contribution
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 424 U.S. 1 - Buckley v. Valeo · 1976Most cited · 10,511 citing opinions
a gift of money made by a written instrument which identifies the person making the contribution by full name and mailing address, but does not include a subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money, or anything of value or anything described in subparagraph (B), (C), or (D) of section 9032(4).
How the Supreme Court has restated “contribution”
Each Supreme Court definition of “contribution,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “contribution”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “contribution” — 10,643 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 3 definitions, chronological · 1910–1976
- ORIGINAL
The right to contribution belongs to the substantive law of the admiralty. It is not a mere incident of a form of procedure.
admiralty
The right of a stockholder transferee to contribution arises under the general law and does not differ from that of any other person who has paid more than his fair share of a common burden. The right to sue for contribution does not depend upon a prior determination that the defendants are liable. Whether they are liable is the matter to be decided in the suit. To recover a plaintiff must prove both that there was a common burden of debt and that he has, as between himself and the defendants, paid more than his fair share of the common obligations.
right to