Definitions from Case Law

it has long been a settled rule of construction in the courts of England and America that estates, legal or equitable, given by will, should always be regarded as vesting immediate

the gross amount of earnings, prior to the taking of payroll or other deductions.

It may be 'earned surplus,' as where it was derived wholly from undistributed profits.

The earning power of an individual is the power to create property; but it is not translated into property within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act until it has brought earnings in

compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or r

In the absence of fraud, collusion, or arbitrariness, the decisions of the proper church tribunals on matters purely ecclesiastical, although affecting civil rights, are accepted i

such a prohibition was inadequate to protect the consumer from 'economic adulteration', by which less expensive ingredients were substituted, or the proportion of more expensive in

A share in the net profits derived from development and operation does not entitle the holder of such interest to a depletion allowance even though continued production is essentia

where the grantor has neither the form nor substance of control and never will have unless he outlives his wife, we must conclude that he has lost all 'economic control' and that t

The lessor's right to a depletion allowance does not depend upon his retention of ownership or any other particular form of legal interest in the mineral content of the land. It is

What is ultimate is the principle that one state in its dealings with another may not place itself in a position of economic isolation. Formulas and catchwords are subordinate to t

an employer may refuse to reinstate economic strikers if in the interim he has taken on permanent replacements

that process whereby the content and format of published material is selected.

those children who have need for special educational assistance in order that their level of educational attainment may be raised to that appropriate for children of their age.

of vindicating a defendant's Fourth Amendment rights.

the assignment of counsel in a state prosecution at such time and under such circumstances as to preclude the giving of effective aid in the preparation and trial of a capital case

If the abandonment was legal, it put the underwriters completely in the place of the assured, and Parker became their agent. When he contracts on behalf of the owners of the goods,

it is elementary and has been decided over and over again that the effect of the adjudication in bankruptcy is to transfer the title of the property of the bankrupt and vest the sa

By an appeal from the sentence of a District Court to a Circuit Court, the latter becomes possessed of the cause, and executes its own judgment without any intervention of the form

That the sentence is avowedly made under a decree subversive of the law of nations, will not help the Appellant's case, in a Court which cannot revise, correct, or even examine tha

It is in the general true that the province of an appellate court is only to inquire whether a judgment when rendered was erroneous or not. But if, subsequent to the judgment, and

by the judgment, they have both become principal debtors, and if the endorser suffers any injury by the negligence of the judgment creditor, it is clearly his own fault, it being h

The agreement is no longer the one into which the defendant entered. Its identity is changed: another is substituted without his consent; and by a party who had no authority to con

This judgment, whether it proceeds upon good reasons or upon bad reasons, whether it was right or wrong, settled finally and everywhere, and so far as Eldred, by virtue of his owne

The act of Congress, of course, conveyed no title, and did not attempt to found one by delegating the power to take by eminent domain. ... It made the erection of telegraph lines f

In case a statute is repealed or rendered inoperative, no further proceedings can be had to enforce it in pending prosecutions unless competent authority has kept the statute alive

it is well settled, that an offence against a temporary act cannot be punished after the expiration of the act, unless a particular provision be made by law for the purpose.

that the effect of the revolution was not to deprive an individual of his civil rights... it is too clear to require the support of argument, that all contracts and rights respecti

The effect of a contract made and signed by a shipper, which is lawful from the point of view of the established rate sheets, may not be avoided by the suggestion that, by neglect

property or worldly substance.

it is a point too well settled, to be now drawn in question, that the effect and sufficiency of the evidence, are for the consideration and determination of the jury; and the error

Efficient means adequate in performance; producing properly a desired effect. Inefficient means not producing or not capable of producing the desired effect; incapable; incompetent

all who may have an'interest in the litigation, would be carrying construction to the point of legislation.

Ejectments are possessory actions; and in England it is necessary to shew a possession within twenty years.

In an ejectment the lease is entirely a fiction invented for the purpose of going fairly to trial on the title. Courts have exercised a full discretion in allowing it to be amended

The settled rule that words which, standing alone, might have a wide and comprehensive import, will, when joined with those defining specific acts, be interpreted in their narrower

families which consist of two or more persons the head of which (or his spouse) is sixty-two years of age or over or is handicapped.

Clearly the Amendment includes any election in which public issues are decided or public officials selected. Just as clearly the Amendment excludes social or business clubs.

It seems to be of the very nature of a right to elect one of two things, that actual ownership is not acquired in either, until it be elected; and if the penalty of an offence, be

The essential element of that rule is that there must have been a right of choice between two remedies which are inconsistent with each other.

All procedures used by a State as an integral part of the election process must pass muster against the charges of discrimination or of abridgment of the right to vote.

[I]f a party freely and without reservation submits his federal claims for decision by the state courts, litigates them there, and has them decided there, then whether or not he se

electric energy shall be held to be transmitted in interstate commerce if transmitted from a State and consumed at any point outside thereof

There are two elements in every transfer of a decedent's estate; the one is the exercise of the legal power to transmit at death; the other is the privilege of succession.

This express constitutional limitation denies to the federal courts authority to entertain a suit brought by private parties against a state without its consent.

those Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates who are qualified under the Act to receive public funding and have chosen to do so.

a nation, other than the United States, that— "(A) becomes a WTO member country after the date of the enactment of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act; "(B) on such date of enactment

eligible applicants for AFDC grants, rather than all the family members whom the applicants may represent, and that the statutory provision was designed only to prevent the use of

any individual who is convicted of an offense against the United States, but does not include— (1) an offender who is convicted of a crime of violence.

a nonprofit organization that "holds itself out as a religious organization" and "opposes providing coverage for some or all of any contraceptive services required to be covered ..

any veteran who (A) served on active duty for a period of more than 180 days any part of which occurred after January 31, 1955, and who was discharged or released therefrom under c

a governmentally imposed import prohibition.

the word 'embedded' as applied in Claim 4, must be taken to embrace any conductor means solidly set or firmly fixed in the table, whether or not it protrudes above or below the sur

fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted, or into whose hands it has lawfully come; and it differs from larceny in the fact that the original

By §97 'any officer of the United States, or any assistant of such officer, who shall embezzle or wrongfully convert to his own use any money or property which may have come into h

the right of every state to authorize the appropriation of every description of property for a public use is one of those inherent powers which belong to state governments, without

the duty to make compensation does not inflexibly, in the absence of constitutional provisions requiring it, exact, first, that compensation should be made previous to the taking,—

to suffer or permit to work.

To be 'employed' in any thing, means not only the act of doing it, but also to be engaged to do it; to be under contract or orders to do it. And this is not only the ordinary meani

What the statute means by saying 'employed as a merchant vessel' is that the vessel shall belong to that class as distinguished from one employed in the governmental service, not n

We think it speaks of interstate commerce, not in a technical legal sense, but in a practical one better suited to the occasion, and that the true test of employment in such commer

any individual who, under the usual common law rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, has the status of an employee.

including both pension plans and welfare plans.

The true test always is: Is the work in question a part of the interstate commerce in which the carrier is engaged?... Tracks and bridges are as indispensable to interstate commerc

the determination of the relationship does not depend on such isolated factors but rather upon the circumstances of the whole activity

officers or employees of any federal agency, members of the military or naval forces of the United States, and persons acting on behalf of a federal agency in an official capacity,

the meaning of employees in Section 204(a)(1) and (2) is limited to those employees whose activities affect the safety of operation

those 'engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce'.

No restriction may be placed on the employees' right to discuss self-organization among themselves, unless the employer can demonstrate that a restriction is necessary to maintain

there is no shorthand formula or magic phrase that can be applied to find the answer, but all of the incidents of the relationship must be assessed and weighed with no one factor b

any program that provides benefits for contingencies such as illness, accident, disability, death, or unemployment.

one any of whose employees are employed in maritime employment, in whole or in part, upon such navigable waters.

The right of a person to sell his labor upon such terms as he deems proper is, in its essence, the same as the right of the purchaser of labor to prescribe the conditions upon whic

That relationship may spring as readily from the power to determine the wages and hours of another, coupled with the obligation to bear the financial burden of those wages and the

Where the obstruction or defect caused or created in the street is purely collateral to the work contracted to be done, and is entirely the result of the wrongful acts of the contr

Where the obstruction or defect caused or created in the street is purely collateral to the work contracted to be done, and is entirely the result of the wrongful acts of the contr

The purpose of § 2(2) seems obviously to render employers responsible in labor practices for acts of any persons performed in their interests. It is an adaptation of the ancient ma

The common-law rule is that an employer is not a guarantor of the safety of the place of work or of the machinery and appliances of the work; the extent of its duty to its employee

The rule of law is: That the employer is under a duty to exercise ordinary care to supply machinery and appliances reasonably safe and suitable for the use of the employee, but is

they do impliedly engage that they will not expose them to the hazard of losing their lives, or suffering great bodily harm, when it is neither reasonable nor necessary to do so

Where a person has discovered an improved principle in a machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, and employs other persons to assist him in carrying out that principle, and

so far as the Labor Relations Act is concerned, an employer has the absolute right to terminate his entire business for any reason he pleases. When an employer closes his entire bu

When procuring the policy, obtaining applications of employees, taking pay roll deduction orders, reporting changes in the insured group, paying premiums, and, generally, in doing

any service, of whatever nature, performed within the United States by an employee for his employer, except, inter alia, service performed in the employ of the United States Govern

all, not merely Class I, operating carriers.

Each case must be decided in the light of the particular facts with a view of determining whether, at the time of the injury, the employee is engaged in interstate business, or in

was an enabling act—was permissive, not mandatory. It simply gave the consent of the legislature to whatever could lawfully be done, and which without that consent could not be don

This statute is an enabling and not a restraining one; it was not intended to take away any right of appeal, but to continue the right in cases where it had been lost.

to "inspire with courage, spirit, or hope," Webster's Third New International Dictionary 747.

to strive or work for a certain end.

the offence consists in the endeavour of the crew of a vessel, or any one or more of them, to overthrow the legitimate authority of her commander, with intent to remove him from hi

such a removal is an excuse from actual demand. Precision and certainty are often of more importance to the rules of law, than their abstract justice. On this point, there is no ot

In such a case, the endorser does not claim through an assignment. It is a new contract entered into by the endorser and endorsee, upon which the suit is brought; and if the endors

He is not the original and real debtor, but only surety. His undertaking is not general, like that of the maker, but conditional, that if, upon due diligence having been used again

all the people of each State or district in insurrection against the United States, must be regarded as enemies, until by the action of the legislature and the executive, or otherw

The destruction, abandonment, or capture is that of the same enemy, to wit, an organized hostile force.

war suspends the right of enemy plaintiffs to prosecute actions in our courts

If it come from enemy territory, it bears the impress of enemy property. If it belong to a loyal citizen of the country of the captors, it is nevertheless as much liable to condemn

The property of a commercial house, established in the enemy's country, is subject to seizure and condemnation as prize without regard to the domicile of the partners. The trade of

Enemy taint can be found if there are enemy officers or stockholders; even the presence of some nonenemy stockholders does not prevent seizure of all the corporate assets.