Also known as: impressments · impress · impresses · impressed · impressing · naval impressment · impressment of seamen
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An oath or affirmation given before testifying. It must be administered in a form calculated to awaken the witness's conscience and sense of duty to speak truthfully.
A corporate seal affixed to a document. The seal may be impressed, attached, or reproduced by any method, including facsimile or electronic means.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
An oath or affirmation given before testifying. It must be administered in a form calculated to awaken the witness's conscience and sense of duty to speak truthfully.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A corporate seal affixed to a document. The seal may be impressed, attached, or reproduced by any method, including facsimile or electronic means.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Isaiah called his aunt to testify about conversations with counsel. The aunt declined the standard oath and instead stated she would promise as an officer of justice to tell the truth because that phrasing would impress the duty on her conscience. The court accepted the affirmation and allowed her to testify.
Police questioned Ernesto Miranda for two hours without advising him of his rights. The resulting confession was introduced at trial. The Supreme Court held that the interrogation methods failed to impress upon the suspect the consequences of speaking and reversed the conviction.
Tompkins was struck by an Erie train in Pennsylvania and sued in federal court. The court applied federal general common law rather than Pennsylvania tort rules. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the federal court must impress state substantive law on the claim to avoid forum shopping.
A hotel chambermaid challenged a state minimum wage order as violating freedom of contract. The Supreme Court sustained the statute, ruling that the state could impress reasonable labor standards on employers to protect workers from exploitation.
A three-year-old told his preschool teachers that his mother's boyfriend abused him. Prosecutors offered the statements at trial. The Supreme Court held that the circumstances did not impress the child with the duty to tell the truth in a manner that would render the statements testimonial.
Rule 603 requires only that the oath or affirmation be in a form designed to impress the duty to testify truthfully on the witness's conscience. No particular wording is mandated and unconventional affirmations are acceptable if they achieve that functional purpose.
Supporting sources
NovaLift Aerospace adopted a digital corporate seal and embedded a graphic image of it in electronic subscription agreements. Investor Patel challenged the subscriptions for lack of a physically impressed seal. The court upheld the agreements because the statute permits a corporation to reproduce its seal by any method including a facsimile.
Yes. The Model Business Corporation Act expressly authorizes a corporation to alter its seal at will and to use the seal or a facsimile by impressing, affixing, or reproducing it in any other manner, including electronic images.
Supporting sources
…expectation of an unfavorable reaction on the part of the interrogator. Secondly, a concession of this right to remain silent impresses the subject with the apparent fairness of his interrogator."[^maj-20] After this psychological conditioning, however, the officer is told to point out the incriminating significance of the…