A Dictionary of Law

Certain English statutes, beginning with the St. 16 & 17 Viet. c. 131, whereby a generai superintendence of merchant shipping is vested in the board of trade.

1862. The statute 25 & 26 Vict. c. 88, designed to prevent the fraudulent marking of merchandise and the fraudulent sale of merchandisa falsely marked.

In feudal law. A fine or composition paid by inferior tenants to the lord for liberty to dispose of their daughters in marriage. Cowell. The same as marcheta (q. 0.)

Anamerciament, penalty, or fine, (q. 0.)

In old writs. Wares. Mercimonia et merchandizas, wares und merchandises. Reg. Brev. Append. 10.

In old records. The impost of England upon merchandise. Cowell. Mercis appellatio ad res mobiles tantum pertinet. The term “merchandise” belongs to moyable things only. Dig. 50, 16

In practice. The arbitrament of the king or judge in punishing offenses not directly censured by law. Jacob. So, "to be in mercy" signifies to be amerced or fined for bringing or d

Famous; great; noted; as 271mere, all famous, Gibs. Camd.

Sax. A marsh. Spelman,

The fres and voluntary act of a party himself, done without the suggestion or influence of another person, is said to be done of his mere motion, ex mero motu, {qg.v.) Brown. The p

In old records. Timber. Cowell.

The mere right of _property in land; the jus proprietatis, without either possession or even the right of possession. 2 Bl. Comm. 197. The abstract right of property.

In old English law. A stone for bounding or dividing lauds. Yearb. Prl8 Hen. Vi. 5.

In old Engtish law. Noon. Fleta, lib. 5, & 5, § 31, MERITORIOUS CAUSE OF AC-

One founded upon some moral obligation; a valuable consideration in the second degree.

In practice. Matter of substance in law, as distinguished from matter of mere form; a substantial ground of defense in law. A defendant is said "to swear to merits" or "to make aff

See Ex Mero Motu; Murr Mor Tion.

An adjudication or recovery in a former action. See Res Juvi-

STATUTE OF. Anold Enand usury. It was passed in 1235, (20 Een.

In old English law. Mere; naked or abstract. Meruwm jus, mere right. Bract. fol. 31.

Lat. Merchandise; movable articles that are bought and sold; articles of trade. Merx est quicquid vendi potest. Merchandise is whatevercan be sold. Com. 835; 3 Wood. Lect. 263.

Fr. Apostates; unbelievers.

A term used in the ancient books to designate an infidel or unbeliever,

or MESNALITY. A manor held under a superior lord. The es- Pract amesne.

If A. grant a lease of land to B., and L. assign his interest toC., and C. in his turn assign his interest therein to D., in this case the assignments so made by B. and C. would ba

An intermediate charge, burden, or liability; an inecumbrance which has been created or has attached to property between two given periods.

In old English law. A middle or intermediate lord; a lord who held of a superior lord, 2 Bl. Comm. 59. More commonly termed a “mesne,” (g. 9.)

PRESIDENT’S. An annual communication from the president of the United States to congress, made at or near the beginning of each session, embodying his views on the state and exigen

One who bears messages or errands; a ministerial officer employed by executive officers, legislative bodies, and courts of justice, whose service consists prineipally in carrying v

One who said mass; a priest. Cowell.

This term is now synonymous with “dwelling-house,” but had once amoreextended signification. Itis frequently used in deeds, in describing the premises, Although the word “messuage”

Lat. A goal, bound, orturningpoint. In old English law, the term was used to denete a bound or boundary line of land; a landmark; a material object, asa tree or a pillar, marking t

An error in computation of time.

In Romantaw. Metal; a mine, Labor in mines, as a punishment for crime. Dig. 40, 5, 24, 5; Calvin.

In old European law. A

A system of agricultural holdings, under which the land is divided, in small farms, among single families, the landlord generally supplying the stock which the agricultural system

A measure or portion of corn, given by a lord to customary tenants as & reward and encouragement for labor. Cowell.

A tribute or rent paid in victuals. Cowell.

An instrument of measurement; as a coal-meter, a gus-meter, a landmeter.

In conveyancing, The boundary lines of lands, with their terminating points or angles.

or METEYARD. A staff of a certain length wherewith measures are taken.

Sax. Speech; discourse. Mathlian, tospeak; toharangue. Anc. Inst, ¥ng.

In patent law. “Engine” and “method” mean the same thing, and may be the subject of a patent. Method, properly speaking, is only placing several things, or performing several opera

The unit of measure in the “metric system” of weiglits and mcasures. It is a measure of iength, being the ten-millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, and

Aasystem of measures for Jength, surface, weight, and capacity, founded on the mctve asa unit. It originated in France, has been established by law there and in some other countrie

A mother city; one from which a colony was sentout. The cap ital of a province. Calvin.

or METTENSCHEP. In old records. An acknowledgment paid in acertain measure of corn; or a fine or penalty imposed on tenants for default in not doing their customary service in cutt

Lat. Fear; terror. Ina technical sense, a reasonable and well-gronnded apprehension of some great evil, such ag death or mayhem, and not arising out of mere timidity, but such as m

In French law. The movables of Iinglish law. Things are meudbles from either of two causes: (1) From their own nature, 6. g., tables, chairs; or (2) from the determination of the l

The feastofthe Archangel Michael, celebrated in England on the 29th of September, and one of the usual quarter days.

A meeting of the heritors of Scotland, at which the roll of freeholders used to be revised. See Bell,

One of the four terms of the English courts of common law, beginning on the 2d day of November and ending on the 25th. 3 Steph. Comm. 562.

Great council. One of the names of the general council of the kingdom in the times of the Saxons. 1 Bl. Comm. 147.

Theft; cheating.

An agent between two parties, an intermediary who performs the ofice cf a broker or factor between seller and buyer, producer and consumer, land-owner and tenant, ete. A middleman,

A phrase used in logje to denote the term which occurs in both of the premises in the syllogism, being the means of bringing together the two terms in the conclusion.

The middle thread of a stream is an imaginary line drawn lengthwise through the middle of its current.

Thesummer solstice, which is on the 24th day of June, and the feast of St. John the Baptist, a festival first mentioned by Maximus Tauricensis, A. D. 400. It is generally a quarter

In medical jurisprudence. A woman whe practices midwifery; an ac coucheuss.

In Spanish law. Crops of grain. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 7, ¢. 5, § 2. Migrans jura amittat ac privilegia et immunitates domicilii prioris. One who amigrates will lose the righ

<A measure of length or distance, containing 8 furlongs, or 1,760 yards, or 5,280 feet.

A payment or charge, at a fixed rate per mile, allowed as a compensation for traveling expenses to members of Jegislative bodies, witnesses, sheriffs, and bailiffs.

In the civil law. A soldier, In old English law. A knight, because military service was part of the feudal tenure. Alsoa tenant by military service, not aknight. 1 Bl. Comm. 404; S

To be knighted.

was a court not of record, held before the lord high constable and earl mar- K shal of England. It had jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, in deeis of arms and war, armorial bea

Pertaining to war or to the army; concerned with war. Also the whole body of soldiers; an army.

Land granted by various laws of the United States, by way of bounty, to soldiers for services rendered in the army; being given in lieu of a money payment.

Courts wiiose procedure and composition are modeled upon courts-martial, being the tribunals by such commissions is commonly made up of civilians and army officers. They are probab

In England the court of chivalry and courts-martial, in America courts-martial and courts of inquiry, are -alled by this general name.

The genuine or original feuds which were in the hands of military men, who performed military duty for their tenures.

“There are, under the constitution, three kinds of military jurisdiction,—one to be exercised both in peace and war; another to be exercised in time of foreign war without the boun

A system of regulations for the government of anarmy. 1 Kent, Comm. 341, note. That branch of the laws which respects military discipline and the government of

Those offenges which are cognizable by the courts military, as insubordination, sleeping on guard, desertion, ete.

The soldiery of the kingdom of Great Britain.

The various tenures by knight-service, grand-serjeanty, cornage, etc., are frequently called “military tenures,” from the nature of the services which they involved. 1 Steph. Comm.

In Englishlaw. A nuncupative will, that is, one made by word of mouth, by which a soldier Inay dispose of his goods, pay, and other personal chattels, without the iorms and solemni

Knights; and, in Scotch law, freeholders.

Thebody of soldiers ina state enrolled for discipline, but not engaged in actual service except in emergencies, as distinguished from regular troops or a standing army.

A machine or engine for grinding, sawing, manufacturing, ete.; also the building containing such machinery. An American money of account, of the value of the tenth part of a cent.

Formerly called the “Penitentiary at Millbank.” A prison at Westminster, for convicts under sentence of transportation, until thesentence or order shal! be executed, or the convict

This term means Merely coined money; and it is not necessary that it should be marked or rolled on the edges. Leach, 708.

Low meadows and other fields in the vicinity of mills, or watery places about mill-dams. Ene. Lond.

The name of a piece of money in the coinage of Portugal, and the Azores and Madeira islands. Its value at the custom-house, according as it is coined in the first, second, or third

Inold English law. A measure of corn or grain. Cowell; Spelman. ee

A toll or duty paid for sell- Ing cori by the mina. Cowell.

In old records. To mine or dig mines. Minator, a miner. Cowell.

A plowman. Cowell. Minatur innocentibus qui parcit nocentibus. 4 Coke, 45. Hethreatens the innocent who spares the guilty.

In its legal sense, “mind” means only the ability to will, to direct, to periit, or to assent. In this sense, a corporation has a mind, and exerts its mind each time that it assent

A phrase applied to testators, denoting the possession of ee mental capacity to make a will. In order to make a valid will, the testator must have asound and disposing mind and mem

A pit or excavation inthe earth, from which metallic ores or other mineral substances are taken by digging. Webster.

One who mines; a digger for metals and other minerals. While men of scientilicattainments, or of experience in the use oi machinery, are to be found in this Ziass, yet the word by

In old records. A miner, Minima pena corporalis: est major qualibet pecuniaria. The smallest corporal punishment is greater than any pecuniary one. 2 Inst. 220. Minime mutanda sunt

An old form of muniment, (9. 2.) Blount. Minimum est nihilo proximum. The smaliest is next to nothing.

A parcel of land, containing precious metal in its soil or rock, and appropriated by an individual, according to established rules, by the process of “location.” 104 U.S. 649.

This designation was formerly applied in England to the associations formed in London in 1828 for working mines in Mexico and South America; but ab present it comprises, both in En

An asso sociation of several owners of a mine for cooperation in working the mine. A mining partnership is governed by many of the rules relating to ordinary partnerships, but alse

In public law. One of the highest functionaries in the organization of civil government, standing next to the sovereign or executive head, acting as his immediate auxiliary, and be

That which {s done under the authority of a superior; opposed to judicial; that which involves obedience to instructions, but demands no special discretion, judgment, or skill.

A ministerial act may be defined to be one which a person performs ina given state of facts, in a prescribed manner, in obedience to the mandate of legal authority, without regard

A phrase used in English conveyancing to denote powers given for the good, not of the donee himself exclusively, or of the donee himself necessarily at all, but for the good of sev