Also known as: essential elements
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A required component of a charge, claim, or defense that must be alleged and proved for liability or conviction to attach. Its absence defeats the action even if all other components are satisfied.
Equinox Energy sued Elijah Edwards for breaching a noncompete by soliciting clients. Edwards defended by offering three prior instances in which he had referred clients away to honor similar agreements. The court admitted the instances because loyalty formed an essential element of the defense to the breach claim.
Ezra Eastman was charged with attempting to suborn perjury after asking a witness to sign a false affidavit. The affidavit concerned an immaterial detail that could not have influenced the proceeding. The court dismissed the attempt charge because materiality, an essential element of the substantive offense, would have been absent even if the plan succeeded.
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Emmett Egan was prosecuted for deliberate homicide after a bar fight. He sought to introduce evidence of extreme intoxication to negate the required mental state. The trial court excluded the evidence because the state treated the mental state as an essential element that the defendant could not negate with voluntary intoxication.
Eugene Ellsworth was convicted of assault and received an enhanced sentence after the judge found racial bias. The enhancement increased the maximum penalty. The Supreme Court reversed because the bias finding was an essential element that the jury had to decide beyond a reasonable doubt.
Echelon Security sued a reporter for defamation over an article accusing it of falsifying reports. The company presented no evidence that the reporter knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard. The court granted summary judgment because actual malice is an essential element on which the plaintiff bears the burden at trial.
Eric Espinoza was adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court on evidence that left reasonable doubt about whether he had taken property with intent to deprive. The Supreme Court vacated the adjudication because every essential element of the offense must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Specific instances may be used when the character trait itself is an essential element of a charge, claim, or defense. In that situation the trait is an ultimate issue rather than a circumstantial inference about conduct on a particular occasion.
True legal impossibility is a defense to attempt. The defendant cannot be convicted of attempt because the completed conduct would not have constituted the target crime.
The Constitution demands that the prosecution prove each element of the offense to that standard. Failure to do so violates the presumption of innocence and renders the conviction invalid.
When actual malice is an essential element, the plaintiff must produce evidence creating a genuine issue on that point. Absence of such evidence entitles the defendant to judgment as a matter of law.
…addressed Congress' efforts to impede local activities it considered undesirable by prohibiting the interstate movement of some essential element. In the Lottery Case , 188 U. S. 321 (1903), the Court rejected the argument that Congress lacked power to prohibit the interstate movement of lottery tickets because it had power only to…