no-bonus clause. Landlord–tenant law. A lease provision that takes effect upon governmental condemnation, limiting the lessee’s damages to the value of any improvements to the property and preventing the lessee from recovering the difference between the lease’s fixed rent and the property’s market rental value. See CONDEMNATION. [Cases: Eminent Domain 155. C.J.S. Eminent Domain § […]
A patent procured for some aspect of an invention that the inventor does not intend to produce but that the inventor wants to prevent competitors from using in making improvements. • By making a claim whose only purpose is to protect other claims, the inventor seeks to “fence in” any such competing improvements. Courts disfavor
An improvement-patent claim characterized by a preamble setting forth the current state of the art, followed by the phrase “the improvement comprising” and a description of the claimed patentable improvement. • The name comes from Ex parte Jepson, 1917 C.D. 62, 243 O.G. 526 (Ass’t Comm’r Pat. 1917) in which this type of claim was
A bequest whose effectiveness or continuation depends on the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a particular event. • An example might be a testator’s gift of “the income from the farm to my daughter, Betty, until she remarries.” If a condition prohibits certain legal conduct, such as using tobacco or growing a beard, it is sometimes
conditional bequest Read More »
Tennessee Valley Authority. A government-owned corporation, created in 1933, that conducts a unified program of resource development to advance economic growth in the Tennessee Valley region. • The Authority’s activities include flood control, navigation development, electric-power production, fertilizer development, recreation improvement, and forestry-and-wildlife development. Though its power program is financially self-supporting, the Authority’s other programs
tennessee valley authority Read More »
A municipal bond secured by taxes levied for a specific governmental purpose, usu. improvements. — Also termed special-assessment bond. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 950. C.J.S. Municipal Corporations §§ 1708–1709.]
A political subdivision authorized to levy assessments for making drainage improvements within its area. [Cases: Drains 12.C.J.S. Drains § 8.]
A right, enforceable only in equity, to have a demand satisfied from a particular fund or specific property, without having possession of the fund or property. • It arises mainly in four circumstances: (1) when an occupant of land, believing in good faith to be the owner of that land, makes improvements, repairs, or other
Basis increased by capital improvements and decreased by depreciation deductions. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3197; Taxation 996.1–998. C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 119; Taxation §§ 1726, 1732–1734.]
A municipal tax charged to a property owner for local improvements that abut a street or highway, such as sidewalks, pavements, or sewage lines. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 469. C.J.S. Mu-nicipal Corporations §§ 1281–1283, 1285.]
frontage assessment Read More »