Also known as: solely · single · exclusive
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A modifier indicating that a described action, purpose, status, or measure is the only one permitted or present under a rule. The term restricts application to a single exclusive ground and excludes alternative or additional justifications.
Samuel Soto inserts a screwdriver through a window to unlatch it and then reaches his arm inside the home. Because the tool was used solely to gain entry rather than to commit the intended felony, the entry element of burglary is not satisfied under the governing rule.
Simone Sanders accepts the deed at closing without any repair covenant appearing in the deed. After discovering needed roof repairs, her contract claim fails because the deed has become the sole measure of the seller's obligations.
Steven Silva challenges a federal statute regulating purely intrastate activity. The statute is upheld only to the extent it rests on one of the enumerated powers listed in the constitutional grant. No unenumerated authority supplies an independent basis.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Sydney Santos serves initial disclosures that omit a key fact witness. The omission is harmless only because the witness's identity would be used solely for impeachment and therefore falls outside the mandatory disclosure obligation.
Sasha Stone deposits a small personal sum into the client trust account. The deposit is permissible because it is made for the sole purpose of covering bank service charges and does not exceed the amount necessary for that purpose.
Sylvia Santos conveys property creating a fee tail estate to be held by two grantees. The estate may validly exist as tenants in common under the applicable rule governing concurrent ownership of such estates.
Insertion satisfies entry only when the tool is used to commit the intended felony inside the dwelling. Use solely to gain entry does not count as entry under the governing rule.
Supporting sources
Contractual promises not embodied in the deed are discharged. The deed becomes the sole measure of the grantor's obligations, subject only to narrow exceptions such as fraud.
Supporting sources
A party must disclose the name and contact information of any individual likely to have discoverable information the party may use to support its claims or defenses. Disclosure is not required when the use would be solely for impeachment.
Supporting sources
A lawyer may deposit the lawyer's own funds in a client trust account only for the sole purpose of paying bank service charges and only in the amount necessary for that purpose.
Supporting sources
…be compelled, is also bound by the same rules of evidence. These duties are not confidential but public and his clerks have no exclusive privileges except as to facts concerning foreign correspondencies and confidential communications between the head of the department and the President. Such confidences may be a ground of…