because of
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 557 U.S. 167 - Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. · 2009Most cited · 3,127 citing opinions
by reason of: on account of." 1 Webster's Third New International Dictionary 194 (1966); see also 1 Oxford English Dictionary 746 (1933) (defining "because of" to mean "By reason of, on account of " (italics in original)); The Random House Dictionary of the English Language 132 (1966) (defining "because" to mean "by reason; on account").
How often courts cite the cases defining “because of”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “because of” — 3,432 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 2009–2013
based on" and that " 'based on' indicates a but-for causal relationship"); " Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation, " 503 U.S. 258 , 265-266, 112 S.Ct. 1311 , 117 L.Ed.2d 532 (1992) (equating "by reason of" with " 'but for' cause").