privilege
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 205 U.S. 236 - Rochester Railway Company v. City of Rochester · 1907Most cited · 92 citing opinions
transfer of immunity
It is now the rule, notwithstanding earlier decisions and dicta to the contrary, that a statute authorizing or directing the grant or transfer of the 'privileges' of a corporation which enjoys immunity from taxation or regulation should not be interpreted as including that immunity.
How the Supreme Court has restated “privilege”
Each Supreme Court definition of “privilege,” 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 “privilege”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “privilege” — 175 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 3 definitions, chronological · 1792–1907
- ORIGINAL
every privileged person must, at a proper time, and in a proper manner, claim the benefit of his privilege. The judges are not bound, judicially, to notice a right of privilege, nor to grant it without a claim.
waiver
It contains the essential idea of a peculiar benefit or advantage, of a special exemption from a burden falling upon others.