Also known as: timings · time
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The point in time at which a required element must exist or an action must occur for a legal rule to apply. This temporal requirement ensures that the element or action coincides with the triggering event under the governing standard.
Tyrone Tran grabs a laptop from a coworker's desk while the coworker steps away. At the exact moment of the grab, Tyrone plans to sell the laptop and keep the proceeds rather than return it. Because the intent to permanently deprive exists simultaneously with the taking, the larceny element is satisfied and Tyrone faces criminal liability.
Tanner Thompson wins election as President. The Constitution fixes the term at four years beginning on the date specified for the start of the term. Any attempt to extend or shorten that fixed period would violate the temporal limit on holding the office.
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Thaddeus Tran receives an order directing him to reply to an answer. He must serve the reply within twenty-one days after service of the order. Missing that window prevents the reply from being timely and may result in waiver of the matters asserted.
Travis Tate, formerly a government employee, possesses confidential information about a person obtained during public service. He may not represent a private client adverse to that person in a matter where the information could cause material disadvantage. The prohibition applies from the moment Tate acquired the information in his official capacity.
Tristan Thompson conveys land to Tamara Tan terminable upon the next presidential election. The estate ends upon an event certain to occur but not certain to occur within any fixed or computable period, satisfying the criteria for such a terminable estate under the governing standard.
Triumph Manufacturing contracts to buy equipment from Threshold Capital while knowing its own information about the equipment's condition is incomplete. Triumph treats that limited knowledge as sufficient and proceeds. The conscious choice to rely on incomplete facts at formation prevents Triumph from later avoiding the contract on grounds of mistake.
The rule requires simultaneous existence of the act and the culpable mental state. If the intent forms only after the taking, the crime is not complete because the required concurrence is absent.
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The reply is untimely. The party may lose the opportunity to assert matters that should have been raised in the reply, and the court may treat the allegations in the answer as admitted.
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The bar applies only when the lawyer possesses confidential government information that could be used to the material disadvantage of the person to whom it relates. Screening and notice rules may allow the firm to proceed if the individual lawyer is isolated from the matter.
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A party who knows its knowledge is limited yet proceeds anyway cannot later claim mistake. The conscious decision to treat incomplete information as adequate at the time of contracting bars relief.
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…General, having been summoned and called, objected to answering and requested the questions be put in writing and that he have time to determine whether he would answer. He had been acting as Secretary of State at the time and opined he was not bound to answer as to facts which came officially to his knowledge while so…