Black's Law Dictionary

The person defending or denying; the party against whom relief or recovery is sought in an action or suit. Jewett Car Ch v. Kirkpatrick Co.nst Co. (C. C.) 107 Fed. 622; Brower v. N

The distinctive term appropriate to the party agninst whom a writ of error is sued out.

Lat. A word used in grants and donations, which binds the donor and his heirs to defend the donee, if any one go about to lay any incumbrance on the thing given other than what is

(Fr.) To deny; to defend; to conduct a suit for a defendant; to forbid , to prevent; to protect. In Scotch and canon law. A defendant

To offer duel or combat as a legal trial and appeal. Abolished by 59 Geo. III. § 46. See Battel.

To wage law; a denial of an acousation upon oath. See Wager ox Law.

A peculiar title belonging to the sovereign of England, as that of "Catholic" to the king of Spain, and that of "Most Christian" to the king of Franca These titles were originally

He defends the force and injury. Fleta, llb. 5, c. 39, § 1.

L. Fr. A defender or defendant; the party accused in an appeaL Britt c. 22.

The act of lending money on usury.

In old English law. A park or place fenced in for deer, and defended as a property and peculiar for that use and service. Cowell.

That which is offered and alleged by the party proceeded against in an action or suit, as a reason in law or fact why the plaintiff should not recover or establish what he seeks; w

In French and Canadian law. A demurrer.

In French and Canadian law. The general issue. 3 Low. Can. 421.

In old English law. A lord or earl of the marches, who was the warden and defender of his country. Cowell.

In English ecclesiastical law. A species of pleading, where the defendant, instead of denying the plaintiff's charge upon oath, has any circumstances to offer in his defense. This

A war in defense of or for the protection of, national rights. It may be defensive in its principles, though offensive in its operations. 1 Kent, Comm. 60, note.

That part of any open field or place that was allotted for corn or hay, and upon which there was no common or feeding, was anciently said to be in defenso; se of any meadow ground

In the civil law. A defender; one who assumed the defense of another's case in court. Also an advocate. A tutor or curator. In canon law. The advocate or patron of a church. An off

Defender or protector of a city or municipality. An officer under the Roman empire, whose duty it was to protect the people against the injustice of the magistrates, the insolence

Defender of the faith. See Defender.

An inclosure of land; any fenced ground. See Defenso.

Delayed; put off; remanded; postponed to a future time. —Deferred life annuities. In English law. Annuities for the life of the purchaser, but not commencing until a date subsequen

In English law. Annuities for the life of the purchaser, but not commencing until a date subsequent to the date of buying them, so that, if the purchaser die before that date, the

See Stock.

A lack, shortage or insufficiency. The difference bstween the total amount of the debt or payment meant to be secured by a mortgage and that realized on foreclosure and sale when l

In parliamentary practice, an appropriation bill covering items of expense omitted from the general appropriation bili or bills, or for which insufficient appropriations were made.

3 Coke, 41. One blood being wanting, he cannot be heir. But see 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 106, § 9, and 33 & 34 Viet. c. 23, § 1.

Something wanting, generally in the accounts of one intrusted with money or in the money recoived by him. Mutual I & B. Ass'n v. Price, 19 Fla. 135.

Of breach of faith or fidelity. 4 Reeve, Eng. Law, 99.

To debauch, deflower or corrupt the chastity of a woman. The term does not necessarily imply force or ravishment, nor does it connote previous immaculateness. Sinte v. Montgomery,

To explain or state the exact meaning of words and phrases; to settle, make clear, establish boundaries. U. S. v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 160, 5 L. Ed. 57; Walters v. Richardson, 93 Ky. 37

L. Fr. Of necessity; of pure necessity. See Fine Force.

A writ'prohibiting the taking of fines for beau pleader. Reg. Orig. 179.

A writ which lay for the release of one imprisoned for a re-disseisin, on payment of a reasonable fine. Reg. Orig. 222b.

Concerning fines levied. The title of the statute 27 Edw. I. requiring fines thereafter to be levied, to be read openly and solemnly in court 2 Inst. 521.

Lat Definition, or, more strictly, limiting or bounding; as in the maxim of the civil law: Omnis definitio periculosa est, parum est enim ut non subverti possit, (Dig. 50, 17, 202;

A description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the 'meaning of a word or term. Webster. The process of stating the exact meaning of a word by means of other words. W

That which finally and completely ends and settles a controversy. A definitive sentence or judgment is put in opposition to an Interlocutory judgment. A distinction may be taken be

The final judgment, decree, or sentence of an ecolesiastical court. 3 Bl. Comm. 10l.

Writ for acquitting or releasing pledges. A writ that lay for a surety, against him for whom he had become surety for the payment of a certain sum of money at a certain day, where

Seduction or debauching. The act by which a woman is deprived of her virginity.

In English law. To withhold wrongfully; to withhold the possession of lands from one who is lawfully entitled to them. 3 Bl. Comm. 172; Phelps v. Baldwin, 17 Conn. 212. In Scotch l

Deforcement ls where a man wrongfully holds lands to which another person is entitled. It therefore includes disseisin, abatement, discontinuance, and intrusion. Co. Litt. 277b, 33

One who wrongfully keeps the owner of lands and tenements out of the possession of them. 2 Bl. Comm. 350.

In Lat. To withhold lands or tenements from the rightful owner. This is a word of art which cannot be supplied by any other word. Co. Litt. 331b.

L. Lat In old English law. A distress, distraint or seizure of goods for satisfaction of a lawful debt Cowell.

Writ of forfeiture of marriage. Reg. Orig. 163, 164.

The punishment of being buried alive.

Concerning those that break prison. The title of the statute 1 Edw. II. ordaining that none from thenceforth who broke prison should have judgment of life or limb for breaking pris

To practice fraud; to cheat or trick; to deprive a person of property or any interest, estate or right by fraud, deceit or artifice. People v. Wiman, 148 N. Y. 29, 42 N. E. 408; Al

In Spanish law. The crime committed by a person who fraudulently avoids the payment of some public tax.

Privation by fraud.

Deceased; a deceased persen. A common term in Scotch law.

Lat. Dead. "Defunctus sine prole," dead without (leaving) issue,

Of theft. One of the kinds of .criminal appeal formerly in use in England. 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 40.

L. Fr. To waste.

Of behavior and reputation. An old writ which lay in cases where a person's conduct and reputation were impeached.

A deprivation of dignity; dismission from office. An ecclesiastical censure, whereby a clergyman is divested of his holy orders. There are two serin by the canon law,—one summary,

A term for waste in the French law.

Reviling; holding one up to publlc obloquy; lowering a person in the estimation of the public.

Of grace or favor, by favor. De spedali gratia, of special grace or favor.

1 Coke, 53. The clause "ot our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion," is of no avail in those things in which it is presumed that the prince was ignorant.

In the law of descent and family relations. A step or grade, i. e., the distance or number of removes, which separates two persons who are related by consanguinity. Thus we speak o

2 Rolle, 123. Of whole trees, tithes are not given; but of wood cut to be used, tithes are given.

A writ for respiting or postponing homage. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 269, A.

(Lat. For inking a man in withernam.) A writ to take a man who had carried away a bondman or bondwoman into another country beyond the rcach of a writ of replevin.

(Lat For replevying a man.) A writ which lies to replevy a man out of prison or out of the custody of a private person, upon giving security to the sheriff that the man shall be fo

I Fr. Out of; without; beyond ; foreign to; unconnected with. Dehors the record; foreign to the record. 3 Bl. Comm. 387.

Writ for delivering an heir to him who has wardship of the land. A writ directed to the sheriff, to require one that had the body of him that was ward to another to deliver him to

Writ concerning an heir ravished and carried away. A writ which anciently lay for a lord who, having by right the wardship of his tenant under age could not obtain his body, the sa

(Lat. For burning a heretic.) A writ which lay where a heretic had been convicted of heresy, had abjured, and had relapsed into heresy. It is said to be very ancient. Fitzh. Nat. B

A writ which lay for one arrested in a personui action and committed to prison under a mistake as to his identity, the proper defendant bearing the same name, Reg. Orig. 194.

An Old common-law writ, long obsolete, to inquire whether a man be an idiot or not. 2 Steph. Comm. 509.

Lat. By the grace of God. A phrase used in the formal title of a king or queen, importing a claim of sovereignty by the favor or commission of God. In ancient times it was incorpor

Of those who are to be put on assises. The title of a statute passed 21 Edw. I. defining the qualifications of jurors. Crabb, Eng. Law, 167, 189; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 184.

The judgment of God. The old Saxon trial by ordeal, so called because it was thought to be an appeal to God for the justice of a cause, and it was believed that the decision was ac

Of increase; in addition. Costs de incremento or coste of increase, are the costs adjudged by the court in civil actions, in addition to the damages and nominal costs found by the

Of infirmity. The principal essoin in the time of Glanville; afterwards called "de malo." 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 115. See De Malo; Essoin.

A writ of entry. Reg. Orig. 227b, et seq.

Of [his own] wrong. In the technical language of pleading, a replication de injuria is one that may be made in an action of tort where the defendant has admitted the acts complaine

Concerning an inofficious or undutiful wlll. A title of the civil law. Inst 2, 18.

Anew; a second time. As it was before.

A writ of intrusion; where a stranger entered after the death of the tenant, to the injury of the reversioner. Reg. Orig. 233b.

In Spanlsh law. Surrender; release; abandonment; e. g., the act of an inselvent in surrendering his property for the benefit of his creditors, of an heir in renouncing the successi

For avoiding a loss. A phrase applied to a defendant, as de lucro captando is to a plaintiff. Jones v. Sevjer, 1 Litt (Ky.) 51, 13 Ain. Den. 2ia

A taking of a solemn oath.

The name of a statute passed in the reign of Edward I. which enacted severe and arbitrary penalties against the Jews.

Of right; legitimate; lawful ; by right and just title. In this sense it is the contrary of de facto, (which see.) It may also be contrasted with de gratia, in which case it means

For payment of the amount adjudged. A term applied in the Scotch law to ball to the action or special bail.

Of judicial proceedings. The title of the second part of the Digests or Pandects, including the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh books. See Dig. proœm. § 3

For appearing in court. A term applied in the Scotch and admiralty law, to ball for a defendant's ap-pca ranee.

L. Fr. Of the most fair. A term applied to a species of dower, which was assigned out of the fairest of the husband's tenemenis. Litt. § 48. This was abolished with the military te

In French marine law. Abandonment Emerlg. Tr. des Ass. ch. 17.

In Scotch law. To accuse. Delated, accused. Delatit off arte and parte, accused of being accessary to. 3 How. St Tv. 425, 440.

From the side; on the side; collaterally; of collaterals. Cod. 5, 5, 6.

In the civil law. An accusation or information.

An accuser; an informer; a sycophant

In old English law. The reward of an informer. Whishaw.

To retard; obstruct; put off; hinder; interpose obstacles; as, when it is said that a conveyance was made to "hinder and delay creditors." Mercantile Co. v. Arnold, 108 Ga. 449, 34