MIXED-MOTIVE DOCTRINE mixed-motive doctrine. Employment law. The principle that, when the evidence in an employment-discrimination case shows that the complained-of employment action was based in part on a nondiscriminatory reason and in part on a discriminatory reason, the plaintiff must show that discrimination was a motivating factor for the employment action and, if the plaintiff […]
A relationship that combines the ties of blood and family, such as that existing between brothers who are born of the same marriage.
miscegenation (mi-sej-[schwa]-nay-sh[schwa]n). A marriage between persons of different races, formerly considered illegal in some jurisdictions. • In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court held that laws banning interracial marriages are unconstitutional. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1817 (1967). But for years, such laws technically remained on the books in some states. The last
cognation (kog-nay-sh[schwa]n), n. 1. Relationship by blood rather than by marriage; relationship arising through common descent from the same man and woman, whether the descent is traced through males or females. “ ‘Cognation’ is … a relative term, and the degree of connexion in blood which it indicates depends on the particular marriage which is