Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence

The most abundant good faith. This phrase expresses the entire sincerity and good faith in which parties should act in negotiating contracts; and which is deemed peculiarly necessa

The last. The last proposition made in negotiating a treaty or a contract, or the like; which may be aiccepted or rejected by the other party, but which *ill not be modified or wit

Beyond the powers. This phrase is much used in the modern law of corporations to indicate the invalidity of acts done in the name of corporations which exceed the corporate powers.

Payments in gross, on an estimate as to amount, and where the merchant, on a final liquidation, will be entitled by law to allowances or deductions which do not depend on the rate

To constitute an unavoidable accident, within a stipulation in a bill of lading that vessel shall not be liable for losses by such accidents, there must be a vis major; the interfe

Is where a deed or will is so obscure and confused that the judges can make nothing of it, which sometimes occurs in wills made by testar tors without legal advice. Any disposition

Contrary to good conscience. Applied to a contract or an exaction which no fair-minded, honest man would enforce or make.

Contrary to the constitution, either of a state or of the United States. When this can be clearly established of a legis'ative act, the judiciary has power to declare the act nuU a

The plea of » defendant, in nature of a plea in bar; where, being sued for a debt due on bond at a day past, to save the forfeiture of the bond, he says that he tendered the money

Whereof she has nothing. One name of a writ of dower, in old English law, which issued for a widow to whom no dower had been assigned within the period fixed by law.

As used in a resolve of proprietors of common lands, that a certain tract shall remain undivided, means that it shall not be subject to partition and allotted to individual proprie

Any improper or wrongful constraint, machination, or urgency of persuasion, whereby the will of a person is overpowered, and he is induced to do or forbear an act which he would no

In a clause in a constitution providing for unfinished business pending in the courts when it shall take effect, includes an action in which a verdict has been recovered, but no iu

Several of the state constitutions contain provisions that acts of the legislatures shall be uniform in their operation. On this subject see Sedgw. Stat. §• Const. Law, 502, 503, n

A contract where the party to whom the principal promise is made makes no express tmdertakiug on his part, his obligations being left to legal implication, is called, particularly

A lot of land subject to a lease containing a covenant of renewal, at a rent to be agreed upon by the parties or fixed by arbitration, is not an unincumbered lot; and, when sold to

1. Under the English poorlaws, a consolidation of parishes, authorized by the Stat. 4 & 5 Wm. IV. ch. 76, passed in 1834, which empowers the local government board, at its discreti

There is an inconvenient ambiguity in this phrase. It sometimes designates the states composing the American Union, separately considered, as in the expression "one of the United S

In the law of estates, thepeculiar characteristic of an estate held by several in joint tenancy, and which is fourfold; viz., unity of interest, unity of title, unity of time, and

Occurs in some compounds. Universal agent. One who is appointed (if, indeed, one can be) to do all the acts which the principal can personally do, and which he may lawfully delegat

Contrary to law; illegal. Unlawfully: illegally. It is not necessary, in an indictment which charges an offence in the precise words of the statute, to employ, in addition, the wor

An early definition was: a disturbance of the peace by persons barely assembling together, with an intention to do a thing, which, if it was executed, would make them rioters, but

Not ascertained in amount; not determined; remaining to be assessed or settled; as miliquidated damages.

In a provision of a fire policy, that buildings unoccupied shall not be covered by the policy, does not include a house used by the insured and his servants, only to take their mea

According to large the scope of that proceeding to a class of persons who could not be pronounced idiots or lunatics according to old standards, yet were deemed proper objects of l

Ordinarily excludes the day to which it relates. But this construction must yield to the manifest intention of the parties to a lease or other contract. Kendall V. Kingsley, 120 Ma

In its legal sense, this phrase cannot be applied to merely two persons violently entering disputed premises. Pike v. Witt, 104 Mass. 695.

An oath, taken by raising the right hand toward heaven, instead of by laying it upon the Gospels, is said to be taken by the uplifted hand.

During the commonwealth (1649-1660), the court of king's bench was called the upper bench.

A general and* uniform practice, recognized as a proper guide of individual conduct. Usage is also called a custom, though the latter word has also another signification, is a long

Signifies the period which, by commercial custom, is allowed in war rious countries for payment of foreign bills of exchange. As the usage or custom is different in different count

n. 1. The term a use, in its original legal application, denoted simply the benefit or beneficial enjoyment of land. After the enactment of the rectly to religious, houses, the ecc

». To "use a port," means to go into a harbor or haven for shelter., for commerce, or forpleasure, and to derive a benefit or an advantage from its protection. Going near a harbor

The exercise or enjoyment of any right or property. It is particularly used of franchises. User of a highway, long continued, establishes the public right of passage. User of corpo

A subordinate officer in the English courts of law. The ushers of the superior courts of law are appointed by the chief justices and chief baron respectively. Tliere are also usher

As far; up to. This word is sometimes prefixed to Latin phrases beginning with ad; as usque ad medium Jilum aqucB. See Ad.

Occurs in some phrases which have been passed upon in the decisions. Usual and customary. These words, when used in respect to a method of selling coal by agents, import such a fix

A civil-law term for the right of using («,?««) and taking the fruits (^fructus) of any property of another, without, however, consuming or injuring it. Usufructuary: one who posse

or USUCAPTIO. A term of Roman law used to denote a mode of acquisition of property; it corresponds very nearly to the term prescription. But the prescription of Roman law differed

The wrongful using of the privilege or right of another. Usurpation of advowson. An injury ■which consists in the absolute ouster or dispossession of the patron from the right of p

In old English, signified any compensation paid by a borrower for the use of money; but in modern language, and since precise limits have been set by the laws of most jurisdictions

adj. 1. Entire. The expression " an utter loss of the ship," in a respondentia bond, shouldi be construed to mean an actual total loss, and not to embrace a constructive one. Insur

V.; UTTERING, part. n. To utter,,as used in a statute against forgery and counterfeiting, means to offer, whether accepted or not, a forged instrument, with the representation, by