A Dictionary of Law

An external pledge or asseveration, made in verification of statements made or to be made, coupled with an appeal to a sacred or venerated object, in evidence of the serious and re

One which could have have administered to a voter at an election for members of parliament. Abolished in 1854. Wharton.

In the civil law. An oath which one of the parties defers or refers back to the other for the decision of the cause.

In the civil law. An oath permitted to be taken by the plaintiff, for the purpose of proving the value of the subject-matter in controversy, when there was no other evidence on tha

The oath by which a clergyman charged with a criminal offense was formerly allowed to swear himself to be innocent; also the oath by which the compurgators swore that they believed

In the civil law. Anoath which a plaintiff was obliged to take that he was not prompted by malice or trickery in commencing his action, but that he had bona fide a good cause of ac

An oath by which a person purges or ciears himself from presumptions, charges, or suspicious standing against him, or from a contempt.

The form used at the taking of an cath.

[n Romanlaw. A debtor who was obliged to serve his creditor till his debt was discharged. Adams, liom. Ant. 49.

ee. On account of contiguity to the offense, z. ¢., being contaminated by conjunction with something illegal. For example, the cargo of a vessel, though not contraband or unlawful,

On account a _ of connection; by reason of similarity. In Scotch law, this phrase expresses a ground for the consolidation of actions.

Compliance with a cormmand, prohibition, or known law and rule of duty prescribed; the performance of what is required or enjoined by authority, or tle ab staining from what is pro

An office, or the admin- Obedientia est legis essentia. 11 Coke, 100. Obedience is the essence of law.

A monastic offi. cer. Du Cange.

In favor of merchants. Fleta, lib. 2, ¢ 63, § 12. Ob infamiam non solet juxta legem terre aliquis per legoem apparentem se purgare, nisi prius convictus fuerit vel confessus in cur

In old English law. <A funeral solemnity, or oflice for the dead. Cowell. The anniversary of a person's death; the anniversary office. Cro. Jac. 51.

Sat. By the way; in passing; incidentally; collaterally.

Lat. A remark made, or opinion expressed, by a judge, in his decision upon a cause, “by the way,” that is, incidentally or collaterally, and not directly upon the question before h

Lat. [He] died without issue. Yearb. M.1 Edw. II. 1.

». In legal proceedings, to object (e. g., to the admission of evidence) is to interpose a declaration to the effect that the particular matter or thing under consideration is not

n. This term “ineludes whatever is presented to the mind, as weil as whut may be presented to the senses; whatever, also, is acted upon, or operated upon, affirmatively, or intenti

The act of a party whe objects to some matter or proceeding in the course of a trial, (see OBJECT, v.;) or an argument or reason urged by him in support of his contention that the

Where property is settled subject to a power given to any person or persons to appoint the same among a limited class, the members of the class are ealled the “objects” of the powe

Gifts or offerings madetothe king by any of his subjects: old debts, brought, as it were, together from preceding years, and put on the present sheriff’s charge. Wharton.

Inold Europeanlaw. Voluntary slaves of churches or monasteries.

In the civil law. An action given toa party against another who had offered to him a stolen thing, which was found in his possession. Inst. 3, 1, 4.

Inthecivil law. A tender of money in payment of a debt made by debtor to creditor. Whatever is offered to the church by the pious. Calvin. Oblationes dicuntur queecungue a piis fid

or obventions, are offerings or customary payments made, in England, to the minister of a church, including fees on marriages, burials, mortuaries, etc., (q. v.,) and Easter offeri

To bind or constrain; to bind to the observance or performance of a duty; to place under an obligation. To bind one’s self by an obligation or promise; to assume a duty; to execute

Lat. In Roman law. The legal relation existing between two certain persons whereby one (the creditor) is SSS authorized to demand of the other (the debtor) a certain performance wh

Anobligation isa legal duty, by which a person is bound to do or not to doacertain thing. Civil Code Cal. § 1427; Civil Code Dak. § 798. The binding power of a vow, promise, oath,

As used in Const. J. S, art. 1, § 10, the term means the binding and coercive force which constrains every man te perform the agreemeuts he has made; a force grounded in the ethic:

Thoterm “writing obligatory” is a technica! term of the law, and means a written contract under seal. 7 Yerg. 300.

The person in favor of whom some obligation is contracted, whether such obligation be to pay money or to da or not to do something. Code La. art. 3522, ne. 11. The party to whom a

The person who has engaged to perform some obligation. Code La. art. 3522, no. 12. One who makes a bond.

Lat. Inthe old law of descents. Oblique; cross; transverse; collateral. The opposite of rectus, right, or upriglit. In the law of evidence. Indirect; circumstantial.

Erasure or biotting out of written words. Obliteration is not limited to effacing the letters of a will or seralching them out or blotting the:n so completely that they cannot be r

Tosxpose one to “obloquy” is to expose him to censure and reproach, as the latter terms are synonymous with “obloquy.” 70 Cal. 275, 11 Pac. Rep. 716.

In Spanishlaw. Work. Obras, works or trades; those which men carry on in houses or covered places. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 5, ¢. 3, § 6.

Obtaining anything by fraud or surprise. Acquisition of esclieats, elc., from the sovereign, by making false reptesentations. Beli.

Lat. In the civil law. To pass a law contrary to a former law, or to some clause of it; to change a former law in some part of it. Calvin.

In the civillaw. The

lewd; impure; indecent: ealenlated to shock the moral sense of man by a disregard of chastity or modesty.

In thecivillaw. To perform that which has been prescribed by some law or usage. Dig. 1, 3, 32.

In the civil law. To seal up; as money that had been tendered and refuse,

Ratifying and confirming.

Becoming obsolete; going ont of use; not entirely disused, but gradually becoming so.

Disused; neglected; not observed. The term is applied to statutes which have become inoperative by lapse of time, either because the reason for their enactment has passed away, or

Withstanding; hindering. See Non OBSTANTE.

Lat. Withstand beginnings; resist the first approaches or encroachments. “It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stea

Obligation; bond.

In criminal law. The act by which one or more

‘This is the word properly descriptive of an injury to any one’s incorporeal hereditament, e. g., his right to an easement, or profit a prendres an alternative word being “disturba

Lat. To obey. Hence the Scoteh “obtemper,” to obey or comply with a judgment of a court.

‘To protest.

In Roman law. Taking by the neck or collar; as a plaintiff was allowed to drag a reluctant defendant to court. Adams, Rom. Ant. 242,

(Offered himself.) In old practice, The emphatic words of entry on the record where one party offered him self in court against the other, and the latter did not appear. 1 Reeve, E

For an immoral consideration. Dig. 12, 6.

Lat. In the civil law. Rent; profits; income; the return from an investment or thing owned; as the earnings of a vessel, In old English law. The revenue of a spiritual living, so c

In Spanish law. Accident, Las Partidas, pt. 3, tit. 62, 1, 21; White, New Recop. b. 2, tit. 9, c. 2.

A tribute which the lord imposed on his vassals or tenants for his necessity. Hindrance; trouble; vexation by suit.

Tobecharged or londed with payments or occasional penalties.

In old English law. Assarts. Spelman. Occultatio thesauri inventi fraudulosa. 3 Inst. 183. The concealment of discovered treasure is fraudulent.

Occupancy is a mode of acquiring property by which a thing which the intention of acquiring a right of ownership in it. Civil Code La. art. 3412. The taking possession of things wh

Ina general sonse. One who takes possession of a thing, of which there ig no owner; one who has the actual possession or control of a thing. In a special sense. One who takes pose.

In the civil law. To acize or take possession of; to enter upon a vacant possession; to take possession before another. Calvin.

That which has been left by the right owner, and is now possessed by another.

Possession; control; tenure; use. In its usual sense "occupation" is where a person exercises physical control over land. Thus, the lessee of a house is in occupation of it so long

Possessed; tised; employed,

Lat. In old English law. A writ that lay for one who was ejected out of his land or tenement in time of war. Cowell.

An occupant; one who is in the enjoyment of a thing.

To hold in possession; to hold or keep for use. 107 U.S. 843, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 677; 11 Johns, 214.

In old Scotch law. A name of dignity; a freeholder. Skene de Verb, Sign.

Government by the multitude. A form of goyernment wherein the populace has the whole power and administration in its own hands.

In English praetice. An original writ was the process formerly in use for the commencement of personal actions. It was a mandatory letter from the king, issuing ont of chancery, se

In old English law. The eighth day inclusive after a feast; one of the return days of writs. 3 Bl. Comm. 278,

Eight such; eight such men; eight such jurors. The name of a writ, ab common law, which issues when upon a trial at bar, efg At more jurors are necessary to fill the panel, command

Complete property, as opposed to feudal tenure. The transposition of the syllables of “odhai” makes it “allodhk,” and -odA” is thus put In contradistinction to “feeodkh.” Mozley &

” For the meaning of I this phrase in the constitution of the United States, see 2 Story, Const. §§ 1374-1399; 1 Kent, Comm. 413-422; Pom. Const. Law; ih Black, Const, Prohib. pt.

A phrase commonly applied in practice to the counsel employed __—— by a party in a cause. $$$

Any action or step taken ——$ in the course of judicial proceedings which will be allowed by the court upon mere ap- $$$ plication, without any inquiry or contest, or which may be e

The most important species of guardian in modern law, having custody of the infant until the attainment of full age. It hasin England in a manner superseded the guardian in socage,

The styleof a court having jurisdiction for review, by appeal or writ of error. The name was formerly used in New York and South Carolina. COURT FOR THE RELIEF OF IN-

In old English jaw. The morsel of execration; the corsned, (q. 2) 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 21.

A crimeor misdemeanor; a breaeh of the criminal laws. It is used as a genus, comprehending every crime and misdemeanor, or as a species, signifying a crime not indictable, but puni

A proposal to doa thing. A proposal to make a contract. Also an attemps. ——S

In English ecelesiastical law. Personal tithes, payable by custom to ———— the parson or vicar of a parish, either occasionally, as at sacraments, marriages, churehing of women, bur

In English ecciesiasticallaw. The offerings of tle faithful, or the place where they are made or kept; the service at the time of the Communion.

“Office” is defined to bea right to exercise a public or private employment, and to take the fees and emoluments thereunlo belonging, Whether public, as those of mnagistrates, or p

Any book for the reeord of official or other transactions, kept une der authority of the state, in public offices not connected with the courts.; made by the officer having it in e

In English law. Inquest of office found; the finding of certain facts by a jury on an inquest or inquisition of office. 3 Bl. Comm. 258, 259. This phrase has been adopted in Americ

That portion of the day during which pubdhie offices are usually open for the transaction of business.

The incumbent of an office; one whois lawfully invested with an office. One who is charged by a superior power (and particularly by government) with the power and duty of exercisin

As distinguished from an officer de jure, this is the designation of one who is in the actual possession and administration of the office, under some coloruble or apparent authorit

A general name applicable to ail persons connected with the administration of the judicial department of government, but commonly used only ot the class of officers whose duty is t

adj. Pertaining to an office; invested with the character of an officer; proceeding from, sanctioned by, or done by, an officer.

n. An officer; a person Invested with the authority of an oilice. In the civil law. The minister or apparitor of a magistrate or judve, In canon law. A person to whom a bishop comm

In English practice. An assignee in bankruptcy appointed by the lord chancellor to co-operate with the other assignees in administering a bankrupt’s estate.

A bond given by a public officer, conditioned that he shall well and faithfully perform all the duties of the oflice. The term is sometimes made to include the bonds of executors,

In English law. A person appointed by the judge in chancery, in whose courta joint-stock company is being wound up, to bring and defend suits and actions in the name of ihe com- N