Definitions from Case Law

when the process shifts from investigatory to accusatory—when its focus is on the accused and its purpose is to elicit a confession—our adversary system begins to operate, and, und

any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisa

The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 thus reflects a congressional recognition 'of the delicate fiduciary nature of an investment advisory relationship,' as well as a congressional

That phrase may be taken to include activities relating to interest, dividends, and rents constituting the income taxed as distinguished from its 'underwriting business' which embr

any issuer which— (1) is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities; (3) i

Novel, uncommon, or irregular devices, whatever they appear to be, are also reached if it be proved as matter of fact that they were widely offered or dealt in under terms or cours

moneys in bonds or certificates of indebtedness of whatever kind, issued by incorporated or unincorporated companies, towns, cities, villages, townships, counties, states, or other

the gross amount of income earned during the taxable year from interest, dividends and rents.

all moneys invested in the capital stock of any association, corporation, joint-stock company, or other company, where the capital or stock is divided into shares, transferable by

Any risk that the prepayment would earn less than the amount paid to respondent as an annuity was an investment risk similar to the risk assumed by a bank; it was not an insurance

if the market value of the common stock closely approaches the exercise price stated in the warrants, or if there is ground for a reasonable expectation that the two may coincide w

The prohibition of the Equal Protection Clause goes no further than the invidious discrimination.

there must be some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus behind the conspirators' action. The conspiracy, in other words, must aim at a depriv

A retail sales slip is an 'invoice' within the meaning of the Fur Products Labeling Act; the statutory term encompasses any 'written account' or 'memorandum' issued 'in connection

done contrary to or without choice; compulsory; not subject to control of the will.

Such a proceeding...is not a mere personal action, but is essentially in the nature of a proceeding in rem for the benefit of all the defendant's creditors. And the filing of the p

a complex of values underlies the stricture against use by the state of confessions which, by way of convenient shorthand, this Court terms involuntary

A guilty plea, if induced by promises or threats which deprive it of the character of a voluntary act, is void. A conviction based upon such a plea is open to collateral attack.

Now, it can hardly be meant in this class of cases, that, to make a payment involuntary, it should be by actual violence, or any physical duress. It suffices, if the payment is cau

The term 'involuntary servitude' was intended to cover those forms of compulsory labor akin to African slavery which, in practical operation, would tend to produce like undesirable

something more than a party to an agreement; that it embraces any railroad affected by the arrangement.

Congress sought by its phrase 'involving fraud * * * in any manner' to make the Suspension Act applicable to all offenses which are fairly identifiable as those in which fraud is a

that Commerce Clause strictures are satisfied as well.

The rule in respect of irrebuttable presumptions rests upon grounds of expediency or policy so compelling in character as to override the generally fundamental requirement of our s

the quality or state of not conforming to rule or law.

The necessity to expend for the investigation or to take the risk for noncompliance does not justify the injunction. It is not the sort of irreparable injury against which equity p

a present deprivation of rights while the language 'cannot enforce' has reference to an anticipated state court frustration of equal civil rights.

a naturally-formed area of land surrounded by water, which is above the level of mean high water.

is located' means more than having physical presence or existence in a place... 'is located' and 'resides' are equated and that 'is located' refers in the case of Texaco to its Sta

applied to drugs by envisioning extreme possible applications of its different misbranding provisions which relate to food, cosmetics, and the like.

Congress used the words 'is or was relieved' to provide that an alien who requests exemption from the military service be held to his agreement to relinquish all claims to naturali

An issue is a single, certain and material point, arising out of the allegations or pleadings of the parties, and generally should be made up by an affirmative and negative; the br

to refer to what are termed basic, primary, or historical facts: facts 'in the sense of a recital of external events and the credibility of their narrators * * *.' Brown v. Allen,

An item of an appropriation bill obviously means an item which in itself is a specific appropriation of money, not some general provision of law which happens to be put into an app

that' the persons, company, partnership or corporation shall keep duplicate sets of account books, one set in Chinese and the other a translation into English, Spanish or any local

." Bell v. New Jersey, 461 U. S. 773, 785, n. 12 (1983) (internal quotation marks omitted).

the maximum term of imprisonment authorized for the offense of conviction.'' USSG App.

although the judge need not make formal findings of fact or write an opinion, his conclusion that the confession is voluntary must appear from the record with unmistakable clarity

the consignees agree that, if the shipowner has used due diligence to make the ship seaworthy, the cargo is to be liable in general average when the sacrifice or expense results fr

the field in which a state may not validly provide for compensation must be taken, for the purposes of the Act, as the same field which the Jensen line of decision excluded from st

literal' jeopardy is particularly difficult to understand, given the Senator's own unambiguous explanation that as author of the bill, what he meant was 'constitutional' jeopardy

a defendant is placed in jeopardy in a criminal proceeding once the defendant is put to trial before the trier of the facts, whether the trier be a jury or a judge

What Congress has commanded is that any tests used must measure the person for the job and not the person in the abstract.

If the plaintiff alleges that the concurrent negligence of the railroad company and its employee... was the cause of his injury, he has a right to join them in one action. If he el

The general rule certainly is, that if two or more persons are sued in a joint action, the Plaintiff cannot proceed to obtain a judgment against one alone, but must wait until the

The liability which arises from a joint and several contract contains distinct engagements, that of each contractor individually, and that of all jointly, and different remedies ma

The principle is, that a contract, made by copartners, is several, as well as joint, and the assumpsit is made by all, and by each. It is obligatory on all, and on each of the part

persons engaged in committing the same trespass are joint and several trespassers, and not joint trespassers exclusively. Like persons liable on a joint and several contract, they

We hold it a sound rule of law, that a joint contract can never be defeated by the mere private contract of an individual of the concern, to whom the other parties have confided no

a covenant may be construed to be joint or several, according to the interests of the parties appearing upon the face of the obligation, if the words are capable of such a construc

in case of a joint contract, strictly speaking, the plaintiff must sue all or one, yet if he does sue any intermediate number, and the defendants do not avail themselves of this, b

those applicable only when the lines embraced in the route are not under common ownership or control.

a third person who put his name on the back of a note at the time it was made, as surety for the maker, and for his accommodation, to give him credit with the payee, or if he parti

it is not a principle of equity that every joint covenant shall be treated as if it were joint and several. The court will not vary the legal effect of the instrument by making it

The State has so far insinuated itself into a position of interdependence with Eagle that it must be recognized as a joint participant in the challenged activity, which, on that ac

The essential feature of a joint rate is that connecting roads have agreed or mutually consented to carry traffic from points on one road to points on another road for an aggregate

The establishment of joint rates is an act separate and distinct under the statute from the establishment of through routes. The financial-needs prohibition of Section 15(4) does n

In making a joint return the husband and wife should report their aggregate gross income and could combine their deductions in reporting their aggregate net income upon which the t

There is no privity between joint wrongdoers, because all are jointly and severally liable. ... There is no right of contribution between joint wrongdoers, where they are in pari d

where two or more persons are jointly charged in the same indictment, with a capital offence, such persons have not a right, by the laws of the country, to be tried severally, sepa

The joint venture, like the 'merger' and the 'conglomeration,' often creates anticompetitive dangers. It is the chosen competitive instrument of two or more corporations previously

The Jones Act has the effect of bringing into the maritime law, for the benefit of seamen, all appropriate statutes relating to employers' liability for the personal injury or deat

the admiralty jurisdiction over the suit depends not on the place where the injury is inflicted but on the nature of the service and its relationship to the operation of the vessel

any entity doing business in Florida that: (1) has published more than 100,000 words online and has at least 50,000 paid subscribers or 100,000 monthly users; (2) has published at

It cannot be doubted that if there had been a combination between the surety of the insolvent and the magistrate to grant the discharge, such surety could never plead that discharg

The judgment of a court is the judicial determination or sentence of the court upon a matter within its jurisdiction. No form of words and no peculiar formal act is necessary to ev

It is understood to be settled in Virginia, that no judgment against the executors can bind the heirs, or in any manner affect them. It could not be given in evidence against them.

A judgment, in its nature, concludes the subject on which it is rendered, and pronounces the law of the case. The judgment of a court of record whose jurisdiction is final, is as c

A judgment being entered, it is only necessary to issue an execution from term to term, which may remain in the clerk's office, to create and continue a lien on the personal proper

A judgment or decree in enforcement of an otherwise valid preexisting lien is not the judgment denounced by the statute, which is plainly confined to judgments creating liens.

Congress used the words 'judgment creditor' in § 3672 in the usual, conventional sense of a judgment of a court of record, since all states have such courts.

A court of equity exercises its jurisdiction in favor of a judgment creditor only when the remedy afforded him at law is ineffectual to reach the property of the debtor, or the enf

A judgment gives to the judgment creditor a lien on the debtor's lands, and a preference over all subsequent judgment creditors. But the act of congress defeats this preference in

The rule of law is accurately stated by Vice-Chancellor Wigram, who says: 'That a creditor, under his judgment, might take in execution all that belongs to his debtor, and nothing

It is one thing to judge of a situation in cold abstraction; another thing to form a judgment on the spot. The movement of trains requires prompt action, and we cannot hold that, a

A judgment in personam imposes a personal liability or obligation on one person in favor of another.

A judgment in rem binds all the world, but the facts on which it necessarily proceeds are not established against all the world

Such a lien confers a right to levy on the land to the exclusion of other adverse interests acquired subsequently to the judgment, but the lien constitutes no property or right in

That the judgment must be responsive to the writ, and must, therefore, either be given for the whole sum demanded, or exhibit the cause why it is given for a less sum. Otherwise no

The motion for judgment cannot be granted unless, as matter of law, the opponent of the movant failed to make a case and, therefore, a verdict in movant's favor should have been di

the judgment of a court of concurrent jurisdiction directly upon the point is, as a plea, a bar, or, as evidence, conclusive between the same parties on the same matter directly in

the judgment of a court of exclusive jurisdiction directly upon the point is, in like manner, conclusive upon the same matter between the same parties, coming incidentally in quest

at common law, a trial by a jury of twelve men.

It is well established that a judgment on demurrer is as conclusive as one rendered upon proof. ... The general rule of the extent of the bar is not only what was pleaded or litiga

A decree of that kind, unless made because of some defect in the pleadings, or for want of jurisdiction, or because the complainant has an adequate remedy at law, or upon some othe

A judgment quasi in rem affects the interests of particular persons in designated property.

It is perfectly clear that as to them a judgment cannot be rendered beyond the penalty, to be discharged on payment of what is actually due; which of course can only be where it is

judgments at law or decrees in chancery, affecting rights of parties to property. They bind only the parties before the court and those who stand in privity with them.

They certainly are not foreign judgments under the Constitution and laws of Congress in any proper sense, because they 'shall have such faith and credit given to them in every othe

But the appearance of an infant to a suit brought against him, is not a judicial act. The appointment of a guardian to defend the suit; and the taking his examination when a fine i

His discretion is not arbitrary and uncontrolled, but judicial, to be exercised in conformity with the standards governing the judicial office. He may analyze and dissect the evide

The primary purpose of the prohibition against diminution was not to benefit the judges, but, like the clause in respect of tenure, to attract good and competent men to the bench a

In construing these laws, it has been truly stated to be the duty of the court to effect the intention of the legislature; but this intention is to be searched for in the words whi

The discharge of an insolvent under our statute is a judicial act, of a record character, and is in its nature, as it must be in contemplation of law, the most satisfactory evidenc

That exercise implies conscientious judgment, not arbitrary action. It takes account of the law and the particular circumstances of the case and is 'directed by the reason and cons

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret th

where the statutory language and legislative history are unclear, the propriety of judicial enforcement turns on the importance of the duty in the scheme of the Act, the capacity o

it is a general principle applicable to all judicial officers, that they are not liable to a civil action for any judicial act done within their jurisdiction. In reference to judge

A judicial inquiry investigates, declares and enforces liabilities as they stand on present or past facts and under laws supposed already to exist. That is its purpose and end.

A judicial inquiry investigates, declares, and enforces liabilities as they stand on present or past facts and under laws supposed already to exist. That is its purpose and end. Le