natural object. 1. A person likely to receive a portion of another person’s estate based on the nature and circumstances of their relationship. — Also termed natural object of bounty; natural object of one’s bounty; natural object of testator’s bounty. [Cases: Wills 50. C.J.S. Wills § 7.] 2. See natural boundary under BOUNDARY. 3. See […]
act of Congress. A law that is formally enacted in accordance with the legislative power granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution. • To become a law, or an act of Congress, a bill or resolution must be passed by a majority of the members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Bills
impeachment. 1. The act (by a legislature) of calling for the removal from office of a public official, accomplished by presenting a written charge of the official’s alleged misconduct; esp., the initiation of a proceeding in the U.S. House of Representatives against a federal official, such as the President or a judge. • Congress’s authority
declaratory theory. The belief that judges’ decisions never make law but instead merely constitute evidence of what the law is. • This antiquated view — held by such figures as Coke and Blackstone — is no longer accepted. “There are … at least three good reasons why the declaratory theory should have persisted for some
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E-Sign Act. The short name for the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, a 2000 federal statute that establishes the legal equivalency of electronic contracts, electronic signatures, and other electronic records with their paper counterparts. • The E-Sign Act applies to all types of transactions, whether in interstate or foreign commerce, unless a
heartbalm statute. A state law that abolishes the rights of action for monetary damages as solace for the emotional trauma occasioned by a loss of love and relationship. • The abolished rights of action include alienation of affections, breach of promise to marry, criminal conversation, and seduction of a person over the legal age of
business-method exception. Intellectual property. The traditional doctrine that business methods are not protected by intellectual-property laws. • Early caselaw established that “pure methods of doing business” were unpatentable. But in 1998, the Federal Circuit held in State St. Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Fin. Group (149 F.3d 1368) that business methods are not per
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A type of defense that is good against any possible claimant, so that the maker or drawer of a negotiable instrument can raise it even against a holder in due course. • The ten real defenses are (1) fraud in the factum, (2) forgery of a necessary signature, (3) adjudicated insanity that, under state law,
notice filing. The perfection of a security interest under Article 9 of the UCC by filing only a financing statement, as opposed to a copy or abstract of the security agreement. • The financing statement must contain (1) the debtor’s signature, (2) the secured party’s name and address, (3) the debtor’s name and mailing address,
best efforts. Diligent attempts to carry out an obligation (the contractor must use best efforts to complete its work within the stated time). • As a standard, a best-efforts obligation is stronger than a good-faith obligation. Best efforts are measured by the measures that a reasonable person in the same circumstances and of the same