Black's Law Dictionary

A measure used by engineers and surveyors, being twenty-two yards in length.

A term applied metaphorically to the series of conveyances or other forms of alienation, affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively, from the government or origi

A name given to the presiding officer of an assembly, public meeting, convention, deliberative or legislative body, board of directors, committee, etc.

In English parliamentary practice. In the commons, this officer, always a member, is elected by the house on the assembling of every new parliament. When the house is in committee

Twelve sacks of coals, each holding three bushels, weighing about a ton and a half. In Wales they reckon 12 bsrrels ox pitchers a ton or chaldron, and 29 cwt. of 120 lbs. to the to

1. To object or except to; to prefer objections to a person, right or instrument; to formally call into question the capability of a person for a particular function or the existen

A challenge to a juror for which some cause or reason is alleged. Termes de 1a Ley; 4 Bl. Comm. 353. Thus distinguished from a peremptory challenge. Turner v. State, 114 Ga. 42l, 4

A challenge interposed on account of an ascertained or suspected bias or partiality, and which may be either a principal challenge or a challenge to the favor. Harrisburg Bank v. F

A chnilenge to a juror on account of some legal disqualification, such as infancy, etc. See Challenge.

A summons or invitation, given by one person to another, to engage in a personal combat; a request to fight a duel. A criminal offense. See Steph. Grim. Dig. 40; 3 East, 581; Sinte

An exception to the whole panel in which the jury are arrayed, or set in order by the sheriff in his return, upon account of partiality, or some default in the sheriff, coroner, or

Is where the party has no principal challenge, but objects only some probable circumstances of suspicion, as acquaintance, and the like, the validity of which must be left to the d

The same as a challenge to the array. See supra. And see Pen. Code Cal. 1903, § 1058.

A chnilenge made separately to an individual juror; as distinguished from a challenge to the array. Harrisburg Bank v. Forster, 8 Watts (Pat) 306.

A room or apartment in a house. A private repository of money; a treasury. Sometimes used to designate a court, a commission or an association of persons habitually meeting togethe

A term applied to all such judicial business as may properly be transacted hy a judge at hls chambers or elsewhere, as distinguished from such as must be done by the court in sessi

In old English law. Certain poor Irish scholars, clothed in mean habit, and living under no rule; aiso beggars banished from England. (1 Hen. V. cc. 7, 8.) Wharton.

Keeper of the chamber. Originally the chamberlain was the keeper of the trcasure chamber (camera) of the prince or state; otherwise called "treasurer." Cowell. The name of several

Chamberlainship; the office of a chamberlain. Cowell.

In French law. A sovereign court, of great antiquity, in France, which took cognizance of and registered the accounts of the king's revenue; nearly the same as the English court of

An association (which may or may not be incorporated) comprising the principal merchants, manufacturers, and traders of a city, designed for convenience in buying, selling, and exc

In practice. The private room or office of a judge; any place in which a judge hears motions, signs papers or does other business pertaining to his office, when he is not holding a

At an early day in Pennsylvania, surveyors often made drafts on paper of pretended surveys of public lands, and returned them to the land office as duly surveyed, instead of going

A portion of the effects of a deceased person, reserved for the use of his widow, and consisting of her apparel, and the furniture of her bed-chamber, is called in London the "wido

In old English law. Change or exchange. Bract, fois. 117, 118.

A name anciently given to St. Edward's chamber, called the "Painted Chamber," destroyed by fire with the houses of parliament

In criminal law. One who makes pleas or suits or causes them to be moved, either directly or indirectly, and sues them at his proper costs, upon condition of having a part of the g

In French law. The grant of a pleco of land by the owner to another, on condition that the latter would deliver to him a portion of the crops. 18 Toul-lier, n. 182.

(Lat Campus Mail.) The field or assembly of May. The national assembly of the Franks, held in the month of May.

(Lat. Campus Martii.) The field or assembly of March. The national assembly of the Franks, held in the month of March, in the open air.

In old English law. A share or division of land; champerty. In old Scotch law. A gift or bribe, taken by any great man or Judge from any person, for delay of just actions, or furth

Of the nature of champerty; affected with champerty.

A bargain made by a stranger with one of the parties to a suit, by which such third person undertakes to carry on the litigation at his own cost and risk, in consideration of recei

A person who fights a combat in his own cause or in place of another. The person who, in the trial by battel, fought either for the tenant or demandant. 3 BL Comm. 339. —Champion o

An ancient officer, whose duty it was to ride armed cap'd,-pt6. into Westminster Hall at the coronation, while the king was at dinner, and, by the proclamation of a herald, make a

In criminal law. An accident ; an unexpected, unforeseen or unintended consequence of an act; a fortuitous event The opposite of intention, design or contrivance. There is a wide d

In ecclesiastical law. The part of a church in which the communion table stands; it belongs to the rector or the impropriator. 2 Broom & H. Comm. 420.

In American law, this is the name given in some states to the judge (or the presiding judge) of a court of chancery. In England, besides being the designation of the chief judge of

In English ecclesiastical law. One of the quatuor p&rsonœ, or four chief dignitaries of the cathedrals of the old foundation. The duties assigned to the office by the statutes of t

In ecclesiastical law, the officer appointed to assist a bishop in matters of law, and to hold his consistory courts for him. 1 Bl. Comm. 382; 2 Steph. Comm. 072,

In English law. An officer before whom, or his deputy, the court of the duchy chamber of Lancaster is held. This is a special jurisdiction concerning all manner of equity relating

In English law. A high officer of the crown, who formerly sat in the exchequer court, and, together with the regular judges of the court, saw that things were conducted to the king

In English law. Courts of local jurisdiction in and for the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England.

In England, this is the highest judicial functionary in the kingdom, and superior, in point of precedency, to every temporal lord. He is appointed by the delivery of the king's gre

In criminal law. A sudden affray. This word is sometimes applied to any kind of homicide by misadventure, but in strictness it is applicable to such killing only as happens in defe

Equity; equitable jurisdiction; a court of equity; the system of jurisprudence administered in courts of equity. Kenyon v. Kenyon, 3 Utah, 431, 24 Pac. 829; Sullivan v. Thomas, 3 R

In English law. The official head of a university. His principal prerogative is to hold a court with jurisdiction over the members of the university, in which court the vicechancel

One determined by hazard or lot, and not by the deliberate understanding and agreement of the jury. Goodman v. Cody, 1 Wash. T. 335, 34 Am. Rep. 808; Dixon v. Pluns, 98 Cal. 384, 3

1. An alteration; substitution of one thing for another. This word does not connote either improvement or deterioration as a result. In this respect it differs from amendment, whic

Properly speaking, the removal of a suit begun in one county or district to another county or district for trini, though the term is also sometimes applied to the removal of a suit

An officer formerly belonging to the king's mint, in England, whose business was chiefly to exchange coin for bullion brought in by merchants and others.

This term refers rather to the bed in which the main stream of a rivor flows than to the deep water of the stream as followed in navigation. Bridge Co., v. Dubuque County, 55 Iowa,

The chief singer in the choir of a cathedral. Mentioned in 13 Eliz. c. 10.

A church or chapel endowed with lands for the maintenance of priests to say mass daily for the souls of the donors. Termes de la Ley; Cowell.

A place of worship; a lesser or inferior church, sometimes a part of or subordinate to another church. Webster. Rex v. Nixon, 7 Car. & P. 442. —Chapel of ease. In English ecclesias

In English ecclesiastical Jaw. A cbapel founded in general at some period later than the parochial church itself, mid designed for the accommodation of such of the parishioners as,

The precinct and limits of a chapel. The same thing to a chapel as a parish is to a church. Cowell; Blount

A hood or bonnet anciently worn by the Knights of the Garter, as part of the habit of that order; also a little escutcheon fixed in the forehead of horses drawing a hearse at a fun

An officer in the English chancery whose duty was to fit the wax to seal the write, commissions, and other instruments thence issuing. The office was abolished by St 15 & 16 Vlct.

A summary of matters to be inquired of or presented before justices in eyre, justices of assise or of the peace, in their sessions. Also articles delivered by the justice in his ch

An ecolesiastic who performs divine service in a chapel; but it more commonly means one who attends upon a king, prince or other person of quality, for the performance of clerical

An Itinerant vendor of small wares. A trader who trades from place to place. Say. 191, 192.

In ecclesiastical law. A congregation of ecclesiastical persons in a cathedral church, consisting of canons or prebendaries, whereof the dean is the head, all subordinate to the bi

The aggregate of the moral qualities which belong to and distinguish an individual person; the general resuit of the one's distinguishing attributes. That moral predisposition or h

n. In general. An incumbrance, lien or burden; an obligation or duty; a liability; an accusation. Darling v. Rogers, 22 Wend. (N. Y.) 491. In contracts. An obligation, binding upon

This word, in its ordinary acceptation, as applicable to the imposition of a duty or burden, signifies capable of being charged, subject to be charged, liable to be charged or prop

Under the former system of equity practice, this phrase was used to characterize the usual method of taking an account before a master. After the plaintiff had presented his "charg

Weighty; heavy; penal; expensive. Kelham.

The title of a diplomatic representative of inferior rank, He has not the title or dignity of a minister, though he may be charged with the functions and offices of the latter, eit

The expenses which have been incurred or disbursements made, in connection with a contract, suit or business transaction. Spoken of an action, it is said that the term includes mor

A paper kept at a police-station to receive each night the names of the persons brought and given into custody, the nature of the accusation, and the name of the accuser in each ca

In Scotch law. A writ commanding a person to enter heir to his predecessor within forty days, otherwise an action to be raised against him as if he had entered.

An attorney's lien, for his proper compensation, on the fund or judgment which his client has recovered by means of his professional aid and services. Goodrich v. McDonald, 112 N.

See Order.

Having the character or purpose of a charity, (q. v.) —Charitable institution. One administering a public or private charity; an eleemosynary institution. See People v. Fitch, 16 M

One administering a public or private charity; an eleemosynary institution. See People v. Fitch, 16 Misc. Rep. 464, 39 N. Y. Supp. 926; Balch v. Shaw, 174 Mass. 144, 54 N. E. 490;

See Charitable.

Originally those enumerated in the statute 43 Eliz. c. 4, and afterwards those which, by analogy, come within its spirit and purpose. In its present usage, the term is so broad as

Subjectively, the sentiment or motive of benevolence and philanthropy; the disposition to relieve the distressed. Objectively, alms-giving; acts of bsnevolence; relief, assistance

A quantity consisting of 36 pigs of lead, each pig weighing about 70 pounds.

The word "chart," as used in the copyright law, does not include sheets of paper exhibiting tabulated or methodically arranged information, Taylor v. Gilman (C. C.) 24 Fed. 632.

In old English law. A charter or deed; an instrument written and scaled; the formal evidence of conveyances and contracts. Also any signal or token by which an estate was held. The

In old English law. A common or mutual charter or deed; one containing mufual covenants, or involving mutuality of obligation; one to which both parties might have occasion to refe

In old English law. A chirographed charter ; a charter executed in two parts, and cut through the middle, (scinditur per medium,) where the word "cyrograph-um," or "chirographum,"

A collection of the laws of the forest, made in the 9th Hen. III. and said to have been originally a part of Magna, Charta.

A deed-poll.

A deed is nothing else than the vestment of a gift. Co. Litt 36.

(Literally, a deed divided.) A charter-party. 3 Kent, Comm. 201.

Co. Litt. 36. The witnesses being dead, the truth of charters must of necessity be referred to the country, i. e., a jury.

Fr. A chart or plan, which mariners use at sea.

A challenge to a single combat; also an instrument or writing between two states for settling the exchange of prisoners of war.

Fr. In French marine law. A charter-party.

n. An instrument emanating from the sovereign power, in the nature of a grant, either to the whole nation or to a class or portion of the people or to a colony or dependency, and a

A ship hired or freighted; a ship which is the subject-matter of a charter-party.

In mercantile law. One who charters (i. e., hires or engages) a vessel for a voyage; a freighter. 2 Steph. Comm. 184; 3 Kent, Comm. 137; Turner v. Cross, 83 Tex. 218, 18 S. W. 578,

Formerly a convent of Carthusian monks in London; now a college founded and endowed by Thomas Sutton. The governors of the charter-house are a corporation aggregate without a head,

Otherwise called "book-land," is property held by deed under certain rents and free services. It, in effect, differs nothing from the free socage lands, and hence have arisen most

In English law. An instrument under the great seal, by which a pardon is granted to a man for a felony or other offense.

See Charta de Foi:esta.

A contract by which an entire ship or some principal part thereof, is let to a merchant for the conveyance of goods on a determined voyage to one or more places. The Harvey and Hen