A book or log in which entries are made to record events on a daily basis. A book where transactions or events are recorded as they occur. A legislative journal is kept by the clerk and is a daily record of the legislative proceedings. Typical entries include actions taken by various committees and a chronological accounting of bills introduced on the floor. …
An abbreviation for locus sigilli, Latin for "the place of the seal," signifying the place within a written contract where a seal is affixed in order to bind the agreement. Since the use of seals is decreasing, the use of this abbreviation has declined. …
An agreement between a retail seller and a consumer that provides that the seller will retain designated consumer goods for sale to the consumer at a specified price on a future date, if the consumer deposits with the seller an agreed upon sum of money. …
The payment of an entire debt all at once rather than in installments; the payment of a set amount of money to satisfy a pecuniary obligation that might otherwise continue indefinitely. …
John Adams achieved prominence on many levels—as jurist, statesman, and as the second president of the United States. Known for his sharp diplomatic skills, his flair for words, and his spirited activism, he was an instrumental figure in forging the fledgling nation that would become the United States of America. John Adams. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS independent nation. In 1785, Adams beca…
An important judicial decision that is frequently regarded as having settled or determined the law upon all points involved in such controversies and thereby serves as a guide for subsequent decisions. …
Rawls was born on February 21, 1921, in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1943 and his doctorate from Princeton in 1950. Rawls was an instructor at Princeton between 1950 and 1952, before attending Oxford University in England as a Fulbright Fellow. Upon his return to the United States in 1953, he served as a professor at Cornell University (1…
John William Wallace served as reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court from 1863 to 1875. Wallace is noted for being the last reporter to privately publish decisions of the Court and for having his name on the spine of each volume. For example, the citation 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 590 indicates that the decision is to be found on page 590 of volume 87 of United States Reports (the cumulative n…
Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in Brain-tree, Massachusetts (now Quincy, Massachusetts). As the son of one of the nation's founders, he had many opportunities not available to other young men. Before reaching the age when young people today graduate from high school, Adams had established himself as a diplomat. He accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to Europe in 1778 and 1780, w…
To make a decision or reach a conclusion after examining all the factual evidence presented. To form an opinion after evaluating the facts and applying the law. As a verb the term judge generally describes a process of evaluation and decision. In a legal case this process may be conducted by either a judge or a jury. Decisions in any case must be based on applicable law. Where the case calls for a…
A query that suggests to the witness how it is to be answered or puts words into the mouth of the witness to be merely repeated in his or her response. Leading questions should not be used on the direct examination of a witness unless necessary to develop the person's testimony. They are permissible, however, on cross-examination. When a party calls a hostile witness—the adverse part…
Violent punishment or execution, without due process, for real or alleged crimes. The concept of taking the law into one's own hands to punish a criminal almost certainly predates recorded history. Lynching (or "lynch law") is usually associated in the United States with punishment directed toward blacks, who made up a highly disproportionate number of its victims. (While the …
A legal adviser on the staff of a military command. A designated officer of the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC) of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps. Each branch of the armed forces has a judge advocate general, an officer who is in charge of all judge advocates and who is responsible for all legal matters affecting that branch of the service. In the U.S. Army and U.S. A…
Although Wilson was the architect of the league, he was unable to secure U.S. Senate ratification of the peace treaty that included it. He was opposed by isolationists of both major political parties who argued that the United States should not interfere with European affairs, and by Republicans who did not want to commit the United States to supporting the league financially. The treaty was modif…
A famous 1916 New York Court of Appeals decision, MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., 217 N.Y. 382, 111 N.E. 1050, expanded the classification of "inherently dangerous" products and thereby effectively eliminated the requirement of privity—a contractual relationship between the parties in cases that involve defective products that cause personal injury. …
A decision by a court or other tribunal that resolves a controversy and determines the rights and obligations of the parties. A judgment is the final part of a court case. A valid judgment resolves all the contested issues and terminates the lawsuit, since it is regarded as the court's official pronouncement of the law on the action that was pending before it. It states who wins the case an…
A party to which a debt is owed that has proved the debt in a legal proceeding and that is entitled to use judicial process to collect the debt; the owner of an unsatisfied court decision. State laws provide remedies to a judgment creditor in collecting the amount of the judgment. These measures bring the debtor's property into the custody of the court in order to satisfy the debtor'…
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest organization of Hispanic Americans in the United States. With a membership of approximately 115,000, the organization uses education and advocacy to improve living conditions and seek advances for all Hispanic nationality groups. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., LULAC has thousands of members organized in more than 700 LULAC Coun…
Addams was the youngest of eight children born to John H. and Sarah Addams. Her mother died when she was two years old, and her teenage sisters, Mary, Martha, and Alice, took over her upbringing. Her family followed the Quaker faith, and valued hard work and change through peaceful efforts. Addams idolized her father, whom she described as a man of great integrity. He remained a pivotal figure in …
A party against which an unsatisfied court decision is awarded; a person who is obligated to satisfy a court decision. Other protections apply to both property and wages. First, not every kind of property is subject to attachment. States provide exemptions for certain household items, clothing, tools, and other essentials. Additional provisions may protect individuals in cases of extreme hardship.…
A contractual agreement by which one party conveys an estate in property to another party, for a limited period, subject to various conditions, in exchange for something of value, but still retains ownership. A lease contract can involve any property that is not illegal to own. Common lease contracts include agreements for leasing real estate and apartments, manufacturing and farming equipment, an…
A list under which judicial orders of a particular court are recorded by a clerk or other designated officer to be available for inspection by the public. A judgment docket serves an important function by providing parties interested in learning of the existence of a judgment or a lien on property to enforce a judgment with access to such information. The recording of a judgment in a judgment dock…
A transaction whereby land is sold and subsequently rented by the seller from the purchaser who is the new owner. …
The various state judicial systems provide for judicial officers who are often called magistrates, justices of the peace, or police justices. The authority of these officials is restricted by statute, and jurisdiction is commonly limited to the county in which the official presides. The position may be elected or appointed, depending on the governing state statute. The exact role of the official v…
A promissory note authorizing an attorney, holder, or clerk of court to appear for the maker of the note and confess, or assent to, a judgment to be entered against the maker due to default in the payment of the amount owed. A judgment note is also called a cognovit note and is invalid in many states. …
An estate, interest, in real property held under a rental agreement by which the owner gives another the right to occupy or use land for a period of time. …
A judgment entered by the court in favor of one party even though the jury returned a verdict for the opposing party. To be granted relief by a JNOV, a party must make a motion seeking that relief. The motion generally must be made in writing and must set forth the specific reasons entitling the party to relief. Many statutes and rules require that the moving party must have previously sought a di…
The vagueness doctrine requires that statutes adequately describe the behavior being regulated. A vague statute may have a chilling effect on constitutionally protected behavior because of fear of violating the statute. Also, law enforcement personnel need clear guidelines as to what constitutes a violation of the law. The least restrictive means test, the overbreadth doctrine, and the vagueness d…
The Magna Charta is the product of three competing legal jurisdictions: royal, ecclesiastical, and baronial. The royal system of justice maintained jurisdiction over all matters that Part of the Magna Charta, signed by England's King John in 1215. The document became a model for written contracts between governed and governed, such as the U.S. Constitution. BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTION. …
A term used to describe an individual who is financially unable to pay an adverse court decision awarding a sum of money to the opposing party. A judgment-proof individual has no money or property within the jurisdiction of the court to satisfy the judgment or is protected by wage laws that exempt salaries and property from formal judicial process. …
To give or dispose of by will. Willful departure with intent to remain away. Permission or authorization to do something. …
The Act does not require that manufacturers or sellers of consumer products provide written warranties. Instead, the act requires that manufacturers and sellers who do warrant their products to clearly disclose the terms of the warranty so that the consumer understands his or her rights under the warranty. In addition, according to the act, a written warranty on a consumer product that costs more …
The branch of philosophy that defines what is good for the individual and for society and establishes the nature of obligations, or duties, that people owe themselves and one another. In modern society, ethics define how individuals, professionals, and corporations choose to interact with one another. Although the law does influence the conduct of some professions, many ethical issues cannot be se…
To decide or determine in a judicial manner.…
The principal book of accounts of a business enterprise in which all the daily transactions are entered under appropriate headings to reflect the debits and credits of each account. …
The process governed by the U.S. Postal Regulations (39 C.F.R. § 233.3) that allows the recording of all the information that appears on the outside cover of mail in any class, and also allows the recording of the contents of second-, third-, and fourth-class mail, international parcel post mail, and mail on which the appropriate postage has not been paid. Mail covers may be granted by the …
A term used to describe the judicial branch of government; the judiciary; or those connected with the court system. Judicature refers to those officers who administer justice and keep the peace. It signifies a tribunal or court of justice. The Judicature Acts of England are the laws that established the present court system in England. …
English statutes that govern and revise the organization of the judiciary. Parliament enacted a series of statutes in 1873 during the reign of Queen Victoria that changed and restructured the court system of England. Consolidated and called the Judicature Act of 1873, these enactments became effective on November 1, 1875, but were later amended in 1877. As a result, superior courts were consolidat…
For many years it was customary for the principals of middle and high schools in Providence, Rhode Island, to invite religious leaders to give nonsectarian prayers as invocations and benedictions at school-sponsored graduation ceremonies. The school system had, in fact, prepared guidelines for clergy delivering such prayers, to insure that the prayers would not include any direct references to spe…
A crime in which the perpetrator develops a scheme using the mails to defraud another of money or property. This crime specifically requires the intent to defraud, and is a federal offense governed by section 1341 of title 18 of the U.S. Code. The mail fraud statute was first enacted in 1872 to prohibit illicit mailings with the Postal Service (formerly the Post Office) for the purpose of executin…
Edelman was born June 6, 1939, in Bennettsville, a small, segregated town in South Carolina. Her father, Arthur Jerome Wright, was a Baptist minister, and her mother, Maggie Leola Wright, was the director of the Wright Home for the Aged. Named after singer Marian Anderson, Edelman recalls a childhood of hard work and high expectations. She was an outstanding student whose parents instilled in her …
Relating to the courts or belonging to the office of a judge; a term pertaining to the administration of justice, the courts, or a judge, as in judicial power. A judicial act involves an exercise of discretion or an unbiased decision by a court or judge, as opposed to a ministerial, clerical, or routine procedure. A judicial act affects the rights of the parties or property brought before the cour…
The adjudication by the court of a controversy by hearing the cause and determining the respective rights of the parties. …
Unauthorized intervention by a nonparty in a lawsuit, in the form of financial or other support and assistance to prosecute or defend the litigation. The preservation of an asset or of a condition of property by upkeep and necessary repairs. The term maintenance is also used to describe the expenses of preserving property, which may be deductible according to the applicable state or federal tax la…
John Dean Caton was born March 19, 1812, in Monroe, New York. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1835. He achieved success in various fields of public service and received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Hamilton College in 1866. In 1834 the first political convention was held in Illinois and Caton participated as its secretary as well as a member. He served on the Illinois Supreme Cour…
The practices, procedures, and offices that deal with the management of the administrative systems of the courts. Judicial administration, also referred to as court administration, is concerned with the day-to-day and long-range activities of the court system. Every court in the United States has some form of administrative structure that seeks to enhance the work of judges and to provide services…
In a narrow technical sense, a legacy is distinguishable from a devise, a gift by will of real property. This distinction, however, will not be permitted to defeat the intent of a testator—one who makes a will—and these terms can be applied interchangeably to either personal property or real property if the context of the will demonstrates that this was the intention of the testator.…
Jane Matilda Bolin was the first black woman judge in the United States. Bolin was born April 11, 1908, in Poughkeepsie, New York, to Gaius C. Bolin and Matilda Emery Bolin. Her father, who was born to a Native American mother and a black father, was the first African American graduate of Williams College. He went on to become a lawyer and practiced law in Poughkeepsie for more than 50 years. Boli…
Catron was the descendant of poor, German immigrants. He was probably born in Pennsylvania around 1786—some sources cite his birth as early as 1779, however. His father, Peter Catron, worked with horses in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and moved to Kentucky in 1804, hoping to establish his own horse farm. Catron grew up with little formal education. He supported himself and his family by herdi…
Aid offered by the judicial tribunals of one state to the judicial tribunals of a second state. Judicial assistance may consist of the enforcement of a judgment rendered by a court of another state or other actions to assist current judicial proceedings taking place in the state requesting the cooperation of the foreign court. A letter rogatory, the formal term for such a request, asks a foreign c…
Conforming to the law; required or permitted by law; not forbidden by law. The term legal is often used by the courts in reference to an inference of the law formulated as a matter of construction, rather than established by actual proof, such as legal malice. …
Full age; legal age; age at which a person is no longer a minor. The age at which, by law, a person is capable of being legally responsible for all of his or her acts (e.g. contractual obligations), and is entitled to the management of his or her own affairs and to the enjoyment of civic rights (e.g. right to vote). The opposite of minority. Also the status of a person who is a major in age. The g…
One who makes, frames, executes, or ordains; as a lawmaker, or the maker of a promissory note. One who signs a note to borrow and, as such, assumes the obligation to pay the note when due. The person who creates or executes a note, that is, issues it, and in signing the instrument makes the promise of payment contained therein. One who signs a check; in this context, synonymous with drawer. One wh…
The Judicial Conference of the United States formulates the administrative policies for the federal courts. The Judicial Conference also makes recommendations on a wide range of topics that relate to the federal courts. The conference is chaired by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Other members include the chief judge of each federal judicial circuit, one district judge from each feder…
[Latin, Bad faith.] A mala fide purchaser is one who buys property from another with the knowledge that it has been stolen. In contrast, a bona fide purchaser is one who does so with no knowledge that the seller lacks good title to the property. …
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. built a reputation as a tough, uncompromising litigator by working on both sides of the courtroom. He has been the third-highest-ranking official of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, and he has fought numerous cases in private practice. The recurrent theme of his career is social justice: Cochran specializes in representing African-American clients he…
Wrongs in themselves; acts morally wrong; offenses against conscience. …
Any advertising an attorney purchases or places in publications, outdoor installations, radio, television, or any other written or recorded media. The pros and cons of legal advertising continue to be widely discussed as the amount and variety of advertising continues to increase each year. On the positive side, legal advertising makes the public aware of current legal issues and lets people know …
[Latin, Wrongs prohibited.] A term used to describe conduct that is prohibited by laws, although not inherently evil. Courts commonly classify statutory crimes as mala prohibita. This, however, is not a fixed rule since not all statutory crimes are classified as such. Examples of mala prohibita include public intoxication and carrying a concealed weapon. …
As the head of the largest branch of the Cherokee nation from 1828 to 1866, John Ross led the Cherokee through a period of profound cultural change. Under Ross's leadership, the Cherokee nation engaged in a historic and controversial legal battle to preserve their sovereignty and underwent a disastrous forced march from Georgia to Oklahoma. Ross was born near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, on…
The time of life at which a person acquires full capacity to make his or her own contracts and deeds and to transact business or to enter into some particular contract or relation, such as marriage. In most states a minor attains legal age at eighteen, although for certain acts, such as consuming alcoholic beverages, the age might be higher; for others, such as driving, the age might be lower. Leg…
A judge's complete protection from personal liability for exercising judicial functions. Some states codify the judicial immunity doctrine in statutes. Most legislatures, including Congress, let court decisions govern the issue. Judicial immunity is a common-law concept, derived from judicial decisions. It originated in the courts of medieval Europe to discourage persons from attacking a co…
A system of nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to people who cannot afford an attorney. The first U.S. legal aid agency was founded in 1876 in New York City by the German Society. The agency assisted German immigrants with legal problems. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, lawyers' associations took the lead in providing low-cost legal services. In 1911 the National …
The fifth child in a family of eight children, Malcolm was born May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Earl Little, was a Baptist minister and a local organizer for the Universal Negro Improvement Association, a black nationalist organization founded by Marcus M. Garvey in the early twentieth century. His mother, Louise Little, was of West Indian heritage. Malcom's father was killed …
A doctrine of evidence applied by a court that allows the court to recognize and accept the existence of a particular fact commonly known by persons of average intelligence without establishing its existence by admitting evidence in a civil or criminal action. When a court takes judicial notice of a certain fact, it obviates the need for parties to prove the fact in court. Ordinarily, facts that r…
A person, working under the supervision of a lawyer, qualified through education, training, or work experience to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily, but not exclusively, performed by a lawyer; also known as a paralegal. Legal assistants, or paralegals, help attorneys deliver legal services. Although they assist attorneys in very technical a…
The commission of an act that is unequivocally illegal or completely wrongful. The distinctions between malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance have little effect on tort law. Whether a claim of injury is for one or the other, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed a duty of care, that the duty was breached in some way, and that the breach caused injury to the plaintiff. The action…
Long stationery with a wide left-hand margin and a narrow right-hand margin, used by attorneys. The trend of the courts is to move away from permitting a document of this size to be filed. Courts presently recommend or require the use of standard size paper. …
The intentional commission of a wrongful act, absent justification, with the intent to cause harm to others; conscious violation of the law that injures another individual; a mental state indicating a disposition in disregard of social duty and a tendency toward malfeasance. When applied to the crime of murder, malice is the mental condition that motivates one individual to take the life of anothe…
In 1823 Tyler returned to the Virginia legislature, where he served two years. In 1825 he was elected governor of Virginia, and in 1827 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. During his nine years in the Senate, Tyler opposed several of President Andrew Jackson's policies though he and Jackson were both Democrats. In 1832 South Carolina issued its nullification policy, declaring its right …
A court's authority to examine an executive or legislative act and to invalidate that act if it is contrary to constitutional principles. The power of courts of law to review the actions of the executive and legislative branches is called judicial review. Though judicial review is usually associated with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has ultimate judicial authority, it is a power possessed …
A predetermination to commit an act without legal justification or excuse. A malicious design to injure. An intent, at the time of a killing, willfully to take the life of a human being, or an intent willfully to act in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to human life; but malice aforethought does not necessarily imply any ill will, spite or hatred towards the individual killed. …
Jean Jacques Rousseau achieved prominence as a philosopher and political theorist in eighteenth-century France. A talented musical composer and botanist, Rousseau's ideas on the nature of society made him an influential figure in Western thought. His belief that civilization had corrupted humankind was a central part of his philosophy. His work elevated the importance of the individual and …
In the early 1920s, Stalin began plotting to gain power. Before Lenin died in 1924, he expressed misgivings about Stalin's use of power. Nevertheless, Stalin joined in a three-man leadership group, called a troika, to govern the Soviet Union after Lenin's death. He quickly pushed aside all his rivals, including Leon Trot-sky, and became the supreme ruler by 1929. Stalin's 1939…
The transfer of title to and possession of a debtor's property to another in exchange for a price determined in proceedings that are conducted under a judgment or an order of court by an officer duly appointed and commissioned to do so. A judicial sale is a method plaintiffs use to enforce a judgment. When a plaintiff wins a judgment against a defendant in civil court, and the defendant doe…
Involving malice; characterized by wicked or mischievous motives or intentions. An act done maliciously is one that is wrongful and performed willfully or intentionally, and without legal justification. …
The trial of Lizzie Borden shows the effect that public opinion can have on the life of an accused person, regardless of the outcome of a fair trial. Lizzie Borden was born July 19, 1860. She was a plain, outspoken woman who lived with her father, stepmother, and sister in a house on Second Street in Fall River, a small industrial city located in southeastern Massachusetts. According to local rumo…
Orders issued by a judge in the English courts after a lawsuit had begun. An original writ, issued out of the Chancery, was the proper document for starting a lawsuit in England for hundreds of years, but courts could issue judicial writs during the course of a proceeding or to give effect to their orders after the lawsuit had commenced. Unlike original writs, judicial writs were issued under the …
A change in position by one to whom a promise has been made, or an assumption of duties or liabilities not previously imposed on the person, due to the person's reliance on the actions of the one who makes the promise. …
There were no law schools in colonial America. Those who sought a legal career had several options. They could embark on a self-directed course of study; they could serve as an assistant in a clerk of court's office; or they could travel to England to study at the Inns of Court. The most common method of obtaining a legal education, however, was through the apprenticeship system. Langdell b…
An assumption that something occurred or someone or something exists which, in fact, is not the case, but that is made in the law to enable a court to equitably resolve a matter before it. In order to do justice, the law will permit or create a legal fiction. For example, if a person undertakes a renunciation of a legacy which is a gift by will the person will be deemed to have predeceased the tes…
The record of past events that deal with the law. Legal history is a discipline that examines events of the past that pertain to all facets of the law. It includes analysis of particular laws, legal institutions, individuals who operate in the legal system, and the effect of law on society. U.S. legal history is a relatively new subtopic that began to grow dramatically in the 1960s. The study of U…
State laws that enumerate the investments into which certain institutions and fiduciaries—those who manage money and property for another and who must exercise a standard of care in such activity in accordance with law or contract—can venture. …
An action for malicious prosecution is the remedy for baseless and malicious litigation. It is not limited to criminal prosecutions but may be brought in response to any baseless and malicious litigation or prosecution, whether criminal or civil. The criminal defendant or civil respondent in a baseless and malicious case may later file this claim in civil court against the parties who took an acti…
John Augustus, born 1785, was a cobbler in Boston during the 1840s. He was interested in the legal process and often visited the criminal courts in Boston. In 1841, he was especially touched by the plight of a person convicted of public intoxication who begged the court not to incarcerate him and promised to give up alcohol in return for his freedom. Augustus, sensing hope for the man's reh…
The branch of government that is endowed with the authority to interpret and apply the law, adjudicate legal disputes, and otherwise administer justice. The U.S. judiciary comprises a system of state and federal courts, tribunals, and administrative bodies, as well as the judges and other judicial officials who preside over them. Every society in human history has confronted the question of how to…
A lawyer also has the duty to provide a client with a full, detailed, and accurate account of all money and property handled for him or her. The client is entitled to receive anything that the lawyer has acquired in violation of his duties to the client. Many legal malpractice claims are filed because of lack of communication and negligence in the professional relationship. The improper and unprof…
John Austin was a nineteenth-century legal theorist and reformer who achieved fame posthumously for his published work on analytical jurisprudence, the legal philosophy that separates positive law from moral principles. Austin's professional pursuits were undermined by his ill health and self-doubt. In 1832, he resigned from teaching because his lectures were poorly attended. During the sam…
The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the lower federal courts. Under Article III, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." In the Judiciary Act, the first Congress created federal trial courts and federal appeals courts …
The key to legal positivism is in understanding the way positivists answer the fundamental question of jurisprudence: "What is law?" The word "positivism" itself derives from the Latin root positus, which means to posit, postulate, or firmly affix the existence of something. Legal positivism attempts to define law by firmly affixing its meaning to written decisions made…
Younger; subsequently born or created; later in rank, tenure, preference, or position. A junior lien is one that is subordinate in rank to another prior lien. This means that the junior lien will be paid off only after the prior lien has been satisfied. When used in a proper name, junior or its abbreviation, Jr., is merely descriptive and not part of the individual's legal name. The absence…
All actions that are authorized or sanctioned by law and instituted in a court or a tribunal for the acquisition of rights or the enforcement of remedies. …
The breach by a member of a profession of either a standard of care or a standard of conduct. After the 1970s the number of malpractice suits filed against professionals greatly increased. Most malpractice suits involved doctors, especially surgeons and other specialists who performed medical procedures with a high degree of risk to their patients. Large damage awards against doctors resulted in h…
A security issued by a corporation that is considered to offer a high risk to bondholders. A corporate bond is essentially a loan to a corporation. The loan may be secured by a lien or mortgage on the corporation's property as security for repayment. To determine the level of the default risk for potential bondholders, financial experts analyze corporations and rate them on a number of fact…
Under the man-in-the-house rule, a child who otherwise qualified for welfare benefits was denied those benefits if the child's mother was living with, or having relations with, any single or married able-bodied male. The man was considered a substitute father, even if the man was not supporting the child. Before 1968 administrative agencies in many states created and enforced the man-in-the…
The principles of natural and positive rights recognized by law. Jural pertains to the rights and obligations sanctioned and governed by positive law or that law which is enacted by proper authority. Jural doctrines are founded upon fundamental rules and protect essential rights and duties. Jural principles are not the same as moral principles. Moral doctrines encompass the entire range of ethics …
The certificate of an officer that a written instrument was sworn to by the individual who signed it. …
Originally limited to printed materials, legal publishing now encompasses electronic media as well, with most legal publications becoming available online or in CD-ROM format. The original case reporters were published by individuals without the support of the government. In 1841, Georgia was the first state government to require its judges to write out their decisions. The clerk of the court woul…
A general term that refers to health plans that attempt to control the cost and quality of care by coordinating medical and other health-related services. Managed care is a new term for an old medical financing plan known as the HMO, or health maintenance organization. HMOs are not insured plans. They are prepaid health care systems, offering services to which the member is entitled, as opposed to…
Pertaining to the administration of justice or to the office of a judge. A juridical act is one that conforms to the laws and the rules of court. A juridical day is one on which the courts are in session. …
One who has charge of a corporation and control of its business, or of its branch establishments, divisions, or departments, and who is vested with a certain amount of discretion and independent judgment. A person chosen or appointed to manage, direct, or administer the affairs of another person or of a business, sports team, or the like. The designation of manager implies general power and permit…
A writ or order of mandamus is an extraordinary court order because it is made without the benefit of full judicial process, or before a case has concluded. It may be issued by a court at any time that it is appropriate, but it is usually issued in a case that has already begun. Generally, the decisions of a lower-court made in the course of a continuing case will not be reviewed by higher courts …
John Boyle was born October 28, 1774, near Tazewell in Botetourt County, Virginia. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1797 and established a legal practice in Lancaster, Kentucky, before entering government service. Boyle presided over the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 1809 to 1810, acting as chief justice from 1810 to 1826. In that same year he became U.S. district judge for Kentucky an…
The study of law and science. Although the effect of science on law has a long history, modern developments date only to the second half of the twentieth century. Precipitating the rise of the contemporary legal practice—which relies heavily on computers to research relevant law and, in some cases, to analyze evidence—was an emphasis on logical reasoning. Leading the way in this area…
A judicial command, order, or precept, written or oral, from a court; a direction that a court has the authority to give and an individual is bound to obey. A mandate might be issued upon the decision of an appeal, which directs that a particular action be taken, or upon a disposition made of a case by an inferior tribunal. …
To better pursue his interest in politics, Starr transferred to George Washington University, graduating in 1968. He obtained a master's degree from Brown University, then attended Duke University Law School. At Duke he served as an editor of the Duke Law Journal. After graduation Ken Starr. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS However, Starr disagreed with the administration when it supported …
Peremptory; obligatory; required; that which must be subscribed to or obeyed. Mandatory statutes are those that require, as opposed to permit, a particular course of action. Their language is characterized by such directive terms as "shall" as opposed to "may." A mandatory provision is one that must be observed, whereas a directory provision is optional. An example of a…
The degree awarded to an individual upon the successful completion of law school. …
Precedents, in the form of prior decisions by a higher court of the same state on point, statutes, or other sources of law that must be considered by a judge in the determination of a legal controversy. Mandatory authority is synonymous with binding authority. …
Representative Mann introduced the act in December 1909 at the request of Chicago prosecutors who claimed that girls and women were being forced into prostitution by unscrupulous pimps and procurers. The term white slavery became popular to describe the predicament these females faced. It was alleged that men were tricking, coercing, and drugging females to get them involved in prostitution and th…
Legal realists maintain that common-law adjudication is an inherently subjective system that produces inconsistent and sometimes incoherent results that are largely based on the political, social, and moral predilections of state and federal judges. Legal realism is not a unified collection of thought. Many realists, like Pound and Llewellyn, were sharply critical of each other and presented irrec…
The geographic area over which authority extends; legal authority; the authority to hear and determine causes of action. Jurisdiction generally describes any authority over a certain area or certain persons. In the law, jurisdiction sometimes refers to a particular geographic area containing a defined legal authority. For example, the federal government is a jurisdiction unto itself. Its power spa…
A house, a dwelling, or a residence. The word manor also meant the privilege of having a manor with the jurisdiction of a court baron and the right to receive rents and services from the copyholders. …
Bradley's appointment to the Supreme Court on February 7, 1870 came shortly after the Court ruled that the Legal Tender Act was unconstitutional. In 1862, Congress had used the act to issue treasury notes as a substitute for gold in its efforts to pay off Civil War debts. Upon reviewing the legislation, the Supreme Court invalidated the issuance of the paper money, in Hepburn v. Griswold, 7…
A jurisdictional dispute might also arise concerning which union should represent employees who are performing a particular type of work. …
The unjustifiable, inexcusable, and intentional killing of a human being without deliberation, premeditation, and malice. The unlawful killing of a human being without any deliberation, which may be involuntary, in the commission of a lawful act without due caution and circumspection. Manslaughter is a distinct crime and is not considered a lesser degree of murder. The essential distinction betwee…
Items of trade that have been transformed from raw materials, either by labor, art, skill, or machine into finished articles that have new forms, qualities, or properties. For example, a blouse that is made of raw silk would be considered a manufacture, whereas fresh vegetables sold on a farm would not. Whether particular products are within the definition of manufactures becomes significant with …
John Dickinson was born November 8, 1732, in Talbot County, Maryland. He was educated at the College of New Jersey (today known as Princeton University), where he earned a doctor of laws degree in 1768. He also pursued legal studies at the Middle Temple, Inn of the Court, England. After his admission to the Philadelphia bar in 1757, Dickinson established a prestigious legal practice in that city a…
The defendant brought an unsuccessful action challenging the constitutionality of the search. An appeal was made to the Ohio Supreme Court, which affirmed the judgment. The defendant appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the decision on the ground that evidence obtained by an unconstitutional seizure was inadmissible. The Court was extremely critical of the actions of the police and h…
Louis Dembitz Brandeis's lifelong commitment to public service and social reform earned him the epithet the People's Lawyer. His twenty-three years on the Supreme Court were characterized by a deep respect for civil liberties and by an abiding distrust of centralized power in the hands of business and government. Brandeis was famous for his prodigious intellect and his well-crafted, …
From the Latin term juris prudentia, which means "the study, knowledge, or science of law"; in the United States, more broadly associated with the philosophy of law. The second type of jurisprudence compares and contrasts law with other fields of knowledge such as literature, economics, religion, and the social sciences. The purpose of this type of study is to enlighten each field of…
The legal work that a licensed attorney performs on behalf of a client. Licensed attorneys have the authority to represent persons in court proceedings and in other legal matters. When hiring an attorney, a careful consumer considers a number of variables, including the nature and importance of the case, the attorney's fee and payment arrangement, personal chemistry with the attorney, and t…
Mary Church was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee. She was raised in a middle-class family and attended Oberlin College in Ohio, graduating in 1884. She taught at Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio, in 1885 and at a secondary school in Washington, D.C., in 1886 before taking a two-year tour of Europe. In 1888 she obtained a master's degree from Oberlin and married Ro…
A judge or legal scholar; an individual who is versed or skilled in law. The term jurist is ordinarily applied to individuals who have gained respect and recognition by their writings on legal topics. …
In its broadest sense, one who stands in place of, and represents the interests of, another. A person who oversees the legal affairs of another. Examples include the executor or administrator of an estate and a court appointed guardian of a minor or incompetent person. …
The edge or border; the edge of a body of water where it meets the land. As applied to a boundary line of land, the margin of a river, creek, or other watercourse means the center of the stream. But in the case of a lake, bay, or natural pond, the margin means the line where land and water meet. In finance, the difference between market value of loan collateral and face value of loan. In commercia…
An action intended and capable of having a legal effect; any conduct by a private individual designed to originate, terminate, or alter a right. A court performs a juristic act when it makes a decision and hands down a judgment. An individual who enters into a contractual agreement is also performing a juristic act because of the legal ramifications of his or her agreement. …
Liquid assets that life insurance companies are required by statute to set aside and maintain to assure payment of claims and benefits. In banking, that percentage of bank deposits that must by law be maintained in cash or equally liquid assets to meet the demands of depositors. …
A broker makes a margin call when the stocks in the account of the client have fallen below a particular percentage of their market price at the time of purchase, thereby increasing the outstanding debt and the broker's liability should the client become unable to pay. This process is also known as remargining. A broker might also make a margin call when a client desires to make additional …
J. Edgar Hoover. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS chief of the department's General Intelligence Division (GID), a unit designated by Palmer to hunt down radicals. Within three months Hoover collected the names of 150,000 alleged subversives. Armed with this information, federal agents conducted nationwide dragnets, arresting more than ten thousand people. Critics argued that these Palmer Raids v…
The place of domicile—the permanent dwelling—to which a person intends to return despite temporary abodes elsewhere or momentary absences. A person can have several transitory residences, but is deemed to have only one legal residence. …
Marital agreements are contracts that are entered into by individuals who are about to be married, are already married, or are in the process of ending a marriage. They ordinarily govern the division and ownership of marital property. …
The marital communications privilege is a right that only legally married persons have in court. Also called the husband-wife privilege, it protects the privacy of communications between spouses. The privilege allows them to refuse to testify about a conversation or a letter that they have privately exchanged as marital partners. The marital privilege is an exception to the general rule that all r…
Lemuel Shaw. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Shaw's thirty years on the Massachusetts bench ended with his retirement in 1860. He died in Boston on March 30, 1861. …
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a private, nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for legal assistance in civil matters to people who are poor (Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2996 et seq.). The LSC receives funds from Congress and makes grants to local nonprofit programs run by boards of directors made up of local l…
The right of a particular individual to compel the sale of a ship because he or she has not been paid a debt owed to him or her on account of such vessel. A maritime lien is designed to furnish security to a creditor and to enable a person to obtain repairs and supplies even in the event that the ship is a distance away from its owners and no significant amount of money is on board to pay for the …
John Rutledge. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Born in September 1739 to a prominent family in Charleston, South Carolina, Rutledge was groomed for success. His wealthy physician father died when he was eleven, and thereafter his uncle, Andrew Rutledge, guided Rutledge's education. Andrew Rutledge, a lawyer and speaker of the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly, saw to it that his nephew wa…
State-regulated legal certification programs allow attorneys to be recognized as "board certified" experts in their practice areas. The certification process is overseen either by state bar associations or state supreme courts and is designed to prevent the public from being misled by unscrupulous attorneys who claim they are specialists without having bona fide credentials to back u…
The highest price a willing buyer would pay and a willing seller would accept, both being fully informed, and the property being exposed for sale for a reasonable period of time. The market value may be different from the price a property can actually be sold for at a given time (market price). The market value of an article or piece of property is the price that it might be expected to bring if o…
At age 19, the ambitious Breckenridge was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1780 but was not permitted to take the position because of his youth. Breckenridge served in the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War. Afterwards he studied law under the tutelage of a Virginia lawyer, and he was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1785. Breckenridge established a law practice in Charlotte…
Ownership and possession of real property that is readily transferable since it is free from valid claims by outside parties. The concept of marketability of title refers to ownership of real estate. Under law, titles are evidence of ownership. Selling real estate (land and the property attached to it) involves transferring its title. A marketable title is one that can be transferred to a new owne…
Ownership of property that is cognizable or enforceable in a court of law, or one that is complete and perfect in terms of the apparent right of ownership and possession, but that, unlike equitable title, carries no beneficial interest in the property. …
A commission by which the head of a government authorizes a private ship to capture enemy vessels. The authority to do such capturing is granted to private vessels in letters of marque and reprisal. In the technical sense, a letter of marque is permission to cross over the frontier into another country's territory in order to take a ship; a letter of reprisal authorizes taking the captured …
Slang; technical jargon used by attorneys that is often beyond the comprehension of the nonlawyer. States enact "plain English" laws that require the translation of legalese into everyday language to permit consumers to understand thei insurance policies, deeds, mortgages, leases, credit card financing agreements, and other legal documents. …
In trials, a group of people who are selected and sworn to inquire into matters of fact and to reach a verdict on the basis of the evidence presented to them. …
Marriage is a legally sanctioned contract between a man and a woman. Entering into a marriage contract changes the legal status of both parties, giving husband and wife new rights and obligations. Public policy is strongly in favor of marriage based on the belief that it preserves the family unit. Traditionally, marriage has been viewed as vital to the preservation of morals and civilization. The …
A group of officials charged with the responsibility of choosing the names of prospective jury members or of selecting the list of jurors for a particular term in court. The provisions governing these officers vary greatly from one state to another. In certain states, they are elected, and in others, they are appointed by the governor or by judges. Commissioners may be regarded as officers of the …
A federal court officer whose job entails maintaining the peace, delivering legal papers, and performing duties similar to those of a state sheriff. Among their other duties, U.S. marshals are charged with executing federal laws within the states under the instructions of the courts. In September 1962, 500 federal marshals were sent to the University of Mississippi campus to protect James Mere…
The term legatee is often used to denote those who inherit under a will without any distinction between real property and personal property, but technically, a devisee inherits real property under a will. …
The process of organizing, ranking, and distributing funds in a manner set forth by law as being the most effective way to discharge debts that are owed to various creditors. …
The persons commissioned by one government to exercise diplomatic functions at the court of another, including the minister, secretaries, attachés, and interpreters, are collectively called the legation of their government. The word also denotes the official residence of a foreign minister. …
[Latin, Laws of Henry.] A book written between 1114 and 1118 containing Anglo-Saxon and Norman law. It is an invaluable source of knowledge of the period preceding the full development of the Norman law. …
Marshall emphasized the need to limit state power by asserting the primacy of the federal government over the states. In 1819, as Marshall reached the height of his influence, he cited the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution (art. John Marshall. Although Marshall weathered the attacks, his authority, and the Court's, was ultimately affected. Not all his decisions were enfo…
In March 1989, senior federal appeals court judge Joseph Francis Weis Jr. was handed the awesome task of chairing a congressional committee to examine issues and problems facing U.S. courts and to develop a long-range plan for the future of the federal judiciary. Though segments of the U.S. court system had been examined and fine-tuned throughout U.S. history, the formation of the Federal Courts S…
A sanctioned doctrine of trial proceedings wherein members of a jury disregard either the evidence presented or the instructions of the judge in order to reach a verdict based upon their own consciences. It espouses the concept that jurors should be the judges of both law and fact. …
To enact laws or pass resolutions by the lawmaking process, in contrast to law that is derived from principles espoused by courts in decisions. …
On October 13, 1999, Margaret Hilary Marshall became the first woman chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Marshall was born in 1944 in Newcastle, Natal, South Africa. Her mother, Hilary A.D. Marshall, was born in Richmond, England. Her late father, Bernard Charles Marshall, was a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, and was a chemist and production manager at the African …
Joseph Nye Welch represented the U.S. Army in the Army-McCarthy hearings held in the U.S. Senate in April through June 1954. Welch was born in Primghar, Iowa, on October 22, 1890, the youngest of seven children born in a poor farm family. Welch's mother encouraged him to succeed in school. He was intrigued by the law even as a boy and enjoyed watching trials whenever he could. After clerkin…
[Latin, right; justice; law; the whole body of law; also a right.] The term is used in two meanings: Jus means law, considered in the abstract; that is, as distinguished from any specific enactment, which we call, in a general sense, the law. Or it means the law taken as a system, an aggregate, a whole. Or it may designate some one particular system or body of particular laws; as in the phrases ju…
The originator of the plan, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, introduced it in a speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. He pointed out two basic reasons for providing aid to Europe: the United States sought the reestablishment of the European countries as independent nations capable of conducting valuable trade with the United States; and the threat of a Communist takeover was mor…
Mahlon Pitney served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1912 to 1922. A lawyer, legislator, and New Jersey Supreme Court judge before his appointment, Pitney was a judicial conservative who believed in "liberty of contract" and who generally opposed efforts to protect the right of workers to join unions. Pitney was born on February 5, 1858, in Morristown, New Jers…
That body of peremptory principles or norms from which no derogation is permitted; those norms recognized by the international community as a whole as being fundamental to the maintenance of an international legal order. Jus cogens may, therefore, operate to invalidate a treaty or agreement between states to the extent of the inconsistency with any such principles or norms. …
The right of a third party. A tenant or bailee or another in possession of property, who pleads that the title is in some person other than that person's landlord or bailor, is said to set up a jus tertii. …
Legally right; conformity with that which is lawful or fair. …
A reasonable and lawful ground for action. Since the 1980s a just cause standard has developed for employees not protected by an employment or a union contract. This standard is an alternative to the traditional employmentat-will doctrine. Under the latter, which has been in place since the late 1800s, employees who do not have an employment contract may be terminated at the will of the employer f…
The exercise of government and control by military authorities over the civilian population of a designated territory. Martial law on the national level may be declared by Congress or the president. Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 15, of the Constitution, Congress has the power "[t]o provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel …
Crittenden was born September 10, 1787, near Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky. His father was a Revolutionary War soldier and an early Kentucky settler. Crittenden was schooled near his home in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He showed a great aptitude for learning and was encouraged to pursue a career in the law. He attended William and Mary College, and graduated in 1807. His first law practice…
When just compensation is assessed, all elements that can appropriately enter into the question of value are regarded. For example, the original cost of the property taken, added to the cost of reproduction or replacement, minus depreciation, can be considered when the market value of property is determined. …
Lawmaking; the preparation and enactment of laws by a legislative body. Legislative bodies exist to enact legislation. The legislative process is a series of steps that a legislative body takes to evaluate, amend, and vote on proposed legislation. The U.S. Congress, state legislatures, county boards, and city councils engage in the legislative process. Most legislation is enacted by Congress and s…
Luther Martin was a distinguished lawyer and statesman who played an influential role in U.S. law and politics during the early years of the republic. During most of his legal career, he served as Maryland's attorney general. Most sources cite Martin's birth as being on February 9, 1748, near New Brunswick, New Jersey. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now known as Princet…
A retributive theory of criminal punishment that proposes reduced judicial discretion in sentencing and specific sentences for criminal acts without regard to the individual defendant. …
Pertaining to the governmental function of lawmaking or to the process of enacting laws. …
The Court, in a unanimous decision, rejected Virginia's argument and held that the U.S. Supreme Court had the constitutional and statutory authority to review state court decisions. Justice Story, writing for the Court, conducted a lengthy review of the language of the constitutional and statutory provisions, but he also looked at the historical factors that had led to the framing of Articl…
As widely used, a term referring to any war between states that meets generally accepted international criteria of justification. The concept of just war invokes both political and theological ideology, as it promotes a peaceful resolution and coexistence between states, and the use of force or the invocation of armed conflict only under certain circumstances. It is not the same as, but is often c…
Statutes passed by lawmakers, as opposed to court-made laws. …
A database containing information about attorneys and law firms around the world. Primarily lawyers use the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory to assist them in the practice of their profession. An attorney may use the directory, for example, to find out more information about a lawyer or law firm that has filed a lawsuit against her client or to find an attorney in another jurisdiction to assist in…
The proper administration of the law; the fair and equitable treatment of all individuals under the law. A title given to certain judges, such as federal and state supreme court judges. …
Research and support arm of state legislatures and assemblies. Council members research legislative issues, draft legislative proposals, prepare legal opinions, and provide general support services. Also called legislative counsel. State legislatures depend on research staff to investigate and craft legislative proposals. These staff members are generally grouped into one body called a legislative…
Karl Marx. addition, his views have influenced many legal philosophers. Marx was born May 5, 1818, in Trier, in what was then the state of Prussia. His father was a successful lawyer. A bright student, Marx studied law at the University of Bonn in 1835. The following year he transferred to the University of Berlin, where he studied philosophy. While at Berlin, Marx joined a group of student…
Sherman was born on May 10, 1823, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His father was a judge and his older brother, William Tecumseh Sherman, became a renowned Union general during the Civil War. Sherman was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1844 and established a successful law practice in Mansfield, Ohio. Soon, however, his interests turned to politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republ…
On the federal level, the congressional authority to create courts is found in two parts of the U.S. Constitution. Under Article III, Section 1, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." Article III, Section 1, also provides that the judges in the Supreme Cou…
Mason was born in Greensville County, Virginia, on April 18, 1799. His father was Edmunds Mason, and his mother was Frances Ann Young Mason. His grandfather was Captain James Mason of the Fifteenth Virginia Line. Mason graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1816 and attended the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, for three years. In 1819 he was admitted to the Virginia bar and bega…
General information and ideas affecting a blanket increase in property valuations are an illustration of legislative facts, as distinguished from individual grounds for the assessment of each parcel of property, which are adjudicative facts—information pertaining to the businesses and activities of parties to administrative proceedings. …
The discussions and documents, including committee reports, hearings, and floor debates, surrounding and preceding the enactment of a law. Legislative history includes earlier, similar bills introduced but not passed by the legislature; legislative and executive reports and studies regarding the legislation; transcripts from legislative committee hearings and reports from the committees; and floor…
The DOJ comprises many administrative units whose responsibilities involve either representing the United States' interests in court or enforcing federal laws. Many of the department's activities involve traditional legal and investigative functions, such as filing suits on behalf of the United States or apprehending criminals. Other department functions are administrative. For examp…
A judicial officer with limited power whose duties may include hearing cases that involve civil controversies, conserving the peace, performing judicial acts, hearing minor criminal complaints, and committing offenders. Justices of the peace are regarded as civil public officers, distinct from peace or police officers. Depending on the region in which they serve, justices of the peace are also kno…
Capable of being decided by a court. Not all cases brought before courts are accepted for their review. The U.S. Constitution limits the federal courts to hearing nine classes of cases or controversies, and, in the twentieth century, the Supreme Court has added further restrictions. State courts also have rules requiring matters brought before them to be justiciable. Before agreeing to hear a case…
A sufficient or acceptable excuse or explanation made in court for an act that is otherwise unlawful; the showing of an adequate reason, in court, why a defendant committed the offense for which he or she is accused that would serve to relieve the defendant of liability. …
A representative assembly of persons that makes statutory laws for a municipality, state, or nation. A legislature is the embodiment of the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which recognizes that the people are the source of all political power. Citizens choose by popular vote the legislators, or representatives, whom they want to serve them. The representatives are expected to be sensitive to the …
Sanger was born September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York, to Michael Higgins, an Irish stonecutter, and Annie Purcell Higgins, the daughter of an Irish day laborer. Sanger's mother, who had five more children and suffered chronic tuberculosis, died at the age of fifty in 1899. Sanger blamed her death on the strain of bearing eleven children. Following her mother's death, Sanger began…
Justinian was born circa 482 in Pauresium, Illyricum (probably south of modern Nišs, Serbia). Justinian came to the throne with the intention of reestablishing the Roman Empire as it had been before the provinces of the Western Roman Empire fell under the control of various Germanic tribes during the fifth century. To this end, he sent his armies against the Vandals in North Africa (roughly…
To make lawful, such as when a child is born prior to the parents' marriage and they subsequently wed and thereby confer upon the child the same legal status as those born in lawful wedlock. That which is lawful, legal, recognized by law, or in accordance with law, such as legitimate children or legitimate authority; real, valid, or genuine. …
Laws governing the rights of purchasers of new and used motor vehicles that do not function properly and which have to be returned repeatedly to the dealer for repairs. Laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia provide remedies to purchasers of defective new vehicles, often called lemons. These so-called lemon laws protect consumers from substantial defects occurring within a specified pe…
Although the Lend-Lease Act was enacted to provide aid to China and the British Empire, eligibility under its provisions was expanded to include all Allies who were essential to the maintenance of the security of the United States. Subsequent reciprocal agreements with countries Under the Lend-Lease Act, U.S. equipment, food, and weapons were sent to allies during World War II, including these…
A body of primarily federal statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions that govern radio; broadcast, cable, and satellite television; and other means of electronic communication. Since the introduction of the radio in the early twentieth century, sophisticated technological devices have been developed to facilitate the transmission of ideas, information, and entertainment throughout the United …
After college, Sargent returned to Ludlow, where he married Mary Lorraine Gordon in 1887. Sargent studied law with attorney, and future Vermont governor, William Wallace Stickney. Following Sargent's admission to the Vermont bar in 1890, he joined Stickney in the practice of law. Sargent's first political appointment came in 1898 when he was named state's attorney for Windsor …
A member of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1975, John Paul Stevens has developed a reputation as a judicial centrist on the High Court, although many of his more well-known opinions are marked by a liberal bent. Born on April 20, 1920, Stevens descended from Nicholas Stevens, who emigrated to America in 1659 after serving as a brigadier general in Oliver Cromwell's army. Stevens's fath…
A business arrangement that is used in place of a corporation or partnership in which trustees hold title to property for the advantage of beneficiaries for investment purposes. …
An area of the law that deals with the actions and well-being of persons who are not yet adults. In the law a juvenile is defined as a person who is not old enough to be held responsible for criminal acts. In most states and on the federal level, this age threshold is set at 18 years. In Wyoming a juvenile is a person under the age of 19. In some states a juvenile is a person under the age of 17, …
The two young men plotted their crime in 1923. They chose the names Louis Mason and Morton Ballard as aliases and successfully stole a typewriter from the University of Michigan to type a ransom note that would be difficult, if not impossible, to trace. By 1924 they had perfected their plan and accumulated their other necessities, including a chisel and acid. Leopold and Loeb chose their victim by…
Winston Massiah was a merchant sailor who was arrested, arraigned, and indicted for possession of narcotics and for conspiring to possess narcotics aboard a U.S. vessel and to import, conceal, and facilitate the sale of narcotics. Massiah retained a lawyer, pleaded not guilty, and was released on bail. One of the accused coconspirators, Jesse Colson, also retained a lawyer and pleaded not guilty. …
[Slang of U.S. origin.] An unfair, biased, or hasty judicial proceeding that ends in a harsh punishment; an unauthorized trial conducted by individuals who have taken the law into their own hands, such as those put on by vigilantes or prison inmates; a proceeding and its leaders who are considered sham, corrupt, and without regard for the law. The concept of kangaroo court dates to the early ninet…
A lessee of land is a tenant.…
An individual who hires employees or servants to perform services and who directs the manner in which such services are performed. A court officer appointed by a judge to perform such jobs as examining witnesses, taking testimony, computing damages, or taking oaths, affidavits, or acknowledgments of deeds. A master makes a report of his or her findings to the judge so a decree can be formulated. A…
The Lecompton Constitution of 1857 was drafted based upon the results of a Kansas election …
A lesser crime whose elements are encompassed by a greater crime. It is not uncommon for a prosecutor and defendant to negotiate an agreement by which the defendant pleads guilty to the lesser included offense either before the trial begins or before the jury returns a verdict. Such a plea negotiation is generally acceptable to the prosecuting attorney because the evidence establishing guilt for t…
Thurmond was born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina. Thurmond's father, John William Thurmond, was an attorney who served as county prosecutor and later as U.S. district attorney. He was also a powerful political leader in Edgefield County. Strom, as he preferred to be called, graduated from Clemson University in 1923. He was a teacher and athletic coach in several South Car…
A lessor of land is a landlord.…
To award a contract, such as for the erection of public works, to one of several bidders. To lease certain property. …
An archaic generic legal phrase that is used to describe the relationship arising between an employer and an employee. A servant is anyone who works for another individual, the master, with or without pay. The master and servant relationship only arises when the tasks are performed by the servant under the direction and control of the master and are subject to the master's knowledge and con…
A written instrument from a bank or merchant in one location that requests that anyone or a specifically named party advance money or items on credit to the party holding or named in the document. When a letter of credit is used, repayment of the debt is guaranteed by the bank or merchant issuing it. For example, if a bank is aware that a prominent citizen is trustworthy and can safely be relied u…
A material fact is an occurrence, event, or information that is sufficiently significant to influence an individual into acting in a certain way, such as entering into a contract. In formal court procedures, a material fact is anything needed to prove one party's case, or tending to establish a point that is crucial to a person's position. A material issue is a question that is in di…
Joseph Glover Baldwin achieved prominence as a jurist and author despite his lack of formal education. Baldwin was born in January, 1815, near Winchester, Virginia. After establishing a legal practice in 1836 in DeKalb, Mississippi, he relocated to Alabama and entered the legislature of the state in 1844, serving for five years. In 1854 Baldwin moved again, this time to San Francisco. He maintaine…
Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800, to Owen and Ruth Brown. His father, a strict Calvinist, despised slavery. When Brown was five years old, the family moved to Hudson, Ohio, a locale that was steeped in anti-slavery sentiment. Brown's fervor for the anti-slavery movement never waned and grew more vehement as he got older. In 1820, Brown married Dianthe Lusk and six y…
The strict and exact force of the language used in a statute, as distinguished from the spirit, general purpose, and policy of the statute. …
Joseph Emerson Brown was born April 15, 1821, in Pickens District, South Carolina. He was a graduate of the Yale Law School class of 1846, and was admitted to the Georgia bar. In 1849 Brown entered politics and served in the Georgia Senate. In 1852 he was a presidential elector and in 1855 he served as a circuit judge. From 1868 to 1870 Brown again served in the judiciary, presiding as chief justi…
In tax law a written interpretation of certain provisions of federal statutes by the Office of the Assistant Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Because of the time and expense involved in preparing a request for a letter ruling, such a request is seldom made. The taxpayer must submit a complete record of the transaction in dispute, including a justification for the transaction, all pert…
The final part of the test deals with the government's interest. The Mathews court, however, made it clear that in addition to interest, administrative burdens also must be factored into the analysis. If the need for enhanced due process is merited by the need to assure individuals that administrative actions are just, then administrative costs should not be considered. However, if the cost…
In May 1950 Kefauver and four other senators were named to a Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. Because the committee's focus was interstate commerce, the hearings were held across the United States—14 cities in 15 months. Suspected and known organized crime leaders in these cities were interrogated by the five senators, which generated local int…
A formal document issued by a court of probate appointing a manager of the assets and liabilities of the estate of the deceased in certain situations. Courts are often asked to rule on the management of a deceased person's estate. Generally, this is a routine matter for probate courts, which are created specifically for this purpose. Individuals generally determine the distribution of their…
That which is to be determined by the senses or by the testimony of witnesses who describe what they have perceived through the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. …
An instrument issued by a government that conveys a right or title to a private individual or organization, including conveyances of land and inventions. Although Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the U.S. Constitution confers upon Congress the power to secure to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries, this constitutional clause is not self-executin…
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, also known as the Pact of Paris, was a treaty that attempted to outlaw war (46 Stat. 2343, T.S. No. 796, 94 L.N.T.S. 57). The treaty was drafted by France and the United States, and on August 27, 1928, was signed by fifteen nations. By 1933 sixty-five nations had pledged to observe its provisions. France accepted the United States' offer, and treaty negotiations beg…
A formal written request made by one judicial body to another court in a different, independent jurisdiction that a witness who resides in that jurisdiction be examined through the use of interrogatories accompanying the request. Letters rogatory can be sent to a court in a sister state or to a court or judge in a foreign country. Granting the request, again, is a matter of comity between courts. …
The formal instrument of authority and appointment granted by the proper court to an executor (one designated in a will to manage the estate of the deceased) empowering that person to execute the functions of the office. A sample letters testamentary …
By 1939, Marshall had become head of the NAACP legal branch, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and by the early 1950s, he and his organization had argued and secured significant legal victories before the Supreme Court that helped set the stage for Brown. In Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629, 70 S. Ct. 848, 94 L. Ed. 1114 (1950), the Court sided with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund when it ruled that a sep…
The system constructed and maintained by government to prevent the overflow of water. As a general rule, the power to construct or establish levees is vested in public authorities and not in individuals. Levee districts are the public agencies most frequently involved in the creation of flood control projects for the purpose of constructing and maintaining flood control improvements for the protec…
A method of financing an investment by which an investor pays only a small percentage of the purchase price in cash, with the balance supplemented by borrowed funds, in order to generate a greater rate of return than would be produced by paying primarily cash for the investment; the economic benefit gained by such financing. Any investor receives an anticipated rate of return from the investment a…
Stone was born on August 13, 1818, in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. Determined to attend college, she went to work as a teacher at the age of sixteen to earn money for the tuition. Nine years later she entered Oberlin College, the first coeducational college in the United States. While at Oberlin she formed the first women's college debating society. Stone was a fiery and forceful orator.…
A seizure. The obtaining of money by legal process through seizure and sale of property; the raising of the money for which an execution has been issued. A sheriff or other officer of the law can be ordered by a court to make a levy against any property not entitled to an exemption. The court can do this with an order of attachment, by which the court takes custody of the property during pending l…
Whiteman had a strong interest in, and knowledge of, inter-American affairs. She played a major role in many Pan-American conferences and proposed the idea of consultation for the inter-American system. In 1948 she took part in the conference at Bogotá, Colombia, which drafted the charter of the Organization of American States. all matters of international law arising in the conduct of…
Behavior that is deemed morally impure or unacceptable in a sexual sense; open and public indecency tending to corrupt the morals of the community; gross or wanton indecency in sexual relations. An important element of lewdness is openness. Lewdness is sometimes used interchangeably with licentiousness or lasciviousness, which both relate to debauchery and moral turpitude. It is a specific offense…
Reno was born on July 21, 1938, in Miami, Florida. Her parents were journalists who worked for Miami daily newspapers. Reno attended public schools in Dade County and enrolled at Cornell University in 1956. After her graduation in 1960, she attended Harvard Law School, one of only 16 women in a class of more than 500 students. She graduated in 1963 but found that her gender made it difficult to fi…
John R. Lewis. In 1998, Lewis published his autobiography: Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. In 2000, he participated in a gathering in Selma, Alabama, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery protest march. In 2003, Lewis was a member of the House Budget Committee, and served on the Subcommittee on Health that is part of the House Ways and Means Com…
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the thirty-fifth president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Although his administration had few legislative accomplishments, Kennedy energized the United States by projecting idealism, youth, and vigor. Kennedy was born May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was a self-made millionaire and the so…
In modern U.S. and English jurisprudence this term signifies a system or body of laws, written or unwritten, applicable to a particular case or question regarded as local or unique to a particular state, country, or jurisdiction. …
[Latin, The law of the forum, or court.] The positive law of the state, nation, or jurisdiction within which a lawsuit is instituted or remedy sought. The lex fori, or law of the jurisdiction in which relief is pursued, governs all procedural matters as distinguished from substantive rights. …
Joseph Story. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS absence of a legislative reservation at the time of the original grant. This definition of private corporations by reference to their capitalization was critical to corporate development in the nineteenth century. Story, writing for an 8–1 majority, declared unconstitutional all fugitive slave laws enacted by the states because the federal law p…
[Latin, The law of the place.] The law of the state or the nation where the matter in litigation transpired. The term lex loci can be employed in several descriptions, but, in general, it is used only for lex loci contractus (the law of the place where the contract was made), which is usually the law that governs the contract. …
Juanita Kidd Stout was the first African American woman to be elected judge in the United States. Before her election to the Pennsylvania bench, Stout worked in the Philadelphia district attorney's office. She later was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, becoming the first African American woman to serve on that court. Stout was born on March 7, 1919, in Wewoka, Oklahoma, the daug…
The Lexis service began in 1973. In 1979, the Lexis service was joined by the companion Nexis® news and information service. Lexis contains more than five thousand legal sources, and Nexis contains more than ten thousand news and information sources. The services add approximately 17.3 million documents each week to their more than three billion documents online. …
In 1841 he was appointed the reporter of decisions for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court. In this capacity Appleton edited the opinions of the justices, which gave him valuable insights into the workings of an appellate court. His diligence and intellectual esteem led to his appointment as a justice of the court in 1852. Eleven years later he was elevated to chief …
Luther Stearns Cushing achieved prominence as a legal educator, author, and jurist. He was born June 22, 1803, in Lunenberg, Massachusetts. Cushing graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor of laws degree in 1826. From 1826 to 1832, Cushing was an editor for The American Jurist and Law Magazine. For the next twelve years, he served in the state government system as clerk of the Massac…
John Chipman Gray served as a member of the Harvard Law School faculty for more than four decades. He was an expert on the law of real property, and his works are still cited as persuasive authority today. When he was still a young boy, Gray's father experienced a financial setback. This did not, however, discourage Gray from seeking higher education. After attending Boston Latin School, he…
The rioting had begun on Friday, May 1, 1970, when several students organized an on-campus demonstration to protest U.S. troops entering Cambodia. That evening, a crowd of drinking and agitated students moved off campus and began breaking windows in the center of town. Police were called in to disperse the crowd. The Kent city mayor, having heard rumors of a radical plot in the making, declared a …
A comprehensive legal term that describes the condition of being actually or potentially subject to a legal obligation. Joint liability is an obligation for which more than one person is responsible. Joint and several liability refers to the status of those who are responsible together as one unit as well as individually for their conduct. The person who has been harmed can institute a lawsuit and…
John Henry Wigmore ranks as one of the most important legal scholars in U.S. history. A law professor and later dean of Northwestern University Law School from 1901 to 1929, Wigmore was a prolific writer in many areas of the law. He is renowned for his ten-volume Treatise on the Anglo-American System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law—usually referred to as Wigmore on Evidence—origi…
McCain graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1954 and then attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he took courses in electrical engineering. There, he was known as a rowdy and insubordinate student, whose demerits for his antics detracted from his otherwise respectable grades. He graduated in 1958, toward the bottom of his class (790 out of 795), b…
A retirement account that allows workers who are self-employed to set aside a percentage of their net earnings for retirement income. Self-employed taxpayers who own a business and set up a Keogh plan for themselves are also required to set up a Keogh plan for each employee who has worked for their company for at least one thousand hours over a period of three or more years. The level of contribut…
Collectively known as defamation, libel and slander are civil wrongs that harm a reputation; decrease respect, regard, or confidence; or induce disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against an individual or entity. The injury to one's good name or reputation is affected through written or spoken words or visual images. The laws governing these torts are identical. To re…
A system devised by West Group involving the classification of legal subjects that are organized within their publications according to specific topics and subtopics. Each topic and subtopic is given a key number which consists of one or more digits preceded by the symbol of a key assigned to each individual classification. …
Since 1966, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Supplementary Admiralty Rules have governed admiralty actions, which are presently commenced by complaint. …
An interactive, computer-assisted citatory service that allows legal researchers to verify the validity of a case and to find all references that have cited that case as authority. Every day, lawyers are asked by their clients to persuade judges to rule in their favor. One way in which they try to accomplish this task is by citing prior legal decisions, called precedent, that support their clients…
The seller's return of part of the purchase price of an item to a buyer or buyer's representative for the purpose of inducing a purchase or improperly influencing future purchases. Spiro Agnew, vice president under Richard Nixon, was accused of taking kickbacks while he was governor of Maryland and later vice president. On October 10, 1973, he resigned from office rather than fac…
During his first three years in office, McCarthy was an undistinguished and relatively unknown senator. He catapulted to public attention, however, after giving a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, in February 1950. In the speech, McCarthy charged that 205 Communists had Joe McCarthy. ARCHIVE PHOTOS, INC. who were fearful of the growth of Communism and the menace of the Soviet Union as…
The Libertarian party was founded in Colorado in 1971 and held its first convention in Denver in 1972. In 1972 it fielded John Hospers for president and Theodora Nathan for vice president in the U.S. general election. It appeared on two state ballots, receiving a total of 2,648 votes in Colorado and Washington. In the 1976 elections, the party's 176 candidates garnered 1.2 million votes acr…
John L. McClellan. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In 1961 McClellan investigated the fraudulent agricultural dealings of Texas businessman Billy Sol Estes. In 1963 McClellan was involved with the investigation of organized crime. During the hearings, Joseph Valachi, a member of an organized crime family, gave graphic testimony of its inner workings. McClellan continued to organize investigations as pa…
Born in Kinderhook, New York, on December 5, 1782, Van Buren was the third of five children born to Dutch working-class parents. He began to study law at the early age of fourteen and gained admission to the New York bar four years later in 1803. He was elected to the New York legislature in 1812 and continued to be reelected until 1820. From 1816 until 1819, he also served as the state attorney g…
The law of kidnapping is difficult to define with precision because it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most state and federal kidnapping statutes define the term kidnapping vaguely, and courts fill in the details. A person who is convicted of kidnapping is usually sentenced to prison for a certain number of years. In some states, and at the federal level, the term of imprisonment may be …
A political philosophy that advocates free will, individual rights, and voluntary cooperation. The core doctrine of libertarianism begins with the recognition that people have certain natural rights and that deprivation of these rights is immoral. Among these natural rights are the right to personal autonomy and property rights, and the right to the utilization of previously unused resources. Thes…
The rationale behind the Kilberg doctrine is that laws that set limitations on damages are procedural and, therefore, the law of the forum should be applied. …
The state of being free; enjoying various social, political, or economic rights and privileges The concept of liberty forms the core of all democratic principles. Yet, as a legal concept, it defies clear definition. The Court justified its findings of liberty rights that are not enumerated in the Constitution by stating that some rights are basic and fundamental, and that the government has a duty…
Relation by blood or consanguinity; relatives by birth. The term kin is ordinarily applied to relationships through ties of blood; however, it is sometimes used generally to include family relationships by affinity. Kindred is a synonym for kin. …
Griggs was born July 10, 1849, near Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. His father, Daniel Griggs, descended from the colonial founders of Griggstown, New Jersey. His mother, Emeline Johnson Griggs, also had early roots in New Jersey; she descended from militiaman and Revolutionary War soldier Henry Johnson. As a young man, Griggs attended the Collegiate Institute, in Newton. He later entered Lafay…
The M.C.J. degree is ordinarily offered by universities and law schools that have comparative law departments. It is awarded to highly qualified foreign lawyers who intend to return to the legal profession in a foreign country after completion of their studies in the United States. …
King was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. At an early age, he demonstrated the intellect and drive that would propel him to national prominence. After skipping his senior year of high school, he enrolled in Atlanta's Morehouse College, at the age of fifteen. He earned a degree in sociology from Morehouse in 1948. Since both his father and grandfather were Baptist preachers, it wa…
Joseph McKenna rose from humble immigrant roots as a baker's son to a position of prominence in California Republican politics. McKenna served as county district attorney (1866–1870), U.S. Congressman, justice of the Ninth U.S. Circuit court (1892–1897), and, briefly, U.S. attorney general (1897). His controversial nomination to the Supreme Court in 1897 led to a twenty-seven-…
During McKinley's time, justices had responsibility not only over the Court itself, but also over the federal circuit courts, which required them to travel in a practice known as circuit riding. In charge of the largest circuit, the Ninth, McKinley loathed this obligation. Twice, in 1838 and 1842, McKinley asked Congress to absolve him of the responsibility, which he claimed exposed him to …
The highest common-law court in England until its end as a separate tribunal in 1875. The Court of the King's Bench or Court of the Queen's Bench derived from the royal court first established by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century. The royal court, called the curia regis, was not a judicial body in the modern sense. Rather, it was an assembly of English lords and noblemen …
The unlawful practice of drawing checks against a bank account containing insufficient funds to cover them, with the expectation that the necessary funds will be deposited before such checks are presented for payment. …
John McLean served as associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court for thirty-two years, one of the longest tenures in the history of the Court. McLean was born on March 11, 1785, in New Jersey but was raised primarily near Lebanon, Ohio, where his father staked out land that later became the family farm. McLean attended a county school and later was tutored by two schoolmasters, Presbyterian minis…
The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest library, with nearly 110 million items in almost every language and format stored on 532 miles of bookshelves. Its collections constitute the world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the library has grown from an original c…
The Know-Nothing movement was actually a group of secret anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish and anti-immigrant political organizations that called itself the American party. The movement, comprised principally of native-born, white, Anglo-Saxon males, came into being in the 1850s, grew rapidly, and waned almost as quickly. In the early 1800s, as immigrants continued to flow into the United States, a numbe…
Consciously; willfully; subject to complete understanding of the facts or circumstances. When the term knowingly is used in an indictment, it signifies that the defendant knew what he or she was going to do and, subject to such knowledge, engaged in the act for which he or she was charged. …
Jean Jacques Burlamaqui achieved prominence as a Swiss jurist and legal author. Burlamaqui died April 3, 1748, in Geneva, Switzerland. …
Acting without regard to law, ethics, or the rights of others. The term licentiousness is often used interchangeably with lewdness or lasciviousness, which relate to moral impurity in a sexual context. …
Lawyer, author, theorist, and justice, James Wilson helped write the U.S. Constitution and served as one of the first justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Wilson emigrated from Scotland in the mid 1760s, studied law, and quickly gained prominence and success in Philadelphia. As a Federalist, Wilson believed in strong central government. This theme pervaded the pamphlets he wrote in the 1770s and 17…
On June 25, 1950, North Korea, with the tacit approval of the Soviet Union, launched an attack across the thirty-eighth parallel. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for the assistance of all U.N. members to stop the invasion. Normally, the Soviet Union would have vetoed this resolution, but it was boycotting the Security Council in protest of the U.N.'s decision not to ad…
A right given to another by the owner of property to secure a debt, or one created by law in favor of certain creditors. Liens are discharged after a certain length of time. The requirements for commencing their foreclosure vary among the states. If a person pays and satisfies a lien, she should be careful to obtain a written, legally sufficient release or satisfaction, and file or record it in th…
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu, an American citizen of Japanese descent, was convicted in federal court for remaining in a designated military area in California contrary to a Civilian Exclusion Order issued by an army general that required persons of Japanese ancestry to report to assembly centers as a prelude to mass removal from the West Coast. He unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to the circui…
An estate whose duration is limited to the life of the party holding it, or some other person. …
A phrase used in the common-law and statutory rules against perpetuities, meaning the remaining duration of the life of a person who is in existence at the time when the deed orwill takes effect. The courts developed the rule during the seventeenth century in order to limit a person's power to control the ownership and possession of property after death, and to ensure the transferability of…
The words life or limb are not interpreted strictly; they apply to any criminal penalty. …
An abbreviation for last in, first out, a method used in inventory accounting to value the merchandise of a particular business. LIFO assumes that the last goods purchased are the first sold and, as a result, those items that remain unsold in the inventory at the end of the year are assumed to be those which were purchased first. …
John Chandler Bancroft Davis enjoyed a long and prolific career as a diplomat, jurist, and legal historian. The son of John Davis, a Massachusetts governor and U.S. senator, Davis was born December 29, 1822, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He entered Harvard College in 1840, but was suspended (unjustly, by some accounts) during his senior year. He then studied law and was admitted to the Massachusett…
To raise; to take up. To lift a promissory note (a written commitment to pay a sum of money on a certain date) is to terminate the obligation by paying its amount. …
Davis entered politics in 1899 by participating in the West Virginia House of Delegates. He was a member of the Democratic National Conventions from 1904 to 1932. Davis died March 24, 1955, in Charleston, South Carolina. …
Goods cast into the sea tied to a buoy, so that they may be found again by the owners. When goods are cast into the sea in storms or shipwrecks and remain there, without coming to land, they are distinguished by the names of jetsam, flotsam, and ligan. …
Julian Carey Dixon was born in Washington, D.C., in 1934. He moved to Los Angeles, California, with his family at the age of ten. He grew up and attended public school in Los Angeles. In 1957 he left to serve in the Army, returning in 1960 to receive his degree from California State University in 1962. Dixon then went on to earn his law degree from Southwestern State University in Los Angeles in 1…
Other names for the group have been White Brotherhood, Heroes of America, Constitutional Union Guards, and Invisible Empire. …
A qualification, restriction, or circumspection. In the law of property, a limitation on an estate arises when its duration or quality is in some way restricted. For example, in the conveyance, "Owner conveys Blackacre to A until B leaves the country," A's estate is limited, since A is given Blackacre for only a specified length of time. …
Statutes restricting the right to bring suit on certain civil causes of action or criminal prosecutions, which provide that a suit may not be commenced unless it is brought within a designated period after the time that the right to sue accrued. …
The Republicans who framed the Ku Klux Klan Act intended it to provide a federal remedy for private conspiracies of the sort practiced by the KKK against African Americans and others. As had become all too apparent by 1871, local and state courts were ineffective in prosecuting Klan violence. Local and state law enforcement officials, including judges, were often sympathetic to the KKK or were sub…
Restricted in duration, extent, or scope; confined. Limited is also a designation following the name of a corporation that indicates its corporate and limited liability status; it is abbreviated Ltd. It is found most commonly after British and Canadian corporate names, although it is sometimes used in the United States. …
Jerome New Frank had a distinguished career as a judge but won perhaps even more renown as a legal philosopher and author. Frank was born September 10, 1889, in New York City. He received a Ph.B. from the University of Chicago in 1909 and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1912. His next twenty years were spent in private practice where he specialized in the reorganization o…
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 17, 1905, Wisdom was a product of the old South, and he grew up accustomed to the privileges and prejudices of the white aristocracy. His father, Mortimer Norton Wisdom, had been a pall-bearer for General Robert E. Lee. His mother, Adelaide Labatt Wisdom, limited her son's youthful associations to people of his own social class and standing. It was not…
Joseph Hodges Choate was a popular lawyer in New York in the late 1800s. Choate distinguished himself by his exceptional career before the bar, his accomplishments as ambassador to the Court of St. James's (an ambassador to England), his dedication to public service, and his sharp wit and clever after-dinner speeches. Joseph H. Choate. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS eventually charged Tweed wit…
Nelson was born on June 1, 1791 (some sources say 1794), in Frederick County, Maryland. As a young boy, he was educated by private tutors; subsequently, he entered the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia. He graduated in 1811 and went on to study law with attorneys in both Virginia and Maryland. He was admitted to the bar in 1813 and established a practice in his hometown. In 182…
The major bureaus and agencies within the DOL are the Employment and Training Administration, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Employment Standards Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Veterans' Employment and Training Service. Other organizations, including the Women's Bureau, …
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1972 to 1987. Powell, who came to the Court as one of the most distinguished lawyers in the United States, was a moderate conservative who became a key "swing" vote on a Court that became divided between conservatives and liberals. Powell was born on November 19, 1907, in Suffolk, Virginia. A desc…
Smith was born on October 16, 1914, in Eddyville, Iowa. She attended Iowa State University, graduating with a degree in social work in 1935. She married Elmer M. Smith, a physician, and moved with him to Eagle Grove, Iowa. Smith raised three children and soon became active in local politics, winning a seat on the Eagle Grove school board. By 1996 Smith had been pushed to the margins of the Republi…
A noncorporate business whose owners actively participate in the organization's management and are protected against personal liability for the organization's debts and obligations. The limited liability company (LLC) is a hybrid legal entity that has both the characteristics of a corporation and of a partnership. An LLC provides its owners with corporate-like protection against pers…
A form of general partnership that provides an individual partner protection against personal liability for certain partnership obligations. The Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) is essentially a general partnership in form, with one important difference. Unlike a general partnership, in which individual partners are liable for the partnership's debts and obligations, an LLP provides each…
President Kennedy ratifies the Limited Test Ban Treaty on October 7, 1963. Looking on are Sen. John Pastore, W. Averell Harriman, Sen. James Fulbright, Dean Rusk, Sen. George Aiken, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Sen. Everett Dirksen, William Foster, Sen. Howard Cannon, and Sen. Leverett Saltonstall. BETTMANN/CORBIS Although Kennedy hailed the LTBT as a significant achievement of his presidency, he …
John Bell was born February 15, 1797, near Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Cumberland College in Nashville in 1817 and was admitted to the bar in the same year. He practiced John Bell. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS law in Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, before entering politics. Bell was secretary of war in 1841 and then U.S. senator for Tennessee for twelve years beginning in 1847. Bell d…
An area of the law that deals with the rights of employers, employees, and labor organizations. …
Lincoln graduated from Harvard in 1772 and then worked in the office of Joseph Hawley, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he was active in politics and a prominent figure in the Massachusetts movement to abolish slavery. After the Battle of Lexington, in 1775, he traveled with the militia for a brief period before moving to Worcester, Massachusetts. He was …
An association, combination, or organization of employees who band together to secure favorable wages, improved working conditions, and better work hours, and to resolve grievances against employers. The history of labor unions in the United States has much to do with changes in technology and the development of capitalism. Although labor unions can be compared to European merchant and craft guild…
In 1808, Calhoun entered politics, beginning as a member of the South Carolina legislature. Three years later, he began his career in federal government, representing South Carolina in the House of Representatives until 1817. During his tenure, he performed the duties of acting chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and in 1811 was a member of the War Hawks, a group that advocated war with E…
A defense to an equitable action, that bars recovery by the plaintiff because of the plaintiff's undue delay in seeking relief. Laches is based on the legal maxim "Equity aids the vigilant, not those who slumber on their rights." Laches recognizes that a party to an action can lose evidence, witnesses, and a fair chance to defend himself or herself after the passage of time fr…
Joseph Rucker Lamar served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1911 to 1916. Unlike many appointees to the Court, Lamar was not selected on the basis of a long political career. As an attorney and Georgia Supreme Court judge, Lamar was recognized for his legal abilities. Lamar attended the University of Georgia and graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia in 1877. He then…
The Lindbergh Act is a federal law (48 Stat. 781) that makes it a crime to kidnap—for ransom, reward, or otherwise—and transport a victim from one state to another or to a foreign country, except in the case of a minor abducted by his or her parent. The punishment for violation of the Lindbergh Act is imprisonment for a term of years or for life. …
Harlan was born in Boyle County, Kentucky, on June 1, 1833. The son of a prominent lawyer and politician, Harlan graduated from Centre College and then studied law at Transylvania University, both located in Kentucky. He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1853. As a young man, Harlan sought his own political career. He was elected a county judge in 1858, but relocated to Louisville in 1861 to est…
Lamar was born September 17, 1825, in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of a wealthy plantation owner. He graduated from Emory College in 1845 and then apprenticed in the law. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1847. In 1849 he moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where he taught mathematics at the University of Mississippi. He briefly returned to Georgia, where he served in the Georgia House of Representati…
On his return to the United States, Harlan was hired by Root, Clark, Buckner, and Howard, a prominent New York City law firm. Emory Buckner, a partner in the firm and its chief litigator, encouraged Harlan to attend law school. Harlan graduated from New York Law School in 1924 and was admitted to the bar in 1925. Harlan returned to Root, Clark in 1927. During the 1930s, he emerged as the law firm&…
An elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post. The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. In the United States, when an elected official loses an election, that official is called a lame duck for the remainder of his or her…
Lindbergh's historic flight from New York to Paris in The Spirit of St. Louis brought him both adulation and wealth. By the end of 1930, he was estimated to be worth over $1.5 million. His was an enviable life, with more than enough justifications for the nickname Lucky Lindy: world fame; the Congressional Medal of Honor; foreign nations sponsoring his long-distance flights; positions with …
The handicap of a session of Congress with numerous lame ducks was particularly evident in December 1932. During the thirteen weeks of that session of the Seventy-second Congress, 158 defeated members (out of a total of 431) served until the new Congress convened in March 1933. In the meantime the newly elected members, spurred by their recent electoral victories and the problems of a nationwide e…
A land grant, also known as land patent, was made by the U.S. government in 1862, upon its grant to the several states of 30,000 acres of land for each of its senators and representatives serving in Congress. The lands were subsequently sold by the states and, through the proceeds, colleges were established and maintained. Such colleges, which are devoted mainly to teaching agricultural subjects a…
The maximum borrowing power granted to a person from a financial institution. Line of credit denotes a limit of credit extended by a bank to a customer, who can avail himself or herself of its full extent in dealing with the bank but cannot exceed this limit. It most frequently covers a series of transactions, in which case, when the customer's line of credit is nearly exhausted or not repl…
That which comes in a line, particularly a direct line, as from parent to child or grandparent to grandchild. …
Harmon was born February 3, 1846, in Newton, Hamilton County, Ohio, the oldest of eight children of Benjamin Franklin Harmon and Julia Bronson Harmon. Because his father was a teacher, the young Harmon was schooled at home. Later, when his father entered the ministry, Harmon attended public schools. An apt student, he was enrolled at Denison University by the age of sixteen, and he graduated in 18…
A criminal investigation technique in which the police arrange a number of individuals in a row before a witness to a crime and ask the witness to identify which, if any, of the individuals committed the crime. In a police lineup, a witness to a crime, who may be the victim, observes a group of individuals that may or may not include a suspect in the crime. The witness is not visible to those in t…
Although the ownership of real property is considered an asset, it is not a liquid asset because it cannot be readily converted into cash upon sale. …
John Campbell, also known as First Baron Campbell, was born September 15, 1779, in Scotland. He was admitted to the bar in 1806 and pursued a career in British law and politics. As an author, Campbell is famous for Lives of the Lord Chancellors, published from 1845 to 1847, and for Lives of the Chief Justices, published from 1849 to 1857. Campbell died June 23, 1861, in London, England. …
To pay and settle the amount of a debt; to convert assets to cash; to aggregate the assets of an insolvent enterprise and calculate its liabilities in order to settle with the debtors and the creditors and apportion the remaining assets, if any, among the stockholders or owners of the corporation. …
Levi Woodbury. ARCHIVE PHOTOS, INC. order to limit the power of states to regulate business and economic matters. Woodbury left no landmark opinions. However, he occasionally dissented when he thought the Court was trampling the rights of states: He dissented from the Court's decisions to extend the boundaries of federal jurisdiction over national waters and, in the so-called Passeng…
Judah Philip Benjamin was attorney general of the Confederate States of America under President Jefferson Davis. Though described by many as a brilliant, self-made man, he was also characterized as the "dark prince of the Confederacy" in Robert W. Service's poem "John Brown's Body." Benjamin was born August 6, 1811, on St. Croix Island, in the British West…
Monetary compensation for a loss, detriment, or injury to a person or a person's rights or property, awarded by a court judgment or by a contract stipulation regarding breach of contract. Generally, contracts that involve the exchange of money or the promise of performance have a liquidated damages stipulation. The purpose of this stipulation is to establish a predetermined sum that must be…
Albright shifted her focus in 1981 to academia. She was awarded a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian (1981-82), following an international competition in which she wrote about the role the press played in the political changes that occurred in Poland during the early 1980s. Her findings were published in Poland, the Role of the Press in Political …
John Archibald Campbell was a politician, a statesman, and an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court during the turbulent years preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. Born June 24, 1811, in Washington, Georgia, the son of a prominent landowner and lawyer, Campbell was a child of exceptional intellectual ability. He entered Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) at the age of eleve…
The collection of assets belonging to a debtor to be applied to the discharge of his or her outstanding debts. The settlement of the financial affairs of a business or individual through the sale of all assets and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors, heirs, or other parties with a legal claim. The liquidation of a corporation is not the same as its dissolution (the termination of its exi…
Bentham was born February 15, 1748, in Houndsditch, near London, into a family of attorneys. He was educated at Oxford and admitted to the bar, but decided not to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Instead of practicing law, Bentham chose to pursue a career in legal, political, and social reform, applying principles of ethical philosophy to these endeavors. He was greatly influ…
A standard was first set in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission, 447 U.S. 557, 100 S. Ct. 2343, 65 L. Ed. 2d 341 (1980). In Central Hudson the Court noted that commercial speech serves the economic interests of the speaker but also helps consumers and society overall. It outlined a four-part test for judicial evaluation of the regulation of commercial speech. Fi…
[Latin, Pending lawsuit.] A reference to the jurisdiction (or control) that courts obtain over property in a suit awaiting action. A notice filed in the office of public records that the ownership of real property is the subject of a legal controversy and that anyone who purchases it takes it subject to any claims asserted in the action and thereby its value might be diminished. …
John David Ashcroft was born on May 9, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to rural Springfield, Missouri, when he was just a young boy. Springfield is the home of the Pentecostal Assembly of God Church, and since Ashcroft's father and grandfather were Pentecostal ministers, it seemed only natural that the family would make Springfield their home. While the church forbids smoking, …
There are various types of real estate listings. A general or open listing is a right to sell that may be given to more than one agent or broker simultaneously. An exclusive agency listing is the right of one real estate agency to be the sole party, with the exception of the owner, who is permitted to sell the property during a particular period. Through an exclusive authorization to sell listing,…
Jackson was born October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. His mother, Helen Burns, was only 16 when Jackson was born. His father, Noah Louis Robinson, acknowledged Jackson as his son, but because he was married to another woman and had several other children, he was not involved in Jackson's life. When he was three, his mother married Charles Jackson. The family eventually moved out …
The first law school in America, founded by Tapping Reeve (b. October 1744, in Southhold, Long Island, New York; d. December 13, 1823, in Litchfield, Connecticut) in 1784 in Litchfield, Connecticut. It continued operation until 1833. Until the Revolutionary War ended, there was very little civil business transacted in Litchfield County, and Reeve provided legal instruction in anticipation of the c…
The determination by a court of the meaning of the language of a document by an examination of only the actual words used in it, without any consideration of the intent of the parties who signed the writing except for the fact that they chose the language now in dispute. …
Berrien was born August 23, 1781, in New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton in 1796 and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1799. He began his judicial career in Georgia as a circuit court judge in 1810 and remained on the bench until 1821. …
Federal, state, and local governments, to varying degrees, regulate growth and development through statutory law. Nevertheless, a majority of controls on land stem from actions of private developers and government units. The use of land can be affected by judicial determinations that frequently arise in one of three situations: (1) suits brought by one neighbor against another, (2) suits brought b…
In 1822 Mill began working as a clerk for his father at India House, the large East Indian trading company. He rose to the position of chief of the examiner's office and stayed with the company until his retirement in 1858. Mill's real passion, however, was political and social philosophy. In 1826 he had a serious mental crisis that caused him to reevaluate the tenets of utilitariani…
Landis earned a reputation as a stern, highly principled baseball commissioner who ran a tight ship and disapproved of gambling. He antagonized many team owners with his dictatorial style, yet was reelected several times during his twenty-four-year reign. Although Landis is criticized for maintaining racially segregated major league teams, he is credited with restoring the integrity of the sport a…
Miller was born January 20, 1903, in Pender, Nebraska, the son of a post–Civil War migrant from the South. His family moved to Kansas when he was a boy, and he graduated from high school in Highland, Kansas. Later, he attended the University of Kansas; Howard University; and Washburn University, in Topeka, Kansas, where he earned his bachelor of laws degree in 1928. He was admitted to the K…
A lessor of real property; the owner or possessor of an estate in land or a rental property, who, in an exchange for rent, leases it to another individual known as the tenant. …
The interest of an author in an original and expressive composition, that entitles the author to the exclusive use and profit thereof, with no interest vested in any other individual. The corporal property in which an intellectual production is embodied. The concept of literature as property grew from the notion that literary works have value, and that writers deserve legal protection from unautho…
An association between two individuals arising from an agreement by which one individual occupies the other's real property with permission, subject to a rental fee. The term landlord refers to a person who owns property and allows another person to use it for a fee. The person using the property is called a tenant. The agreement between a landlord and a tenant is called a lease or rental a…
An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. Before a lawsuit is filed, the person contemplating the lawsuit (called the plaintiff) typically demands that the person who caused the alleged injury (called the defendant) perform certain actions that will resolve the conflict. If the demand is ref…
A structure that has significant historical, architectural, or cultural meaning and that has been given legal protection from alteration and destruction. Although landmark preservation laws vary by city and state, they have the same basic purpose: to keep landmarks as close to their original condition as possible. As a legal specialty, landmark and preservation law has developed as the number of d…
Margaret Haywood is a senior judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She also was the first African–American woman to attain a top leadership position in a biracial U.S. church, the United Church of Christ. Haywood was always an independent decision maker. While she was in high school, her teachers encouraged her to become a teacher, the best career option for black women …
Title II (29 U.S.C.A. § 431 et seq.) deals with the management and reporting of union finances, a particular area of concern for Congress in the wake of the Teamsters Union's misappropriation of funds. The act requires unions to have constitutions and bylaws and to file copies of both with the U.S. secretary of labor. They must file reports that show dues, fees, and assessments; qual…
Rights relating to the ownership of property that abuts an ocean, sea, or lake. Littoral proprietors are occupants of land that borders the above-named bodies of water, whereas riparian proprietors are those who occupy land bordering streams or rivers. Littoral rights are generally concerned with the use and enjoyment of the shore. …
Marvin J. Sonosky's legal work on behalf of Native Americans resulted in victories in Congress and the courts. Sonosky championed Indian causes during his long career as an attorney, representing several tribes. His single greatest accomplishment was winning the Black Hills case, a 24-year legal odyssey in which the Sioux nation asserted its claim to sacred ground taken by the federal …
Fulbright was born in Sumner, Missouri, on April 9, 1905, the son of a prosperous Arkansas businessman. Fulbright was the youngest of four children born to Jay and Roberta Waugh Fulbright. His father was a banker, farmer, and businessman. His mother wrote a column for the family-owned Fayetteville newspaper. He entered the University of Arkansas at the age of 16, and graduated in 1925. From 1925 t…
Lanfranc established a school at Avranches, Normandy, and taught for three years, until about 1042. After being attacked and almost killed by a highway robber, he went into seclusion at Saint Stephens Abbey at Bec, a newly established monastery. After three years of total seclusion, he returned to teaching, this time at the monastery. He taught there for eighteen years, earning high respect throug…
The Litvinov Assignment purported to transfer to the United States certain American assets located in Russia that had been previously nationalized by the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the United States went to court to establish its title to the assets. In the famous case of United States v. Pink, 315 U.S. 203, 62 S.Ct. 552, 86 L. Ed. 796 (1942), the Supreme Court upheld this title on the basis of th…
The book became a national best-seller overnight, attracting both strong support and vitriolic opposition. Millett argued that in the twentieth century, social and technological change had helped women in the United States to begin redefining gender roles. In the face of change, the male-dominated society had sought to preserve a patriarchal social structure and the patriarchal family through an i…
A ceremony performed in medieval England that effected the transfer of land from one party to another. Livery of seisin was the dominant method of transferring land in England until 1536, and it continued to be legal until 1925. The term livery of seisin means simply "transfer of possession": livery means "delivery" and is from the Old French livrer, and seisin means &#…
John Selden was a brilliant lawyer, author, politician, legal analyst, and historian in seventeenth-century England. John Milton, the famed poet and a contemporary of Selden, called Selden "the chief of learned men reputed in this Land." Selden was born in Salvington, Sussex, England, in 1584. His baptismal record says only, "John, the sonne of John Selden, ye ministrell, was …
Individuals who, as a regular course of business, provide quarters for the boarding of horses and rent them for hire. …
Jaworski was born in Waco, Texas, on September 19, 1905, to an Austrian mother and a Polish father. He was christened Leonidas, after a king of ancient Sparta who courageously gave his life for his beliefs. Jaworski's father, an evangelical minister, instilled in him from an early age a deep and abiding Christian faith and sense of duty. By the time he was fourteen, he was the champion deba…
The Lanham Act was not the first federal legislation on trademarks, but it was the first comprehensive federal legislation. Before the Lanham Act, most of trademark law was regulated by a variety of state laws. The first federal trademark legislation was passed by Congress in 1870 and amended in 1876. In 1879 the U.S. Supreme Court found that legislation unconstitutional. Two subsequent attempts a…
A property right, held by one party for the benefit of another, that becomes effective during the lifetime A sample living trust of the creator and is, therefore, in existence upon his or her death. A living trust, also known as an inter vivos trust, is different from a testamentary trust, which is created by will and does not take effect until the death of the settlor. …
The termination or failure of a right or privilege because of a neglect to exercise that right or to perform some duty within a time limit, or because a specified contingency did not occur. The expiration of coverage under an insurance policy because of the insured's failure to pay the premium. The common-law principle that a gift in a will does not take effect but passes into the estate re…
A written document that allows a patient to give explicit instructions about medical treatment to be administered when the patient is terminally ill or permanently unconscious; also called an advance directive. With improvements in modern medicine, the life of persons who are terminally ill or permanently unconscious can be prolonged. For increasing numbers of persons, the decision of whether to p…
John Jay was a politician, statesman, and the first chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was one Jay was born in New York City on December 12, 1745. Unlike most of the colonists in the New World, who were English, Jay traced his ancestry to the French Huguenots, His grandfather, August Jay, immigrated to New York in the late seventeenth century to escape the persecution of non-Catholics under Lo…
The English courts were careful not to encroach on the lawmaking rights of the British Parliament, so they kept the crime of larceny limited and well-defined. A defendant could be convicted of larceny only if he or she had some physical interaction with the victim; the victim relinquished property that was in the victim's possession at the time of the taking; the defendant was not in lawful…
An abbreviation denoting the degree of bachelor of laws, which was the basic degree awarded to an individual upon completion of law school until the late 1960s. …
Danger; hazard; peril. In a criminal action, the danger of conviction and punishment confronting the defendant. A person is in jeopardy when he or she is placed on trial before a court of competent jurisdiction upon an indictment or information sufficient in form and substance to uphold a conviction, and a jury is charged or sworn. Jeopardy attaches after a valid indictment is found and a petit ju…
Llewellyn was born May 22, 1893, in West Seattle, Washington. His father was of Welsh ancestry and his mother's ancestors had come to the New World on the Mayflower. Llewellyn spent much of his youth in Brooklyn, where his family had moved during the first year of his life. Unhappy and unchallenged academically by high school in the United States, he entered the Real-gymnasium in Mecklenbur…
Clark was born in Oakland, California, on August 31, 1953, to Abraham Kleks and Rozlyn Mazur Kleks. In their strict orthodox Jewish household academic achievement took priority. Clark and her brother studied heavily and took classes in Hebrew twice a week. Clark's passion was drama: she studied ballet; took lead roles in high school plays; and later, as a student at the University of Califo…
The casting overboard of goods from a vessel, by its owner, under exigent circumstances in order to provide for the safety of the ship by lightening its cargo load. …
An abbreviation for Master of Laws, which is an advanced degree that is awarded to an individual who already holds a J.D. upon the successful completion of a prescribed course of graduate study in law. A candidate for an LL.M. degree must complete the program set forth by the graduate admissions department in the particular law school he or she attends. The program ordinarily entails a minimum num…
A marking indicating the extent to which the weight of a load may safely submerge a ship; also called Plimsoll line. The load line, or Plimsoll mark, is positioned amidships on both sides of a vessel. Its purpose is to indicate the legal limit to which a ship may be loaded for specific ocean areas and seasons of the year. The basic Load Line Certificate is issued after a complex calculation is mad…
The term "Jim Crow" laws evidently originated from a minstrel show character developed during the mid-nineteenth century. A number of groups of white entertainers applied black cork to their faces and imitated Negro dancing and singing routines. Such acts became popular in several northern cities. One of the performers reportedly sang a song with the lyrics, "Weel about and tu…
The rule of last clear chance operates when the plaintiff negligently enters into an area of danger from which the person cannot extricate himself or herself. The defendant has the final opportunity to prevent the harm that the plaintiff otherwise will suffer. The doctrine was formulated to relieve the severity of the application of the contributory negligence rule against the plaintiff, which com…
Commitment to a borrower by a lending institution that it will loan a specific amount at a certain rate on a particular piece of real estate. Such commitment is usually limited to a specified time period (e.g., four months), which is commonly based on the estimated time that it will take the borrower to construct or purchase the home contemplated by the loan. …
Clarke was born in Lisbon, Ohio, on September 18, 1857. His father, John Clarke, Sr., was an Irish Protestant who immigrated to Lisbon in 1830 and became a successful lawyer and judge. Clarke attended Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1877 and receiving a master of arts degree in 1880. After college Clarke returned to Lisbon to study law under his father'…
A court, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, from which there is no further appeal of a judgment rendered by it in review of a decision in a civil or criminal action by a lower court. In most jurisdictions, the state's court of last resort is called the supreme court. This name differs in some jurisdictions, however. For example, the court of last resort in New York is the New York Court of App…
A person who lends money in exchange for its repayment at an interest rate that exceeds the percentage approved by law and who uses intimidating methods or threats of force in order to obtain repayment. …
A fictitious name used for centuries in the law when a specific person is not known by name. John Doe may be used for a specific person who is known but cannot be identified by name. The form Jane Doe is often used for anonymous females, and Richard Roe is often used when more than one unknown or fictitious person is named in a lawsuit. The tradition of fictitious names comes from the Romans, who …
Hidden; concealed; that which does not appear upon the face of an item. For example, a latent defect in the title to a parcel of real property is one that is not discoverable by an inspection of the title made with ordinary care. Similarly, a latent defect in an item of merchandise is one that could not have been discovered by any known or customary inspection or test. …
The right of a landowner to have his or her property naturally upheld by the adjoining land or the soil beneath. The adjoining owner has the duty not to alter the land, such as by lowering it, so as to cause the support to be weakened or removed. …
The process of influencing public and government policy at all levels: federal, state, and local. The practice of lobbying provides a forum for the resolution of conflicts among often diverse and competing points of view; provides information, analysis, and opinion to legislators and government leaders to allow for informed and balanced decision making; and creates a system of checks and balances …
A lawsuit concerning a transaction that could not occur except in some particular place. Any type of lawsuit that can be brought only in one place. A classic example is a situation where recovery of possession of a particular parcel of land is sought. …
Johnson was born June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. His parents, James Johnson and Helen Louise Dillette Johnson, encouraged his pursuit of education, and he graduated from Atlanta University in 1894. He then took a job as principal at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, where he established a high school program. He studied law with a white lawyer in his spare time, and in 1898 was admitted…
John Armor Bingham was born January 21, 1815, at Mercer, Pennsylvania. He attended John Armor Bingham. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Franklin College and pursued legal studies before establishing a successful legal practice in Cadiz in 1840. Bingham gained fame for his participation in three significant historical events. He presided as special judge advocate at the proceedings Bingham died Marc…
Johnson was born August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas. He was raised in Johnson City, Texas, which was named for his grandfather, who had served in the Texas Legislature. Johnson's father, Sam Ealy Johnson, also served in the Texas Legislature. Johnson graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 with a teaching degree. He taught high school in Houston, until 1931, when h…
Locke was born in Wrington, Somerset, England, on August 29, 1632. His father, also John Locke, was an attorney, and a Calvinist with Puritan sympathies who supported the parliamentary side in England's struggle against King Charles I and fought on that side in the English Civil War of 1642. Despite this background Locke developed monarchist leanings while attending boarding school, which r…
John Middleton Clayton achieved prominence as a U.S. senator and as a drafter of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. John Middleton Clayton. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS In 1829 Clayton entered the federal political system and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate until 1836. During his tenure, he served on the Judiciary Committee and directed an inquiry concerning scandalous activities in the U.S. Post Of…
Employer's withholding of work from employees in order to gain concession from them; it is the employers' counterpart of the employee's strike. Refusal by the employer to furnish available work to its regular employees, whether refusal is motivated by the employer's desire to protect itself against economic injury, by its desire to protect itself at the bargaining table…
A body of rules of conduct of binding legal force and effect, prescribed, recognized, and enforced by controlling authority. In U.S. law, the word law refers to any rule that if broken subjects a party to criminal punishment or civil liability. Laws in the United States are made by federal, state, and local legislatures, judges, the president, state governors, and administrative agencies. …
At common law joinder of issue occurs when one party pleads that an allegation is true and the opposing party denies it, such that both parties are accepting that the particular issue is in dispute. …
An interdisciplinary study that examines the relationship between the fields of law and literature, with each field borrowing insights and methods of analysis from the other. Taught as a comparative studies course in many academic settings, the law and literature curriculum was developed by members of academia and the legal profession who hoped to make law a more humanistic enterprise. Law and lit…
[Latin, The place of a parent.] A description of the relationship that an adult or an institution assumes toward an infant or minor of whom the adult is not a parent but to whom the adult or institution owes the obligation of care and supervision. The term is usually designated in loco parentis. …
United; coupled together in interest; shared between two or more persons; not solitary in interest or action but acting together or in unison. A combined, undivided effort or undertaking involving two or more individuals. Produced by or involving the concurring action of two or more; united in or possessing a common relation, action, or interest. To share common rights, duties, and liabilities. …
The date prescribed in a bond, mortgage, or deed for payment of the debt; the maturity date. May 1st, observed in schools, public assemblies, and courts, in honor of our legal system. In regard to real property, the law day is the final date fixed by the court on which the debtor can pay off the mortgage debt, redeem the real estate, and prevent it from being sold after foreclosure proceedings are…
[Latin, Place; place where a thing is performed or done.] For example, the locus delicti is the place where an accident or crime occurred. …
A designation of liability by which members of a group are either individually or mutually responsible to a party in whose favor a judgment has been awarded. Joint and several liability is a form of liability that is used in civil cases where two or more people are found liable for damages. The winning plaintiff in such a case may collect the entire judgment from any one of the parties, or from an…
A corrupt French dialect used by English lawyers from after the Norman Conquest in 1066 until slightly after the end of the Restoration period in 1688. By the mid–thirteenth century, many of the English gentry and some commoners spoke French, and the language was used in the king's courts and in printed legal materials. After England's wars with France during the reign of Edwa…
A magazine or newspaper that contains articles, news items, comments on new laws and case decisions, court calendars, and suggestions for practicing law, for use by attorneys. …
An occupant of a portion of a dwelling, such as a hotel or boardinghouse, who has mere use of the premises without actual or exclusive possession thereof. Anyone who lives or stays in part of a building that is operated by another and who does not have control over the rooms therein. …
Jeremiah Sullivan Black was a prominent lawyer, judge, and U.S. attorney general, and also an unsuccessful nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Black was born January 10, 1810, in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania. He was raised in rural Pennsylvania and was largely self-educated through his own reading and study of Shakespeare, the Bible, and other works of literature. He originally planned a career in me…
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was born August 3, 1935, in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. When he was still young, the family moved to Phoenix, and then to the Watts section of Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles during his teenage years, Cleaver was arrested for bicycle theft and for selling marijuana, and was sent to two different reformatories. In 1954, he was again arrested for dealing marijuana and was sentenced…
The system of rules and customs and usages generally recognized and adopted by traders as the law for the regulation of their commercial transactions and the resolution of their controversies. …
A legislative practice of embracing in one bill several distinct matters, none of which, perhaps, could singly obtain the assent of the legislature, and then procuring its passage by a combination of the minorities in favor of each of the measures into a majority that will adopt them all. Practice of including in one statute or constitutional amendment more than one proposition, inducing voters to…
Property owned by two or more people at the same time, under the same title, with the same interest, and with the same right of possession. Tenancy in common provides ownership of an undivided interest of the whole but not of the whole itself. It bestows no right of survivorship, and the interest of the tenant in common is freely alienable and will pass to the heirs of the tenant upon the tenant&#…
The body of customary rules that determine the rights and that regulate the intercourse of independent countries in peace and war. …
The Logan Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 953 [1948]) is a single federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Specifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization. In the late 1790s, a French trade embargo and jailing of U.S. seamen created animosity …
The principle that if the highest appellate court has determined a legal question and returned the case to the court below for additional proceedings, the question will not be determined differently on a subsequent appeal in the same case where the facts remain the same. The law of the case expresses the rule that the final judgment of the highest court is the final determination of the rights of …
The cutting of, or commercial dealing in, tree trunks that have been cut down and stripped of all branches. The statutes in certain jurisdictions provide for the marking of logs for the purpose of identification. Once a log is marked, its mark must be recorded, as must any change in ownership of the marked logs. A purchaser of standing timber may enter onto the land for the purpose of cutting and …
Mitchell became rich and prominent as a municipal bond lawyer, devising new ways for states and municipalities to finance construction projects. He met Richard M. Nixon in 1962, when Nixon joined a prominent New York law firm. At that time Nixon appeared to have no political future; he had lost the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial election. In 1967 Mitchell's…
Congress responded to Citizens Publishing by passing the Newspaper Preservation Act (NPA) (15 U.S.C.A. § 1802 et seq.) in 1970. The NPA lets newspapers form a JOA if they pass a less strict test. Under the NPA the attorney general may grant limited exemption from antitrust laws by approving a JOA. Two or more gas and oil operators can enter into a JOA to share the risk and expense of gas an…
The designation of general public laws that are equally binding on all members of the community. …
A colloquial term for the process of making the initial record of the names of individuals who have been brought to the police station upon their arrest. The process of logging in is also called booking. …
Rankin was born on June 11, 1880, on a ranch near Missoula, Montana. The oldest of seven children, Rankin was first among a family of high achievers. One of Rankin's sisters became dean of women at the University of Montana, and another taught in the English department there. Rankin's only brother and Jeannette Rankin. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS another sister became well-known, poli…
Marcus Garvey was a charismatic leader who preached black pride and economic self-sufficiency. He is internationally recognized as the organizer of the first significant movement of black nationalism in the United States. Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1914 and established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He cofounded the UNIA with Amy Ashwood, who was the association's fi…
A type of measure that Congress may consider and act upon, the other types being bills, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions, in addition to treaties in the Senate. Like a bill, a joint resolution must be approved, in identical form, by both the House and the Senate, and signed by the president. Like a bill, it has the force of law if approved. A joint resolution is distinguished from a …
On December 10, 1982, 117 nations signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The convention originally was not signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and 28 other nations, because of objections to provisions for seabed mining, which they believe would inhibit commercial development. The convention, which went into effect November 16, 1994, claims the miner…
A state law that allows the state to exercise jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant, provided that the prospective defendant has sufficient minimum contacts with the forum state. Since International Shoe, the Supreme Court has set forth several criteria to be used in analyzing whether jurisdiction over a nonresident is proper. These criteria require (1) that the defendant has purposefully av…
An association engaged in a business for profit with ownership interests represented by shares of stock. A joint stock company is financed with capital invested by the members or stockholders who receive transferable shares, or stock. It is under the control of certain selected managers called directors. A joint stock company is a form of partnership, possessing the element of personal liability w…
Published volumes of the decisions of courts.…
Joint tenants usually share ownership of land, but the property may instead be money or other items. Four main features mark this type of ownership: (1) The joint tenants own an undivided interest in the property as a whole; each share is equal, and no one joint tenant can ever have a larger share. (2) The estates of the joint tenants are vested (meaning fixed and unalterable by any condition) for…
Diminution, reduction, depreciation, decrease in value; that which cannot be recovered. The term loss is a comprehensive one, and relative, since it does not have a limited or absolute meaning. It has been used interchangeably with damage, deprivation, and injury. In the law of insurance, a loss is the ascertained liability of the insurer, a decrease in value of resources, or an increase in liabil…
Two or more individuals with joint and several liability in a tort action for the same injury to the same person or property. If the plaintiff is awarded damages, each joint tortfeasor is responsible for paying a portion of the damages, based on the percentage of the injury caused by his or her negligent act. The defendant who pays more than his or her share of the damages, or who pays more than h…
A law school publication containing both case summaries written by student members and scholarly articles written by law professors, judges, and attorneys. These articles focus on current developments in the law, case decisions, and legislation. Law reviews are edited by students, and students contribute notes to featured articles. In the mid-1800s it also became important for lawyers to know more…
Damages for loss of services are recoverable by a parent whose child has been killed or injured; by a husband or wife whose spouse has been killed or injured; and, in some instances, by a father whose daughter has been a victim of seduction. A husband may sue for the loss of personal services of his wife, including the performance of various household duties as well as sexual relationships, compan…
Zenger printed the allegedly seditious articles following a legal dispute between two public officials, William Cosby and Rip Van Dam. Cosby was appointed governor of New York in 1731, but did not officially take office until 1732. During the interim, Van Dam, the current governor, continued to discharge his official responsibilities, and collect a salary. Cosby, believing that he was entitled to …
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) was first given in 1948 and started to gain prominence in the late 1960s. By the 1980s, when the number of applications to law schools began to rise, it became a standard part of the law school admission process. The test is administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), which is a nonprofit, nonstock corporation with 193 member law schools in the Uni…
Documents that cannot be located after a thorough, careful, and diligent search has been made for them. In some jurisdictions, documents that have been stolen are held to be lost. An instrument that the owner has voluntarily and intentionally destroyed in order to cancel its legal effects is not a lost instrument, nor is an instrument that has been mutilated. Generally the loss of a written instru…
In the 1920s Dulles quickly moved ahead at Sullivan and Cromwell. In 1926, at the age of only thirty-eight, Dulles was made head of the firm. Representing many of the largest U.S. corporations, Dulles became a very wealthy man. As Dulles died May 24, 1959, in Washington, D.C. …
The career of Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. is unique in post-World War II U.S. politics. Few legislators have fought as relentlessly, caused as much uproar, or arguably, had as much influence as the ultraconservative Republican from North Carolina. As a fiery radio editorialist in the 1960s, Helms waged a one-man war on liberalism. His notoriety helped him win an historic 1972 Senate race, a breakthr…
An association of two or more individuals or companies engaged in a solitary business enterprise for profit without actual partnership or incorporation; also called a joint adventure. A joint venture is a contractual business undertaking between two or more parties. It is similar to a business partnership, with one key difference: a partnership generally involves an ongoing, long-term business rel…
Licit; legally warranted or authorized. The terms lawful and legal differ in that the former contemplates the substance of law, whereas the latter alludes to the form of law. A lawful act is authorized, sanctioned, or not forbidden by law. A legal act is performed in accordance with the forms and usages of law, or in a technical manner. In this sense, illegal approaches the meaning of invalid. For…
A lot is ordinarily one of several contiguous pieces of land of which a block is composed. Real property is commonly described in terms of lot and block numbers on recorded maps and plats. …
Until the early twentieth century, the rights of sailors were limited. If a sailor was injured through the negligence of another sailor or the master of the ship, the injured party could not hope to win a suit against the employer. Nor could survivors of a sailor who died in the line of service win such a suit. Under general maritime law, sailors were entitled to "maintenance and cure…
Justice Kennedy dissected the reasoning in Bowers and found it weak and unsubstantiated. In that case, the majority had concluded that the issue at stake was solely the right of homosexuals to commit acts of sodomy. Kennedy disagreed, John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner, petitioners in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS finding that the true issue had…
France originally claimed the Louisiana Territory in the seventeenth century. In 1763 it ceded to Spain the province of Louisiana, which was about where the state of Louisiana is today. By the 1790s U.S. farmers who lived west of the Appalachian Mountains were shipping their surplus produce by boat down rivers that flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. In 1795 the United States negotiated a treaty with …
Blair was born in 1732 into a wealthy, well-established Virginia family. His parents were John Blair Sr., a public official with important political connections, and Mary Munro (or Monro) Blair, whose father was a rector in Virginia's St. John's Parish. In 1754, Blair graduated from the College of William and Mary (founded by his great-uncle), and he then studied law at Oxford'…
Offshore land features such as shoals, rocks, or reefs that are exposed at low tide but submerged at high tide are referred to as low-tide elevations. …
A person, who through a regular program of study, is learned in legal matters and has been licensed to practice his or her profession. Any qualified person who prosecutes or defends causes in courts of record or other judicial tribunals of the United States, or of any of the states, or who renders legal advice or assistance in relation to any cause or matter. Unless a contrary meaning is plainly i…
The principle that prohibits an attorney from serving as an advocate and a witness in the same case. Also known as the advocate-witness rule, it keeps attorneys from being placed in a situation that could at best create a conflict of interest for both themselves and their clients. It also keeps adversary attorneys from having to cross-examine opposing counsel in front of a jury at trial. Attorneys…
An oath that declares an individual's allegiance to the government and its institutions and disclaims support of ideologies or associations that oppose or threaten the government. Requiring an employee to promise to support the government as a condition of employment is constitutional as long as the requirement is reasonably related to the employee's fitness for the particular positi…
