amendment

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Related to amendment: Fifth Amendment, Amendment 2

amendment

amendment, in law, alteration of the provisions of a legal document. The term usually refers to the alteration of a statute or a constitution, but it is also applied in parliamentary law to proposed changes to a bill or motion under consideration, and in judicial procedure to the correction of errors. A statute may be amended by the passage of an act that is identified specifically as an amendment to it or by a new statute that renders some of its provisions nugatory. Written constitutions, however, for the most part must be amended by an exactly prescribed procedure. The Constitution of the United States, as provided in Article 5, may be amended when two thirds of each house of Congress approves a proposed amendment (approval by the president is not required), and three fourths of the states thereafter ratify it, sometimes within a set period. Congress decides whether state ratification shall be by vote of the legislatures or by popularly elected conventions. Only in the case of the Twenty-first Amendment (repealing prohibition) has the convention system been used. In many U.S. states, a proposed amendment to the state constitution must be submitted to the voters in a referendum.

amendment

A modification to a building’s contract documents.

References in periodicals archive ?

The Court asserted its authority to declare which constitutional amendment procedure must be used to amend a given principle or provision in the Senate Reform Reference when invited by Parliament to address the issue.

The theory and doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment in Canada

3) Biennial Amendment 8-Pertained to ANA's Purpose and Function.

ANA House of Delegates proposed bylaws amendments

Even many Republicans shrank back from supporting this amendment. Congressman and New York Times publisher Henry Raymond accused Stevens of designing the amendment so that Southern states could not adopt it.

Andrew Johnson, unreconstructed: President Andrew Johnson steadfastly upheld the Constitution and the rule of law as he opposed those who sought to rule the defeated Confederate states with an iron fist

She says clients are increasingly turning away from more accepted forms of permanency for children, such as adoption, and accepting legal relationships, like guardianships, in order to have "something they feel will be unassailable" if the constitutional amendment passes.

No wedding bells: why banning same-sex marriage spells disaster

The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law" that abridges (limits) freedom of the press.

The role of the news media: imagine the United States without newspapers, TV news, and Internet access. What kind of country might we be living in?

The motor vehicle exception to the Fourth Amendment, first recognized by the Supreme Court in Carroll v.

Protecting personal privacy: drawing the line between people and containers

TEI submits that the proposed amendment is not sound or administrable for the following reasons:

Supplemental letter on Multistate Tax Commission draft model uniform statute: October 18, 2005

At issue was a Louisiana law granting a 25-year monopoly to the Crescent City Live-Stock Landing and Slaughter-House Company to build and operate a new central slaughterhouse to "promote the health of the City of New Orleans." Critics, particularly established local butchers, charged (correctly) that the whole deal stank of an exclusive privilege granted to well-connected insiders and, in a surprising move, claimed the law violated their rights under the 14th Amendment.

Unleash the judges: the libertarian case for judicial activism

This critical next step in the budget process will determine whether the amendment lives or dies.

Amendment seeks $78m in SBA loans; the Senate passes budget measure to restore critical programs

The findings of The Future of the First Amendment, a study funded by the John S.

Brighter days for First Amendment education?

If Bush were to spend his political capital fighting for partial privatization of Social Security and expend none of his influence on pushing the marriage amendment, the Arlington Group maintained that outrage would be fostered in the "countless voters who stood with [Bush] just a few weeks ago, including an unprecedented number of African-Americans, Latinos and Catholics who broke with tradition and supported the president solely because of the issue."

Marriage counseling: after pressure from Religious Right allies, Bush touts Federal Marriage Amendment

Additionally, the HIPAA amendments expanded the types of income subject to taxation (e.g., foreign property acquired in nonrecognition transactions and amounts earned through controlled foreign corporations).