Black's Law Dictionary

Persons examined as witnesses in a cause, who testify in regard to some professional or technical matter arising in the case, and who are permitted to give their opinions as to suc

In the civil law. To spoil; to rob or plunder. Applied Ao inheritances. Dig. 47, 19; Co.d. 9, 32.

In the civll law. The offense of unlawfully appropriating goods belonging to a succession. It is not technically theft (furtum) because such property no longer belongs to the deced

In the civil law. A robber; a spoiler or plunderer. Expilatores sunt atrociores fures. Dig. 47, 18, 1, 1.

Cessation; termination from mere lapse of time; as the expiration of a lease or statute, and the like. Marshall v. Rugg, 6 Wyo. 270, 45 Pac. 486, 33 In R. A. 679; Bowman v. Foot, 2

In Scotch law and practice. Expiration of the period within which an adjudication may be redeemed, by paying the debt in the decree of adjudication. Bell.

In old records. The rents and profits of an estate.

In the civil law. The fourth plcading; equivalent to the surrejoinder of the common law. Calvin.

In mining law. The examination and investigation of land supposed to contain valuable minerals, by drilling, baring, sinking shafts, driving tunnels, and other means, for the purpo

A scout, huntsman or chaser.

A sudden and rapid combustion, causing violent expansion of the air, and accompanied by a report. The word "explosion" is variously used in ordinary speech, and is not one that adm

n. A thing or commodity exported. More commonly used in the plural. In American law, this term is only used of goods carried to foreign countries, not of goods transported from one

The act of sending or carrying goods and merchandise from one country to another.

n. Fr. A statement; account; recital; explanation. The term ls used In diplomatic language as descriptive of a written explanation of the reasons for a certain act or course of con

Lat. Explanation; exposition ; Interpretation.

Explanation; interpretation.

In French law. The abandonment of a child, unable to take care of Itself, either In a publlc or private place.

That kind of interpretation which ls born [or drawn] from the bowels of a cause is the aptest and most forcible in the law. 10 Coke, 24 b.

One the office of which is to declare what shall he taken to be the true meaning and intent of a statute previously enacted. Black, Const. Law, (3d ed.) 89. And see Lindsay v. Unit

After the fact; by an act or fact occurring after some previous act or fact, and relating thereto; by subsequent matter; the opposite of ab initio. Thus, a deed may be good ab init

A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commission of an act, which retrospectively changes the legal consequencos or relations of such fact or deed. By Const. U. S. art. 1,

The act or state of exposing or being exposed. See Expose. —Exposure of child. Placing it (with the intention of wholly abandoning it) in such a place or position as to leave it un

Placing it (with the intention of wholly abandoning it) in such a place or position as to leave it unprotected against danger and jeopard its health or life or subj'ect it to the p

In criminal law. Such an intentional exposure, in a public place, of the naked body or the private parts as is calculated to shock the feelings of chastity or to corrupt the morals

1 Roll. 374. The best interpretation is made from the context.

Of malice aforethought Reg. Orig. 102.

Made known distinctly and explicitly, and not left to inference or implication. Declared in terms; set forth in words. Manifested by direct and appropriate language, as distinguish

Abrogation by express provision or enactment; the repeal of a law or provision by a subsequent one, referring directly to it. —-Express assumpsit. An undertaking to do some act, or

Things expressed are [may be] prejudicial; things not expressed are not. Express words are sometimes prejudicial, which, if omitted, had done no harm. Dig. 35, 1, 52; Id. 50, 17, 1

4 Coke, 73. The expression of things of which, if unexpressed, one would have the bsnefit, is useless.

An evasive form of special pleading in a case where the defendant ought to plead the general issue. Abolished by the common-law procedure act, 1852, (15 & 16 Viet, c. 76, § 64.)

A firm or corporation engaged in the business of transporting parcels or other movable property, in the capacity of common carriers, and especially undertaking the safe carriage an

A consideration which is distinctly and specifically named in the written contract or in the oral agreement of the parties. As to express "Conditions," "Co.ntracts," "Covenants," "

The expression or express mention of those things which are tacitly implied avails nothing. 2 Inst. 365. A man's own words are void, when the law speaketh as much. Finch, Law, b. 1

The expression of one thing is the exclusion of another. Co. Litt. 210a. The express mention of one thing iperson or place] implies the exclusion of another.

Co. Litt. 210. The mention of one person is the exclusion of another. See Broom, Max. 651.

Actuni malice; malice in fact; a deliberate intention to commit an injury, evidenced by external circumstances. Sparf v. U. S., 156 U. S. 61, 15 Sup. Ct. 273, 39 In Ed. 348: Farrer

A trust created or declared in express terms, and usually in writing, as distinguished from one inferred by the law from the conduct or dealings of the parties. State v. Campbell,

That which is expressed makes that which is implied to coase, [that ls, supersedes it, or controls its effort.] Thus, an implied covenant in a deed is in all cases controlled by an

Let service expressed rile or declare what is silent.

In contracts and sales, one created by the apt and explicit statements of the seller or person to be bound. See Borrekins v. Bevan. 3 Rawle (Pa.) 36, 23 Am. Dec. 85; White v. Stell

In the civil law. The species of novation by which a creditor accepts a new debtor, Who becomes bound instead of the old, the latter being released. 1 Bouv. Inst. no. 802.

In the civil law. A person who assumes the debt of another, and becomes solely liable for it, by a stipulation with the creditor. He differs from a surety, inasmuch as this contrac

In the civil law. To undertake for another, with the view of becoming liable in his place. Calvin.

This word properly denotes a voluntary surrender of rights or claims; the act of divesting oneself of that which was previously claimed as one's own or renouncing it. In this sense

Of his own accord.

By their or Its own force. 2 Kent, Comm. 457.

By the provision of man. By the limitation of the party, as distinguished from the disposition of the law. 11 Coke, 80b.

From the provision of the husband.

A putting or driving out The act of depriving a member of a corporation, legislative body, assembly, society, commercial organization, etc., of his membership in the same, by a leg

To blot out; to efface designedly; to obliterate; to strike out whollyWebster. See Cancel.

The act of purging or cleansing, as where a baok is published without its obscene passages.

One who corrects by expurging.

From quasi contract. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 60.

According to equity; in equity. Fleta, lib. 3, c. 10, § 3.

A phrase derived from the civil law, meaning, in justice and fairness; according to what is just and good; according to equity and conscience. 3 Bl. Comm. 163.

In Roman law. One who had filled the office of quœstor. A title given to Tribonian. Inst, proœm. § 3. Used only in the ablative case, (exquœstore.)

Upon relation or information. Legal proccedings which are instituted by the attorney general (or other proper person) in the name and behalf of the state, but on the information an

According to the rigor or strictness of law; in strictness of law. Fleta, lib. 3, c. 10, § 3.

(From ex, from, and rogare, to pass a law.) In Roman law. To take something from an old law by a new law. Tayl. Civil Law, 155.

From writings formerly seen. A term used as descriptive of that kind of proof of handwriting where the knowledge has been acquired by the witness having seen letters or other docum

A sale by a sheriff or other ministerial officer under the authority of a writ of execution which he has levied on property of the debtor. Noland v. Barrett, 122 Mo. 181, 26 S. W.

According to the statute. Fleta, lib. 5, c. 11, § 1.

In the civil law. An action of stipulation. An action given to recover marriage portions. Inst. 4, 6, 29.

From or in consequence of time; by lapse of time. Bract, fols. 51, 52. Ex diuturno tempore, from length of time. Id. fol. 51b. Without preparation or premeditation.

To expand, enlarge, prolong, widen, carry out, further than the original limit; as, to extend the time ipr filing an answer, to extend a lease, term of office, charter, railroad tr

Lat. You. cause to be extended. In English practice. The name of a writ of execution, (derived from its two emphatic words;) more commonly called an "extent" 2 Tidd, Pr. 1048; 4 St

In mercantile law. Au allowance of additional time for the payment of debts. An agreement between a debtor and his creditors, by which they allow him further time for the payment o

In old English law. Extenders or appraisers. The name of certain officers appointed to appraise and divide dr apportion lands. It was their duty to make a survey, schedule or inven

In English practice. A writ of execution issuing'from the exchequer upon a debt due the crown, or upon a debt due a private person, if upon .recognizance or statute merchant or sta

(Tbe extent or survey of a manor.) The title of a statute passed 4 Edw. I. St. 1; being a sort of direction for making a survey or terrier of a manor, and all its appendages. 2 Ree

That kind of extent which issues at the instance and for the benefit of a debtor to the crown, for the recovery of a debt due to himself. 2 Tidd, Pr. 1045; 4 Steph. Comm. 47.

The principal kind of extent, issuing at the suit of the crown, for the recovery of the crown's debt. 4 Steph. Comm. 47. An adverse proceeding by the king, for the recovery of his

To lessen; to palliate; to mitigate. Connell v. State, 46 Tex. Cr. R. 259, 81 S. W. 748.

Such as render a delict or crime less aggravated, heinous, or reprehensible than it would otherwise be, or tend to palliate or lessen its guilt Such circumstances may ordinarily be

The privilege of those persons (such as foreign ministers) who, though temporarily resident within a state, are not subject to the operation of its laws.

Lat A foreigner or alien; one born abroad. The opposite of civis.

An alien holds no lands. Tray. Lat. Max. 203.

From, by or under a will. The opposite of ab intestato, (q. v.)

Extinguished. A rent is said to be extinguished when it is destroyed and put out. Co.. Litt. 147b. See Extinguishment.

When the subject is extinguished, the incident ceases. -Thus, when the business for which a partnership has been formed is completed or brought to an end, the partnership itself ce

The destruction or cancellation of a right, power, contract or estate. The annihilation of a collateral thing or subject in the subject itself out of which it is derived. Prest. Me

Loss of the right to have common. This may happen from various causes.

In English law. A copyhold is said to be extinguished when the freehold and copyhold interests unite in the same person and in the same right, which may be either by the copyhold I

This takes place by payment; by accord and satisfaction; by novation, or the substitution of a new debtor; by merger, when the creditor recovers a judgment or accepts a security of

If a person have a yearly rent of lands, and afterwards purchase those lands, so that he has as good an estate in the land as in the rent, the rent is extinguished. Termes de 1a Le

This is usually effected by unity of possession. As if a man have a way over the close of another, and he purchase that close, the way la extinguished. 1 Crabb, Reni Prop. p. 341,

In English law. A species of destruction or waste, analogous to estrepement. See Estrepement.

A judicial writ, either before or after judgment, that lay against a person who, when a verdict was found against him for land, etc., maliciously overthrew any house or extirpated

In old records. To grub woodland, and reduce it to arable or meadow; "to stock up." Cowell.

A technical word used In indictments for extortion. It is a sufficient averment of a corrupt intent, in an indictment for extortion, to allege that the defendant "extorsively" took

The natural meaning of the word "extort" is to obtain money or other valuable thing either by compulsion, by actual force or by the force of motives applied to the will, and often

10 Coke, 102. Extortion is a crime when, by color of office, any persen extorts that which is not due or more than is due or before the time when it is due,

Any oppression by color or pretense of right, and particularly the exaction by an officer of money, by color of his office, either when none at all is due or not so much is due or

The explanation should arise out of the whole subject-matter; the exposition of a statute should be made from all its parts together. Wing. Max. 238.

A Latin preposition, occurring in many legal phrases; it means beyond, except, without, out of, outside. —Extra allowance. In New York practice. A sum in addition to costs, which m

In New York practice. A sum in addition to costs, which may, in the discretion of the court, be allowed to the successful party in cases of unusual difficulty. See Hascall v. King,

In English practice. Those charges which do not appear upon the face of the proceedings, such as witnesses' expenses, fees to counsel, attendances, court fees, etc., an affidavit o

A portion or fragment of a writing. In Scotch law, the certified copy, by a clerk of a court, of the proceedings in an action carried on before the court, and of the judgment prono

In old English law. The issues or profits of holding a court, arising from the customary fees, etc.