vested right
Defined in 4 dictionaries — Case Law, Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914)
Definitions from Case Law
United States Supreme Court
a legal claim obtained to that part of an immediate or deferred life annuity which notwithstanding any conditions subsequent which could affect receipt of any benefit flowing from such right, arises from the participant's covered service under the plan, and is no longer contingent on the participant remaining covered by the plan.
Defined by the Supreme Court in Nachman Corporation v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 446 U.S. 359 (1980).
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
A right resting on a perfect obligation. 1 Hill (N. Y.) 324. A fixed immediate right of present or future enjoyment. 24 Miss. 90. An expectancy (8 N. Y. 110), e. g., an inchoate right of dower (104 111. 403), is not a vested right. There is no vested right in a remedy. 68 Wis. 621; 57 Pa. St. 433; 1 Neb. 419.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
It is interesting to note that in Pearsall v. R. Co., 161 U. S. 668, 10 Sup. Ct 705, 40 L. Ed. 838, it was said in the opinion of the court by Brown, J.: “I have epitomized these cases (explaining the meaning of the words ‘vested rights,* when used in the charters of railroads and other similar corporations) not because they have any decisive bearing upon the question at issue, but for the purpose of showing the general trend of opinion in this court on the subject of corporate charters and vested rights.” See Right.