Also known as: expressly · in express terms
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An explicit statement or authorization appearing directly in the text of a statute, rule, contract, or other legal instrument.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Penelope Price, a sheriff, shot and killed an armed suspect during a lawful arrest. The court classified the killing as justifiable homicide because the law expressly commanded officers to use deadly force when necessary to effect an arrest of a dangerous felon.
Pierce Patterson withheld emails in response to a discovery request. His attorney filed a privilege log that expressly made the claim of attorney-client privilege for each withheld document as required by the rule.
Judge Paul Peterson agreed to mediate a commercial dispute between two corporations. The state statute expressly authorized sitting judges to perform mediation services outside their official duties when the parties consented in writing.
Portia Price, a former state regulator, joined a law firm and sought to represent a client adverse to a company whose confidential files she had reviewed while in government service. The rule barred the representation because the information was confidential government information that the law expressly prohibited from public disclosure.
Patrick Phan leased a commercial building to Pulse Media. The lease expressly stated that the landlord would maintain the HVAC system. When the system failed, the court held the landlord obligated to repair it because the duty had been expressly agreed upon in the lease.
Piper Patel signed a waiver before participating in a rock-climbing event organized by Peak Performance. The waiver expressly stated that she accepted the risk of injury from the company's negligent setup of the climbing wall. The court dismissed her later negligence suit because the agreement expressly allocated the risk to her.
It requires an explicit statement or authorization in the text of the law or agreement rather than an inference from surrounding circumstances.
Per expressum demands a direct statement in the governing document. Implied authorization arises from conduct, custom, or the overall structure of the rule without an explicit declaration.
No. The phrase requires the authorization or statement to appear on the face of the statute, rule, contract, or other legal text.
…judicial decisions. Congress, by a law passed at the first session after the adoption of the Constitution (the Judiciary Act), expressly gave the Supreme Court the power of issuing writs of mandamus. The words are: 'The supreme court shall also have appellate jurisdiction ... and shall have power to issue writs of…