Also known as: specific act
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Particular, concrete instances of conduct or transactions singled out from general behavior.
Sean Steele, a partner in a real-estate venture, purchased a warehouse and immediately leased it back to the partnership at an above-market rate. After full disclosure of the purchase price and lease terms at a partners' meeting, the other partners voted to approve the transaction. The ratification shielded Steele from a duty-of-loyalty claim even though the lease would otherwise have violated that duty.
Sofia Stern was charged with murdering her former boyfriend. She sought to introduce evidence that two days earlier the victim had broken into her sister's apartment and threatened the family. The court admitted the evidence of those specific acts to show the victim was the first aggressor, because the acts were relevant apart from any character inference.
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Seth Shapiro was prosecuted for conspiring to overthrow the government through an organization he had joined. The government introduced evidence of his attendance at planning meetings and distribution of recruitment materials. These specific acts supplied the active membership element required to satisfy due-process limits on punishing mere association.
Sophia Singh, on trial for fraud, testified she had never misled investors. The prosecutor asked on cross-examination about three earlier occasions when she had falsely represented sales figures to different lenders. The questions tested her credibility by probing specific acts of dishonesty without introducing extrinsic evidence of those acts.
Sasha Stone was arrested for being drunk in public. He argued the statute punished the status of alcoholism. The court upheld the conviction because the ordinance targeted the specific act of appearing intoxicated in a public place rather than the mere condition of being an alcoholic.
Samantha Stone, custodian of records for a corporation, received a subpoena for company documents. She refused to produce them, claiming the act of production would incriminate her personally. The court held that the corporation's act of producing the records was not a personal testimonial act protected by the Fifth Amendment.
All partners may authorize or ratify the specific act or transaction after full disclosure of all material facts. The authorization prevents the transaction from constituting a violation of the duty of loyalty.
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Specific acts are generally inadmissible to prove that a person acted in conformity with a character trait on a particular occasion. They are admissible when character is an element of a claim or defense or when offered for another non-character purpose such as motive or intent.
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A statute may punish a specific act such as appearing in public while intoxicated. It may not punish the mere status of being an alcoholic without any accompanying conduct.
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Yes, when the acts are relevant to show the victim was the first aggressor and the relevance does not depend solely on character conformity. The acts must be offered for a purpose other than proving the victim's general violent disposition.
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…had been held to apply only to federal proceedings, and in the federal judicial system the matter has been covered by a specific Act of Congress which has been in effect ever since defendants have been permitted to testify at all in federal criminal trials.[^disA-4] See Bruno v. United States , 308 U. S. 287; Wilson v.…