This is known as the peppercorn rule, but in some jurisdictions, the penny may constitute legally insufficient nominal consideration.

Within weeks the judge dismissed the complaint as being legally insufficient.

"The evidence against Quattrone was not simply thin, but legally insufficient," his appeal said.

"We have simply concluded that the evidence is legally insufficient to warrant a criminal prosecution."

Any such claim would be insufficient legally on too many grounds to even begin counting.

Mr. Brown said yesterday that an investigation by his staff found "the evidence is legally insufficient to sustain the filing of criminal charges."

The complaints resulted in 12 summonses, but the town attorney declined to prosecute them because he said they were legally insufficient.

In the recent past, claims by defendants that they were "simply following orders" have not only proven legally insufficient but factually spurious.

In 2007, a second petition was submitted but ruled legally insufficient because certain petition signatures were not dated.

But he added that the case was not criminally prosecuted because "the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain the filing of a criminal charge."