Definitions from Case Law

The language of § 1406(a) is amply broad enough to authorize the transfer of cases, however wrong the plaintiff may have been in filing his case as to venue, whether the court in w

The 14th Amendment is not to be construed 'as introducing a factitious equality without regard to practical differences that are best met by corresponding differences of treatment.

The 14th Amendment does not prohibit legislation special in character. ... If a class is deemed to present a conspicuous example of what the legislature seeks to prevent, the 14th

Read literally, this language clearly contemplates that a statutory insider might sell enough shares to bring his holdings below 10%, and later—but still within six months—sell add

To come within the legislation a complaint must allege that the defendants did (1) 'conspire or go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another' (2) 'for the purpose of

The basis of the disqualification is that 'personal bias or prejudice' exists, by reason of which the judge is unable to impartially exercise his functions in the particular case.

§ 1391(d) is properly regarded, not as a venue restriction at all, but rather as a declaration of the long-established rule that suits against aliens are wholly outside the operati

§ 311 neither creates nor defines a substantive liability but provides merely a new procedure by which the Government may collect taxes.

it is plain that as far as the sentence is concerned the original order entered under § 4208(b) is wholly tentative. That section merely provides that commitment of a defendant to

The purposes were severalfold—to override certain kinds of state laws, to provide a remedy where state law was inadequate, 'to provide a federal remedy where the state remedy, thou

The purpose of § 5(2)(f) was not to freeze jobs but to provide compensatory conditions. When there is a collective agreement and the Commission adopts or approves it, the collectiv

consideration of the applicability of § 5(b) must be limited to a comparison of the two complaints on their face. Obviously suspension of the running of the statute of limitations

the section is intended for the benefit of creditors of the bankrupt and, therefore, does not avoid liens as against all the world but only as against the trustee and those claimin

Barring exceptional cases, which are specially provided for, the policy of the act is to fix a four months' period in which a creditor cannot obtain an advantage over other credito

§ 7201 includes the offense of willfully attempting to evade or defeat the assessment of a tax as well as the offense of willfully attempting to evade or defeat the payment of a ta

the elements of § 7201 are willfulness; the existence of a tax deficiency; and an affirmative act constituting an evasion or attempted evasion of the tax.

the difference between a mere willful failure to pay a tax (or perform other enumerated actions) when due under § 7203 and a willful attempt to evade or defeat taxes under § 7201 i

§ 7201 is 'the capstone of a system of sanctions which singly or in combination were calculated to induce prompt and forthright fulfillment of every duty under the income tax law a

The object of §7421(a) is to withdraw jurisdiction from the state and federal courts to entertain suits seeking injunctions prohibiting the collection of federal taxes

it is only when the interference with § 7 rights outweighs the business justification for the employer's action that § 8(a)(1) is violated. A violation of § 8(a)(1) alone therefore

Under that section both discrimination and a resulting discouragement of union membership are necessary, but the added element of unlawful intent is also required.

It forbids a union to induce employees to strike against or to refuse to handle goods for their employer when an object is to force him or another person to cease doing business wi

stock certificates and undelivered dividends thereon may also be abandoned property subject to the disposition of the domiciliary state of the corporation when the whereabouts of t

a seizure, or capture, call it which we may, if once abandoned, without the influence of superior force, loses all its validity, and becomes a complete nullity. Like the common cas

by the word 'abandonment,' I understand a yielding, ceding, or giving up; and, in general, it applies to cases, where there has been a great loss, and the assured, resorting to the

The certificate issues not primarily to protect the railroad, but to protect interstate commerce from undue burdens or discrimination. The Commission by its order removes an obstru

The insurance is but a wager between the parties to it, on the safety of the vessel. By the rule of the contract the ship may be abandoned, and the whole insurance claimed, when th

The physical alteration of facilities is not a sine qua non restricting the Commission's jurisdiction under § 7(b). A natural-gas company that ceases taking and transporting gas, w

if an inventor makes his discovery public, looks on, and permits others freely to use it, without objection or assertion of claim to the invention, of which the public might take n

Mere forbearance to apply for a patent during the progress of experiments, and until the party has perfected his invention and tested its value by actual practice, affords no just

An inventor may abandon his invention, and surrender or dedicate it to the public. This inchoate right, thus once gone, cannot afterwards be resumed at his pleasure; for, where gif

An actual abandonment of possession by a locator of a mining claim, such as would work an abandonment of any other easement, would terminate all the right of possession which the l

The election, then, by the Kohnyo claimant, filed in the land office June 14, 1898, was an abandonment of the south 700 feet of the Kohnyo claim, which took effect eo instanti.

Discontinuance of operations by the trustee is abandonment of operations by a carrier within the meaning of § 1(18).

No matter by what means an invention may be communicated to the public, before a patent is obtained; any acquiescence in the public use, by the inventor, will be an abandonment of

The possible abatement—partial reduction or annulment—there referred to depended upon the future decision of the Commissioner.

dissolution of a corporation at common law abates all litigation in which the corporation is appearing either as plaintiff or defendant

in courts of equity, an abatement of the suit, by the death of a party, has always been held to have a very different effect; for such abatement amounts to a mere suspension, and n

in real and personal actions, the death of either party, before judgment, did at common law abate the suit; and... the 31st section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20., was necess

While it is true that the duty required concerns the state, the suit is against [the officer] as an individual, and he alone can be punished for the failure to obey an injunction,

There is a material distinction between the death of parties before judgment and after judgment, and while a writ of error is depending. In the former case, all personal actions by

[t]o encourage or set another on to commit a crime"); Black's Law Dictionary 6 (1891) (to "abet" is "[t]o encourage, incite, or set another on to commit a crime.

not merely present inhabitants, but present inhabitancy coupled with an intention of permanent residence.

income of any class described in paragraph (2) includible in the gross income of the taxpayer for any taxable year under this subchapter if it is abnormal for the taxpayer to deriv

The statute abolished the fellow-servant rule. If the injury was due to the neglect of a co-employee in the performance of his duty, that neglect must be attributed to the employer

any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device which is known to cause fetal death when employed in the usual and customary use for which it is manufactured, whet

the termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus.

a clinic, physician's office, or any other place or facility in which abortions are performed, other than a hospital.

around, doesn't it? "[A.] It was, your Honor, it was meant to mean about the rear wall, between the speakers.

any employe who is a member of the Union and is not more than sixty (60) days in arrears in the payment of membership dues.

the Twenty-fourth Amendment does not merely insure that the franchise shall not be 'denied' by reason of failure to pay the poll tax; it expressly guarantees that the right to vote

an incorporeal political being, which requires for its existence the presence of the judges.

the Act as construed and applied is unconstitutional because it requires an official act (viz., returning the reply card) as a limitation on the unfettered exercise of the addresse

Negligence is not the basis for liability under the Act. Instead it 'imposes upon the carrier an absolute and continuing duty to maintain the locomotive, and all parts and appurten

the maritime law attaches an absolute and unconditional lien upon the property. The possession is not necessary to its validity. Indeed, in cases of seaman's wages and bottomry, th

The well-settled rule in equity is, that it is not competent to show by parol evidence that an absolute deed was intended only as a mortgage, except upon the ground that the writte

Sections 1 and 9 of the safety Appliance Act converts this qualified duty imposed by the common law into an absolute duty, from the violation of which there arises a liability for

[T]he forfeiture becomes absolute at the commission of the prohibited acts, and that the title from that moment vests in the United States in all cases where the statute in terms d

absolute immunity from federal criminal prosecution for offenses disclosed by the evidence must be given a person compelled to testify after claim of privilege against self-incrimi

Absolute' in § 4 carried the gloss of its predecessor statutes, meaning undiminished, not exclusive.

Absolute liability, of course, arises irrespective of how the tortfeasor conducts himself; it is imposed automatically when any damages are sustained as a result of the decision to

to the extent of their debts creditors are entitled to priority over stockholders against all the property of an insolvent corporation

the proscriptions of these three subsections are absolute. Unlike § 2(a), none of them requires, as proof of a prima facie violation, a showing that the illicit practice has had an

it must be a distinct and unequivocal absolute refusal to perform the promise, and must be treated and acted upon as such by the party to whom the promise was made; for if he after

Absorption' should be read to include the introduction of moisture from the outside and the incorporation of water into the butter, whether it is technically an absorption or not.

a doctrine of abstention appropriate to our federal system whereby the federal courts, 'exercising a wise discretion', restrain their authority because of 'scrupulous regard for th

the mere abstract teaching of the moral propriety or even moral necessity for a resort to force and violence, is not the same as preparing a group for violent action and steeling i

Federal courts will not pass upon constitutional contentions presented in an abstract rather than in a concrete form.

General terms descriptive of a class of persons made subject to a criminal statute may and should be limited, where the literal application of the statute would lead to extreme or

the principle is to be applied to override the literal terms of a statute only under rare and exceptional circumstances... to justify a departure from the letter of the law upon th

Such an abuse would take place if the summons had been issued for an improper purpose, such as to harass the taxpayer or to put pressure on him to settle a collateral dispute, or f

proper standard of review of a district court's evidentiary rulings.

if a prisoner deliberately withholds one of two grounds for federal collateral relief at the time of filing his first application, in the hope of being granted two hearings rather

enhancing the freedom of teachers to teach what they will," "ante," at 586 —even though "academic freedom" in that sense has little scope in the structured elementary and secondary

Acceptors of a bill of exchange, by the act of acceptance, admit the genuineness of the signatures of the drawers, and the competency of the drawers to assume that responsibility.

An acceptance is not a collateral engagement to pay the debt of another: it is an absolute engagement to pay the money to the holder of the bill; and the engagements of all the oth

It is to be borne in mind that the power of the President under the Constitution to grant pardons and the right of a witness must be kept in accommodation. Both have sanction in th

Any stranger has a right to intervene in case of the non-acceptance, or non-payment of a bill of exchange. This is an established usage in commercial operations, and contributes es

the doctrine is well established, that the acceptor is bound to know the handwriting of the drawer, and cannot defend himself from payment by a subsequent discovery of the forgery

The general rule undoubtedly is, that the drawee by accepting the bill admits the handwriting of the drawer; but not of the indorsers. And the holder is bound to know that the prev

One who knowingly takes the property of another cannot, by changing its form or increasing its value, or by commingling it with other property of his own, acquire title by accessio

Here there was no shrinkage of assets and the taxpayer made a clear gain. As a result of its dealings it made available $137,521.30 assets previously offset by the obligation of bo

The mortgage can have no separate existence. When the note is paid the mortgage expires. It cannot survive for a moment the debt which the note represents. This dependent and incid

any article designed to be used in connection with such vehicle to add to its utility or ornamentation and which is primarily adapted for such use, whether or not essential to the

something over which you have no control the cross-examination would have been right now and you would not have had an opportunity to talk to him.

the carefully chosen words defining liability distinguish between the result and the external means which produces it. The insurance is not against an accidental result. The stipul

Organization rights are granted to workers by the same authority, the National Government, that preserves property rights. Accommodation between the two must be obtained with as li

The various parties to an accommodation bill, where no consideration has passed as among themselves, are not, unless by special agreement, bound to pay in equal proportions as co-s

The fact that these parties were accommodation endorsers does not make them co-sureties, bound to contribute equally to the payment of the bills, without a special agreement to tha

It seems settled in England, by the case of Nicholson v. Gouthit, that the law with regard to a promissory note is different, and that, if in any case where the notice is made for

An accommodation maker is not allowed that defense [of no consideration] as against the receiver of the bank and its creditors, or at times even as against the bank itself, where h

One article or thing is accompanied by another when it supplements or explains it, in the manner that a committee report of the Congress accompanies a bill. No physical attachment

That is, when, instead of a sale for a price, a thing is given by the debtor to the creditor in payment, in which we all know that, if the thing given is the property of another, t

An account is something which may be adjusted and liquidated by an arithmetical computation.

An account which has ceased to run is an account closed. An account closed is an account stated; and it is expressly decided that an account stated is not excepted from the general

It is a phrase well known as referring to the auditors and controllers of the treasury, who pass upon all claims against the government before they can be paid out of the public tr

The right to an account of profits is incident to the right to an injunction in copy and patent-right cases.

No balance was arrived at as the result of computation and agreement. The Commissioner did not inform the taxpayer that the tax had been overpaid in a determinate amount. The taxpa

when changes take place by the slow and gradual process of accretion the boundary moves with the shifting in the main channel's course

It is the established rule that a riparian proprietor of land bounded by a stream, the banks of which are changed by the gradual and imperceptible process of accretion or erosion,