Black's Law Dictionary

An equity term of court is one devoted exclusively to equity business, that is, in which no criminal cases are tried nor any cases requiring the impaneling of a jury. Hesselgrave v

The equitable right of a wife, when her husband sues in equity for the reduction of her equitable estate to his own possession, to have the whole or a portion of such estate settle

In patent law. Any act or substance which is known in the arts as a proper substitute for some other act or substance employed as an element in the invention, whose substitution fo

Having a double or several meanings or senses. See Ambiguity.

A kind of rack for extorting confessions.

A horse equipped with saddle and furniture.

A maple tree. Not to be confounded with arabilis, (arable land.)

The followers of Erastus. The sect obtained much infiuenco in England, particularly among common lawyers in the time of Selden. They held that offenses against religion and moralit

The obliteration of words or marks from a written instrument by rubbing, scraping or scratching them out. Also the place in a document where a word or words have been so removed. T

In the civil law. To be divided. Judicium families erciscundœ, a suit for the partition of an inheritance. Inst. 4, 17, 4. An ancient phrase dorived from the Twelve Tables. Calvin.

One of the formal words of incorporation in royal charters. "We do, incorporate, erect, ordain, name, constitute, and establish."

Raising up; building; a completed building. In a statute on the "erection" of wooden buildings, this term does not include repairing, alteration, enlarging or removal. See Shaw v.

Lat. Therefore; hence; because.

In the civli law. Undertakers of work; contractors. Co.d. 4, 59.

A term of the Irish Brehon law, denoting a pecuniary mulct or recompense which a murderer was judicially condemned to pay to the family or relatives of his victim. It corresponded

We erect. One of the words by which a corporation may be created in England by the king's charter. 1 Bl. Comm. 473.

By metonymy, this term is used to describe the office or functions of a judge, whose state robe, lined with ermine, is emblematical of purity and honor without stain. Webster.

In old English law. The loose scattered cars of corn that are left on the ground after ipe binding.

The gradual eating away of the soil by the operation of currents or tides. Distinguished from submergence, which is the disappearance of the soil under the water and the formation

A form of mania similar to nymphomania, except that the present term is applied to patients of both sexes, and that (according to some authorities) it is applicable to all cases of

Wandering; itinerant; applied to justices on circuit, and bailiffs at large, etc.

In old law. A waif or stray; a wandering beast Co.welL

Lab Error. Used in the Latin formula for assigning errors, and in the reply thereto, "in nullo est erratum," i. e., there was no error, no error was committed.

Involving error; deviating from the law. This term is never used by courts or law-writers as designating a corrupt or evll act. Thompson v. Doty, 72 Ind. 338.

Lat. Erroneously; through error or mistake.

A mistaken judgment or incorrect belief as to the existence or effect of matters of fact or a false or mistaken conception or application of the law. Such a mistaken or false conce

Error committed in the proceedings "before us;" i. e., error assigned as a ground for reviewing, modifying, or vacating a judgment in the same court in which it was rendered.

Error in the proceedings "before you;" words used in a writ of error directed by a court of review to the court which tried the cause.

To refer errors to their sources is to refute them. 3 Inst. 15. To bring errors to their beginning is to see their last.

The mistakes of the writer ought not to harm. Jenk. Cent. 324.

Error artfully disguised [or colored] is, in many instances, more probable than naked truth; and frequently error overwhelms truth by [its show of] reasons. 2 Coke, 73.

In judicial proceedings, error in fact occurs when, by reason of some fact which is unknown to the court and not apparent on the record (e. g., the coverture, infancy, oh death of

An error of the court in applying the law to the case on trial, e. g., in ruling on the admission of evidence, or in charging the jury. McKenzie v. Bismarck Water Co., 6 N. D. 361,

Error of law Injures. A mistake of the law has an injurious effect; that is, the party committing it must suffer the consequences. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 178; 1 Story, Eq. Jur. § 139

Error of name. A mistake of detail in the name of a person; used in contradistinction to error de persons, a mistake as to identity.

A mistake in the name of a thing is never prejudicial, if it ba clear as to the identity of the thing itself, [where the thing intended Is certainly known.] 1 Duer, Ins. 171. This

That is called "error of fact" which proceeds either from ignorance of that which really exisis or from a mistaken belief in the existence of that which has none. Civ. Code La. art

He is under an error of law who is truly informed of the existence of facts, but who draws from them erroneous conclusions of law. Civ. Code La. art. 1822. Mowatt v. Wright, 1 Wend

An error which is not resisted or opposed is approved. Doct. & Stud. c. 40.

A phrase appended to an account stated, in order to excuse slight mistakes or oversights.

See Writ of Error.

In old English law. A meeting of the neighborhood to compromise differences among themselves; a court held on the boundary of two lands.

8 Coke, 116. The law blushes when children correct their parents.

In old law. A ratting off the branches or boughs of trees. Cowell; Spelman.

To scald. It is said that to scald hogs was one of the ancient tenures in serj canty. Wharton.

In old English law. A writ of exchange. A license in the shape of a writ, formerly granted to an English merchant to draw a bill of exchange on another in foreign parts. Beg. Orig.

An old English law term, signifying exchange.

The departure or deliverance out of custody of a person who was lawfully imprisoned, before he is entitled to his liberty by the process of law. The voluntarily or negligently allo

In English practice. This was a warrant granted to retake a prisoner 'committed to the custody of the king's prison who had escaped therefrom. It was obtained on affidavit from the

In old English law. Delivered from that punishment which by the laws of the forest lay upon those whose beasts were found upon forbidden land. Jacob.

That which comes by chance of accident Cowell.

In feudal law. Escheat is an obstruction of the course of descent, and consequent determination of the tenure, by some unforeseen contingency, in which case the land naturally resu

In English law. The name of an officer who was appointed in every county to look after the eseheats which fell due to the king in that particular county, and to certify the same in

A writ which anciently lay for a lord, to recover possession of lands that had escheated to him. Reg. Orig. 164b; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 143.

In old English law. A Jury or inquisition.

To build or equip. Du Cange.

Co. Litt. 93. Escheat is derived from the French word "eschoir," which signifies to happen, because it falls to the lord from an event and from an unforeseen circumstance.

Co. Litt. 13. Those things are commonly called "escheats" which revert to the exchequer from a failure of issue in those who hold of the king, when there does not exist any heir by

A tax formerly paid in boroughs and corporations towards the support of the community, which is called "scot and lot"

In Spanish law. An officer, resembling a notary in French law, who has authority to set down in writing, and verify by his attestation, transactions and contracts between private p

Fr. Fraud, swindling, cheating.

A scroll; a writing; a deed. Particularly a deed delivered by the grantor into the hands of a third person, to be held by the latter until the happening of a contingency or perform

In old English law. An escrow; a scroll. "And deliver the deed to a stranger, as an escrowl." Perk. c. 1, § 9; Id. e. 2, §§ 137, 138.

Service of the shield. One of the varieties of tenure in knight's service, the duty imposed being that of accompanying the king to the wars for forty days, at the tenant's own char

To scour or cleanse. Cowell.

A measure of corn. Cowell.

A church. Jacob.

In Spanish law. A written instrument. Every deed that is made by the hand of a public escribano or notary of a corporation or council (concejo,) or scaled with the seal of the king

Robbers or destroyers of other men's lands and fortunes. Cowell.

Tackle or furniture ; outfit. Certain towns in England were bound to furnish certo in ships at their own expense and with double stoppage or tackle. Cowell.

To ship.

Shippage or passage by sca. Spelled, aiso, "Stoppeson." Cowell.

See Elisors.

In old law. A hireling of servile condition.

Seniority; the condition or right of the eldest; the privilege of the eldest-born. Particularly used of the privilege of the eldest among coparceners to make a first choice of purp

In Spanish law. A junction of all the separate papers made in the course of any one proceeding and which remains in the office at the close of it Cas-tillero v. In S., 2 Black (In

A period of time fixed by law or by a court within which contain acts are to be performed, e. g., the production of papers, payment of debts, etc.

In Fr. Spurs.

An old term for the products which the ground or land yields; as the hay of the meadows, the herbage of the pasture, porn of arable fields, rent and services, etc. The word has bee

A mutual promise be-twcen a man and a woman to marry each other at some other time. It differs from a marriage, because then the contract is completed. Wood, Inst. 57.

Span. In Spanish law. A spurious chlld; one begotten on a woman who has promiscuous intercourse with many men. White, New Recop. le 1, tit. 5, c. 2, § 1.

In English law. A title of dignity next above gentleman, and below knight Also a title of office given to sheriffs, serjeants, and barristers at law, justices of the peace, and oth

L, Fr. To cut down woods to clear land of trees and underwood; properly to thin woods, by cutting trees, etc., at intervals. Spelman.

Woodlands turned into tillage by uprooting the trees and removing the underwood.

That which is indispensable to that of which it is the essence. —Essence of the contract. Any condition or stipulation in a contract which is mutually understood and agreed by the

Any condition or stipulation in a contract which is mutually understood and agreed by the parties to be of such vital importance that a sufficient performance of the contract canno

A writ to be quit of toll; it lies for citizens and burgesses of any city or town who, by charter or prescription, ought to be exempted from toll, where the same is exacted of them

n. In old English law. An excuse for not appearing in court at the return of the process. Presentation of such excuse. Spelman; 1 Sel. Pr. 4; Com. Dig. "Exoine," B 1. Essoin is not

Formerly the first general return-day of the term, on which the courts sat to receive essoins, i. e., excuses for parties who did not appear in court, according to the summons of w

when the defendant is in court the first day ; but gone without pleading, and being afterwards surprised by sickness, etc., cannot attend, but sends two essoiners, who openly prote

A person who made an essoin.

A roil upon which essoins were formerly entered, together with the day to which they were adjourned. Boote, Snit at Law, 130; Rose. Real Act 162, 163 ; Gilb. Com. PI. 13.

This word occurs frequently in the constitution of the United States, and it ls there used in different meanings: (1) To settle firmly, to fix unalterably; as to establish justice,

An ordinance or statute. Especially used of those ordinances or statutes passed in the reign of Edw. I. 2 Inst. 156; Britt c. 21.

The assurance of dower made by the husband, or his friends, before or at the time of the marriage. Britt cc. 102, 103.

A bridge or stank of stone or timber. Cowell.

In Spanish law. In Spanish America this was a measure of land of sixteen square varas or yards. 2 White, Recop. 139.

In Spanish law. Delay in a voyage or in the delivery of cargo, caused by the charterer or consignee, for which demurrage is payable.

Hob. 159. There is that which is not proper, even though permitted; but whatever is not permitted ls certainly not proper.

L, Fr. A standard, (of weights and measures.) So called because it stands constant and immovable, and hath all other measures coming towards it for their conformity. Termes de la L