Also known as: tributary · tributum · tributes · tax · payment · contribution
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A payment made by an inferior sovereign or state to a superior one to secure the latter's friendship and protection.
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Thunderbolt Motors borrows funds from Twin Rivers Bank and pledges its warehouse as security. The loan agreement requires Thunderbolt to make annual tribute payments to a foreign government to maintain trade access. When Thunderbolt defaults on the bank loan, the bank forecloses on the warehouse to recover the debt.
Tracy Torres hires a lawyer to negotiate a reduced tribute obligation with a foreign authority. The lawyer proposes a fee payable only if the tribute amount is lowered. The arrangement violates professional conduct rules because the fee depends on the outcome of the negotiation.
Titan Industries forms a limited liability company to collect and remit tribute payments on behalf of its members. A creditor sues a member personally after the company fails to pay the tribute. The member is not liable because the obligation belongs solely to the company.
Tobias Thomas joins a limited liability partnership that owes tribute to a foreign state. The partnership incurs the obligation while operating as an LLP. Thomas faces no personal liability for the tribute debt solely because of his partner status.
A state legislature enacts a statute requiring citizens to pay tribute to the state treasury to fund foreign alliances. The law is challenged as unconstitutional. The provision violates the prohibition on states entering treaties or alliances without congressional consent.
Theodore Tucker holds a fee simple conditional estate and owes tribute to a superior sovereign. A creditor obtains a lien on the estate. The creditor may subject the transferable interests to payment of the claim while the lien remains in effect.
Tribute refers to a payment made by an inferior sovereign or state to a superior one to secure friendship and protection.
Supporting sources
…that the damages sought in the other three total $2,000,000. [^maj-20]: Even a false statement may be deemed to make a valuable contribution to public debate, since it brings about "the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." Mill, On Liberty (Oxford: Blackwell, 1947), at 15;…