Black's Law Dictionary

See Deputy. -High sheriff. One holding the office of sheriff, as distinguished from his deputies or assistants or under sheriffs.

At common law, a writ which a widow entitled to quarantine might sue out in case the heir or other persons ejected her. It seems to have been a summary process, and required the sh

An ancient writ of entry.

In equity. De jure stricto, nihil possum vendicare, de œquitate tamen, nullo modo hoc obtinet; In strict law, I can claim nothing, but in equity this by no means obtains. Fleta, 11

Of which. Formal words in the simple writ of entry, from which it was called a writ of entry "in the quo," or "in the quibus." 3 Reeve, Eng. Law, 33.

In the civll law. A contract by which one who has a claim difficult to recover agrees with another to give a part, for the purpose of obtaining his services to recover the rest. 1

Seems to mean, literally, to cohfound and disorder or to turn out of course or displace; as deraignment or departure out of religion, in St. 31 Hen. VIII. c. 6. In the common law,

Of the ravishment of maids. The name of an appeal formerly in use in England in cases of rape. Bract fol. 147; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 38.

Writ for fixing reasonable boundaries. A writ which lay to settle the boundaries between the lands of persons in different towns, where one complained of encroachment. Reg. Orig. 1

A writ which lay for the wife and children of a deceased person against his executors, to recover their reasonable part or share of his goods. 2 Bl. Comm. 492; Fitzh. Nat Brev. 122

Of things. The title of the third part of the Digests or Pandects, comprising books 12-19, inclusive.

Of doubtful things or matters. Dig. 34, 5.

In Spanish law. Law or right. Derecho cotnun, common law. The civil law is so called. A right. Derechos, rights. Also, specifically, an impost laid upon goods or provisions or upon

Writ to send the record and process of a cause to a superior court; a species of writ of error. Reg. Orig. 209.

Writ of right Reg. Orig. 1, 2; Bract, fol. 327b. See Writ op Right.

Writ of right of advowson. Reg. Orig. 29b. A writ which lay for one who had an estate in an advowson to him and his heirs in fee-simple, if he were disturbed to present. Fitzh. Nat

Writ of right, of reasonable part. A writ which lay between privies in blood, as between brothers in gavelkind or between sisters or other coparceners for lands in fee-simple, wher

Writ of right patent. Reg. Orig. 1.

Writ of redisseisin. A writ which lay where a man recovered by assise of novel disseisin land, rent or common, and the like, and was put in possession thereof by verdict, and after

Forsaken; abandoned; deserted ; cast away. Personal property abandoned or thrown away by the owner in such manner as to indicate that he intends to make no further claim thereto. 2

The gaining of land from the water, in consequence of the sea shrinking back below the usual water mark; the opposite of alluvion, (g. v.) Dyer, 326b; 2 Bl. Comm. 262; 1 Steph. Com

A writ by which one tenant In common seeks to compel another to aid in repairing the property held in common. 8 Barn. & C. 269.

Writ of rescue or rescous. A writ which lay where cattle distrained or persons arrested, were rescued from those taking them. Reg. Orig. 117, 118; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 101, C, G.

For having a return ; to have a return. A term applied to the judgment for the defendant in an action of replevin, awarding him a return of the goods replevied; and to the writ or

An abbreviation used for De ea re ita censnere, (concerning that matter have so decreed,) in recording the decrees of the Roman senate. Tayl. Civll Law, 564, 566.

L. Fr. Guilty of nothing; not guilty.

Coming from another; taken from something preceding; secondary; that which has not its origin in itself, but owes its existence to something foregoing. —Derivative conveyances. Con

Conveyances which presuppose some other conveyance precedent, and only serve to enlarge, confirm, alter, restiain. restore, or transfer the interest granted by such original convey

The kind of possession of one who is in the lawful occupation or custody of the property, but not under a claim of title of his own, but under a right derived from another, as, tor

The partial repeal or abolishing of a law, as by a subsequent act which limits its scope or impairs its utility and force. Distinguished from abrogation, which means the entire rep

In a will, this is a sentence or secret character inserted by the testator, of which he reserves the knowledge to himself, with a condition that no will he may make thereafter shou

Lat In the civil law. A house, dwelling, place of habitation, whether In the city or ceuntry. Dig. 30, 41, 5. In the country everything upon the surface of the sell passed under th

In Spanish law. An irregular action committed with violence against law, chstom or reason.

A writ of safeguard allowed to strangers seeking their rights In English courts, and apprehending violence or injury to their persons or property. Reg. Orig. 26.

A writ of safe conduct. Reg. Orig. 25b, 26.

In Mexican law. The desamortizacion of property is to take it ont of mortmain, (dead hands;) that is, to unloose it from the grasp, as it were, of ecolesiastical or civil corporati

L. Fr. Of his or her life; of his own life; as distinguished from pur autre vie, for another's life. Litt. §§ 35, 36.

Of or concerning the exchequer. The title of a statute passed in the fifty-first year of Henry III. 2 Rceve, Eng. Law, 61.

One who is descended from another; a person who proceeds from the body of another, such as a chlld, grandchild, etc., to the remotest degree. The term is the opposite of "ascendant

Descent; in the descent See Formedon.

Capable of passing by descent or of being inherited or transmitted by devise, (spoken of estates, titles, offices, and other property.) Collins v. Smith, 105 Ga. 525, 31 S. E. 449.

Hereditary succession. Succession to the ownership of an estate by inheritance or by any act of law, as distinguished from "purchase." Title by descent is the title by which one pe

The devolving of realty upon the heir on the death of his ancestor intestate.

1. A delineation or account of a particniar subject by the recital of its characteristic accidents and qualities. 2. A written enumeration of items composing an estate, or of its c

Description of the person. By this is meant a word or phrase used merely for the purpose of identifying or pointing out the person intended, and not as an intimation that the langu

Writ for having (or to have) escuage or scutage. A writ which anciently lay against tenants by knight-service, to compel them to serve In the king's wars or send substitutes or to

For behaving himself well; for his good behavior Yelv. 90, 154.

Of suit to a mlll. A writ which lay to compel one to continue hls custom (of grinding) at a mill. 3 Bl. Comm. 235; Fitzh. Nat Brev. 122, M.

To leave or quit with an intention to cause a permanent separation; to forsake utterly; to abandon,

The act by which a person abandons and forsakes, without justification or unauthorized, a station or condition of public or social life, renouncing its responsibilities and evading

In Spanish law. Dishonor ; injury; slander. Las Partidas, pt. 7, tit 9, 1. 1, &

In the law of evidence. Purpose or intention, combined with plan or implying a plan in the mind. Burrill, Circ. Ev. 331; Slate v. Grant, 86 Iowa, 216, 53 N. W. 120; Ernest v. State

A description or descriptive expression by which a person or thing is denoted in a will without using the name.

The description of a person or a party to a deed or contract

Co. Litt. 210. The specifying of one is the exclusion of another, and that which is expressed makes that which is understood to cease.

From like things to like things we are to proceed by the same rule or reason, [i. e., we are allowed to argue from the analogy of cases.] Branch, Prion.

Of [respecting] like things, [in like cases,] the judgment is to be the same. 7 Coke, 18.

This term, used in a will in relation to the management and distribution of property, has been interpreted by the courts with different shades of meaning, varying from the mere exp

A term used in the Spanish law, denoting the act by which the boundaries of an estate or portion of a country are determined.

In Spanish law. Persons deprived of memory. White, New Recop. hi 1, tit 2, c. 1, § 4.

L. Fr. Of hls own wrong. A stranger who takes upon him to act as an executor without any just authority Is called an "executor of hls own wrong," (de son tort.) 2 Bl. Comm. 507 ; 2

Of hls own wrong The law French equivalent of the Latin phrase de injuria, (q. v.)

In maritime law. Persons appointed to settle cases of average.

Official communications of official persons on the affairs of government.

Hopeless; worthless. This term is used in inventories and schedules of assets, particularly by executors, etc., to describe debts or claims which are considered impossible or hopel

A hopeless debt; an irrecoverable obligation.

Contempt. Despitz, contempts. Kelham.

Contempt. See Despite. A contemptible person. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 5.

This word involves, in its signification, violence or clandestine means by which one is deprived of that which he possesses. Its Spanish equivalent, despojar, is a term used in Mex

A possessory action of the Mexican law. It is brought to recover possession of immovable property, of which one has been despoiled {despojado) by another.

The act of betrothing persons to each other.

In Spanish law. Espousals ; mutual promises of future marriage. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 6, c. 1, § 1.

This word, in its original and most simple acceptation, signifies master and supreme lord; it is synonymous with monarch ; but taken in bad part, as it is usually employed, it sign

That abuse of government where the sovereign power is not divided, but united in the hands of a single man, whatever may be his official title. It'is not, properly, a form of gover

To act as a despot. Webster.

L. Fr. Unreasonable. Britt c. 121.

In French law. When a person is declared bankrupt, he is Immediately deprived of the enjoyment and administration of all his property; this deprivation, which extends to all his ri

The writ of statute merchant. Reg. Orig. 146b.

The writ of statute staple, Reg. Orig. 151.

In Roman law. Que of the Innominate contracts, and, in effect, a sale of land or goods at a price fixed, (œsti-mato,) and guarantied by some third party, who undertook to find a pu

The purpose to which It is intended an article or a fund shall be applied. A testator gives a destination to a legacy when he prescribes the specific use to which it shall be put.

A "destitute person" is one who has no money or other property available for hls maintenance or support. Nor-ridgewoek v. Solon, 49 Me. 385; Woods v. Perkins, 43 La. Ann. 347, 9 So

As used In policies of Insurance, leases, and in maritime law, this term is often applied to an act which renders the subject useless for its intended purpose, though it does not l

A term used in old English law, generally in connection with waste, and having, according to some, the same meaning. 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 385 ; 3 Bl. Comm. 223. Britton, however, mak

To weary a person with continual barkings, and then to bite; spoken of dogs. Leg Alured. 26, cited in Cunningham's Diet.

Disuse; cessation or discontinuance of use. Applied to obsolete statutes. James v. Comm., 12 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 227.

Writ of surcharge of pasture. A judicial writ which lay for him who was impleaded in the county court, for surcharging a common with his cattle, in a case where he was formerly imp

Of showing the tableis of a will. Dig. 48, 5.

To seize or take into custody another's goods or person.

The act (or the juridical fact) of withholding front Person lawfully entitled the possession of lahd or goods; or the restraint of a man's personal liberty against his will. The wr

This term is used in policies of marine insurance, in the clause relating to "arrests, restraints, and detainments." The last two words are construed as equivalents, each meaning t

Of not allowing talliage. The name given to the statutes 25 and 34 Edw. I., restricting the power of the king to grant talliage. 2 Inst. 532 ; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 104.

From time whereof the memory of man does not exist to the contrary. Litt § 170.

From time to time, and at all times. Townsh. PI. 17.

L. Fr. From time whereof memory runneth not; time out of memory of man. Litt. §§ 143, 145, 170.

In the civil law. That condition of fact under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure, to the exclusion of all others. It forms the substance of po

The act of keeping back or withholding, either accidentally or by design, a person or thing. See Detainer. —Detention in a reformatory, as a punishment or measure of prevention, is

That which may cease or determine upon the happening of a certain contingency. 2 Bl. Comm. 121. As to determinable "Fee" and "Freehold," see those titles.

(Also calied a "qualified" or "base" fee.} One which has a qualification subjoined to it, and which must be determined whenever the quni-ification annexed to it is at an end. 2 Bl.

Estates for life, which may determine upon future contingencies before the life for which they are created expires. As if an estate be granted to a woman during her widowhood, or t