Black's Law Dictionary

In French law. An affidavit made by a huissier, setting forth the appearance, form, quality, color, etc., of any article upon which a suit depends. Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 554.

To establish, constitute or ordain. "Constating instruments" of a corporation are its charter, organic law or the grant of powers to it See examples of the use of the term, Green's

A word used as a correlative to "attorney," to denote one who constitutes another his agent or invests the other with authority to act for him. It is also used in the language of p

Lat. To appoint, constitute, establish, ordain or undertake. Used principally in ancient powers of attorney, and now supplanted by the English word "constitute."

A Latin term, signifying we constitute or appoint.

Officers properly appointed under the constitution for the government of the people.

In the civil law. An imperial ordinance or constitution, distinguished from Lex, 8enatus-Consultum, and other kinds of law and having its effect from the sele will of the emperor.

Establishment of dower.

In public law. The organic and fundamental law of a nation or state, which may be written or unwritten, establishing the character and conception of its government, laying the basi

Consistent with the constitution; authorized by the constitution; not conflicting with any provision of the constitution or fundamental law of the state. Dependent upon a constitut

A duly constituted assembly of delegates or representatives of the people of a state or nation for the purpose of framing, revising, or amending its constitution.

(1) That branch of the public law of a state which treats of the organization and frame of government, the organs and powers of sovereignty, the distribution of political and gover

Such freedom as is enjoyed by the citizens of a country or state under the protection of its constitution; the aggregate of those personal, civil, and political rights of the indiv

One whose tenure and term of office are fixed and defined by the constitution, as distinguished from the incumbents of offices created by the legislature. Foster v. Jones, 79 Va. 6

Laws promulgated, i. e., enacted, by the Roman Emperor. They were of various kinds, namely, the following: (1) Edicta; (2) decreta; (3) rescripta, called also "epistolœ." Sometimes

See Clarendon. The constitutions of Clarendon were certain statutes made in the reign of Henry II. of England, at a parliament held at Clarendon, (A. D. 1164,) by which the king ch

In the civil law. One who, by a simple agreement, becomes responsible for the payment of another's debt

In the civll law. An agreement to pay a subsisting debt which exists without any stipulation, whether of the promisor or another party. It differs from a stipulation in that it mus

This term is held to be exactly equivalent with "restraint." Edmondson v. Harris, 2 Tenn. Chi 427. In Scotch law. Constraint means duress.

To bulld; erect; put together; make ready for use. Morse v. WestPort, 110 Mo. 502, 19 S. W. 831; Contas v. Bradford, 206 Pa. 291, 55 AH. 989. Constrnctio legis non facit injuriam.

The process or the art, of determining the sense, real meaning or proper explanation of obscure or ambiguous terms or provisions in a statute, written instrument or oral agreement

A court of equity or of common law, as the case may bs, is calied the court of construction with regard to wills, as opposed to the court of probate, whose duty is to decide whethe

That which is established by the mind of the law in its act of construing facts, conduct, circumstances or instruments; that which has not the character assigned to it in its own e

An assent or consent imputed to a party from a construction or interpretation of his conduct; as distinguished from one which he actually expresses.

Authority inferred or assumed to have been given because of the grant of some other antecedent authority. Middleton v. Parke, 3 App. D. C. 160.

A breaking made out by construction of law. As where a burglar gains an entry into a house by threats, fraud, or conspiracy. 2 Russ. Crimes, 9, 10.

An implied or virtual conversion, which takes place where a person does such acts in reference to the goods of another as amount in law to the appropriation of the property to hims

Where, by a strained construction of a penal statute, it is made to include an act not otherwise punishable, it is said to be a "constructive crime," that is, one built up by the c

One where the felonious intent to appropriate the goods to his own use, at the time of the asportation, is made out by construction from the defendant's conduct, although, original

One resulting from such injuries to the property, without its destruction, as render it valueless to the assured or prevent its restoration to the original condition except at a co

Implied malice; malice inferred from acts; malice imputed bj law; malice which is not shown by direct proof of an intention to do injury, (express malice,) but which is inferential

Possession not actual but assumed to exist, where one claims to hold by virtue of some title, without having the actual occu-pahey, as, where the owner of a tract of land, regularl

Seisin in law where there is no seisin in fact; as where the state issues a patent to a person who never takes any sort of .possession of the lands granted, he has constructive sei

Any form of service other than actuni personal service ; notification of an action or of some proceeding therein, given to a person affected by sending it to him in the mails or ca

A phrase used in the law to characterize an act not amounting to an acfual appropriation of chattels, but which shows an intention to convert them to his use; as if a person intrus

In marine insurance. This occurs where the loss or injury to the vessel insured does not amount to its total disappearance or destruction, but where, although the vessel still rema

Treason imputed to a person by law from his conduct or course of actions, though his deeds taken severally dc not amount to acfual treason. This doctrine is not known in the United

A (rust raised by construction of law, or arising by operation of law, as distinguished from an express trust. Wherever the circumstances of a transaction are such that the person

To put together; to arrange or marshal the words of an instrument. To ascertain the meaning of language by a process of arrangement and inference. See Construction.

To ravish, debsuch, violate, rape. See Harper v. Delp, 3 Ind. 230; 'Koenig v. Nott, 2 Hllt. (N. Y.) 329.

In ecclesiastical law. A ritual or book, containing the rites and forms of divine offices or the chs-toms of abbays and monasteries.

Customary law. Law derived by oral tradition from a remote antiquity. Belli

In old English law. Customs. Thus, consuetudines et assisa for-estce, the customs and assise of the forest.

(Lat. feudal customs.) A cempliation of the law of feuds or fiefs in Lombardy, made A. D. 1170.

In old English law. A writ of right close, which lay against a tenant who deforced his' lord of the rent or service due to him. Reg. Orig. 159; Fitzh. Nat Brev. 151.

Lat. A chstom; an established usage or practice. Co. Litt. 58. Tolls; duties; texes. Id. 58b. —Consuetudo Anglicana. The custom of England; the ancient common law, as distinguished

The custom of England; the ancient common law, as distinguished from lex, the Roman or civil law.

The custom or practice of a court Hardr. 141.

Lat. The custom of merchants, the same with lex mercatoria. Consuetudo contra rationem introducta potius usurpatio quam consuetudo appellari debet. A chstom introduced against reas

In Roman law. During the republic, the name "consul" was given to the chief executive magistrate, two of whom were chosen annually. The office was continued under the empire, but i

Courts held by the consuls of one country, within the territory of another, under authority given by treaty, for the settlement of civil cases between citizens of the country which

In ecclesiastical law. A church fuil or provided for. Cowell.

The opinion of a court of law on a special case.

A writ whereby a cause which has been wrongfully removed by prohibition out of an ecclesiastical court to a temporal court is returned to the ecclesiastical court Phillim. Ecc. Law

Lat In the civil law. Designedly; intentionally. Dig. 28, 41.

Co.mpleted; as distinguished from initiate or that which ls merely begun. The husband of a woman seised of an estate of inheritance becomes, by the birth of a child, tenant by the

The completion of a thing; the completion of a marriage between two affianced persons by cohabitation. Sharon v. Sharon, 79 Cal. 633, 22 Pac. 26.

One capable of being transmitted by mediate or immediate contact. See Grayson v. Lynch, 163 U. S. 468, 16 Sup. Ct 1064, 41 L. Ed. 230; Stryker v. Crane, 33 Neb. 690, 50 N. W. 1132;

In English law. The commission received for carrying over or putting off the time of execution of a contract to deliver stocks or pay for them at a certain time. Wharton.

L. Fr. A contest, dispute, disturbance, opposition. Britt, c. 42; Kelham. Conteckours; brawlers; disturbers of the pcace. Britt c. 29.

One who has committed contempt of court Wyatt v. People, 17 Colo. 252, 28 Pac. 961.

The act of the mind in considering with attention. Continued attention of the mind to a particular subject. Consideration of an act or series of acts with the intention of doing or

Contemplation of the breaking up of one's business or an inability to continue it; knowledge of, and action with reference to, a condition of bankruptcy or ascertained insolvency,

The apprehension or expectation of approaching dissolution ; not that general expectation which every mortal entertains, but the apprehension which arises from some presently exist

Knowledge of, and action with reference to, an existing or contemplated slate of insolvency, with a design to make provision against its results or to defeat the operation of the i

Lat. Contemporaneous exposition or construetion; a construction drawn from the time when, and the circumstancos under which, the subject-matter to be construed, as a statute or cus

Contumacy; a wlllful disregard of the authority of a court of justico or legislative body or disobedience to its lawful orders. Contempt of court is committed by a person who does

Lat Contemptuously. In old English law. Contempt, contempts. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 60, § 35.

Whatever obstructs or tends to obstruct the due course of proceeding of either house or grossly reflects on the character of a member of either house or imputes to him what it woul

In English ecclesiastical law. That branch of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts which is exercised upon adversary or contentious (opposed, litigated) proceedings.

In stating the rule that the possession of land necessary to give rise to a title by prescription must be a "contentious" one, it is meant that it must be based on opposition to th

Contested; adversary; litigated between adverse or contending parties; a judicial proceeding not merely ex parte in its character, but comprising attack and defense as between oppo

In English ecclesiastical law. That branch of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts which is exercised upon adversary or contentious proceedings.

A man's countenance or credit, which he has together with, and by reason of, his freehold; or that which is necessary for the support and maintenance of men, agreeably to their sev

The contents of a promissory note or other commercial instrument or chose in action means the specific sum named therein and payable by the terms of the instrument. Trading Co. v.

In parliamentary law. The "contents" are those who, in the house of lords, express assent to a bill; the "not" or "non contents" dissent. May, Pari. Law, cc. 12, 357.—"Contents unk

Adjacent; adjoining; having a common boundary; cotermb nous.

To make defense to an adverse claim In a court of law; to oppose, resist or dispute the case made by a plaintiff. Pratt v. Breckinridge, 112 Ky. 1, 65 S. W. 136; Parks v. State, 10

In Roman law. Contestation of suit; the framing an issue; joinder in issue. The formal act of both the parties with which the proceedings in jure were closed when they led to a jud

In an ecolesiastical cause, that stage of the suit which is reached when the defendant has answered the libel by giving in an allegation.

This phrase has no technical or legally defined meaning. An election may be said to be contested whenever an objection is formally urged against it which, if found to be true in fa

The context of a particular sentence or clause in a statute, contract, wlil, etc., comprises those parts of the text which immediately precede and follow it. The context may someti

In close proximity; in actual close contact. Touching; bounded or traversed by. The term is not synonymous with "vicinal." Plaster Co., v. Campbell, 89 Va. 396, 16 S. E. 274; Bank

In Spanish law. Co.ntlnency or unity of the proceedings in a cause. White, New Recop. b. 3, tit. 6, c. L

In the Roman law. Continuing; holding together. Adjoining buildings were said to be continentia.

Pertaining or relating to a continent; characteristic of a continent; as broad In scope or purpose as a continent. Co.ntinental Ins. Co. v. Co.ntinental Fire Ass'n (C. C.) 96 Fed.

The first national legislative assembly m the United Slates, which met in 1774, in pursuance of a recommendation made by Massachusetts and adopted by the other colonies. In this co

Paper money issued under the authority of the continental congress. Wharton v. Morris, 1 Dall. 125, 1 I. Ed. 65.

In old English practice, Co.ntinuance or connection. Applied to the proceedings in a cause. Bract, fol. 362b.

An event that may or may not happen, a doubtful or uncertain future event The quality of being contingent A fortuitous event, which comes without design, foresight, or expectation.

In Scotch law. Where two or more processes are so connected that the circumstances of the one are likely to throw light on the others, the process first enrolled is considered as t

A remainder is snid to be "in a contingency with double aspect," when there is another remainder limited on the same estate, not in derogation of the first, but as a substitute for

Possible, but not assured; doubtful or uncertain, conditioned upon the ocourrence of some future event which is itself uncertain or questionable. Vernier v. Roach, 96 Cal. 467, 31

One which has not accrued and which is dependent on the happening of some future event Hospes v. Car Co., 48 Minn. 174, 50 N. W. 1117, 15 In R. A. 470, 31 Am. St. Rep. 637 ; Austin

Where a demurrer has been filed to one or more counts in a declaration, and its consideration is postponed, and meanwhile other counts in the same declaration, not demurred to, are

An estate which depends for its effect upon an event which may or may not happen; as an estate limited to a person not in esse, or not yet bom. 2 Crabb, Real Prop. p. 4, § 946; Hay

A fee stipulated to be paid to an attorney for his services in conducting a suit or other forensic proceeding only in case he wins it; it may be a percentage of the amount recovere

. It may be defined as a future interest not transmissible to the representatives of the party entitled thereto, in case he dies bsfore it vests in possession. Thus, if a testator

A legacy given to a person at a future uncertain time, that may or may not arrive ; as "at his age of twenty-one," or "if or "when he attains twenty-one." 2 Bl. Comm. 513; 2 Steph.

One which is not now fixed and absolute, but which will become so in case of the occurrence of some future and nncertain event Downer v. Co.rtis, 25 Vt. 650; Bank v. Hingham Mfg. C