General (not jurisdiction-specific)

Latin for “beyond the powers.” Describes an act that goes beyond the legal authority of the person or entity that took it — for example, a corporation acting outside its charter or an agency acting beyond the power Congress gave it.

A contract between an issuer of bonds or other debt securities and a trustee who acts for the bondholders. The Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (15 U.S.C. § 77aaa et seq.) requires a qualified, independent trustee for most publicly offered debt securities; it does not apply to securities issued without an indenture.

A formal agreement between the United States and one or more foreign nations, made by the President with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate (art. II, § 2). Treaties are part of the supreme law of the land, on the same footing as federal statutes; when the two conflict, the later in time controls (Whitney v. Robertson, 1888). Both are subordinate to the Constitution.

A 1917 federal law (now 50 U.S.C. §§ 4301–4341) giving the President power over trade and financial transactions with enemy nations in wartime. In 1933 Congress extended § 5(b) to peacetime national emergencies, and in 1977 limited it again to wartime, moving peacetime powers to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Its definition of “enemy” does not include U.S. citizens living in the United States.

The 1865 amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” and gave Congress power to enforce it. The Supreme Court has said its aim was “to maintain a system of completely free and voluntary labor” (Pollock v. Williams, 1944).

The article of the Bill of Rights providing that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” It confirms that people hold rights beyond those listed.

The final article of the Bill of Rights: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The Supreme Court relies on it in holding that Congress may not commandeer state legislatures or officers (New York v. United States, 1992; Printz v. United States, 1997).

An unconditional offer to pay or perform what is owed, made with the present ability to do it. A valid tender of a money debt is an offer of actual payment in legal tender. Under UCC § 3-603, a refused tender stops interest on the amount tendered and discharges indorsers and accommodation parties, but it does not discharge the main debtor’s obligation.

Authority to act for another that is implied from conduct or silence, rather than given expressly. In agency law, a principal who knowingly allows another to act for him may be bound by those acts. The theory that a business or official grants authority by not answering a private letter has no recognized basis in court decisions.

Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution, which makes the Constitution, federal laws made in pursuance of it, and treaties “the supreme law of the land,” binding on state judges “anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”