digest, n. 1. An index of legal propositions showing which cases support each proposition; a collection of summaries of reported cases, arranged by subject and subdivided by jurisdiction and court. • The chief purpose of a digest is to make the contents of reports available and to separate, from the great mass of caselaw, those […]
Wharton’s rule ([h]wor-t[schwa]n).Criminal law. The doctrine that an agreement by two or more persons to commit a particular crime cannot be prosecuted as a conspiracy if the crime could not be committed except by the actual number of participants involved. • But if an additional person participates so as to enlarge the scope of the
culprit. 1. A person accused or charged with the commission of a crime. 2. A person who is guilty of a crime. • Culprit may be a running together of cul, shortened from the Latin culpabilis (“guilty”), and prit, from Old French prest (“ready”), two words formerly used to orally plead at the outset of
counterfeit, vb. To unlawfully forge, copy, or imitate an item, esp. money or a negotiable instrument (such as a security or promissory note) or other officially issued item of value (such as a postage stamp or a food stamp), or to possess such an item without authorization and with the intent to deceive or defraud
slander, n. 1. A defamatory assertion expressed in a transitory form, esp. speech. • Damages for slander — unlike those for libel — are not presumed and thus must be proved by the plaintiff (unless the defamation is slander per se). [Cases: Libel and Slander 1, 24. C.J.S. Libel and Slander; Injurious Falsehood§§ 2, 5–6,
security agreement. An agreement that creates or provides for an interest in specified real or personal property to guarantee the performance of an obligation. • It must provide for a security interest, describe the collateral, and be signed by the debtor. The agreement may include other important covenants and warranties. [Cases: Secured Transactions 41–51. C.J.S.
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of the essence. (Of a contractual requirement) so important that if the requirement is not met, the promisor will be held to have breached the contract and a rescission by the promisee will be justified (time is of the essence). [Cases: Contracts 211; Vendor and Purchaser 78. C.J.S. Contracts § 583; Vendor and Purchaser §
fairness doctrine. A former FCC rule that required the broadcast media to furnish a reasonable opportunity for discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance. • The FCC abandoned the fairness doctrine in 1987. Cf. EQUAL-TIME DOCTRINE. [Cases: Telecommunications 435. C.J.S. Telegraphs, Telephones, Radio, and Television §§ 178–179, 183–187.]
repressed-memory syndrome. A memory disorder characterized by an intermittent and extensive inability to recall important personal information, usu. following or concerning a traumatic or highly stressful occurrence, when the memory lapses cannot be dismissed as normal forgetfulness. • The theoretical basis for this syndrome was proposed by Sigmund Freud in 1895. The American Psychiatric Association
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intermediate scrutiny. Constitutional law. A standard lying between the extremes of rational-basis review and strict scrutiny. • Under the standard, if a statute contains a quasi-suspect classification (such as gender or legitimacy), the classification must be substantially related to the achievement of an important governmental objective. — Also termed middle-level scrutiny; mid-level scrutiny; heightened scrutiny.
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