What Causes AIDS—and What
Does Not?
S
B
ince the first U.S. case was identified in 1981,
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
has grown into an epidemic that has, as of 2007,
caused the death of 545,805 persons in the United
States. The Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS estimates that at the end o f 2007 there
were 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS
worldwide. During 2007, AIDS c aused the deaths
of an estimated 2 million people. At that time,
women were increasingly affected by AIDS; it was
estimated that women comprised approximately
50 percent of persons living with HIV or AIDS
worldwide. No cure has been found, although
existing treatment employing multiple drugs has
made substantial gains in prolonging life and
reducing pain. Despite t he limits in medical
treatment, however, much is known about the
disease.
AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV). Transmitted by bodily fluids from person
to person, HIV invades certain key blood cells that
are needed to fight off infections. HIV replicates,
spreads, and destroys these host cells. When the
body’s immune system becomes deficient, the
person becomes AIDS-symptomatic, which means
the person develops infections that the body can no
longer ward off. Ultimately, a person with AIDS dies

thus, children of H IV-positive mothers ma y be
at risk.
The medical fa cts about HIV and AIDS are
especially relevant to the law. Unless exposed in
one of a few very specific ways, most people have
nothing to fear. Casual contact with people who are
infected is safe. Current medical k nowledge is quite
strong on this point: no one is known to have caught
the virus by sitting next to, shaking the hand of, or
breathing the same air a s an infected person. For
this reason, U.S. law has moved to protect the civil
rights of HIV-positive and AIDS-symptomatic per-
sons. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(29 U.S.C. § 794 [1994]) prohibits discrimination
against otherwise qualified disabled individuals,
including individuals with a contagious disease or
an infection such as HIV or AIDS.
The AIDS quilt, on display in Washington, D.C.,
has become a well-known symbol of support for
victims of AIDS and their families. Fami lies and
supporters of victims of AIDS c reate a panel to
commemorate that person’s lif e and that panel is
joined with others from around the country to create
the quilt.
FURTHER READINGS
Barnett, Tony, and Alan Whiteside. 2006. AIDS in the Twenty-
First Century. 2d ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Farmer, Paul. 2003. Pathologies of Power: Health, Human
Rights, and the New War on the Poor. Berkeley: Univ. of
California Press.

to be between $12,000 and $15,000 per person.
However, in 2006 research was released that
estimated that Americans who were diagnosed
with the AIDS virus could have a life expectancy
of 24 years and spend approximately $600,000
in healthcare costs during those years. The
average cost of the drugs equated to $2,100 a
month and $25,200 a year. The increase in cost
from the original reports is due to improved
and more costly HIV medications. Those
persons without private health insurance must
rely on public programs such as the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program (ADAP), a federally funded
initiative to provide AIDS-related drugs to
people with HIV. Most ADAP programs, which
are administered by states, have lacked the
funding to enroll everyone in need.
International Issues By 2003 the international
AIDS problem had become a crisis in Africa and
parts of Asia. The situation is gravest in sub-
Saharan Africa, where AIDS is the leading cause
of death. Over 22 million adults and children live
with HIV and AIDS, which accounts for more
than two-thirds of all individuals worldwide
living with AIDS. Approximately 1.7 million
people die there each year from AIDS. This
number is more than three-quarters of the global
total number of AIDS-related deaths each year.
These figures stand in stark contrast to those of
North America, where fewer than one million

due in large part to the increased availability of
the antiretroviral treatment and improved pre-
vention and care programs available worldwide.
FURTHER READINGS
ACLU. 1996. The Rights of People Who Are HIV Positive.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
———. 1995a. AIDS and Civil Liberties. Briefingpaper no. 13.
———. 1995b. Lesbian and Gay Rights. Briefing paper no. 18.
———. 1994. ACLU Wins Precedent-Setting Claim in AIDS
Case; Federal Court Rules That ADA Covers AIDS
Discrimination. Press release, November 21.
———. 1993. ACLU Files AIDS Discrimination Suit;
Challenges South Carolina Insurance Risk Pool. Press
release, April 6.
“Fighting Aids.” February 10, 2003. PBS News Hour. Available
online at www.pbs.org (accessed Mar. 31, 2010).
Health and Human Services Department. Social Security
Administration. 1991. A Guide to Social Security and SSI
Disability Benefits for People with HIV Infection. Pub. no.
05-10020, September.
Jarvis, Robert M., et al., eds. 1996. AIDS Law in a Nutshell.
2d ed. Minneapolis, Minn.: West.
Rollins, Joe. 2002. “AIDS, Law, and the Rhetoric of
Sexuality.” Law & Society Review 36 (April).
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME 79
White House. Office of the Press Secretary. 1994. Proclamation
for World AIDS Day, November 30, 1994. Press release.
———. 2009. Obama Administration Announces New
Campaign to Refocus National Attention on the HIV Crisis

their
MORTGAGE within two year s, th ey must pay an
ACQUI SITION CHARGE of a small percentage of the
outstanding balance of the mortgage. Prepayment
penalty is another name for acquisition charge.
ACQUIT
To set free, release or discharge as from an
obligation, burden or accusation. To absolve one
from an obligation or a liability; or to legally
certify the innocence of one charged with a crime.
ACQUITTAL
The legal and formal certification of the innocence
of a person who has been charged with a crime.
Acquittals in fact take place when a jury finds a
VERDICT of not GUILTY.Acquittalsin law take place
by
OPERATION OF LAW such as when a person has
been charged as an
ACCESSO RY to the cr ime of
ROBBERY and the principal has been acquitted.
ACT
Something done; usually, something done inten-
tionally or voluntarily or with a purpose.
The term encompasses not only physical
acts—such as turning on the water or purchasing
Results of Criminal Trials in 2007–2008
a
Acquitted
0.6%
Dismissed

CREATIVE RESOURCES.
REPRODUCED BY
PERMISSION OF GALE,
A PART OF CENGAGE
LEARNING.
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3
RD E DITION
80 ACQUISITION CHARGE
agun—butalsoreferstomoreintangibleacts
such as adopting a decree, edict, law, judgment,
award, or determination. An act may be a private
act, done by an individual managing his or her
personal affairs, or it may be a public act, done
by an official, a council, or a court. When a bill is
favorably acted upon in the process of
LEGISLA-
TION
, it be comes an act .
ACT OF GOD
An event that directly and exclusively results from
the occurrence of natural causes that co uld not
have been prevented by the exercise of foresight or
caution; an inevitable accident.
Courts have recognized various events as
acts of God—tornadoes, earthquakes, death,
extraordinarily high tides, violent winds, and
floods. Many insurance policies for property
damage exclude from their protection damage
caused by acts of God.
ACTION

basis for a cause of action. The injured person
may seek redress by starting an action in court.
The person who starts the action is the
PLAINTIFF, and the pe rson sued is the DEFENDANT.
They are the parties in the action. Frequently,
there are multiple parties on a side. The defen-
dant may assert a defense which, if true, will
defeat the plaintiff’s claim. A
COUNTERCLAIM may
be made by the defendant against the plaintiff
or a
CROSS-CLAIM against another party on the
same side of the lawsuit. The law may permit
joinder of two or more claims, such as an action
for property damage and an action for personal
injuries, after one auto
ACCIDENT;oritmay
require consolidation of actions by an order of
the court. Where prejudice or injustice is likely to
result, the court may order a
SEVERANCE of actions
into different lawsuits for different parties.
Commencement of an Action
The time when an action may begin depends on
the kind of action involved. A plaintiff cannot
start a lawsuit until the cause of action has
accrued. For example, a man who wants to use a
parcel of land for a store where only houses are
allowed must begin by applying for a variance
from the local zoning board. He cannot bypass

LITIGATION at that point would not be fair.
A plaintiff must first select the right court,
then an action can be commenced by delivery of
the formal legal papers to the appropriate person.
Statutes that regulate proper procedure for this
must be strictly observed. A typical statute
specifies that an action may be begun
by delivery of a
SUMMONS,oraWRIT on the
defendant. At one time, common-law actions had
to be pleaded according to highly technical
FORMS
OF ACTION
, but now it is generally sufficient simply
toservepapersthatstatefactsdescribinga
recognized cause of action. If this
SERVICE OF
PROCESS
is done properly, the defendant has fair
notice of the claim made against him or her and
the court acquires jurisdiction over him or her. In
some cases, the law requires delivery of the
summons or writ to a specified public officer such
as a U.S. marshal, who becomes responsible for
serving it on the defendant.
Termination of an Action
After an action is commenced, it is said to be
pending until termination. While the action is
pending, neither party has the right to start
another action in a different court over the same

COMMON-
LAW ACTION of trespass during the fifteenth
century in Engla nd. Often it is simply called
case.
Case differs from trespass in that it redresses
more indirect injuries than the
WILLFUL invasion
of the plaintiff’s property contemplated by
trespass. It was designed to supplement the
action of trespass. For example, a person struck
by a log thrown over a fence could maintain an
action in trespass against the thrower. If,
instead, the wrongdoer tossed the log into the
street and the
PLAINTIFF were hurt by stumbling
over it, the plaintiff could maintain an action on
the case rather than in trespass.
In
PLEADING an action on the case, the
plaintiff sets forth the circumstances of the
entire case. In pleading an action on the case,
the complaint differed from the forms used in
pleading other actions because other actions
generally had highly stylized and rigid forms
that had to be followed word for word. The
plaintiff in the action on the case alleged facts to
show that (1) the
DEFENDANT had some sort of
duty; (2) the defendant had violated that duty;
and (3) the result was harm to the plaintiff or

Dissatisfaction with the technicalities of the
forms soon began to peak.
CODE PLEADING was
then introduced to replace the prior forms of
action. An attempt was made to reduce the
number of writs to some basic few that would
be adequate for all of the different requirements
of modern
LITIGATION. Attention was shifted
from the form to the elements of a
CAUSE OF
ACTION
. Courts asked only whether the plaintiff
had stated a CLAIM on which relief could be
granted. The objective was to decide whether
the plaintiff was entitled to a remedy with as
little procedural red tape as possible. When
code pleading fell short of this goal, the modern
law of
CIVIL PROCEDURE developed the theory that
there should be only one form of action, the
CIVIL ACTION.
The old forms of action exist only as names
for procedures based on them and as the
foundation of much of the
SUBSTANTIVE LAW.In
Pennsylvania, for example, the word trespass is
used for tort actions, and assumpsit for lawsuits
based upon contracts.
ACTIONABLE

ACTUAL NOTICE
Conveying facts to a person with the intention
to apprise that person of a proceeding in which
his or her interests are involved, or informing a
person of some fact that he or she has a right to
know and which the informer has a legal duty to
communicate.
When such notice has been given to
someone personally, it is called express actual
notice or express notice. If a tenant notifies a
landlord that the elevator is broken, the
landlord has express actual notice of the defect.
Should the landlord fail to repair the elevator
and another tenant is injured while riding it,
the landlord would be liable for the tenant’s
injuries.
Actual notice can be presumed if an average
person, having witness of the same evidence,
should know that a particular fact exists. This is
called implied actual notice or implied notice.
If the landlord had been with the tenant when
the tenant discovered the broken elevator, the
landlord would be considered to have implied
notice of the defect.
ACTUARY
A statistician who computes insurance and pension
rates and premiums on the basis of the experi-
ence of people sharing similar age and health
characteristics.
The profession also includes statisticians

defendant in order to establish criminal liability.
AD DAMNUM
[Latin, To the loss.] The clause in a complaint
that sets a maximum amount of money that the
plaintiff can recover under a default judgment if
the defendant fails to appear in court.
It is a fundamental principle of due process
that a
DEFENDANT must be given fair notice of
what is demanded of him or her. In a
CIVIL
ACTION
,aPLAINTIFF must include in the com-
plaint served on a defendant a clause that states
the amount of the loss or the amount of money
damages claimed in the case. This clause is the
ad damnum. It tells a defendant how much he
or she stands to lose in the case.
In some states, the ad damnum sets an
absolute limit on the amount of damages
recoverable in the case, regardless of how much
loss the plaintiff is able to prove at trial. The
reason for this rule is that a defendant should
not be exposed to greater
LIABILITY than the ad
damnum just because he or she comes into
court and defends himself or herself. In states
that follow this rule, a plaintiff may be given
leave to increase the amount demanded by
amending the complaint if later circumstances

mulgate a rule without necessarily adhering to
formal rulemaking requirements.
AD HOMINEM
[Latin, To the person.] A term used in debate to
denote an argument made personally against an
opponent, instead of agai nst the opponent’s
argument.
AD INTERIM
[Latin, In the meantime.] An officer ad interim is
a person appointed to fill a position that is
temporarily open, or to perform the functions of a
particular position during the absence or tempo-
rary incapacity of the individual who regularly
fulfills those duties.
AD LITEM
[Latin, For the suit; for the purposes of the suit;
pending the suit.] A guardian ad litem is a
guardian appointed to prosecute or defend a suit
on behalf of a party who is legally incapable of
doing so, such as an infant or an insane person.
AD VALOREM
According to value.
The term ad valorem is derived from the
Latin ad valenti am, meaning “to the value.” It is
commonly applied to a tax imposed on the
value of property. Real property taxes that are
imposed by the states, counties, and cities are
the most common type of ad valorem taxes. ad
valorem taxes can, however, be imposed upon
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION

studies, and pushed him to enter Harvard
College to study for the clergy. Upon graduation
in 1755, the strong-willed Adams instead
decided to teach and study law. He was
admitted to the Boston bar in 1758 and
established a prestigious legal practice. During
the pre–Revolutionary War years, Adams spoke
out strongly against many acts enforced by the
British government, including the
TOWNSHEND
ACTS
, which unjustly taxed items such as glass
and tea. He also joined the Sons of Liberty—a
group of lawyers, merchants, and businessmen
who, in 1765, banded together to oppose the
STAMP ACT.
From 1774 to 1778 Adams served as the
Massachusetts representative to the
CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS
. He entered the judiciary during this
period and rendered decisions as chief justice
of the Superior Court of Massachusetts from
1775 to 1777. In 1776 he signed the newly
created
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
After the war, Adams entered the field of
foreign service, acting as commissioner to
France in 1777. In 1783 Adams went to Paris
with

Liberty
1788 Became first vice
president of the U.S.
1775–83
American
Revolution
1797–1801
Served as second
president of the
U.S.
1824 His son
John Quincy Adams
elected president of the U.S.
1826 Died
July 4, Braintree, Mass.;
Thomas Jefferson died,
Charlottesville, Va.
(same day)
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17001700
17501750
17751775
18001800
18251825
17251725
FEAR IS THE
FOUNDATION OF
MOST
GOVERNMENTS

Adams’s political and personal
JURISPRUDENCE
was characterized by intense nationalism; some
consider him the most influential designer of
the new nation’s government and identity. A
Federalist and a realist who spoke his mind
without consideration for political fallout,
Adams believed that unchecked power created
abuse even in the best of democracies. To that
end, he was the most significant advocate for
the creation of a balance of powers through a
tripartite government: a bicameral legislature, a
strong executive, and an independent judici-
ary. He also authored the state constitution for
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which
remains the oldest functioning written consti-
tution in the world. Adams published a number
of political treatises, including Thoughts on
Government (1776) and Defense of the Constitu-
tions of the United States of America against the
Attacks of Mr. Turgot (1787).
John Adams sought a written constitution
based on unwritten
NATURAL LAW. He believed
that the
COMMON LAW was the source of
unalienable,
INDEFEA SIBLE rights of men, the honor
and dignity of human nature, the grandeur and
glory of the public, and the universal happiness

second in the
ELECTORAL COLLEGE, Adams became
the first president to wear long trousers, rather
than breeches, at his inauguration, on March 4,
1825. After one term as president, he went on
to serve with distinction for 17 years in the
House of Representatives.
Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in
Braintree, Massachusetts (now Quincy, Massa-
chusetts). As the son of one of the nation’s
founders, he had many opportunities not avail-
able to other young men. Before reaching the age
when young people today graduate from high
school, Adams had established himself as a
diplomat. He accompanied his father on diplo-
matic missions to Europe in 1778 and 1780,
where he studied in Paris, France, and in
Amsterdam and Leiden, the Netherlands. In
1781, at the age of 14, Adams traveled with
Francis Dana, the first American minister to
Russia, as Dana’s private secretary and French
interpreter. In 1783 the young Adams joined his
father in Paris, where he served as one of the
secretaries to the American commissioners in the
negotiations of the peace treaty that concluded
the American Revolution. Fearing alienation
from his own country, Adams returned home
in 1785 and, by virtue of his earlier studies, was
able to enroll as a junior at Harvard College, from
which he graduated in 1787.

abroad. President Adams then appointed his
son minister to Prussia.
Before taking up his new post in Prussia,
Adams was married, in London, to Louisa
Catherine Johnson (1775–1852), daughter of
the U.S. counsel i n London.
In September 1801, with new president
THOMAS JEFFERSON in the White House, Adams
was called back from Prussia. In 1802 he was
elected to the Massachusetts senate. One year
later the state senate elected him to the U.S.
Senate. (Prior to the passage of the
SEVENTEENTH
AMENDMENT
in 1913, U.S . senators were elected
by the senates of the individual states.)
Adams had always considered himself a
political independent, and he was given a
chance to prove this in the U.S. Senate. After
his election, he was set upon by forces opposed
to the
FEDERALIST PARTY, of which Adams was
considered a member, and political enemies
of his father. Instead of accepting his fate as
a powerless and unpopular member of an
unpopular political minority, Adams asserted
his political independence. He began to vote
with President Jefferson and the opposition
Democratic-Republicans, and broke with his
party completely in 1807 by supporting the

1831–48 Served in the
U.S. House of
Representatives
1848 Died,
Washington,
D.C.
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1775
1750
1800
1825
1850
❖
GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION
ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY 87