Also known as: usefulness · usefully
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A quality of having practical value or serving a concrete purpose within a legal rule or doctrine rather than remaining speculative or without application. The standard requires that the thing or arrangement actually accomplish its intended function when employed in the relevant setting.
Ulysses Maritime develops a new navigation device that functions reliably at sea. Congress includes funding for its development under the power to promote useful arts. The device qualifies because it performs its intended function in actual maritime operations.
Upland Industries holds an easement allowing water access across neighboring land. Upon sale of the parcel the easement benefits the buyer more than the original owner after transfer. The benefit is therefore appurtenant because it serves a purpose more useful to the successor.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ulric Ung lives with extended relatives in a single home under a zoning ordinance. The arrangement supplies practical daily support that a smaller household could not provide. The court recognizes the living setup as useful to the family's welfare under constitutional liberty interests.
Unison Media receives a large punitive damages verdict after misleading consumers. The court applies guideposts to determine whether the award remains useful for deterrence without becoming grossly excessive. The ratio between compensatory and punitive amounts supplies one measurable factor.
Ursula Ung owns a historic terminal building. City rules prevent construction of a taller structure above it. The restrictions preserve the building's existing usefulness as a transportation hub while limiting new profitable uses.
Usman Uddin holds a beneficial interest in a trust. The trustee publishes notice of an accounting in a newspaper. The method supplies useful information to known beneficiaries who can then protect their interests in the proceeding.
An invention is useful when it has a practical application that accomplishes its purpose in industry. Mere curiosities without intelligent purpose do not meet the standard.
No. The clause authorizes Congress to promote science and useful arts through exclusive rights to authors and inventors. It supplies one enumerated power among many listed in Article I Section 8.
A servitude benefit is appurtenant when it serves a purpose more useful to a successor property owner than to the original beneficiary after transfer of that interest to a successor. The comparison focuses on the practical advantage to the new holder of the benefited land.
…that counsel “should be entitled to present . . . any additional submissions which, in the light of [the court’s] opinion, may usefully develop further the factors discussed.” Id. , at 337, 366 N. E. 2d, at 1279. Appellants chose not to avail themselves of this opportunity and filed a notice of appeal in this Court. We…