Definitions from Case Law

A name which is merely descriptive of the ingredients, qualities or characteristics of an article of trade cannot be appropriated as a trade-mark and the exclusive use of it afford

The description of the land to be acquired, which every entry must contain, may be divided into general and special. The general description must be such as to bring the holder of

deface, damage, or otherwise physically mistreat in a way that the actor knows will seriously offend one or more persons likely to observe or discover his action.

the assignment of students to public schools and within such schools without regard to their race, color, religion, or national origin, but "desegregation" shall not mean the assig

absence without leave accompanied by the intention not return.

purpose or plan; " i. e., " the intended aim of the transportation.

The power to distribute trust income to the income beneficiaries or to accumulate it and add it to the principal, thereby denying to the beneficiaries the privilege of immediate en

The thing invented or produced, for which a patent is given, is that which gives a peculiar or distinctive appearance to the manufacture, or article to which it may be applied, or

if, in the eye of an ordinary observer, giving such attention as a purchaser usually gives, two designs are substantially the same, if the resemblance is such as to deceive such an

To destroy a vessel, is to unfit her for service, beyond the hopes of recovery, by ordinary means. This, in extent of injury, is synonymous with cast away. It is the generical term

claims resulting from negligent handling or storage).

EPA's justifcations in taking the action.

only some determinations of fact and not others.

it is the judgment of the court—not the plea—that constitutes the 'determination of guilt.' At any time before sentence is imposed—i.e., before the pronouncement of judgment—the pl

to fix conclusively or authoritatively" or "to settle a question or controversy." 4 Webster's *31 3d, at 616.

A case or controversy is 'determined' when it is decided.

There can be no doubt that the judgment against the administratrix, the inventory and two first accounts were conclusive evidence of a devastavit.

a voluntary departure, without necessity or reasonable cause, from the regular and usual course of a voyage, in reference to the terms of a policy of marine insurance; but it is no

The basis of the privilege of deviation to avoid perils of the sea is humanitarian. To hold that the master whose ship is in a perilous position must choose between the hazard of c

A device need not be necessarily fraudulent; the term includes anything which is a plan or contrivance. Webster defines it to be 'that which is devised or formed by design; a contr

The court of appeals of Maryland, in the case of Hale vs. Mullin, decided, that a devise of property real or personal by a master to his slave, entitles the slave to his freedom by

A devise to the trustees and their heirs to the uses mentioned, carries the legal estate to the cestuis que use , unless the will has imposed on the trustees some duty, the perform

It has been an established rule, in the construction of wills, that a devise of lands, without words of limitation, confers on the devisee an estate for life only.

meaning 'to fail to perform through carelessness.' And in the Century Dictionary: '1.

If the construction put by the court of a State upon one of its statutes was not a matter in judgment, if it might have been decided either way without affecting any right brought

the expression meant, diligently to enquire into the circumstances of the charge, the credibility of the witnesses who support it, and, from the whole, to judge whether the person

the lessening of the capacity of a famous mark to identify and distinguish goods or services, regardless of the presence or absence of— (1) competition between the owner of the fam

A diminution after an increase is banned, if the compensation notwithstanding the reduction remains in excess of that payable when the incumbent took office. The answer must be in

the statutory direction that the diminution shall be 'in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employee' means, and can only mean, that, where the causal negl

all which by their necessary operation and effect withhold or take from the judge a part of that which has been promised by law for his services must be regarded as within the proh

The mere diminution of loss is not gain, profit, or income.

her freedom to live together with her husband in the United States.

The Louisiana courts have characterized the statute as creating a separate and distinct cause of action against the insurer which an injured party may elect in lieu of his action a

In thus seeking a correction of errors claimed to have been committed in continuing the receiverships they would have been entitled to appeal. In this they were engaged in a direct

It is settled that nothing which is a direct burden upon interstate commerce can be imposed by the state without the assent of Congress, and that the silence of Congress in respect

The states may not impose direct burdens upon interstate commerce; that is, they may not regulate or restrain that which from its nature should be under the control of the one auth

where the evidence is undisputed, or of such conclusive character that if a verdict were returned for one party, whether plaintiff or defendant, it would have to be set aside in th

It is, therefore, error in the court to instruct the jury that they may find a material fact, of which there is no evidence from which it may be legally inferred. Hence the practic

a wrong which directly results in the violation of a legal right

The company reserve the power not only to direct what shall be done, but how it shall be done. This is an important test of liability.

[h]av[ing] a [d]irect, [i]dentifiable [i]mpact on [t]he [c]oastal [z]one." Brief for Federal Petitioners 20.

any direct or of a corporation or any person performing similar functions with respect to any organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated.' Consequently, Lehman Brothers w

The making and publishing of the reports are not merely for the information of the Comptroller, but are to guide the public, and he who buys stock in a bank in reliance upon the re

Section 5239 affords the exclusive rule by which to measure the right to recover damages from directors, based upon a loss alleged to have resulted solely from the violation by suc

there is 'in effect' an intentional violation of a statute when one deliberately refuses to examine that which it is his duty to examine. ... where by law a responsibility is made

The act of making such advertisements, is the duty of the sheriff; it is a matter merely directory; and, unless an actual injury has been sustained by an omission, it would be hard

The provisions in both laws are merely directory to the officers, and intended for the security and protection of government, by insuring punctuality and responsibility; but they f

Statutes are not directory when to put them in that category would result in serious impairment of the public or the private interests that they were intended to protect

Such generally are regulations designed to secure order, system, and dispatch in proceedings, and by a disregard of which the rights of parties interested cannot be injuriously aff

that which is derived from the ownership or possession of the property without the intervention of an independent transaction by the possessor.

Any exercise of state authority, in whatever form manifested, which directly regulates interstate commerce, is repugnant to the commerce clause of the Constitution, is obvious. It

Repairing a completed ship lying in navigable waters has direct and intimate connection with navigation and commerce, as has been often pointed out by this court.

the mere reduction in the supply of an article to be shipped in interstate commerce by the illegal or tortious prevention of its manufacture is ordinarily an indirect and remote ob

livestock consigned directly to a packer at the Union Stock Yards, as distinguished from a shipment consigned to a commission merchant at the Stock Yards for sale.

taxes levied upon or collected from persons because of their general ownership of property may be taken to be direct

the direct taxes contemplated by the Constitution are only two, to wit: a capitation or poll tax simply, without regard to property, profession, or any other circumstance, and a ta

inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment.

both mental or physical illness, mental or physical injury, and, to the extent specified in Section 2626.2, pregnancy.

A bankruptcy court in which an estate is being administered has full power to inquire into the validity of any alleged debt or obligation of the bankrupt upon which a demand or cla

The power of disbarment is necessary for the protection of the public in order to strip a man of the implied representation by courts that a man who is allowed to hold himself out

Beyond all question, when admission to the Bar of this court is secured, that right may not be taken away except by the action of this court. ... we should recognize the condition

adversary proceedings of a quasi-criminal nature

Disbursing agents are required to settle their receipts and disbursements with the accounting officers of the treasury, and their private books are inadmissible to control that off

Discharge normally means termination of the employment relationship or loss of a position. In common parlance and in industrial parlance a person who has been laid off by operation

There is no more elemental cause for discharge of an employee than disloyalty to his employer. It is equally elemental that the Taft-Hartley Act seeks to strengthen, rather than to

Section 1 of the bankruptcy act defines a discharge as 'the release of a bankrupt from all of his debts which are provable in bankruptcy, except such as are excepted by this act.

any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source." § 1362(12).

although the indorser has received due notice of the dishonour of the bill, yet if the holder afterwards enters into any new agreement with the drawer for delay, in any manner chan

It is clear that the mere prolongation of the term of payment of the principal debtor, or of the time for the performance of his duty, will not discharge a surety or guarantor. The

the question whether the contract of the principal has been altered so as to discharge the surety is to be decided according to the essentials, in whatever jurisdiction it may be r

an agreement between a creditor and the principal debtor for delay, or otherwise changing the nature of the contract, in order to discharge the surety, must be an agreement having

In such case the rule is, 'that a discharge set up in avoidance, coupled with an admitted liability, if the answer be replied to, (as here it is,) must be proved by the defendant.

as to the certificate under the English bankrupt laws, it had frequently been determined, and was well settled, that a discharge under a foreign law, was no bar to an action on a c

punishment that a union can impose by virtue of its own authority over its members.

The statute is remedial; the intent is to aid the inventor free from wilful default or intention to mislead the public by permitting him to avoid the consequence of inadvertence, a

By the amendment he recognized and emphasized the difference between the two phrases and proclaimed his abandonment of all that is embraced in that difference. The difference which

The disclaimer of right and title by the State was a disclaimer of proprietary rather than governmental interest.

The disclaimer statute is remedial, and intended for the protection of both the patentee and the public.

after an agreement to refer, a disclosure and hearing before the referees, and an opinion expressed, or intimated, by them, upon the merits, a discontinuance cannot be regarded as

Discouraging membership in a labor organization 'includes discouraging participation in concerted activities * * * such as a legitimate strike.

to make or create something new, especially, in modern usage, something ingeniously devised to perform mechanical operations.

The discovery must be of such a character that 'a person of ordinary prudence would be justified in the further expenditure of his labor and means, with a reasonable prospect of su

the Board was not making a binding construction of the labor contract. It was only acting upon the probability that the desired information was relevant, and that it would be of us

Aliens as a class are a prime example of a 'discrete and insular' minority for whom such heightened judicial solicitude is appropriate.

the recipient must exercise his authority according to his own understanding and conscience.

where a particular authority is confided to a public officer to be exercised by him in his discretion, upon an examination of facts, of which he is made the appropriate judge, his

Municipal corporations undoubtedly are invested with certain powers, which, from their nature, are discretionary, such as the power to adopt regulations or bylaws for the managemen

The discretion which may be exercised in this class of cases is not an arbitrary or capricious one, depending upon the mere pleasure of the court, but one which is controlled by th

distinctions or differences in treatment that injure protected individuals.

erecting an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition from without the State... A State may not do this, even in the exercise of its unquestioned power

Discrimination, like interstate commerce itself, is a practical conception. We must deal in this matter, as in others, with substantial distinctions and real injuries.

That an unjust discrimination in the rates of a common carrier, by which one person or locality is unduly favored as against another under substantially similar conditions of traff

retaliation based on the filing of an age discrimination complaint.

A different measure of recovery is applicable 'where a party that has paid only the reasonable rate sues upon a discrimination because some other has paid less.' Such a one is not

Congress meant by using the words 'discrimination in price' in § 2 that in a case involving competitive injury between a seller's customers the Commission need only prove that a se

The natural construction which the text, the legislative setting and the function of the statute command, does not impose an obligation on the employer to favor union members in hi

It is the 'true purpose' or 'real motive' in hiring or firing that constitutes the test. The Act does not outlaw all encouragement or discouragement of membership in labor organiza

First, if it can reasonably be concluded that the employer's discriminatory conduct was 'inherently destructive' of important employee rights, no proof of an antiunion motivation i

A tax may be invalid even though it does not fall directly on the United States if it operates so as to discriminate against the Government or those with whom it deals. A State may

Disestablishment is a remedial measure under § 10(c), 29 U.S.C.A. § 160(c), to be employed by the Board in its discretion to remove the obstacle to the employees' right of self-org