Abatement
Abatement (fr. Abattre, L. Fr. Abater, Signifying To Throw Down). In Chancery Practice. A Suspension Of All Proceedings In A Suit, From The Want Of Proper Parties Capable Of Proceeding Therein. It Differs From An Abatement At Law In This: That In The Latter The Action Is Entirely Dead And ...
Abortion
Abortion. The Expulsion Of The Feetu At A Period Of Utero-gestation So Early That I Has Not Acquired The Power Of Sustaining Ai Independent Life. Its Natural And Innooent Causes Are To Be Sough Either In The Mother—as In A Nervous, Irritable Tem Perament, Disease, Malformation Of The Pelvis, Im ...
Acceptance
Acceptance (lat. Accipere, To Re Ceive). The Receipt Of A Thing Offered By Another With An Intention To Retain It, Indi Cated By Some Act Sufficient For The Purpose. 2 Parsons, Contr, 221. The Element Of Receipt Must Enter Into Every Ac Ceptance, Though Receipt Does Not Necessarily Mean In ...
Accessary
Accessary. In Criminal Law. He Who Is Not The Chief Actor In The Perpetration Of The Offence, Nor Present At Its Performance, But Is Some Way Concerned Therein, Either Before Or After The Fact Committed. An Accessary Before The Fact Is One Who, Being Absent At The Time Of The ...
Accessio
Accessio (lat.). An Increase Or Ad Dition; That Which Lies Next To A Thing, And Is Supplementary And Necessary To The Principal Thing ; That Which Arises Or Is Produced From The Principal Thing. Calvinus, Lex. A Manner Of Acquiring The Property In A Thing Which Becomes United With That ...
Accession
Accession. The Right To All Which One's Own Property Produces, Whether That Property Be Movable Or Immovable, And The Right To That Which Is United To It By Acces Sion, Either Naturally Or Artificially. 2 Kent, Comm. 360; 2 Blackstone, Comm. 404. 2. If A Man Bath Raised A Building ...
Accessory Contract
Accessory Contract. One Made For Assuring The Performance Of A Prior Con Tract, Either By The Same Parties Or By Others ; Such As Suretyship, Mortgages, And Pledges. It Is A General Rule, That Payment Or Release Of The Debt Due, Or The Performance Of A Thing Required To Be ...
Accident
Accident (lat, Accidere,—ad, To, And Cadere, To Fall). An Event Which, Under The Circumstances, Is Unusual And Unexpected By The Person To Whom It Happens. The Happening Of An 'event Without The Concurrence Of The Will Of The Person By Whose Agency It Was Caused; Or The Happening Of An ...
Accomplice
Accomplice (lat. Ad And Ccmipli Care—con, With, Together, Plicare, To Fold, To Wrap,—to Fold Together). In Criminal Law. One Who Is In Some Way Concerned In The Commission Of A Crime, Though Not As A Principal. The Term In Its Fulness Includes In Its Meaning All Persons Who Have Been ...
Accord
Accord. In Contracts. A. Satisfaction Agreed Upon Between The Party Injuring And The Party Injured, Which When Performed Is A Bar To All Actions Upon This Account; Gene Rally Used In The Phrase "accord And Satisfac Tion." 2 Greenleaf, Ev. 28 ; 3 Blackstone, Comm. 15; Bacon, Abr. Accord; 5 ...
Account
Account. A Detailed Statement Of The Mutual Demands In The Nature Of Debt And Credit Between Parties, Arising Out Of Contracts Or Some Fiduciary Relation. 1 Mete. Mass. 216 ; 1 Hempst. Ark. 114 ; 32 Penn. St. 202. A Statement Of The Receipts And Payments Of An Executor, Administrator, ...
Account Stated
Account Stated. An Agreed Bal Ance Of Accounts. An Account Which Has Been Examined And Accepted By The Parties. 2 Atk. Ch. 251. In Equity. Acceptance May Be Inferred From Circumstances, As Where An Account Is Rendered To A Merchant, And No Objection Is Made, After Sufficient Time. 2 Vern. ...
Accredulitare
Accredulitare (lat.). To Purge One's Self Of An Offence By Oath. It Frequently Happens That When A Person Has Been Arrested For A Contempt, He Comes Into Court And Purges Himself, On Oath, Of Having Intended Any Contempt. Blount, Leg. Inn C. 36. Act (lat. Agere, To Do ; Actus, ...
Acknowledgment
Acknowledgment. The Act Of One Who Has Executed A Deed, In Going Before Some Competent Officer Or Court And Declaring It To Be His Act Or Deed. The Acknowledgment Is Certified By The Officer Or Court ; And The Term Acknowledgment Is Sometimes Used To Designate The Certifioate. The Function ...
Actio
Actio. In Civil Law. A Specific Mode Of Enforcing A Right Before The Courts Of Law: E.g. Legis Actio; Actio Sacramenti. In This Sense We Speak Of Actions In Our Law, E.g. The Action Of Debt. The Right To A Remedy, Thus: Ex Nude Pacto Non Oritur Actio ; No ...
Actio Personalis Moritur Cum
Actio Personalis Moritur Cum Persona (lat.). A Personal Ac Tion Dies With The Person. In Practice. A. Maxim Which Formerly Expressed The Law In Regard To The Surviving Of Personal Actions. 2. To Render The Maxim Perfectly True, The Expression "personal Actions" Must Be Restricted Very Much Within Its Usual ...
Action
Action (lat. Agere, To Do ; To Lead ; To Conduct). A Doing Of Something ; Something Done. In Practice. The Formal Demand Of One's Right From Another Person Or Party, Made And Insisted On In A Court Of Justice. In A Quite Common Sense, Action Includes All The Forma_ ...
Action Pendant
Action Pendant. The Proceedings Must Relate Directly To The Specific Property In Question, 1 Strobh. Eq. So. C. 180 ; Tlackf. Ind, 242 : 7 Md. 537 ; Story, Eq. Plead. 351 ; 1 Hilliard, Vend. 411 ; And The Rule Applies To No Other Suits. 1 M'cord, Ch. So. ...
Ad Tunc Et Ibidem
Ad Tunc Et Ibidem. In Pleading. The Technical Name Of That Part Of An Ment Containing The Statement Of The Sub "then And There Being Found." Bacon, Abr. Indictment, G 4 ; 1 No. C. 93. 2. In An Indictment, The Allegation Of Time And Place Must Be Repeated In ...
Addition
Addition (lat. Additio, An Adding To). Whatever Is Added To A Man's Name By Way Of Title Or Description, As Additions Of Mystery, Place, Or Degree. Cowel ; Termes De La Ley ; 10 Wentworth, Plead. 371 ; Salk. 5 ; 2 Ld. Raym. 988; 1 Wile. 244. Additions Of ...
Ademption
Ademption (lat. Ademptio, From Adimere, To Take Away). The Extinction Or Withholding Of A Legacy In Consequence Of Some _act Of The Testator Which, Though Not Directly A Revocation Of The Bequest, Is Eon Sidered In Law As Equivalent Thereto, Or In Dicative Of An Intention To Revoke. 2. The ...
Administering Poison
Administering Poison. An Of Fence Of An Aggravated Character, Punishable Under The Various Statutes Defining The Of Fence. The Stat. 9 G. Iv. E. 31, S. 11, Enacts "that If Any Person Unlawfully And Maliciously Shall Ad Minister, Or Attempt To Administer, To Any Person, Or Shall Cause To Be ...
Administration
Administration (lat. Adminis Trare, To Assist In). Of Estates. The Management Of The Estate Of An Intestate, Or Of A Testator Who Has No Executor. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 494; 1 Williams, Ex. 330. The Term Is Applied Broadly To Denote The Management Of An Estate By An Executor, And Also ...
Administrator
Administrator. A Person Author Ized To Manage And Distribute The Estate Of An Intestate, Or Of A Testator Who Has No Ex Ecutor. In English Law, Administrators Are The Officers Of The Ordinary Appointed By Him In Pursuance Of The Statute, And Their Title And Authority Are De Rived Exclusively ...
Admiralty
Admiralty. A Court Which Bas A Very Extensive Jurisdiction Of Maritime Causes, Civil And Criminal. On The Revival Of Commerce After The Fall Of The Western Empire, And The Conquest And Settlement By The Barbarians, It Became Necessary That Some Tribunal Should Be Established That Might Hear And Decide Causes ...
Admissions
Admissions. In Evidence. Coiles Sions Or Voluntary Acknowledgments Made By A Party Of The Existence Or Truth Of Certain Facts. As Distinguished From Confessions, The Term Is Applied To Oivil Transactions, And To Matters Of Fact In Criminal Cases Where There Is No Criminal Intent. See Confessions.' As Distinguished From ...
Adoption
Adoption. The Act By Which A Person Takes The Child Of Another Into His Family, And Treats Him As His Own. A Juridical Act Creating Between Two Per Sons Certain Relations, Purely Civil, Of Pater Nity And Filiation. 6 Demolombe, 1. Adoption Was Practised In The Remotest Antiqnity, 1 And ...
Adultery
Adultery. The Voluntary Sexual In Tercourse Of A Married Person With A Person Other Than The Offender's Husband Or Wife. Bishop, Man. & D. 415 ; 6 Mete. Mass. 243 ; 36 Me. 261; 11 Ga. 56; 2 Strobh. Eq. So. C. 174. The Voluntary Sexual Intercourse Of A Mar ...
Advancement
Advancement. A Gift By Anticipa Tion From A Parent To A Child Of The Whole Or A Part Of What It Is Supposed Such Child Would Inherit On The Death Of The Parent. 6 Watts, Penn. 87; 4 Serg. & R. Penn. 333 ; 17 Mass. 358; 11 Johns. N. ...
Adverse Possession
Adverse Possession. The En Joyment Of Land, Or Such Estate As Lies In Grant, Under Such Circumstances As Indicate That Such Enjoyment Has Been Commenced And Continued Under An Assertion Or Color Of Right On The Part Of The Possessor. 3 East, 394; 1 Pick. Mass. 466; 2 Serg. & ...
Advertisement
Advertisement (lat. Advertere, To Turn To). Information Or Knowledge Communicated To Individuals Or The Public In A Manner De Signed To Attract General Attention. A Notice Published Either In Handbills Or In A Newspaper. The Law In Many Instances Requires Par Ties To Advertise In Order To Give Notice Of ...
Advocate
Advocate. An Assistant; Adviser; A Pleader Of Causes. Derived From Advocare, To Summon To One's As Sistanoe, Advacatue Originally Signified An Assist Ant Or Helper Of • Any •kind, Even An Smoomplioe In The Commission Of A Crime. Cicero, Pro Cacir.a, O. 8; Livy, Lib. Ii. 55; Iii. 47; Tertullian, ...
Affidavit
Affidavit (lat.). In Practice. A Statement Or Declaration Reduced To Writing, And Sworn Or Affirmed To Before Some Officer Who Bas Authority To Administer An Oath. It Differs From A Deposition In This, That In The Latter The Opposite Party Has An Opportunity To Cross-examine The Witness, Whereas An Affidavit ...
Affirmance
Affirmance. The Confirmation Of A Voidable Act By The Party Acting, Who Is To Be Bound Thereby. The Term Is In Acouraoy To Be Distinguished From Ratification, Which Is A Recognition Of The Validity Or Binding Force As Against The Party Ratifying Of Some Act Performed By Another Person, And ...
Agard
Agard. Award. Age. That Period Of Life At Which The Law Allows Persons To Do Acts Or Discharge Functions Which For Want Of Years They Were Prohibited From Doing Or Undertaking Be Fore. The Full Age Of Twenty-one Years Is Held To Be Completed On The 'day Preceding The Twenty-first ...
Agency
Agency. A Relation Between Two Or More Persons, By Which One Party, Usually Called The Agent Or Attorney, Is Authorized To Do Certain Acts For, Or In Relation To The Rights Or Property Of, The Other, Who Is Denominated The Principal, Constituent, Or Employer. Prof. Joel Parker, Mss. Lect. 1851. ...
Agency
Agency. Powers Under The Statute Of Uses. An Authority Enabling A Person, Through The Medium Of The Statute Of' Uses, To Dispose Ot An Interest In Real Property, Vested Either In Himself Or Another Person. Methods Of Causing A Use, With Its Accom. Panying Estate, To Spring Up At The ...
Agent
Agent (lat. Agens ; From Agere, To Do). One Who Undertakes To Transact Some Busi Ness, Or To Manage Some Affair, For Another, By The Authority And On Account Of The Latter, And To Render An Account Of It. 1 Livermore, Ag. 67 ; 2 Bouvier, Inst. 3. The Term ...
Agreement
Agreement. A Coming Together Of Parties In Opinion Or Determination ; The Union Of Two Or More Minds In A Thing Done Or To Be Done ; A Mutual Assent To Do A Thing. Comyn, Dig. Agreement, A 1; Plowd. 5 A, 6 A. Aggregatio Mentium.—when Two Or More Minds ...
Alabama
Alabama. Acknowledgments And Proof May Be Taken, Within The State, Before Judges Of The Supreme And Circuit Courts And Their Clerks, Chancellors, Judges Of The Courts Of Probate, Justices Of The Peace, And Notaries Public. Code, 1276. The Provisions Of The Code Respecting The Jurisdiction Of Justices Of The Peace ...
Alderman
Alderman (equivalent To Senator Or Senior). In English Law. An Associate To The Chief Civil Magistrate Of A Corporate Town Or City. The Word Was Formerly Of Very Extended Sig Nification. Spelman Enumerates Eleven Classos Of Aldermen. Their Duties Among The Saxons Em Braced Both Magisterial And Executive Power, Hut ...
Alien
Alien (lat. Alienus, Belonging To An Other; Foreign). A Foreigner; One Of Foreign Dirth. In England, One Born Out Of The Allegiance Of The King. In The United States, One Born Out Of The Jurisdiction Of The United States, And Who Has Not Been Naturalized Under Their Consti Tution And ...
Alien
Alien. The Multiplied And Very Close Relations Which Have Arisen Between Nations In Mo Dern Times, Through Domiciled Or Temporary Residents, Have Given Rise To The Question, What Law, In Particular Cases Involving Per Sonal Status, Property, Contracts, Family Rights, And Succession, Shall Control The Decisions Of The Courts? Shall ...
Alimony
Alimony. The Allowance Which A Hus Band By Order Of Court Pays To His Wife, Liv Ing Separate From Him, For Her Maintenance. Bishop, Marr. & D. 549. Alimony Pendente Lite Is That Ordered During The Pendency Of A Suit. Permanent Alimony Is That Ordered For The Use Of The ...
Alluvion
Alluvion. That Increase Of The Earth On A Shore Or Bank Of A River By The Force Of The Water, As By A Current Or By Waves, Which Is So Gradual That No One Can Judge How Much Is Added At Each Moment Of Time. Inst. 1. 2, T. 1, ...
Alteration
Alteration. A Change In The Of A Contract Made By The Agreement Of The Parties Thereto. An Act Done Upon An Instrument In Writing By A Party Entitled Under It, Without The Con. Sent Of The Other Party, By Which Its Meaning Or Language Is Changed. The Term Is Properly ...
Ambassador
Ambassador. In International Law. A Public Minister Sent Abroad By Some Sovereign State Or Prince, With A Legal Commission And Authority To Transact Busi Ness On Behalf Of His Country With The Gov Ernment To Which He Is Sent. Extraordinary Are Those Employed On Par Ticular Or Extraordinary Occasions, Or ...
Amnesty
Amnesty. An Act Of Oblivion Of Past Offences, Granted By The Government To Those Who Have Been Guilty Of Any Neglect Or Crime, Usually Upon Condition That They. Return To Their Duty Within A Certain Period. Express Amnesty Is One Granted In Direct Terms. Implied Amnesty Is One Which Results ...
Amotion
Amotion (lat. Amovere, To Remove; To Take Away). An Unlawful Taking Of Personal Chattels Out Of The Possession Of The Owner, Or Of One Who Has A Special Authority In Them. A Turning Out The Proprietor Of An Estate In Realty Before The Termination Of His Estate. 3 Blackstone, Comm. ...
And Defendant
And Defendant. It May Be Pleaded That There Never Was Such A Person In Serum Natura As To The Plaintiff. 1 Chitty, P1. (6th Lond. Ed.) 448 ; Pick. Mass. 370 ; 17 Johns. N. Y. 308 ; 14 Ark. 27 ; And By One Of Two Or More Defendants ...
Annual Assay
Annual Assay. An Annual Trial Of The Gold And Silver Coins Of The United States, To Ascertain Whether The Standard Fineness And Weight Of The Coinage Is Main Tained. 2. At Every Delivery Of Coins Made By The Chief Coiner To The Treasurer, It Is Made The Duty Of The ...
Answer
Answer. In Equity Pleading. A Defence In Writing, Made By A Defendant To The Charges Contained In A Bill Or Informa Tion Filed By The Plaintiff Against Him In A Court Of Equity. In Case Relief Is Sought By The Bill, The An. Ewer Contains Both The Defendant's Defence To ...
Apoplexy And Paralysis
Apoplexy And Paralysis. In Medical Jurisprudence. These Terms Im Ply An Affection Of The Brain, And They Are Supposed To Be Only Different Degrees Of The Same Affection. In The First, The Patient Is Suddenly Deprived Of All Consciousness And Sensibility, And So Continues For A Period Varying From A ...
Appeal
Appeal (fr. Appeler, To Call). In Criminal Practice. A Formal Accusation Made By One Private Person Against Another Of Having Committed Some Heinous Crime. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 312. Anciently, Appeals Lay For Treason As Well As Felonies ; But Appeals For Treason Were Abo Lished By Statutes 5 Edw. Iii. ...
Appointment
Appointment. The Designation Of A Person, By The Person Or Persons Having Authority Therefor, To Discharge The Duties Of Some Office Or Trust. The Making Out A Commission Is Conclusive Evidence Of An Appointment To An Office For Holding Which A Commission Is Required. 1 Cranch, 137; 10 Pet. 343. ...
Apportionment
Apportionment. The Division Or Distribution Of A Subject-matter In Proportion Ate Parts. Coke, Litt. 147 ; 1 Swanst. Ch. 37, N.; 1 Story, Eq. Jur. 475 A. Of Contracts. The Allowance, In Case Of The Partial Performance Of A Contract, Of A Proportionate Part Of What The Party Would Have ...
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship. A Contract By Which One Person Who Understands Some Art, Trade, Or Business, And Called The Master, Un Dertakes To Teach The Same To Another Person, Commonly A Minor, And Called The Apprentice, Who, On His Part, Is Bound To Serve The Master, During A Definite Period Of Time, ...
Appropriation
Appropriation. In Ecclesiastical Law. The Perpetual Annexation Of An Ec Clesiastical Benefice Which Is The General Pro Perty Of The Church To The Use Of Some Spirit Ual Corporation, Either Sole Or Aggregate. It Corresponds With Impropriation, Which Is Set Ting Apart A Benefice To The Use Of A Lay ...
Appurtenances
Appurtenances. Things Belong Ing To Another Thing As Principal, And Which Pass As Incident To The Principal Thing. 10 Pet. 25 ; Wat. C. 43; 1 Serg. & R. Penn. 169; 5 Id. 110; Croke, Jac. 121; Wood, Inst. 121; 1 P. Will. Ch. 603 ; Croke, Jac. 526; 2 ...
Arbitrator
Arbitrator. In Practice. A Pri Vate Extraordinary Judge, To Whose Decision Matters In Controversy Are Referred By Con Sent Of The Parties. Worcester, Diet. Referee Is Of Frequent Modern Use As A Syno Nym Of Arbitrator, But Is In Its Origin Of Broader Signification And Less Accurate Than Arbitrator. 2. ...
Aristocracy
Aristocracy. A Government In Which A Class Of Men Rules Supreme. Aristotle Classified Governments According To The Person Or Persons In Whom The Supreme Power Is Vested: In Monarchies Or Kingdoms, In Which One Rules Supreme; In Aristocracies, In Which A Class Of Men Rules Supreme; And In Democracies, In ...
Arkansas
Arkansas One Of The United States Of America ; Admitted Into The Union By Act Of Congress Of June 15, 1836. It Ivas Foraged Of Part Of The Louisiana Territory Purchased By The United States Of France, By Treaty Of April 30, 1803. By Act Of Congress Of March 2, ...
Arraignment
Arraignment. In Criminal Prac Tice. Calling The Defendant To The Bar Of The Court, To Answer The Accusation Contained In The Indictment. The First Step Ih The Proceeding Consists In Calling The Defendant To The Bar By His Name, And Commanding Him To Hold Up His Hand. This Is Done ...
Arrest
Arrest (fr. Arrdter, To Stay, To Stop, To Detain). To Deprive A Person Of His Liberty By Legal Authority. The Seizing A Person And Detaining Him In The Custody Of The Law. As Ordinarily Used, The Terms Arrest And Attach Ment Coincide In Meaning To Some Extent; Though In As ...
Arson
Arson (lat. Ardere, To Burn.). The Malicious Burning Of The House Of Another. Coke, 3d Inst. 66; Bishop, Crim. Law, 415 ; 4 Blackstone, Comm. 220; 2 Pick. Mass. 320 ; 10 Cush. Mass. 479 ; 7 Gratt. Va. 619; 9 Ala. 175 ; 7 Blackf. Ind. 168; 1 Leach, ...