Also known as: take as a whole · taking as a whole · totality · overall context
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A directive requiring evaluation of an entire document, statement, or set of facts rather than isolated components or elements.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Tori Taylor confessed to a cellmate that she had supplied fentanyl to a buyer who later died. The prosecution offered the statement in a criminal trial against a codefendant. The court examined the full circumstances of the confession, including the cellmate's prior relationship with Taylor, the absence of any deal for leniency, and independent evidence placing Taylor at the scene, and found the statement trustworthy enough for admission.
Tobias Thomas and several others were found inside a nearly empty home filled with drug paraphernalia and evidence of recent lewd conduct. Officers arrested Thomas for unlawful entry after noting the boarded windows, lack of furniture, and the group's evasive behavior upon arrival. The court upheld the arrest because the officers reasonably inferred from the complete scene that the gathering was unauthorized.
Theodore Tucker and Tanya Tang signed a premarital agreement that eliminated spousal support. Five years later Tang developed a serious illness that left her unable to work. The court reviewed the entire agreement, including its asset-division terms and the parties' changed financial positions, before refusing to enforce the support waiver on grounds of substantial hardship.
Trevor Tate, domiciled in State X, contracted to sell land located in State Y to Tara Tran. When a dispute arose over recording requirements, the court applied the full body of State Y law, including its choice-of-law rules, to reach the same result a State Y court would have reached on the actual facts.
Threshold Capital's former CFO made an out-of-court statement detailing accounting irregularities. The proponent offered the statement under the residual exception. The court considered the complete context of the statement, including the CFO's personal knowledge, the timing relative to an audit, and corroborating internal emails, and found sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness.
Terra Financial's employee was approached by officers at a bus terminal who asked to search his bag. The employee agreed but later moved to suppress the evidence. The court held that no seizure occurred because, under all the circumstances, a reasonable person would have felt free to decline the request and walk away.
The court must examine the totality of circumstances surrounding the statement, including any corroborating evidence that supports or undermines its reliability. This holistic review determines whether the statement is sufficiently trustworthy to be admitted.
Supporting sources
Officers may draw commonsense inferences from the condition of the premises, the behavior of occupants, and all other observable circumstances. The inquiry is not limited to any single fact but looks at the complete picture presented at the scene.
…coping with confessions and that, even if the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination be invoked, its precedents taken as a whole do not sustain the present rules. Viewed as a choice based on pure policy, these new rules prove to be a highly debatable, if not one-sided, appraisal of the competing interests, imposed…
…agree fully with the Court that, applying these tests, the right of privacy is a fundamental personal right, emanating "from the totality of the constitutional scheme under which we live." Id. , at 521. Mr. Justice Brandeis, dissenting in Olmstead v. United States , 277 U. S. 438, 478, comprehensively summarized the…
…Oil standards (as interpreted here) lack. Dr. Gore did argue to the jury an economic theory based on the need to offset the totality of the harm that the defendant's conduct caused. Some theory of that general kind might have provided a significant constraint on arbitrary awards (at least where confined to the relevant…
…federal constitutional provision. The Court said: “Asserted denial [of due process] is to be tested by an appraisal of the totality of facts in a given case. That which may, in one setting, constitute a denial of fundamental fairness, shocking to the universal sense of justice, may, in other circumstances, and in the…
…help a small group of older Civil War veterans. It has since been reaffirmed and extended only to cover new veterans. When the
Supporting sources
A court reviews the term in the context of the entire agreement to determine whether it was unconscionable when signed or whether enforcement would cause substantial hardship due to later changes in circumstances.
Supporting sources
The court applies the full law of the state where the property is located, including that state's choice-of-law rules, so that the outcome matches what a court in the property's state would reach on the actual facts.
Supporting sources
The court considers the totality of circumstances under which the statement was made together with any corroborating evidence. This comprehensive review decides whether the statement meets the reliability threshold for admission.
Supporting sources
A person is seized only when, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would not feel free to decline the officer's requests or otherwise end the encounter.
Supporting sources