Definitions from Case Law

a person who has placed his name on a negotiable paper as a party to it, shall not afterwards, in a suit on such security, be competent as a witness to prove any fact which would t

every man is called a passenger who pays freight for his own person, and for goods which are not merchandise.

a drover travelling on a pass, such as was given in this case, for the purpose of taking care of his stock on the train, is a passenger for hire.

when the patentee, or the person having his rights, sells a machine or instrument whose sole value is in its use, he receives the consideration for its use and he parts with the ri

It is true that in suits by private traders to enjoin unfair competition by 'passing off,' proof that the public is deceived is an essential element of the cause of action. This pr

the defense that economic circumstances were such that the overcharged buyer could only charge his customers a higher price because the price to him was higher, and that in such ci

By passive trusts we mean those which are express, or created by the words of some deed or other instrument of writing, and not those arising or resulting by implication of law. Ev

those types of traffic control devices, including signs, markings and other devices, located at or in advance of grade crossings to indicate the presence of a crossing but which do

The general tendency of the law, in regard to damages at least, is not to go beyond the first step. As it does not attribute remote consequences to a defendant so it holds him liab

A passport is a document identifying a citizen, in effect requesting foreign powers to allow the bearer to enter and to pass freely and safely, recognizing the right of the bearer

heating the milk to 143 -145 F., maintaining it at that level for about thirty minutes, and then subjecting it to sudden cooling to a point between 38 and 40 F.

the patent to be the superior and conclusive evidence of the legal title. Until it issues, the fee is in the Government, which by the patent passes to the grantee, and he is entitl

novelty and nonobviousness—as well as utility—are separate tests of patentability and all must be satisfied in a valid patent

The patentability, or the issuing of a patent as to one, in nowise affects the rights of the inventor or discoverer in respect to the other. They are wholly disconnected and indepe

The addition of a new and useful element to an old combination may be patentable; but the addition must be the result of invention rather than the mere exercise of the skill of the

the elements of a combination may be all old. In making a combination the inventor has the whole field of mechanics to draw from.

While a scientific truth, or the mathematical expression of it, is not patentable invention, a novel and useful structure created with the aid of knowledge of scientific truth may

A patentable process is a method of treatment of certain materials to produce a particular result or product.

It is method and device which may be patented and not the scientific explanation of their operation.

any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter

an uncertainty which inhered in the essence of the description, rendering it incapable of being applied to the subject-matter

No livery of seizin is necessary to perfect a title by letters patent. The grantee, in such case, takes by matter of record; and the law deems the grant of record of equal notoriet

The thing to be assigned is not the mere parchment on which the grant is written, but the monopoly which the grant confers—the right of property which it creates. And when the part

The claim is the measure of the grant. The claim is required to be specific for the very purpose of protecting the public against extension of the scope of the patent.

challenges made in the proceeding, not challenges made in the petition but never made a part of the proceeding.

The claims of a patent are always to be read or interpreted in the light of its specifications.

Under the statute, it is the claims of the patent which define the invention. And each claim must stand or fall, as itself sufficiently defining invention, independently of the oth

As the exclusive right conferred by the patent was property, and the infringement was a tortious taking of a part of that property, the normal measure of damages was the value of w

when they have made one or more of the things patented, and have vended the same to others to be used, they have parted to that extent with their exclusive right, as they are never

This construction gives to the inventor the exclusive use of just what his inventive genius has discovered. It is all that the statute provides shall be given to him and it is all

the right of property which a patentee has in his invention, and his right to its exclusive use, is derived altogether from these statutory provisions; and this court have always h

Patentees acquire the exclusive right to make and use, and vend to others to be used, their patented inventions for the period of time specified in the patent, but when they have m

The patent is for a combination, and the improvement consists in arranging different portions of the plough, and combining them together in the manner stated in the specification,

Under our law a patent cannot be granted merely for a change of form. The act of February 21, 1793, § 2, so declared in express terms; and though this declaratory law was not re en

The franchise which the patent grants, consists altogether in the right to exclude every one from making, using, or vending the thing patented, without the permission of the patent

The patent grant is not of a right to the patentee to use the invention, for that he already possesses. It is a grant of the right to exclude others from using it. As the statute,

If this contract was real, and not colourable, which is the obvious meaning of the instruction, and the defendant had no other connexion with [the makers] in regard to these chains

The patent laws are authorized by that article in the Constitution which provides that Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for

The owner of a patent may assign it to another and convey (1) the exclusive right to make, use, and vend the invention throughout the United States; or (2) an undivided part or sha

Equity may rightly withhold its assistance from such a use of the patent by declining to entertain a suit for infringement, and should do so at least until it is made to appear tha

Control over the supply of such unpatented material is beyond the scope of the patentee's monopoly; and this limitation, inherent in the patent grant, is not dependent upon the pec

The patent monopoly does not extend beyond the invention described and explained as the statute requires; it cannot be enlarged by claims in the patent not supported by the descrip

The purpose, is, not that notice may be given of the issuance and existence of a patent, but to prevent innocent infringement; and this is accomplished in two ways—by marking the a

The owner of a patent, who grants to another the exclusive right to make, use, or vend the invention, which does not constitute a statutory assignment, holds the title to the paten

in judgment of law it is only a continuation of the original patent; and, consequently, the rights of the patentee, except as to prior infringements, are to be ascertained by the l

It is the opinion of the court that the plaintiffs, by their own showing, are not legal assignees to maintain this action, in their own names, and that the judgment of the circuit

The exclusive right granted in every patent must be limited to the invention described in the claims of the patent, and ... it is not competent for the owner of a patent, by notice

The statute requires the patentee not only to explain the principle of his apparatus and to describe it in such terms that any person skilled in the art to which it appertains may

The language of this last proviso is so precise, and so entirely free from all ambiguity, that it is difficult for any course of reasoning to shed light upon its meaning. . . . To

An owner of a patent may not condition a license so as to tie to the use of the patent the use of other materials, processes or devices which lie outside of the monopoly of the pat

Sir Francis Bacon, in his elements of common law, is the author usually referred to on this distribution of ambiguities, into patent and latent; the former appearing on the face of

such advertiser-supported national cable programming as the Cable News Network (CCN) and the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN).

A note of the debtor himself, or of a third party, is never considered as a payment of a precedent debt, unless there be a special agreement to that effect.

The payment of a protested bill for the honour of another, is only a mode of becoming the holder, and although against the will of the parties to it, they thus become debtors to th

In the legal sense payment of a prize to a winner of a contest is the discharge of a contractual obligation. The acceptance by the contestants of the offer tendered by the sponsor

In cases like the present, of long and running accounts, where debits and credits are perpetually occurring, and no balances are otherwise adjusted than for the mere purpose of mak

Investments purchased with money received in settlement of benefits are not such payments due or to become due.

A payment to an executor, or administrator, can be no satisfaction to a surviving partner, who has the sole right of suing for, and of receiving the monies, due to the company.

It is reasonable that a man who denies the legality of a tax should have a clear and certain remedy. The rule being established that, apart from special circumstances, he cannot in

a transaction where protest has been made in accordance with the requirement of section 2931, and not 'at or before payment' of the estimated duties.

Payment upon a claim means payment on account or in part as distinguished from one made and accepted as payment in full.

retirement benefits, the nondiscrimination clause must include them as well.

The Social Security Act imposes upon every employer 'an excise tax, with respect to having individuals in his employ.' This excise has been represented as one levied 'upon the rela

the tranquility enjoyed by the citizens of a municipality or a community where good order reigns among its members.

that term as used implies not only absence of violence, but absence of any unlawful act. It precludes the intimidation of customers. It precludes any form of physical obstruction o

They are confined to the pecuniary injuries resulting to the wife and next of kin, whereas if the deceased had survived, a wider range of inquiry would have been admitted. It would

A pecuniary loss or damage must be one which can be measured by some standard. It is a term employed judicially, not only to express the character of that loss to the beneficial pl

the local sale and delivery of goods is an essentially intrastate process whether a retailer operates from a fixed location or from a wagon

starting with a full load and delivering at various destination points, or the converse, picking up parts of a load at various points and delivering at a single destination.

One of the witnesses said he died in the islands. Another witness stated, that before 1797, she resided in St Domingo, and lived on a plantation near that of J. B. Chirac (the inte

The rule of evidence, that in questions of pedigree the declarations of aged and deceased members of the family may be proved, and given in evidence, has not been controverted. But

on any part of those acres, it is not pretended, that the defendant has ever exercised any act of industry, or that he has even maintained a pedis possessia. He made no inclosure,

the horrendous practice known as peine forte et dure by which recalcitrant defendants were tortured until death or until they 'consented' to a jury trial

A denial of an application for a license because of the insufficiency or deliberate falsity of the information lawfully required to be furnished is not a penal measure. It may hurt

As this is a penal section, it must be construed strictly.

penal statutes are to be construed strictly, and one is not to be subject to a penalty unless the words of the statute plainly impose it.

In general, a sum of money in gross, to be paid for the non-performance of an agreement, is considered as a penalty, the legal operation of which is, to cover the damages which the

The pendency of a suit in a state court does not deprive a Federal court of jurisdiction.

A subsequent suit may be abated by an allegation of the pendency of a prior suit; but the converse of the proposition is, in personal actions, never true.

where two distinct grounds in support of a single cause of action are alleged, one only of which presents a federal question, the federal court, even though the federal ground be n

the word 'pending' has the significance of 'until,' or while the time is running for bringing such an action

that during the continuance of the action and until its final decision the commissioner's order must remain in full force and effect.

The reference is to a proceeding against the entry, and not to some communication which, at most, is only suggestive of the propriety of such a proceeding, and may never become the

13.17 acres of land, none suitable for industrial development, and a total of 3.79 miles of main line and secondary and spur track laid on treated ties in sand with no rock ballast

Courts of justice will not shut the door in the face of the penitent; and hence it has been decided... that although a contract be in its inception usurious, a subsequent agreement

The presumption is that such a law is not intended to create private contractual or vested rights, but merely declares a policy to be pursued until the Legislature shall ordain oth

the term 'pensions' commonly referred to the gratuities paid by the government in recognition of past services in the Army or Navy

It may be defined as a status or condition of compulsory service, based upon the indebtedness of the peon to the master. The basal fact is indebtedness. ... Peonage is sometimes cl

the supreme power; the power of the country, whatever it may be.

mineral depletion for tax purposes is an allowance from income for the exhaustion of capital assets

The right of peremptory challenge is given, of course, to be exercised in the party's sole discretion... But the right is given in aid of the party's interest to secure a fair and

The right of challenge in the cases specified in the act of 1790, in respect to the number of jurors, is derived from the common law, which allowed thirty-five in cases of treason,

Where the evidence upon any issue is all on one side or so overwhelmingly on one side as to leave no room to doubt what the fact is, the court should give a peremptory instruction

The established rule is that where plaintiff and defendant respectively request peremptory instructions, and do nothing more, they thereby assume the facts to be undisputed and in

The tenant was divested of neither title nor possession by the silent existence of the landlord's statutory lien on the date of the assignment. Only after the lien was actually ass

When the location of a mining claim is perfected under the law, it has the effect of a grant by the United States of the right of present and exclusive possession. The claim is pro

a water right acquired in accordance with state law, which right has been exercised by the actual diversion of a specific quantity of water that has been applied to a defined area

A transfer shall be deemed to have been made at the time when it became so far perfected that no bona-fide purchaser from the debtor and no creditor could thereafter have acquired

in order to perfect his title against the debtor it is indispensable that the assignee should immediately give notice of the assignment to the debtor, for otherwise a priority of r

Perfection of workmanship, however much it may increase the convenience, extend the use, or diminish expense, is not patentable