the film forum library tutorial contact

Definitions: Arbitrary, Adequate, Potential by Merriam-Webster, Inc. ©1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.'s Dictionary of Law

ar-bi-trary [ahr-bi-trer-ee] adjective
1. depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by standards, rules, or law (the manner of punishment is arbitrary)
   
2. a: not restrained or limited in the exercise of power: ruling by absolute authority (an arbitrary government)
   b: marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power (protection from arbitrary arrest and detention)
3. a: based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something (an arbitrary standard) (take any arbitrary positive number) (arbitrary division of historical studies into watertight compartments -- A. J. Toynbee)
   b : existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will
4. a: based on preference, bias, prejudice, or convenience rather than on reason or fact
   b: existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as an unreasonable act of individual will without regard for facts or applicable law. NOTE: Under section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act, a court shall set aside an agency's action, findings, or conclusions determined upon review to be arbitrary.

ad-e-quate [ad-i-kwit] adjective
1. sufficient for a specific requirement; (adequate taxation of goods)
   also : barely sufficient or satisfactory (her first performance was merely adequate)
2. lawfully and reasonably sufficient (adequate grounds for a lawsuit)

po-ten-tial [[puh-ten-shuhl]] adjective
1. existing in possibility : capable of development into actuality (potential benefits)
2. expressing possibility; specifically : of, relating to, or constituting a verb phrase expressing possibility, liberty, or power by the use of an auxiliary with the infinitive of the verb (as in "it may rain")

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 excerpts:

SEC. 2.
(b) PURPOSES.--The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

(c) POLICY.--(1) It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that all Federal departments and agencies shall seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species and shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the purposes of this Act.

(2) It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that Federal agencies shall cooperate with State and local agencies to resolve water resource issues in concert with conservation of endangered species.

SEC. 3.
DEFINITIONS
(3) The terms "conserve," "conserving," and "conservation" mean to use and the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this Act are no longer necessary. Such methods and procedures include, but are not limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as research, census, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, propagation, live trapping, and transplantation, and, in the extraordinary case where population pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise relieved, may include regulated taking.