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fraud on creditors See FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCE (1).

fraud on the community In a communityproperty state, the deliberate hiding or fraudulent transfer of community assets before a divorce or death for the purpose of preventing the other spouse from claiming a half-interest ownership in the property.

fraud on the community- In a community-property state, the deliberate hiding or fraudulent transfer of community assets before a divorce or death for the purpose of preventing the other spouse from claiming a half-interest ownership in the property.

fraud on the court In a judicial proceeding, a lawyer's or party's misconduct so serious that it undermines or is intended to undermine the integrity of the proceeding. Examples are bribery of a juror and introduction of fabricated evidence.

fraud on the market 1. Fraud occurring when an issuer of securities out misinformation that affects the market price of stock, the result being that people who buy or sell are effectively misled even though they did not rely on the statement itself or anything derived from it other than the market price. 2. The securities-law claim based on such fraud. See FRAUD-ON-THE-MARKET PRINCIPLE.

fraud on the patent office A defense in a patent-infringement action, attacking the validity of the patent on the grounds that the patentee gave the examiner false or misleading information or withheld relevant information that the examiner would have considered important in considering patentability. The scope of prohibited acts is wider than that covered by common-law fraud, and today the defense is generally called "inequitable conduct before the PTO." If the defense is established, the entire patent is rendered unenforceable. See defense of inequitable conduct under DEFENSE (1).

fraud, badge of See BADGE OF FRAUD.

fraudare (fraw-dair-ee), vb. [Latin], Roman law. To defraud.

fraude (frawd). [French]. Civil law. Fraud committed in performing a contract. Cf. DOL.

fraudfeasor (frawd-fee-zar). A person who has committed fraud. - Also termed defrauder.

fraud-on-the-market principle The doctrine that, in a claim under the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, a plaintiff may presumptively establish reliance on a misstatement about a security's value without proving actual knowledge of the fraudulent statement - if the stock is purchased in an open and developed securities market.This doctrine recognizes that the market price of an issuer's stock reflects all available public information. The presumption is rebuttable. Also termed fraud-on-the-market theory. See fraud on the market under FRAUD.

frauds, statute of See STATUTE OF FRAUDS.

fraudulent act Conduct involving bad faith, dishonesty, a lack of integrity, or moral turpitude. Also termed dishonest act;fraudulent or dishonest act.

fraudulent alienation 1. The transfer of property with an intent to defraud others, esp. creditors and lienholders. 2. The transfer of an estate asset by the estate's administrator for little or no consideration.

fraudulent alienee One who knowingly receives an asset by means of fraudulent alienation.

fraudulent alienee- See ALIENEE.

fraudulent banking The receipt of a deposit by a banker who knew that the bank was insolvent at the time of the deposit.

fraudulent claim A false insurance claim. See FRAUD.

fraudulent concealment The affirmative suppression or hiding, with the intent to deceive or defraud, of a material fact or circumstance that one is legally (or, sometimes, morally) bound to reveal Also termed hidden fraud.

fraudulent concealment- See CONCEALMENT.

fraudulent conversion Conversion that is committed by the use of fraud, either in obtaining the property or in withholding it.

fraudulent conversion- See CONVERSION (2).

fraudulent conveyance 1. A transfer of property for little or no consideration, made for the purpose of hindering or delaying a creditor by putting the property beyond the creditor's reach; a transaction by which the owner of real or personal property seeks to place the property beyond the reach ofcreditors. Also termed fraud on creditors. "With respect to the general power which is exercisable by deed, it seems that the principle that the donee's creditors can reach the property subject to the exercised general power will have application only to the so-called fraudulent conveyance. That is to say, if the owned assets of the donee after the donative inter vivos exercise are sufficient to satisfy the creditors, then the exercise of the power will not subject the appointive property to the claims of the creditors; if, on the other hand, the owned assets of the donee are inadequate to satisfy creditors' claims after the exercise of the power. then the transfer resulting from the exercise is likely to fall into the category of the fraudulent conveyance and the creditors will be able to reach the appointive property in the hands of the appointee." Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land and Future Interests 173 (2d ed. 1984). 2. Bankruptcy. A prebankruptcy transfer or obligation made or incurred by a debtor for little or no consid eration or with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor .o A bankruptcy trustee may recover such a conveyance from the transferee if the requirements of 11 USCA § 548 are met. Also termed fraud ulent transfer. Cf. PREFERENTIAL TRANSFER.

fraudulent debt A debt created by fraudulent practices.

fraudulent debt- See DEBT.

fraudulent joinder See JOINDER.

fraudulent joinder The bad-faith joinder of a party, usu. a resident of the state, to prevent removal of a case to federal court.

fraudulent marriage See MARRIAGE (1).

fraudulent misrepresentation See MISREPRESENTATION.

fraudulent or dishonest act See FRAUDULENT ACT.

fraudulent pretenses See FALSE PRETENSES.

fraudulent representation See fraudulent misrepresentation under MISREPRESENTATION.

fraudulent sale A sale made to defraud the seller s creditors by converting into cash property that should be used to satisfy the creditors claims.

fraudulent sale See SALE.

fraudulent transfer See FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCE (2).

fraudulent-concealment rule See CONCEALMENT RULE.

fraus (fraws). [Latin]. Deceit; cheating. For example, a debtor who conveyed property with the specific intent (Jraus) of defrauding a creditor risked having the conveyance rescinded.

fraus legis (fraws lee-jis). [Latin "fraud on the law"]. Roman law. Evasion of the law; specif., doing something that is not expressly forbidden by statute, but that the law does not want done.

fray See AFFRAY.

FRB abbr. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD OF GOVERNORS.

FRCA abbr. See FAIR-CREDIT-REPORTING ACT.

FRCP abbr. FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.

FRE abbr. FEDERAL RULES OF EVIDENCE.

Freddie Mac See FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORPORATION.

free adj. (bef. 12c) 1. Having legal and political rights; enjoying political and civil liberty <a free citizen> <a free populace>. 2. Not subject to the constraint or domination of another; enjoying personal freedom; emancipated <a free person>. 3. Characterized by choice, rather than by compulsion or constraint <free will>. 4. Unburdened <the land was free of any encumbrances>. 5. Not confined by force or restraint <free from prison>. 6. Unrestricted and unregulated <free trade>. 7. Costing nothing; gratuitous <free tickets to the game>. - freely, adv.

free- 1. To liberate. 2. To remove (a person, animal, or thing) from a constraint or burden.

free agency A professional athlete's ability to negotiate an employment contract with any team in the league, rather than being confined to the league's collective-bargaining system. Free agency is usu. granted to veteran players who have been in the league for a certain number of years. Cf. RESERVE CLAUSE. free agent, n.

free alms See FRANKALMOIN.

free alongside ship A mercantile-contract term allocating the rights and duties of the buyer and the seller of goods with respect to delivery, payment, and risk of loss, whereby the seller must clear the goods for export, and deliver the goods to the wharfbeside the buyer's chosen vessel. The seller's delivery is complete (and the risk of loss passes to the buyer) when the goods are placed on the wharf beside the vessel. The buyer is responsible for all costs of carriage. This term is used only when goods are transported by sea or inland waterway. UCC § 2-319. - Abbr. FAS. Cf. FREE ON BOARD; DELIVERED EX QUAY.

free and common socage See free socage under SOCAGE.

free and dear adj. Unencumbered byany liens; marketable <free and clear title>.

free and equal adj. (Of an election) conducted so that the electorate has a reasonable opportunity to vote, with each vote given the same effect.

free bench A widow's (and occasionally a widower's) interest in the deceased spouse's estate. Free bench gave the surviving spouse a half interest in the estate until death or remarriage. - Also termed francus bancus;frank bank; liber bancus. "The bench in question was, we may guess ... a bench at the fireside. The surviving spouse has in time past been allowed to remain in the house along with the children. In the days when families kept together, the right of the widower or widow to remain at the fireside may have borne a somewhat indefinite character ....By way of 'free bench' the surviving spouse now has the enjoyment of one· half of the land until death or second marriage, whether there has ever been a child of the marriage or no." 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward 1419 (2d ed. 1899).

free carrier A mercantile-contract term allocating the rights and duties of the buyer and the seller of goods with respect to delivery, payment, and risk of loss, whereby the seller must clear the goods for export and deliver them to the buyer's chosen carrier at a named place. The seller's delivery is complete (and the risk of loss passes to the buyer) when the goods are loaded on the collecting vehicle or otherwise placed at the carrier's disposal. The buyer is responsible for all costs of carriage. There are no restrictions on the buyer's choice of carrier. - Abbr. FCA.

free chapel Eccles. law. A church founded by the Crown (or by a person under royal grant) and not subject to the bishop's jurisdiction. "[T]hose onely are Free-chappels. which are of the King's Foundation, and by him exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary; but the King may licence a Subject to found such a Chappel. and by his Charter exempt it from the Ordinaries Visitation also .... [l]t is called free. in respect of its exemption from theJurisdiction of the Diocesan ...." Thomas Blount, Noma-Lexicon: A Law-Dictionary (1670).

free chase See CHASE.

free city A country-like political and territorial entity that, although independent in principle, does not have the full capacity to act according to general international law but is nevertheless a subject of international law.

free election See ELECTION (3).

free enterprise A private and consensual system of production and distribution, usu. conducted for a profit in a competitive environment that is relatively free of governmental interference. See CAPITALISM.

free entry, egress, and regress (ee-gres / ree-gres). A person's right to go on land as often as reasonably necessary. A tenant could go on land to gather crops still growing after the tenancy expired.

free exercise clause The constitutional provision (U.S. Const. amend. 1) prohibiting the government from interfering in people's religious practices or forms of worship. - Also termed Exercise Clause. Cf. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE.

free fishery An exclusive right of fishery, existing by grant or prescription from the monarch, to take fish in public water such as a river or an arm of the sea. Also termed libera piscaria.

free fishery- See FISHERY (1).

free ice Ice in navigable streams that does not belong to the adjacent riparian owner or to another with the right to appropriate it, but that belongs to the person who first appropriates it.

free law The civil rights enjoyed by a freeman (as opposed to a serf). Free law could be forfeited if the freeman was convicted of treason or an infamous crime.

free market See open market under MARKET.

free of all average Maritime law. Insurance that covers a total loss only. Abbr. FAA.

free on board (ca. 1924) A mercantile-contract term allocating the rights and duties of the buyer and the seller of goods with respect to delivery, payment, and risk of loss, whereby the seller must clear the goods for export, and the buyer must arrange for transportation. The seller's delivery is complete (and the risk of loss passes to the buyer) when the goods pass the transporter's rail. The buyer is responsible for all costs of carriage. DCC § 2.319. - Abbr. FOB. Cf. FREE ALONGSIDE SHIP; DELIVERED EX SHIP. "In an F.O.B. ('free on board') contract, the goods must be delivered on board by the seller, free of expense to the purchaser, and they are not at the latter's risk until actually delivered on board, when the property in them passes to him. The seller must also give the buyer sufficient notice to enable him to insure against loss during the sea transit. The buyer, on the other hand, must name a ship or authorize the seller to select one. The seller cannot sue for the price until the goods are loaded, and if his inability to load was caused by the buyer's failure to name an effective ship, his only remedy lies in damages. Similarly, F.O.R. means 'free on rail.''' 2 E.w. Chance, Principles of Mercantile Law 86-87 (P.w. French ed., 10th ed. 1951).

free port See PORT.

free port A port located outside a country s customs frontier, so that goods may be delivered usu. free of import duties or taxes, without being subjected to customs-control procedures; FREE-TRADE ZONE.

free ride A benefit obtained without paying a fair price. For example, a competitor who used aerial photographs ofa plant-construction site to discover secret manufacturing techniques was judicially criticized for getting a free ride, in contrast to others who might spend time and effort legally reverse-engineering the same techniques.

free rider One who obtains an economic benefit at another's expense without contributing to it. - Also written free rider.

free seas See high seas.

free seas See SEA.

free socage See SOCAGE.

free socage Socage in which the services were both certain and honorable. - By the statute 12 Car. 2, ch. 24 (1660), all the tenures by knight-service were, with minor exceptions, converted into free socage. - Also termed free and common socage; liberum socagium.

free trade The open and unrestricted import and export of goods without barriers, such as quotas or tariffs, other than those charged only as a revenue source, as opposed to those deSigned to protect domestic businesses. Cf. protective tariff under TARIFF (2) .

free warren See WARREN.

free-bordo 1. A small strip ofland (usu. 2112 feet wide and lying just outside a fence) that the owner of the fenced property was allowed to claim and use. 2. The right of claiming that quantity of land. Also spelled freebord; free bord; freeboard. Also termed francbordus.

freedman (freed-man). An emancipated slave.

freedom (bef. 12c) 1. The state of being free or liberated. 2. A political right.

freedom of the press The right to print and publish materials without governmental intervention, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. - Also termed liberty of the press. "'Freedom of the press' has less significance than meets the eye. It is true, of course, that the First Amendment specifically guarantees freedom of the press as well as free speech, and the media often ascribe the freedom they enjoy to the Press Clause. Even the Supreme Court occasionally emits rhetoric that implies as much. But as a matter of positive law, the Press Clause actually plays a rather minor role in protecting the freedom of the press. Most of the freedoms the press receives from the First Amendment are no different from the freedoms everyone enjoys under the Speech Clause. The press is protected from most government censorship, libel judgments, and prior restraints not because it is the press but because the Speech Clause protects all of us from those threats." David A. Anderson, Freedom of the Press, 80 Texas L. Rev. 429, 430 (2002).

freedom of access to clinic entrances act A 1994 federal statute that provides for criminal sanctions, private civil causes of action, and civil action by the U.S. Attorney General against a person who uses force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with a provider or patient of reproductive services or who damages a reproductive-services facility. Abbr. FACE.

freedom of assembly See RIGHT OF ASSEMBLY.

freedom of association The right to join with others in a common undertaking that would be lawful if pursued individually. This right is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The government may not prohibit outsiders from joining an association, but the insiders do not necessarily have a right to exclude others. Cf. RIGHT OF ASSEMBLY.

freedom of choice 1. The liberty embodied in the exercise of one's rights. 2. The parents' opportunity to select a school for their child in a unitary, integrated school system that is devoid of de jure segregation. 3. The liberty to exercise one's right of privacy, esp. the right to have an abortion. Also termed right to choose; choice.

freedom of contract The doctrine that people have the right to bind themselves legally; a judicial concept that contracts are based on mutual agreement and free choice, and thus should not be hampered by external control such as governmental interference. This is the principle that people are able to fashion their relations by private agreements, esp. as opposed to the assigned roles of the feudal system. As Maine famously said, "[T]he movement of progressive societies has been a movement from Status to Contract." Henry Sumner Maine, Ancient Law 165 (1864). - Also termed liberty ofcontract; autonomy of the parties. "Like most shibboleths, that of 'freedom of contract' rarely. if ever, received the close examination which its importance deserved. and even today it is by no means easy to say what exactly the nineteenth-century judges meant when they used this phrase. At least it may be said that the idea of freedom of contract embraced two closely connected, but none the less distinct, concepts. In the first place it indicated that contracts were based on mutual agreement, while in the second place it emphasized that the creation of a contract was the result of a free choice unhampered by external control such as government or legislative interfer· ence." p.s. Atiyah, An Introduction to the Law of Contract 5 (3d ed. 1981).

freedom of expression The freedom of speech, press, assembly, or religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment; the prohibition of governmental interference with those freedoms. Cf. FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

freedom of expressive association The constitutional right of an individual to associate with others, without undue government interference, for the purpose of engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment, such as speech, assembly, and the exercise of religion.

freedom of information act The federal statute that establishes gUidelines for public disclosure of documents and materials created and held by federal agencies. 5 USCA § 552. The basic purpose of the statute, or of a state statute modeled after it, is to give the public access to official information so that the public will be better informed and the government will be more accountable for its actions. Abbr. FOIA. See REVERSE FOlA SUIT.

freedom of intimate association The constitutional right of privacy to form and preserve certain intimate human relationships without intrusion by the state because the relationships safeguard individual freedom. The group relationships protected by the right to freedom of intimate association are familial in nature and are characterized by deep attachments, a high degree of commitment, and the sharing of distinctly personal aspects of life.The exclusion ofothers is an essential characteristic of these relationships.

freedom of intimate association- See FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION.

freedom of petition See RIGHT TO PETITION.

freedom of religion The right to adhere to any form of religion or none, to practice or abstain from practicing religious beliefs, and to be free from governmental interference with or promotion of religion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment and Article VI, § 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

freedom of speech The right to express one's thoughts and opinions without governmental restriction, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. - Also termed liberty of speech. Cf. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

freedom of speech clause See SPEECH CLAUSE.

freedom of the city An immunity or privilege from some burden, esp. from county jurisdiction and its privilege of municipal taxation and self-government, held under a royal charter.

freedom of the seas The principle that the seas beyond territorial waters are not subject to any country's control. Ships on the high seas are subject only to the jurisdiction of the country whose flag they fly, except in cases of piracy, hijacking, hot pursuit from territorial waters, slave trading, and certain rights of approach by warships. - Also termed mare liberum.

freedom-to-create statute A law restricting an employer's ability to require employees to assign to the employer all rights to their inventions, even those independently developed.

freedom-to-operate search See INFRINGEMENT SEARCH.