General (not jurisdiction-specific)

Two different ideas. Under Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution, each state must give “Full Faith and Credit” to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. In public finance, “full faith and credit” describes the government’s pledge to repay its debt; for example, 31 U.S.C. § 3123 pledges the faith of the United States to pay Treasury obligations issued under that chapter.

Lacking any arguable basis in law or fact. Courts may sanction frivolous filings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and similar state rules, and 26 U.S.C. § 6702 imposes a $5,000 penalty for frivolous tax submissions. A frivolous argument is one a court finds has no legal basis; the label does not limit a person’s right to hold or discuss a view.

A banking system in which banks hold only part of their deposits as reserves and lend the rest. When a bank makes a loan, it credits the borrower’s account, creating a new deposit. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Modern Money Mechanics explained that banks “do not really pay out loans from the money they receive as deposits.” Courts have held that this does not cancel a borrower’s duty to repay.

The 1868 amendment that made all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, “citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” and that forbids states to abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens, deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or deny any person the equal protection of the laws. Most of the Bill of Rights applies to the states through its Due Process Clause.

A bank or other institution that acts as agent for a government in financial matters, such as holding deposits, issuing securities or making payments. The Federal Reserve Banks act as fiscal agents of the United States under 12 U.S.C. § 391. Ordinary commercial banks are not fiscal agents of the United States merely because they are chartered or regulated by federal law.

The first article of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Through the Fourteenth Amendment, it also binds the states.

The central bank of the United States, created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. It has a Board of Governors in Washington, a federal agency whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, whose stock is held by member banks. It conducts monetary policy, supervises banks and issues Federal Reserve notes, which are “obligations of the United States” (12 U.S.C. § 411).

The daily official publication of the federal government for agency rules, proposed rules and notices, and presidential documents, published under the Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C. ch. 15). Courts must take judicial notice of its contents (44 U.S.C. § 1507).

A rule that stops a person from asserting a fact or right that contradicts his or her own earlier words or conduct, when another person reasonably relied on them. Forms include equitable estoppel, promissory estoppel and collateral estoppel. Estoppel by silence applies only when a person had a duty to speak and another person relied on the silence to his or her detriment.

The Emergency Banking Relief Act of March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, passed during the bank holiday. It ratified the President’s emergency banking orders, allowed sound banks to reopen, and amended § 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act to let the President regulate gold and foreign exchange during a declared national emergency and for transactions by “any person within the United States.”