Barratry

Common carrier: a carrier for hire wlio carries indifferently for any one who may employ him, without special contract Common council: the representative body of a corporation, in which is vested the power of making its laws and administering its affaii-s. Common counts: counts invariable in form, framed on general principles of statement, and so common in their application to a variety of actions, as distinguished from special counts, which are adapted to the special circumstances of each case, and are peculiar riglit of fishing common to all, as a fishery in the sea, or in a navigable river. Sometimes confounded with common of fishery, and free fishery, from vs-hich it is clearly distinguishable. Common form: proof of a will by an executor on his own oath. Common informer: one who makes a business of giving information of the violation of penal statutes, with a view to the prosecution of the offender, and to whom the whole or a part of the forfeiture is given, v. Informer. Common intendment: common meaning or understanding; the understanding of a thing according to the subjectmatter, without straining it to any extraordinary or foreign sensa V. Intendment. Common jury: the ordinary kind of jury by which issues of fact are generally tried. Common law: the English law as distinguished from the civil law, the canon law and other systems; that part of the English law which had its origin not in statute but in immemorial custom and usage as declared by the courts; the law administered in the common-law courts, as distinguished from the courts of equity and admiralty; the general customs of the kingdom, as /distinguished from local customs. Common nuisance: a nuisance which affects or may affect the public, as distinguished from one which is confined in its effects to particular individuals. Common schools: schools for the elementary instruction of children of all classes; schools supported by general taxation, conti'olled by agents appointed by the voters, and open to all free of expense. Common scold: a quarrelsome woman, whose conduct is a public nuisance to her neighborhood, formerly punishable as a nuisance by being placed in the trebucket, castigatory, or cucking stool. Common seal: the seal of a corporation, by which alone, at common law, it could speak and act Common weal: the common good; the public welfare.

In English law. Common Bench: the Bench as distinguished from the King's Bench; the former title of the court of Common Pleas. V. Bench. Common Pleas: prior to the judicature act of 36 & 37 Yict., c. 66, one of the superior courts of common law, consisting of a chief justice and four puisne judges, y. Bench. Common recovery: a species of common assurance, or mode of conveying lands by matter of record, formerly in frequent use, but abolished by statute 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 74. Common vouchee: the vouchee in common recoveries; the person vouched to warranty, or called on to defend the title of the tenant in those proceedings, v. Vouchee.

In old English law. Common chase: a place where the right of hunting was common to all. Common day: an o^mary day in court. V. Dies communis. Common line: a certain sum of money which the residents in a leet paid to the lord of the leet, otherwise called head silver, cert money, or certum letce; a fine or amercement imdenote civil actions, or those depending between subject and subject, as distinguished from pleas of the crown.

In Scots law. Common debtor: a debtor whose effects have been arrested by several creditors.

In Scotch law. The crime of a judge who receives a bribe for a judgment. Brands. See Barretor.