Black's Law Dictionary

An organization created for the purpose of accumulating a fund by the monthly subscriptions and savings of its members to assist them in building or purchasing for themselves dwell

A lease of land for a long term of years, usually 99, at a rent called a "ground rent," the lessee covenanting to erect certain edifices thereon according to specification, and to

The statutory lien of a material-man or contractor for the erection of a building. Lumber Co. v. Holt, 60 Neb. 80, 82 N. W. 112, 83 Am. St. Rep. 512; June v. Doke, 35 Tex. Civ. App

See Line.

An association in which the subscriptions of the members form a capital stock or fund out of which advances may be made to members desiring them, on mortgage security.

A bill in equity filed to obtain a discovery of facts resting in the knowledge of the defendant, or of deeds or writings, or other things in his custody or power. Story, Eq. PI. (5

One which is brought to have a decree of the court reviewed, corrected, or reversed. Dodge v. Northrop, 85 Mich. 248, 48 N. W. 505.

In the ancient Hebrew chronology, the eighth month of the ecclesiastical, and the second of the civil year. It has since been called "Marshevan," and answers to out October.

Unbroken packages. Merchandise which is neither counted, weighed, nor measured. Bulk is said of that which is neither counted, weighed, nor measured. A sale by the bulk is the sale

In ecclesiastical law. An instrument granted by the pope of Rome, and sealed with a seal of lead, containing some decree, commandment or other public act, emanating from the pontif

A seal used by the Roman emperors, during the lower empire; and which was of four kinds,—gold, sliver, wax, and lead.

An officially published notice or announcement concerning the progress of matters of public importance. In France, the registry of the laws. —Bulletin des lois. In France, the offi

In France, the official sheet which publishes the laws and decrees; this publication constitutes the promulgation of the law or decree.

Gold and silver intended to be coined. The term is usually applied to a quantity of these metals ready for the mint, but as yet lying in bars, plates, lumps or other masses; but it

A fund of public money mnintained in connection with the mints, for the purpose of purchasing precious metals for coinage.

A person employed to dun one for a debt; a baillff employed to arrest a debtor. Probably a vulgar corruption of "bound-bailiff," (q. v.)

In old English law. A bound, boundary, border or limit, (terminus, limes.)

In maritime law. A piece of wood or cork or a barrel, raft or other thing, made secure and floating upon a stream or bay, intended as a guide and warning to mariners, by marking a

(Lat onus probandi.) In the law of evidence. The necessity or duty of affirmatively proving a fact or facts in dispute on an issue raised between the parties in a cause. Willett v.

An office for the transaction of business. A name given to the several departments of the executive or administrative branch of government or to their larger subdivisions. In re St

A system in which the business of government is carried on in departments, each under the control of a chief, in contradistinction from a system in which the officers of government

A name anciently given to a dwelling-house in a borough town. Blount.

A tenure by which lands in royal boroughs in Scotland were held of the sovereign. The service was watching and warding, and was done by the burgesses within the territory of the bo

In English law. One of the three species of free socage holdings; a tehure whereby houses and lands which were formerly the site of houses, in an ancient borough, are held of some

One who breaks into houses or inclosed places, as distinguished from one who cemmitted robbery in the open country. Speiman.

In old English law. A term applied to a contribution towards the repair of castles or walls of defense or of a borough.

A term anciently applied to a castle or fortified place; a borough, (q. v.) Spelman.

In old English law. Inhabitants of a burgus or borough; burgesses. Fleta, llb. 5, c. 6, § 10.

A word used in Domesday, signifying a breach of the peace in a town. Jacob.

In English law. An inhabitant or freeman of a borough or town; a person duly and legally admitted a member of a municipal corporation. Spelman; 3 Steph. Comm. 188, 189. A magistrat

A roll, required by the St. 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, to be kept in corporate towns or boroughs, of the names of burgesses entitled to certain new rights conferred by that act

A fine imposed on the community of a town, for a breach of the peace, etc.

See Borough English.

Borough English, (q. v.)

Yearly payments to the crown of Scotland, introduced by Malcolm III., and resembllng the English fee-farm rents.

In Saxon law. A court of justice held semi-annually by the bishop or lord in a burg, which the thanes were bound to attend without summons.

One who commits burglary. One who breaks into a dwelling-house in the night-time with intent to commit a felony. Wilson v. Sinte, 34 Ohio St. 200; O'Connor v. Press Pub. Co., 34 Mi

In pleading. A technical word which must be introduced into an indictment for burglary at common law. Lewis v. State, 16 Conn. 34; Reed v. State, 14 Tex. App. 665.

L. Lat. (Burglariously.) In old criminal pleading. A necessary word in indiciments for burglary.

In criminal law. The breaking and entering the house of another in the night-time, with intent to commit a felon"y therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not. Anderso

Insurance against loss of property by the depredations of burglars and thieves.

The title given in Germany to the chief executive officer of a borough, town or city; corresponding to our "mayor."

See Lex Burgundionum.

A burgess, (q. v.)

Sepulture; the act of Interring dead human bodies. See Lay v. State, 12 Ind. App. 362, 39 N. E. 768; In re Reformed, etc.. Church, 7 How. Prae. (N. Y.) 476; Cemetery Ass'n v. Asses

Murder com mitted with the object of selling the cadaver for purposes of dissection, particularly and originally, by suffocating or strangling the victim. So named from William Bur

Courts consisting of neighbors selected by common consent to act as judges in determining disputes between neighbor and neighbor.

In Scotch law. Laws made by neighbors elected by common consent in the burlaw courts. Skene. —Burlaw courts. Courts consisting of neighbors selected by common consent to act as jud

To consume with fire. The verb "to burn," in an indictment for arson, is to be taken in its common mcaning of "to consume with fire." Hester v. State, 17 Ga. 130.

As used in policies of insurance, this term does not mean any fluid which will burn, but it means a recognized article of commerce, called by that name, and which is a different ar

In old English criminal law, laymen, upon being accorded the benefit of clergy, were burned with a hot iron in the brawn of the left thumb, in order that, being thus marked, they c

A burroch, dam or small wear over a river, where traps are laid for the taking of fish. Cowell.

In Scotch law. A term used to designate the rents paid into the king's private treasury by the burgesses or inhabitants of a borough.

Lat A purse.

A treasurer of a college,

The exchequer of collegiate or conventual bodies; or the place of receiving, paying, and accounting by the bursars. Also stipendiary scholars, who live upon the burse, fund or join

In English law. The ancient punishment of sodomites, and those who contracted with Jews. Fleta, lib. 1, c. 27, § 3.

A place set apart for the interment of the dead; a cemetery. Appeal Tax Court v. Academy, 50 Md. 353.

In Saxon and old English law. Seamen or marines. Spelman.

A dry measure, containing four pecks, eight gallons or thirty-two quarts. But the dimensions of a bushel, and the weight of a bushel of grain, etc., vary in the different states in

This word embraces everything about which a person can be employed. People v. Com'rs of Taxes, 23 N. Y. 242, 244. That which occupies the time, attention, and labor of men for the

In Texas, a place or property (distinct from the home of a family) used and occupied by the head of a family as a place to exercise his calling or business, which is exempt by law.

Those hours of the day during which, in a given community, commercial, banking, professional, public or other kinds of business are ordinarily carried on. This phrase is declared t

In old English law. The barons of, a county.

A term used in the old English Jaw, to designate a large and clumsily constructed ship.

A privilege formerly allowed to the king's butler, to take a certain part of every cask of wine imported by an alien.

In English law. A law for the heir to punish waste in the llfe of the ancestor. "Though it be on record in the parliament book of Edward I., yet it never was a statute, nor ever so

A measure of liquid capacity, equal to one hundred and eight gallons; also a measure of land.

The bounding llnes of land at the end; abuttals, which see.

A phrase sometimes used in conveyancing, to introduce the boundaries of lands. See Butts and Bounds.

In old English law. Short pieces of land left unplowed at the ends of fields, whore the plow was turned about, (otherwise called "headlands,") as sidelings were similar unplowed pi

A phrase used in conveyancing, to describe the end lines or circumscribing llnes of a certain piece of land. The phrase "metes and bounds" has the same meaning.

A local term in the north of England, for the associate or deputy of another ; also of things used in common.

To acquire the ownership of property by giving an accepted price or consideration therefor; or by agreeing to do so; to acquire by the payment of a price or value; to purchase. Web

One who buys; a purchaser, particularly of chattels.

To purchase, at public sale, property which is one's own or which one has caused or procured to be sold.

The purchase of the rights or claims to real estate or a person who is not in possession of the land or ls disseised. Void, and an offense, at common law. Whitaker v. Co.ne, 2 John

This word, when descriptively used in a grant, does not mean "in immediate contact with," but "near" to, the object to which it relates; and "near" la a relative term, meaning, whe

See Bid.

In the law relating to sales by auction, this term is equivalent to "puffing." The practice consists in making fictitious bids for the property, under a secret arrangement with the

In practice. Terms anciently used to designate actions commenced by original bill, as distinguished from those commenced by original writ, and applied in modern practice to suits c

In Hindu law. A deed of mortgage or conditional sale.

In cenveyancing. A term used to indicate that the quantity of land as stated is estimated only, not exactly measured; has the same meaning and effect as the phrase "more or less."

In old English criminal practice. The established formula of reply by a prisoner, when arraigned at the bar, to the question, "Culprit, how wilt thou be tried?"

In English law. The chief men of a town, representing the inhabitants.

Regulations, ordinances or rules enacted by a private corporation for its own government A by-law is a rule or law of a corporation, for its government, and is a legislative act, a

The statute law of New Jersey recognizes three different kinds of roads: A public road, a private road, and a byroad. A by-road is a road used by the inhabitants, and recognized by

Incidentally; without new process. A term used in former English practice to denote the method of filing a declaration against a defendant who was already in the custody of the cou

As the third letter of the alphabet, is used as a numeral, in like manner with that use of A and B, (q. vt) The letter is also used to designate the third of a series of propositio

A small association for the purpose of intrigue; an intrigue. This name was given to that ministry in the reign of Charles II. formed by Clifford, Ashley; Buckingham, Arlington, an

In French commercial law. A factor or broker.

Pertaining to a horse. It was a feudal tenure of lands, the tenant furnishing a horseman suitably equipped in time of war or when the lord had occasion for his service.

In Spanish law. An allotment of land acquired by conquest, to a horse soldier. It was a strip one hundred feet wide by two hundred feet deep. The term has been sometimes used in th

In Spanish law. A knight. So called on account of its being more honorable to go on horseback (a caballo) than on any other beast.

The advisory board or council of a king or other chief executive. In the government of the United States the cabinet is composed of the secretary of state, the see-cretary of the t

In English law. A private and confidential assembly of the most considerable ministers of state, to concert measures for the administration of public affairs; first established by

A large and strong rope or chain, such as is attached to a vessel's anchors or the traction-rope of a street railway Operated by the cable system, (Hooper v. Railway Co., 85 Md. 50

Brush-wood or more properly windfall-wood.

An inferior baillff, or catchpoll. Jacob.

In Spanlsh-American law. Property entailed on the caciques or heads of Indian villages, and their descendants. Schm. Civil Law, 309.