Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
1879 — browse every term in this dictionary, A–Z.
Showing the 1,480 terms defined in Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence. Browse all dictionaries
- Teindsdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Black's (1910)Black's (1891)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Is the Scotch law term corresponding to tithes (q. v.) in English ecclesiastical law; and teind court is the designation of a court which has jurisdiction of questions of clergymen
- Tellerdefined inU.S. CodeBallentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
The designation of persons appointed in various places, for duties requiring counting. The old form of the word is said to have been tallier, meaning a person who.se function it is
A religious order of knighthood, instituted about the year 1119, and so called because the members dwelt in a part of the Temple of Jerusalem, and not far from the sepulchre of our
Two of the inns of court. At the suppression of the order of knights templars, their dwelling- was purchased by the professors of the common law, and converted into inns of court,
Time; a time; a limited period of time. Tempus continuum. A continuous period of time. In the civil law, this tenn denotes a period of time which is reckoned continuously once it h
A formal offer; a proffer made in such manner as to bind the party although he refuses it. Also, such currency or money as may by law be offered in payment of debts. Tender may be
- Tenementdefined inBallentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
This word has a very comprehensive signification in lavr, including within its compass every species of real property which may be held, or in respect of which a person may be a te
To be held; to hold. The initial word in that clause of deeds in Latin which was formerly used in expressing the tenure by which the estate granted was to be held; which clause is
- Tenordefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)
The language of a writing. By the tenor of a deed, or other instrument in writing, is signified the matter contained therein, according to the true intent and meaning thereof. Cowe
The English Stat. 9 Geo. IV. ch. 14, understood to have been passed at the instance of Lord Tenterden. It is in the nature of an enlarged application of the principle of the statut
- Tenthsdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
Tenths and fifteenths were temporary aids issuing out of personal Sroperty, and granted to the king by pararaent. They were formerly the real or actual tenth or fifteenth part of a
- Tenuredefined inBallentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Holding. A term used in discussing and classifying the various rights in virtue of which a person may maintain, before the law, his occupancy and enjoyment of any thing. The word i
A voyage is terminated when the vessel arrives at her port of destination, and has been moored there in safety for twenty-four hours. But the termination of the voyage as to the sh
An old English writ which lay for th6 reversioner, when the possession was withheld by the lessee, or a stranger, after the determination of a lease for years.
- Terminusdefined inBallentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
Boundary; a limit, either of space or time. The word sometimes denotes an estate for a term of years. See Inteeesse Termini. Terminus a quo. The limit from which. The point of begi
- Termordefined inCyclopedic (1922)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
He that holds lands or tenements for a term of years or life. (Cowel.) But we generally confine the application of the word to a person entitled for a term of years. (2 Bl. Com. 14
- Terradefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Black's (1891)Anderson (1889)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
Earth; soil. Occurs in many Latin phrases found in old English law, in most of which it means Terra affirmata. Land let to farm. Terra boscalis. Woody land. Terra culta. Cultivated
- Terre-Tenantdefined inBallentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
The holder of land; the person who is in actual possession or occupation of land. Sometimes the term is used in a more technical sense, signifying he who is seised of land, though
- Terrierdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
A land-roll, or survey of lands, either of a single person or of a town, containing the quantity of acres, tenants' names, and such Uke; and in the exchequer there Is a terrier of
A part of a country organized distinctly from the rest, and subjected or subordinated in government or jurisdiction. In American constitutional law, after any region of the contine
An act of parliament which prescribed that all officers, civil and military, should take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, with the oath of office, and make declaration agains
An ancient document, in two volumes, in the custody of the king's remembrancer in the exchequer of England, otherwise called liber feodorum, supposed to have been compiled by John
- Testamentdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
The formal document by which one may make disposition of his property to take effect at his death; a will. Testamentary: connected with or pertaining to w Uls. Testator: the maker
- Testatumdefined inBallentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Witnesseth." In conveyancing, the witnessing part of a deed, — beginning, in the English form, " Now this indenture witnesseth," — is termed, from the characteristic Latin word, th
Witnesses. When the validity of a will is contested, the executor, instead of proving it in the common form, — i.e. upon his own oath simply, — before the registrar of the court of
Besides its ordinary meaning of a written recommendation to character, testimonial has a special meaning, under Stat. 39 Eliz. ch. 17, § 3, passed in 1597, under which it signified
- Testimonydefined inCase LawCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Declarations of witnesses; evidence by statements of persons conversant with the fact to be proved. The word testimony is not synonymous Harvey ». Smith, Id. 272; Mc Conaha v. Carr
That portion of the king's land of which a thane {a. v.) was the ruler or governor was termed " thanage of the king." Cowel.
One of those who attended the English-Saxon kings in their courts, and who held their lands immediately of those kings. Those that served the king immediately in places of eminence
Any edifice used for the purpose of dramatic or operatic or other representations, plays, or performances, for admission to which entrance-money is received, not including halls re
- Theftdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
An unlawful felonious taking away of another man's movable and personal goods, against the will of the owner. Jacob. Theft is the fraudulent taking of corporeal personal property b
The Stat. 39 the will made by a Mr. Thellusson. He was a person of great wealth; and by his will, after providing for his immediate descendants, he left the bulk of his property to
A writ that formerly lay for the citizens of any city, or burgesses of any town that had a charter or prescription to free them from toll, against the officers of any town or marke
- Thiefdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
The term " thieves " is broad enough in law to cover both compound and simple larceny. When used in a policy upon cargo of a vessel, it is not restricted in its application to pira
Where a testator devises all Ms property, both real and personal, " after his just debts and funeral expenses are paid, and his wife's thirds are taken out," the wife is entitled t
A servitude in Scotland, by which the possessor of lands was bound to carry all his grain to a certain mill to be ground, for which he was bound to pay a proportion of the flour or
- Threatdefined inCase LawU.S. CodeCyclopedic (1922)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
A threat has been defined to be any menace of such a nature and extent as to unsettle the mind of the person on whom it operates, and to take away from his acts that free, voluntar
The woi^ds throat disease, as one of the questions to be answered in a proposal for life insurance, which, with the policy, contained a stipulation that, in case of false answers t
- Ticketdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
What the legislature has meant by the word ticket, in a statute to prohibit the circulation of tickets, must he matter of construction, to be gathered from the terms employed in th
The ebb and flow of the sea. Tide-lands. The term tide-lands, as used in the California act of May 14, 1861, means lands covered and uncovered by the tides, and does not include la
When the votes cast for and those against a question submitted to a deliberative body are equal in number, so that no result is reached, there is said to be a tie. See Casting Votk
A civil-law term for building material; timber. Tigni immittendi. In the civil law, a servitude consisting in the right of inserting a beam or timber from the wall of one house int
- Timberdefined inU.S. CodeCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
Wood fitted for building, oak, ash, and elm, will probably be found, on tracing it back to its source, to originate in the fact that acts of parliament protecting timber particular
As to the calendar, see Cai>
- Tipstaffdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
An officer appointed by the marshal of the king's bench to attend upon the judges with a kind of rod or stafE tipped with silver, who take into their custody all prisoners, either
- Tithesdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
The tenth part of the annual product of the labor of the community, accorded to the clergy as their compensation. In early books, tithes seem to have been regarded as an ecclesiast
- Tithingdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
One of the civil divisions of England, being a portion of that greater division called a hundred. It was so called because ten freeholders with their families composed one. It is s
Entitled. Seems to be used both as adjective and noun. Titulars of erection. Persons who in Scotland, after the reformation, obtained grants from the crown of the monasteries and p
1. The civil law and old law-Latin words for title {q. v.), as in the following extract from Lord Coke: Titulus est justa causa possidendi id quod nostrum est; dicitur a tuendo. 8
The term granulated tobacco, as used in internal revenue laws, is not synonymous with snuff, but refers to certain kinds of chewing and smoking tobacco. Venable w. Richards, 1 Hugh
- Toftdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
A place or piece of ground where a house formerly stood, but which is decayed jr casually burnt, and not re-edifled. Jacob.
- Tokendefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
A material visible sign of the existence of a fact. Thus, cheating by false tokens is perpetrating a fraud by employment of some material device, some cunningly devised false thing
In a strict or legal sense, seems to mean that permission to exist, which, in a state where one form of religion is established and upheld by law, may, from motives of state policy
- Tolldefined inCase LawCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
V. To bar, defeat, or take away; thus, to toll the entry, means to deny or take away the right of entry. Tolled: barred; taken away.
n. A Saxon word, signifying, properly, a payment in towns, markets, and fairs for goods and cattle bought and sold. It is a reasonable sum of money due to the owner of the fair or
A charge in the nature of a toll. Apparently, the noun toU had, in its earliest use, the sense of a franchise or liberty to keep a fair or market, for resort to and trade in which
1. A house or booth for collection of tolls or market charges; a custom-house; also, a prison. Dr. Jamieson conjectures that the word to Ubooth, originally signifying a place of cu
- Toltdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)
An old English writ, whereby a cause depending in a court-baron is taken and removed into the county court. As tills writ moves the cause to the county court, so the writ -pone, re
A measure of weight, somewhat differently fixed by different statutes, at two thousand pounds avoirdupois (see 1 N. Y. Rev. Stat. 609, § 35); or at twenty hundredweight, each hundr
A species of life annuity, the invention of which is ascribed to Lorenzo Tonti, an Italian, by whom it was propounded at about the middle of the seventeenth century, as a mode by w
The statutes of many states contain provisions exempting from execution the tools of a debtor's trade; or otherwise securing one's tools. This has given rise to some decisions as t
- Tortdefined inCase LawCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
A civil or private wrong; an injury not involving a breach of contract. Tortious: having the qualities of a tort; unlawful and injurious to individuals; wrongful. The word tort is
n. Corporal suffering, inflicted to extort confession from suspected criminals, or in the indulgence of cruel and malevolent motives. The vpord recurs in the history of jurispruden
- Total Lossdefined inCase LawCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Originally and literally, this phrase, used in insurance law, imports the entire destruction of the thing insured. But in the development of that branch of law, rules have become e
A good debt to the king noted as such by an officer, called the " foreign apposer," writing the word lot opposite to it, in the estreat-roU in the exchequer, to indicate that for s
Policies of marine insurance have frequently given the vessel leave to touch and stay at designated ports. It seems formerly to have been held that the insured vessel thus empowere
1. The labor or service of drawing a vessel from one place to another, through the water. 2. The compensation or price paid for drawing a vessel. When it becomes especially desirab
- To Witdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
That is to say; namely; scilicet; videlicet, qq. v.
- Towndefined inCase LawU.S. CodeCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
This terni is differently used in different parts of the United States, in some regions signifying a civil division of a county, irrespective of incorporation or powers of governme
In the most convenient use of this word, it signifies a territorial division; one of the units of survey into which a county is divided. This is particularly true in those states i
- Tractdefined inCase LawU.S. CodeCyclopedic (1922)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Does not imply any thing as to the size of the parcel of land denoted. Edwards v. Derrickson, 28 N. J. L. 39.
Delivery; transfer of possession. Traditio loqui facit chartam. Delivery makes a deed speak. Delivery gives efiect to the words of a deed; until delivered, a deed is without effect
Justices of trailbaston were justices appointed by King Edward I., during his absence in the Scotch and French wars, about the year 1305. They were so styled, says Ho Uingshed, for
- Traitordefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
One chargeable with treason; also, more generally, one ■who betrays a trust. Traitorous: treasonable; betraying. Traitorously: in the manner of traitors. TRANSACTIO; TRANSACTION. T
The term transaction, in a statute limiting countercial or business negotiation, and not a wrong of violence or fraud. In an action for an assault and battery, the defendant cannot
- Transcriptdefined inBallentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
A copy; anything ■written from an original. Burrill says it means a copy, particularly, of a record. This has always been the import of the word, it rarely or never being applied t
- Transferdefined inCase LawU.S. CodeBallentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
v. To assign; to convey. Also, to remove; to change the location, place, or relation of. Transfer, n.: an act or transaction by which property of one person is by him vested in ano
In Scotch law, is the term applied to an action by which a suit which was pending at the time that a party died is transferred from the deceased to his representatives, in the same
In old English law, a violation of law. Also, trespass, and the action of trespass.
- Transiredefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
To go across; to pass over; to pass from one thing, person, or place to another; to become changed from one thing into another. Transit in rem judicatam. It passes into a matter ad
- Transitory Actiondefined inCase LawCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
Actions are said to be either local or transitory; an action is local, when the principal facts on which it is founded pertain to a particular place. See Local Action. An action is
1. In ecclesiastical law, the removal of a bishop from one see to another. 2. In copyright law, the making a version of a literary work in another language, presenting, however, as
1. In the law relative to carriers. The carriage of persons or movable property from one place to another. Driving cattle was held not to be within the true meaning of an act prohi
To go from one place to another at a distance; to journey; spoken of voluntary change of place., Traveller. One engaged in voluntarily journeying from one place to another. Travell
The style or title of an officer to whom funds are committed, to be kept or disbursed. Officers bearing this title are numerous under various governments, in corporations, and in p
- Treasure-Trovedefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
Money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, found hidden in the earth or other private place, the owner thereof being unknown. In such case, the treasure belongs to the king, a
An establishment, office, or place for the safe keeping of moneys. And the word is often used metaphorically for the supply of money at command for an enterprise or association, wi
- Treatydefined inCase LawU.S. CodeBallentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
An agreement or compact between nations; a formal written engagement or league between independent powers or tribes. By the general law of nations, a treaty is, in its nature, a co
Is used, somewhat technically, to denote increase of costs or of damages. Treble coats. There have been statutes authorizing in certain actions a recovery of " treble costs; " but
One who has committed trespass; particularly, one who has entered, without right, upon lands of another; or who has forcibly taken, without right, the personal property of another.
Originally, an elevated seat, occupied by the praetor, while engaged in judging causes; now used in the general sense of any court or forum.
In French law, are courts consisting of a president, judges, and substitutes, elected in an assembly of the principal traders. No person under thirty years is eligible as a member
or TRIORS. Persons appointed by the court, to determine some incidental question; pai'ticularly, persons called to determine the truth of a cause assigned for challenge to a juror.
This society was incorporated by Henry VIII., in 1515, for the promotion of commerce and navigation, by licensing and regulating pilots, and ordering and erecting beacons, light^ho
- Trinity Termdefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
One of the former terms of the English law courts. See Term.
- Trinoda Necessitasdefined inBallentine's (1916)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Stimson (1881)Abbott (1879)
A threefold necessity; a threefold burden. This expression denoted the three public necessities to which all lands were liable under Saxon law; which were: the repair of bridges; t
- Tripartitedefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Anderson (1889)Abbott (1879)
Of three parts. Applied to an indenture executed between three parties; hence made in three counterparjts or copies. TRITHING; TRIDING; or TRIH-
As used in a statute giving a land-owner damages for the trouble and expense he is put to by proceedings to lay out a city street upon his land, refers to trouble from which some m
The name of that form of action among the common-law forms which was appropriate for recovering damages to compensate a plaintiff for loss of property through a wrongful conversion
- Trucedefined inCyclopedic (1922)Ballentine's (1916)Bouvier (1914)Black's (1910)Kinney (1893)Abbott (1879)Bouvier (1839)
An armistice; an agreement between belligerents to suspend hostilities for a time, but without terminating the war. Truce of God. A suspension which' the church, during the middle