Also known as: doctrines
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal principle or rule that courts consistently apply when resolving disputes of a recurring type.
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Demetrius Douglas agreed with an accomplice to rob a bank and then carried out the robbery. Prosecutors charged both the conspiracy and the completed robbery. The court applied the merger doctrine and dismissed the conspiracy count because the completed felony absorbed the preliminary agreement.
Damian Decker signed a binding contract to buy a warehouse from Dominion Capital. Before closing a fire destroyed the building. The court applied the doctrine of equitable conversion and held Decker liable for the full purchase price because risk of loss had passed to him at contract formation.
Daniel Diaz, a mid-level engineer at Dakota Industries, sent an email to corporate counsel at his supervisor's direction describing product defects. When a plaintiff sought the email in discovery the court applied the attorney-client privilege doctrine and protected the communication because it was made for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
Destiny Davis purchased waterfront land subject to a municipal setback ordinance. When she claimed the ordinance created a servitude the court applied the doctrine excluding public land-use regulations and held that the ordinance was not a servitude under the Restatement definition.
Dominic Drake's will left property to his heirs. The probate court applied the doctrine abolishing worthier title and refused to treat the language as creating a reversion in Drake's estate.
Diane Dawson and two others agreed to commit arson but took no further steps. The court applied the common-law conspiracy doctrine and upheld the conviction because the agreement alone completed the offense.
The merger doctrine treats solicitation, attempt, and conspiracy as misdemeanors that merge into the completed felony when the principal offense occurs.
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Once a binding land-sale contract forms, equitable conversion places the risk of loss on the buyer even if the property is destroyed before closing.
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The privilege protects communications from any corporate employee when made at a superior's direction for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
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…actions enjoined by law but that in that case the mandamus ought not to issue if the report did not confer a legal right. That doctrine is not novel now advanced. It is true the mandamus now sought is not for performance of an act expressly enjoined by statute but to deliver a commission where the acts of Congress are…