Definitions from Case Law

an "equitable" remedy or a "legal" one re- quiring a jury trial.

the heirs must take, unless they are 'disinherited by express words, or necessary implication.' 'Conjecture, nor uncertainty, shall never disinherit him.'… The rule of law gives th

It ordinarily is the undisputed right of a plaintiff to dismiss a bill before the final hearing.

Congress, by the use of the words 'dispensing physicians', meant to exclude physicians administering to patients whom they personally attend. The physician must be one who manufact

any person who, on or after January 27, 1971, moves from real property, or moves his personal property from real property, as a result of the acquisition of such real property, in

that part of the earnings of any individual remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld.

current monthly income received by the debtor," excluding certain payments received for child support, "less amounts reasonably necessary to be expended" on three categories of exp

the total monthly retired or retainer pay to which a member is entitled .

a method for the permanent and terminal disposition of high-level nuclear waste.

a power to make partition, holds, in view of the opinion of the Supreme Court of Mississippi on the precise point in a case between the same parties, although not announced under s

the doing of such overt acts of ownership as are possible on wild land, under a recorded deed which shows that the actor claims title, coupled with payment of the taxes, the owner

an antitrust judgment which dissolves or terminates an illegal combination or association—putting it out of business, so to speak.

the dissolution of the corporation, under the acts of Virginia and Maryland... cannot, in any just sense, be considered, within the clause of the constitution of the United States

The effects of a dissolution of a corporation are usually described to be, the reversion of the lands to those who had granted them; the extinguishment of the debts, either to or f

A corporation, by the very terms and nature of its political existence, is subject to dissolution, by a surrender of its corporate franchises, and by a forfeiture of them for wilfu

the Kickapoo reservation was obliterated, the tribal lands were no more, and only individual allotments survived. We think it clear that the term 'reservation' as used in the statu

the straight line, as the means of ascertaining a locative call, has certainly been rejected as a general rule... when distance is indicated by a road, it shall be held to mean, by

The distillation of spirituous liquors is performed by a double process: by the application of heat to a still containing the material. The product of the first process, after runn

there is a broad distinction between tribal property and private property, and between the power to abrogate a statute and the authority to destroy rights acquired under such law.

A 'distinctive name' may also, of course, be purely arbitrary or fanciful, and thus, being the trade description of the particular thing, may satisfy the statute, provided the name

possessing and selling are distinct offenses. One may obviously possess without selling, and one may sell and cause to be delivered a thing of which he has never had possession, or

It is not the fact of punishment, but rather its character and purpose, that often serve to distinguish between the two classes of cases. ... The classification, then, depends upon

The state must be allowed to tax the property, and to tax it at its actual value as a going concern. On the other hand, the state cannot tax the interstate business. The two necess

a vessel may be in such distress as to justify her in attempting to enter a blockaded port… The case, however, must be one of absolute and uncontrollable necessity; and this must b

Distresses for rent being, at common law, in nature only of pledges, the distrainor had no power to sell or dispose of them, till the statute of 2 W & M. c. 5. § 2. which directs,

The test of taxability to the beneficiary is not receipt of income, but the present right to receive it

to transfer possession of, whether with or without consideration.

for this purpose, the date of payment, not the date of the declaration of the dividend, is the date of distribution

Although a distribution in liquidation of earnings which accrued subsequently to February 28, 1913, does not constitute a dividend in the proper sense of the term, subsection (f) c

when a corporation sells corporate property to stockholders or their assigness at less than its fair market value, thus diminishing the net worth of the corporation, it is engaging

Article 322 of Regulations 45 (and corresponding articles of subsequent Regulations) defines 'distributive' as meaning 'proportionate.' The tax is thus imposed upon the partner's p

persons, firms, and corporations refining, manufacturing, or producing motor oil and distributing it within the state.

simply a "part" or "portion" of a State.

In order to institute and perfect proceedings in rem, it is necessary that the thing should be actually or constructively within the reach of the Court. It is actually within its p

in the context of this legislation they are used to describe courts which exercise the jurisdiction of district courts

The term 'District Courts of the United States,' as used in the rules, without an addition expressing a wider connotation, has its historic significance. It describes the constitut

It has been attempted to distinguish a Territory from the district of Columbia; but the court is of opinion, that this distinction cannot be maintained. They may differ in many res

The diversity jurisdiction was not conferred for the benefit of the federal courts or to serve their convenience. Its purpose was generally to afford to suitors an opportunity in s

in the case of a corporation aggregate, no waiver of an objection to jurisdiction could be produced, by their appearing and pleading by attorney: because, as such a corporation can

The court understands these expressions to mean that each distinct interest should be represented by persons, all of whom are entitled to sue, or may be sued, in the Federal courts

To require divestiture of theatres unlawfully acquired is not to add to the penalties that Congress has provided in the antitrust laws. Like restitution it merely deprives a defend

The fault of the brig does not excuse the fault of the steamer if the latter were, in any degree, a contributory cause of the collision. Both vessels being in fault the damages mus

any distribution of property made by a corporation to its shareholders—(1) out of its earnings and profits accumulated after February 28, 1913, or * * *.

The result in this situation is to make the divorce divisible to give effect to the Nevada decree insofar as it affects marital status and to make it ineffective on the issue of al

It has been asserted as a principle of the common law that the division of an empire creates no forfeiture of previously vested rights of property. . . . And this principle is equa

if both vessels were in fault, then the settled rule of law is that the damages must be apportioned between the offending vessels

a divorce a vinculo matrimonii.

A dock is defined by philologists, according to the American use of the term, to be 'the space between wharves.

separable foreign material, such as dirt, pieces of straw, chaff, weed stems, weed seeds and grain other than wheat.

the only effect of docketing and dismissing a case under this rule, is to enable the party to proceed to execute his judgment in the court below. It removes the bar to further proc

Even when resort to courts can be had to review a Commission's order, the range of issues open to review is narrow. Only questions affecting constitutional power, statutory authori

It is generally true, when a patentee describes a machine, and then claims it as described, that he is understood to intend to claim, and does by law actually cover, not only the p

The doctrine of notice is well established. He who acquires a legal title, having notice of the prior equity of another, becomes a trustee for that other to the extent of his equit

The doctrine of relation is a legal fiction invented to promote the ends of justice. It is never allowed to defeat the collateral rights of third persons, lawfully acquired

the doctrine of relation back—which by process of judicial reasoning merges the attachment lien in the judgment and relates the judgment lien back to the date of attachment

The general scope of the two treaties makes manifest an intention to prevent a state from obtaining jurisdiction of an individual whose extradition is sought on one ground and for

a document used for re-entry into the United States.

The language of § 1546 denotes a very special class of 'entry' documents — documents whose primary raison d'être is the facilitation of entry into the country. The phrase, 'require

The test is whether the note was designed to deceive the creditors or the public authority or would tend to have that effect. It would be sufficient in this type of case that the m

reaches its conclusion without determining what the word "does" mean.

A foreign corporation is amenable to suit to enforce a personal liability if it is doing business within the jurisdiction in such manner and to such extent as to warrant the infere

associations sanctioned by the several States

The use of water for household, stock municipal, mining, milling, industrial, and other like purposes, but shall exclude the generation of electrical power.

felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse" or other qualifying relation).

The very meaning of domicil is the technically pre-eminent headquarters that every person is compelled to have in order that certain rights and duties that have been attached to it

a person's permanent place of abode; namely, there must be demonstrated an intention to live permanently or indefinitely in Maryland.

the theory proceeds on the fiction of law that the domicile of the owner draws to it the personal estate which he owns wherever it may happen to be located. But this fiction is by

It has been solemnly settled, and must henceforth be considered as the positive law of this court, that shipments made by merchants, actually domiciled in the enemy's country at th

the burden is on the taxpayer who contends that some portion of its total assets are beyond the reach of the taxing power of its domicile to prove that the same property may be sim

the 'dominance' of the theme is a question of constitutional fact

the federal statutes 'touch a field in which the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system (must) be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject

The dominant power of the federal Government, as has been repeatedly held, extends to the entire bed of a stream, which includes the lands below ordinary high water mark. The exerc

the dominant servitude, in favor of the United States, under which private persons hold physical properties obstructing navigable waters of the United States and all rights to use

a dominated union is deemed inherently incapable of ever fairly representing its members

ownership or proprietary rights

if the union of the title and the exclusive use do not constitute the dominium directum & utile, the complete and absolute dominion in property, it will not be easy to fix any whic

the term is to be understood in its distinctively legal sense—that is, to mean only legally cognizable harm.

A donation is a gift and gratuity, and not a grant of land founded on a consideration, as where the government is bound to make it by treaty stipulation conferring mutual benefits.

In the one case the entry is complete when the money is paid; in the other when the required proofs are furnished. In neither can the patent be withheld if the original entry was l

We do not think that the act empowering the Black Bird Creek Marsh Company to place a dam across the creek, can, under all the circumstances of the case, be considered as repugnant

It is enough if the particular variety was criminal in both jurisdictions.

one who engages therein commits two distinct offenses, one against the United States and one against the state, and may be subjected to prosecution and punishment in the federal co

As was pointed out by the district court, the exaction of 4 per cent of the gross intrastate earnings is not a property tax, but an excise tax, whose amount is fixed and measured b

The vice of the statute as applied to receipts from interstate sales is that the tax includes in its measure, without apportionment, receipts derived from activities in interstate

It is well settled, that a patent cannot be granted for a new use of the thing, or, as it is commonly stated, a double use. The application of an old machine to some new purpose is

The requisites of dower are a valid marriage; seizin of the husband; and his death.

according to the principles of the common law, a widow is not dowable in her husband's equity of redemption; and if a man mortgages in fee, before marriage, and dies without redeem

On a joint-tenancy, at common law, dower does not attach... the wife shall not be endowed of lands or tenements, which her husband holdeth jointly with another, at the time of his

A drainage district has the special purpose of the improvement of particular property, and when it is so formed to include property which is not and cannot be benefited directly or

drama may be achieved by action as well as by speech. Action can tell a story, display all the most vivid relations between men, and depict every kind of human emotion, without the

The drawbar—sometimes called the 'drawhead'—carries at its outer end the device or mechanism for coupling the cars. The height of the drawbar determines the height of the coupler,

his drawing without funds, property or authority, puts the transaction out of the pale of commercial usage and law; and as he can in no wise suffer by the want of notice of the dis

It is not necessary to state in terms on the record, that the constitution or a law of the United States was drawn in question. It is sufficient to bring the case within the provis

such fruits as have required skill in preparation.

Upon the whole, it is the opinion of a majority of this court, that driving living fat oxen, &c. on foot, is not a transportation thereof, within the true intent and meaning of the

a survival from medieval European law of a then well-recognized form of tax, imposed with respect to the right of an alien heir to acquire or withdraw from the realm the property i

more conservative operations that [the Corps conducts, which] are intended to enable the Corps to preserve water and operate its reservoir projects more effectively as drought cond

A person traveling on a 'drover's pass,' issued upon a live-stock contract precisely similar in its terms to that which we have in this case, was a passenger for hire, and... a rel

(A) articles recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to

any felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act.