Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally.[1] The logic of the terminology is that if the source of the evidence (the „tree”) is tainted, then anything gained from it (the „fruit”) is as well. Such evidence is not generally admissible in court.[2]

For example, if a police officer conducted an unconstitutional (Fourth Amendment) search of a home and obtained a key to a train station locker, and evidence of a crime came from the locker, that evidence would most likely be excluded under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine. The discovery of a witness is not evidence in itself because the witness is attenuated by separate interviews, in-court testimony and his or her own statements. The doctrine is an extension of the exclusionary rule, which, subject to some exceptions, prevents evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment from being admitted in a criminal trial. Like the exclusionary rule, the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine is intended to deter police from using illegal means to obtain evidence. The doctrine is subject to four main exceptions. The tainted evidence is admissible if:

• it was discovered in part as a result of an independent, untainted source;
• it would inevitably have been discovered despite the tainted source; or
• the chain of causation between the illegal action and the tainted evidence is too attenuated; or
• the search warrant not based on probable cause was executed by government agents in good faith.

The fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine stems from the 1920 case of Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States.[3]

[1] ^ Dressler, Joshua (2002). Understanding Criminal Procedure (3rd ed.). Newark, NJ: LexisNexis. ISBN 0820554057.

[2] ^ Gaines, Larry; Miller, LeRoy (2006). Criminal Justice In Action: The Core. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. ISBN 0495003050.

[3] ^ See also Bransdorfer, Mark S. (1987). „Miranda Right-to-Counsel Violations and the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine”. Indiana Law Journal 62: 1061. ISSN 00196665.

Dictionary:

• Fruit of the poisonous tree – owoc zatrutego drzewa;
• to obtain – uzyskać;
• admissible - dopuszczalny;
• unconstitutional – niekonstytucyjny;
• excluded - wykluczony;
• attenuated - osłabiony;
• violation - pogwałcenie, naruszenie;
• deter - powstrzymać;

Źródło: Wikipedia (autorzy, na licencji CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Criminal law, or penal law, is the bodies of rules with the potential for severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision (parole or probation), or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden are not wholly consistent between different criminal codes, and even within a particular code lines may be blurred as civil infractions may give rise also to criminal consequences. Criminal law typically is enforced by the government, unlike the civil law, which may be enforced by private parties.
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Computer chipmaker Intel has been fined a record 1.06bn euros ($1.45bn; L948m) by the European Commission for anti-competitive practices. It dwarfs the 497m Euro fine levied on Microsoft in 2004 for abusing its dominant market position. Intel has announced that it will appeal against the verdict.

The fine was welcomed by AMD, which had lodged complaints in 2000, 2003 and 2006. „The EU decision will shift the power from an abusive monopolist to computer makers, retailers and above all PC consumers,” said Giuliano Meroni, AMD’s European president. The Commission has also ordered Intel „to cease the illegal practices immediately to the extent that they are still ongoing”.
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Welcome. This is the first episode on our new series of articles – Legal English. We’re waiting for your opinions and comments – you will be ones that decide on final shape of this course. We hope you’d enjoy this series.

Self – help remedies
Self – help remedies may enable a party to obtain redress for a breach of contract without resort to litigation; alternatively, the withholding of performance or the threat of seizure of property by one party may act as a powerful incentive to the other party to reach a settlement of the dispute. A variety of self- help remedies are available under the general law; for instance, where one party breaks a condition of the contract, the other may simply withhold performance. Any unpaid seller has a lien over the goods and this entitles him to withhold delivery until a settlement is reached. The law recognises a limited right to set-off by which it is permissible for a party to a contract to defend an action for breach of that contract on the grounds that he has a claim for payment of money against the claimant. However, the express terms of the contract may extend or supplement to self-help remedies available under the general law.

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