Also known as: verbatim
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A maxim requiring that language be reproduced or quoted in identical words.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Federal agents arrested Ivan Ivanov in a hotel lobby and advised him he could remain silent and that if charges reached court and he could not afford counsel one would be appointed. Ivan later moved to suppress his statements claiming the warning omitted required language. The court denied the motion because the agents conveyed the substance of the rights without reproducing any fixed script in haec verba.
Ivy Ibarra sued Inertia Dynamics under the ADEA alleging a hiring test had a disparate impact on older workers. The company argued the claim failed because the statutory text was not identical to Title VII. The court rejected the argument because Congress had derived the ADEA prohibition in haec verba from Title VII and therefore the same interpretive rule applied.
Israel Irving petitioned for federal habeas relief after his state conviction was affirmed. The state argued he had not pursued every available state procedure listed in the statute. The court examined the legislative history showing that the exhaustion language had been presented to Congress in haec verba and therefore carried the meaning intended by the Judicial Conference draft.
Imperial Motors sued Ironwood Capital in federal court and lost on the merits. When Imperial filed a second action in state court raising the same theory, Ironwood moved to dismiss. The court held the second suit barred because the prior judgment had been entered in haec verba on the identical claim.
Idris Ives sued Innovate Pharmaceuticals under a federal statute that did not expressly create a private remedy. The company moved to dismiss arguing Congress had not used the same wording found in other statutes that do create such rights. The court examined whether the statutory language had been copied in haec verba from provisions known to authorize private suits.
Isabella Ingram refused a substitute acting role offered by Parker Productions after her original contract was canceled. She sued for breach and the studio defended on failure to mitigate. The court compared the offered role to the original contract language reproduced in haec verba and concluded the substitute was not substantially similar.
No. The Supreme Court has held that warnings need not be given in a rigid verbatim form so long as they reasonably convey the substance of the required rights.
Courts presume Congress intended the copied language to carry the same meaning it had in the source statute especially when the statutes share similar purposes and were enacted close in time.
The court compares the text of the two provisions directly and considers legislative history showing that the later provision was presented to Congress using the identical wording of the earlier statute.
…of Sen. Case). The amendment was defeated and two days later Senator Tower offered a substitute amendment which was adopted verbatim and is now the testing provision of § 703 (h). Speaking for the supporters of Title VII, Senator Humphrey, who had vigorously opposed the first amendment, endorsed the substitute amendment,…