Law Dictionary Definitions

FELA (fee-l<<schwa>>).abbr.FEDERAL EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY ACT.[Blacks Law 8th]

Feist doctrine.Copyright. The rule that “sweat of the brow” will not support U.S. copyright protection in an unoriginal collection of facts.Feist Pubs. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 111 S.Ct. 1282 (1991). Cf. SWEAT-OF-THE-BROW DOCTRINE. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 12(2).][Blacks Law 8th]

feigned recovery.See COMMON RECOVERY. [Blacks Law 8th]

feigned issue.Hist. A proceeding in which the parties, by consent, have an issue tried by a jury without actually bringing a formal action. • The proceeding was done when a court either lacked jurisdiction or was unwilling to decide the issue. — Also termed fictitious issue. “The chancellor’s decree is either interlocutory or final. It…

feigned action.Hist. An action brought for an illegal purpose on a pretended right. — Also termed faint action; false action.[Blacks Law 8th]

feigned accomplice.See INFORMANT.[Blacks Law 8th]

feigned,adj. Pretended; simulated; fictitious.[Blacks Law 8th]

feign (fayn), vb. To make up or fabricate; to make a false show of <he feigned an illness.[Blacks Law 8th]

fee tail.An estate that is heritable only by specified descendants of the original grantee, and that endures until its current holder dies without issue (e.g., “to Albert and the heirs of his body”). Most jurisdictions — except Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island — have abolished the fee tail. — Also termed entailed estate; estate…

fee statement.A lawyer’s bill for services either already rendered or to be rendered, usu. including itemized expenses.[Blacks Law 8th]