Definitions from Case Law

A bill cannot be said to be multifarious unless it embraces distinct matters, which do not affect all the defendants alike.

It is impossible, upon the authorities, to lay down any rule or abstract proposition, as to what constitutes multifariousness, which can be made universally applicable… Frequently,

the railroad undertook only a single obligation to repay the money it borrowed. Repayment of that money might be called for in any one, but only one, of the five different types of

The prosecution cannot multiply contempts by repeated questioning on the same subject of inquiry within which a recalcitrant witness already has refused answers.

Bonds, payable to bearer, issued by a municipal corporation to aid in the construction of a railroad, if issued in pursuance of a power conferred by the legislature, are valid comm

In our opinion, therefore, the municipalities of the territory of Oklahoma and of Indian territory were instrumentalities and agencies of the Federal government, with whose operati

Under a broad grant of power, conferring, without restriction or limitation, upon the city of Vicksburg, the right to make a contract for a supply of water, it was within the right

A county, or other municipal corporation, has no inherent right of legislation, and cannot subscribe for stock in a public improvement, unless authorized to do so by the legislatur

corporations, as a general rule, may contract by parol, and, like individuals, they are liable for the negligent and unskilful acts of their servants and agents, whenever those act

Within its charter powers, the board has a discretion independent of courts, and no exercise of it will be held void for unreasonableness, unless so gross as to strongly suggest fr

The just rule of responsibility, and the one, we think, prescribed by the statute, whether the obstruction be by snow or by any other material, is the removal or abatement so as to

The municipal forfeiture under the non-intercourse act, was absorbed in the more general operation of the law of war. The property of an enemy seems hardly to be within the purview

That grants to municipal corporations, like grants to private corporations, are subject to the rule of strict construction... the power to grant an exclusive privilege must be expr

a city, county, irrigation district, drainage district, or other political subdivision or agency of a State competent under the laws thereof to carry on the business of developing,

Such municipalities are mere emanations from the state, exercising such public power as the state chooses to grant.

With respect to the conduct of a nation's own citizens upon the high seas, there is no question of international law, but solely of the purport of the municipal law which establish

The municipal laws of a country cannot change the law of nations, so as to bind the subjects of another nation; and by the law of nations a neutral subject, whose property has been

A municipal by-law or ordinance, enacted by virtue of power for that purpose delegated by the legislature of the state, is a state law within the meaning of the Federal Constitutio

The authority to tax for the payment of municipal liabilities, in cases like this, is in the nature of a trust.

Where a State has authorized a municipal corporation to contract and to exercise the power of local taxation to the extent necessary to meet its engagements, the power thus given c

Murder is a technical term, of known and settled meaning; and, when used by the legislature, it imports the same, as if they had said, that the Court shall have jurisdiction, in a

a killing (other than a first-degree murder) with malice aforethought.

Under it the killing of a human being is parricide, murder, or homicide, depending, not always on the intent, but upon the relation of the parties and the circumstances under which

to distinguish "Jurek" ) is to consider "for all purposes, including purposes not specifically permitted by the questions." But there was no such assurance at all.

A creditor holding security, who realizes upon it, does not 'owe' his debtor the amount realized. The wellunderstood concept of mutual debts does not embrace such a situation as is

It is a fundamental rule of admiralty law that where both parties are in fault, both must contribute to make good the damage, and this rule will not be deemed to be abrogated witho

A mere contract is not a share of stock and when made with a corporation or association does not necessarily connote membership in it. A policy of insurance may be a contract whose

Were the cross-demands of the parties of the same quality, or, to state it otherwise, did each claim from the other in the same right?

It is a principle of general elementary law that the estoppel of a judgment must be mutual.

The contract was entered into through the mistake of both parties; it imposes great hardship and injustice on the appellee, and it is without consideration. These grounds, either o

the parties to a contract may release themselves, in whole or in part, from its obligations, so far as they remain executory, by mutual agreement, without fresh consideration. The

The deed to Fenby, in plain and unambiguous words, conveyed to him a naked legal title; he took under it no interest that could be seized and sold by the marshal upon a fi. fa.; an

The power of attorney, given by Rousmaniere, the intestate, to the appellant, Hunt, authorizing him to make and execute a bill of sale of three-fourths of the Nereus and of the Ind

a mere naked trust or power to dispose of the thing granted, and to apply the proceeds arising out of it to the use and benefit of the grantor

The naming of quantities cannot be regarded as in the nature of a warranty, but merely as an estimate of the probable amounts in reference to which good faith only could be require

Naphtha' is a generic term, and embraces the lighter or more volatile parts of crude oil down to and sometimes including kerosene. This takes in all the elements of finished gasoli

further a "compelling state interest" by the least restrictive means (internal quotation marks omitted)); "Turner, supra, "at 189 (requiring "advance[ment of] important governmenta

The Equal Protection Clause requires that statutes affecting First Amendment interests be narrowly tailored to their legitimate objectives.

a person owing permanent allegiance to a state.

a national bank is subject to state law unless that law interferes with the purposes of its creation, or destroys its efficiency, or is in conflict with some paramount federal law

to take a share by transfer on the books means to become a member of the concern. ... when a similar transfer is made of a share in a partnership, it means that the transferee at o

A national bank cannot act as a technical trustee and hold land for the benefit of third persons. It cannot, for example, act as trustee under a railroad mortgage, nor take title t

national banks are instrumentalities of the Federal government, created for a public purpose, and as such necessarily subject to the paramount authority of the United States.

under Revised Statutes § 5136, 'it may exercise all such incidental powers as shall be necessary to carry on banking,' and it may therefore act as a fiduciary and occupy a trust re

The statute creates an unsecured and unpreferred claim against a decedent's estate. Where the assessment has been made in the decedent's lifetime an accrued and provable debt exist

the question here is one of national character, and does not stand upon the mere doctrines of municipal law, but upon the more general principles of the law of nations.

A national character, however acquired by residence, may be thrown off at pleasure by a return to the native country. It is an adventitious character, and ceases by non-residence,

the organization which, by virtue of the bylaws of a political party, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of such political party at the national level, as determined by th

all matters directly and reasonably connected with the defense of our nation against its enemies.

the public welfare, injunctions will issue whenever any important industry is involved—whether it be steel or automobiles or coal or any group of industries where one union makes c

The term law in our jurisprudence usually includes the rules of court decisions as well as legislative acts. No reason is apparent why a more restricted meaning should be given 'na

a retreat from our decision in "South Carolina v. Katzenbach, supra", where we rejected the argument that the Act "exceed[s] the powers of Congress and encroach[es] on an area rese

a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States.

the country from which the individual or his forebears came.

The use of geographic terms to reach nation-wide or more than nation-wide unions does not exclude those of some particular technical structure. The C.I.O., being admittedly a labor

the term 'national security' is used in the Act in a definite and limited sense and relates only to those activities which are directly concerned with the Nation's safety, as disti

The reigning sovereign represents the national sovereignty, and that sovereignty is continuous and perpetual, residing in the proper successors of the sovereign for the time being.

treatment accorded within the territories of a Party upon terms no less favorable than the treatment accorded therein, in like situations, to nationals, companies, products, vessel

any descendant of not less than one-half part of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778, as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended; prov

existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind.

It is true the course of streams of water may change by time, and their currents and volume of water may be contracted or expanded, but such calls generally contain greater certain

Natural flow water' shall be taken as referring to all water in the stream except storage water.

Gas, when reduced to possession, is a commodity; it belongs to the owner of the land; and, when reduced to possession, is his individual property, subject to sale by him, and may b

natural gas after severance is a commodity which might be dealt in like other products of the earth, as coal and other minerals, and is a legitimate subject of interstate commerce;

a person (including corporation) engaged in the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce or the sale in interstate commerce of such gas for resale.

the conferring of nationality of a state upon a person after birth, by any means whatsoever.

they are not for the usual purpose of vindicating an existing right but for the purpose of getting granted to an alien rights that do not yet exist. Hence not only the conditions a

refers merely to naturalization into the citizenship of any foreign state. It does not refer to the place where the naturalization proceeding occurs

In ascertaining the boundaries of surveys or patents, the universal rule is this: that wherever natural or permanent objects are embraced in the calls of either, these have absolut

As the state of nature was a state of peace, and not a state of war, the natural state of nations is a state of peace and society, and hence it is a maxim of the law of nations, fo

the controlling factor is the nature of the employment of the vehicles in the railroad's service, that is the type of operation for which they are being used

These conditions preclude the use for navigation of the area in question, in its natural and ordinary condition, according to the customary modes of trade or travel over water, and

The servitude of privately-owned lands forming the banks and bed of a stream to the interests of navigation is a natural servitude, confined to such streams as, in their ordinary a

waters that are "navigable in fact," meaning that "they are used, or are susceptible of being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce, over which trade and trav

airspace above the minimum altitudes of flight prescribed by regulations issued under this Act, and shall include airspace needed to insure safety in take-off and landing of aircra

airspace above the minimum safe altitudes of flight prescribed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority.

streams or lakes which are navigable in fact must be regarded as navigable in law; that they are navigable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible of being used, in their na

whether a stream is navigable in law depends upon whether it is navigable in fact

It was settled long ago by this court, upon a consideration of the relative rights and powers of the Federal and state governments under the Constitution, that lands underlying nav

Those rivers must be regarded as public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact. And they are navigable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible of being used, in

Congress, in making a distinction between streams navigable and those not navigable, intended to provide that the common law rules of riparian ownership should apply to lands borde

those parts of streams or other bodies of water over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States.

they constitute navigable waters of the United States within the meaning of the acts of Congress, in contradistinction from the navigable waters of the States, when they form in th

the privilege to appropriate without compensation which attaches to the exercise of the 'power of the government to control and regulate navigable waters in the interest of commerc

It is not the broad constitutional power to regulate commerce, but rather the servitude derived from that power and narrower in scope, that frees the Government from liability in t

The word 'navy,' as used in the Constitution of the United States, has never been supposed by any one to mean ships only. By established usage, and by various acts of Congress, 'na

the officers and hands in charge of that part of the public property, or the term 'fortifications' includes the officers and soldiers of the republic engaged in manning them.

When the moon is in its first and third quarters, 'the tide does not rise as high nor fall as low as on the average.' At such times the tides are known as 'neap tides.

only geographical nearness and so implicitly holds that no contempt is summarily punishable unless it is either in the presence of the court or is some kind of physical interferenc

one person, one vote' qualified by 'approximately equal' or 'some deviations' or by the impossibility of 'mathematical nicety' is not clear from the majority's use of these vague a

Nearly end on, as the phrase is employed in that article, may doubtless be construed to include cases where two sailing ships are approaching from nearly opposite directions, or on

needful, requisite, essential, conducive to.

the words 'necessary and proper' as equivalent in meaning to the words 'appropriate, plainly adapted, not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution

In construing this clause it would be incorrect and would produce endless difficulties, if the opinion should be maintained that no law was authorized which was not indispensably n

The powers to declare and wage war, to conclude peace, to make treaties, to maintain diplomatic relations with other sovereignties, if they had never been mentioned in the Constitu

Our decisions have consistently construed the term 'necessary' as imposing only the minimal requirement that the expense be 'appropriate and helpful' for 'the development of the (t

The principal power, when expressed, draws to it by necessary implication, the means of its execution. This is a settled rule in the construction of all grants of authority, whethe

While this language is admittedly broad, we conclude that it implies something similar to the concept of injunctions to 'protect or effectuate' judgments. Both exceptions to the ge

of aiding a federal court's limited habeas review.

those whose presence in a suit is essential as a jurisdictional prerequisite to the entry of judgment, so that no decree can be made respecting the subject-matter of litigation unt