scienter
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 361 U.S. 147 - Smith v. People of the State of California · 1959Most cited · 2,285 citing opinions
knowledge by appellant of the contents of the book
How the Supreme Court has restated “scienter”
Each Supreme Court definition of “scienter,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “scienter”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “scienter” — 3,666 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1917–1966
- ORIGINAL
Such action involves no direct showing of negligence; the sole primary issue is whether defendants caused or permitted to be made a statement of the bank's condition upon which statement plaintiff relied to his injury, and which statement defendants knew was materially false... This scienter is the material condition.
bank director liability
The obvious delimiting words in the statute are those requiring 'intent or reason to believe that the information to be obtained is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation.' This requires those prosecuted to have acted in bad faith. The sanctions apply only when scienter is established.
only those who are in some manner aware of the character of the material they attempt to distribute should be punished. It is not innocent but calculated purveyance of filth which is exorcised