Black's Law Dictionary

He who is engaged in the exercise or employment of any art or profession.

When one of the king's immediate tenants in captte was deforced, his writ of right was called a writ of "præ-ape in captte."

Command that he render. A writ directing the defendant to restore the possession of land, employed at the beginning of a common recovery.

The writ which commenced the action of covenant in fines, which are abolished by 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74,

A person having an estate of freehold in possession, against whom the prœctpe was brought by a tenant in tail, seeking to bar his estate by a recovery.

Booty. Property seized in war.

In Roman law. A rustic or rural estate. Primarily, this term denoted an estate lying in the country, i. e., beyond the limits of the city, but it was applied to any landed estate o

The price or chastity; or compensation for loss of chastity. A term applied to bonds and other engagements given for the benefit of a seduced female. Sometimes called "præmxwm pudo

4 Inst. 57. Hasty counsels are rarely prosperous.

Lat In the. civil law. That mode of acquisition whereby one becomes proprietor of a thing on the ground that he has for a long time possessed it as his own; prescription. , Dig. 41

Co. Litt. 113. Prescription is a title by authority of law, deriving its force from use and time.

Prescription and execution do not affect the validity of the contract, but the time and manner of bringing an action. Pearsall v. Dwight, 2 Mass. 84, 3 Am. Dec. 35; Decouche v. Sav

To present is no more than to give or offer on the spot Ch Litt. 120.

The presence of the body cures error in the name; the truth of the name cures an error of description. Broom, Max. 637, 639, 640.

Presumptions arise from what generally happens. Post v. Pearsall, 22 Wend. (N. Y.) 425, 475.

Presumptions are conjectures from probable proof, assumed for purposes of evidence. J. Voet, Com. ad Pand. 1. 22, tit. 3, n. 14.

Under pretext of legality, what is illegal ought not to be admitted. Wing. Max. p. 728, max. 196.

In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from the sovoreign, and differing from a cedula only in form and in the mode of promulgation. Scion. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note.

In French la-w. An expression used to designate those ordinances which concern the most important objects of the civll or ecclesiastical administration. Merl. RApert. In the civil

An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. Webster. See Buxton v. Railroad Co.,

A license for the master of a ship to traffic'in the ports of a given country or with the inhabitants of a given port, upon the lifting of quarantine or production of a clean bill

Lat. Use; practice.

Hob. 96. The practice of the judges is the interpreter of the laws.

The request contained in a bill in equity that the ceurt will grant the process, aid or relief which the complainant desires. Also, by extension, the term is applied to that part o

ls a petition with which a bill in equity used to conclude, to the effect that a writ of subpoena might issue against the defendant to compel him to answer upon oath all the matter

In old English practice. To call upon for assistance. In real actions, the tenant might pray in aid or call for assistance of another, to help him to plead, because of the feeblene

Lat Masters. The chief clerks in chancery were formerly so called, because they had the direction of making out remedial writs. 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 251.

Lat. In practice. An original writ, drawn up in the alternative, commanding the defendant to do the thing required or show the reason why he had not done it. 3 Bl. Comm. 274. Also

The punishment of casting headlong from seme high place,

In French law. Under the regime en communi aut6, when that is of the conventional kind, if the surviving husband or wife is entitled to take any portion of the common property by a

Lat. In Roman law. A herald or crier.

Things to be previously known in order to the understanding of something which follows. Wharton.

In the civll law. Lands; estates ; tenements; properties. See Prædium —Praedia bellica. Booty. Property seized in war. —Prædia stipendiaria. In the civil law. Provincial lands belo

A right which is granted tor the advantage of one piece of land over another, and which may be exercised by every possessor of the land entitled against every possessor of the serv

Such as arise merely and immediately from the ground; as grain of all sorts, hops, hay, wood, fruit, herbs. 2 Bl. Comm. 23; 2 Steph. Comm. 722.

In the civil law. Provincial lands belonging to the people.

In the civil law. Provincial lands belonging to the emperor.

In the duchy of Brabant, certain things movable, such as bads, tables, and other heavy articles of furniture, were ranked among immovables, and were called "prædia volantia," or "v

Lat Aforesaid. Hob. 6. Of the three words, "idem," "prœdictus," and "præfatus," "idem" was most usually applied to plaintiffs or demandants ; "prœdictus," to defendants or tenants,

In the civil law. The name given to an estate to which a servitude is due; the dominant tenement. Morgan v. Mason. 20 Ohio, 409, 55 Am. Dec. 464,

In the civil law. The name of an estate which suffers a servitude or easement to another estate; the servient tenement. Morgan v. Mason, 20 Ohio, 409, 55 Am. Dec. 464.

Land ls under servitude to land, [i. e., servitudes are not personal rights, but attach to the dominant tenement.] Tray. Lat Max. 455.

In the civil law. A building or edifice intended for the habitation and use of man, whether built in cities or in the country. Colq. Rom. Civil Law, § 937.

Lat In the civil law. Land; an estate; a tenement; a piece of landed property. See Dig. 50, 16, 115. —Prædinm dominans. In the civil law. The name given to an estate to which a ser

Lat. In Roman law. A robber. See Dig. 50, 17, 126.

A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished. See Townsend v. State, 147 Ind. 624,

The kind and degree of evidence prescribed in advance (as, by statute) as requisite for the proof of certain facts or the establishment of certain instruments. It ls opposed to cas

The right of being heard before another. A privilege belonging to the English bar, the members of which are entitled to be heard in their order, ac-cerding to rank, beginning with

In English ecclesiastical law. A stipend granted in cathedral churches; also, but improperly, a prebendary. A simple prebend is merely a revenue; a prebend with dignity bas some ju

An ecclesiastical person serving on the staff of a cathedral, and receiving a stated allowance or stipend from the income or endowment of the cathedral, in compensation for his ser

Day-works which the tenants of certain manors were bound to give their lords in harvest time. Magna precaria, was a great or general reaping day. Cowell.

Liable to be returned or rendered up at the mere demand or request of another; hence held or retained only on sufferance or by permission; and by an extension of meaning, doubtful,

The circumstances of an executor are precarious, within the meaning and intent of a statute, only when his character and conduct present such evidence of improvidence or recklessns

A bailment by way of loan which is not to continue for any fixed time, but may be recalled at the mere will and pleasure of the lender.

In modem civil law, possession is called "precarious" which one enjoys by the leave of another and during his pleasure. Civ. Code La. 1900, art. 3556.

The right which the owner of a thing transfers to another, to enjoy the same until it shall please the owner to revoke it.

In international law. Such trade as may be carried on by a neutral between two belligerent powers by the mere sufferance of the latter.

Lat. In the civll law. A convention whereby one allows another the use of a thing or the exercise of a right gratuitously tlll revocation. The bailee acquires thereby the lawful po

Having the nature of prayer, request or entreaty; conveying or embodying a recommendation or advice or the expression of a wish, but not a positive command or direction. —Precatory

A trust created by certain words, which are more like words of entreaty and permission than of command or certainty. Examples of such words, which the courts have held sufficient t

Words of entreaty, request, desire, wish, or recommendation, employed in wills, as distinguished from direct and imperative terms, 1 Williams, Bx'rs, 88, 89, and note. And see Prat

The act or state of going before; adjustment of place. —Precedence, patent of. In English law. A grant from the crown to such barristers as it thinks proper to honor with that mark

In English law. A grant from the crown to such barristers as it thinks proper to honor with that mark of distinction, whereby they are entitled to such rank and preaudience as are

An adjudged case or decision of a court of justice, considered as furnishing an example or authority for an identical or similar case afterwards arising or a similar question of la

Such as must happen or be performed before an estate can vest or be eniarged. See Condition Precedent.

Silent uniform course of practice, uninterrupted though not supported by legal decisions. See Calton v. Bragg, 15 Blast, 226; Thompson v. Musser, 1 Dall. 464, 1 In Ed. 222. Precede

The continuance of a suit by consent of both parties. Cowell.

In English and American law. An order or direction, emanating from authority, to an officer or body of officers, commanding him or them to do some act within the scope of their pow

A deed in the Scotch law by which a superior acknowledges the title of the heir of a deceased vassal to succeed to the lands.

Lat. In Roman law. Prayers. One of the names of an application to the emperor. Tayl. Civll Law, 230.

In English ecclesiastical law. A right of the crown to name to the first prebend that becomes vacant after the accession of the sovereign, in every church of the empire. This right

A constable's or police district. The immediate neighborhood of a palace or court. A poll-district. See Union Pac. Ry. Co. v. Ryan, 113 U. S. 516, 5 Sup. Ct. 601, 28 L. Ed. 1098; R

Another form of the name of the written instructions to the clerk of court; also spelled "praecipe," (q. v.)

Precipitins are formations in the blood of an animal induced by repeated injections into its veins of the blood-serum of an animal of another species; and their importance in diagn

In French law. A portion of an estate or inheritance which falls to one of the co-heirs over and Above his equal share with the rest, and which is to be taken out before partition

Lat. In pleading. The commencement of a replication to a plea in bar, by which the plaintiff "says that, by reason of anything in the said pica alleged, he ought not to be barred f

In Scotch practice. Preliminary examination. The investigation of a criminal case, preliminary to committing the accused for trial. 2 Alls. Crim. Pr. 134

In Scotch practice. To examine beforehand. Arkley, 232.

Malice prepense or aforethought. See State v. Reidell, 9 Houst. (Del.) 470, 14 Atl. 550.

Proclamation.

A contract or engagement made by a person, which is of such a nature as to preclude him from lawfully entering into another contract of the same nature. See 1 Bish. Mae, & Div. §§

An obligation growing out of a contract or contractual relation, of such a nature that it debars the party from legally entering into a similar contract at a later time with any ot

One who goes or has gone before; the correlative of "successor." Applied to a body politic or corporate, in the same sense as "ancestor" is applied to a natural person. Lorillard C

A real or predial servitude is a charge laid on an estate for the use and utility of another estate belonging to another owner. Civll Co.de La. art. 647. See Prædial Servitude.

Such as arise immediately from the ground; as, grain of all sorts, hay, wood, fruits, and herbs.

In logic. That which is said concerning the subject in a logical proposition ; as, "The law is the perfection of common sense." "Perfection of common sense," being affirmed concern

This term, in its natural and ordinary signification, is understood to be something greater or superior in power and influence to others, with which it is connected or compared. So

In international law. The right of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her su

One who has settled upon land subject to pre-emption, with the intention to acquire title to it, and has complied, or is proceeding to comply, in good faith, with the requirements

An entry of public lands for purchase under the pre-emption laws, giving the entryman a preferred right to acquire the land by virtue of his occupation and improvement of it. Hartm

One who, by settlement upon the public land or by cultivation of a portion of it, has obtained the right to purchase a portion of the land thus settled upon or cultivated, to the e

The right given to settlers upon the public lands of the United States to purchase them at a limited price in preference to others.

In French law. The name given to the public functionary who is charged in chief with the administration of the laws, in each department of the country. Merl. R6pert. See Crespin v.

To bring before; to prosecute; to try; to proceed with. Thus, preferring an indictment signifies prosecuting or trying an indictment. To give advantage, priority, or privilege; to

The act of an insolvent debtor who, in distributing his property or in assigning it for the benefit of his creditors, pays or secures to one or more creditors the full amount of th

A term used in E&glish law to designate a new issue of shares of stock in a company, which, to facilitate the disposal of them, are accorded a priority or preference over the origi

An assignment of property for the benefit of creditors, made by an insolvent debtor, in which it is directed that a preference (right to be paid first in full) shall be given to a

Possessing or accorded a priority, advantage or privllege. Generally denoting a prior or superior claim or right of payment as against another thing of the same kind or class. See

A creditor whom the debtor has directed shall be paid before other creditors.

A demand which has priority; which is payable in full bsfore others are paid at ali.