Black's Law Dictionary

A bsrgnin by which money is loaned, at an extortionate or extravagant rate, to an heir or any one who has an estate in reversion er expectancy, to be repaid On the vesting of his i

Land in Norfolk, so called because it is not known to what parish it belongs, and the minister who first seizes the tithes of it, by right of preoccupation, enjoys them for that ye

A name formerly given to a sheriff's deputy or to a constable or other officer whose duty it is to arrest persons. He was a sort of serjeant The word is not now in use as an offici

One inviting a distinct and positive statement of fact; one which can be answered by "yes" or "no." In the plural, a series of questions, covering a particular subject-matter, arra

(From Fr. Quatre-cousin.) A cousin in the fourth degree; hence any distant or remote relative.

In English ecclesiastical law. The church of the bishop of the diocese, in which is his cathedra or throne, and his special Jurisdiction; in that respect the principal church of th

In English ecclesiastical law. All deaneries, archdeaconries, and eanonries, and generally all dignities and offices in any cathedral or collegiate church, below the rank of a bish

In English ecclesiastical law. A sum of 2s. paid to the bishop by the inferior clergy; but from its being usually paid at the bishop's synod or visitation, it is commonly named syn

In Scotch law. A creditor whose debt is secured on all or several distinct parts of the debtor's property. Bell.

The statute of 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, by which Roman Catholics were restored, in general, to the full enjoyment of all civll rights, except that of holding ecclesiastical offices, and c

In Roman law. The rule which is commonly expressed in the maxim, Quod ab initio non valet tractu temporis non convalebit, meaning that what is at the beginning void by reason of so

A term which includes the domestic animals generally; all the animals used by man for labor or food. Animals of the bovine genus. In a wider sense, ali domestic animals used by man

A device to prevent cattle from straying along a rai

A meeting of the legal voters of any political party assembled for the purpose of choosing delegates or for the nomination of candidates for office. Pub. St. N. H. 1901, p. 140, c.

A land's end or the bottom of a ridge in arable land. Cowell.

Highroads or ways pitched with flint or other stones.

In the civil law. An innkeeper. Dig. 4, 9, 4, 5.

In the civil law. An inn or tavern. Inst. 4, 5, 3.

In the civil law. Innkeepers. Dig. 4, 9; Id. 47, 5; Story, Ag. § 458.

Italian merchants who came into England in the reign of Henry III., where they established themselves as money lenders, but were soon expelled for their usury and extortion. Cowell

Lat. 1. A cause, reason, occasion, motive or inducement 2. In the civil law and in old English law. The word signified a source, ground, or mode of acquiring property; hence a titl

The cause of the thing causing is the cause of the effect 4 Camp. 284; Marble v. City of Worcester, 4 Gray (Mass.) 398.

The cause of the church is equal to public cause; and paramount is the reason which makes for religion. Co. Litt. 341.

Causes of dower, life, liberty, revenue, are among the things favored in law. Co. Litt 341.

A writ lying where a woman has given lands to a man in fee-simple with the intention that he shall marry her, and he refuses so to do within a reasonable time, upon suitable reques

A writ addressed to a mayor of a town, etc., who was by the king's writ commanded to give seisin of lands to the king's grantee, on his delaying to do it, requiring him to show cau

In contemplation of approaching death. In view of death. Commonly occurring in the phrase donatio causa mortis, (q. v.)

The reason is open, obvious, plain, clear, or manifest. A common expression in old writers. Perk. c. 1, §§ 11, 14, 07.

The immediate, nearest, or latest cause.

In the civil and old English law. TO be engaged in a suit; to litigate ; to conduct a cause.

In the civil law. The accessione, appurtenances, or fruits of a thing; comprehending ali that the claimant of a principal thing can demand from a defendant in addition thereto, and

A remote or mediate cause ; a cause operating indirectly by the intervention of other causes.

The reason of the knowledge is evident. A technical phrase in Scotch practice, used in depositions of witnesses.

A necessary or inevitable cause ; a cause without which the effect in question could not have happened. Hayes v. Railroad Co., Ill U. S. 228, 4 Sup. Ct. 369, 28 In Ed. 410.

In old European law. One who manages or litigates another's cause Spelman.

That which produces an effect; whatever moves, impels or leads. The origin or foundation of a thing, as of a suit or action; a ground of action. Corning v. McCullough, 1 N. Y. 47,

Books kept in the central office of the English supreme court, in which are entered all writs of summons issued in the office. Rules of Court, v 8.

In English practice, A printed roll of actions, to be tried in the order of their entry, with the names of the solicitors for each litigant. Similar to the calendar of causes or do

Matter for which an action may be brought. The ground on which an action may be sustained. The right to bring a suit. Cause of action is properly the ground on which an action can

Celebrated cases. A work containing reports of the decisions of interest and importance in French courts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Secondarily a single trini or

In the civil law. A pleader ; one who argued a cause ore tenus.

Lat. Care; caution; vigilance ; prevision.

In the civil and French law. Security given for the performance of any thing; bail; a band or undertaking by way of surety. Also the person who becomes a surety. In Scotch law. A p

Security by means of bonds or pledges entered into by third parties. Du Cange.

In Scotch law, and in admiralty law. Surety; security; bail; an undertaking by way of surety. 6 Mod. 162. See Cautio. —Caution juratory. In Scotch law. Security given by oath. That

In Scetch law. An instrument in which a person binds himself as surety for another.

In English ecclesiastical law. A writ that lies against a bishop who holds an excommunicated person in prison for contempt, notwithstanding he offers sufficient caution or security

In Scotch law. A surety; a bandsman. One who binds himself in a bond with the principal for greater security. He is still a cautioner whether the bond be to pay a debt or whether h

In Scotch law. Security given by oath. That which a suspender swears is the best he can afford in order to obtain a suspension. Ersk. Pract. 4, 3, 6.

In French law. The same as becoming surety in English law.

In Scetch law. Suretyship.

The head, beginning, and end. A term applied in English law to the king, as head of parliament. 4 Inst 3 ; 1 Bl. Comm. 188.

An abbreviation for curia ad-visari vult, the court will be advised, will consider, wlll deliberate.

Lat. Let him beware. A formal notice or warning given by a party interested to a ceurt, judge or ministerial officer against the performance of certain acts within his power and ju

Let the doer or actor, beware,

Let the buyer take care. This maxim summarizes the rule that the purchaser of an article must examine, judge, and test it for himself, bsing bound to discover any obvious defects o

One who files a caveat.

In Roman law. A maxim, or rule, casting the responsibility for defects or deficiencies upon the seller of goods, and expressing the exact opposite of the common law rule of caveat

Let the traveler beware. This phrase has been used as a concise expression of the duty of a traveler on the highway to use due care to detect and avoid defects in the way. Cornwell

Beware of fragments. Ban. Aph. 26.

Lat. In the civil and common law. To take care; to exercise caution; to take care or provide for; to provide by law; to provide against; to forbid by law; to give security; to give

Persons stealing ore from mines in Derbyshire, punishable in the bergh-mote or miners' court; also officers belonging to the same mines. Wharton.

In old English law. A quay, kay, key or wharf. Cowell.

In old English law. Cay-age or kayage; a toll or duty anciently paid for landing goods at a quay or wharf. Cowell.

In reports and legal documents, an abbreviation for common bench. Also an abbreviation for chief baron.

Various terms or phrases may be denoted by this abbreviation; such as circuit court, (or city or county court;) criminal eases, (or crown or civil or chancery cases;) civil code; c

An abbreviation for Code of Civll Procedure; also for court of common pleas.

In the civil and old common law. Kept for cutting; intended or used to be cut. A term applied to wood.

A bargain; anything for sale; a chattel; also cattle, as being the usual medium of barter. Sometimes used instead of ceapgild, (q. v.)

Payment or forfeiture of an animal. An ancient species of forfeiture.

To yield up; to assign; to grant. Generally used to designate the transfer of territory from one government to another. Goetz v. United States (O. O.) 103 Fed. 72; Baltimore v. Tur

In Scotch law. An assignor. One who transfers a chose in action.

I grant. The word ordinarily used in Mexican conveyances to pass title to lands. Mulford v. Le Franc, 26 Cal. 88, 108.

In old English law. A schedute. In Spanish law. An act under private signature, by which a debtor admits the amount of the debt, and binds himself to discharge the same on a specif

In French law. The technical name of an act under private signature, Campbell v. Nicholson, 3 La. Ann. 458.

In medical jurisprudence. Concealment of pregnancy or delivery.

In old English law, a chaldron. In old Scotch law, a measure of grain, otherwise called a "chalder." See 1 Karnes, Bq. 215.

The formal act by which a man and woman take each other for husband and wife, according to law; the solemnization of a marriage. The term is usually applied to a marriage ceremony

The condition or state of llfe of an unmarried person.

A butler in a monastery; sometimes in universities called "manciple" or "caterer."

He took and carried away. Applicable in a declaration in trespass or an indictment for larceny where the defendant has carried away goods without right. 4 Bl. Comm. 231.

A place of burial, differing from a churchyard by its locality and incidents,—by its locality, as it is separate and apart from any sacred bulldlng used for the performance of divi

Small pieces of wood laid in the form of tlles to cover the roof of a house; shingles. Cowell.

In Saxon law. An expiatory mulct or fine paid to the relations of a murdered person by the murderer or his relations. Spelman.

In old records. Acorns.

A notice given by a buyer to a seller that the things which had been sold were claimed by another, in order that he might appear and justify the sale. Blount; Whishaw.

In French Canadian law. An annual tribute or due reserved to a seignior or lord, and imposed merely in recognition of his superiority. Guyot, Inst c. 9.

In old English law. Farmers or such persons as were liable to pay a census, (tax.) Blount; Cowell.

In old English law. A farm or house and land let at a standing rent Cowell.

In the Roman law. To ordain; to decree. Dig. 50, 16, 111.

In Canadian law. A tenant by cens, (q. v.)

In Canadian law. Tenure by cens, (q. vt)

In Spanish and Mexican law. An annuity. A ground rent The right which a person acquires to receive a certain annual pension, for the delivery which he makes to another of a determi

A redeemable annuity; otherwise called "censo redimible." Trevino v. Fernandez, 13 Tex. 630.

A censo (q. v.) is called "consgnativo" when he who receives the money assigns for the payment of the pension (annuity) the estate the fee in which he reserves. Civ. Code Mex. art.

In Spanish and Mexican law. An emphyteutic annuity. That species of censo (annuity) which exists where there la a right to require of another a certain canon or pension annunily, o

In old European law. A species of oblati or voluntary slaves of churches or monasteries; those who, to procure the protection ot the church, bound themselves to pay an annual tax o

In Roman law. They have decreed. The term of art or technical term for the judgment, resolution or decree of the senate. Tayl. Civil Law, 566.

A dead rent, like that which is called "mortmain." Blount; Cowell.

In ecclesiastical law. A spiritual punishment, consisting in withdrawing from a baptized person (whether belonging to the clergy or the laity) a privilege which the church gives hi