Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence

V. 1. In ecclesiastical law, to offer a clerk to the bi.shop of the diocese to be instituted. Presentation: the act of a patron offering his clerk to the bishop of the diocese to b

Immediately; now; at once. A word applicable to a right which may be exercised at once, as opposed to one in reversion or remainder.

A word in a deed signifying the deed itself, which is expressed by the phrase " these presents." It is especially used in a deed-poll, which immediately from the Latin prcesentes,

A constitutional provision, prescribing that in a certain court a specified judge shall " preside," does not absolutely require associates to act with the presiding justice in hold

A usual title of the chief officer of an assembly, board, corporation, or other collective body. The powers and duties of such officer vary with the law governing the organization

As to liberty of the press, see Liberty.

A duty in money that was to be paid by the sheriff on his account, in the exchequer, or for money left or remaining in his hands. Wharton Prest-mouey. A payment which binds those w

To presume, in the judicial sense, seems to mean to deterprobabilities inferred from such evidence as is exhibited, or by some rule of public policy or positive law. Presumption is

Price. In the civil law, it signified the price of a thing sold, and properly consisted in counted money. Pretium affeotionis. The price of affection. A price or value placed upon

To be a preralling party, within the meaning of a statute entitling such party to costs on appeal, does not depend on the amount recovered. A railroad corporation, appealing from c

To deter from happening; to make impossible; to preclude. Prevention: the act or precaution of making something impossible, or precluding its occurrence. Preventive: that which aid

There are several motions which give rise to questions previous in their nature to other questions to which they relate; but the term " previous " has been applied exclusively to a

Does not necessarily imply a sale for money. It is true that " price " generally means the sum of money which an article is sold for; but this is simply because property is general

The name of an old method of electing the sheriffs of the different counties of England. Originally, the sheriffs were chosen by the people in their folkmote or county court; but t

Where goods intended to be exported are put direct from the station of the warehouse into a ship alongside, the exporter fills up a document to authorize the receiving the goods on

A certain allowance paid by the shipper or consignee of goods to the mariners and master of a vessel for loading her. Wha Hon; Cowel. A duty at the water-side, due to the master an

First; chief; leading. Primary allegation. The opening pleading in a suit in the ecclesiastical com't; it is also called a " primary plea." See Coote Ecd. Prac. Primary conveyances

A title by which some of the archbishops in the English church are distinguished. Primate of all England. An ecclesiastical title belonging to the archbishop of Canterbury, who is

A law-French word signifying first; primary. Primer fine. On the levying of a fine when the writ of covenant was sued out, there was due to the king, by ancient prerogative, a sum

Eldership; seniority; state of being the first-born; the superior title of an elder son in estates to the exclusion of the younger sons. The canon of descent, in England, is " that

1. In the law of agency, the employer of an agent; the person from whom an attorney receives his appointment and powers. 2. In the law of guaranty and suretyship, the principal is

In the patent law^ the principle of a machine is the particular means of producing a given result by a mechanical contrivance. Parker v. Stiles, 5 Mc Lean, 44, 63; 8. c. 7 West. La

1. A legal precedence or preference; as in saying that certain debts are paid in priority to others, or that certain incumbrances of an estate are allowed priority over others; tha

A vessel owned and fitted out as individual property, and navigated in its owner's interest, but authorized by the sovereign power to cruise for and capture vessels of a country wi

Pregnant privately; pregnant, but not visibly so. The term is applied to a woman

A privilege. In Roman law, an exemption conferred or burden imposed upon an individual, peculiar to himself. Also, the enactment creating the exemption or burden. See Aust. Jur. le

1. As an adjective (and this, is its original force), means connected with; likewise affected; concerned with another; as well conversant or acquainted with something. In a seconda

Vessels, cargoes, or other property captured at sea, in pursuance of the laws of war. Such property is said to be made lawful prize, or to be adjudicated or condemned as prize of w

Aforesaid. Sometimes abbreviated to prcefat. and p. fat. See Pb^dictus. PR^MUNIRE. To forewarn; to summon. The emphatic word of a writ issued in old English law, to begin the prose

For. A Latin preposition, used to introduce several phrases, among which are: Pro confesso. For confessed; as confessed. A decree upon a bill in equity, to which no answer has been

In the duties collection act of 1799, must mean reasonable ground of presumption that the charge is, or may be, well founded. Wood v. United States, 16 Pet. 342, 366. It means less

1. In Saxon law, to claim a thing as one's own. Jacob. 2. More recently, to,make proof, as in. PROBATE. Formal, official proof. The word is particularly applied to wi Us, meaning t

Proof. Thus probatio viva, or proof alive, was applied to testimony of witnesses; and probatio mortua, or dead proof, to documentary evidence; also, probatio plena and semiplena we

For proceeding. The name of a writ by which, when a cause has been removed from an inferior to a superior court (as by certiorari), and the grounds of removal appear to the superio

This word is commonly opposed to the sum of legal principles constituting the substance of the law, and denotes the body of rules, whether of practice or of pleading, whereby right

A stipulation not to proceed against a party is an agreement not to sue. To sue a man is to proceed against him. Planters' Bank of Fort Valley v. Houser, 57 Ga. 140. In the Greorgi

This term, used in the saving clause of a code of practice, declaring that the code should not affect any proceeding commenced before its enactment, does not include a j udgment re

Insurance upon the proceeds of the outward cargo, effected by a valued policy on -a voyage out and home, the credit of the outward. Haren v. Gray, 12 Mass. 71. In general, the expr

In French law, is a term applied to those acts by which public officials render attestation to any thing done in their presence. Ferriere.

In law French, nearest, next. Prooheln ami. Next friend. The person by whom an infant or a man-ied other acts on behalf of an infant, such as are authorized by law. Frochein avoida

1. In affairs of state, to proclaim is to give official public notice, emanating from the sovereign power, of any of its doings or edicts, or of the occurrence of any fact importan

1. Originally and properly, one who manages business for another, by his order; an agent, procurator, or proxy. But the word has been long and extensively used for the agent or off

The writing or instrument which authorizes a procurator to act. Cowel; Termes de la Ley.

The acting of one person in the afiairs of another, by the latter's authority or request; agency. Also, the authority of one person to act for another, derived from the latter; pow

In a statute making it an offence to " procure a female to have illicit carnal connection with any man," does not cover the offence of seduction. The natural meaning of the word pr

The French term corresponding to an attorney; one who has received a commission from another to act on his behalf. There were in France two classes of procureurs, corresponding to

Under a bequest of the "produce" of a fund, directly, or in trust without any limit^,tion as to continuance, the principal will be regarded as bequeathed also. Craft v. Snook, 13 N

He produces or proffers. When pleadings were in Latin, a plaintiff was wont to express his readiness to produce for inspection an instrument on which he brought suit, by the phrase

1. Advantage realized in money by sale of property at a price exceeding the cost; or receipts of any enterprise or business, exceeding the expenses incident to it. 2. The advantage

The name of a writ issuing to forbid any court to proceed in any cause there depending, on the suggestion that the cognizance thereof helongs not to such court; a writ which comman

Issue; offspring; progeny. It may mean any children; but is frequently used, according to Bouvier and Burrill, in the stricter sense of issue of a lawful marriage. officer chosen b

A declaration by which one person engages to another to do or forbear to do some act; an assurance (oral or written) given by one that some future event within his control shall be

1. In English practice, those persons who, in popular and penal actions, prosecute offenders in their names and the crown's, and are entitled to part of the fines and penalties for

Burrill explains that the original meaning of this Latin word was to make the public proposal of a law known, in order that every one might be able to take it into consideration, b

To announce officially; to make known formally; to make public as important or obligatory. It is used of edicts of government, laws enacted, state papers, treaties, &c. Promulge se

A quasi contract, koown in the civil law, by which he who receives a certain sum of money, or a certain quantity of fungible things, which have been paid to him through mistake, co

1. Evidence, considered as sufficient to convince. 2. Convincing effect of evidence; establishment of a fact to the satisfaction of the mind, by documents or testimony of witnesses

1. That which conforms to the standard by which the thing mentioned ought to be judged; fit; suitable; sufficient; well adapted. The constitution, in declaring that congress shall

Put forward; placed forth; proposed. In computing descents, the individual (real or imaginary) from whom descent is considered to be reckoned is called the propositus.

n. Owner. Originally, a mere equivalent to proprietor; but it has been much used to denote proprietors of estates under large royal grants, or of great colonial estates. Grantees o

adj. Belonging to an individual; private; considered as property; owned. Proprietary articles. In the United States internal revenue laws, are goods Proprietary chapel. A chapel or

A writ which, in English practice, used to be directed to the sheriff, requiring him to inquire by inquest whether goods distrained were the property of the plaintiff, or of the pe

The French law term corresponding to our propriety in the sense of property; or the right of enjoying and of disposing of things in the most absolute manner, subject only to the la

Owner. A penalty imposed upon " the proprietor or proprietors" of any railroad, &c., for negligence causing the death of a passenger, may be enforced against a corporation owning a

In Mass. colonial ordinance of 1741 is nearly, if not precisely, equivalent to property. Commonwealth v. Alger, 7 CusA. 53, 70. A term applied to an appearance or pleading interpos

On account of; for. This Latin preposition introduces several phrases; among which are: Propter affectum. On account of affection; for bias; for favorable inclination. This phrase

In Scotch law, a power conferred by consent of the parties upon a judge who would not otherwise be competent. It is analogous to the authority which, by laws of some of the western

To direct suspension of proceedings of parliament; to terminate a session. Prorogation: the act or mandate of the English sovereign terminating a session of parliament. Prorogation

To carry forward, maintain, or wage a judicial proceeding. Prosecution: the act of conducting or waging a proceeding in court; also, the proceeding itself. Prosecutor: one who carr

In its most general sense, the setting of one's self to sale, or of devoting to infamous purposes what is in one's power. In the more restricted sense (very common), it is the act

Protection; defence. Frotectio trahit subjectionem, et subjectio proteotlonem. Protection implies subjection, and subjection protection. The protection of an individual by governme

Besides its vernacular meaning of shelter from injury, a protection is used in law in the special sense of a certificate or writing showing a personal immunity. Thus it sometimes m

1. In the most general sense, signifies any formal or officially authenticated declaration; conveying, however, usually, the idea of an adversary declaration; an objection. Burrill

One who accepts the Christian religion, but denies the authority of the Pope of Rome; Christians in this country and in western Europe being divided into Roman Catholic and Protest

The name of a particular formula formerly used in common-law pleading, when it was expedient for a party to plead in such a manner as to avoid any implied admission of a fact which

or PROTONO-

1. A Byzantine terra applied to the first sheet pasted on a manuscript roll, statmg by whom it was written, &c. Wedgwood. 2. The first or original copy of any thing. Tomtins. 3. Th

1. To establish by evidence. 2. To establish a debt due from an insolvent estate, and to receive a dividend thereon. To prove a debt differs, on the one hand, from receiving the fu

Another form of the ■words approver or probator, q. v.

The words usually employed to create a condition are " on condition." But the phrases "provided," "so that," "if it shall happen," are of the same import. " Provided always " may c

1. In ecclesiastical law, the circuit of an archbishop's jurisdiction. Sometimes a county; and more generally an out-country governed by a deputy or lieutenant. 2. The word is also

Temporary. Provisional assignees. Assignees to whom, under former bankrupt laws, the property of a bankrupt was assigned until the regular or permanent assignees were appointed by

Eat cattle are provisions, or munitions of war, within the true intent and meaning of the act of congress of July 6, 1812, prohibiting trade with the enemies of the United States.

A conditional clause often inserted in deeds or statutes, or operative force of the statute frequently depends j it usually begins with the word provided. The word proviso is gener

Immediate; nearest; next in order. It has become a maxim in insurance law that a loss is to be attributed to the proximate cause, and not to the remote cause. So it is a fundamenta

The civil-law name of a kind of broker or agent making a business of promoting marriages. All contracts and agreements respecting marriage (commonly called marriage-brokage contrac

1. A person appointed in the stead of another, to represent him. A peer can vote by proxy, but a member of the house of commons cannot. In corporations where the right to vote is f

ac(/. 1. Generally known; open to view; unconcealed. 2. Belonging to the community at large; common to enjoyment of all persons; open to use by any one desiring. 3. Affecting or co

In law French, afterwards; since. Pui3 darrein continuance. Since last continuance. This phrase was applied, in the common-law system of pleading, to designate a plea which the def

In law French, junior; younger. In English courts, the judges, other than the chief judge, have long been termed puisne judges. Thus this judicial title corresponds to associate ju

Liable to punishment, whether absolutely, or in the exercise of a judicial discretion. In a statute concerning murder perpetrated in the commission of any crime punishable with imp

That which punishes; vindicatory. The only technical use of the word, of importance, is in connection with damages, when it signifies the same as exemplary (9. w.) or vindictive. D

In law French, for. Pur autre vie. For the life of another. See Autre Vie.

The proper meaning of this term, in the law of real property, is much more extensive than the vernacular sense: it includes all modes of personal acquisition except hereditary desc

To clear one's self of a a charge of crime, formerly allowed in England. It was either canonical, which was prescribed by the canon law, the form whereof, used in the spiritual cou

A part in a division; a share. The part or share of an estate held by coparceners, which is by partition allotted to them. Cowel.

Has a signification different from tenor. It means the substance as it appears on the face of the instrument. Tenor imports an exact copy. State v. Atkins, 5 Black/. 458; Commonwea

The meaning of the word purposely, as used in the statutory definition of murder, may be fully expressed in an indictment by the words " with intent," or by " feloniously." Carder

A taking wholly a Way. The act of a private individual in enclosing or building upon part of a common or public domain, and thus taking it away from the public. Purpresture in a fo

That part of an act which commences with the words be it enacted, and ends before the repealing act; the body or substantive part of a statute; hence (and this is its more frequent