A Dictionary of Law

The English court of common pleas was one of the four superior courts at Westminster, and existed up to the passing of the judicature acts. It was also styled the “Common Bench.” i

Ip English ecclesiastical law. A court, or assembly, comprising all the high officials ofeach province and representatives of the minor clergy. itis in the nature of an ec clesiast

A tribunal composed of delegates appointed by royal commission, and formerly the great court of appeal in all ecclesiastical causes. ‘The powers of the court were, by2 & 3 Wm. 1V.c

A court which has jurisdiction in equity, which administers justice and decides controversies in accordance with the rules, principles, and precedents of equity, and which follows

In English law. A very ancient court of record, set up by William the Conqueror as a part of the aula regis, and afterwards one of the four superior courts at Westminster. It was,

The name given in some of the states (as D New York) to a court of general original jurisdiction in criminal cases. COURT OF GREAT SHSSIONS IN

tak English law. The principal of the forest courts,

In English law. The supreme court of common law in the kingdom, now merged in the high court of justice under the judicalure act of 1873, § 16. COURT OF THE LORD HIGH

A court which had jurisdiction of all trespasses committed within the verge of the king’s court, where one of the parties was of the ruyal household; and of all debts and contracts

In American law. Though this term is frequently used as a general desi¢nation of any court ex- ' ercising general, origiiial jurisdiction in civil cases, (being used interchangeabl

In som the United States (e. g., Georgia) this nama is given to the probate or surrogate’s co or the court having the usua) jurisdiction in respect to the proving of wills and tle

In English law. The conrt of thelord mayor and aldermen of London, which has the care of those orphans whose parent died in London and was free of the city. In Pennsylvania (and pe

A spiritual court in England, being a branch of, and annexed to, the Courtof Arches, It has ajurisdiclion over all those parishes dispersed through the province of Canterbury, in t

The towest (anil most expeditious) of the courts of justice known to the older law of England. it is supposed to have been so called from the dusty feet of the suitors, It was a co

A court of the county palatine of Durham, having a local common-law jurisdiction. It was abolished oy the judicature act, which: transferred its jurisdiction to the high court. Jud

In English law. The name of a court established in 1857, under the probate act of that year, (20 & 21 Vict. c¢. 77,) to be held in London, to which court was transferred the testam

See Kine’s BENOH.

In English law. One of the forest courts, in England, held every third year, for the lawing or expeditation of dogs, to prevent them from running after deer. It is now obsolete. 8

Courts of eriminal jurisdiction existing in California, New York, and one or two other of the United States.

In Engiishlaw. Acourt established in Devonshire tice among the miners and tinners, and t they may not be drawn away froin their bi ness to attend suits in distant courts, stannary

Acourt forthe hearing of appeals by owners or masters of ships, from orders for the detention of unsafe ships, made by the English board of trade, under the merchant shipping act,

In old Ing a somewhat similar jurisdiction to that of the court of attachments, (q. 2.) COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES comprise the following: ‘The senate of the United States, sittin

In Englishlaw. A court of record, toingnire, when any one dies in prison, or comes to a violent or sudden death, by what manner he came te his end. 4 Steph. Comm. 323; 4 Bl. Comm.

The rolls of a manor, containing all acts relating thereto. While belonging to the lord of the manor, they are not in the nature of public books for the benelit of the tenant.

Officers appointed by and attached to the circuit courls of the United States, performing functions partly ministerialand partly judicial. Toa certain extent they represent the jud

Inferior courts, in England, having local jurisdiction in claims for small debts, established in various parts of the kingdom by special acts of parliament. ‘They were abolished in

Kindred in the fourth degree, being the issue (male or female) of the brother or sister of one’s father or mother. Those who descend from the brother or sister of the father of the

See CosINAGE.

Custom; duty; toll; tribute. 1 Bi. Comm. 314.

(Otherwise spelled “Coustumier” or “Coutumier.”) In old French law. A collection of customs, unwritten laws, and forms of procedure. Two such volumes are of especial importance in

A person who willingly and knowingly received an outlaw, and cherished or concealed him; for which offense he underwent the same punishment as the outlaw himself. ract. 1286; Spelm

in French law, is the or of securities, in order to guaranty the broker for the payment of the securities which he purchases for the client. Arg. Ir. Mere. Law, 555.

A French word signifying convenient or suitable; as covenably endowed. It is anciently written “convenable.” Termes de la Ley.

A covenant which is conversant about some collatteral thing that doth nothing at all, or not so immediately concern the thing granted; as to pay i stm of money in gross, etc. Shep.

The party to whoma covenant is made. Shep. Touch. 160.

A covenant expressed in words, or inserted in a deed in specific terms.

A covenant which is conversant about the land, and knit to the estate in the land; as that the thing demised shall be quietly enjoyed, shall be kept in repxration, shall not be ali

A covenant implied by law from certain words in a deed

A coyenant by one who had a right of action at the time of making it against another person, by which he agrees nut to sue to enforcesuch right of action.

A covenant sometimes employed, particularly in the New England states, and in deeds of extinguishment of ground rents in Pennsylvania, that neither the vendor, nor his heirs, nor a

An assurance by the grantor of an estate that the grantee shall enjoy the same without interruption by virtue of paramount title.

The party who makes acovenant. Shep. Touch. 160,

A covenant in a deed binding the heirs of the covenantor, and passing to assignees, or to the purchaser. Ibis thus distinguished from a personal covenant, which affects only the co

Coveaants usually inserted in a conveyance of land, on the part of the grantor, and binding him for the completeness, security, and continnance of the title transferred to the gran

Suchasdo not run with the land.

In Pennsylvania practice. ‘This is the name of a plea to the action of covenant whereby the defendant, upon informal notice to the plain-

A covenant by which the covenantor agrees to convey to the covenantee a certain estate, under certain circumstances.

A contraction, in the old books, of the word “convent.”

The name givent 0 the statute 22 & 23 Car. II. ¢. 1, which pro vided for the punishment of assaults with intent to maim ordisigure aperson. It was so named from its being occasione

Covered, protected, sheltered, A pound covert is one that is close or cov ered over, as distinguished from ound overt, Whichis open overhead. Co. Litt. 476; 3 Bl. Comm. 12. <A feme

or COVERT DE

The condition or state of a married woman. Sometimes used ellip. tically to describe the legal disability arising from a state of coverture.

A secret conspiracy or agree ment between two or more persons to injure or defraud another.

Pusillanimity; fear; misbehavior through fear in relation to some duty to be performed before an enemy. O’Brien, Ct. M. 142.

John. Nomothetes: The Interpreter, containing the genuine signilication of such obseure words and terms used either in the common or statute laws of this realm. 1st Edn. 1 yol, fol

<A controller. One whose business it was to observe the money which the collectors lad gathered for K the use of the kingor the people. Cowell.

A general term, now common. ly applied to all kinds of sailing vessels, though formerly restricted to the smaller yessels. Worcester; 21 Grat. 693. A guild.

Andreas Wilhelm. Supple menti ad Barnabx Brissonii opus, De verborum que ad jus civile pertinent significatione, specimen. 1 vol. 4to. Kiliae, 1813.

A liberty to usea crane for drawing up goods and wares of burden from ships and vessels, at any creek of the sea, or wharf, unto the land, and to make a profit of doing so. It also

Gross neglect; absence of ordinary eare and dillgence. 82.N. Y. 72.

Large; gross; excessive; extreme. Crassa ignorantia, gross ignorance, Fleta, lib. 5, c. 22, § 18.

On the morrow. In tino Antmarum, on the morrow of All js. 1 Bi. Comm. 342. In criminalibus, probationes debent esse luce clariores. In criminal cases, the proofs ought tobeclearer

The morrow, the day after. writs wero returnable on the day after. 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 56.

An iron gate before a prison. 1 Vent. 304.

To ask or demand; as to crave byer. See OYER.

Inold Englishlaw. A word of dliserace and obloquy, pronounced on either champion, in the ancient trial by battle, proving recreant, 7. e., yielding. Glanville calls it “infestum et

A foreign merchant, bat generally taken for one who has a stall ina fair or market. Blount.

We create. One of the words by which a corporation in England was formerly created by the king. 1 BL. Comm, 473.

In French law. A claim; a debt; also belief, credit, faith.

One who trusts or gives eredit; acreditor. Dritt. ce. 23, 73.

To create a charter or a corporation is to make one which never existed before, while to venew one is to give vitality to one which has been forfeited or has expired; and to extend

In international law. The instruments which authorize and establish a public minister in his character with the state or prince to whom they are addressed. If the state or prince r

Worthiness of belief; that quality in a witness which renders his evidence worthy of belief. After the competence of a witness is allowed, the consideration of his credibility aris

Worthy of belief; entitled to credit. See COMPETENOY.

One who, being competent to give evidence, is worthy of belief, 5 Mass. 229; 17 Pick. 154; 2 Curt. Ecc. 836.

1. Theability of a business man to borrow money, or obtain goods on time, in consequence of the favorable opinion held by the community, or by the particular lender, as to his solv

BILLS OF. See Binris or

Fr. A company or corporation formed for the purpose of cartrying out improvements, by means of loans and advances on real estate security.

Fr. A company or association formed for carrying on a banking business, or for the construction of public works, building of railroads, operation of mines, or other such enterprise

JUDGMENT. One who has obtained a judgment against his debtor, under which he can enforce execution.

An assignment whereby a debter, generally an insolvent, transfers to another his property, in trust tu pay his debts or apply the property upon their payment.

In English practice. <A billin equity, filed by one or more creditors, for an account of Lhe assets of a decedent, and a legal settlement and distribution of his estate among thems

A female creditor.

In maritime law. Such little inlets of the sea, whether within the precinct or extent of a port or without, as ure narrow passages, and have shore on either side of them, Call. Sew

The increase of un county. The sheriffs of counties anciently answered in their accounts for the

In Saxon law. To put out an eye; which had a pecuniary punishmeut of fifty shillings annexed to it,

Twilight. In the law of burglary, this term means the presence of sufficient Tight to discern the face of a man; such light as exists immediately before the rising of the sun or di

A term used in heraldry; it signifies the devices set over a coat of arma,

Inolid reeords. <A sudden stream or torrent; a rising or inundation,

Lat. In the civil law. A certain number of days allowed an heir to deliberate whether he would take the inheritance or not. Calvin.

The aggregate of seamen who man a ship or vessel, including the master and officers; or it may mean the ship’s company, exclusive of the master, or exclusive of the master and all

In maritimeiaw. <A list of the crew of a vessel; one of a ship’s papers. This instrument is required by act of congress, and sometimes by treaties. Rey. St. U.S. §§ 4874, 4875. It

An Ollicer of a court, who makes proclamations. His principal duties are to announce the opening of the court and its adjournment and the fact that certain special mutters are alou

MRehearse the concord, or peace. A phrase used in the ancient proceedings for levying fines. It waa the form of words by which the justice before whom the parties appeared directed

An abbreviation for “erim- {nal conversation,” of very frequent use, denoting adultery.

A crime is an act committed or omitted, in violation of a public law, either forbidding or commaniling it; a breach or violation of some pablie right or duty due to a whole communi

The offense of buggery or sodomy.

Lat. Crime. Also an aceusation or charge of crime.

Theoffense of theft.