Black's Law Dictionary

A bill broker; one who discounts bills of exchange and promissory notes, and advances money on securities.

Not married; not subject to the disabilities of a coverture. It applies equally to a maid and a widow.

In a general sense, the ascertainment of that which was previously unknown; the disclosure or coming to light of what was previously hidden; the acquisi-tion of notice or knowledge

In equity pleading. A bill for the discovery of facts resting in the knowledge of the defendant, or of deeds or writings, or other things in his custody or power; but seeking no re

To destroy or impair the credibility of a person; to Impeach; to lessen the degree of credit to be accorded to a witness or document, as by impugning the veracity of the one or the

A difference between two things which ought to be identical, as between one writing and another; a variance, (q. v.)

10 Coke, 140. Discretion is to know through law what is Just

A liberty or privilege allowed to a judge, within the confines of right and justice, but independent of narrow and unbending rules of positive law, to decide and act in accordance

Such as are not marked out on fixed lines, but allow a certain amount of discretion in their exercise. Those which cannot be duly administered without the application of a certain

In the civil law. A proceeding, at the instance of a surety, by which the creditor is obliged to exhaust the property of the principal debtor, towards the satisfaction of the debt,

In construing a policy of life insurance, it ls generally true that, before any temporary ailment can be called a "disease," it must be such as to indicate a Vice in the constituti

In English law. An enrolled assurance barring an entail, pursuant to 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74.

To deprive of the rights and privileges of a free citizen; to deprive of chartered rights and immunities; to deprive of any franchise, as of the right of voting in elections, etc.

The act of disfranchising. The act of depriving a member of a corporation of his right as such, by expulsion. 1 Bouv. Inst no. 192. Richards v. Clarksburg, 30 W. Va. 491, 4 S. E. 7

In English law. To deprive lands of that principal quality of gavelkind tenure by which they descend equally among all the sons of the tenant. 2 Wood. Leet 76; 2 BL Comm. 85.

In Fr. Improper; unfit Kelham

Ignominy; shame; dishonor. No witness is required to disgrace himself. 13 How. State Tv. 17, 334.

In old English law. The depriving of an order or dignity.

A counterfeit habit; a dress intended to conceal the person who wears it. Webster. Anything worn upon the person with the intention of so altering the wearer's appearance that he s

Disinheritance; depriving one of an inheritance. Obsolete. See Abernethy v. Orton, 42 Or. 437, 71 Pac. 327, 95 Am. St Rep. 774.

In mercantile law and usage. To refuse or decline to accept a bill of exchange or to refuse or neglect to pay a blil or note at maturity. Shelton v. Braith-waite, 7 Mees. & W. 486;

To set at liberty, to free from prison.

In the civll law. The act of depriving a forced heir of the inheritance which the law gives hiin.

The act by which the owner of an estate deprives a person of the right to inherit the same, who would otherwise be his heir.

To exhume, unbury, take out of the grave. Pcople v. Baumgartner, 135 Cal. 72, 66 Pan. 974.

Not concerned, in respect to possible gain or loss, in the result of the pending proceedings; impartial, not biased or prejudiced. Chase v. Rutland, 47 Vt. 393 ; In re Big Run, 137

One who has no interest in the cause or matter in issue, and who is lawfully competent to testify. Jones v. Larrabee, 47 Me. 474; Warren v, Baxter, 48 Me. 195 ; Appeal of Combs, 10

Lat. In the civll law. Separately; severally. The opposite of con-junctim, (q. v.) Inst 2, 20, 8.

A statement in a pleading or indictment which expresses or charges a thing alternatively, with the conjunction "or;" for instance, an averment that defendant "murdered or caused to

One which is placed between two contraries, by the affirming of one of which the other is taken away; it is usually expressed by the word "or."

Tenths; tithes, (q. v.) The original form of "dime," the name of the American coin.

To send away; to discharge; to cause to be removed. To dismiss an action or suit is to send it out of court without any further consideration or hearing. Bosley v. Bruner, 24 Miss.

The dismissal of an action, suit, motion, etc., is an order or judgment finally disposing of it by sending it out of court, though without a trial of the issues involved. Frederick

A dismissal entered in accordance with the agreement of the parlies, amounting to an adjudication of the matters in dispute between them or to a renunciation by the complainant of

Dismissal of a bili in equity without prejudice to the right of the complainant to sue again on the same cause of action. The effect of the wo ids "without prejudice" is to prevent

To redeem from mortgage,

Turbulent or riotous behavior; immoral or indecent conduct. The breach of the public decorum and morality.

Contrary to the rules of good order and behavior; violative of the public peace or good order; turbulent, riotous or indecent —Disorderly eouduct. A term of loose and indefinite me

A term of loose and indefinite meaning (except as occasionally defined in statutes), but signifying generally any behavior that is contrary to law, and more particularly such as te

In criminal law. A house the inmates of which' behave so badly as to become a nuisance to the neighborhood. It has a wide meaning, and includes bawdy houses, common gaming houses,

Such as are dangerous or hurtful to the public peace and welfare by reason of their misconduct or vicious habits, and are therefore amendable to police regulation. The phrase is ch

In old English law. To bring together those that are unequal, (dispares conferre;) to connect in an indecorous and unworthy manner; to connect In marriage those that are unequal in

In old English law. Disparagement. Hœredes maritentur absque disparagatione, heirs shall be married without disparagement Magna Charta, (9 Hen. III.) c. 6.

L. Fr. Disparagement; the matching an heir, etc., In marriage, under his or her degree or condition or against the rules of deconcy. Kelham.

To connect unequally; to match unsuitably.

In old English law. An injury by union or comparison with some person or thing of interior rank or excellence. Marriage without disparagement was marriage to one of suitable rank a

In old Scotch law. Inequality in blood, honor, dignity or otherwise. Skene de Verb. Sign.

Things unlike ought not to be joined. Jenk. Cent. 24, marg.

To dissolve a park. Cro. Car. 59. To convert It into ordinary ground.

A message, letter or order sent with speed on affairs of state; a telegraphic message. In maritime law. Diligence, due activity, or proper speed in the discharge of a cargo; the op

When a person, by reason of his poverty, is1 admitted to sue in for-md pauperis, and afterwards, before the suit be ended, acquires any lands or personal estate or is guilty of any

A dispensation is the provident relaxation of a malum prohibitum weighed from utility or necessity; and it is conceded by law to the king on acoount of the impossibility of forekno

A dispensation is a wound, which wounds common law. Dav. Ir. K. B. 69.

An exemption from seme laws; a permission to do something forbidden; an allowance to omit something commanded; the canonistic name for a license, Wharton; Baldwin v. Taylor, 166 Pa

To scandalize or disparage. Blount.

This term, as used in shipping articles, means "disrate," and does not import authority of the master to discharge a second mate, notwithstanding a usage in the whaling trade never

In Scotch law. To grant or convey. A technical word essential to the conveyance of heritable property, and for which no equivalent is accepted, however clear may be the meaning of

Lat To dispose of, grant or convey. Disponet, he grants or alienates. Jus disponendi, the right of disposition, i. e., of transferring the title to property.

That portion of a man's property which he is free to dispose of by wlll to beneficiaries other than his wife and children. By the ancient common law, this amounted to one-third of

To alienate or direct the ownership of property, as disposition by will. Used also of the determination of suits. Called a word of large extent. Koerner v. Wilkinson, 96 Mo. App. 5

These are alternative or synonymous phrases in the law of wills for "sound mind," and "testamentary capacity," (q. v.)

In Scotch law. A deed of alienation by which a right to property is conveyed. Bell.

Such as produce or bring about the origination, transfer or extinction of rights. They are either investitive, those by means of which a right comes into existence, divestitive, th

Ouster; a wrong that carries with it the amotion of possession. An act whereby the wrong-doer gets the actual occupation of the land or hereditament. It includes abatement, intrusi

Summary process by a landlord to oust the tenant and regain possession of the premises for non-payment of rent or other breach of the conditions of the lease. Of local origin and c

To refute; to prove to be false or erroncous; not necessarily by mere denial, but by affirmative evidenco to the contrary. Irsch v. Irsch, 12 N. Y. Civ. Proa R. 182.

In old English law. Not answerable, Co. Litt. 27b, 53. 1 Steph. Comm. 245. Not punishable. "This murder is dispunishable." 1 Leon. 270.

A presumption of law, which may be rebutted or disproved. See Presumptions.

In the civil law. Discussion or argument before a court Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 38; Dig. 1, 2, 2, 5.

A conflict or controversy; a conflict of claims or rights; an assertion of a right, claim or demand on one side, met by contrary claims or allegations on the other. Slaven v. Wheel

To divest or deprive of qualifications; to incapacitate; to render ineligible or unfit; as, in speaking of the "disqualification" of a judge by reason of his interest in the case,

In maritime law. To deprive a seaman or petty officer of his "rating" or rank; to reduce to a lower rate or rank.

To Justify; to clear one's self of a fault; to traverse an indictment; to disprove, Eng. Lond.

In old Scotch law. Disseisin ; dispossession. Skene.

Tbe anatomical examination of a dead body by chtting into pieces or exscinding one or more parts or organs. Wehle v. Accident Ass'n, 11 Misc. Rep. 36, 31 N. Y. Supp. 865; Sudduth v

To dispossess; to deprive.

One who is wrongfully put out of possession of his lands; one who is disseised.

Dispossession; a deprivation of possession; a privation of seisin; a usurpation of the right of seisin and possession, and an exercise of such powers and privileges of ownership as

A female disseisor; a disseisoress. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 12, § 4.

One who puts another out of the possession of his lands wrongfully.

A woman who unlawfully puts another out of his land.

Lat In the civil law. The mutual agreement of the parties to a simple contract obligation that it shall be dissolved or annulled; technically, an undoing of the consensus which cre

Contrariety of opinion; refusal to agree with something already stated or adjudged or to an act previously performed. The term is most commonly used in American law to denote the e

Protestant seceders from the established church of England. They are of many denominations, principally Presbyterians, Independents, Methodists, and Baptists ; but, as to church go

A separate opinion in which a particular judge announces his dissent from the conclusion held by a majority of the court, and expounds his own views. —Per curiam opinion. One concu

In old law. To break open a seal. Whishaw.

Co. Litt. 191. Of dissimilars the rule is dissim-llar.

An Injury is extinguished by the forgiveness or reconcilement of the party injured. Ersk, Inst. 4, 4, 108.

In contracts. The dissolution of a contract is the cancellation or abrogation of it by the parties themselves, with the effect of annulling the binding force of the agreement, and

The crown may dissolve parliament either in person or by proclamation; the dissolution is usually by proclamation, after a prorogation. No parliament may last for a longer period t

To terminate; abrogate; cancel; annul; disintegrate. To release or unioose the binding force of anything. As to "dissolve a corporation," to "dissolve an injunction." See Dissoluti

A bond given to obtain the dissolution of a legal writ or process, particularly an attachment or an injunction, and conditioned to indemnify the opposite party or to abide the judg

In criminal law. To advise and prochre a person not to do an act. To dissuade a witness from giving evidence against a person indicted is an Indictable offense at common law. Hawk.

To subject to a process of distillation, i. e., vaporizing the more volatile parte of a substance and then cendensing the vapor so formed. In law, the term is chiefly used in conne

A term which includes nil potable alcoholic liquors Obtained by the process of distillation, (such as whisky, brandy, rum, and gin) but excludes fermented and malt liquors, such as

Every person who produces distilled spirits, or who brews or makes mash, wort, or wash, fit for distillation or for the production of spirits, or who. by any process of evaporizati

The strict meaning of "distillery" is a place or building where alcoholic liquors are distilled or manufactured; not every building where the process of distillation is used. Atlan

In old English practice. Distinctly and openly. Formal words in writs of error, referring to the return required to be made to them. Reg. Orig. 17.

Times must be distinguished; it is one thing to do, another to perfect 3 Leon. 243; Branch, Princ.

Times are to be distinguished; distinguish times, and you will harmonise laws. 1 Coke, 24. A maxim applied to the construction of statutes.