(law, US) A legal rule in most patent systems that allows a court to hold a party liable for patent infringement when the infringing device or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim, but nevertheless is equivalent to the claimed invention.

The convention in the United Kingdom that restricts the police and intelligence services from tapping the telephones of Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.

A policy which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in places where capitalism threatened communism.

(philosophy, metaphysics, theology) Necessarianism, especially as espoused by Joseph Priestley.

Synonym of Baxter's law

(US, broadcasting, historical) A policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949 and abolished in 1987, requiring the holders of broadcast licenses (i) to present controversial issues of public importance and (ii) to do so in an honest, equitable and balanced manner.

(historical) A policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas while asserting US dominance, empire, and hegemony in the hemisphere.

(law) A rule under which a federal court in the United States will decline to exercise jurisdiction over a lawsuit because the suit could or should instead be heard by a state court.

(law) A legal doctrine that designates a person's abode, or any legally occupied place, such as a vehicle or workplace, as a place in which that person has protections and immunities permitting him or her to use force to defend against intrusion.

The ancient belief that herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used to treat ailments of those parts.