Also known as: characters · reputation · character evidence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
The essential nature or quality of a thing, structure, action, or interest. This sense determines whether a building qualifies as a dwelling based on regular sleeping use, whether a chattel has been altered beyond recognition, or whether governmental action warrants compensation in regulatory takings analysis.
The essential nature or quality of a thing, structure, action, or interest. This sense determines whether a building qualifies as a dwelling based on regular sleeping use, whether a chattel has been altered beyond recognition, or whether governmental action warrants compensation in regulatory takings analysis.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A person's moral or behavioral disposition or trait. Evidence of such character is generally inadmissible to prove conduct on a particular occasion in accordance with the trait.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A person's moral or behavioral disposition or trait. Evidence of such character is generally inadmissible to prove conduct on a particular occasion in accordance with the trait.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Carmen Choi regularly sleeps in a building that also houses her small accounting practice. She leaves for a three-week business trip. While she is away, an intruder forces the door and enters. The building retains its character as a dwelling because regular sleeping use continued until the temporary absence.
Cassandra Cooper signs a document presented as a simple receipt. In reality the document contains an arbitration clause and a broad release of all claims. Because Cooper neither knew nor had a reasonable opportunity to learn the essential character of the document, her signature does not constitute a manifestation of assent.
Catherine Carter takes possession of a gold necklace belonging to Corinne Cho and melts it into an ingot. The physical alteration changes the necklace's identity from jewelry to raw metal. Carter is liable for conversion to the person entitled to immediate possession of the original chattel.
Crestview Holdings owns a historic theater subject to a new preservation ordinance that prohibits demolition but permits continued operation as a performance venue. The regulation substantially advances a legitimate public interest and leaves the owner with reasonable beneficial use. The character of the governmental action weighs against finding a compensable taking.
Cade Carpenter's will devises his estate to the trustee of an existing revocable trust whose corpus consists of marketable securities. The devise remains valid even though the trust is amendable and the size of the corpus may change. The property passes into the trust and retains its character as trust assets rather than becoming a separate testamentary trust.
A structure loses its character as a dwelling only after all occupants have moved out with no intent to return or before anyone has moved in. Temporary absences, even for extended periods, do not strip the structure of dwelling character so long as regular sleeping use occurred before the absence.
Supporting sources
Yes. Courts weigh the character of the governmental action as one of three factors. When the action substantially advances legitimate public interests and leaves the owner with reasonable beneficial use, it generally does not constitute a compensable taking.
Supporting sources
The prosecution seeks to introduce testimony that Cameron Cruz has a reputation for starting fights in order to prove he started the bar altercation at issue. The court excludes the evidence because it is offered solely to show that Cruz acted in accordance with his violent character on the night in question.
Yes. When a person's character or character trait is an essential element of a charge, claim, or defense, relevant specific instances of conduct may be used to prove the trait in addition to reputation or opinion testimony.
Supporting sources
…apparent connection with a crime under investigation, the ease with which the questions put to him may assume an inquisitorial character, the temptation to press the witness unduly, to browbeat him if he be timid or reluctant, to push him into a corner, and to entrap him into fatal contradictions, which is so painfully…