Also known as: walls · wallia
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
In criminal law a wall safe qualifies as a separately secured portion of a dwelling whose forced opening supplies the breaking element of burglary.
A vertical surface of a public-school classroom on which a state-mandated display of the Ten Commandments is posted. The posting violates the Establishment Clause because the display serves a religious purpose that a claimed secular objective cannot override.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
In criminal law a wall safe qualifies as a separately secured portion of a dwelling whose forced opening supplies the breaking element of burglary.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A vertical surface of a public-school classroom on which a state-mandated display of the Ten Commandments is posted. The posting violates the Establishment Clause because the display serves a religious purpose that a claimed secular objective cannot override.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Warren Wu forced open a locked trunk inside the living room but never touched the wall safe bolted into the bedroom wall. Because the trunk was merely a container located within the dwelling, the entry did not satisfy the breaking element. The prosecution therefore could not charge burglary.
Whitney White succeeded to possession of the dominant parcel and began using the existing party wall to support a new addition. The servient owner demanded the contribution payment required by the original easement. White refused, claiming the duty did not bind a successor. The court held that the condition attached to the easement and therefore bound the new possessor.
The city widened a street by condemning a strip of land that included a retaining wall owned by the railroad. The railroad argued that the taking of the wall required compensation under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court confirmed that just compensation must be paid when state action appropriates private property for public use.
Congress passed a statute authorizing construction of a border wall but reserved the power to veto individual segments by concurrent resolution. The executive branch proceeded with a segment after the resolution of disapproval. The Court held that the legislative veto mechanism violated separation of powers and could not block the authorized construction.
The cable company installed a small box and wiring on the exterior wall of an apartment building without the owner's consent. The owner sued, claiming a permanent physical occupation. The Supreme Court held that even a minor permanent attachment to the wall constituted a taking requiring just compensation.
Yes. The rule treats a wall safe as a separately secured portion of the structure. Forcing entry into the safe therefore supplies the required breaking and entry into that portion.
Supporting sources
State legislators enacted a statute directing every public school to post a framed copy of the Ten Commandments on a classroom wall. School officials complied by mounting the displays in every homeroom. Parents challenged the statute, arguing that the mandated placement on classroom walls conveyed a religious message that no asserted secular purpose could neutralize.
The display serves an inherently religious purpose. A legislature's assertion of a secular objective cannot overcome the religious character of posting the Ten Commandments on the walls of public school classrooms.
Supporting sources
…until 1918 that such laws were in force in all the states. Cubberley, supra, at 563-565. [^maj-6]: Slaughter-House Cases , 16 Wall. 36, 67-72 (1873); Strauder v. West Virginia , 100 U.S. 303, 307-308 (1880): "It ordains that no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,…