Black's Law Dictionary

An English coin, being the twelfth part of a shilling. It was also used in America during the colonial period.

A Troy weight, equal to twenty-four grains or one-twentieth part of an ounce.

The full weight of twenty ounces.

Lat. In the civil law. A payment, properly, for the use of a thing. A rent; a payment for the use and occupation of another's house.

A stated allowance out of the publlc treasury granted by government to an individual or to his representatives, for hls valuable services to the country or in compensation for loss

One who is supported by an allowance at the will of another; a dependent. It is usually applied (in a public sense) to those who receive pensions or annuities from government, who

In English ecclesiastical law. Certain sums of money paid to clergymen in lieu of tithes. A spiritual person may sue in the spiritual court for a pension originally granted and con

A peremptory order against a member of an inn of court who is in arrear for his pensions, (that is, for his periodical dues,) or for other duties. Cowell.

In ecclesiastical law. Pious oblations made at the feast of Pentecost by parishioners to their priests, and sometimes by inferior churches or parishes to the principal mother churc

A road shut up or closed at its terminal points. Wolcott v. Whitcomb, 40 Vt 41.

In Mexico. A debtor held by his creditor in a qualified servitude to work out the debt; a serf. Webster. In India. A footman; a soldier; an inferior officer; a servant employed in

The state or condition of a peon as above defined; a condition of enforced servitude, by which the servitor is restrained of his liberty and compelled to labor in liquidation of so

In Spanlsh-American law. A lot of land of fifty feet front, and one hundred feet deep. Originally the portion granted to foot-soldiers of spoils taken or lands conquered in wav.

A state; as the people of the state of New York. A nation in its collective and political capacity. Nesbitt v. Lush-ington, 4 Term R. 783; U. S. v. Quincy, 6 Pet. 467, 8 L. Ed. 458

Strauss, 97 III. App. 55; Boyd v. Thompson, 153 Pa. 82, 25 All. 769, 34 Am. St. Rep. 685; Mo-Cosker v. Banks, 84 Md. 292, 35 Atl. 935.

A dried berry of the black pepper. In English law, the reservation of a merely nominal rent, on a lease, is semetimes expressed by a stipulation for the payment of a peppercorn.

Lat. By. When a writ of entry Is sued out against the alienee of the original intruder or disseisor or against his heir to whom the land has descended, it is said to be brought "in

Lat. In the civil law. By alluvion or the gradual and imperceptible increase arising from deposit by water.

That ls said to be added by alluvion which is so added little by little that we cannot tell how much is added at any one moment of time. Dig. 41, 1, 7, 1; Fleta, 1. 3, c. 2, § 6.

The act of walking over the boundaries of a district or piece of land, either for the purpose of determining them or of preserving evidence of them. Thus, in many parishes in Engla

In English law. The name of a writ which is sued by consent of both parties when they are in doubt as to the bounds of their respective estates. It is directed to the sheriff to ma

When a writ of entry ls brought against a second alienee or descendant from the disseisor, it is said to be in the per and cui, because the form of the writ is that the tenant had

To come in in the per is to claim by or through the person last entitled to an estate; as the heirs or assigns of the grantee. To come in in the post is to claim by a paramount and

In Lat. In old English law. By ring and staff, or crozier. The symbolical mode of conferring an ecclesiastical investure. 1 Bl. Comm. 378, 379.

Lat. By the year. A phrase still in common use. Ramsdell v. Hulett, 50 Kan. 440, 31 Pac. 1092; State v. McFetridge, 64 Wis. 130, 24 N. W. 140; Haney v. Caldwell, 35 Ark. 168.

h. Fr. For or during another's life; for such period as another person shall live.

Lat. In the civll law. By turning away. A term applied to that kind of sale where the goods are taken in bulk, and not by weight or measure, and for a single price; or where a piec

L. Fr. By the mouth; orally. 3 How. State Tr. 1024.

A perch of land; sixteen and one-half feet See Perch.

Lat. By the heads or polls; according to the number of individuals; share and share alike. This term, derived from the civil law, is much used in the law of descent and distributio

An abbreviation of the Latin "per centum," meaning by the hundred or so many parte in the hundred or so many hundredths. See Blakeslee v. Mansfield, 66 III. App. 119; Co.de Va. 188

Taking into possession. Thus, perception of crops or of profits is reducing them to possession.

In old records. A wear; a place in a river made up with banks, dame, etc., for the better convenience of preserving and taking fish. Cowell.

A measure of land containing five yards and a half or sixteen feet and a half in length; otherwise called a "rod" or "pole," Cowell. An a unit of solid measure, a perch of masonry

As used in the cases relating to the right of land-owners to use water on their premises, designates any flow-age of sub-surface water other than that of a running stream, open, vi

See Water.

Lat By consequence; consequently. Yearb. M. 9 Edw. III. 8.

Lat. In old practice. By the consideration (judgment) of the court. Yearb. M. 1 Edw. II. 2.

Lat. By the court. A phrase used in the reports to distinguish an opinion of the whole court from an opinion written by any one judge. Sometimes it denotes an opinion written by th

L. Lat A pardon for a man who, for contempt in not yielding obedience to the process of a court, is outlawed, and afterwards of his own accord surrenders. Reg. Orig. 28.

Lab In Roman law-Hostility or enmity towards the Roman republic; traitorous conduct on the part of a citizen, subversive of the authority of the laws or tending to overthrow the go

As applied to an estate, perdurable signifies lasting long or forever. Thus, a disseisor or tenant in fee upon condition has as high and great an estate as the rightful owner or te

Lat In Roman law. The class of peregrini embraced at the same time bath those who had no capacity in law, (capacity for rights or jural relations,) namely, the slaves, and the memb

In ecclesiastical procedure an appeui is said to be perempted when the appellant has by his own act waived or barred his right of appeui; as where he partially complies with or acq

A nonsuit; also a quashing or killing.

Lat In the civil law. That which takes away or destroys forever ; hence, exceptio peremptoria, a plea which is a perpetual ban. Calvin.

Imperative; absolute; not admitting of question, delay or reconsideration. Positive; final; decisive; not admitting of any alternative. Self-determined; arbitrary; not requiring an

In criminal practice. A species of challenge which a prisoner is allowed to have against a certain number of jurors, without assigning any cause. Lewis v. U. S.. 146 U. S. 370 , 13

A day assigned for trini or hearing in court, absolutely and without further opportunity for postponement.

A defense which insists that the plaintiff never had the right to institute the suit, or that, if he had, the original right is extinguished or determined. 4 Bouv. Inst. no. 4206.

In the civil law. Any defense which denies entirely the ground of action.

An instruction given by a court to a jury which the latter must obey implicitly ; as an instruction to return a verdict for the defendant, or for the plaintiff, as the case may be.

A list of the causes which were enlarged at the request of the parties, or which stood over from press of business in court.

"Pleas in, bar" are so termed in contradistinction to that class of pleas called "dilatory pleas." The former, viz., peremptory pleas, are usually pleaded to the merits of the acti

In practice. An absolute rnie; a rule without any condition or alternative of showing cause.

An undertaking by a plaintiff to bring on a cause for trial at the next sittings or assizes. Lush, Pr. 649. As to peremptory "Challenge," "Defense," "Instruction," "Mandamus," "Non

An original writ, calied from the voids of the writ a "si te feoerit seourum," and which directed the sheriff to cause the defendant to appear in court without any option given him

Lat. By the same. This phrase is commonly used to express "by or from the mouth of, the same judge." So "per eundem in eadem" means "by the same judge in the same case."

Lat In old practice. At length.

Complete; finished; executed ; ehforceable. —Perfect condition. In a statement of the rule that, when two claims exist in "perfect condition" between two persons, either may insist

In a statement of the rule that, when two claims exist in "perfect condition" between two persons, either may insist on a set-off, this term means that state of a demand when it is

An equitable title or right which lacks nothing to its completeness as a, legal title or right except the formal conveyance or other investiture which would make it cognizable at l

Certain qualifications of a property character being required of persons who tender themselves as bail, when such persons have justified, i. e., established their sufficiency by sa

An instrument such as a deed or mortgage is said to become perfect when recorded (or registered) or filed for record, because it then becomes good as to nil the world. See Wilkins

In patent law. A perfected invention; not a perfectly constructed machine, but a machine so constructed as to embody all the essential elements of the invention, in a form that wou

Various meanings have been attached to this term: (1) One which shows the absolute right of possession and of property in a particular person. Henderson v. Beatty, 124 Iowa, 163, 9

An executed trust, (q. v.) As to perfect "Equity," "Machine," "Obligation," "Ownership," "Title," and "Usufruct," see those titles.

That is perfect to which nothing is wanting, according to the measure of its perfection or nature. Hob. 151.

An usufruct in those things which the usufructuary can enjoy without changing their substance, though their substance may be diminished or deteriorate naturally by time or by the u

The act of one who has engaged his faith to do a thing, and does not do it, but does the contrary. Wolff, Inst § 390.

To perform an obligation or contract is to execute, fulfill or accomplish it according to its terms. This may consist either in action on the part of the person bound by the contra

L. Lat. In English law. By the form of the gift; by the designation of the giver, and not by the operation of law. 2 Bl. Comm. 113, 191.

The fulfillment or accomplishment of a promise, contract or other obligation according to its terms. —Part performance. The doing some portion, yet not the whole, of what either pa

Lat By fraud. Where a plea alleges matter of discharge, and the replication avers that the discharge was fraudulently obtained and is therefore invalid, it is called a "replication

In old practice. Parchment. In pergamena scribi fecit. 1 And. 54.

In medical jurisprudence. An inflammation of the lining membrane of the heart.

Co.. Litt 379a. It is perilous to introduce new and untried things.

9 Coke, 97b. I consider that dangerous which is not approved by the example of good men.

Lat. Dangerous; perilous.

Lat In the civll law. Peril; danger; hazard; risk.

The risk of a thing sold, and not yet delivered, is the purchaser's. 2 Kent, Comm. 498, 499.

The risk, hazard or contingency insured against by a policy of insurance. —Perils of the lakes. As applied to navigation of the Great Lakes, this term has the same meaning as "peri

As applied to navigation of the Great Lakes, this term has the same meaning as "perils of the sea." See infra.

In maritime and insurance law. Nafural accidents peculiar in the sea, which do not happen by the intervention of man, nor are to be prevented by human prudence. 3 Kent, Comm. 216.

Lat. Through inadvertence. 35 Eng. Law & Eq. 302.

A dispensation granted to a clerk, who, being defective in capacity for a benefice or other ecclesiastical function, is de facto admitted to it. Cowell.

Lat. A qualified property in animals ferœ natures may be acquired per industriam, i. e., by a man's reclaiming and making them tame by art, industry, and education; or by so confin

Lat. In old English law. By human industry. A term applied to the reclaiming or taming of wild animals by art, industry, and education. 2 Bl. Comm. 391.

Lat. By misadventure. In criminal law, homicide per infortunium is committed where a man, doing a lawful act, without any intention of hurt, unfortunately kllls another. 4 Bl. Comm

Any point, space or division of time. "The word 'period' has its etymological meaning, but it also has a distinctive signification, according to the subject with which it may be us

Recurring at fixed intervals ; to be made or done or to happen, at successive periods separated by determined intervals of time; as periodical payments of interest on a bond.

Circumlocution; use of many words to express the sense of one.

To come to an end; to cease to be; to din.

Ordinarily means subject to speedy and natural decay. But, whore the time contemplated is necessarily long, the term may embrace property liable merely to material depreciation in

Goods which decay and lose their value if not speedily put to their intended use.

3 Inst. 166. They are perjured, who, preserving the words of an oath, deceive the ears of those who receive it

In criminal law. The willful assertion as to a matter of fact, opinion, belief or knowledge, made by a witness in a judicial proceeding as part of his evidence, either upon oath or

Lat. By the law of England; by the curtesy. Fleta, llh. 2, c. 54, § 18.

Cat. By the law of the land; by due process of law. U. S. v. Kendall, 26 Fed. Cas. 748; Appeal of Ervine, 16 Pa. 263, 55 Am. Dec. 499; Rhinehart v. Schuyler, 7 I1L 519.

Fixed, enduring, abiding, not subject to change. Generally opposed in law to "temporary." —Permanent abode. A domicile or fixed home, which the party may leave as his interest or w