Definitions from Case Law

A maritime contract is 'maritime and local,' in the sense that the application of state law would not disturb the uniformity of maritime law, where the federal maritime interest is

all maritime claims upon the vessel extend equally to the proceeds arising from its sale, and are to be satisfied out of them

A contract for building a ship or supplying engines, timber, or other materials for her construction, is clearly not a maritime contract.

charter-parties and contracts of affreightment are 'maritime contracts' within the true meaning and construction of the Constitution and act of Congress, and cognizable in courts o

only "the stevedoring activity of the longshore gang (and those directly involved with the gang) which, in the case of unloading, takes cargo out of the hold of the vessel, moves i

The vessel is not subject to a lien for a common debt of the master or owner. It is only under very special circumstances, and in an unforeseen and unexpected emergency, that an im

Maritime law, the common law of seafaring men, provides an established network of rules and distinctions that are practically suited to the necessities of the sea, just as land-bas

The ordinary maritime privilege or lien, though adhering to the vessel, is a secret one, which may operate to the prejudice of general creditors and purchasers without notice, and

It is nothing more than the right to withhold the goods, and is inseparably associated with his possession, and dependent upon it

The maritime 'privilege' or lien is adopted from the civil law, and imports a tacit hypothecation of the subject of it. It is a 'jus in re,' without actual possession or any right

This act excludes property on land from the category of prize for the benefit of captors

the jurisdiction of the admiralty over a maritime tort does not depend upon the wrong having been committed on board a vessel, but rather upon its having been committed upon the hi

The general doctrine that in contract matters admiralty jurisdiction depends upon the nature of the transaction and in tort matters upon the locality, has been so frequently assert

for a maritime trespass, even though it savours of piracy, the person injured may have his action in personam, and compel appearance by the process of attachment on the goods of th

any city, town or village of the Commonwealth, or two or more cities and/or towns and/or villages and surrounding territory designated by the commission as a natural marketing area

the mineral can be 'extracted, removed and marketed at a profit

any person engaged in the business of (1) buying or selling in commerce live stock at a stockyard on a commission basis or (2) furnishing stockyard services

including disposition by feeding (in any form) to poultry or livestock which, or the products of which, are sold, bartered, or exchanged.

It is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that m

Market power is usually stated to be the ability of a single seller to raise price and restrict output, for reduced output is the almost inevitable result of higher prices.

really the 'exchange price.' That an enormous amount of the business of the country which is engaged in the distribution of the commodities grown or produced therein is transacted

The value of the vessel lost properly may be taken to be the sum which, considering all the circumstances, probably could have been obtained for her on the date of the collision; t

An owner of lands sought to be condemned is entitled to their 'market value fairly determined.' That value may reflect not only the use to which the property is presently devoted b

Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial class

We are dealing here with legislation which involves one of the basic civil rights of man. Marriage and procreation are fundamental to the very existence and survival of the race.

in order to bring collateral relatives within the reach and influence of the consideration, there must be something over and above that flowing from the immediate parties to the ma

Marriage in fact, as distinguished from a ceremonial marriage, may be proven in various ways. ... a legal marriage may be established in other ways. It may be shown by what is call

An informal marriage by contract per verba de praesenti constituted a marriage at common law... 'It is not necessary to prove the contract itself; it is sufficient if the facts of

Marriages not polygamous or incestuous, or otherwise declared void by statute, will, if valid by the law of the state where entered into, be recognized as valid in every other juri

The terms 'married,' or 'who shall be married,' do not refer, in our judgment, to the time when the ceremony of marriage is celebrated, but to a state of marriage. They mean that,

The marshal of this district is put on the same footing, with respect to his duties and powers, as other marshals of the United States. They are considered as mere ministerial offi

The equitable doctrine of marshaling rests upon the principle that a creditor having two funds to satisfy his debt may not, by his application of them to his demand, defeat another

The equitable doctrine of marshaling rests upon the principle that a creditor having two funds to satisfy his debt may not, by his application of them to his demand, defeat another

a return is conclusive of the facts stated by it

the courts are open, and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction.

Whether a given association is called a corporation, partnership, or trust, is not the essential factor in determining the powers of a state concerning it. The real nature of the o

other, more subtle forms of stimulating incriminating admissions than overt questioning.

every person having the command of any ship belonging to any citizen of the United States shall, within the meaning and for the purposes of this act, be deemed and taken to be the

the party who brings a suit is master to decide what law he will rely upon, and...does determine whether he will bring a 'suit arising under' the...(Constitution or laws) of the Un

the master of a vessel has no more an apparent unlimited authority to sign bills of lading, than he has to sign bills of sale of the ship. He has an apparent authority, if the ship

the authority of the master in contracting for repairs and supplies is not confined to such as are absolutely or indispensably necessary, but includes also all such as are reasonab

The master of the ship is the confidential servant or agent of the owners, and they are bound to the performance of all lawful contracts made by him, relative to the usual employme

The true criterion for determining the occurrence of the master's authority to sell is the inquiry, whether the owners or insurers; when they are not distant from the scene of stra

All will agree that the master must act in good faith, exercise his best discretion for the benefit of all concerned, and that it can only be done upon the compulsion of a necessit

Courts of admiralty have uniformly allowed the declarations of the master, in a case of collision, to be brought against the owner, on the ground that when the transaction occurred

The duty of the master to use reasonable diligence to provide a safe place for the employees to work, to carry on the occupation in which they are employed, is too well settled to

It is a well-established rule that the master is not bound to furnish the latest or best tools or appliances for the use of his servants.

if the negligence of the company had a share in causing the injury to the deceased, the company was liable, notwithstanding the negligence of a fellow servant contributed to the ha

It is the duty of a master to furnish safe places to work in and safe instruments to work with ... The duty is a continuing one and must be exercised whenever circumstances demand

By the maritime law, the master has no lien on the ship, even for maritime wages; a fortiori, the claim would be inadmissible, for services on voyages not maritime.

It cannot be doubted that a master has power to sell both vessel and cargo in certain cases of absolute necessity… we may say that it is applied to cases where the vessel is disabl

it is not the province of a Court to investigate items of an account. The report of the master is received as true, when no exception is taken; and the exceptions are to be regarde

the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account established under section 9037(a).

having real importance or great consequences.

the rule is universal that the alteration of an instrument in a material point by the party claiming under it, as by inserting or striking out names without the authority or consen

where there is no finding and no showing that engaging in the forbidden conduct would 'materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the

expressive activity may be prohibited if it 'materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.

the Government has failed to show by 'clear, unequivocal, and convincing' evidence either (1) that facts were suppressed which, if known, would have warranted denial of citizenship

Section 5 of the FTC Act 'prohibits the intentional misrepresentation of any fact which would constitute a material factor in a purchaser's decision whether to buy'; the Commission

When the 'reliability of a given witness may well be determinative of guilt or innocence,' nondisclosure of evidence affecting credibility falls within this general rule. A new tri

[M]ade and acquiesced in either with actual knowledge that it was incorrect, or with reckless indifference to the actual facts, without examining the available source of knowledge

Material-men, also, who furnish materials or supplies for a vessel in a foreign port, or in a port other than a port of the State where the vessel belongs, have a maritime lien on

the law maritime attaches the power of pledging or subjecting the vessel to material men, to the office of shipmaster; and considers the owner as vesting him with those powers, by

Where, however, the proceeding is in rem, to enforce a specific lien, it is incumbent upon those who seek the aid of the court, to establish the existence of such lien in the parti

Whenever the nature of this interest would have, or might have a real influence upon the underwriter, either not to underwrite at all, or not to underwrite except at a higher premi

any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assist

no variance ought ever to be regarded as material where the allegation and proof substantially correspond

any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or written material or any picture, drawing, photograph, motion picture film, or other pictorial representation, or any statute, fig

the employee's resignation, and that the 45-day clock for a constructive discharge begins running only after the employee resigns.

the aggregation of all claims that can be brought together in a single suit, regardless of whether any single plaintiff has a claim that exceeds the required jurisdictional amount.

By matter in dispute is meant the subject of litigation—the matter for which the suit is brought—and upon which issue is joined, and in relation to which jurors are called and witn

the grant by the Settlement of War Claims Act was made as a matter of grace and so was subject to withdrawal by Congress

the decisions of the proper church tribunals on matters purely ecclesiastical, although affecting civil rights, are accepted in litigation before the secular courts as conclusive,

any quilted pad, mattress, mattress pad, mattress protector, bunk quilt or box spring, stuffed or filled with excelsior, straw, hay, grass, corn husks, moss, fibre, cotton, wool, h

The provision for overtime is permissive, in the same sense that any penalty may be said to be permissive. Its purpose is to deter by its burden, and its adequacy for this was a ma

Agreements to fix maximum prices, no less than those to fix minimum prices, cripple the freedom of traders and thereby restrain their ability to sell in accordance with their own j

must or shall in cases where the public interest and right are concerned, and where the public or third parties have a claim de jure, that the power should be exercised.

Section 3 condemns sales or agreements where the effect of such sale or contract of sale 'may' be to substantially lessen competition or tend to create monopoly. But the purpose in

viability as physicians understand it, and "viable" refers to some undetermined stage later in pregnancy.

a proved violation of §401 has the effect of establishing a prima facie case that the violation 'may have affected' the outcome; this prima facie case may of course be met by evide

The statutory term 'may intervene' thus means 'may intervene if the employees' representative so chooses' rather than 'may intervene in the discretion of the court.

Inexcusable detention for the purpose of illegally extracting evidence from an accused, and the successful extraction of such inculpatory statements by continuous questioning for m

a confession is inadmissible if made during illegal detention due to failure promptly to carry a prisoner before a committing magistrate, whether or not the 'confession is the resu

In the original survey by the government in 1853 the lake was meandered, which meant under the instructions to surveyors then in force that it was a lake or deep pond.

Meander-lines are run in surveying fractional portions of the public lands bordering upon navigable rivers, not as boundaries of the tract, but for the purpose of defining the sinu

the mean high-tide line which, as the Court of Appeals said, is neither the spring tide nor the neap tide, but a mean of all the high tides

the average elevation of all the high tides occurring over a period of 18.6 years.

Deportability on the ground of Communist Party membership requires more than the mere voluntary listing of a person's name on Party rolls; the alien must have had a 'meaningful ass

due process requires, at a minimum, that absent a countervailing state interest of overriding significance, persons forced to settle their claims of right and duty through the judi

all through the Constitution, — and that is a "statute "of the United States.

the average elevation of all the daily lower low tides occurring over a period of 18.6 years.

all through the constitution, and that is 'a statute of the United States.' Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U.S. 264.

Wherever inquiry is a duty, the party bound to make it is affected with knowledge of all which he would have discovered had he performed the duty. Means of knowledge with the duty

Being an original and reserved power, and the judicial officers appointed under it being a means or instrumentality employed to carry it into effect, the right and necessity of its

The unanimous opinion of the court is, that the price of the article at the time it was to be delivered, is the measure of damages.

the measure was the present value of the rent reserved less the present rental value of the remainder of the term

where there is no general market, or the merchandise is of a peculiar character and not staple, it is necessary that some other criterion be taken than the difference between the a

It makes the measure of recovery the extent of the injury, and the injury, it is clear, is not the gross earnings of an office, but such earnings less... 'the actual cost of obtain

the change with the existing knowledge in the art involved simply mechanical skill, which is not patentable.

The title to this act shows its policy and intention. It is to secure, to 'mechanics and others, payment for labor done and materials found;' and the persons enumerated in the firs