned by the borrower to the lender. …
Any harm or loss that is not easily repaired, restored, or compensated by monetary damages. A serious wrong, generally of a repeated and continuing nature, that has an equitable remedy of injunctive relief. …
Instead of; in place of; in substitution of. It does not mean in addition to. …
Second, a defendant may argue that because of mental disease or defect, she or he was unable to act in conformance with the law. This is volitional insanity, and it is known as the irresistible impulse defense. Under this defense, a defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity even though she or he was capable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the offense. The success of…
By far the most common usage of in loco parentis relates to teachers and students. For hundreds of years, the English common-law concept shaped the rights and responsibilities of public school teachers: until the late nineteenth century, their legal authority over students was as broad as that of parents. Changes in U.S. education, concurrent with a broader reading by courts of the rights of stude…
The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage provides the ground for a no-fault divorce in many jurisdictions. …
[Latin, Into the heart of the subject, without preface or introduction.] …
Unable to cancel or recall; that which is unalterable or irreversible. …
[Latin, In equal fault.] A descriptive phrase that indicates that parties involved in an action are equally culpable for a wrong. When the parties to a legal controversy are in pari delicto, neither can obtain affirmative relief from the court, since both are at equal fault or of equal guilt. They will remain in the same situation they were in prior to the commencement of the action. …
[Latin, Upon the same subject.] A designation applied to statutes or general laws that were enacted at different times but pertain to the same subject or object. Statutes in pari materia must be interpreted in light of each other since they have a common purpose for comparable events or items. …
A land area surrounded by water and remaining above sea level during high tide. Land areas exposed only during low tide are called low-tide elevations or drying rocks, reefs, or shoals. The existence of islands has generated numerous disputes, centering primarily on the size of the territorial sea surrounding an island and the determination of what state has sovereignty over a particular island. T…
Of endless duration; not subject to termination.…
In the law governing the transfer or distribution of property, a child, children, and all individuals who descend from a common ancestor or descendents of any degree. As applied to notes or bonds of a series, date of issue means the day fixed as the start of the period for which they run, with no reference to a specific date when the bonds or notes are to be sold and delivered. With regard to bond…
Congress increased the scope of the Hatch Act in 1940 by extending its restrictions to employees of state and local governments that receive federal funds (Act of July 19, 1940, ch. 640, 54 Stat. 767), although it cut back certain applications of this measure in 1974. At various times it has also increased or decreased the penalties for Hatch Act violations—notably, by including suspension …
[Latin, Against the person.] A lawsuit seeking a judgment to be enforceable specifically against an individual person. An in personam action can affect the defendant's personal rights and interests and substantially all of his or her property. It is based on the authority of the court, or jurisdiction, over the person as an individual rather than jurisdiction over specific property owned by…
Henry Jacob Friendly served for 27 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he won a wide reputation for his scholarly, well-crafted opinions. In the area of securities law, Friendly wrote more than one hundred opinions, several of them in the relatively new field of transnational law, which deals with corporations that have activities in several countries. He was also nota…
[Latin, In the matter of.] Concerning or regarding. The usual style for the name of a judicial proceeding having some item of property at the center of the dispute rather than adverse parties. For example, proceedings to determine various claims to the assets of a bankrupt company could be called In re Klein Company, or In the matter of Klein Company. Sometimes in re is used for a proceeding where…
To individually state each item or article. Frequently used in tax accounting, an itemized account or claim separately lists amounts that add up to the final sum of the total account on claim. …
The U.S. Supreme Court appointed Putzel its reporter of decisions in 1964, the thirteenth person to hold the position. As reporter, Putzel was responsible for the accuracy of each opinion, the preparation of headnotes and a syllabus that summarizes the decisions, and the actual publication of each volume of decisions. During his 15-year tenure, he edited or co-edited 64 volumes (nos. 376–44…
[Latin, In the thing itself.] A lawsuit against an item of property, not against a person (in personam). An action in rem is a proceeding that takes no notice of the owner of the property but determines rights in the property that are conclusive against all the world. For example, an action to determine whether certain property illegally imported into the United States ought to be forfeited can be…
A crime motivated by racial, religious, gender, sexual orientation, or other prejudice. Hate crimes are based, at least in part, on the defendant's belief regarding a particular status of the victim. Hate-crime statutes were first passed by legislatures in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to studies that indicated an increase in crimes motivated by prejudice. Approximately 30 stat…
Jackson was born April 8, 1832, in Paris, Tennessee. He graduated from West Tennessee College in 1849, then studied for a time at the University of Virginia. He read the law with a Tennessee Supreme Court judge for a year, and Howell E. Jackson. U.S. SUPREME COURT obtained his law degree from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1856. Thereafter, he practiced law in Jackson and M…
The opening words, or habendum clause, found in a deed to real property, which describes the ownership rights of the individual to whom such property is being conveyed. …
[Latin, In fright or terror; by way of a threat.] A description of a legacy or gift given by will with the condition that the donee must not challenge the validity of the will or other testament. Conditions of such nature, labeled in terrorem clauses, are ordinarily regarded as threats, since the potential loss of the gift is thought to provoke fear or dread of litigation over the will in the reci…
A hawker is an individual who sells wares by carrying them through the streets. The person's ordinary methods of attracting attention include addressing the public, using placards, labels, and signs, or displaying merchandise in a public place. A peddler is defined as a retail dealer who brings goods from place to place, exhibiting them for sale. The terms are frequently defined in state st…
That which, according to established legal principles, cannot be received into evidence at a trial for consideration by the jury or judge in reaching a determination of the action. …
The absence of attention or care; the failure of an individual to carefully and prudently observe the progress of a court proceeding that might have an effect upon his or her rights. The term inadvertence is generally used in reference to a ground upon which a judgment may be set aside or vacated under the Rules of Federal Civil Procedure or state rules of civil procedure. …
Not subject to sale or transfer; inseparable.…
Deceitful boasting, a deceptive claim, or a continuing assertion prejudicial to the right of another. …
Millions of homes and residential neighborhoods contain hidden killers such as lead, mercury, and cyanide. These harmful substances can cause cancer, neurological damage, and even death. They can also hurt various aspects of the environment, including the wilderness, wildlife, and aquatic life. In many instances, these harmful substances cause environmental and residential damage by migrating thro…
An abbreviation for incorporated; having been formed as a legal or political entity with the advantages of perpetual existence and succession. …
In the Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886, the police clashed violently with militant anarchists and labor movement protesters in Chicago. Seven policemen and several protesters were killed, leading to murder convictions for seven The Haymarket Riot took place in Chicago on May 4, 1886. Seven policemen and several protesters were killed, and the event led to the execution of four radicals. LIBRARY …
The absence of legal ability, competence, or qualifications. An individual incapacitated by infancy, for example, does not have the legal ability to enter into certain types of agreements, such as marriage or contracts. …
A building designated or regularly used for the confinement of individuals who are sentenced for minor crimes or who are unable to gain release on bail and are in custody awaiting trial. Jail is usually the first place a person is taken after being arrested by police officers. Most cities have at least one jail, and persons are taken directly there after they are arrested; in less populated areas,…
Prison inmates with some knowledge of law who give legal advice and assistance to their fellow inmates. The important role that jailhouse lawyers play in the criminal justice system has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has held that jailhouse lawyers must be permitted to assist illiterate inmates in filing petitions for post-conviction relief unless the state provides some reasonab…
Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. This confinement, whether before or after a criminal conviction, is called incarceration. Juveniles and adults alike are su…
In 1715, Alexander immigrated to America, and began a career of public service to New York and New Jersey. He performed the duties of surveyor general for the Province of New Jersey in 1715, and three years later served as recorder of Perth Amboy. Alexander participated in the Council of New York from 1721 to 1732 but continued to be active in New Jersey. He was admitted to the New Jersey Provinci…
The crime of sexual relations or marriage taking place between a male and female who are so closely linked by blood or affinity that such activity is prohibited by law. Incest is a statutory crime, often classified as a felony. The purpose of incest statutes is to prevent sexual intercourse between individuals related within the degrees set forth, for the furtherance of the public policy in favor …
Imperfect; partial; unfinished; begun, but not completed; as in a contract not executed by all the parties. …
Some aspect of the exclusive possession or control over the disposition or use of property that demonstrates that the person with such exclusive rights has not relinquished them. A person who has kept the right to change the beneficiaries on his or her life insurance policy has retained an incident of ownership and is, therefore, considered the owner of the policy. …
An abbreviation for a house bill, a proposed law brought before the House of Representatives, as opposed to the Senate. House bills are usually designated by the initials H.R. plus a number—for example, H.R. 40637. …
Contingent upon or pertaining to something that is more important; that which is necessary, appertaining to, or depending upon another known as the principal. …
A method by which the differences between nations may be settled by means of a commission employed to consider and report upon such differences. …
The designation head of household, also termed head of family, is applied to one whose authority to exercise family control and to support the dependent members is founded upon a moral or legal obligation or duty. …
A brief summary of a legal rule or a significant fact in a case that, among other headnotes that apply to the case, precedes the full text opinion printed in the reports or reporters. A syllabus to a reported case that summarizes the points decided in the case and is placed before the text of the opinion. Each jurisdiction usually determines whether headnotes are part of the law or only an editori…
The return in money from one's business, labor, or capital invested; gains, profits, salary, wages, etc. The gain derived from capital, from labor or effort, or both combined, including profit or gain through sale or conversion of capital. Income is not a gain accruing to capital or a growth in the value of the investment, but is a profit, something of exchangeable value, proceeding from th…
George William Norris was born July 11, 1861, in Sandusky County, Ohio. He graduated from Indiana Normal College in 1881 and pursued a career in law and politics. George W. Norris. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS After admission to the Ohio and Indiana bars in 1883, Norris established a law practice in Nebraska, where he also served as prosecuting attorney. He presided as a Nebraska district court…
James Skelly Wright served as a federal district judge in Louisiana from 1949 to 1962 and as a federal court of appeals judge in Washington, D.C., from 1962 to 1986. From 1978 to 1981, he was the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court. Wright distinguished himself as a district judge during the 1950s when he forced the desegregation of the New Orleans, Louisiana, public schools and the city'…
An abbreviation for Juris Doctor, the degree awarded to an individual upon the successful completion of law school. …
Livingston was born November 25, 1757, in New York City. Established in New York in the late seventeenth century, his family also included other notable public figures: Philip Henry B. Livingston. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/CORBIS Livingston's outspokenness in public and in print led to conflict. He survived an assassination attempt in 1785, and in 1798, after being punched in the nose by a…
The HHS originated in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), which was created in 1953. In 1980, the Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C.A. § 3508) redesignated HEW the Department of Health and Human Services. …
In 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan, age twenty-two, stopped breathing and lapsed into a coma. Quinlan's treating physicians determined that in addition to being comatose, Quinlan was in a "chronic persistent vegetative state" and could not survive without the assistance of a respirator. Further, the physicians believed that Quinlan had no chance of recovery and could not Nearly ev…
The lack of ability, knowledge, legal qualification, or fitness to discharge a required duty or professional obligation. The term incompetency has several meanings in the law. When it is used to describe the mental condition of a person subject to legal proceedings, it means the person is neither able to comprehend the nature and consequences of the proceedings nor adequately able to help an attor…
A non-self-governing territory over which two states share administrative control. In this context the term coimperium is sometimes used interchangeably with the term condominium. …
Reciprocally contradictory or repugnant.…
Most states maintain statutes that require an incontestability clause in life and health insurance contracts. The incontestability clause strikes a balance between providing predictable coverage and protecting the right of insurers to select the precise risks they seek to insure. Most incontestability clauses are limited by a provision stating that the contestability period must be completed withi…
To formally create a corporation pursuant to the requirements prescribed by state statute; to confer a corporate franchise upon certain individuals. …
Health insurance originated in the Blue Cross system that was developed between hospitals and schoolteachers in Dallas in 1929. Blue Cross covered a pre-set amount of hospitalization costs for a flat monthly premium and set its rates according to a "community rating" system: Single people paid one flat rate, families another flat rate, and the economic risk of high hospitalization bi…
The method of making one document of any kind become a part of another separate document by alluding to the former in the latter and declaring that the former shall be taken and considered as a part of the latter the same as if it were completely set out therein. The document that is incorporated is usually not treated as a part of the will itself but as an external source from which the meaning o…
In 1799, Clay married the socially prominent Lucretia Hart. Clay and his wife eventually had eleven children, and great tragedy. All six daughters and one son died at a young age. Brief service in Washington, D.C., whetted Clay's appetite for a national political career. Henry Clay. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In 1820 Clay helped bring about the Missouri Compromise. This was a federal respon…
A legal proceeding where an issue of law or fact is tried and evidence is presented to help determine the issue. Hearings resemble trials in that they ordinarily are held publicly and involve opposing parties. They differ from trials in that they feature more relaxed standards of evidence and procedure, and take place in a variety of settings before a broader range of authorities (judges, examiner…
Horace Binney was born January 4, 1780. He graduated from Harvard in 1797 and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1800. As a counselor, Binney displayed his legal expertise in cases concerning land titles. He won a famous victory in the Girard Trust Case of 1844, which involved the legality of a charitable legacy left to Philadelphia by philanthropist Stephen Girard. Binney defended the validi…
ALJs are governed by the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.A. § 551 et seq. [1966]). They are appointed through a professional merit selection system that requires high test scores and, in many instances, experience in the particular regulatory program in which they wish to serve. Once appointed, ALJs may not be removed or disciplined, except for good cause. These parameters are meant t…
Lacking a physical or material nature but relating to or affecting a body. Incorporeal is the opposite of corporeal, a description of the existence of a tangible item. …
Clayton was born February 10, 1857, in Barbour County, Alabama. He was a graduate of the University of Alabama, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in 1877 and a bachelor of laws degree in 1878. After establishing a law firm in Clayton, Alabama, in 1878, Clayton relocated his practice to Eufaula, Alabama, in 1880, and practiced there until 1914. From 1890 to 1891, Clayton participated in t…
Additional or increased growth, bulk, quantity, number, or value; enlarged. Incremental cost is additional or increased cost of an item or service apart from its actual cost. When applied to the price of gas, the incremental cost includes the actual cost of gas to the distributors plus the expenses incurred in its transportation as well as any taxes imposed upon it. …
To charge with a crime; to expose to an accusation or a charge of crime; to involve oneself or another in a criminal prosecution or the danger thereof; as in the rule that a witness is not bound to give testimony that would tend to incriminate him or her. …
To accuse; to involve in blame or guilt. When an individual who has committed a crime imputes guilt upon another individual, he or she is thereby inculpating such individual. …
George Wythe. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Wythe died on June 8, 1806, in Richmond, Virginia, of poisoning. His grandnephew and heir, George Wythe Sweeney, was acquitted of the murder. At trial the only witness was an African American, who was disqualified from testifying under the laws of Virginia. …
An individual who is in current possession of a particular office and who is legally authorized to discharge the duties of that office. …
A statement made out of court that is offered in court as evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. It is the job of the judge or jury in a court proceeding to determine whether evidence offered as proof is credible. Three evidentiary rules help the judge or jury make this determination: (1) Before being allowed to testify, a witness generally must swear or affirm that his or her testimo…
To become subject to and liable for; to have liabilities imposed by act or operation of law. Expenses are incurred, for example, when the legal obligation to pay them arises. An individual incurs a liability when a money judgment is rendered against him or her by a court. …
That which cannot be defeated, revoked, or made void. This term is usually applied to an estate or right that cannot be defeated. …
A prison sentence for a specifically designated length of time up to a certain prescribed maximum, such as one to ten years or twenty-five years to life. …
Henry Cabot Lodge. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Lodge was born May 12, 1850, in Boston. The families of his father, John Ellerton Lodge, and mother, Anna Cabot Lodge, were wealthy and of high social standing. Lodge graduated from Harvard in 1871, and married Anna Cabot Mills ("Nannie") Davis the day after his graduation ceremony. He attended Harvard Law School from 1872 to 1874, and in…
Hugo LaFayette Black was an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court for nearly thirty-four years, serving one of the longest and most influential terms in the history of the Court. Hugo L. Black. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Healthy and vigorous well into his later life, Black was an avid tennis player who often shared the court with his law clerks. On September 17, 1971, Black resigned fro…
James Abram Garfield was a soldier and congressman who became the twentieth president of the United States. His inability to perform the duties of office following an assassination attempt on July 2, 1881, raised, for the second time in U.S. history, the question of presidential succession. Garfield was born November 19, 1831, in a log cabin near the town of Orange in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He was…
To compensate for loss or damage; to provide security for financial reimbursement to an individual in case of a specified loss incurred by the person. Insurance companies indemnify their policyholders against damage caused by such things as fire, theft, and flooding, which are specified by the terms of the contract between the company and the insured. …
Recompense for loss, damage, or injuries; restitution or reimbursement. An indemnity contract arises when one individual takes on the obligation to pay for any loss or damage that has been or might be incurred by another individual. The right to indemnity and the duty to indemnify ordinarily stem from a contractual agreement, which generally protects against liability, loss, or damage. …
The term indenture primarily describes secured contracts and has several applications in U.S. law. At its simplest, an indenture is an agreement that declares benefits and obligations between two or more parties. In bankruptcy law, for example, it is a mortgage or deed of trust that constitutes a claim against a debtor. The most common usage of indenture appears in the bond market. Before a bond i…
At that point Truman entered politics, developing an association with Thomas J. Pendergast, the Democratic leader who ran Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri. With Pendergast's backing, Truman became a county judge in 1922, at a time when a law degree was not required to be a judge. Truman proved an able judge and administrator, but anti-Pendergast forces defeated him in 1924. He was r…
Statutes that abrogate or restrict lawsuits brought by individuals who seek pecuniary damages to salve their broken hearts. …
In almost all cases, the reasonableness of a provocation is a decision made by a jury. …
A systematic review of the accuracy and truthfulness of the accounting records of a particular individual, business, or organization by a person or firm skilled in the necessary accounting methods and not related in any way to the person or firm undergoing the audit. …
Isaac Newton Blackford achieved prominence as a jurist. He was born November 6, 1786, in Bound Brook, New Jersey. A graduate of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), Blackford served as clerk and recorder of Washington County, Indiana, in 1813. The following year he became a territorial court judge. Blackford served as a member of the Indiana state house of representatives from 1…
Gloria Allred, born July 3, 1941, in Philadelphia, is a flamboyant, widely recognized lawyer, feminist, activist, and radio talk show host. Though her critics dismiss her as a publicity monger and a dilettante, Allred has received praise from others who believe that she is a master at using the power of the news media to draw attention to the day-to-day struggles of ordinary people. Allred has bee…
An heir of the body is an heir who was either conceived or born of the individual who has died, or a child of such heir. This type of heir is anyone who descends lineally from the decedent, excluding a surviving spouse, adopted children, and collateral relatives. Ordinarily, property can be given by will to anyone named or can be shared by all heirs, but historically, the owner of an entail could …
In relation to the opinion of a court, decided.…
An unassuming and highly intelligent man, Blackmun seemed an unlikely symbol for an explosive social and political issue. Born November 12, 1908, in Nashville, Illinois, he spent his childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his father ran a hardware and grocery store. Blackmun was an outstanding student and received a scholarship to Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a math…
James Coolidge Carter was a lawyer and leading legal scholar and philosopher of the late nineteenth century. Born into a poor family on October 14, 1827, in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Carter attended Derby Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts. In 1846 he entered Harvard College. An outstanding student, he graduated fourth in his class in 1850. He then moved to New York City to work as a private tutor …
From this time forward. The term henceforth, when used in a legal document, statute, or other legal instrument, indicates that something will commence from the present time to the future, to the exclusion of the past. …
Carter's ambition was naval service. Preparing to enter the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, he studied mathematics at Georgia Southwestern College and then the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 1943, he Jimmy Carter. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS entered Annapolis; he graduated in the top tenth of his class with a bachelor of sciences degree. Soon he married a long-time acquaintan…
Hillary Rodham Clinton. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS the Arkansas Education Standards Committee as well as holding other official posts. In 1992, Clinton campaigned for her husband for president. Her speeches on domestic issues made clear to voters nationwide what voters in Arkansas already knew: She was her husband's political and intellectual equal and not merely the a spouse along for the …
Originally, juvenile court was a place for the informal resolution of a broad range of matters concerning children. The hearings were not adversarial. Instead, they focused on the juvenile's best interests. A juvenile was brought to the juvenile court, the prosecution presented evidence, the juvenile and other witnesses gave testimony, and the juvenile court judge made a decision based on t…
Henry II of England. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS court system made royal justice available throughout England. …
A person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods; the contractor is not subject to another's control except for what is specified in a mutually binding agreement for a specific job. An independent contractor contracts with an employer to do a particular piece of work. This working relationship is a flexible one that provides benefits to …
In the future. The term hereafter is always used to indicate a future time—to the exclusion of both the past and present—in legal documents, statutes, and other similar papers. …
Anything that can be passed by an individual to heirs. There are two types of hereditaments: corporeal and incorporeal. A corporeal hereditament is a permanent tangible object that can be seen and handled and is confined to the land. Materials, such as coal, timber, stone, or a house are common examples of this type of hereditament. …
