hearing
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 287 U.S. 45 - Powell v. State of Alabama Patterson · 1932Most cited · 9,386 citing opinions
Historically and in practice, in our own country at least, it has always included the right to the aid of counsel when desired and provided by the party asserting the right. The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel.
How the Supreme Court has restated “hearing”
Each Supreme Court definition of “hearing,” 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 “hearing”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “hearing” — 13,250 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 · 1908–1933
- ORIGINAL
Many requirements essential in strictly judicial proceedings may be dispensed with in proceedings of this nature. But even here a hearing, in its very essence, demands that he who is entitled to it shall have the right to support his allegations by argument, however brief; and, if need be, by proof, however informal.
essence of
- 1913·227 U.S. 88 - Interstate Commerce Commission v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad[p5]· cited 1,262×
Administrative orders, quasi judicial in character, are void if a hearing was denied; if that granted was inadequate or manifestly unfair; if the finding was contrary to the indisputable character of the evidence, or if the facts found do not, as a matter of law, support the order made.
administrative
[T]he 'hearing' assured to one affected by a change of duty does not include a privilege to ransack the records of the Commission, and to subject its confidential agents to an examination as to all that they have learned. There was no thought to revolutionize the practice of investigating bodies generally, and of this one in particular. Hearings had once been optional. By the new statute they became mandatory. The form remained the same.