Also known as: verbum · words · verba legis
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Words, especially those spoken orally rather than reduced to writing.
Virgil Vaughn taunted his neighbor with insults about a decades-old debt during an argument. When the neighbor struck first, Virgil responded with deadly force. The court held that the spoken taunts supplied no legally adequate provocation to reduce the resulting homicide from murder to voluntary manslaughter.
Vanessa Vinson signed a document transferring her cabin to her nephew but omitted any language stating that she granted or conveyed the property. The nephew recorded the paper, yet title never passed because the instrument contained no operative words of conveyance.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Vincente Vukovic filed articles for a new entity called Apex Analytics. The secretary of state rejected the filing because the name lacked any of the required words or abbreviations such as corporation, incorporated, company, or limited.
During a sentencing hearing, the judge repeatedly referred to the defendant's ethnicity in derogatory terms while imposing the maximum sentence. The remarks constituted words manifesting bias in the performance of judicial duties and required reversal.
Veronica Varela's negligent driving caused a chain of collisions that injured a pedestrian two blocks away. The court applied the definition of legal cause and held her responsible for the harm because the sequence of events made the law treat her conduct as the responsible cause.
Viktor Voronin, owner of the benefited parcel, told the burdened neighbor that the access easement was no longer needed and watched the neighbor build a permanent fence across the path. The neighbor's detrimental reliance on those words terminated the servitude by estoppel.
No. At common law, mere words alone are legally inadequate to reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter even when they are highly offensive.
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A deed must include words of conveyance that manifest an intent to transfer title, along with identification of the parties, a property description, the grantor's signature, and delivery.
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No. The name must contain one of the listed words or abbreviations or their equivalent in another language.
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A judge violates the rule by using words in the performance of judicial duties that manifest bias or prejudice based on protected characteristics.
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Legal cause exists when the causal sequence is such that the law holds the actor responsible for the resulting harm absent a defense.
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Yes. Words communicating an intention to terminate the servitude support estoppel when the burdened party reasonably and detrimentally relies on them.
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…adoption of the Constitution (the Judiciary Act), expressly gave the Supreme Court the power of issuing writs of mandamus. The words are: 'The supreme court shall also have appellate jurisdiction ... and shall have power to issue writs of prohibition ... and writs of mandamus, in cases warranted by the principles and…