ACROTE'RION (Gr., the summit or extremity), a term in arch, for a statue or other ornament placed on the apex or at one of the lower angles of a pediment. Some under stand by A. the pedestal on which such ornament stands.
ACT, in the drama, is a distinct part of the general plot or action, and its conclusion is usually marked by a fall of the curtain. An act should be, in a certain sense, complete in itself, and at the same time should form a necessary part of the whole drama. As every dramatic plot naturally divides itself into three parts—the exposition, the develop ment, and the conclusion or catastrophe—a division into three acts would seem most natural; but in practice it has been found inconvenient to inclose extended plots in such limits, and since the time of the ancient Greek tragedy, fire acts have generally been con sidered necessary. In the first act, the general nature of the drama is indicated, the char acters are introduced, and the action commences. The plot should rise in interest in the second, and reach its climax in the third act. In the fourth act, the conclusion or catastrophe should be prepared, but should by no means be anticipated so as to weaken the effect of the denouement, which must occupy the fifth act. This is a rather difficult task; and, accordingly, many dramas fail in the fourth act.
ACT, in the university sense, is an exercise preparatory to receiving a degree. The student who "keeps the act," and who is called the "respondent," reads a Latin thesis on some proposition which he has announced that he is to maintain. Three other stu dents, who have been named by the proctor as "opponents," then try, one after another, to refute his arguments syllogistically in Latin. The practice of keeping acts is still adhered to, as a form at least, at Cambridge.
ACT, in law, has various meanings. In its more general acceptation it is used to denote the solemn accomplishment of some distinctive proceeding, as when a person in England, when a legal instrument, declares it to be his act and deed. Formerly, in Scotland, the word A. was frequently applied to the procedure is a litigated cause; and to this day the technical term to signify a plaintiff in Scotch pleading is actor—hence also acts of sederunt (q.v.). By an A. is sometimes meant an act or proceeding, or rather the record of an act or proceeding, of a public nature—and in this sense it is used when we speak of an A. of parliament (q.v.). This use of the word appears to be derived from the Romans, who employed acta to signify specially public official transactions, and oftener perhaps the records of such transactions. The Acta Diu rna was a kind of official Roman giving an account of the public transactions and events of the day. The Ger mans use acten, and the French arks, to signify official or legal documents, or papers gen erally. The title arta has been applied in modern times to the journals or records of learned societies: acta societatis transactions of the royal society. Acta Erudi tonna, the oldest journal of erudition in Germany, was begun at Leipsic in 1683, and ceased publication in 1782, when it had extended to 117 quarto volumes. To these may
be added (showing the close connection between the Roman and Scotch legal institutions and their phraseology) the arta auchtorum, or the records of the proceedings of the lords auditors, who were a committee of the old Scotch parliament appointed to hear causes, by way of appeal, and otherwise to exercise supreme jurisdiction. Also the ada donzi norum concilia, or ancient records of the supreme court in Scotland.
But the word A. has at the present day several precise legal applications, the principal of which we now proceed to mention and explain: Acr OF BAxicitrprcy, by which is meant a certain ostensible indication of insolvency on the part of a debtor, sufficient to bring him Within the operation of the bankrupt laws. Section 67 of the former bankrupt law consolidation act, 12 and 13Vict. c. 106, defined A. of B. in the following terms: " That if any trader, liable to become bankrupt, shall depart this realm, or being out of this realm, shall remain abroad, or shall depart from his dwelling-house, or otherwise absent himself, or begin to keep his house, or suffer himself to be arrested or tal:en in execution any debt not due, or yield himself to prison, or suffer himself to be outlawed, or procure himself to be arrested or taken in execution, or his goods, money or chattels to be attached, sequestered, or taken in execution, or make or cause to be made, either within this realm or elsewhere, any fraudulent grout or convey ance of any of his lands, tenements, goods, or thattels, or make or cause to be made any fraudulent surrender of any of his copyhold lands or tenements, or make or cause to be made any fraudulent gift, delivery, or transfer of any of his goods or chattels, every such trader doing, suffering, procuring, executing, permitting, making, or causing to be made any of the acts, deeds, or matters aforesaid, with intent to defeat or delay his creditors, shall be deemed to have thereby committed an A. of B."—The modifications on this defini tion by recent legislation are slight, and will be found under INSOLVENCY. The zxpres sion A. of B. is unknown in the phraseology of Scotch law, but the evidences of notour bankruptcy, as it is called, are analogous to the English A. of B. See INSOLVENCY.
Acr OF GOD is a legal expression, t.nd signifies any natural or accidental occurrence, not caused by human negligence or intervention; such as the consequences arising from storms, lightning, tempests, etc.., and which are deemed fatalities and losses such as no party under any circumstances (independently of special contract) is bound to make good to another. It has been ruled in England that the loss must be immediate, and the neces sary consequence of the accident.
Acr or GRACE is the name given to an old Scotch act (1696, c. 32) for the maintenance of poor persons imprisoned for debt. It is usually applied in England to insolvent acts, and general pardons, at the beginning of a new reign or on other great occasions.