Also known as: classes · classification · classifications · classify · classified · classifying · category · categorization
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A group of persons or things that share common characteristics or legal status for purposes of applying a rule or doctrine.
After a heated argument, Carlos Castillo shot an intruder who had broken into his home at night. Prosecutors charged him with criminal homicide. The court examined whether the killing fell into the justifiable category because the law authorized the use of deadly force against an unlawful entry.
Cobalt Energy customers filed suit alleging overcharges on utility bills. The named plaintiffs sought certification under Rule 23(b)(3). The court weighed whether individual class members would prefer to control their own separate lawsuits rather than proceed collectively.
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Cedar Creek Farms deeded land to Catherine Carter and her husband for life with remainder to their children. The deed language created an estate that could pass to a designated class of the couple's issue under the state's rules for concurrent ownership.
Continental Bank promised to answer for the debt of a third-party borrower. When the bank later refused to pay, the creditor sued on the oral assurance. The court held the promise fell within one of the enumerated classes of contracts that require a signed writing to be enforceable.
Claire Campbell operated a delivery truck and struck a pedestrian while speeding through a school zone. The injured party belonged to the class of persons the speed limit was designed to protect. The court therefore treated the violation as evidence that the conduct was negligent with respect to that group.
Camila Cervantes and her partner of a different race applied for a marriage license. State officials denied the application under a statute prohibiting interracial unions. The couple challenged the law as an unconstitutional classification that infringed their fundamental right to marry.
Courts place a killing into one of three categories: justifiable when the law commands or authorizes it, excusable when a recognized defense removes liability, or criminal when the killing is unlawful and fits neither prior category.
The rule requires courts to evaluate the class members' interests in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actions as one element in the superiority analysis.
The conveyance must be made to two persons who are or might become husband and wife together with the issue or a designated class of the issue of those two persons, and joint tenancy must be an allowed form of ownership in the state.
The enumerated classes include a contract of an executor or administrator to answer for a duty of the decedent and a contract to answer for the duty of another.
The actor's conduct is negligent toward another when that person falls within the class of persons with respect to whom the conduct creates an unreasonable risk of harm.
Racial classifications in marriage statutes receive the most rigid scrutiny and cannot stand absent a legitimate purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination.
…would be mere surplusage. The words of the Constitution must be given effect, and the distribution intended is that in some classes jurisdiction is original and not appellate and in others appellate and not original. To enable this Court to issue a mandamus it must be shown to be an exercise of appellate jurisdiction…