case
    n 1: an occurrence of something; "it was a case of bad
         judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but
         there is always the famous example of the Smiths" [syn:
         case, instance, example]
    2: a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first
       possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the
       picnic will be canceled" [syn: event, case]
    3: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law
       whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family
       brought suit against the landlord" [syn: lawsuit, suit,
       case, cause, causa]
    4: the actual state of things; "that was not the case"
    5: a portable container for carrying several objects; "the
       musicians left their instrument cases backstage"
    6: a person requiring professional services; "a typical case was
       the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor"
    7: a person who is subjected to experimental or other
       observational procedures; someone who is an object of
       investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were
       selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn
       from two different communities" [syn: subject, case,
       guinea pig]
    8: a problem requiring investigation; "Perry Mason solved the
       case of the missing heir"
    9: a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument;
       "he stated his case clearly"
    10: the quantity contained in a case [syn: case, caseful]
    11: nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection)
        related in some way to other words in a sentence [syn:
        case, grammatical case]
    12: a specific state of mind that is temporary; "a case of the
        jitters"
    13: a person of a specified kind (usually with many
        eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character";
        "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case"
        [syn: character, eccentric, type, case]
    14: a specific size and style of type within a type family [syn:
        font, fount, typeface, face, case]
    15: an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or
        plant organ or part [syn: sheath, case]
    16: the housing or outer covering of something; "the clock has a
        walnut case" [syn: shell, case, casing]
    17: the enclosing frame around a door or window opening; "the
        casings had rotted away and had to be replaced" [syn:
        casing, case]
    18: (printing) the receptacle in which a compositor has his
        type, which is divided into compartments for the different
        letters, spaces, or numbers; "for English, a compositor will
        ordinarily have two such cases, the upper case containing
        the capitals and the lower case containing the small
        letters" [syn: case, compositor's case, typesetter's
        case]
    19: bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow; "the burglar
        carried his loot in a pillowcase" [syn: case,
        pillowcase, slip, pillow slip]
    20: a glass container used to store and display items in a shop
        or museum or home [syn: case, display case, showcase,
        vitrine]
    v 1: look over, usually with the intention to rob; "They men
         cased the housed"
    2: enclose in, or as if in, a case; "my feet were encased in
       mud" [syn: encase, incase, case]

Case \Case\, n. [F. cas, fr. L. casus, fr. cadere to fall, to
   happen. Cf. Chance.]
   1. Chance; accident; hap; opportunity. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            By aventure, or sort, or cas.         --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an
      instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances;
      condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a
      case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.
      [1913 Webster]

            In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
                                                  --Deut. xxiv.
                                                  13.
      [1913 Webster]

            If the case of the man be so with his wife. --Matt.
                                                  xix. 10.
      [1913 Webster]

            And when a lady's in the case
            You know all other things give place. --Gay.
      [1913 Webster]

            You think this madness but a common case. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

            I am in case to justle a constable,   --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under treatment; an instance of
      sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the
      history of a disease or injury.
      [1913 Webster]

            A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Law) The matters of fact or conditions involved in a
      suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit
      or action at law; a cause.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing
            is law that is not reason.            --Sir John
                                                  Powell.
      [1913 Webster]

            Not one case in the reports of our courts. --Steele.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of
      form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its
      relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute
      its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun
      sustains to some other word.
      [1913 Webster]

            Case is properly a falling off from the nominative
            or first state of word; the name for which, however,
            is now, by extension of its signification, applied
            also to the nominative.               --J. W. Gibbs.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Cases other than the nominative are oblique cases. Case
         endings are terminations by which certain cases are
         distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had
         several cases distinguished by case endings, but in
         modern English only that of the possessive case is
         retained.
         [1913 Webster]

   Action on the case (Law), according to the old
      classification (now obsolete), was an action for redress
      of wrongs or injuries to person or property not specially
      provided against by law, in which the whole cause of
      complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also
      trespass on the case, or simply case.

   All a case, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] "It is all a
      case to me." --L'Estrange.

   Case at bar. See under Bar, n.

   Case divinity, casuistry.

   Case lawyer, one versed in the reports of cases rather than
      in the science of the law.

   Case stated or Case agreed on (Law), a statement in
      writing of facts agreed on and submitted to the court for
      a decision of the legal points arising on them.

   A hard case, an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.]
      

   In any case, whatever may be the state of affairs; anyhow.
      

   In case, or In case that, if; supposing that; in the
      event or contingency; if it should happen that. "In case
      we are surprised, keep by me." --W. Irving.

   In good case, in good condition, health, or state of body.
      

   To put a case, to suppose a hypothetical or illustrative
      case.

   Syn: Situation, condition, state; circumstances; plight;
        predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event;
        conjuncture; cause; action; suit.
        [1913 Webster]

Case \Case\ (k[=a]s), n. [OF. casse, F. caisse (cf. It. cassa),
   fr. L. capsa chest, box, case, fr. capere to take, hold. See
   Capacious, and cf. 4th Chase, Cash, Enchase, 3d
   Sash.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A box, sheath, or covering; as, a case for holding goods;
      a case for spectacles; the case of a watch; the case
      (capsule) of a cartridge; a case (cover) for a book.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A box and its contents; the quantity contained in a box;
      as, a case of goods; a case of instruments.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Print.) A shallow tray divided into compartments or
      "boxes" for holding type.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Cases for type are usually arranged in sets of two,
         called respectively the upper and the lower case. The
         upper case contains capitals, small capitals,
         accented and marked letters, fractions, and marks of
         reference: the lower case contains the small letters,
         figures, marks of punctuation, quadrats, and spaces.
         [1913 Webster]

   4. An inclosing frame; a casing; as, a door case; a window
      case.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Mining) A small fissure which admits water to the
      workings. --Knight.
      [1913 Webster]

Case \Case\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cased; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Casing.]
   1. To cover or protect with, or as with, a case; to inclose.
      [1913 Webster]

            The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days
            and nights in the saddle.             --Prescott.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To strip the skin from; as, to case a box. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

Case \Case\, v. i.
   To propose hypothetical cases. [Obs.] "Casing upon the
   matter." --L'Estrange.
   [1913 Webster]

CASE
       Common Application Service Element (ISO, OSI)
       

CASE
       Computer Aided Software Engineering
       

CASE

   1. Computer Aided Software Engineering.

   2. Common Application Service Element.

case

   1.  switch statement.

   2.  Whether a character is a capital letter ("upper
   case" - ABC..Z) or a small letter ("lower case" - abc..z).

   The term case comes from the printing trade when the use of
   moving type was invented in the early Middle Ages (Caxton or
   Gutenberg?) and the letters for each font were stored in a
   box with two sections (or "cases"), the upper case was for the
   capital letters and the lower case was for the small letters.
   The Oxford Universal Dictionary of Historical Principles (Feb
   1993, reprinted 1952) indicates that this usage of "case" (as
   the box or frame used by a compositor in the printing trade)
   was first used in 1588.

   (1996-03-01)

CASE practice. A contested question before a court of justice, a suit or 
action, a cause. 9 Wheat. 738. 

CASE, remedies. This is the name of an action in very general use, which 
lies where a party sues for damages for any wrong or cause of complaint to 
which covenant or trespass will not lie. Steph. Pl. 153 Wodd. 167 Ham. N. P. 
1. Vide Writ of trespass on the case. In its most comprehensive 
signification, case includes assumpsit as well as an action in form ex 
delicto; but when simply mentioned, it is usually understood to mean an 
action in form ex delicto. 7 T. R. 36. It is a liberal action; Burr, 906, 
1011 1 Bl. Rep. 199; bailable at common law. 2 Barr 927-8; founded on the 
justice and conscience of the Tiff's case, and is in the nature of a bill in 
equity 3 Burr, 1353, 1357 and the substance of a count in case is the damage 
assigned. 1 Bl. Rep. 200. 
     2. An action on the case lies to recover damages for torts not 
committed with force actual or implied, or having been occasioned by force, 
where the matter affected was not tangible, or where the injury was not 
immediate but consequential; 11 Mass. 59, 137 1 Yeates, 586; 6 S. & R. 348; 
12 S. & R. 210; 18 John. 257 19 John. 381; 6 Call, 44; 2 Dana, 378 1 Marsh. 
194; 2 H. & M. 423; Harper, 113; Coxe, 339; or where the interest in the 
property was only in reversion. 8 Pick. 235; 7 Conn. 3282 Green, 8 1 John. 
511; 3 Hawks, 2462 Murph. 61; 2 N. H. Rep. 430. In these several cases 
trespass cannot be sustained. 4 T. 11. 489 7 T. R. 9. Case is also the 
proper remedy for a wrongful act done under legal process regularly issuing 
from a court of competent jurisdiction. 2 Conn. 700 11 Mass. 500 6 Greenl. 
421; 1 Bailey, 441, 457; 9 Conn. 141; 2 Litt. 234; 3 Conn. 5373 Gill & John. 
377. Vide Regular and irregular process. 
     3. It will be proper to consider, 1. in what cases the action of 
trespass on the case lies; 2. the pleadings 3. the evidence; 4. the 
judgment. 
     4.-1. This action lies for injuries, 1. to the absolute rights of 
persons 2. to the relative rights of persons; 3. to personal property; 4. to 
real property. 
     5.-1. When the injury has been done to the absolute rights of persons 
by an act not immediate but consequential, as in the case of special damages 
arising from a public nuisance Willes, 71 to 74 or where an incumbrance had 
been placed in a public street, and the plaintiff passing there received an 
injury; or for a malicious prosecution. See malicious prosecution. 
     6.-2. For injuries to the relative rights, as for enticing away an 
infant child, per quod servitium amisit, 4 Litt. 25; for criminal 
conversation, seducing or harboring wives; debauching daughters, but in this 
case the daughter must live with her father as his servant, see Seduction; 
or enticing  away or harboring apprentices or servants. 1 Chit. Pl. 137 2 
Chit. Plead. 313, 319. When the seduction takes place in the husband's or 
father's house, he may, at his election, have trespass or case; 6 Munf. 587; 
Gilmer, but when the injury is done in the house of another, case is the 
proper remedy. 5 Greenl. 546. 
     7.-3. When the injury to personal property is without force and. not 
immediate, but consequential, or when the plaintiff Is right to it is in 
reversion, as, where property is injured by a third person while in the 
hands of a hirer; 3 Camp. 187; 2 Murph. 62; 3 Hawks, 246, case is the proper 
remedy. 8 East, 693; Ld. Raym. 1399; Str. 634; 1 Chit. Pl. 138. 
     8.-4. When the real property which has been injured is corporeal, and 
the injury is not immediate but consequential, as for example, putting a 
spout so near the plaintiff's land that the water runs upon it; 1 Chit. Pl. 
126, 141; Str. 634; or where the plaintiff's property is only in reversion. 
When the injury has been done to, incorporeal rights, as for obstructing a 
private way, or disturbing a party in the use of a pew, or for injury to a 
franchise, as a ferry, and the like, case is the proper remedy. l Chit. Pl. 
143. 
     9.-2. The declaration in case, technically so called, differs from a 
declaration in trespass, chiefly in this, that in case, it must not, in 
general, state the injury to have been committed vi et armis; 3 Conn. 64; 
see 2 Ham. 169; 11 Mass. 57; Coxe, 339; yet after verdict, the words "with 
force and arms" will, be rejected as surplusage; Harp. 122; and it ought not 
to conclude contra pacem. Com. Dig. Action on the Case, C 3. The plea is 
usually the general issue, not guilty. 
    10.-3. Any matter may, in general, be given in evidence, under the 
plea of not guilty, except the statute of limitations. In cases of slander 
and a few other instances, however, this cannot be done. 1 Saund. 130, n. 1; 
Wilies, 20. When the plaintiff declares in case, with averments appropriate 
to that form of action and the evidence shows that the injury was trespass; 
or when he declares in trespass, and the evidence proves an injury for which 
case will lie, and not trespass, the defendant should be acquitted by the 
jury, or the plaintiff should be nonsuited. 5 Mass. 560; 16 Mass. 451; Coxe, 
339; 3 John. 468. 
    11.-4. The judgment is, that the plaintiff recover a sum of money, 
ascertained by a jury, for his damages sustained by the committing of the 
grievances complained of in the declaration, and costs. 
    12. In the civil law, an action was given in all cases of nominate 
contracts, which was always of the same name. But in innominate contracts, 
which had always the same consideration, but not the same name, there could 
be no action of the same denomination, but an action which arose from the 
fact, in factum, or an action with a form which arose from the particular 
circumstance, praescriptis verbis actio. Lec. Elem. Sec. 779. Vide, 
generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. 

CASE, STATED, practice. An agreement in writing, between a plaintiff and 
defendant, that the facts in dispute between them are as there agreed upon 
and mentioned, 3 Whart. 143. 
     2. The facts being thus ascertained, it is left for the court to decide 
for which party is the law. As no writ of error lies on a judgment rendered 
on a case stated, Dane's Ab. c. 137, art. 4, n. Sec. 7, it is usual in the 
agreement to insert a clause that the case stated shall be considered in the 
nature of special verdict. 
     3. In that case, a writ of error lies on the judgment which may be 
rendered upon it. And a writ of error will also lie on a judgment on a case 
stated, when the parties have agreed to it. 8 Serg. & Rawle, 529. 
     4. In another sense, by a case stated is understood a statement of all 
the facts of a case, together with the names of the witnesses, and, a detail 
of the documents which are to support them. In other words, it is a brief. 
(q.v.)