Black's Law Dictionary

To he better inquired into. In old English law. The name of a writ commanding a further inquiry respecting a matter; as, after an imperfect inquisition in proceedings in outlawry,

One of the persons constituting a partnership, association, corporation, guild, etc. One of the persons constituting a court, a legislative assembly, etc. One of the llmbs or porti

A member of the senate or house of representatives of the United States. In popular usage, particularly the latter.

One having the right to sit in either house of the British parliament.

In English law. Places where a custom-house has bcen kept of old time, with officers or deputies in attendance; and they are lawful places of exportation or importation. 1 Chit. Co

Lat. In the civil law. Parchment. Dig. 32, 52. In old English law. A skin of parchment The ancient rolls usually consist of several of these skins, and the word "membrana" is used,

A slip or small piece of land.

In French law. A document in the form of a petition, by which appeals to the court of cassation are initiated.

Lat. To be remembered ; be it remembered. A formal word with which the body ot a record in the court of king's bench anciently commenced. Townsh. Pi. 486; 2 Tidd, Pr. 719. The whol

In the law of marine insurance, this phrase designates the articles' of merchandise Which are usually mentioned in the memorandum clause, (q. v.,) and for which the underwriter's l

A check given by a borrower to a lender, for the amount of a short loan, with the understanding that it is not to be presented at the bank, but will be redeemed by the maker himsel

See Check.

In a policy of manne insurance the memorandum clause is a clause inserted to prevent the underwriters from being liable for injury to goods of a peculiarly perishable nature, and f

A document alleging error in fact, accompanied by an affidavit of such matter of fact

Formerly, in England, where a patent was granted for two inventions, one of which was not new or not useful, the whole patent was bad, and the same rule applied when a material par

A document to be subscribed by seven or more persons associated for a lawful purpose, by subscribing which, and otherwise complying with the requisitions of the companies' acts in

A name sometimes applied to that form of conditional sale in which the goods are placed in the possession of the purchaser subject to his approval, the title remaining in the selle

A document presented to a legislative body or to the executive, by one or more individuals, containing a petition or a representation of facts. In English law. That which contains

Lat. From memory; by or from recollection. Thus, memoriter proof of a written instrument is such as is furnished by the recollection of a witness who had seen and known it.

Committing anything to memory. Used to describe the act of one who listens to a public representation of a play or drama, and then, from his recollection of its scenes, incidente o

Menial capacity; the mental power to review and recognize the sucoessive states of consciousness in their consecutive order. This word, as used in jurisprudence to denote one of th

A threat; the declaration or show of a disposition or determination to inflict an evil or injury upon another. Cum-ming v. State, 99 Ga. 662, 27 S. E. 177; Morrill v. Nightingale,

In French law. The utensils and articles of ornament usual in a dwelling-house. Brown.

In old Scotch law. A stock-horn; a horn made of wood, "with circles and girds of the same." Skene.

A servant of the lowest order; more strictly, a domestic servant living under his master's roof. Boniface v. Scott, 3 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 354.

Men who used in former days to ply about courts of law, so called from their manner of making known their occupation, (i. e., by a straw in one of their shoes,) recognized by the n

Lat Mind; intention; meaning; understanding; will. —Mens legis. The mind of the law; that is, the purpose, spirit, or intention of a law or the law generally. —Mens legislatoris. T

Lat Patrimony or goods and necessary things for livelihood. Jacob. A table; the table of a money-changer. Dig. 2, 14, 47. —Mensa et thoro. From bad and board. See Divorce.

From bad and board. See Divorce.

Parsonages or spiritual livings united to the tables of religious houses, and called "inensal benefices" amongst the canonists. Cowell.

Cat In the civll and old English law. A month. Mensis vetitus, the prohibited month; fence-month, (q. v.)

The mind of the law; that is, the purpose, spirit, or intention of a law or the law generally.

The intention of the law-maker.

In the civll law. A measurer of land; a surveyor. Dig. 11, 6; Id. 50, 6, 6; Cod. 12, 28.

A guilty mind ; a guilty or wrongful purpose ; a criminal intent.

Jenk. Cent. 277. The intention of the testator is to be regarded in wills.

In the civll law. A money-changer or dealer in money. Dig. 2, 14, 47, 1.

In old English law. A measure. —Mensura domini regis. "The measure of our lord the king," being the weights and measures established under King Richard I. in his parliament at West

"The measure of our lord the king," being the weights and measures established under King Richard I. in his parliament at Westminster, 1197. 1 Bl. Comm. 275; Mozley & Whitley.

Relating to or existing in the mind; intellectual, emotional or psychic, as distinguished from bodily or physical. —Mental alienation. A phrase sometimes used to describe insanity,

A phrase sometimes used to describe insanity, (q. v.)

When connected with a physical in-j'ury, this term includes both the resultant mental sensation of pain and also the accompanying feelings of distress, fright, and anxiety. See Rni

Such a measure of intelligence understanding, memory, and judgment (relative to the particular transaction) as will enable the person to understand the nature and effects of his ac

As applied to the qualification of a juror, this term must be understood to embrace either such gross ignorance or imbecility as practically disqualifies any person from performing

A silent exception to the general words of a promise or agreement not expressed, on account of a general understanding on the subject. But the word has been applied to an exception

Lat. To lie; to assert a falsehood. Calvin.; 3 Buist. 260.

The act of lying; a falsehood.

In old records. Timbers; wood for building.

Midnight Cowell.

Merchantable; to be sold or bought.

A foreign trader

Pertaining to merchants or their business; having to do with trade and commerce or the buying and selling of commodities. See In re San Gabriel Sanatorium (D. C.) 95 Fed. 273; In r

Establishments which make a business of collecting information relating to the credit, character, responsibility, and reputation of merchants, for the purpose of furnishing the inf

An expression substantially equivalent to the law-merchant or commercial law. It designates the system of rules, customs, and usages generally recognized and adopted by merchants a

The statutes 19 & 20 Viet. cc. 60, 97, passed mainly for the purpose of assimilating the mercantile law of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Commercial paper; such negotiable paper (bills, notes, checks, etc.) as is made or transferred by and between merchants or traders, and is governed by the usages of the business wo

One which habitually buys and sells; one which buys for the purpose of afterwards selling. Com. v. Natural Gas Co., 32 Pittsb. Leg. J. (O. St) 310.

A market. An old form of the latter word common in Scotch law, formed from the Latin "mercatum."

Belonging to trade.

Lat. A market. A contract of sale. Supplies for an army, (commeatus.)

The practice of buying and selling.

A hirer; one that hires.

A hireling or servant. Jacob.

The law of the Mercians. One of the three principal systems of laws which prevailed in England about the beginning of the eleventh century. It was observed In many of the midland c

Lat. In the civll law. Reward of labor in money or other things. As distinguished from "pensio," it means the rent of farms, (prœdia rustici.) Calvin.

All commodities which merchants usually buy and sell, whether at wholesale or retail; wares and commodities such as are ordinarily the objects of trade and commerce. But the term i

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

A man who traffics or carries on trade with foreign countries or who exports and imports goods and sells them by wholesale. Webster. Merchants of this description are commonly know

Fit for sale; vendible in market; of a quality such as will bring the ordinary market price. Riggs v. Armstrong, 23 W. Va. 773; Pacific Co.ast Elevator Co. v. Bravinder, 14 Wash. 3

See Appraiser.

A ship or vessel employed in foreign or domestic commerce or in the merchant service.

Accounts between merchant and merchant, which must be current, mutual, and unsettled, consisting of debts and credits for merchandise. Fox v. Fisk, 6 How. (Miss.) 328.

A sailor employed in a private vessel, as distinguished from one employed in the navy or public ships. U. S. v. Sullivan (C. Ct) 43 Fed. 604; The Ben Flint, 3 Fed. Cas. 184.

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

The English statute 13 Edw. I. St. 3, repealed by 26 & 27 Viet. c. 125.

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 mar-cheta (q. v.)

Men are not included under the denomination of "merchandise." Dig. 50, 16, 207.

An amerciament, penalty or fine, (q. v.)

In old writs. Wares. M,ercimonia et merchandizas, wares and merchandises. Reg. Brev. Append. 10.

In old records. The impost of England upon men chandlse. Cowell.

The term "merchandise" belongs to movable things only. Dig. 50, 16, 66.

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 Æl-mere, all famous. Gibs. Camd. L. Fr. Mother. Æle, mere, fille, grandmother, mother, daughter. Britt, c. 89. En ventre so mere, in its mother's womb.

Where the appraisement of an invoice of imported goods made by the revenue officers at the custom house is not satisfactory to the importer, persons may be selected (under this nam

The free 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, (q. 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 lands. Yearb. P. 18 Hen. VI. 5.

Of the nature of unlawful sexual connection. The term is descriptive of the relation sustained Dy persons who contract a marriage that is void by reason of legal incapacity. 1 Bl.

The fusion or absorption of one thing or right into another; generally spoken of a case where one of the subjects is of less dignity or importance than the other. Here the less imp

In old English law. Noon. Fleto, lib. 5, c. 5, § 31.

Possessing or characterized by "merit" in the legal sense of the word. See Merits. —Meritorious cause of action. This description is sometimes applied to a person with whom the gro

This description is sometimes applied to a person with whom the ground of action, or the consideration, originated or from whom it moved. For exampie, where a cause of action accru

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

See Detense.

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; Mere Motion.

A fenny place. Cowell.

A lake; also a marsh or fen-land.

A church calendar or rubric. Cowell.