Nevada Revised Statutes 0.025 – Use of ‘may,’ ‘must,’ ‘shall’ and ‘is entitled’; explanation of flush lines
1. Except as otherwise expressly provided in a particular statute or required by the context:
Terms Used In Nevada Revised Statutes 0.025
- person: means a natural person, any form of business or social organization and any other nongovernmental legal entity including, but not limited to, a corporation, partnership, association, trust or unincorporated organization. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.039
- Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
(a) ’May’ confers a right, privilege or power. The term ‘is entitled’ confers a private right.
(b) ’May not’ or ‘no * * * may’ abridges or removes a right, privilege or power.
(c) ’Must’ expresses a requirement when:
(1) The subject is a thing, whether the verb is active or passive.
(2) The subject is a natural person and:
(I) The verb is in the passive voice; or
(II) Only a condition precedent and not a duty is imposed.
(d) ’Shall’ imposes a duty to act.
(e) ’Shall be deemed’ or ‘shall be considered’ creates a legal fiction.
(f) ’Shall not’ imposes a prohibition against acting.
2. Except as otherwise required by the context, text of a statute that:
(a) Follows subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs or sub-subparagraphs that are introduced by a colon;
(b) Is not designated as a separate subsection, paragraph, subparagraph or sub-subparagraph; and
(c) Begins flush to the left margin rather than immediately following the material at the end of the final subsection, paragraph, subparagraph or sub-subparagraph, applies to the section as a whole, in the case of subsections, or to the subdivision preceding the colon as a whole rather than solely to the subdivision that the text follows. The symbol ‘‘‘ in bills and in Nevada Revised Statutes indicates the beginning of such text.