The full library in alphabetical order, across every area of law.
A conviction under any law relating to a controlled substance as federally defined makes a person deportable, with a single exception for one offense involving possession for personal use of thirty grams or less of marijuana. The parallel inadmissibility ground carries no such exception and reaches admitted conduct without a conviction. The most productive argument is usually that the state schedule reaches a substance the federal schedules do not.
An electronic controlled substance prescription is lawful only where the practitioner has been identity proofed, holds a credential issued to that individual, and signs using two of three authentication factors. The application must meet defined processing, transmission and audit requirements, and the receiving pharmacy application must meet its own. Records must be archived in the form received, and an audit trail must capture events that could indicate a security problem.
Fare evasion was traditionally a criminal infraction. Many states now let a transit agency adopt an ordinance imposing an administrative penalty instead, enforced by designated inspectors on a proof-of-payment basis. The notice of violation sets a short period to pay or to request review, followed by an administrative hearing and, in most systems, a limited right of appeal to a court. Ignoring the notice usually escalates the amount and can send the debt to collection.
Railroad safety regulation is directed to be nationally uniform. A state requirement stands only until the Secretary of Transportation issues a regulation covering the same subject matter, after which it is displaced unless it targets an essentially local hazard, is compatible with federal law and does not unreasonably burden commerce. A separate subsection preserves damages claims that a railroad broke the federal standard of care or its own federally required plan.
In states with an enabling framework, a party to a surrogacy agreement may seek an order declaring each intended parent to be a parent, declaring the person who gave birth and any spouse not to be parents, and directing the registrar to record the intended parents on the birth record. The court may issue the order before birth and stay enforcement until delivery. Other states enter an order only after birth, sometimes on an expedited timetable measured in days.
After a vehicle is stored, notice must be given to the registered and legal owners within a short statutory window, stating where the vehicle is, why it was removed and how to request a hearing. Release is generally required within a stated time of the request, the owner may inspect before accepting, and no waiver of damage claims may be required as a condition. A poststorage hearing determines whether reasonable grounds for the storage existed.
Warning devices at public crossings are selected by the state highway agency, not the railroad. Federal-aid money flows through the railway-highway crossings program, and federal design rules identify the conditions under which automatic gates and flashing lights are required for a funded project. Once a device is federally approved and installed with federal money, its adequacy is generally settled as a matter of federal law.
Liability for a third party's criminal act against a guest requires a duty, a breach, causation and damages, with foreseeability doing most of the work. Courts use prior similar incidents on or near the premises, the totality of the circumstances, or a combination. The standard of care is reasonable measures in proportion to the risk, not maximum security. Several states have enacted statutory safe harbors that create a presumption against liability where listed measures are in place.
A branded lodging property typically involves an owner, a management company or franchisee that runs day-to-day operations, and a brand that licenses the name and sets standards. A brand is generally not liable for an operator's conduct unless it controlled the activity that caused the harm, or a guest reasonably believed the brand was the operator. Franchise disclosure rules require the relationship to be documented.
Self-storage statutes give the facility operator a lien on personal property in the rented space for rent, labor, late fees and other charges under the rental agreement, and for the expenses of preserving and selling the property. The lien commonly reaches property regardless of who owns it. Attachment is conditional: many statutes require specified contract language and an alternative contact address, and some fix attachment at the termination date stated in a preliminary notice.
Before a cremation, most states require a signed authorization from the person entitled to control disposition, an identification procedure that ties a specific body to that authorization, clearance from the coroner or medical examiner, and a waiting period counted from death or from authorization. Crematories must run a tracking system that keeps an identifying tag with the remains throughout. Authorization forms are retained for years and are the first document a regulator asks for.
Statutes define association records and give members a right to inspect and copy them within stated periods, commonly ten business days for current-year records and longer for older ones. The association may withhold or redact narrow categories: information likely to lead to identity theft or fraud, privileged material, personnel records, and disciplinary or executive session content. An unreasonable refusal can produce fee shifting and a civil penalty for each denied request.
