yeoman (yoh-m[schwa]n). 1. Hist. An attendant in a royal or noble household. 2. Hist. A commoner; a free-holder (under the rank of gentleman) who holds land yielding 40 shillings per year. “A yeoman is he that hath free land of forty shillings by the year; who was thereby qualified to serve on juries, vote for […]
yank-cheating, n. The illegal practice of inserting paper money into a vending machine, then pulling the money out again after the machine has recognized it, thereby retaining the cash and unlawfully obtaining merchandise.
corruption of blood. A defunct doctrine, now considered unconstitutional, under which a person loses the ability to inherit or pass property as a result of an attainder or of being declared civilly dead. — Also termed corruption of the blood. See ATTAINDER; civil death (1) under DEATH. “Corruption of blood is, when any one is
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arbitration clause. A contractual provision mandating arbitration — and thereby avoiding litigation — of dis-putes about the contracting parties’ rights, duties, and liabilities. [Cases: Arbitration 1. 1. C.J.S. Arbitration §§ 2, 6.]
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arraignment, n. The initial step in a criminal prosecution whereby the defendant is brought before the court to hear the charges and to enter a plea. Fed. R. Crim. P. 10. Cf. PRELIMINARY HEARING; initial appearance under APPEARANCE. [Cases: Criminal Law 261–264. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 355, 357–360, 362–363.] — arraign, vb.
suspect classification. Constitutional law. A statutory classification based on race, national origin, or alienage, and thereby subject to strict scrutiny under equal-protection analysis. • Examples of laws creating suspect classifications are those permitting only U.S. citizens to receive welfare benefits and setting quotas for the government’s hiring of minority contractors. See STRICT SCRUTINY. Cf. FUNDAMENTAL
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A dangerous condition that may attract children onto land, thereby causing a risk to their safety. See ATTRACTIVE-NUISANCE DOCTRINE. [Cases: Negligence 1172, 1175. C.J.S. Negligence §§ 399, 476–477, 494–526.]
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good-faith exception. Criminal procedure. An exception to the exclusionary rule whereby evidence obtained under a warrant later found to be invalid (esp. because it is not supported by probable cause) is nonetheless admissible if the police reasonably relied on the notion that the warrant was valid. • The good-faith exception was adopted by the Supreme
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bait and switch. A sales practice whereby a merchant advertises a low-priced product to lure customers into the store, only to induce them to buy a higher-priced product. • Most states prohibit the bait and switch when the original product is not actually available as advertised. — Also termed bait advertising. [Cases: Consumer Protection 7.