A Dictionary of Law

(Also called “instrumental trusts.”) Those which demand no further exercise of reason or understanding than every intelligent agent must necessarily empigr; as to convey an ed tate

The party cross-exam- {ning a witness was so called, under the old system of the ecclesiastical courts,

Lat. In old English law. Ministers of the king, applied te the judges of the realm, and to all thoge who hold ministerial offices in the government, 2 Inst. 208.

Office; service. Those members of the government who are in the cabinet.

An infant or person who is under the age of legal competence. A term derived from the civil law, which described a persun under 4 certain age as less than 30 many years. Minor vigi

In English law. The lesser prerogatives of the crown, including the tights of the revenue. 1 131. Comm. 241.

Lat. Minority or infancy. Cro. Car. 516. Literally, lesser age. Minor ante tempus agere non potest in casu proprietatis nec etiam convenire; differetur usque setatem; sed non cadit

In the law of evidence, A relative, collateral, or subordinate fact; a circumstance. Wills, Cire. Ev. 27; Burrill, Cire. Evy. p. 121, note, 582. Minor jurare non potest. A minor ca

The state or condition of a minor; infancy. The smailer number of votes of a deliberative assembly; opposed to majority, (which see. };

This court had jurisdiction of personal actions arising within twelve miles of the palace at Whitehall. Abolished by 12 & 18 Vict. c. 101, 3 Steph. Comm, 317, note.

The place designated by law where bullion is coined into money under authority of the government. Also a plaice of privilege in Southwark, near the queen’s prison, where persons fo

The charge or commission taken by the mint as a consideration for coining into money the bullion which is brought to it for that purpose; thesameas “scigniorage.” Also that which i

The masters and workers of the English mint, in the indentures made with them, agree “ta make a privy mark in the money they make, of gold and silver, so that they may know which m

One who minages the coinuge. See MASTER OF THE MINT.

Eat. Inthe civil law. Less; less than, The word had also, in some connections, the sense of “not at all.” For exampie, a debt remaining wholly unpaid was described as “ainus solutu

In measires of time er circumference, a minute is the sixtieth part of an hour or degree. In practice. A memorandum of what takes place in court, made by authority of the court.

<A book Kept by the elerk or prothonotary of a court for entering memoranda of its proceedings.

In Scotch practice. A pleading put into writing before the lord ordinary, as the ground of his judgment. Bell. In business law, Memoranda or notes of a transaction or proceeding. T

Small tithes, such as usually belong te a vicar, as of wool, lambs, pigs, butter, cheese, herbs, seeds, eggs, honey, wax, etc.

Inthe civillaw. A lessening; diminution or reduction. Dig. 4, 5, 1.

The Mirror of Justice, or of the Justices, commonly spoken of ag the “Mirror,” is an ancient treatise on the laws of England, written during the reign of Edward II., and attributed

An inseparable particle used in composition, to mark an ill sense or depravation of the meaning; as "miscomputation" or "misaccompting," i. e., false reckoning. Several of the word

In old English law. The mise or issue in a writ of right. Spelman. ' In old records. A compact or agreement; a form of compromise. Cowell.

A mischance or accident; a casualty caused by the act of one person and inflicting injury upon another. Homicide “by misadventure” is wherea man, doing a lawful act, without any in

To cite falsely as a proof or argument.

Ill conduct; improper or unlawful behavior. Verdicts are sometimes setaside on the ground of misbehavior of jurors.

In medical jurisprudence. The expulsion of the ovize or embryo from the wteruws within the first six weeks after conception. Between that time, and before the expiration of the six

Mixture of races; marriage between persons of different races; as between a white person and a negro.

An erroneous charge; a charge, given by a court toa jury, which involves errors for which the judgment may be reversed.

In legislative parlance, the word is often used to signify the evil or danger which a statute is intended to cure or avoid. In the phrase “malicious mischief,” (which see,) it impo

Ignorant; uninformed. The word is obsolete,

Any unlawful conduct on the part of a person concerned in the administration of justice which is prejudicial to the rights of parties or to the right deter- Mination of the cause;

In practice. An improper continuance; want of proper form in a continuance; the same with “discontinuanee.” Cowell.

In old English law. An apostate; an unbeliever; one who totally renounced Christianity. 4 Bl. Comm. 44.

A faise or erroneous date affixed to a paper or document.

The delivery of property by a carrier or warehouseman to a person not authorized by the owner or person to whom the carrier or warehouseman is bound by his contract to deliver it.

A person guilty of a misdemeanor; one sentenced to punishment upon conviction of a misdemeanor. See First-Class MISDEMEANANT.

Incriminal law. A general name for criminal offenses of every sort, punishable by indictment or special proceedings, which do not in luw amount to the grade of felony, A misdemeano

An erroror falsity in the description of the subject-matter of acontract which deceives one of the parties to his injury, or is misleading in a material or substantial point.

In practice. An er ror made by a judge in instructing the jury upon the trial of a cause.

The issue in a writ of right. When the tenant in a writ of right pleads that his title is better than the demandant’s, he is said to join the mise on the mere right.

Lat. in the civillaw. The name of an involuntary deposit, made under pressing necessity; as, for instance, shipwreck, fire, or other inevitable calamity. Poth. Proc. Civile, pt. 5,

The name and first word of one of the penitential psalms, being that which was commonly used to be given by the ordinary to such condemned malefactors 2s were allowed the benefit o

Mercy; a fine or amerciament; an arbitrary or discretionary amercement.

In old English law. A fine set on a whole county or hundred.

A misdeed or trespass. The doing what a party ought to do improperly, 1 Tidd, Pr. 4. The improper performance of some act which a man may lawfully do. 3 Steph. Comm. 460. Misfeasan

An adverse event, calamity, orevil fortune, arising by accident, (or without the will or concurrence of him who suffers from it,) and not to be foreseen or guarded against by care

Money paid by way of contract or composition to purchase any liberty, ete. Blount. Misora est servitus, ubi jus est vagum aut incertum. It is a wretched state of slavery which subs

The improper foining together of partics to a suit, as plaintiffs or defendants, or of diiferent causes of action,

In Saxon and old Envary in one’s plea. Cowell; Blount; Spelman.

To deposit in a place not afterwards recollected; to loses anything by for« getfulness of the place where it was laid.

Delusive; calculated te lead astray or to lead into error. Instructions which are of such a nature as to be misundersivod by the jury, or to give them a wrong impression, are said

Mistake in name; the giving an incorrect name to # person in a pleading, deed, or other instrument.

Pleading incorrectly, or omitting anything in pleading which is essential to the support or defense of an action, is so called; as in the ease of a plaintiff not merely stating his

Miaprision of treason is the knowledge and concealment of treason, without otherwise as. senting to or participating in thecrime, Pen, Code Cal. § 338.

Reading adeed or other instrument to an fliiterate or blind idea of its tenor or contents. Sea 5 Coke, 19: 6 Fast, 309; 2 Jolmns. 404.

The erroneous or incorrect recital of a matter of fact, either in an agreement, deed, or pleading.

An intentional false statement respecting a matter of fact, made by one of the parties to a contract, which is material to the contract and influential in producing it. 29 N. J. Eq

The mags. MISSZ2 PRESBYTEH. A priest in orders. Blount.

The mags-bock.

In Roman law. Gifts or liberalities, which the pretors and consuls were in the habit of throwing among the people. Inst. 2, 1, 45.

In maritime law. A vessel ig so called when, computed from her known day of sailing, the time that has elapsed exceeds the average duration of similar voyages at the same season of

Lat. In the civil law. A sending or putting. Jfissto in bona, a putting the creditor in possession of the debtor’s property. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 521, Hissio judicum in consiiium,

A eommission created by the futerstate commerce act (q. 0.) to carry oul the measures therein enacted, composed of five persons, appointed by the President; einpowered to inquire i

In Scotch law. Writings pissed between parties as evidence of a transaction, Bell. *

Some unintentional act, omission, or error arising from ignorance, surprise, imposifion, or misplaced confidenée. Code Ga. § 8117; 1 Story, Eq. Jur, § 110. That result of ignorance

A tradeorcalling. Cowell.

The proper style of the wife,of an esquire or a gentleman in England.

Abuse of an ollice or franchise. 2 Ll. Comm. 153.

Alleviation; abatement or diminution of a penalty or punishment imposed by law. “Mitigating circumstances” are such as do not constitute a justification MITIGATION OF DAMAGES 781 s

A reduction of the amount of damages, not by proof of facts which are a bar to a part of the plaintifi’s cause of action, or a justification, nor yet of facts which constitute a ca

Lat. The more favorable acceptation. Mitius imperanti melius paretur. The more mildly one conimands, the better is he obeyed. 3 Inst. 24.

Writtosend the record and process of acause to a superior court; a species of writ of error. Reg. Orig. 209.

: CLERICO CAPTO PER STATUTUM

Fr. ‘To put, to send, or to piss; as, mitter l’estate, to pass the estate; mitier le droit, to pass aright. These words are used to distinguish diiferent kinds of re leases.

Fr. In old practice. To put before; to present before a court; to produce in court.

An uction partaking of the twofold nature of real and personal actions, having for its object the demand and restitution of real property and also personal damages fora wrong susta

In the civil law. A contract in which one of the parties confers a benefit on the other, and requires of the latter something of less value than what he has given; a3 a donation su

A form of government combining some of the features of two or all of the three primary fori, viz., moniurehy, aristocracy, and democracy.

A bilingual jury; a jury of the half-tongue. See Dre Mepirra Ts

Otherwise called “compound” or “complicated larceny;” that which is attended with circumstances of aggravation or violence to the person, or taking from a house.

A name sometimes given to those which concern both persons and property.

A marriage between persons of different nationalities; or, more particularly, between persons of different racial origin; as between a white person and a negro oran Indian.

A policy of marine insurance in which not only the timeis specified for which the risk is limited, but the as opposed to policies of insurance for a particular voyage, without any

Presumptions partaking of the nature both of presumptions of law and presumptions of fact; i. e., presumptions of fact recognized by law.

Property which is personal in its essential nature, but is invested by the law with certain of the characteristics and features of real property. Heirlooms, tombstones, monuments i

This phrase May mean cither those which arise from the conflict of foreign and domestic laws, or questions arising on a trial involving both law and fact.

Such as fall within the definition of things real, but which are attended, nevertheless, with some of the legal qualities of things personal, as emblements, fixtures, and shares in

In ecclesiastical law. Those which arise not immediately from the ground, but from those things which are nourished by the ground, e. g., colts, chickena, calves, milk, eggs, ete.

The mixture or confusion of goods or chattels belonging severally to different owners, in such a way that they to different persons are poured together into the same cask.

An assemblage of many people, acting in a violent and disorderly manner, defying the law, and committing, or threatening Lo commit, Jepredations upon property or violence to person

In French law. A transaction covering afraudulent device to evade the laws against usury. It takes place where an individual buys merchandise from another on a eredit at a high pri

Lat. Movables; movable things; otherwise called “res mobiles.” Mobilia non habent situm. Movables. have no situs or local habitation. 4 Johns, Ch. 472, Mobilia sequuntur personam.

A kind of cloth madein England, mentioned in St. 23 Eliz. e. 9.

Lat. In pleading. He moderately chastised. The name of a plea in trespass which justifies an alleged battery on the ground that it consisted ina moderate chastisement of the plaint

In admiralty law. As applied to a steam-vessel, “such speed only is moderate as will permit the steamer reasonably and effectually to avoid a collision by slackening speed, or by s

A chairman or president of an assombly. A person appointed to preside at a popular meeting. The presiding officer of town-mectings in New England is 80 called.

In old English law. A certain duty paid for every tierce of wine. Modica circumstantia facti jus mutat. A smali circumstance attending an act may change the law.

Achange; analteration which introduces new elements into the details, or cancels some of them, but leaves the general purpose and effect of the subjectmatter intact, “Modification”

To alter; to change in incidental or subordinate features.