General (not jurisdiction-specific)

A legally binding duty, especially a duty to pay money or perform under a contract. Statutes define the word for their own purposes. For example, 31 U.S.C. § 1501 sets when a federal agency may record an amount as an obligation of the United States Government, and 18 U.S.C. § 8 defines “obligation or other security of the United States” for federal counterfeiting crimes.

A person or entity named to hold title or act on behalf of another, who keeps the real benefit. For example, Cede & Co. is the nominee that holds legal title to most U.S. securities for the Depository Trust Company and, ultimately, for investors.

The idea that there are principles of right and justice that exist independently of human legislation and can be known through reason or revelation. Blackstone wrote that the law of nature is “binding over all the globe” and that “no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this.” The Declaration of Independence relies on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” American courts apply these principles mainly through the written Constitution.

A city, town, village or other local government that a state creates or charters as a body politic and corporate, with powers to govern its territory, own property, make contracts, issue bonds and sue and be sued. The Act of February 21, 1871 made the District of Columbia “a body corporate for municipal purposes.”

The federal law (40 U.S.C. §§ 3131–3134) requiring a contractor on a federal construction contract of more than $100,000 to furnish a performance bond and a payment bond before the contract is awarded. Subcontractors and suppliers who are not paid can sue on the payment bond.

A short statement of a general legal principle, often in Latin, such as “Equity regards as done that which ought to be done.” Courts cite maxims to explain their reasoning, but a maxim is not itself a statute or a binding rule.

Labor compelled by force, threat of force or legal coercion. The Thirteenth Amendment prohibits it except as punishment for a crime after conviction. The Supreme Court has held that it does not include civic duties such as jury and military service (Butler v. Perry, 1916), and that it requires physical or legal coercion (United States v. Kozminski, 1988).

The IRS computer system that holds the tax account of each individual taxpayer, recording returns, assessments, payments, credits and refunds by taxpayer identification number. Accounts that cannot be handled on the master file are kept on the Non-Master File (NMF).

The process by which the Supreme Court has held that most rights in the Bill of Rights bind the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Examples include free speech (Gitlow v. New York, 1925), jury trial in criminal cases (Duncan v. Louisiana, 1968), the right to keep and bear arms (McDonald v. City of Chicago, 2010) and the Excessive Fines Clause (Timbs v. Indiana, 2019).

A contract term requiring payment in gold coin or in an amount of money measured by gold. House Joint Resolution 192 (1933) declared gold clauses against public policy and made such debts payable dollar for dollar in legal tender; the Supreme Court upheld this for private contracts in Norman v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. (1935). Under 31 U.S.C. § 5118(d)(2), that rule does not apply to obligations issued after October 27, 1977.