Definitions from Case Law

The rule clearly is, that a party is not bound to make any discovery which would expose him to penalties, and this case falls within it.

the rule has evolved from the Common-law absolute disqualification to a rule which bars the testimony of one spouse against the other unless both consent

if a ship be at anchor, with no sails set and in a proper place for anchoring, and another ship under sail occasions damage to her, the latter is liable. But the place where the Ha

As a general rule, therefore, when meeting a sailing vessel, whether close-hauled or with the wind free, the latter has a right to keep her course, and it is the duty of the steame

Where 'the ancestor, by any gift or conveyance, takes an estate of freehold, and in the same gift or conveyance, an estate is limited, either mediately or immediately to his heirs

The Administrative Procedure Act contains specific provisions governing agency rule making, which it defines as 'an agency statement of general or particular applicability and futu

The rule of 1756 prohibits a neutral from engaging in time of war in a trade in which he was prevented from participating in time of peace, because that trade was, by law, exclusiv

The requirement of prior notice of authority and purpose before forcing entry into a home is deeply rooted in our heritage and should not be given grudging application; Congress, c

the 'rule of capture' which subjects the lessee's interest to his neighbors' power to drain his oil away... Each leaseholder, that is to say, is at the mercy of all those who adjoi

The principle that when the jurisdiction of a court has attached, it must be respected as exclusive until exhausted, is a rule of comity, having a wide application in civil cases b

A primary rule of construction (according to the English common law), as applicable to grants of lands made by the government to individuals, when they front on the shores of tide-

aside from the general principle that criminal statutes ought not to be extended by construction, we have here the additional consideration that this statute was primarily designed

The first and great rule in the exposition of wills, to which all other rules must bend, is, that the intention of the testator expressed in his will shall prevail, provided it be

the most material and most certain calls shall control those which are less material, and less certain. A call for a natural object, as a river, a known stream, a spring, or even a

The general rule of damage, is the value of the property taken, with interest from the time of the taking down to the trial. This is generally considered as the extent of the damag

Both federal and state rules on damages may be utilized, whichever better serves the policies expressed in the federal statutes. The rule of damages, whether drawn from federal or

one having knowledge of particular facts upon which he intends to rely to exempt him from a pecuniary obligation, about to be contracted with another—of which facts that other is i

proof that Negroes constituted a substantial segment of the population of the jurisdiction, that some Negroes were qualified to serve as jurors, and that none had been called for j

only serves as an aid for resolving an ambiguity; it is not to be used to beget one. The rule comes into operation at the end of the process of construing what Congress has express

It relates merely to 'the manner and the means by which a right to recover * * * is enforced.' In this sense the rule is a rule of procedure and not of substantive right, and is no

There is no principle better established, and more uniformly adhered to in this court, than that the circuit courts, in deciding on titles to real property in the different states,

The true test of legality is whether the restraint imposed is such as merely regulates and perhaps thereby promotes competition or whether it is such as may suppress or even destro

All laws should receive a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence. It will

a statutory rule that became a term of the contract, as much so as the amount of the premium to be paid or the time for its payment, and that determines the substantive rights of t

The rule of the thalweg rests upon equitable considerations and is intended to safeguard to each State equality of access and right of navigation in the stream

where the enacting clause is general in its language and objects, and a proviso is afterwards introduced, that proviso is construed strictly, and takes no case out of the enacting

We do not perceive any sufficient reason for so construing this Act of Congress as to exclude from its provisions those statutes of the several States which prescribe rules of evid

as the rules of evidence are founded upon general interest and convenience, they must, from time to time, admit of modifications, to adapt them to the actual condition and business

Rules of navigation are obligatory from the time the necessity for precaution begins, and continue to be applicable as the vessels advance, so long as the means and opportunity to

An authority conferred upon a court to make rules of procedure for the exercise of its jurisdiction is not an authority to enlarge that jurisdiction.

Running a corner' consists, broadly speaking, in acquiring control of all or the dominant portion of a commodity, with the purpose of artificially enhancing the price; one of the i

to assume the guise of a friend or an enemy, is, in legitimate warfare, an act the most familiar and frequent in its occurrence. It is so ordinary a ruse de guerre, that it ought r

intentional and unlawful damage, injury or destruction of real or personal property

flagellation or torture by or upon a person clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained on the pa

Safe custody is as mach the duty of the carrier as due transport and right delivery

the rule ceases to be operative whenever, and as long as, the place is closed against the servant... The master who furnishes the place may, of course, abandon or suspend its use,

positive enactments, but does not include judicial decisions in common-law tort cases.

when one union disclaims the work, § 10(k) proceedings terminate, not because all 'parties' to the dispute have settled or agreed to settle within the meaning of the statute, but o

In both cases, the allied armies were to be supplied, not by sales made directly to their agents, (for this is not required by either,) but by carrying supplies to the Peninsula, w

all the judges who concurred in those decisions were of opinion, that the mere sailing under an enemy's license, without regard to the object of the voyage, or the port of destinat

the general rule is, for a sailing vessel, meeting a steamer, to keep her course, while the steamer takes the necessary measures to avoid a collision. And though this rule should n

any transfer of title or possession of tangible personal property for consideration.

any sale of tangible personal property and any sale of or charge made for labor and services rendered in respect to real or personal property, which is not a sale at retail; '(f) T

There is nothing upon the face of the contract from which it can be satisfactorily inferred that it was intended to be a sale by the acre. The language of the contract on the part

in order to sustain such a sale, it must be made to appear, first, that the price paid approximates reasonably near to a fair and adequate consideration for the thing purchased; an

A sale made by a party who is in possession of a tract of public land with an intent thereafter to enter it as a homestead is equivalent to a relinquishment of his right to enter,

To give validity to such a sale by a mortgagor it must be shown that the conduct of the mortgagee was, in all things, fair and frank, and that he paid for the property what it was

if the nature or situation of the property is such that it cannot be conveniently examined in bulk, he has a right, and it is for the convenience of trade that he should be permitt

This sale having been made by a trustee to himself, must have been set aside and annulled on the application of the cestui que trust, but no such application being made, it cannot

A promise to return the money borrowed, is, indeed, one among the ordinary indications of a loan... But he who sells his lands or stock, and takes a note in payment, holds in his h

wherever a sale is made of property not present, but at a remote distance, which the seller knows the purchaser has never seen, but which he buys upon the representation of the sel

it is equally well settled that if the contract is such as to clearly express the intention of the parties that the builder shall sell and the purchaser shall buy the ship before i

the sale on execution transfers the property of the thing to the purchaser as completely as if the owner had sold it himself; but it transfers only the rights of the debtor, such a

all types of sales or dispositions.' S.Rep.

Payment and discharge of a bond is neither sale nor exchange within the commonly accepted meaning of the words.

when he sells his entire stock to one or more persons. This is an unusual occurrence, out of the ordinary mode of transacting such a business, is prima facie evidence of fraud, and

as it is the sale that passes the title, the vendee must take it from the day of the sale. The evidence may be procured, therefore, before or after suit brought; or before or after

the 'sales' referred to in the statute include forced sales such as have sufficed, under long accepted income tax practice, to establish a deductible loss in the case of non-capita

even when such payments were made for actual sales promotional services, they were a form of indirect price discrimination because the recipient of the allowances could shift part

a tax on the freedom of purchase

any point on the low-water line, so situated that there is some area within three geographical miles seaward from such point that is more than three geographical miles from all oth

Salvage is a compensation for actual service rendered to the property charged with it. It is demandable of right for vessels saved from pirates or from the enemy. In order, however

we do not think the claim [for salvage] can be said to arise upon any contract, express or implied, with the government of the United States. But the claim may properly be said to

Compensation for salvage service presupposes good faith, meritorious service, complete restoration, and incorruptible vigilance, so far as the property is within the reach or under

if they are guilty of embezzlement, whether at sea, in port, or even after the property is delivered into the custody of the law, it works a forfeiture of their claim to salvage

the reward in derelict cases should be governed by the same principles as other salvage cases—namely, danger to property, value, risk of life, skill, labor, and the duration of the

These are not matters of contract, according to the most eminent commentators on the subject, and they certainly are not cases of tort.

must include estimated resale or second-hand value

Courts of admiralty will enforce contracts made for salvage service and salvage compensation, where the salvor has not taken advantage of his power to make an unreasonable bargain;

As to the claims of the salvors, it may be remarked, that maritime Courts always approach them with great benignity and favour. Yet, in proportion to the inclination to favour wher

The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are t

Here we cannot help seeing, that the matters sought to be put in issue by the replication are those necessarily involved in the former trial; and to uphold it would be to permit th

A reissue patent is for the same invention as the original if the reissue fully describes and claims the very invention intended to be secured by the original patent; if it describ

If a person be tried for an offense in a tribunal deriving its jurisdiction and authority from the United States, and is acquitted or convicted, he cannot again be tried for the sa

the effect of the Sansome rule is simply this: a distribution of assets that would have been taxable as dividends absent the reorganization or liquidation does not lose that charac

A 'satellite zone' is an area which is not contiguous with the main attendance zone surrounding the school.

a work in which prevalent follies or vices are assailed with ridicule, or are attacked through irony, derision, or wit.

the whole extent of the rule is that the judgment is satisfied when the execution has been so used as to change the title of the goods, or in some way to deprive the debtor of his

It is undoubtedly well settled as a general principle, that a court of law will not permit an outstanding satisfied mortgage to be set up against the mortgagor... Yet the legal tit

the saving clause was designed merely to exonerate the United States from any claim of the patentee or his assigns in the event that any other person should prove a superior title.

[T]he saving clause...always has been construed as permitting substantive rights under the maritime law to recover money for service rendered, or as damages for tortious injuries,

a practice of purchasing shares of a security for his own account shortly before recommending that security for long-term investment and then immediately selling the shares at a pr

the combined federal and state provisions.

a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.

The scheme in each case had reached fruition. The persons intended to receive the money had received it irrevocably. It was immaterial to them, or to any consummation of the scheme

The phrase is a broad one and extends to a great variety of transactions. But broad as are the words 'to defraud,' they do not include threat and coercion through fear or force. Th

the ordinary understanding of 'scholarships' and 'fellowships' as relatively disinterested, 'no-strings' educational grants, with no requirement of any substantial quid pro quo fro

any teaching regularly of two or more persons in a group.

in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school or within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.

a mental state embracing intent to deceive, manipulate, or defraud.

a general indefinite equity, not applicable to one tract of land more than to another... It is a scintilla juris which we should find much difficulty in supporting against a comple

A mere scintilla of evidence is not enough to require the submission of an issue to the jury. The decisions establish a more reasonable rule that in every case, before the evidence

The weight of the evidence under the Employers' Liability Act must be more than a scintilla before the case may be properly left to the discretion of the trier of fact

A scire facias is a judicial writ used to enforce the execution of some matter of record on which it is usually founded; but though a judicial writ, or writ of execution, it is so

there is no pretence to say that a scire facias can be maintained, and a judgment had thereon, against a dead corporation, any more than against a dead man.

The writ of scire facias is no more an execution than an action of debt would have been: and the execution, which was issued on the judgment against the executrix, is not an execut

the scope of a consent decree must be discerned within its four corners, and not by reference to what might satisfy the purposes of one of the parties to it. Because the defendant

The law is well settled, that by the reference of an action to the determination of an arbitrator, nothing is included in the submission but the subject-matter involved in it… And

the legislature intended no more than to interdict the party from an imparlance, or any other means or contrivances for mere delay. He should not by sham pleadings, or by other pre

If business has been transacted in certain cases it is implied that the like business may be transacted in others. The inference to be drawn is, that everything fairly within the s