Black's Law Dictionary

The time ls to be considered. 1 Coke, 16a; Bloss v. Tobey, 2 Pick. (Mass.) 327; Owens v. Missionary Society, 14 N. Y. 380, 393, 67 Am. Dec. 160.

To point out an essential differenco; to prove a case cited as applicable, inapplicable.

A term used in the statutes of Illinois (Rev. Laws, 111. 1833, p. 332) and New Hampshire (Dig. N. H. Laws, 1830, p. 339) to express a state of insanity. Snyder v. Snyder, 142 111.

Lat. In the civll law. A separation or division into parts; also an alienation or sale. Sometimes applied to the act of a guardian in appropriating the property of his ward. —Distr

The sale at retail of the property of an insolvent estate, under the management of a curator appointed in the interest of the creditors, and for the purpose of realizing as much as

The sale of a thing pledged or hypothecated, by the creditor or pledgee, to obtain satisfaction of his claim on the debtor's failure to pay or redeem. Idem. § 348.

To sell; to draw apart; to dissolve a contract; to divorce. Cal vim

To take as a pledge property of another, and keep the same until he performs his obligation or until the property is replevied by the sheriff. It was used to secure an appearance i

He who seises a distress.

Seizure; the act of distraining or making a distress.

The taking a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrong-doer into the custody of the party injured, to procure a satisfaction for a wrong committed; as for non-payment of re

See Distress.

An heir; a person entitled to share in the distribution of an estate. This term Is admissible to denote one of the persons who are entitled, under the statute of distributions, to

In practice. The apportionment and division, under authority of a court, of the remainder of the estate of an intestate, after payment of the debts and charges, among those who are

Exercising or accomplishing distribution; apportioning, dividing, and assigning in separate items or shares. —Distributive finding of the issue. The jury are bound to give their ve

The jury are bound to give their verdict for that party who, upon the evidence, appears to them to have succeeded in establishing his side of the issue. But there are cases in whic

See Justice.

The share or portion which a given heir receives on the legni distribution of an intestate estate, People v. Beckwith, 10 N. Y. St. Rep. 97; Page v. Rives, 18 Fed. Cas. 992. Someti

One of the portions into which an entire state or country may be divided, for judicial, political or administrative purposes. The United States are divided into judicial districts,

The prosecuting officer of the United States government in each of the federal judicial districts. Also, under the state governments, the prosecuting officer who represents the sta

The clerk of a district court of either a slate or the United States.

Courts of the United States, each having territorial jurisdiction over a dtstrict, which may include a whole state or only part of it. Each of these courts is presided over by one

Lat. A distress; a distraint. CowelL

The judge of a United States district court; also, in some states, the judge of a district court of the state.

A territory situated on the Potomac river, and being the seat of government of the United States. It was originally ten miles square, and was composed of portions of Maryland and V

Ecolesiastical divisions of parishes in England, for ali purposes of worship, and for the celebration of marriages, christenings, church-ings, and burials, formed at the instance o

By the English judicature act, 1873, § 60, it is provided that to facilitate proceedings in country districts the crown may, from time to time, by order in council, create district

A common or public school for the education at public expense of the children residing within a given district; a public school maintained by a "school district." See infra.

In English practice. A writ directed to the sheriff of the county in which a defendant resides or has any goods or chattels, commanding him to distrain upon the goods and chattels

A writ commanding the sheriff to have the bodies of the jurors, or to distrain them by their lands and goods, that they may appear upon the day appointed. 3 Bl. Comm. 354. It issue

A writ to distrain the goods of one who lately filled the office of sheriff, to compel him to do some act which he ought to have done bsfore leaving the office; as to bring in the

A writ of distringas, directed to the coroner, may be issued against a sheriff if he neglects to execute a writ of venditioni exponas. Arch. Pr. 584.

In feudal and old English law. To distrain; to coerce or compel. Spelman; Calvin.

1. Any act causing annoyance, disquiet, agitation or derangement to another or interrupting his peace or interfering with him in the pursuit of a lawful and appropriate ocoupation.

The doing any act by which the right of another to his common is incommoded or diminished; as where one who has no right of common puts his cattle into the land, or where one who h

The disturbing or incommoding a man in the lawful exercise of his franchise, whereby the profits arising from it are diminished. 3 Bl. Comm. 236; 3 Steph. Comm. 510; 2 Crabb, Real

The hindrance or obstruction of a patron from presenting his clerk to a benefice. 3 Bl. Comm. 242 ; 3 Steph. Comm. 514.

Any acts or conduct which interfere with the peace and good older of an assembly of persons lawfully met together for religious exercises. Lancaster v. State, 53 Ala. 398, 25 Am. R

In the law of tenure, disturbance is where a stranger, by menaces, force, persuasion, or otherwise, causes a tenant to leave his tenancy; this disturbance of tenure is an injury to

Interruption of the peace, quiet, and good order of a neighborhood or community, particularly by unnecessary and distracting noises. City of St. Charles v. Meyer, 58 Mo. 89; Yokum

This happens where a person who has a right of way over another's pound by grant or prescription is obstructed by inclosures or other obstacles, or by plowing across it, by which m

If a bishop refuse or neglect to examine or admit a patron's clerk, without reason assigned or notice given, he is styled a "disturber" by the law, and shall not have any title to

The words "ditch" and "drain" have no technical or exact meaning. They both may mean a hollow space in the ground, natural or artificial, where water is collected or passes off. Go

In Fr. Say over. The form of awarding a respondeas ouster, in the Year Books, M. 6 Edw. III. 49.

In Scotch law. A technical term in civil law, signifying the matter of charge or ground of indictment against a person acoused of crime. Taking up dittay is obtaining informations

Various, several, sundry; a collective term grouping a number of unspecified persons, objects or acts. Com. v. Butts, 124 Mass. 452; State v. Hodgson, 66 Vt 134, 28 Atl. 1089; Munr

A turning aside or altering the natural course of a thing. The term is chiefly applied to the unauthorized changing the course of a water-course to the prejudice of a lower proprie

A treatise on courts and their jurisdiction, written in French in the reign of Edward III. as is supposed, and by some attributed to Fitzher-bsrt It was first printed iu 1525, and

In criminal pleading. A plea by the prisoner in bar of execution, alleging that he is not the same who was attainted, upon which a jury is immediately impaneled to try the collater

Lat. With a different view, purpose or design; in a different view or point of view; by a different course or process. 1 W. Bl. 89; 4 Kent, Comm. 211, note.

In old English law. A lodging or inn. Townsh. pi. 38.

To turn aside; to turn out of the way; to alter the course of things. Usually applied to water-courses. Ang. WaterCourses, § 97 et seq. Sometimes to roads. 8 East, 394.

In the practice of the English chancery division, "dives costs" are costs on the ordinary scale, as opposed to the costs formerly allowed to a successful pauper suing or defending

Equivalent to devest, (q. v.)

A fact by means of which a right is divested, terminated or extinguished; as the right of a tenant terminates with the expiration of his lease, and the right of a creditor is at an

4 Inst. 35. Divide and govern, since the foundation and crown of empire are established in the consent of the obedient

A fund to be divided. The share allotted to each of several persons entitled to share in a division of profits or property. Thus, dividend may denote a fund set apart by a corporat

In old records. An indenture ; one counterpart of an indenture.

That is guessing, not interpretation, which altogether departs from the letter. Bac. Max. 18, (in reg. 3,) citing Yearb. 3 Hen. VI. 20.

As distinguished from those of human origin, divine laws are those of which the authorship is ascribed to God, being either positive or revealed laws or the laws of nature. Mayer v

Divine service was the name of a feudal tenure, by which the tenants were obliged to do some special divine services in certain; as to sing so many masses, to distribute such a sum

In old English law. A device, award or decree; also a devise; also bounds or limits of division of a parish or farm, etc. Cowell. Also a court held on the boundary, in order to set

A thing divisible may be forever divided.

That which ls susceptible of being divided. —Divisible contract. One which is in its nafure and purposes susceptible of division and apportionment, having two or more parts in resp

One which is in its nafure and purposes susceptible of division and apportionment, having two or more parts in respect to matters and things contemplated and embraced by it, not ne

In old English law. Severally; separately. Bract, fol. 47.

In English law. One of the smaller subdivisions of a county. Used in Lincolnshire as synonymous with "riding" in Yorkshire.

Co.urts in England, consisting of two or (in special cases) more judges of the high court of justice, sitting to transact certain kinds of business which cannot be disposed of by o

In the practice of appellate courts, this term denotes such a disagreement among the judges that there is not a majority in favor of any one view, and hence no decision can be rend

Lat A divided jurisdiction. Applied, e. g., to the jurisdiction of courts of common law and equity over the same subject 1 Kent, Comm. 366; 4 Steph. Comm. 9.

The legal separation of man and wife, effected, for cause, by the judgment of a court, and either totally dissolving the marriage relation or suspending its effects so far as conce

A divorce from table and bed, or from bed and board. A partial or qualified divorce, by which the parties are separated and forbidden to live or cohabit together, without affecting

A divorce from the bond of marriage. A total divorce of husband and wife, dissolving the marriage tie, and releasing the parties wholly from their matrimonial obligations. 1 Bl. Co

Lat To divine; to conjecture or guess; to foretell. Divinatio, a conjecturing or guessing.

Fr. Tenth; the tenth part. Ord. Mar. llv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9. In old French law. An income tax payable to the crown. Steph. Leet. 359.

An abbreviation for "District Judge."

Such a measure of prudence, activity, or assiduity, as is properly to be expected from, and ordinarily exercised by, a reasonable and prudent man under the particular circumstances

(While he was within age.) In old English practice. A writ of entry which formerly lay for an infant after he had attained his full age, to recover lands which he had aliened in fe

In English law. A writ which lay for a man who had aliened lands under duress by imprisonment, to restore to him his proper estates. 2 Inst. 482. Abolished by St. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c.

While the offense was fresh. A term employed in the old law of appeal of rape. Bract, fol. 147.

While sole, or single. Dum solo fuerit, while she shall remnin soie. Dum sola et casta vixerit, while she lives single and chaste. Words of limitation in old conveyances. Co.. Litt

Lat. I give. The ancient and apt-est word of fcoffment and of gift. 2 BL Comm. 310, 316; Go. Litt. 9.

In medical Jurisprudence. The hydrostatic test used chiefly in cases of alleged infanticide to determine whether the child was born alive or dead, which consists in immersion of th

n. The cage or inclosed space in a criminal court where prisoners stand when brought in for trial. The space, in a river or harbor, Inclosed between two wharves. City of Boston v.

A charge against vessels for the privilege of mooring to the wharves or in the slips. People v. Roberts, 92 Cal. 659, 28 Pac. 689. A pecuniary compensation for the use of a dock wh

n. A minute, abstract or brief entry; or the book containing such entries. A small piece of paper or parchment having the effect of a larger. Blount. In practice. A formal record,

An attorney's fee, of a fixed sum, chargeable with or as a part of the costs of the action, for the attorney of the successful party ; so calied because chargeable on the docket, n

A phrase formerly used in English bankruptcy practice. It referred to the entry of certain papers at the bankruptcy office, preliminary to the prosecution of the fiat against a tra

An officer invested with powers within the docks, and a certam distance therefrom, to direct the mooring and removing of ships, so as to prevent obstruction to the dock entrances.

In English law. A warrant given by dock-owners to the owner of merchandise imported and warehoused on the dock, upon the faith of the bills of lading, as a recognition of his title

A learned man; one qualified to give instruction of the higher order in' a science or art; particularly, one who has received the highest academical degree in his art or faculty, a

The title of a work written by St. Germain in the reign of Henry VIII. in which many principles of the common law are discussed in a popular manner. It is in the form of a dialogue

An institution near St Paul's Churchyard, in London, where, for a long time previous to 1857, the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts used to be held.

See Interpretation.

A rule, principle, theory or tenet of the law; as, the doctrine of merger, the doctrine of relation, etc.

An instrument on which is recorded, by means of letters, figures or marks, matter which may be evidentially used. In this sense the term "document" applies to writings; to words pr

Evidence supplied by writings and documents of every kind in the widest sense of the term; evidence derived from conventional symbols (such as letters) by which ideas are represent

Lat. I give, I say, I adjudge. Three words used in the Roman law, to express the extent of the civil jurisdiction of the prætor. Do denoted that he gave or granted actions, excepti

Lat. In Roman law. A subdivision of the os, containing nine un-ciœ; the proportion of nine-twelfths or three-fourths. 2 Bl. Comm. 462, note.

In Saxon law. The actual perpetrator of a homicide.