A Dictionary of Law

Lat. In Roman law. This name wag given to a notice promulgated by a magistrate of his intention to present an impeachment ayainst a citizen before the people, specifying the day ap

(Lat. He has closed his last day,—died.) A writ which formerly lay on the death of a tenant, in capite, to ascertain the lands of which he died seised, and reclaim them into the ki

A writ or commission for the hearing and determining any outrage or misdemeanor.

Lat. A day; days. Days for appearance in court. Provisions or maintenance fora day. The king’s rents were anciently reserved by so many days’ provisions. Spelman; Cowell; Blount.

A day of favor. The name given to the appearance day of the term on the fourth day, or quarto die post. It was the day given by the favor and indulgence had their appearance record

(The day from which.) K in the civil law. The day from which a transaction begins; the commencement of it; the eenclusion being the dies @d quem. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 185.

The day begins; dies ventt, the day has come. Two expressions in Roman law which signify the vesting or fixing of an interest, and the interest becoming a present-One, Sandars’ Jus

<A day given or allowed, (to a defendant in an action;) amounting toa coutinuanee. But the name was approprinte only to a continuance before a declaration filed; if afterwards allo

A day given in the bench, (or court of common pleas.) Dract. fols. 2576, 361. A day given in bank, as distinguished from a day at 2st prius. Co. Litt. 135.

A day given to the parties to an action; an adjournmentor continuance. Crabb, Eng. Law, 217.

A day given on the prayer of the parties. Braet. fol. 358; Gilb. Comm. Pl. 41; 2 l Keeve, Eng. Law, 60.

In old English Jaw. The added or increasing day in leap year. Bract. fols. 359, 3590.,

Lat. In the civil law. Holidays. Dig. 2, 12, 2, 9. Co. Litt. 1346. The quarto die post was sometimes 30 called. Id. 105. Dies inceptus pro compisto habetur. A day begun is held as

In Roman law. Divided days; days on which the courts were open for a part of theday. Calvin.

In the civil and old English law. A lawful or law day; a term day; a day of appearance.

Inold English law. The duy of meeting of English and Seotech, which was annually held on the oyarches or borders to ailjust their differences and preserve peace.

In Roman law. Days on which the courts were closed, and it was unlawful to administer justice; answering to the dies now juridiel of the English law. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 39, note.

An abbreviation of Dies non juridicus, (gq. v.)

In practice. A day not juridical; not a courtday. <A day on which courts are not open for business, such as Sundays and some holidays.

(Lat. Day of peace.) The year was formerly divided into the days of the peace of the chureh and the days of the peace of the king, including in the two divisions all the daysof the

In old English law. A solar day, as distinguished from what was called “dies lunaris,” (a lunar day;) both composing an artificial day. Bract, fol. 264. See Day.

In the civil and old English law. Sunday, (literally, the day of the sun.) See Cod. 3, 12, 7.

Juridical days; useful or available days. A term of the Roman law, used to designate those especial days o¢curring within the limits of a prescribed peried of time upon which it wa

A general legislative assembly is sonietimes so called on the continent ot Europe. for the trial of 2 eriminal cause. <A criminal cause as prepared for trial.

A day’s journey; a day's work; a day's expenses.:

Lat. In old writs. An abbreviation of dilecto et jfidelt, (to his beloved and faithful.)

In Scotch law. The days within which parties in civil apd eriminal prosecutions are cited toappear. Bell.

Fr. God and iny right, The motto of the royal arms of Engiand, tirst assumed by Richard I.

Fr. Inoldlaw. God his act; God's act. An event beyond litiman foresight or control. Termes de la Ley.

See Dyna Wirnout Issur.

To destroy; to disfigure or defice. Diffiicile est ut unus homo vicem duorum sustineat. 4 Coke, 118. It is diftienlt that one man should sustain the place of two.

In old English law. To deny, or keep from one. Difforeiare rectum, to deny justice to any one, after having been required to de it.

or DIGAMY. Second marriage; marriage to a second wife after the death of the first, as “bigamy,” in law, is having two wives at once. Orizinally, a min who murried a widow, or marr

A collection or compilation, embodying the chief matter of numerous books in one, disposed under proper heads or titles, and usually by an alphabetical arrangement, for facility in

Digests. One of the titles of the Pandects of Justinan. Inst. proem, § 4. DBracton uses the singular, “ Digestum.” Bract. fol. 19.

Has been held as synonymous with “excavating,” and not confined to the removal of earth. IN. Y. 316.

The ordinary name of the Pandects of Justinian, which ave now usually ciled by the abbreviation “Dig.” instead of “Ff.,” as formerly. Sometimes cailed “Digest,” in the sinzular.

In canon law. A per. son holding an ecclesiastical benefice or dignity, which gave him some pre-eminence above mere priests andcanonus. To this clasa exclusively belonged all bisho

In Englishlaw. An honor; a title, station, or distinction of honor. Dignities are a species of incorporeal hereditaments, in which a person may have a property or estate. 2 Bl. Com

Judicial decision or determination.

In Spanish law. A space of time granted te a party to a suit in which to answer a demand or produce evidence of a disputed fact.

A species of ecclesiastical waste which occurs whenever the ineumbent suiters any edifices of his ecclesiustical living to go to ruin or decay. It is either voluntary, by pulling d

In chancery practice. One the object of which is to dismiss, suspend, or obstruct the suit, without touching the merits, until the impediment or obstacle insisted on shall be remov

A class of defenses at common Jaw, founded on some matter of fact not counected with the merits of the case, but such as might exist without impeaching the right of action itself.

Prudence; vigilant activity; attentiveness; or care, of which there are infinite shades, from the slightest momentary thought to the most vigilant anxiety; but the law recognizes o

(Fr. De lege ejecius, Lat.) Outlawed.

In old English law. Potlage formerly made for the king’s table on the coronation day. There was a tenure in serjeantry, by which lands were held of the king by the service ef findi

A silver coin of the United States, of the value of ten cents, or one-tenth of the dollar.

DIMIDIUM, DIMIDIUS. Half; a half; the half.

‘The moiety or half of a thing.

Inthe civillaw. Dirinution; a taking away; loss or deprivation. Diminutio capitis, loss of status or condition. See CAPITIs DIMINUTIO.

Incompleteuess. <A word signifying that the record sent up from an inferior to a superior court for review is incomplete, or not fully certified. In such case the party may suggest

In old conveyancing. I have demised. Dimist, cowcessi, et ad firmam tradidi, have demised, granted, and to farm let. The usual words of operation in a lease. 2 Bl. Comm. 317, 318.

In old conveyancing. [He] has demised. See Draisr.

Inthecivil law. Letters dimissory or dismissory, commonly called “apostles,” (que vulge apostoli dicuntur.) Dig. 50,16, 106. see AProsro Li,

Where a eandidate for holy orders has a title of ordination in one diocese in England, and is to be ordained in another, the bishop of the former diocese gives letters dimissory to

A government of two persons.

In Spanish law. Money. Dinero contada, money counted. White, New Recop. b. 2, tit. 18, c. 1, § 1, In Roman law. A civil division of the Roman empire, embracing several provinces. C

Belonging to a diocese; a bishop, as he stands related to hisown clergy or flock,

In Englishlaw. The consistorial courts of each diocese, exercising general jurisdiction of ali matters arising locally within their respective limits, with the exception of places

The district over which a bishop exercised his spiritual functions.

In the civil law. A royal charter; letiers patent granted by a prince or sovereign. Calvin. An instrument given by colleges and sccieties on the conferring of any degrees. A licens

Thescience which treats of the relations and interests of nations with nations. Negotiation or intercourse bet ween nations through their representatives. The rules, customs, and p

The acience of diplomas, or of ancient writings and decuments; the art of judging of ancient charters, publi¢ documents, diplomas, ete., and discriminating the true trom the false.

<A person subject to dipsemania. One who has an irresistible desire ior aleoholic liquors.

In medical j Jurtisprodence. An irresistible impulse to indulge in intoxication, either by the use of.aleohol or of drugs such as opium. This mania or disease is classed as one of

Diptychs; tablets of wood, metal, or other substance, used among the Romans tor the purpose of writing, and folded like a book of two leaves. The diptychs of antiquity were especia

Immediate; by the shortest course; without circuity; operating by an immediate connection or relation, instead of operating through a medium; the opposite of indirect. In the usual

Evidence directly proving any matter, as opposed to circumstantial evidence, which is often callet “indirect.” It is usually conclusive, but, like other evidence, it is fallible, a

In practice. The first interrogation or examination of a witness, on the merits, by the party on whose behalf he is called. This is to be distinguished from an examination in pais,

A direct interast, such as would render the interested party incompetent to testify in regard to the tnatter, is an interest which is certain, and. not contingent or doubtful. A ma

On the taking of a deposition, where written interrogatories are framed, those put by the party calling the witness are named “direct interrogatories,” (corresponding to the questi

1. The act of gaverning; management; superintendence. Also the body of persons (called “directors”) who are charged with the management and administration of a corporation or insti

Property is said to descend or be inherited in the direct line when it passes in lineal succession; from ancestor to son, grandson, great-grandson, and so on.

An offiver having the control, management, and superintendence of the United states mint and its branches. He is appointed by the

Persons appointed or elected according to law, authorized to manage and direct the affairs of a corporation or company. The whole of the directors collectively form the board of di

A provision in astatute, rule of procedure, or the like, is said to be directory when it is to be considered as a mere direction or instruction of no obligatory force, and involvin

Where, by the terms of a trust, the fund is directed to be vested in a particular manner till the period arrives at which it is to be appropriated, this is called a “directory trus

A direct tax is one which is dewanded from the very persons who, it is intended or desired, should pay it. indirect taxes are those which are demanded from one person,.in the expec

In Roman law. Officers who distributed ballots to the people, to be used in voting. Tayl. Civil Law, 192.

In canon law. Absolute Lars to marriage, which. would make it null ab initio.

The want of legal ability or capacity to exercise legal rights, either special or ordinary, or to do certain acts with. proper legal effect, or to enjoy certain privileges or power

In its ordinary sense, to disable is to cause a disability, (q. v.) In the old language of pleading, to disable is to take advantage of one's own or another's disability. Thus, it

These are acts of parliament, restraining and regulating the exercise of a right or the power of alienation; the term is specially applied to 1 Eliz. c. 19, and similar acts restra

To restore to their formoer condition lands which have been turned into forests. To remove from the operation of the forest laws. 2 Bl. Comm. 416.

To repudiate; to ravoke a consent once given; to recall an affirmance. To rafuse one’s subsequent sanction to a former act; to disclaim the intention of being bound by an anteceden

The repudiation of a former transaction. The refusal by one who has the right to refuse, (as in the case of a voidable contract,) to abide by his former acts, or accept the legal c

To disable a person.

This is where the appropriation of a benefice is severed, either by the patron presenting a clerk or by the corporation which has the appropriation being dissolved. 1 Bl. Comm. 385

Torepudiate the unauthorized acts of an agent; to deny the authority by which he assumed to act.

In England, to deprive a barrister permanently of the privileges of his position; itis analogous to striking an attorney off the rolls, In Ameriea, the word deseribes the act of a

Money expended by an executor, guardian, trustee, ete., for the benefit of the estate in his hands, or in connection with its administration. The term is also used under the codes

In old English law. To discharge, to unload; as a vessel. Careare et discarcare; to charge and discharge; to load and unload, Cowell.

In old European law. To discharge or unload, as a wagon. Spelman.

In Roman law. The argument of a cause by the counsel on both sides. Calvin.

The opposite of charge, hence te release; liberate; annul; unburden; disincumber. In the law of contracts. To cancel or unioose the obligation of a contract; to make an agreement o

The repudiation or re nunciation of a right or claim vested in a person or which he hail formerly alleged to ba his. The refusal, waiver, or denial of anesfate or right offered toa

In Scotchlaw. Disavowal of tenure; denial that one holds lands of another. Bell.

To deprive commonable lands of their commonable quality, by in closing and appropriating or improving them.

One the enjoyment of which can be had only by the interference of man, as rights of way, or a right to draw water; as distinguished from a continuous easement, which is one the enj