Definitions from Case Law

the arguments and votes of jurors, the media concludendi, are secrets, protected from disclosure unless the privilege is waived.

A descent may be said to be mediate or immediate, in regard to the mediate or immediate descent of the estate or right; or it may be said to be mediate or immediate, in regard to t

payment of part or all of the cost of the following care and services .

amounts paid for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.

services provided by a licensed physician.

[t]he science and art dealing with the prevention, cure, or alleviation of disease." Webster's Second 1527.

Sailing ships are meeting end on within the meaning of that provision when they are approaching each other from opposite directions, or on such parallel lines as involve risk of co

any institution which has subscribed for the stock of a Federal Home Loan Bank.

It is there laid down, and on reflection we are confirmed in the opinion, that in the capacity of an individual of the body corporate the Defendants are bound by the by-laws of the

the term 'crew' embraced those 'who are naturally and primarily on board' the vessel 'to aid in her navigation'. But navigation is not limited to 'putting over the helm'. It also e

all persons who are currently satisfying the requirements for membership in a membership organization, trade association, cooperative, or corporation without capital stock.

There must be a substantial basis for finding that an alien committed himself to the Communist Party in consciousness that he was 'joining an organization known as the Communist Pa

Membership' as a condition of employment is whittled down to its financial core. The burdens of membership upon which employment may be conditioned are expressly limited to the pay

Entry into membership of an incorporated beneficiary society is more than a contract; it is entering into a complex and abiding relation and the rights of membership are governed b

The act of becoming a member is something more than a contract, it is entering into a complex and abiding relation, and as marriage looks to domicil, membership looks to and must b

the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen, the Order of Railway Conductors, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, with the Ca

It is well understood at the present day, with respect to such articles, that underwriters are free from all partial losses of every kind, which do not arise from a contribution to

If the property arrive at the port of discharge, reduced in quantity or value, to any amount, the loss cannot be said to be total in reality, and the insured cannot treat it as a t

A memorandum-check is in the ordinary form of a bank-check, with the word 'memorandum' written across its face, and is not intended for immediate presentation, but simply as eviden

In the case of memorandum articles, the exception of particular average excludes a constructive total loss; and, of course, the principle which allows an abandonment where the loss

A note or memorandum in writing of the agreement, therefore, is sufficient, and there is no question that in order to obtain a specific performance in equity, the note in writing m

the memorandum of sale or delivery to be taxed under the statute is not every note or entry made in Florida recording a transaction elsewhere. It is the kind of note or entry exact

mens rea, to signify an evil purpose or mental culpability

Mere mental pain and anxiety are too vague for legal redress where no injury is done to person, property, health, or reputation.

For purposes of determining whether a prisoner may withdraw a certiorari petition, mental competence means 'capacity to appreciate his position and make a rational choice with resp

any organic, mental, or emotional impairment which has substantial adverse effects on an individual's cognitive or volitional functions.

mental disease to such extent that a person so afflicted requires care and treatment for his own welfare, or the welfare of others, or of the community.

it was not the function of the court to probe the mental processes of the Secretary... Just as a judge cannot be subjected to such a scrutiny, so the integrity of the administrativ

Mercantile' is defined 'as having to do with trade or commerce; of or pertaining to merchants, or the traffic carried on by merchants' (Century dictionary). To be principally engag

In mercantile contracts, evidence is admissible to prove that the words in which the particular contract is expressed, in the particular trade to which the contract refers, are use

It would not be safe for the court to draw any inference from the apparent tautology of those parts of a revenue law describing the subjects of duty. In most cases, the terms used

goods, wares, and chattels of every description and includes merchandise the importation of which is prohibited.

[T]he articles of merchandise which he uses to perform the office of dunnage, may be called dunnage. Still they are not legally nor properly such. If they are merchandise, they are

including commission merchant in § 1459.

including 'all ores which grade 55% and above in metallic iron regardless of other ingredients.' "The lessee contracted to mine and remove at least 300,000 tons of ore annually, or

He is, as to that, a quasi judge, a 'legislative referee.' ... [T]he merchant appraisers here can hardly be considered public officers at all, in the ordinary acceptation of the te

It is so unusual for a legislature to employ itself in framing rules which are to operate only on contracts made without their jurisdiction, between persons residing without their

The case protected by the exception is not every transaction between merchant and merchant, not every account which might exist between them, but it must concern the trade of merch

The mere laying up of a vessel engaged in the latter service would not change its character, unless the government did something affirmative to make it a public vessel. . . . The w

the combination of them and adaptation of the combined result was a mere aggregation of old elements requiring no more than mechanical skill, and was not, therefore, patentable inv

A transaction which shifts the ownership of the proprietary interest in a corporation is hardly 'a mere change in identity, form, or place of organization' within the meaning of cl

There must, of course, be a nexus automatically provided in the case of fruits, instrumentalities or contraband—between the item to be seized and criminal behavior. Thus in the cas

so unsubstantial and obviously insufficient, either in fact or law, as to be plainly without color of merit, and a mere pretense; a claim made in bad faith and without any legal ju

the use by Congress of the words 'merely personal' seems to us to restrict the exception to a moral code which is not only personal but which is the sole basis for the registrant's

the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit making mere private possession of obscene material a crime. The States retain broad power to regulate obscenity; that power simply does

The law, however, does not make the mere size of a corporation, however impressive, or the existence of unexerted power on its part, an offense, when unaccompanied by unlawful cond

a transfer without valuable consideration, with the intent that the transferor shall, as the statute provides, cease to exist, made in accordance with the statute, has all the elem

merger' and 'consolidation' as used in the Act includes transactions which 'are beyond the ordinary and commonly accepted meaning of those words'. Insolvency reorganizations are wi

The doctrine of merger (even admitting that a judgment against one of several joint obligors would terminate the whole obligation, so that a distinct action could not afterwards be

The merger eliminates one of the participating corporations from the market while a joint venture creates a new competitive force therein.

If there be any one principle of law settled beyond all question, it is this, that whensoever a cause of action, in the language of the law, transit in rem judicatam, and the judgm

Whatever related to any conversations, or negotiations on the subject, previous to the consummation of the contract, were merged in the final conclusion of the contract; according

The rule that prior negotiations are merged in the contract is general in its nature... Previous and contemporary transactions and facts may be very properly taken into considerati

all previous negotiations and verbal statements are merged and excluded when the parties assent to a written instrument as expressing the agreement

Such settlements, though voluntary, are founded upon a meritorious consideration, and will be upheld and enforced in equity against the husband.

the various elements which enter into or qualify the plaintiff's right to the relief sought; where a plaintiff seeking preventive relief lacks standing, the appropriate decree is a

Those in which the officer is directed to levy the process upon property of one of the parties to the litigation, sufficient to satisfy the demand against him, without describing a

a method of doing or conducting business." § 273(a)(3).

counseling concerning abortion." "Ibid." The court found this construction consistent with the legislative history and observed that "[a]ppellants' contrary view of the legislative

A right and title passed by the governor's grant, but its definitive validity was suspended for the approval of the assembly; and so it continued to be suspended, until its approba

It is said the law knows only of one christian name. And there are adjudged cases strongly countenancing, if not fully establishing, that the entire omission of a middle letter is

the middle of the main channel of navigation.

free persons, but the word "importation" refers to slaves, because free persons cannot be said to be imported.'

Any formula used must bear a rational relationship, both on its face and in its application, to property values connected with the taxing State.

cases which do not come within the 'rules and regulations of war,' or the jurisdiction conferred by statute or court-martial, are tried by military commissions

What are the allowable limits of military discretion, and whether or not they have been overstepped in a particular case, are judicial questions.

the law which governs a civil court in the exercise of its jurisdiction over military habeas corpus applications cannot simply be assimilated to the law which governs the exercise

The danger must be immediate and impending; or the necessity urgent for the public service, such as will not admit of delay, and where the action of the civil authority would be to

Military occupation and control, to work this exception, must be actual; that is to say, not illusory, not imperfect, not transient; but substantial, complete, and permanent. Being

The instructions cannot change the nature of the transaction, or legalize an act which without those instructions would have been a plain trespass.

the use to which the property is to be put is the controlling test of its military or naval character. Military or naval use includes all property consumed by the armed forces or b

common-law rules governing private contracts have no place in the area of military pay. A soldier's entitlement to pay is dependent upon statutory right.

This military service is the same as that spoken of in the first section, to wit, in battle, or service as soldiers under the command of officers of the army.

a place where troops are assembled, where military stores, animate or inanimate, are kept or distributed, where military duty is performed or military protection afforded,-where so

military tribunals, which are not courts in the sense of the Judiciary Article

The Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. 'A body of citizens enrolled for military discipline.' And further, that ordinarily

any person who purchases or handles milk within the state, for sale in the state, or sells milk within the state except when consumed on the premises where sold; and includes withi

any individual who works or has worked in or around a coal mine or coal preparation facility in the extraction or preparation of coal.

Land valuable for coal is mineral land within the meaning of the public land laws.

the exceptions of mineral land from pre-emption and settlement, etc., 'are not held to exclude all lands in which minerals may be found, but only those where the mineral is in suff

a mineral lease does not give the lessee anything approaching the full ownership of a fee patentee, nor does it convey an unencumbered estate in the minerals.

a term used to designate that group of statutes governing the leasing of public lands for gas and oil

a defendant may not be called upon to do so unless he has had the 'minimal contacts' with that State that are a prerequisite to its exercise of power over him

uniformly construed to require only 'minimal diversity,' that is, diversity of citizenship between two or more claimants, without regard to the circumstance that other rival claima

due process requires some definite link, some minimum connection, between a state and the person, property or transaction it seeks to tax

due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts w

They include (a) written notice of the claimed violations of parole; (b) disclosure to the parolee of evidence against him; (c) opportunity to be heard in person and to present wit

The Act was not enacted to benefit contractors, but rather to protect their employees from substandard earnings by fixing a floor under wages on Government projects. The Act is a m

not merely the extraction of the ores or minerals from the ground but also the ordinary treatment processes normally applied by mine owners or operators in order to obtain the comm

A mining claim on public lands is a possessory interest in land that is 'mineral in character' and as respects which discovery 'within the limits of the claim' has been made.

statutes governing the mining of hard minerals on public lands

There is a class of cases which hold that if a public officer be required by law to do a particular thing, not involving the exercise of either judgment or discretion, he may be re

duties of a character purely ministerial, and involving no exercise of judgment or discretion

Mandamus issues to compel an officer to perform a purely ministerial duty. It cannot be used to compel or control a duty in the discharge of which by law he is given discretion. Th

The ministerial exemption is a narrow one, intended for the leaders of the various religious faiths and not for the members generally.

the function of the Commission under the act was ministerial, to ascertain the facts with respect to the carrier's operating income by a comparison of the experience during the tes

if the officer or tribunal possess jurisdiction over the subject-matter upon which judgment is passed, with power to issue an order of process for the enforcement of such judgment,

Ministerial offices are those which give the officer no power to judge of the matter to be done, and which require him to obey some superior, many of which are merely employments r

any person under the age of seventeen years.

Provision for arbitration of a discharge grievance, a minor dispute, is not a matter of voluntary agreement under the Railway Labor Act; the Act compels the parties to arbitrate mi