overt act
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 343 U.S. 717 - Kawakita v. United States · 1952Most cited · 338 citing opinions
treason
if it gives aid and comfort to the enemy at the immediate moment of its performance, it qualifies as an overt act within the constitutional standard of treason. The act may be unnecessary to a successful completion of the enemy's project; it may be an abortive attempt; it may in the sum total of the enemy's effort be a casual and unimportant step. But if it gives aid and comfort to the enemy at the immediate moment of its performance, it qualifies as an overt act within the constitutional standard of treason.
How often courts cite the cases defining “overt act”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “overt act” — 485 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 · 1947–1952
- ORIGINAL
the minimum function of the overt act in a treason prosecution is that it show action by the accused which really was aid and comfort to the enemy. This is a separate inquiry from that as to whether the acts were done because of adherence to the enemy, for acts helpful to the enemy may nevertheless be innocent of treasonable character.