However, Virginia's courts sidestepped issuing appellate decisions ratifying emancipation until 1799, and the methodology of within-life emancipation was not established.

Mr. Fujimori has been buffeted by widespread criticism that he manipulated the courts and electoral tribunals to sidestep a constitutional ban on a third term.

Legal experts think that the court had sidestepped an overarching ruling on the torture issue for years.

In its decision, the court sidestepped broad questions about the law.

The court pointedly sidestepped the question of whether local governments could adopt different voting systems with varying error rates and still fulfill the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.

The court sidestepped an additional argument by Mr. Altman that the artists could not be employees because the leaseholder, in a written agreement, granted them the copyright to their work.

In various cases since, courts have sidestepped disputes about hiring and firing clergymen and how churches govern themselves.

Unfortunately, the court sidestepped that task in deciding the Missouri case.

In its decision, the court sidestepped the indictment issue while deciding that the President could not invoke executive privilege to shield the tapes.

But the court gingerly sidestepped some of the constitutional questions raised by the case, known as Hope v. Perales.