Definitions from Case Law

Owners of personal property are not obliged to treat every act of a third person who invades their right of property or possession as constituting a tortious conversion of the prop

the killing of three drug dealers in Waltham, Massachusetts.

every man who is a party to an instrument, gives credit to it; that it was of consequence to mankind, that no person should hang out false colors to deceive them, by first affixing

individual insertions under various headings; general, also called national, advertising typically comprises displays by national manufacturers or wholesale distributors of brand-n

the want of intrinsic fairness and honesty, in the connection in which the words are found, relates to some infirmity in the muniments of title, or deduction of title, of the defen

when, from personal incapacity, the nature of the contract, or any other cause, a contract is incapable of being enforced against one party, that party is equally incapable of enfo

The plaintiff must show that the defendant acted from malicious motives in prosecuting him, and that he had no sufficient reason to believe him to be guilty. If either of these be

a licentious act of one man towards the person of another, without regard to his rights; it has also been defined as the conscious failure by one charged with a duty to exercise du

War, when duly declared or recognized as such by the war-making power, imports a prohibition to the subjects, or citizens, of all commercial intercourse and correspondence with cit

He is a 'ward of the admiralty,' often ignorant and helpless, and so in need of protection against himself as well as others.

[S]eamen who are peculiarly the wards of admiralty. [The Jones Act's] purpose was to enlarge that protection, not to narrow it.

Seamen have always been regarded as wards of the admiralty, and their rights, wrongs, and injuries a special subject of the admiralty jurisdiction

As it is the duty of the warehouseman to deliver upon proper demand, his failure to do so, without excuse, has been regarded as making a prima facie case of negligence. If, however

Congress had in mind real shooting wars when it referred to participation in war in any form—actual military conflicts between nations of the earth in our time—wars with bombs and

From its very nature the war power, when necessity calls for its exercise, tolerates no qualifications or limitations, unless found in the Constitution or in applicable principles

authority to prepare defenses and to establish our military forces in defensive posture about the world.

an instrument conferring authority upon persons, inferior to a commission," and that mates must therefore be warrant officers, because they are appointed by the Secretary of the Na

affidavits for search warrants, such as the one involved here, must be tested and interpreted by magistrates and courts in a commonsense and realistic fashion. They are normally dr

By the common law of this state, a warrant and survey, if the consideration be paid, is considered a legal title against the proprietary, as much so as if he had a patent.

A court has power in the exercise of a sound discretion to issue a warrant of arrest without a previous subpoena, when there is good reason to believe that otherwise the witness wi

The Judges of this court were unanimously of opinion, that the warrant of commitment was illegal, for want of stating some good cause certain, supported by oath.

what was generally termed a warrant of distress, running against the body, goods, and chattels of defaulting receivers of public money, was issued to some public officer, to whom w

In a doubtful or marginal case a search under a warrant may be sustainable where without one it would fall. The resolution of doubtful or marginal cases in this area should be larg

The requirement that a warrant be obtained is a requirement that inferences to support the search 'be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the offi

it was precisely because it was a warranty,—that is, an absolute undertaking by contract that a fact was true,—that, if a warranty was alleged, it was not necessary to lay the scie

the who presents a check for payment warrants that he has title to it and the right to receive payment. If he has acquired the check through a forged endorsement, the warranty is b

extends to unseaworthiness of the ship due to faulty stowage of cargo, even though the charterer himself, subject to supervision of the captain, loads the vessel; applies only to t

That agreement necessarily includes petitioner's obligation not only to stow the pulp rolls, but to stow them properly and safely. Competency and safety of stowage are inescapable

war risk policies, being contracts, are property and create vested rights

the common law had long recognized that in times of imminent peril—such as when fire threatened a whole community—the sovereign could, with immunity, destroy the property of a few

At the threshold of this enquiry, I lay it down as a fundamental proposition, that strictly speaking, in war all intercourse between the subjects and citizens of the belligerent co

service performed by a Spanish War veteran, a World War I veteran, a World War II veteran, a Korean veteran, a Vietnam veteran, or a member of the WAAC.

if a house be destroyed by lightning, floods, tempests, or enemies, without any concurrence of the lessee, or possibility of his preventing the same, this is no waste in the lessee

The land, then, which was brought into market and offered for sale, on which the purchaser might place his warrant, and to which he might acquire a title, was 'waste and unappropri

Oil and gas reserves like other minerals in place, are recognized as wasting assets. The production of oil and gas, like the mining of ore, is treated as an income-producing operat

In the understanding of the sailor, a division into 'watches,' as applied to the personnel of the ship, connotes a division as nearly equal as possible

If the call for the southern boundary, instead of being a lake, which is a shifting line, had been a permanent object, such as a street or wall, there could not be two opinions as

any person who engages in the 'transportation by water * * * of * * * property * * * for compensation

the water in Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, Lake Havasu and all other water in the mainstream below Lee Ferry and within the United States; (F) 'Tributaries' means all stream systems the

the right to the use of water can be acquired only by prior appropriation for a beneficial use; and that such right when thus obtained is a property right, which, when acquired for

The declaration in the Constitution of 1879 that water appropriated for sale is appropriated to a public use must be taken according to its subject-matter. The use is not by the pu

water `[a]s found in streams and bodies forming geographical features such as oceans, rivers, [and] lakes,'" "ante," at 732 (quoting Webster's Second 2882)—the dissent is correct t

storm drains, roadside ditches, ripples of sand in the desert that may contain water once a year, and lands that are covered by floodwaters once every 100 years.

a "receiver or frame." Section 921 supports this reading by delimiting the defnition of a "frearm" to "any weapon" convertible into a 508 BONDI v. VANDERSTOK Thomas, J., dissenting

garments worn or made for wearing; dress in general;' and the noun 'wearing,' as 'that which one wears; clothes; garments.' But it is unnecessary to search or compare the dictionar

the state of entire subjection of one person to the will of another,' and a slave is said to be 'a person who is held in bondage to another.' Even the secondary meaning given recog

that series of days called a week commencing Sunday and ending Saturday.

any day of the week other than Sundays or whole holidays, and the word 'holiday' refers to a holiday of not less than 24 hours.

The general rule that either two witnesses or one witness with probable circumstances will be required to outweigh an answer asserting a fact responsively to a bill, is admitted. T

a determination [by] the trier of fact that a greater amount of credible evidence supports one side of an issue or cause than the other.

Such benefits are a matter of statutory entitlement for persons qualified to receive them. Their termination involves state action that adjudicates important rights. The constituti

plans providing benefits in the event of sickness, accident, [or] disability.

Well advertised' means well known.

not only honesty, but reasonable skill and diligence.

It has become firmly settled that whether a case is one arising under the Constitution or a law or treaty of the United States, in the sense of the jurisdictional statute, must be

they also contained typical and representative averages.

its northwest corner, where its west line meets New York Avenue, and if by " west " is meant due west, then a line running due west from Fourteenth Street will not strike the west

those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalen

The statute was to take effect from its passage; and it is a general rule that where the computation is to be made from an act done, the day on which the act is done is to be inclu

the time when payments are first administratively allowed as a result of a hearing of which both parties have notice and are permitted to present their respective positions; any ot

at what time the right of the government to the duties accrues in the fiscal sense of the terms. The answer is, at the time when the goods have arrived at the proper port of entry.

after the term in which the forfeiture was entered.

unlawfully grazing livestock on the Federal range, the notice served on the alleged violator * * * will order the alleged violator to remove the livestock or to cause them to be re

when and not until that occurs; and contemplates it as something that may or may not come to pass.

? The word "when" can, but does not always, mean "[a]t the time that," American Heritage Dictionary, at 1971, or "just after the moment that," Webster's Third New International Dic

Now, nothing is better settled than that this cannot be done. The equities being equal, the law must prevail.

the federal laws delimiting the districts in which such an action 'may be brought,' " " id., " at 624 , 84 S.Ct. 805 , noting that "the phrase 'may be brought' recurs at least 10 t

there has been only a momentary seisin in the husband? 2d.

trespasses " as well as to " capital offences," and then, by á faulty connexion with the words " other forfeitures " — which " other forfeitures " rest on principles totally differ

Whipsawing' is the process of striking one at a time the employer members of a multi-employer association.

a person who provides "information relating to a violation of the securities laws to the Commission." §78u–6(a)(6).

a Caucasian is not to establish a sharp line of demarcation between those who are entitled and those who are not entitled to naturalization, but rather a zone of more or less debat

only those women and girls who are literally slaves — those women who are owned and held as property and chattels — whose lives are lives of involuntary servitude; those who practi

any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State acting in his official capacity.

components of that which is itself the final disposition required by the definition of 'order' in § 551(6).

those who have signed the 'consignment contract.' This contract, however, permits one 'wholesale agent' to sell to another 'wholesale agent.' For all that appears, the goods procur

every person other than a manufacturer or rectifier who is engaged in business as a jobber or wholesale merchant, dealing in alcoholic beverages.

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

If that mechanism is entirely statutory, effecting an automatic transfer without any voluntary action by the parties, then the transfer may truly be said to be 'wholly by operation

if counsel finds his case to be wholly frivolous, after a conscientious examination of it, he should so advise the court and request permission to withdraw. That request must, howe

a suit may sometimes be dismissed for want of jurisdiction where the alleged claim under the Constitution or federal statutes clearly appears to be immaterial and made solely for t

we deal here with conduct that is wholly passive—mere failure to register. It is unlike the commission of acts, or the failure to act under circumstances that should alert the doer

the real nature and character of the act as a crime, and not to the mere act itself.

bankers, for the purposes of taxation under the revenue laws.

that federal courts can correct only "extreme malfunctions in the state criminal justice syste[m]." Richter, 562 U. S., at 102, 106 (internal quotation marks omitted).

only the decedent's wife living with or dependent for support upon him at the time of his death; or living apart for justifiable cause or by reason of his desertion at such time',

If she either invests capital originating with her or substantially contributes to the control and management of the business, or otherwise performs vital additional services, or d

In this country a wife in the plaintiff's circumstances may get a different domicil from that of her husband for purposes of divorce is not disputed and is not open to dispute. ...

In a mere uncultivated country, in wild and impenetrable woods, in the sullen and solitary haunts of beasts of prey, what notoriety could an entry, a gathering of a twig or an acor

the 'misapplication made an offense by this statute means a misapplication for the use, benefit, or gain of the party charged,' or someone other than the association. And further,

the mere discount of an unsecured note, even if the maker and the officer making the discount knew it was not well secured, would not necessarily be a crime, if the maker believed

The standard prescribed is not negligence but wilful misbehavior. In the maritime law it has long been held that while fault of the seaman will forfeit the right to maintenance and

that degree of neglect arising where there is a reckless indifference to the safety of human life, or an intentional failure to perform a manifest duty to the public, in the perfor

It is emphatically the will of the person who makes it, and is defined to be 'the legal declaration of a man's intentions, which he wills to be performed after his death.

A mind intent upon willful evasion is inconsistent with surprised innocence.

A willful and malicious injury does not follow as of course from every act of conversion, without reference to the circumstances. There may be a conversion which is innocent or tec

To deprive another of his property forever by deliberately disposing of it without semblance of authority is certainly an injury thereto within common acceptation of the words. ...

The difference between the two offenses is found in the affirmative action implied from the term 'attempt,' as used in the felony subsection. Willful but passive neglect of the sta

there can be but one person who can willfully default within the meaning of the section. This is the principal in the recognizance. By its terms he agrees to 'appear for judgment.'

There can be no willful failure to depart until 'the country willing to receive the alien is identified.