Orphan
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
A fatherless child. Jacob. A fa.therless child, or minor, or one deprived of both father and mother.
Wharton.
A minor, or infant, who has lost both of his or her parents. Sometimes, the term is applied to such a person, who has lost only one of his or her parents. Bouvier. " Orphan " may mean either a minor, who has lost both parents, or one who has lost only one. A devise for the benefit of the Roman Catholic orphans of a specified region is void for uncertainty, for the reason, among others, that it is impossible to determine whether whole or half orphans are meant.
Heiss v. Murphy, 40 Wis. 276, 290.
Orphanage part
That portion of an intestate's effects which his children are entitled to, by the custom of London. This custom appears to be a remnant of what was once a general law all over England; viz., that a father should not by his will bequeath the entirety of his personal estate away from his family, but should leave them a third part at least, called the children's part, corresponding to the " bairns' part," or legitim, of Scotch law, and also (although not in amount) to the legitima quarta of Roman law.
Orphans' court
A term sometimes used in the United States, as the title of a court having jurisdiotiou over the probate of wills, and the administration and settlement of decedents' estates, usually called probate court. The title orphans' court is applied to courts of this character, in Delaware and New Jersey.