A Dictionary of Law

In Scotch law. Where two or more processes are so connected that the circumstances of the one are likely to throw light on the others, the process first enrolled is considered as t

Where ‘a demurrer has been filed to one or more ‘counts in a declaration, and its consideration is postponed, and meanwhile other counts in the same declaration, not demurred to, a

An estate which depends for its effect upon an event which may or may not happen; as an estate limited te a person not in esse, or not yet born. 2 Crabb, Real Prop. p. 4, § 946. CO

A legacy given to a person at a future uncertain time. that may or nay not arrive; as “at his age of twenty-one,” or “if” or “when he attains twenty-one.” 2 Bl. Comm. 513; 2 Steph.

An estate in remainder which is limited to take effect either to a dubious and uncertain person, Or upon a dubious and uncertain event, by which no present or particular interest p

A use limited to take effect upon the happening of some future contingent event; as where lands are conveyed to the use of A. and B., after a marriage shall be had between them. 2

Inold English law. A formal claim made by a party entitled to enter upon any lands or tenements, but deterred from such entry by menaces, or bodily fear, for the purpose of preserv

The xadjournment or pustponement of an action pending in a court, to a subsequent day of the same or another term. — Also the entry of a continuance made upon the record of the cou

In pleading. A word which was formerly used in a special declaration of trespass when the plaintiff would recover damages for several trespasses in the same action; and, to avoid m

See CONSIDERATION.

Is interchangeable with the term “uninterrupted adverse use.” 59 Ind. 411. ual, without the necessity of any actual interference by man, a8 a Water-spout, or a; tight of light or a

Against, confronting, opposite to; on the other hand; on the contrary. The word is used in many Latin phrases, as appears by the following titles. In the books of reports, contra,

Against law or treaty; prohibited. Goods exported from or imported into a country against its laws. Brande. Articles, the importation or exportation of which is prohibited by law.

Against good morals. Contracts contra bonos mores are void.

Acriminal; one prosecuted fur a crime.

Abbreviation; abridgment or shortening of a word by omitting a letter or letters orasyllable, with a mark over the place where the elision occurs, This was customary in records wri

A contract made forthe benefit of one of the contracting parties only, as a mandate or de posit.

In practice. To disif prove. To prove a fact contrary to what has been asserted by a witness.

A plirase of which the parts are expressly inconsistent, as, ¢. g., “an innocent murder;” “a fee-simple for life.”

Counterfeiting; as contrafactio sigilli regis, counterleiting the king’s seal, Cowell.

In old English law. A writ that issued where lands given in perpetual alms to lay houses of religion, or to an abbot and convent, or to the warden or master of an hospital and his

Against the form of the grant. See For srepon. CONTRA FORMAM FEREOFFAMEN- TI, Inold English law. A writ that lay for the heir of a tenant, enfeoffed of certain lands or tenements,

In eriminal pleading, (Contrary to the form of ee the statute in such case made and provided.) The usual conclusion of every indictment, ate., brought for an offense created by sta

In French law. The civil process of arrest of the person, which is imposed upon vendors falsely rapresenling their property to be unincumbered, or upon persons mortgaging property

Against common right or law; contrary to the rule of the common law. Bract. fol. 484. Contra legem-facit qui id facit quod lex prohibit; in fraudem vero qui, salvis verbis legis, s

Against the Jaw of the Jand. Contra negantem principia non est disputandum, There is no disputing against one who denies first principles. Co. Litt. 345, Contra non valentem agere

In old English law. Counter-obligation. Literally, counter-binding, st enim obligatio quast contraligatio. Fleia, lib. 2, ¢. 56, § 1.

<A _ conntermanding. Contramandutio placiti, in old English law, was the respiting of a defendant, or giving him further time to answer, by countermanding the day fixed for him to

A lawful excuse, which adefendant in a suit by attorney alleges for himself to show that the plaintiff has no eause of complaint. Blount,

Against all people. Formal words in old covenants of warranty. Fleta, Jib. 3, ¢. 14, § 11.

Lat. Against the peace. A phrase used in-the Latin forms of indictments, and also of actions for trespass, to signify that the offense alleged was committed against the public peac

Im old English law. A counter-plea, Townsh, Dl. 61.

Inold Englishlaw. A plea oranswer. Dlount. A counter-position.

Against the party who proffers or puts forward a thing.

This word was used in the time of Edw. If. to signify those who were opposed to the government, but were neither rebels nor traitors, Jacob. Contrariorum contraria est ratio. Hob,

An officer of the exchequer that writeth out summons twice every year, to the sheriffs, to levy the rents and debts of the pipe. Blount.

In French law, Contracta are of the following varieties: (1) Bétaterad, or synallagmatique, where each parside only is bound; or (3) commutatif, where one does to the ether somethi

Inthe civil law. Against the will, (testament.) Dig. 37, 4.

Inold English law. A counter-tally. A term used in the exe chequer. Mem. in Scace. M, 26 Edw. I.

To hold against; NN to withhold. Whishaw.

In old Englishlaw. Against gage and pledge. Bract. fol. 156, Contra veritatem lex nunquam aliquid permittit. The law never suifers anything contrary to truth. 2 Inst. 252.

Aright or equity, in another person, which is inconsistent with and opposed to the equity sought to be enforced or recognized.

In French law. An act which violates the law, a treaty, or an agreement which the party has made. That infraction of the law punished by a fine which does not exceed fifteen francs

Lat. In the civil Jaw. ‘To handle; to take hold of; to meddle with, In old English law. To treat. Vel male contrectet; or shall ill treat. Fleta, lib. 1, ¢. 17, § 4. Erne

In the civil and old eT Englishlaw. Touching; handling; meddling. The act of removing a thing from its plaee in such a manner that, if the thing be not restored, it will amount to

In Frenchlaw. The offenae of printing or causing to be printeda book, the copyright of which is held by another, without authority from him. Merl. epert.

In French marine law. The chief officer of a vessel, who, in ease of the sickness or absence of the master,

To supply a share or proportional part of money or property to wards the prosecution of a common enterprise or the discharge of a joint obligation.

In common law. The sharing of a loss or payment among several. The act of any one or saveral of 4 number of co-debtors, co-sureties, ete., in re imbursing one of their number who h

In old English law. <A writ that lay where tenants in common were bound to do some act, and one of them was put to the whole burthen, to compel the rest to make contribution. Reg.

A person liable to contribute to the assets of a company which is being wound up, as being a member or (in some cases) a past member thereof. Mozley & Whitley.

Contributory negligence, when set up as a defense to an action for injuries alleged to have been caused by the defendant’s negligence, Means any want of ordinary care on the part o

In old English law.; controlling or checking of another “officer's account; the keeping of a countertoll.

In old English law. An inventer or deviser of false news. 2 Inst. 227,

A litigated question; adversary proceeding in a court of law; a civil action or suit, either at law or in equity. It differs from “case,” which includes all suits, ¢riminal as well

To dispute; to deny; to oppose or contest; to take issue on.

In Spanish law. } A counter-wriling; counter-letter. A document executed at the same time with an act the apparent effect and purport of the original instrument.

In Roman law. The marriage of slaves; a permitted cohabitation.

In English law. Excommunication in all cases of contempt in the spiritual courts is discontinued by 53 Geo. III. ¢ 127, § 2, and in lieu thereof, where a lawful citation or sentenc

The refusal or intentional omission of a person who has been duly cited before acourt to appear and defend the charge laid against him, or, if he is duly before the cvurt, to obey

One accused of a crime who refuses to appear and answer to the eharge. An outlaw.

In medical jurisprudence. A bruise; a hurt or injury to the flesh or some part of the body by the blow of a blunt instrument, or by a fal], producing no severance of tissue or appa

CLAIM OF, See Coa-

In English law. Cog nizance or jurisdiction. Conusance of pleas. Termes de la Ley.

One who knows; as, ifa party knowing of an agreement in which he has an interest makes no objection to it, he is suid to be conusant, Co, Litt. 157.

See Coanizor.

In old English law. Suitable; agreeable; convenient; fitting. Litt. § 103.

Inthecivil law. To bring an action.

Proper; just; suitable. E

In civil and old English law. It is agreed; it was agreed.

The fraternity of an abbey F or priory, as socéetas is the number of fellows in a college. <A religious house, now regarded as a merely voluntary association, not importing civil d

A private assembly or G meeting for the exercise of religion, The word was first an appellation of reproach to the religious assemblies of Wyclitfe in the reigns of Edward III. and

In canon law. The act of summoning or calling together the parties by summoning the defendant. In the civil law. A compact, agreement, or convention. An agreement between two or mo

In the civil law. The agreement between the two parties to a contract upon the sense of the contract proposed. It is an essential part of the contract, following the pollicitation

In Romanlaw. An agreement between parties; a pact. A convention was a mutual engagement between two persons, possessing all the subjective requisites of a contract, but which did n

Depending on, or arising from, the mutual agreement of par ties; as distinguished from deyal, which means. created by, or arising from, the actof the law,

Those freeholds not of inheritance or estates for life, which are created by the express acts of the parties, in contradistinction to thase which are legal and arise from the opera

The conventional mortgage is a contract by which a person binds the whole of his property, or a portion of it only, in favor of anoth-— er, to sectire the execution of some engagem

The name of a writ for the breach of any covenant in writing, whether real or personal. Reg. Orig. 115; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 145.

This name is some times given to compacts or treatics with foreign countries as to the apprehension and extradition of fugitive offenders. See lixrra-

In acclesiastical law. That which consists of reyular clerks, professing some order or religion; or of dean and chapter; or other societies of spiritual men.

Religious men united in a convent or religious house, Cowell.

A coming together; a convention or assembly. Conventus magnatum vel procerum (the assembly of chief men or peers) was one of the names of the English parliament, 1 5]. Comm. 148. I

In ths Roman law. <A court of sessions held in the Roman provinces, by the president of the province, assist:d by a certain number of counsellors and assessors, at Gixed periods, t

Inold Englishlaw. Conversant or dwelling; commorant.

The transposition of the subject and predicate in a proposition, as: “Tiverything is good in its place.” Converse, “Nothing is good which is not in its place.” Wharton.

In equity. The transformation of one species of property into another, as money into land or land into money; or, more particularly, a fiction of law, by which equity assumes that

Topass or transmit the title to property from one to another; to transfer property or the title to property by deed or instrument under seal. To convey real estate is, by an approp

In pleading. Introduction or inducement, In real property law. The transfer of persons to another. 21 Barb. 551; 29 Conn. 356. An instrument in writing under seal, (anciently terme

The transfer of the title to vessels.

One whose business it is to draw deeds, bonds, mortgages, wills, writs, or other legal papers, or to examine titles to real estate. 14 St. at Large, 118. He who draws conveyances;

A term including both the science and act of transferring titles to real estate from one man to another. Conveyancing is that part of the lawyer’s business wilich relates to the al

In the civil law. The name of a species of slander or injury uttered in public, and which charged some one with some act contra bones mores.

2 To condemn after judldial investigation; to find a man guilty of a criminal charge. The word was formerly used also in the sense of finding against the defendant in a civil case.

x. One who has been condemned by a court. One who has been adjudged guilty of a crime or misdeweanor. Usually spoken of condemned felons or the prisoners in penitentiaries, Formerl

This term has a definite signification in law, and means thata judgment of final condemnation has been pronounced against the accused. 10 Tex. App. 409.

In practice. Ina general sense, the result of a criminal trial which ends in a judgment or sentence that the prisoner is guilty as charged. Finding a person guilty by verdict of a

A tenure by which a tenant was bound to provide meat and drink for his lord at least once in the year. Cowell.

Inecclesiasiical law. The general assembly of the clergy to consult upon ecclesiastical matters.

A naval force, under the command of an officer appointed by government, for the protection of merchant-ships and others, during the whole voyage, or such part of it as is known to