Definitions from Case Law

every mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some function or to produce a certain effect or result.

a bump-stock-type device, i.e., a device that allows a semi-automatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the s

A process, eo nomine , is not made the subject of a patent in our act of Congress. It is included under the general term 'useful art.' An art may require one or more processes or m

and includes the exercise of any right or power over tangible personal property preparatory to actual use within the state, such as keeping, storing, withdrawing from storage, movi

In a general sense a magistrate is a public civil officer, possessing such power—legislative, executive, or judicial—as the government appointing him may ordain. In a narrow sense,

The elements of the offense of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 are (1) a scheme to defraud, and (2) the mailing of a letter, etc., for the purpose of executing the scheme. It is

The purpose of mail fraud orders is not punishment, but prevention of future injury to the public by denying the use of the mails to aid a fraudulent scheme.

The exclusive jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court is determined by the main purpose of the suit. The claim for damages is merely an incident.

the mainstream of the Colorado River downstream from Lee Ferry within the United States, including the reservoirs thereon.

To maintain a suit is to uphold, continue on foot and keep from collapse a suit already begun.

token assessment work, or assessment work that does not substantially satisfy the requirements of 30 U.S.C. § 28, is not adequate to 'maintain' the claims within the meaning of § 3

the right to maintenance, cure and wages-which arises, quite independently of negligence, when the seaman falls sick or is injured in the service of the ship ... the right to maint

expenditures made to maintain it as an efficient going concern, and to operate it effectively to the end for which it was designed

The distinction between maintenance and repair on the one hand, and replacement or new construction on the other, may often be difficult to delineate but is a practical distinction

—a source must emit at least 100 tons of pollution to qualify but it sheds virtually no light on the meaning of the term "stationary source." It does equate a source with a facilit

which result when there is disagreement in the bargaining process for a new contract

any stationary facility or source of air pollutants which directly emits, or has the potential to emit, one hundred tons per year or more of any air pollutant (including any major

actions with effects that may be major and which are potentially subject to Federal control and responsibility.

in the absence of a contrary statutory provision, a majority of a quorum constituted of a simple majority of a collective body is empowered to act for the body

Provision for optional transfer of those in the majority racial group of a particular school to other schools where they will be in the minority is an indispensable remedy for thos

The provision on its face prescribes only by whom the vote must be cast—a delegate to a convention—and the proportion of votes needed for passage—a majority of the votes cast. The

working, we do not determine the validity of the cited regulations.

with respect to any presidential election, a political party whose candidate for the office of President in the preceding presidential election received, as the candidate of such p

a political party of which at least one nominee for president, vice president, United States senator, or a state-wide office received at least five percent of the total vote cast a

not only "putting together," but also "manufacturing .

the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship." The majo

The word 'make' has many meanings, among them 'To cause to exist, appear or occur.' To hold the statute broad enough to include deliberate action from which a false entry by an inn

actions that have the result of making housing or transactions unavailable, regardless of whether the actions were intended to have that result." Brief for United States as Amicus

the further privilege after sale, to control—apart from contract—the use of all patented merchantable commodities, a still more sweeping power can be exercised by patent owners.

a wicked intention of the mind.

wrongful, you remember back in the original charge, the State has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt there was a malicious and mischievous intent.

That action will lie only in cases where a legal prosecution has been carried on without a probable cause. ... The action was originally applied to criminal proceedings; to cases w

Proof of malpractice, in effect, requires two evidentiary steps: evidence as to the recognized standard of the medical community in the particular kind of case, and a showing that

the Court considered the Defendant as an alien enemy, who might, indeed, be punishable for any action malum in se, but was not liable to the penalties of a municipal regulation

building roads to reach the beaches and hiring staff to run the project.

Management is a broader term connoting direction and control for the purposes for which the vessel is used.

The failure to ventilate the cargo was not a 'fault or error in navigation or management' of the vessel. The management was of the cargo, within the meaning of sections 1 and 2 of

those who formulate and effectuate management policies by expressing and making operative the decisions of their employer.

Blackstone, in the third volume of his Commentaries, page 110, defines a mandamus to be, 'a command issuing in the king's name from the court of king's bench, and directed to any p

It is true it may exercise and must exercise quasi judicial duties, but its functions are defined, and, in the main, explicitly directed, by the act creating it. ... It may exercis

The court could not entertain an appeal from the decision of one of the Secretaries, nor revise his judgment in any case where the law authorized him to exercise discretion or judg

Mandamus, prohibition and injunction against judges are drastic and extraordinary remedies. As extraordinary remedies, they are reserved for really extraordinary causes.

The writ of mandamus will be granted by this court only when it is clear and indisputable that there is no other legal remedy.

Ordinarily mandamus may not be resorted to as a mode of review where a statutory method of appeal has been prescribed or to review an appealable decision of record.

The writ of mandamus is subject to the legal and equitable discretion of the court, and it ought not to be issued in cases of doubtful right. But it is the only adequate mode of re

The traditional use of the writ in aid of appellate jurisdiction both at common law and in the federal courts has been to confine an inferior court to a lawful exercise of its pres

Mandamus, prohibition and injunction against judges are drastic and extraordinary remedies... They should be resorted to only where appeal is a clearly inadequate remedy. We are un

the duty required of the Secretary by the resolution was to be performed by him as the head of one of the executive departments of the government, in the ordinary discharge of his

The authority conferred upon the mandatary by the letter of attorney is special and limited, and his acts under it are valid only as they come within its scope and operation. He wa

The District Court had no power to set aside the judgment of the Supreme Court, its authority extending only to executing the mandate.

A mandatory injunction, like a mandamus, is an extraordinary remedial process, which is granted, not as a matter of right, but in the exercise of a sound judicial discretion. It is

When the requisitions prescribed are intended for the protection of the citizen, and to prevent a sacrifice of his property, and by a disregard of which his rights might be and gen

[Section 8(d)] does establish a limitation against which proposed topics must be measured. In general terms, the limitation includes only issues that settle an aspect of the relati

The duty is limited to those subjects [wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment], and within that area neither party is legally obligated to yield. As to other ma

In unrestricted submission, such as the present margin agreements envisage, the interpretations of the law by the arbitrators in contrast to manifest disregard are not subject, in

The manifest function of the First Amendment in a representative government requires that legislators be given the widest latitude to express their views on issues of policy.

the law has invested Courts of justice with the authority to discharge a jury from giving any verdict whenever, in their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration, t

Congress has placed on the employer the burden of showing that any given requirement must have a manifest relationship to the employment in question.

the State's substantive "policies and preferences" for redistricting, "White" v. "Weiser," 412 U. S., at 795, as expressed in a State's statutes, constitution, proposed reapportion

the reference to the 'manner provided' in those sections draws into the 1931 Act only the procedural steps for securing deportation set forth in those sections

There were no manors, in a legal acceptation of the word, in this state, but there were many tracts of land appropriated to the separate use of the proprietaries, to which this nam

the unlawful and felonious killing of another without any malice, either express or • implied.

an article upon the material of which labor has been expended to make the finished product; that such product is often the result of several processes, each one of which is a separ

the India-rubber is not meant to be taxed as a manufacture, though so hardened and changed, unless, at the same time, it is put into a shape which is suitable for use, and adapted

Manufacture implies a change, but every change is not manufacture, and yet every change in an article is the result of treatment, labor, and manipulation. But something more is nec

manufacture is transformation,—the fashioning of raw materials into a change of form for use.' ... 'the word is now ordinarily used to denote an article upon the material of which

If federal jurisdiction could be created by assignments of this kind, which are easy to arrange and involve few disadvantages for the assignor, then a vast quantity of ordinary con

one who is engaged in the business of working raw materials into wares suitable for use; who gives new shapes, new qualities, new combinations, to matter which has already gone thr

All persons capable in law to make a valid will and testament, may grant freedom to, and effect the manumission of any slave or slaves belonging to such person or persons, by his,

no particular mode of emancipation is specified, either by the act of 1777, or of 1801. As between the master and the slave, the intent and volition of the master to emancipate, ma

the extra or incremental cost of producing an extra unit of output.

The marginal sea is a national, not a state concern. National interests, national responsibilities, national concerns are involved. The problems of commerce, national defense, rela

wells which, if their low productive capacity were legally curtailed, would have to be prematurely abandoned

Marine interest is allowable, though exceeding the rate of legal interest, as a compensation, not for forbearance, but for the risk which the lender assumes, by which both principa

a distance of three geographical miles.

The court can find in the books no case which would justify the establishment of the principle, that the loss of the cargo constitutes a technical loss of the vessel, and must ther

an area which includes piers, which is used primarily for the moving, warehousing, distributing or packing of waterborne freight or freight to or from such piers, and which, inclus

marine torts are in the nature of trespasses upon the person or upon personal property, and they may be prosecuted in personam in any district where the offending party resides, or

The basis of the immunity given to communications between husband and wife is the protection of marital confidences, regarded as so essential to the preservation of the marriage re

Every marriage contracted in this State superinduces, of right, partnership or community of acquets or gains, if there be no stipulation to the contrary… A marriage contracted out

a marital deduction is allowable only to the extent that the property bequeathed to the surviving spouse exceeds in value the property such spouse is required to relinquish.

The rights of succession and reasonable share do not differ significantly from the husband's obligations of support and alimony. They all partake more of a personal liability of th

A maritime contract is 'maritime and local,' in the sense that the application of state law would not disturb the uniformity of maritime law, where the federal maritime interest is

all maritime claims upon the vessel extend equally to the proceeds arising from its sale, and are to be satisfied out of them

A contract for building a ship or supplying engines, timber, or other materials for her construction, is clearly not a maritime contract.

charter-parties and contracts of affreightment are 'maritime contracts' within the true meaning and construction of the Constitution and act of Congress, and cognizable in courts o

only "the stevedoring activity of the longshore gang (and those directly involved with the gang) which, in the case of unloading, takes cargo out of the hold of the vessel, moves i

The vessel is not subject to a lien for a common debt of the master or owner. It is only under very special circumstances, and in an unforeseen and unexpected emergency, that an im

Maritime law, the common law of seafaring men, provides an established network of rules and distinctions that are practically suited to the necessities of the sea, just as land-bas

The ordinary maritime privilege or lien, though adhering to the vessel, is a secret one, which may operate to the prejudice of general creditors and purchasers without notice, and

It is nothing more than the right to withhold the goods, and is inseparably associated with his possession, and dependent upon it

The maritime 'privilege' or lien is adopted from the civil law, and imports a tacit hypothecation of the subject of it. It is a 'jus in re,' without actual possession or any right

This act excludes property on land from the category of prize for the benefit of captors

the jurisdiction of the admiralty over a maritime tort does not depend upon the wrong having been committed on board a vessel, but rather upon its having been committed upon the hi

The general doctrine that in contract matters admiralty jurisdiction depends upon the nature of the transaction and in tort matters upon the locality, has been so frequently assert

for a maritime trespass, even though it savours of piracy, the person injured may have his action in personam, and compel appearance by the process of attachment on the goods of th

any city, town or village of the Commonwealth, or two or more cities and/or towns and/or villages and surrounding territory designated by the commission as a natural marketing area

the mineral can be 'extracted, removed and marketed at a profit

any person engaged in the business of (1) buying or selling in commerce live stock at a stockyard on a commission basis or (2) furnishing stockyard services

including disposition by feeding (in any form) to poultry or livestock which, or the products of which, are sold, bartered, or exchanged.