Renunciation of the privileges and prerogatives of an office. The act of a sovereign in renouncing and relinquishing his or her government or throne, so that either the throne is left entirely vacant, or is filled by a successor appointed or elected beforehand. Also, where a magistrate or person in office voluntarily renounces or gives it up before the time of service has expired. It differs from resignation, in that resignation is made by one who has received an office from another and restores it into that person's hands, as an inferior into the hands of a superior; abdication is the relinquishment of an office which has devolved by act of law. It is said to be a renunciation, quitting, and relinquishing, so as to have nothing further to do with a thing, or the doing of such actions as are inconsistent with the holding of it. Voluntary and permanent withdrawal from power by a public official or monarch.
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The Constitution authorizes Congress to raise, support, and regulate armed services for the national defense. The president is commander in chief of all the branches of the service and has ultimate control over most military matters.
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The word accident is derived from the Latin verb accidere, signifying "fall upon, befall, happen, chance
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Two separate offenses against the person that when used in one expression may be defined as any unlawful and unpermitted touching of another. Assault is an act that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent, harmful, or offensive contact. The act consists of a threat of harm accompanied by an apparent, present ability to carry out the threat. Battery is a harmful or offensive touching of another
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The power of the trial court to assess damages or increase the amount of an inadequate award made by jury verdict, as a condition of a denial of a motion for a new trial, with the consent of the defendant whether or not the plaintiff consents to such action. This is not allowed in the federal system.
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No invention has so transformed the landscape of the United States of America as the automobile, and no other country has so thoroughly adopted the automobile as its favored means of transportation. Automobiles are used both for pleasure and for commerce and are typically the most valuable type of personal property owned by U.S. citizens. Because autos are expensive to acquire and maintain, heavily taxed, favorite targets of thieves, a major cause of air and noise pollution, and capable of causing tremendous personal injuries and property damage, the body of law surrounding them is quite large. Automobile law covers the four general phases in the life cycle of an automobile: its manufacture, sale, operation, and disposal.
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Factual matters concerning the parties to an administrative proceeding as contrasted with legislative facts, which are general and usually do not touch individual questions of particular parties to a proceeding. Facts that concern a person's motives and intent, as contrasted with general policy issues. Those facts that must be found beyond a reasonable doubt by the trier of fact before there can be a conviction.
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A method of gaining legal title to real property by the actual, open, hostile, and continuous possession of it to the exclusion of its true owner for the period prescribed by state law. Personal property may also be acquired by adverse possession.
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During the 1980s and 1990s, the airline industry underwent significant change. The industry, which had been heavily regulated and controlled, was liberated from governmental oversight and released to the vagaries of the marketplace in 1978. What followed was a period of evolution and metamorphosis that changed the nature of flying forever. At the same time, serious safety questions arose.
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[Latin, In contemplation of approaching death.] A phrase sometimes used in reference to a deathbed gift, or a gift causa mortis, since the giving of the gift is made in expectation of approaching death. A gift causa mortis is distinguishable from a gift inter vivos, which is a gift made during the donor's (the giver's) lifetime.
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A judgment by a court that retroactively invalidates a marriage to the date of its formation.
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A landmark decision, which was a consolidation of several cases brought before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1883 that declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (18 Stat. 336) unconstitutional and ultimately led to the enactment of state laws, such as Jim Crow Laws, which codified what had previously been individual adherence to the practice of racial segregation. The cases were United States v. Stanley, United States v. Ryan, United States v. Nichols, and United States v. Singleton, 109 U.S. 3, 3 S. Ct. 18, 27 L. Ed. 835.
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The pleading that initiates a civil action; in criminal law, the document that sets forth the basis upon which a person is to be charged with an offense.
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Agreements between two or more persons that create an obligation to do, or refrain from doing, a particular thing.
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A body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by the government because it threatens and harms public safety and welfare and that establishes punishment to be imposed for the commission of such acts.
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