Definitions from Case Law

Piers or landing places, and even wharves, may be private, or they may be in their nature public, although the property may be in an individual owner; or, in other words, the owner

Of course, public works usually are of a permanent nature, and that fact leads to a certain degree of association between the notion of permanence and the phrase. But the associati

construction work done under contract and paid for in whole or part by public funds.

The obligation has a dual aspect, it being given, in the first place, to secure to the government the faithful performance of all obligations which a contractor may assume towards

The words 'upon' and 'any of the,' and the plural 'works' import that the objects of labor referred to have some kind of permanent existence and structural unity, and are severally

whatever amounts to a public wrong may be made the subject of an indictment.

whatever may be the rate agreed upon, the carrier's lien on the goods is, by force of the act of Congress, for the amount fixed by the published schedule of rates and charges, and

It was not an indefeasible estate; ownership of the lands in the pueblos could not in strictness be affirmed. It amounted in truth to little more than a restricted or qualified rig

There is a marked difference, however, between lands which are held by a municipality in trust for public, municipal purposes, such as pueblo lands, and lands acquired by a municip

Mere puffing, indeed, might not be within its meaning; that is, the mere exaggeration of the qualities which the article has; but when a proposed seller goes beyond that, assigns t

If matter in abatement be pleaded puis darrein continuance, the judgment, if against the defendant, is peremptory as well on demurrer as on trial.

It is admitted that a plea puis darrien continuance is always pleaded by way of substitution for the former plea, on which no proceeding is afterwards had... It differs from a tech

Punctuation is a most fallible standard by which to interpret a writing; it may be resorted to, when all other means fail; but the court will first take the instrument by its four

capable of punishment by death under the penalty provisions of the UCMJ, and since Article 120(a) provided (despite Coker) that rape could be punished by death, it follows that the

a criminal conviction and not simply the imposition of sen- tence." Ball v. United States, 470 U. S. 856, 861 (1985).

punishment as for a crime.

and is deemed punitive when its purpose is to vindicate the authority of the court by punishing the act of disobedience as a public wrong.

By definition, punitive damages are based upon the degree of the defendant's culpability.

acquired for marketing.

if he purchase property and give a mortgage for the purchase-money, the deed which he receives and the mortgage which he gives are regarded as one transaction, and no general lien

It was notoriously the general practice to sell an entry or a survey taking the chance of surplus, and the hazard of losing a part of the land by other entries. A special contract,

where two devisees or tenants in common hold under an imperfect title, and one of them buys in the outstanding title, such purchase will enure to their common benefit upon contribu

Producers' shareholders 'purchased' shares in the new company by exchanging them for their old stock

In the construction of Registry Acts, the term 'purchaser' is usually taken in its technical, legal sense. It means a complete purchaser, or, in other words, a purchaser clothed wi

In chancery a bidder at a sale by a master, under a decree of court, is not considered a purchaser until the report of sale is confirmed.

When there is a fair sale, say the court, and the decree executed by a conveyance from the administrator, the purchaser will not be bound to look beyond the decree, if the facts ne

The purchaser depends on the judgment, the levy and the deed. All other questions are between the parties to the judgment and the marshal. Whether the marshal sells, before or afte

a purchaser at sheriff's sale, cannot protect himself against a prior claim, of which he had no notice; or be held a bona fide purchaser, unless he shall have paid the money.

Of the equitable interest of John Caig the mortgagees were bound to take notice, because the purchaser of an equitable interest, purchases at his peril, and acquires the property b

The term 'purchasers' as used in this statute includes purchasers at judicial sales. A deed not filed for record is as to them wholly without effect. It is in all respects, so far

the Constitution imposes no such restraint on government as respects purely commercial advertising. Whether, and to what extent, one may promote or pursue a gainful occupation in t

an executive officer restricted to the performance of executive functions, charged with no duty at all related to either the legislative or judicial power, who is merely one of the

The First and Fourteenth Amendments do not afford the same kind of freedom to those who would communicate ideas by conduct such as patrolling, marching, and picketing on streets an

The oath of a contemnor is no longer a bar to a prosecution for contempt.

what appears on the face of the instrument.

In § 403(g) Congress used the words 'purport' and 'represent'—terms suggesting the idea of counterfeit.

more than mere knowledge, undoubtedly present in nearly every case.

it is essential in each case that there be some act by which the defendant purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invokin

A purpose to discriminate must be present which may be proven by systematic exclusion of eligible jurymen of the proscribed race or by unequal application of the law to such an ext

follows: A person acts purposely with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense if it is his conscious object to engage in that conduct or to cau

The purpose of the patent law is to stimulate invention by protecting inventors for a fixed time in the advantages that may be derived from exclusive manufacture, use, and sale.

[a]ny peaceful purpose related to an industrial, agricultural, research, medical, or pharmaceutical activity or other activity," and other specific purposes.

[i]ndustrial, agricultural, research, medical, pharmaceutical or other peaceful purposes," Art. II(9)(a), " id., " at 322, and other specific purposes not at issue here, Arts.

Any erection thereon without license is, therefore, deemed an encroachment upon the property of the sovereign, or, as it is termed in the language of the law, a purpresture, which

It may be gathered, however, from some of the public acts regulating the departments, that a purser, or as the real name originally was, a burser, is a disbursing officer, and liab

acting or done in consequence or in prosecution (of anything); hence, agreeable; conformable; following; according.

Wherever this term is used, it is manifestly intended to designate the enacting part or body of the act, in contradistinction to the other parts of it, such as the preamble, the sa

as counsel explains, the spirit of the rule, and that, it is urged, intends only 'money demands, pure and simple,' not contracts of suretyship or conditional obligations.

the open, notorious, and exclusive possession of the premises, by the parties claiming under Goodbee, when the patentee made his entry and received the patent, was sufficient to pu

an issue joined by the pleadings of the parties, or otherwise stated on the record, for decision by the appropriate tribunal.

a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit, or gift of money or of anything of value.

any individual with respect to whom it appears to the satisfaction of the Board that— (1) He is at least sixty-five years of age; and (2) The total amount of wages paid to him, wit

The captain has a right to retain them until the general average with which they are charged has been paid or secured... This right of retainer, therefore, is a qualified lien, to

Originally, by the common law, the Crown could challenge peremptorily, without limitation as to number. By act of Parliament passed in the time of Edward the First, the right to ch

Whatever the nature of the interest of a riparian owner in the submerged lands in front of his upland bordering on a public navigable water, his title is not as full and complete a

any "assembly, gathering, activity, or meeting sponsored, arranged, or promoted by a religious, charitable, community service, educational, or other similar non-profit organization

some required quantity or amount of proof, the Court is also wrong.

a period of three calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31; and the term 'quarter of coverage' means a calendar quarter in which the individual-has

a calendar quarter in which the individual has been paid not less than $50 in wages.

The transaction, in this latter case, between the pilot and the master or owners, cannot be strictly termed a contract, but it is a transaction to which the law attaches similar co

A liability upon quasi contract is one upon an 'implied contract.' The liability of a national bank shareholder, created though it is by statute, is quasi contractual in its origin

the effect of these provisions would have been to create an obligation or liability, quasi contractual in nature, on the part of stockholders acquiring their stock after the enactm

If not a corporation in the full sense of the term, it is a quasi corporation, and can sue and be sued, in regard to any matter in which, by law, it has rights to be enforced, or i

The application against him in such cases is not equivalent to an action of debt or assumpsit, but is a quasi criminal proceeding, in which the question is not merely whether the a

if the two suits are in rem, or quasi in rem, so that the court, or its officer, has possession or must have control of the property which is the subject of the litigation in order

The only essentials to the exercise of the state's power are presence of the res within its borders, its seizure at the commencement of proceedings, and the opportunity of the owne

The Arkansas Corporation Commission does not act ministerially. On the contrary, it is a quasi-judicial agency entrusted with wide responsibilities in connection with the general t

those who are members of a body 'to exercise its judgment without the leave or hindrance of any other official or any department of the government,' as to whom a power of removal e

A proceeding of this sort requiring the taking and weighing of evidence, determinations of fact based upon the consideration of the evidence, and the making of an order supported b

Neither finding was here essential to the existence of authority to enter the order and hence was not 'quasi jurisdictional'.

The legal distinction was pointed out between what may be termed quasi jurisdictional findings, there held to be indispensable, and the 'complete statement of the grounds of the Co

an administrative body created by Congress to carry into effect legislative policies embodied in the statute in accordance with the legislative standard therein prescribed, and to

When under this mandate the Commission declares a specific rate to be the reasonable and lawful rate for the future, it speaks as the Legislature, and its pronouncement has the for

The function of filling in the interstices of the Act should be performed, as much as possible, through this quasi-legislative promulgation of rules to be applied in the future.

Sureties, signing appeal bonds, stay bonds, delivery bonds, and receipters under writs of attachment, become quasi parties to the proceedings, and subject themselves to the jurisdi

It was one between states, each acting as a quasi sovereign and representative of the interests and rights of her people in a controversy with the other.

The interests of the State are not deemed to be confined to those of a strictly proprietary character but embrace its 'quasi-sovereign' interests which are 'independent of and behi

remain or continue, and in this sense is used in the last clause of the same article—"quedan anuladas y de ningun valor", remain null and of no effect.

Whether there be any evidence is a question for the judge; whether there be sufficient evidence is for the jury

whether certain facts do or do not constitute a ground of liability is in its nature a question of law. To leave it uncertain is to leave the law uncertain.

Questions which merely lurk in the record, neither brought to the attention of the court nor ruled upon, are not to be considered as having been so decided as to constitute precede

In a patent case in the Court of Claims under the act of 1910 the questions of validity and infringement are questions of fact.

In determining questions of general law, the federal courts, while inclining to follow the decisions of the courts of the state in which the controversy arises, are free to exercis

Whether the commission applies the legislative standards validly set up, whether it acts within the authority conferred or goes beyond it, whether its proceedings satisfy the perti

that without pretense of any entitlement to the payment, a public official violates § 1951 if he intends the payor to believe that absent payment the official is likely to abuse hi

From as early a date as the year 1705, Virginia has never been without an act of limitation. And no class of laws is more universally sanctioned by the practice of nations, and the

Title by patent from the United States to a tract of ground, theretofore public, prima facie carries ownership of all beneath the surface, and possession under such patent of the s

Whether he personally, or by attorney representatively, subscribed the capitulation, does not appear; nor do we think it material, for the maxim is a true one, qui facit per alium,

those places which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate, such as parks, streets, and sidewalks.

To support the position that where the assignment passes only an equity, notice is not necessary . . . and that if no legal estate passes, qui prior est in tempore, potior est in j

having acquired his title by a quit-claim deed, he cannot be regarded as a bona fide purchaser without notice. In such cases the conveyance passes the title as the grantor held it,

any immigrant who is not a nonquota immigrant.

A wholesaler who compels a retailer to buy an unwanted inventory as a condition to acquisition of needed articles exacts a 'quota' from the retailer and excludes sales by competing

The prerogative writ by which the government can call upon any person to show by what warrant he holds a public office or exercises a public franchise.

the composite average of many computer-generated plans is the majority's alone.

racial classifications are 'constitutionally suspect,' and subject to the 'most rigid scrutiny,' They 'bear a far heavier burden of justification' than other classifications

Where jury commissioners limit those from whom grand juries are selected to their own personal acquaintance, discrimination can arise from commissioners who know no negroes as well

such a prejudice as would disqualify a juror because precluding an impartial verdict

no official transfer plan or provision of which racial segregation is the inevitable consequence may stand under the Fourteenth Amendment.

conduct chargeable as any of a host of state- and federal-law crimes, such as money laundering, extortion, and mail or wire fraud, to take some common examples.