Also known as: pt. · part · point
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An ability on the part of a person to produce a change in a given legal relation by doing or not doing a given act.
Patrick Phan possesses the power to alter the legal relation of ownership by moving the wallet. He lifts a wallet from a table and shifts it two inches toward his pocket before dropping it. That movement exercises the power even though Patrick never removes the wallet from the premises.
Congress holds the power to produce a change in legal relations by laying excises. Congress enacts a nationwide excise on imported electronics to fund harbor improvements. The statute is valid because the power to lay and collect excises is expressly granted and the tax applies uniformly.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A former regulator holds the power to change legal relations by disclosing or withholding confidential information. The lawyer who obtained confidential government information while serving as a regulator now represents a private client adverse to the subject of that information. The lawyer may not use the data to the material disadvantage of the former subject.
Philip Powell lacks the power to produce a change in legal relations when his arm jerks involuntarily. Philip Powell's arm jerks involuntarily when struck by a falling object and strikes Pamela Phillips. The jerk is not an act because it lacks volition and therefore cannot support tort liability.
The parents hold the power to alter succession by surviving the decedent. A decedent survived by two parents and no descendants leaves an intestate estate. The estate is divided into two equal shares under the per capita at each generation rule for parental distribution.
Parker Phillips, an agent, signs a contract on behalf of the principal that alters the principal's contractual obligations with a third party. The signature constitutes an exercise of power that changes the legal relations between the principal and the third party.
A power enables a person to alter legal relations by action or inaction. A privilege instead grants freedom from liability for performing or omitting an act.
The uniformity requirement applies only to duties, imposts, and excises because those are the levies for which Congress may exercise its power to produce changes in legal relations.
Any movement of the property, however slight, that occurs during the carrying-away process meets the requirement because the actor thereby exercises the power to change ownership relations.
The lawyer may not do so if the information could be used to the material disadvantage of that person and the information remains protected from public disclosure, because the lawyer would otherwise exercise the power to alter legal relations adversely.
…court to issue a mandamus ever denied; hence there has been legislative construction and judicial practice under it. The second point is whether a mandamus can go to a Secretary of State in any case. Certainly it cannot in all cases nor to the President in any case. The President is not amenable to any court for the…