Also known as: i.e. · viz. · that is to say
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An adverb used to introduce a specific identification or enumeration by name. It signals that the following items constitute the precise content of the preceding general reference.
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Nobel Dynamics maintains sales offices and warehouses in several states but is incorporated in Delaware with its headquarters in New York. A plaintiff in California sues the company for an unrelated matter and asserts general jurisdiction on the basis of its nationwide operations, namely its extensive sales and distribution network within the state.
Nathan Nguyen, age seventeen, purchases a used car from a dealer. After discovering mechanical defects, he returns the vehicle and demands his money back, asserting the defense of infancy, namely his minority at the time of the transaction.
Navarro Industries, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Texas, acquires land in New Mexico through a contract negotiated in Arizona. In a later dispute over title, the court must weigh contacts with multiple states, namely the location of the land, the parties' domiciles, and the place of contracting.
New Horizon Media runs advertisements for a new product that make factual claims about its health benefits. A state agency proposes restrictions on those claims, requiring the government to satisfy a four-part test, namely that the speech concerns lawful activity, the interest is substantial, the regulation advances the interest directly, and the fit between means and ends is reasonable.
Neil Nair and Natasha Nielsen exchange promises during a private ceremony. A court later examines whether their agreement created a valid marriage, namely a permanent and exclusive relationship from which children are generally expected to result.
Police officers conduct an unlawful entry and observe contraband. They later obtain a warrant based solely on an informant's tip received before the entry and seize the same items. The evidence is admissible under the independent-source doctrine, namely a warrant founded on information wholly unconnected to the prior illegality.
Namely introduces an exhaustive identification of the items referenced. Including signals that the list is partial and that unlisted items may also qualify.
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Namely is appropriate when the writer wishes to emphasize that the following words supply the precise content of the preceding general term. A colon may be used for the same purpose but lacks the explicit signaling function of namely.
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No. The term resolves potential ambiguity by making clear that the enumeration is exhaustive rather than illustrative.
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…entitled. A justice of the peace in the District of Columbia is not removable at the will of the President. At the last term, viz. December term, 1801, William Marbury, Dennis Ramsay, Robert Townsend Hooe, and William Harper, by their counsel Charles Lee, late Attorney General of the United States, severally moved the…