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active conduct- Behavior that involves a person doing something by exerting will on the external world. Cf. passive conduct.

active debt See DEBT.

active debt- Civil law. A debt due to another person.

active duty 1. Military law. The full-time status of being in any of the U.S. armed forces. 2. See positive duty under DUTY (1).

active duty- See positive duty.

active euthanasia See EUTHANASIA.

active euthanasia- Euthanasia performed by a facilitator (such as a healthcare practitioner) who not only provides the means of death but also carries out the final death-causing act.

active income See INCOME.

active income- 1. Wages; salary. 2. Income from a trade or business.

active inducement See INDUCEMENT.

active negligence See NEGLIGENCE.

active supervision Antitrust. Under the test for determining whether a private entity may claim a stateaction exemption from the antitrust laws, the right of the state to review the entity's anticompetitive acts and to disapprove those acts that do not promote state policy. See STATE-ACTION DOCTRINE; MIDCAL TEST. "The active supervision requirement stems from the recognition that where a private party is engaging in the anticompetitive activity, there is a real danger that he is acting to further his own interests, rather than the governmental interests of the State. The requirement is designed to ensure that the state·action doctrine will shelter only the particular anticompetitive acts that, in the judgment of the State, actually further state regulatory policies. To accomplish this purpose, the active supervision requirement mandates that the State exercise ultimate control over the challenged anti competitive conduct." Patrick v. Burget, 486 U.S. 94, 100-OJ, 108 s.Ct. 1658, 1663 (1988).

active trust See TRUST.

active waste See commissive waste under WASTE (1).

active-control-of-vessel duty See ACTIVE-OPERATIONS DUTY.

active-operations duty Maritime law. A shipowner's obligation to provide safe working conditions, in the work areas that it controls, for the longshoremen who are loading or unloading the ship. Also termed active-control-of-vessel duty. Cf. TURNOVER DUTY; INTERVENTION DUTY.

activist lawyering See CAUSE LAWYERIG.

activity The collective acts of one person or of two or more people engaged in a common enterprise.

activity incident to service An act undertaken by a member of the armed forces as a part ofa military operalion or as a result of the actor's status as a member of the military . For example, if a member of the military takes advantage of that status by flying home on a military aircraft, the flight is activity incident to service, and a claim against the government for any injuries received may be barred under the Feres doctrine. See FERES DOCTRINE.

acto (ahk-toh), n. Spanish law. 1. ACT (1). 2. ACT (2). 3. An action or lawsuit.

act-of-state doctrine The principle that no nation can judge the legality of a foreign country's sovereign acts within its own territory. As originally formulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1897, the doctrine provides that "the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the government of another done within its own territory." Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U.S. 250, 252, 18 S.Ct. 83, 84 (1897). The Supreme Court later declared that though the act-ofstate doctrine is compelled by neither international law nor the Constitution, it has "institutional underpinnings." Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398,423,84 S.Ct. 923, 937 (1964).

actor 1. One who acts; a person whose conduct is in question.

actrix (ak-triks), Archaic. A female plaintiff.

acts of assembly See SESSION LAWS.

acts-in-the-law See ACT.

actual Existing in fact; real <actual malice>. Cf. CONSTRUCTIVE.

actual reduction to practice See REDUCTION TO PRACTICE.

actual abandonment 1. Patents. Intentional relinquishment of the right to patent protection, evidenced, for example, by more than mere inactivity or delay in filing the application. Actual abandonment may be express or implied, but every reasonable doubt about intent will be resolved in the inventor's favor. 2. Trademarks. Intentionalloss of trademark protection by discontinuing commercial use of the mark with the intention of not using it again.

actual abandonment- See ABANDONMENT (10).

actual agency See AGENCY (1).

actual allegiance See ALLEGIANCE.

actual allegiance. The obedience owed by one who resides temporarily in a foreign country to that country's government. Foreign sovereigns, their representatives, and military personnel are typically excepted from thisrequirement. Also termed local allegiance.

actual assent See ASSENT.

actual- assent Assent given by words or conduct intended to express willingness.

actual authority See AUTHORITY (1).

actual authority- Authority that a principal intentionally confers on an agent or authority that the agent reasonably believes he or she has as a result of the agent's dealings with the principaL. Actual authority can be either express or implied. - Also termed real authority. "Actual authority is such as a principal intentionally confers upon the agent, or intentionally, or by want of ordinary care, allows the agent to believe himself to possess." Cal. Civ. Code § 2316.

actual bailment See BAILMENT.

actual bailment- A bailment that arises from an actual or constructive delivery of property to the bailee.

actual bias See BIAS.

actual bias- Genuine prejudice that a judge, juror, witness, or other person has against some person or relevant subject. Cf. implied bias.

actual capital See CAPITAL.

actual capital- Funds generated by the sale of stock. See capital stock (1) under STOCK.

actual cash value See VALUE (2).

actual cause See but-for cause under CAUSE (1).

actual change of possession A real, rather than constructive, transfer of ownership. A creditor of the transferor cannot reach property that has actually changed possession.

actual consumer confusion See CONSUMER CONFUSION.

actual controversy 1. See CONTROVERSY (2). 2. See CONTROVERSY (3).

actual damages See DAMAGES.

actual damages- An amount awarded to a complainant to compensate for a proven injury or loss; damages that repay actual losses. Also termed compensatory damages; tangible damages; real damages.

actual delivery See DELIVERY.

actual delivery- The act of giving real and immediate possession to the buyer or the buyer's agent.

actual escape See ESCAPE (2).

actual eviction See EVICTION.

actual eviction- A physical expulsion of a person from land or rental property.

actual force See FORCE.

actual force- Force consisting in a physical act, esp. a violent act directed against a robbery victim. Also termed physical jorce.

actual fraud See FRAUD.

actual fraud- A concealment or false representation through a statement or conduct that injures another who relies on it in acting. - Also termed fraud in fact; positive fraud; moral fraud.

actual innocence See INNOCENCE.

actual innocence The absence of facts that are prerequisites for the sentence given to a defendant. In death-penalty cases, actual innocence is an exception to the cause-and-prejudice rule, and can result in a successful challenge to the death sentence on the basis of a defense that was not presented to the trial court. The prisoner must show by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error in the trial court, no reasonable judge or juror would find the defendant eligible for the death penalty. See Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 112 S.Ct. 2514 (1992). Cf. CAUSE-AND-PREJUDICE RULE.

actual knowledge See KNOWLEDGE.

actual knowledge 1. Direct and clear knowledge, as distinguished from constructive knowledge <the employer, having witnessed the accident, had actual knowledge of the worker"s injury>. Also termed express actual knowledge. 2. Knowledge of information that would lead a reasonable person to inquire further <under the discovery rule, the limitations period begins to run once the plaintiff has actual knowledge of the injury>. Also termed (in sense 2) implied actual knowledge. "The third issue in section 523(a)(3) is the meaning of "notice or actual knowledge. Under the Uniform Commer-cial Code knowledge means actually knowing something; notice means having received information from which one could infer the existence of the relevant fact. What the adjective "actual" adds to the idea of "knowledge" is unclear." David G. Epstein et aI., Bankruptcy § 7-27, at 516 (1993).

actual loss See LOSS.

actual malice See MALICE.

actual market value See fair market value under VALUE (2).

actual notice See NOTICE.

actual physical control Direct bodily power over something, esp. a vehicle. Many jurisdictions require a showing of "actual physical control" of a vehicle by a person charged with driving while intoxicated.

actual possession See POSSESSION.

actual possession Physical occupancy or control over property. Cf. constructive possession.

actual reduction to practice The empirical demonstration that an invention performs its intended purpose and is therefore complete for patent purposes; the use of an idea or invention as by testing it - to establish that the idea or invention will perform its intended purpose. Brunswick Corp. v. U.S., 34 Fed. Cl. 532,584 (1995).

actual seisin See seisin in deed under SEISIN.

actual seisin See seisin in deed.

actual service See personal service (1) under SERVICE (2).

actual service See PERSONAL SERVICE (1).

actual taking See physical taking under TAKING (2).

actual taking See physical taking.

actual total loss See LOSS.

actual user confusion See CONSUMER CONFUSION.

actual value See fair market value under VALUE (2).

actual-injury trigger The point at which an insured suffers damage or injury (such as the time of an automobile accident), so that there is an occurrence invoking coverage under an insurance policy. Also termed injury-in-fact trigger. Cf. EXPOSURE THEORY; MANIFESTATION THEORY; TRIPLE TRIGGER.

actually litigated (Of a claim that might be barred by collateral estoppel) properly raised in an earlier lawsuit, submitted to the court for a determination, and determined. A party is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel from relitigating an issue that was actually litigated - usu. including by summary judgment but not necessarily by default judgment - in an earlier suit involving the same parties, even if that suit involved different claims. Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27 cmt. d (1980).

actual-risk test The doctrine that, for an injured employee to be entitled to workers'-compensation benefits, the employee must prove that the injury arose from, and occurred in the course and scope of, employment.

actuarial equivalent The amount of accrued pension benefits to be paid monthly or at some other interval so that the total amount of benefits will be paid over the expected remaining lifetime of the recipient.

actuarial method A means of determining the amount of interest on a loan by using the loan's annual percentage rate to separately calculate the finance chargefor each payment period, after crediting each payment,which is credited first to interset and then to principal,

actuarial present value The amount of money necessary to purchase an annuity that would generate a particular monthly payment, or whatever periodic payment the plan provides, for the expected remaining life span of the recipient.

actuarial surplus An estimate of the amount by which a pension plan's assets exceed its expected current and future liabilities, including the amount expected to be needed to fund future benefit payments.

actuarial surplus See ACTUARIAL SURPLUS.

actuarial table An organized chart of statistical data indicating life expectancies for people in various categories (such as age, family history, and chemical exposure). Actuarial tables are usu. admissible in evidence. Also termed expectancy table; mortality table; mortuary table. Cf. LIfE TABLE.

actuarially sound retirement system A retirement plan that contains sufficient funds to pay future obligations, as by receiving contributions from employees and the employer to be invested in accounts to pay future benefits. Cf. NONACTUARIALLY SOUND RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

actuarius (ak-choo-air-ee-as or ak-tyoo-), n. [Latin] Roman law. 1. A notary or clerk; a shorthand writer. 2. A keeper of public records.

actuary (ak-choo-air-ee), n. A statistician who determines the present effects of future contingent events; esp., one who calculates insurance and pension rates on the basis of empirically based tables. actuarial (ak-choo-air-ee-al), adj.

actum (ak-tam), n. [Latin] A done; an act or deed.

actum et tractatum (ak-tam et trak-tay-tam). [Law Latin], Hist. (Of an instrument) done and transacted.

actus (ak-tas), n. [Latin] L An act or action; a thing done. 2. Hist. An act of Parliament; esp., one passed by both houses but not yet approved by the monarch. Cf. STATUTUM (1). 3. Roman law. A servitude for driving cattle or a carriage across another's land. Also termed (in sense 3) jus actus. Cf. ITER (1).

actus animi (ak-tas an-a-mi). [Law Latin] Hist. An act of the mind; an intention. See ANIMUS. "Again, consent, which is essential to all contracts, is an actus animi, and is presumed in all cases where the contract is ex facie regular," John Trayner, Trayner's Latin Maxims 21-22 (4th ed. 1894).

actus legitimus (ak-tas la-jit-a-mas). [Law Latin] Hist. An act in the law; a juristic act; spedf., an act the performance of which was accompanied by solemn rituals.

actus proximus (ak-tas prok-si-mas). [Law Latin] Hist. An immediate act, as distingUished from a preparatory act, esp. in the commission of a crime.

actus reus (ak-tas ree-sa also ra-as). [Law Latin "guilty act"], The wrongful deed that comprises the physical components of a crime and that generally must be coupled with mens rea to establish criminal liability; a forbidden act <the actus reus for theft is the taking of or unlawful control over property without the owner's consent>. Also termed deed of crime; overt act. See CORPUS DELICTI. Cf. MENS REA. The word actus connotes a 'deed.' a physical result ofhuman conduct. When criminal policy regards such a deed as sufficiently harmful it prohibits it and seeks to prevent its occurrence by imposing a penalty for its commission. It has long been the custom of lawyers to describe a deed so prohibited by law in the words actus reus. Thus actus reus may be defined as 'Such result of human conduct as the law seeks to prevent.' It is important to note that the actus reus, which is the result of conduct, and therefore an event, must be distinguished from the conduct which produced the result. For example, in a simple case of murder it is the victim's death (brought about by the conduct of the murderer) which is the actus reus; the mens rea is the murderer's intention to cause that death. In other words, the crime is constituted by the event, and not by the activity (or in certain cases, as we shall see, by the omission to act) which caused the event." JW. Cecil Turner, Kenny's Outlines af Criminal Law 13 (16th ed. 1952). "The phrase 'deed of crime' [= actus reus] as so used does not indicate the crime itself but merely one of the ingredients of crime; and this ingredient may be present without any crime at all, just as hydrogen is one of the ingredients of water but may be present without water.

acus abbr. ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES.

ad (ad), prep. [Latin] At; by; for; near; on account of; to; until; upon; with relation to; concerning.