Black's Law Dictionary

Every interpretation either declares, extends or restrains.

Every new statute ought to prescribe a form to future, not to past, acts. Bract fol. 228; 2 Inst. 95.

Every person is a man, but not every man a person. Calvin.

Every privation presupposes a former enjoyment. Co. Litt. 339a. A "rule of philosophis" quoted by Lord Coke, and applied to the discontinuance of an estate.

Co. Litt. 114b. Every plaint and every action for injuries is limited within certain times.

Every ratification relates back and ls equivalent to a prior authority. Broom, Max. 757, 871; Chit Cont. 196.

Every rule is liable to its own exceptions.

In mercantile law. A term used to express the aggregate value of the different stock in which a loan is usually funded. Tomlins.

4 Bing. 12L That which ls given for all is recompensed by the contribution of all. A principle of the law of general average.

There may be an abuse of everything of which there is a use, virtue only excepted. Dav. Ir. K. B. 79.

Ali ac tions in the world are limited within certain periods. Bract, fol. 52.

In part payment; in pap tial satisfaction of an account. The phrase is usually contrasted with "in full."

When a policy of insurance expresses that the insurance is made "on account of whom it may concern," it will cover all persons having an insurable interest in the subject-matter at

An abbreviation for "Old Natura Brevium." See Natura Brevium.

There is no legal difference between an obligation payable "when demanded" or "on demand" and one payable "on call" or "at any time called for." In each case the debt is payable im

This rule signifies that an instrument originally intended as a mortgage, and not a deed, cannot be converted into anything else than a mortgage by any subsequent clause or agreeme

A phrase used to express the condition of a person charged with crime, who has once already, by legal proceedings, been put In danger of conviction and punishment for the same offe

These words may be construed to mean "on the terms," in order to effectuate the intention of parties. Mea-nor v. McKowan, 4 Watts & S. (Pa.) 302.

L. Fr. Accused. Du Cange.

In case of default; upon failure of stipulated action or performance; upon the occurrence of a fallure, omission or neglect of duty.

A promissory note payable "on demand" is a present debt, and is payable without any demand. Young v. Weston, 39 Me. 492; Appeal of Andress, 99 Pa. 421.

A precautionary stipulation inserted in a deed making a good tenant to the prœcipe in a common recovery. See 1 Prest. Conv. 110.

A writ that lay for a joint tenant or tenant in common who was distrained for more rent than his proportion of the land comes to. Reg. Orig. 182.

In pleading. The name of a plea, in an action of debt, by which the defendant says that he ought not to be charged.

Lat. A lading; a cargo.

See O. Ni.

Lat In the civit law. The servitude of support; a servitude by which the wall of a house is required to sustain the wall or beams of the adjoining house.

A contract, lease, share or other right is said to be "onerous" when the obligations attaching to it counter-balance or exceed the advantage to be derived from it, either absolutel

In Scotch law. A good and legal consideration.

See Contract.

In Scotch law. A deed given for a valuable consideration. Bell.

A gift made subject to certain charges imposed by the donor on the donee.

In the civil law, title to property acquired by the giving of a valuable consideration for it, such as the payment of money, the rendition of services, the performance of condition

See New for Old.

Filed; entered or placed upon the files; existing and remaining upon or among the proper files. Slosson v. Hall, 17 Minn. 95 (Gil. 71); Snider v. Methvin, 60 Tex. 487.

It was the course of the English exchequer, as soon as the sheriff entered into and made up his account for issues, amerciaments, etc., to mark upon each head "O. NL," which denote

Burden of proving; the burden of proof. The strict meaning of the term "onus probandf' is that, if no evidence is adduced by the party on whom the burden is cast, the issue must be

A term applied to the signature of an instrument, the body of which is in a different handwriting from that of the signature. Best, Ev. 315.

A phrase used in reciting the date of an occurrence or conveyance, to escape the necessity of being bound by the statement of an exact date.

These words, inserted in a stipulation to do an act or pay money, entitle the party stipulating to perform at any time before the day; and upon performance or tender and refusal, h

Dutch. Immovable and fast estate, that is, land or real estate. The phrase is used in Dutch wills, deeds, and antenuptial contracts of the early colonial period in New York. See Sp

Lat. A burden or load; a weight. The lading, burden or cargo of a vessel. A charge; an incumbrance. Cum onere, (q. v.,) with the incumbrance. —Onus episcopale. Ancient customary pa

Ancient customary payments from the clergy to their diocesan bishop, of synodals, pentecostals, etc.

The charge of importing merchandise, mentioned in St. 12 Car. II. c. 28.

Lat By aid and counsel. A civll law term applied to accessaries, simllar in import to the "aiding and abetting" of the common law. Often written "ope et consilio." Burrill.

adj. Patent; visible; apparent; notorious; not clandestine; not closed, settled, fixed or terminated. —Open hulk. In the mass ; exposed to view; not tied or sealed up. In re Sander

An account which has not been finally settled or closed, but is still running or open to future adjustment or liquidation. Open account, in legal as well as in ordinary language, m

This term may mean either a court which has been formally convened and declared open for the transaction of its proper judicial business, or a court which is freely open to the app

In Scotch law. "Letters of open doors" are process which empowers the messenger, or officer of the law} to break open doors of houses or rooms in which the debtor has placed, his g

An entry upon real estate, for the purpose of taking possession, which is not clandestine nor effected by secret artifice or stratagem, and (in some states by statute) one which is

In English law. Fields which are undivided, but belong to separate owners; the part of each owner is marked off by boundaries until the crop has been carried off, when the pasture

In the mass ; exposed to view; not tied or sealed up. In re Sanders (G„ C.) 52 Fed. 807, 18 L. R. A. 549,

In American practice. The beginning; the commencement; the first address of the counsel.

The condition of one who has no property, within the reach of the law, applicable to the payment of any debt. Hardesty v. Kinworthy, 8 Blackf. (Ind.) 305; Som-erby v. Brown, 73 Ind

The making or waging of law. Magna Charta, c. 21.

Lewd or lascivious behav-Vjr practised without disguise, secrecy, or concealment. The adjective relates to the quality of the act, not to the place nor to the number of spectators.

In insurance. One in which the value of the subject insured is not fixed or agreed upon in the policy, as between the assured and the underwriter, bat is left to be estimated in ca

Possession of reni property is said to he "open" when held without concealment or attempt at secrecy, or without being covered up in the name of a third person, or otherwise attemp

That portion of the year wherein the laws for the preservation of game and fish permit the killing of a particular species of game or the taking of a particular variety of fish.

In Saxon law. The same with the Latin "furtum manifestum," (q. v.) As to open "Acoount," "Corporation," "Entry," "Insolvency," "Lewdness," "Policy," "Possession," and "Verdict," se

The time after corn ls carried out of the fields.

A verdict of a coroner's jury which finds that the subject "came to his death by means to the jury unknown," or "came to his death at the hands of a person or persons to the jury u

A composition of a dramatic kind, set to music and sung, accompanied with musical instruments, and enriched with appropriate costumes, scenery, etc. The house in which operas are r

Such tenants, under feudal tenures, as held some little portions of land by the duty of performing bodily labor and servile works for their lord.

One day's work performed by a tenant for his lord.

In general, the exertion of power; the process of operating or mode of action; an effect brought about in accordance with a definite plan. See Little Rock v. Parish, 36 Ark. 166; F

This term expresses the manner in which rights, and sometimes liabilities, devolve upon a person by the mere application to the particular transaction of the established rules of l

A workman; a laboring man; an artisan; particularly one employed in factories. Cocking v. Ward (Tenn. Ch. App.) 48 S. W. 287; In re City Trust Co., 121 Fed. 706, 58 O. C. A. 126; R

That part of a conveyance or of any instrument intended for the creation or transference of rights, by Mhich the main object of the instrument is carried into effect. It Is disting

In a deed or lease, are the words which effect the transaction intended to be consummated by the instrument.

Lat. Is the civil law. A protest or warning against [of] a new work. Dig. 39, L

Tbe ancient time of marriage, from Epiphany to Ash-Wednesday.

4 Coke, 107. Opinion is of two kinds, namely, common opinion, which springs up among grave and discreet men, and which has the appearance of truth, and opinion which springs up onl

1. In the law of evidence, opinion is an inferenco or conclusion drawn by a witness from facts some of which are known to him and others assumed or drawn from facts which, though l

Evidence of what the witness thinks, believes, or infers in regard to facts in dispute, as distinguished from his personal knowledge of the facts themselves ; not admissible except

The opinion which favors a will is to be followed. 1 W. Bl. 13, arg.

Jenk. Cent. 84. A thing certain must be brought to judgment

9 Coke, 9. It is necessary that given persons, lands, and estates shonid be comprehended in a declaration of uses.

It is necessary that a certain thing be brought into the gift or made the subject of the conveyance. Bract, fol. 15b.

It is necessary that there should be a certain thing which is sold. To make a valid sale, there must be certainty as to the thing which is sold. Bract, fol. 61b.

Lat. In the civll law. To pledge. Calvin.

An officer formerly belonging to the green-wax in the exchequer.

An old word for "opponent."

In bankruptcy practice. Opposition is the refusal of a creditor to assent to the debtor's discharge under the bankrupt law. In French law. A motion to open a judgment by default an

The misdemeanor committed by a publlc officer, who under color of his office, wrongfully inflicts upon any person any bodily harm, imprisonment or other injury. 1 Russ. Crimes, 297

A publlc officer who unlawfully uses his authority by way of oppression, (q. v.)

In the civil law. Ignominy ; ihfamy; shame.

Nobility; men of the highest rank.

Custom is the best interpreter of the law. Dig. 1, 3, 37; Broom, Max. 931; Lofft, 237.

That law is the best which leaves least to the discretion of the judge; that judge is the best who leaves least to his own. Baa Aphorisms, 46; 2 Dwar. St 782. That system of law is

That law is the best which leaves the least discretion to the judge; and this is an advantage which results from its certainty. Bac. Aphorisms, 8.

The best interpreter of a statute is (all its parts being considered) the statute itself. Wing. Max. p. 239, max. 68; 8 Coke, 117b.

Use or usage is the best interpreter of things. 2 Inst. 282 ; Broom, Max. 917, 930, 931.

8 Coke, 169. The best mode of interpretation is so to interpret laws that they may accord with each other.

4 Inst. 75. Custom is the best interpreter of the laws.

In English ecclesiastical law. A customary prerogative of an archbishop, when a bishop is consecrated by him, to name a clerk or chaplain of his own to be provided for by such suff

In old England practice. That species of original writ, otherwise called a "prœcipe," which was framed in the alternative, commanding the defend ant to do the thing required, or sh

Lat. Work; labor; the product of work or labor. —Opus locatum. The product of work let for use to another; or the hiring out of work or labor to be done upon a thing. —Opus maul if

The product of work let for use to another; or the hiring out of work or labor to be done upon a thing.

In old English law. Labor done by the hands; manual labor; such as making a hedge, digging a ditch. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 48, § 3.