Definitions from Case Law

The gravamen of the offense is not in the act of entering, which satisfies the terms of the statute even if it is simply walking through an open, public door during normal business

any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity.

It is a well-settled principle of law, that, 'unless there be some express stipulation to the contrary, whenever an entire sum is to be paid for the entire work, the performance or

the total net income, including all dividends received on stocks and all interest received from federal, state, municipal or other bonds.

qualifying for those benefits, and nothing more.

that a patient is entitled to SSI benefts even if she does not qualify for a payment during the Page Proof Pending Publication month of hospitalization.

wilderness areas, national parks, and lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

the entrance fee is not a tax, but compensation for a privilege applied for and granted

A different question is presented when the criminal design originates with the officials of the government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to co

any coming of an alien into the United States, from a foreign port or place or from an outlying possession, whether voluntarily or otherwise, except that an alien having a lawful p

remaining after being asked to leave, the South Carolina Supreme Court did not cite any of the cases in which it had previously construed the same statute.

The entry, and not the warrant, has always been considered as the commencement of title.

The entry, then, of Miller, contains, in itself, a sufficient certainty of description, if the entries to which it refers are valid; for id certum est quod certum reddi potest.

The book of Rawlins was de facto a county record, preserved as a public monument in the county archives. For the purpose of showing his acts as school commissioner in selling the l

The notation of a judgment in the civil docket as provided by Rule 79(a) constitutes the entry of the judgment; and the judgment is not effective before such entry.

Whenever an entry has been made of a tract of land, that tract is segregated from the mass of public land subject to entry until the existing entry is disposed of.

by virtue of, that if the wife had a claim it was outside the settlement, and those words would not describe it, even if, at the date of the will, the estate had still stood in the

Resort to epithets or personal abuse is not in any proper sense communication of information or opinion safeguarded by the Constitution, and its punishment as a criminal act would

If both were in fault, then the damages must be equally apportioned between them.

The 'equal footing' clause has long been held to refer to political rights and to sovereignty. The requirement of equal footing was designed not to wipe out those diversities but t

This Union' was and is a union of states, equal in power, dignity, and authority, each competent to exert that residuum of sovereignty not delegated to the United States by the Con

that petitioner must show not only "cause" for the untimely challenge, but also "actual prejudice" resulting from the failure to comply with the procedural rule.

the chattel subjected to the use tax is bought in another state and then carried into Washington.

The theme of the Bankruptcy Act is equality of distribution. To bring himself outside of that rule an unsecured creditor carries a burden of showing by clear and convincing evidenc

The University of Texas Law School possesses to a far greater degree those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness in a law school. Such

While the supply of particular facilities may be conditioned upon there being a reasonable demand therefor, if facilities are provided, substantial equality of treatment of persons

No affirmative action can be had in a cause where the judges are equally divided in opinion as to the judgment to be rendered or order to be made. If affirmative action is necessar

the corporate chain will have the right to compete with the local merchants.

Where proven facts give equal support to each of two inconsistent inferences; in which event, neither of them being established, judgment, as a matter of law, must go against the p

in the context of single-member districting, no "meaningful comparison" is Page Proof Pending Publication possible using a benchmark that builds in a presumption in favor of minori

The equality at which the 'equal protection' clause aims is not a disembodied equality. The Fourteenth Amendment enjoins 'the equal protection of the laws', and laws are not abstra

differences in access to the instruments needed to vindicate legal rights, when based upon the financial situation of the defendant, are repugnant to the Constitution

The rules by which this contention must be tested, as is shown by repeated decisions of this court, are these: 1. The equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment does not take fr

the classification 'must rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced sh

The equal protection clause is directed only against arbitrary discrimination; that is, such as is without any reasonable basis... It does not prevent a city from applying the sche

The essential inquiry in all the foregoing cases is, however, inevitably a dual one: What legitimate state interest does the classification promote? What fundamental personal right

The constitutional prohibition applies only to taxation which in fact bears unequally on persons or property of the same class and that mere differences in modes of assessment do n

The equal protection of the laws means subjection to equal laws, applying alike to all in the same situation. If the plaintiff is a person within the jurisdiction of the state of A

Equal representation for equal numbers of people is a principle designed to prevent debasement of voting power and diminution of access to elected representatives.

no more than a command that members and classes of members shall not be discriminated against in their right to nominate and vote

Once the geographical unit for which a representative is to be chosen is designated, all who participate in the election are to have an equal vote—whatever their race, whatever the

In ordinary speech the load of a vehicle is not spoken of as a part of its equipment.

The necessary prerequisite to the right to maintain a suit for an equitable accounting, like all other equitable remedies, is...the absence of an adequate remedy at law. Consequent

the contractor has agreed in effect to convert what otherwise might be claims for breach of contract into claims for equitable adjustment. The changes clause, for example, permits

the principles of right and equity shall be applied having regard to the 'equal level or plane on which all the States stand, in point of power and right, under our constitutional

Any order, writing, or act which makes an appropriation of a fund, amounts to an equitable assignment of the fund. The reason is, that the fund being a matter not assignable at law

The Bankruptcy Act, passed pursuant to the power given to Congress by Art. I, § 8, of the Constitution to establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy, converts the creditor

if there be admissible in any statute what is called an equitable construction, certainly such a construction is not admissible in a taxing statute, where you can simply adhere to

Equity considers that as done which is agreed to be done. Money which, according to a will or agreement, is to be invested in land, is regarded, in equity, as real estate; and land

The test under section 274b is whether the defendant could have maintained a bill in equity on the same averments. The defendant's rights to a hearing in equity are 'the same,' not

The doctrine of equitable estoppel is not a bar to the correction by the Commissioner of a mistake of law.

where one of two innocent persons must suffer by the acts of a third, he who has enabled such third person to occasion the loss must sustain it... the principles which underlie equ

The interest was present property alienable like any other, in the absence of a valid restraint upon alienation.

Although courts of admiralty have no general equity jurisdiction, and cannot afford equitable relief in a direct proceeding for that purpose, they may apply equitable principles to

The equitable jurisdiction of the courts of the United States as courts of law is chiefly exercised in the amendment of pleadings and proceedings in the court, and in the supervisi

From the earliest ages, Courts of equity have refused their aid to those who have neglected, for an unreasonable length of time, to assert their claims, especially where the legal

The filing of a creditor's bill and the service of process creates a lien in equity upon the effects of the judgment debtor. It has been aptly termed an 'equitable levy.

the parties were business men, acting without lawyers, and in good faith attempting to create a present security out of specified bonds and stocks. ... If an express declaration of

he who seeks the aid of equity, to be relieved from usury, must do equity by paying the principal and legal interest upon the money borrowed.

the general rule is, that whatever, for a valuable consideration, is covenanted to be done, shall, in equity, be looked upon as done.

Equity regards that as done which ought to be done. It looks to the true intent and meaning, rather than to the form. It relieves against the consequences of accident and mistake,

the effect of the purported contract of lease of January, 1919, was that of an equitable mortgage. The rentals to be paid were the installments of the amount due under the original

The doctrine of equitable mortgage by deposit of title deed has been too long established to be now disputed; but it may be said that it ought never to have been established. I am

Its defense, which inheres in the cause of action is comparable to an equitable recoupment or diminution of petitioners' right to recover. Such a defense is never barred by the sta

forms of equitable relief available in the English Court of Chancery at the time of the founding.

Without attempting to draw any precise line to which Courts of equity will advance, and which they cannot pass, in restraining parties from availing themselves of judgments obtaine

It is not necessary in such a situation, in order to establish the right to relief to show that the beneficiary was damaged by the fraudulent conduct of the trustee. It is sufficie

it is for that court—not without appropriate regard for rights acquired under rules of state law—to define and apply federal law in determining the extent to which the inequitable

A surety liable only for part of the debt does not become subrogated to collateral or to remedies available to the creditor unless he pays the whole debt or it is otherwise satisfi

lands sold by the United States may be taxed before they have parted with the legal title by issuing a patent … as applicable to cases where the right to the patent is complete, an

The ward or the beneficiary of a trust may, at his option, follow the trust res fraudulently diverted until it reaches the hands of an innocent purchaser for value, or he may, at h

no more than that the rules of law applicable to the case shall be construed liberally in favor of the claimants.

Traditionally, equity has been characterized by a practical flexibility in shaping its remedies and by a facility for adjusting and reconciling public and private needs.

The chancery of England has, it is true, taken cognizance of cases respecting land in Ireland and the colonies, but in such cases it never attempts to act directly upon the land it

On the other hand it may with equal safety be laid down as a general rule that a defence cannot be set up in equity which has been fully and fairly tried at law, although it may be

Every court of equity possesses the power to mould its rules in relation to the time and manner of appearing and answering, so as to prevent the rule from working injustice; and it

Where a party asking its aid refuses to comply with the conditions on which that aid must depend, a Court is certainly correct in refusing its aid, and may dismiss the bill. But in

A court of equity ought to do justice completely, and not by halves.

Equity may be invoked to aid in the completion of a just but imperfect legal title, or to prevent the successful assertion of an unconscientious and incomplete legal advantage; but

the acts of congress have distinguished between remedies at common law and in equity; and that to effectuate the purposes of the legislature, the remedies in the courts of the Unit

the arrest by the federal courts of the processes of the criminal law within the states, and the determination of questions of criminal liability under state law by a federal court

the objection that the bill does not make a case within the equity jurisdiction of a federal court goes not to the power of the court as a federal court, but to the merits.

The equity jurisdiction conferred on the Federal courts is the same that the High Court of Chancery in England possesses; is subject to neither limitation or restraint by State leg

courts of equity will interfere to compel the payment of alimony which has been decreed to a wife ... when a court of competent jurisdiction over the subject-matter and the parties

A court of equity has no jurisdiction over the prosecution, the punishment, or the pardon of crimes or misdemeanors. ... But a distinction obtains when it is found to be essential

The jurisdiction of a court of equity to reach the property of a debtor justly applicable to the payment of his debts, even when there is no specific lien on the property, is undou

A court of equity acting upon the person of a defendant may control the disposition of real property belonging to him situated in another jurisdiction, and even in a foreign countr

our jurisdiction in equity extends over frauds generally, and in a special manner one like this, to which it is doubtful whether any remedy existed by law when defending the origin

the jurisdiction has been finally sustained; upon the principle that equity can give more adequate and complete relief than can be obtained at law. Whilst, therefore, it is admitte

the jurisdiction of equity to avoid multiplicity of suits at law is restricted to cases where there would otherwise be some necessity for the maintenance of numerous suits between

Where the legislature declares certain instruments illegal and void, as the British annuity act does; or as the gaming acts do; there is inherent in the Courts of Equity a jurisdic

It must appear that the enforcement of the tax would lead to a multiplicity of suits, or produce irreparable injury, or where the property is real estate, throw a cloud upon the ti

whenever a creditor has a trust in his favor, or a lien upon property for the debt due him, he may go into equity without exhausting legal processes or remedies.

For a court of equity looks to substance rather than to form.

the maxim is one which applies to him who affirmatively seeks equitable relief.

equity, which usually looks upon that as done which ought to have been done, would regard such a conveyance as actually made, and therefore treat the company as an assign.

More than a century ago... an advowson was decreed to be sold, at the instance of creditors, as assets descended... Lord Hardwicke decreed a sale of a moiety of the land to satisfy

the law does not go to the romantic length of giving indemnity against the consequences of indolence and folly, or a careless indifference to the ordinary and accessible means of i

the equity of redemption is the real and beneficial estate in the land, and may be sold and conveyed in any of the ordinary modes of transfer, subject only to the lien of the mortg

the one generally known as an 'equity receivership,' whereby the assets of a corporation were committed to the custody of a court until the time should arrive when they could be re