Definitions from Case Law

all captures jure belli, are made for the government, and that no title of prize can be acquired but by the public acts of the government conferring rights on the captors... It is,

Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C. § 226, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant to the first qualified applicant, without competitive bidding, oil and gas

a lunatic, or a person non compos mentis, has nothing which the law recognizes as a mind; he is not amenable to the criminal laws, because he is incapable of discriminating between

in the case of non-cumulative stock entitled only to a dividend if declared out of annual profits, if those profits are justifiably applied by the directors to capital improvements

The duty of inspection, prevention, and removal of any accumulation of gas is imposed on the coal company. This duty is personal, and cannot be delegated. ... The gas tester, under

The Congress may not delegate its purely legislative power to a commission, but, having laid down the general rules of action under which a commission shall proceed, it may require

Congress cannot delegate legislative power is a principle universally recognized as vital to the integrity and maintenance of the system of government ordained by the Constitution.

any mining enterprise in which gold is produced, whether lode or placer, located in the United States, its territories or possessions, unless the operator of such mining enterprise

a mere licensee under a nonexclusive license, amounting to no more than 'a mere waiver of the right to sue

one as to which there is no independent basis for federal jurisdiction.

a benefit for which a participant has satisfied the conditions for entitlement under the plan or the requirements of this chapter.

Whenever a state engages in a business of a private nature, it exercises nongovernmental functions, and the business, though conducted by the state, is not immune from the exercise

time set aside by the school before actual classroom instruction begins or after actual classroom instruction ends.

The prohibition against doing anything for the benefit of an enemy contemplates his benefit during the war and not the possible advantage he may gain when peace comes.

It is a doctrine of law too long established to require a citation of authorities, that, where a court has jurisdiction, it has a right to decide every question which occurs in the

as long as the proceedings are in fieri, the courts will not interfere with the hearing and disposition of matters before the Departments... To hold that the writ could issue eithe

if any objection could be made to the suit against Moore alone, by reason of the non-joinder of the other two, it should have been pleaded in abatement, and cannot be taken advanta

a "trade or business," and has thereby obviated the need for an inquiry into the taxpayer's intent to profit.

an office for which no party may nominate a candidate.

Phenomena of nature, though just discovered, mental processes, and abstract intellectual concepts are not patentable, as they are the basic tools of scientific and technological wo

a facility exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Code .

any school, other than a public school within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, wherein a resident of the Commonwealth may legally fulfill the compulsory school attendance requirem

-* * * (c) An immigrant who was born in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal

The obvious purpose and effect of the non-recourse clause is to relieve the shipper from liability for freight charges, upon delivery to the consignee.

Every statute of this kind, therefore, should require the plaintiff bringing the suit to show in the summons to be served the post office address or residence of the defendant bein

In our cases dealing with the nonretroactivity question, we have generally considered three separate factors. First, the decision to be applied nonretroactively must establish a ne

The order is in terms single and indivisible. ... 'we are not able to reject a part which is unconstitutional and retain the remainder, because it is not possible to separate that

A judgment of nonsuit is only given after the appearance of the defendant, when, from any delay or other fault of the plaintiff against the rules of law in any subsequent stage of

Non-taxability and restriction upon alienation are distinct things.

The condition of nontransferability and forfeiture embodied in such tickets was not only binding upon the original purchaser, but upon anyone who acquired such a ticket and attempt

failure to operate the railroad for 30 successive days; and 'operation' as involving a passenger schedule over which first-class coaches must run over the entire line by electric o

such a stipulation has reference to those provisions and conditions which constitute part of the contract of insurance, and does not apply to a waiver, after the loss occurs, of st

Almeida's possession was gained by a wrong; he cannot change the character of that possession; he cannot, by his own act, give himself a better title.

federal agents, and the ban on communication to "any person" bars testimony to the content of an intercepted message.

average" and so long as a participant is in good health and fit for duty he should be retained past age 60.

the "stream" that each island—however small and however close to the northern shore—creates between itself and the shore to the north of it, that was the construction of the Treaty

by the application of the principle noscitur a sociis ... the general words 'all personal property whatsoever' were intended to include chattels other than the specified tools and

time outside working hours, whether before or after work, or during luncheon or rest periods, is an employee's time to use as he wishes without unreasonable restraint, although the

a decision of a court construing a statute, but that question was both presented and decided in Commercial Bank v. Buckingham, 5 How.

A 'no-strike' clause prohibits the employees from striking during the life of the contract. It regulates the relations between the employer and the employees.

a no-strike obligation, express or implied, is the quid pro quo for an undertaking by the employer to submit grievance disputes to the process of arbitration

?" is "It depends": The meaning of the phrase turns on its context; See "Johnson "v.

It is not disputed, that by the general custom of merchants in the United States, bills of exchange drawn in one state on another state, are, if dishonoured, protested by a notary;

A notary is a competent witness on the same ground that other agents are admissible. They are always responsible to their principals for gross negligence, and yet, from the necessi

token of a debt, paper given in confession of a debt, and may well be used as a noun collective (nomen collectivum) to signify a debt upon one consideration divided into two parts,

That a note, without a special contract, would not, of itself, discharge the original cause of action, is not denied. But it is insisted that if, by express agreement, the note is

The note dollar was a promise to pay a coined dollar; but it was not a promise to pay on demand nor at any fixed time, nor was it, in fact, convertible into a coined dollar.

The exemption 'when not engaged in business' ordinarily would seem pretty nearly equivalent to when not pursuing the ends for which the corporation was organized, in the cases wher

To maintain an action against the drawer of a note or bill payable at a particular place, it is not necessary to aver in the declaration that the note, when due, was presented at t

in actions on promissory notes against the maker, or on bills of exchange, where the suit is against the maker in the one case, and acceptor in the other, and the note or bill made

to qualify for preferred treatment under that section, a redemption must result in a meaningful reduction of the shareholder's proportionate interest in the corporation

a notice to the debtor of his obligation and that the rule does not then further require a notice of an intent to execute, once notification of the judgment is properly given.

due process requires that when a State seeks to terminate an interest such as that here involved, it must afford 'notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of th

Notice by publication is a poor and sometimes a hopeless substitute for actual service of notice. Its justification is difficult at best. But when the names, interests and addresse

If a party to a contract who is entitled to the benefit of a condition, upon the performance of which his responsibility is to arise, dispense with, or by any act of his own preven

A party giving a letter of guarantee, has a right to know, whether it is accepted, and whether the person to whom it is addressed, means to give credit on the footing of it, or not

upon a letter of guaranty addressed to a particular person, or to persons generally, for a future credit to be given to the party in whose favour the guaranty is drawn, notice is n

The rule seems to require notice in the form of an express announcement by the officers of their purpose for demanding admission.

To exclude the passer's right so as to make him in fault, and to prevent his recovery for an injury sustained by leaving the place in a bad condition, notice must have been given o

The reasons for this rule are, 1st. That the party accused may know against what charge to direct his defence. 2d. That the Court may see with judicial eyes that the fact, alleged

Proof of a direct or conditional promise to pay after a bill becomes due, or of a partial payment, or of an offer of a composition, or of an acknowledgment of his liability to pay

by the general law merchant, notice of non-payment given to the drawer on the last day of grace, after a demand upon the acceptor on the same day, (and Saturday, in this case, was

The general rule is, that the party whose duty it is to give notice in such cases, is bound to use due diligence in communicating such notice. But it is not required of him to see

the United States had no right to recover on account of the neglect in giving due notice after the return of the bills... there was negligence either at Washington or New-York, as

notice of facts tending to put a cautious buyer upon inquiry will not defeat the title of a holder of negotiable paper, if in truth, there was neither actual knowledge of an infirm

a notice of motion, if process at all, is not process issuing from a court, and assuredly is not a writ. Only writs or processes so issuing are governed by the statute.

Instruction, ex vi termini, is individual. Instruction to A., independent of legal privity or identification, is not instruction to B. Not so with laws: their power floats on the a

In giving the action of debt to the holder of a bill of exchange, and in giving it the dignity of a specialty, the legislature has not altered the character of the paper in other r

The law has prescribed no particular form for a notice of this description. It is sufficient if, upon the whole matter, it appears calculated reasonably to apprize the public of th

The Federal Rules require only 'a short and plain statement of the claim' that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it re

It is certainly true, as a general rule, as above stated, that a purchaser of a chose in action, or of an equitable title, must abide by the case of the person from whom he buys, a

When the party to be affected by the notice, resides in a different place from the holder, the notice may be sent by the mail to the post-office nearest to the party entitled to su

Notice to an agent is notice to his principal. If it were held otherwise, it would cause great inconvenience; and notice would be avoided in every case, by employing agents.

a party giving a letter of guarantee has a right to know whether it is accepted; and whether the person to whom it is addressed means to give credit on the footing of it or not. It

when a promissory note is dishonoured by the drawer, the indorser becomes immediately liable; and the holder is entitled to recover the amount from him, unless he is discharged by

The notice is merely a preliminary proceeding, to enable the party to bring before the court the motion for the order to produce; and when that motion is made, the party called on

Notice to quit is generally necessary where the relation of landlord and tenant exists, and no definite period is fixed for the termination of the estate, but where a lease is to e

if the bill has been duly presented for acceptance, or payment, and dishonored, and a minute made, at the time, of the steps taken, which is called noting the bill, the protest may

normally the controlling consideration is simply whether a total amount of business, substantial enough in terms of dollar-volume so as not to be merely de minimis, is foreclosed t

We think it enough that the Commission found that a not insubstantial portion of commerce is affected.

We think, then, the true meaning must be, not known or used by the public, before the application. And, thus construed, there is much reason for the limitation thus imposed by the

The act of Virginia, which is the land law of Kentucky, requires, that entries shall be so special and certain that any subsequent locater may know how to appropriate the adjacent

the term 'not privileged' as used in Rule 34, refers to 'privileges' as that term is understood in the law of evidence

The doctrine is not, at this day, to be questioned, that during a state of hostility, the citizens of the hostile states are incapable of contracting with each other. For near twen

and limit the words "substance or material," then, practically, all the' instructions in the "Cadwalader "and "Harrtranft "cases were *539 erroneous and the action in the "Walker "

A novation will, indeed, if it be absolute and unconditional, amount to a direct extinguishment of the original debt, by substituting the new contract in its place... if the debt o

An inoperable invention or one which fails to achieve its intended result does not negative novelty

One new and operative agency in the production of the desired result would give novelty to the entire combination.

No person has a vested interest in any rule of law, entitling him to insist that it shall remain unchanged for his benefit.

1998, when the Secretary accepted the 31-acre parcel into trust, or 1934, when Congress enacted the IRA.

the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque co

the question whether the power exists to forbid the erection of a building of a particular kind or for a particular use, like the question whether a particular thing is a nuisance,

The purpose of the provision of the statute authorizing an injunction against occupancy and use is not punitive but preventive; and it is no answer to the suit to say that the owne

Congress, because its power over the subject of bankruptcy is plenary, may by specific bankruptcy legislation create an exception to that principle and render judicial acts taken w

quod nullum tempus occurrit regi—that the sovereign is exempt from the consequences of its laches, and from the operation of statutes of limitations. The true reason is to be found

The pleadings in an action are governed by the dignity of the instrument on which it is founded. If it be a record, conclusive between the parties, it cannot be denied but by the p

the bonds must be approved by a majority of the property taxpayers voting and their votes must also represent a 'majority of the assessed property owned by those taxpayers who are

among those personnel both attorneys ""and consultants"? "Who but experts could those consultants be? Why would Congress want the GAO to study the hours that those experts "spent,"

freight that started and ended in the state.

constructing the platform of a reaping machine, upon which the cut grain falls as it is cut, in the shape of a quadrant, or of a sector of a circle, placed just behind the cutting