Also known as: sine-qua-non · indispensable condition · essential element
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An indispensable condition or thing on which something else necessarily depends. The phrase identifies the prerequisite without which a legal result cannot occur.
Russell offered three prior client referrals to prove loyalty as part of his defense to a noncompete claim. The trial court admitted the instances because loyalty constituted an indispensable element of the defense under the governing rule. Without the evidence of that trait the defense could not succeed.
Santiago Sanchez believed he was lying under oath but the statement lacked materiality even under his own facts. Because materiality remained an indispensable element of perjury the court held he could not be convicted of attempt. The missing element defeated the attempt charge.
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The prosecution sought to increase Skylar Sullivan's sentence based on a hate-crime finding made by the judge alone. Because the finding supplied an indispensable element that raised the maximum penalty the Supreme Court required jury determination. The absence of a jury finding barred the enhanced sentence.
West Coast Hotel challenged a state minimum-wage law as violating liberty of contract. The Court held that protection of workers constituted an indispensable condition that could override freedom-of-contract claims. Without that public-interest justification the statute would have fallen.
The state charged a juvenile with an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult. Because proof beyond a reasonable doubt remained an indispensable element of every criminal conviction the Supreme Court required that standard even in juvenile proceedings. The absence of that proof precluded adjudication.
Rural Telephone claimed copyright in its white-pages directory. Because originality constituted an indispensable element of copyright protection the Court held that the mere compilation of facts without creative selection failed to qualify. The missing element defeated the infringement claim.
The phrase describes the but-for cause. An act is a sine qua non of the injury when the harm would not have occurred without that act.
Specific instances are admissible when the character trait itself forms an indispensable element of a charge, claim, or defense.
If an essential element of the target offense would be missing even under the defendant's intended facts then that element is a sine qua non that cannot be satisfied and attempt liability fails.
It is the sine qua non of a valid criminal conviction. Without that quantum of proof no adjudication of guilt may stand.
Originality is the sine qua non of copyright. A work lacking creative selection or arrangement receives no protection regardless of the labor invested.
…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…