Also known as: clauses · clausula · clausulae · contract clause · contractual provision
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A distinct section or provision of a legal document or instrument.
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Cody Callahan sold land to Cedar Creek Farms under a written contract containing a merger clause. After closing the deed omitted an oral promise about water rights. Cedar Creek Farms cannot enforce the omitted promise because the clause makes the deed the final measure of obligations.
Claire Campbell conveyed Blackacre to her niece for the life of the niece's mother. The clause created an estate measured by one human life rather than a fixed term or inheritance.
The prosecutor used peremptory challenges to remove all Black jurors from Christopher Collins's panel. The Equal Protection Clause required the prosecutor to offer race-neutral reasons once a prima facie pattern appeared.
Corinne Cho occupied the vacant lot for two years with intent to control it. Under the possessor clause she owed the duty of care to a licensee who entered the land.
Cade Carpenter's will left his car to his son and the residue to his daughter. When the son predeceased the testator the residuary clause operated as an alternative devise under the will's terms.
Central Dynamics missed three mortgage payments on its warehouse. The lender invoked the acceleration clause and declared the full balance due, allowing immediate foreclosure proceedings.
A merger clause states that the written contract is the complete agreement. After the buyer accepts the deed the contract merges into the deed and prior promises not reflected in the deed are discharged unless an exception for fraud or mistake applies.
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The clause must appear in the mortgage or note. The mortgagee must exercise it in good faith and some jurisdictions require notice and a cure period before the full debt becomes due and foreclosure may begin.
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The clause prohibits strikes based on race. Once the defendant shows a prima facie pattern the prosecutor must give a race-neutral explanation and the court decides whether purposeful discrimination occurred.
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…those specified. But if the Constitution intended to leave it to the legislature to apportion the judicial power the subsequent clauses defining the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction would be mere surplusage. The words of the Constitution must be given effect, and the distribution intended is that in some classes…