Black's Law Dictionary

In practice. An action brought on a pretended right, when the plaintiff has no true cause of action, for some illegal purpose. In a feigned action the words of the writ are true. I

Simulated maladies. Diseases are generally feigned from one of three causes,—fear, shame, or the hope of gain.

An issue made up by the direction of a court of equity, (or by consent of parties,) and sent to a common-law court, for the purpose of obtaining the verdict of a jury on some dispu

In Saxon law. One bound for another by oath; a sworn brother. A friend bound in the decennary for the good behavior of another. One who took the place of the deceased. Thus, if a p

A field; in composition, wild. Blount

In Fr. Faithful. See Feal.

See Sodomy.

A companion; one with whom we consort; one joined with another in some legal status or relation; a member of a college or corporate body.

A co-heir; partner of the same inheritance.

The decided weight of authority is to the effect that all who serve the same master, work under the same control, derive authority and compensation from the same common source, and

A felon of himself; a suicide or murderer of himself. One who deliberately and intentionally puts an end to hls own life, or who commits seme unlawful or malicious act which result

One who has committed felony; one convicted of felony.

Felony. The act or offense by which a vassal forfeited his fee. Spelman ; Calvin. Per feloniam, with a criminal intention. Co. Litt. 391.

Co. Litt. 391. Felony, by force of the term, signifies any capital crime perpetrated with a malignant mind.

3 Inst. 15. Felony is implied in every treason.

Feloniously. Anciently an indispensable word in indictments for felony, and classed by Lord Coke among those voces artis (words of art) which cannot be expressed by any periphrasis

Malignant; malicious; done with intent to commit a crime; having the grade or quality of a felony. People v. Moore, 37 Hun (N. Y.) 93; Aikman v. Com., 18 S. W. 938, 13 Ky. Law Rep.

Such an assault upon the person as, if consummated, would subject the party making it, upon conviction, to the punishment of a felony, that is, to imprisonment in the penitentiary.

In criminal law. The offense of killing a human creature, of any age or sex, without justification or excuse. There are two degrees of this offense, manslaughter and murder. 4 Bl.

With a felonious intent; with the intention of committing a crime. An indispensable word in modern indictments for felony, as felonice was in the Latin forms. 4 Bl. Comm. 307; Stat

In English law. This term meant originally the state of having forfeited lands and goods to the crown upon conviction for cortain offenses, and then, by transition, any offense upo

The stafute 33 & 34 Viet. c. 23, abolishing forfeitures for felony, and sanctioning the appointment of interim curators and administrators of the property of felons. Mozley & Whitl

See Compounding Felony.

The sex which conceives and gives birth to young. Also a member of such sex. The term is generic, but may have the specific meaning of "woman," if so indicated by the context. Stat

L. Fr. A woman. In the phrase "baron et feme" (q. v.) the word has the sense of "wife." —Feme covert. A married woman. Generally used in reference to the legni disabilities of a ma

A married woman. Generally used in reference to the legni disabilities of a married woman, as compared with the condition of a feme sole. Hoker v. Boggs, 63 111. 161

A wife de Jacto.

A single woman, including those who have been married, but whose marriage has been dissolved by death or divorce, and, for most purposes, those women who are judicially separated f

In English law. A married woman, who, by the custom of London, trades on her own account, independently of her husband; so called because, with respect to her trading, she is the s

The killing of a woman. Wharton.

In forest law. The fawning of deer; the fawning season. Spelman.

n. A hedge, structure or partition, erected for the purpose of inclosing a piece of land or to divide a piece of land into distinct portions or to separate two contiguous estates.

Usury; the gain of interest; the practice of increasing money by lending.

In Saxon law. A tax or imposition, exacted for the repelling of enemies.

A champion, hero, giant. This word, in the plural, is generally used to signify invaders or foreign spollers. The modern meaning of "fenlan" is a member of an organization of perso

In old English law. A period of time, occurring in the middle of summer, during which it was unlawful to hunt deer in the forest, that being their fawning season. Probably so calle

The same as feud or fief.

Belonging to a fee or fend; feudal. More commonly used by the old writers than feudal.

Fidelity or fealty. Cowell. See Fealty.

See Feudal System.

The customs of feuds. The name of a compllation of feudal laws and customs made at Milan in the twelfth century. It is the most ancient work on the subject, and was always regarded

An officer of the court of wards, appointed by the master of that court, under 32 Hen. VIII. c. 26, whose business it was to be present with the escheator in every county at the fi

In feudal law. The grantee of a food, feud or fee; the vassal or tenant who held his estate by feudal service. Termes de la Lev. Blackstone uses "feudatory." 2 Bl. Comm. 46.

In old English law. Fee-farm, (q. v.)

The lessee of a fee-farm.

This word (meaning a feud or fee) is the one most commonly used by the older English law-writers, though Its equivalent, "feudum," is usedgenerally by the more modern writers and b

A feud which devolved upon a vassal from his intestate ancestor.

Co. Litt. 1. A fee is that which any one holds from whatever cause, whether tenement or rent.

A fief for which the tenant did guard and owed homage. Spelman.

A feud acquired by a vassal himself.

A new fee held with the qualities and incidents of an ancient one. 2 Bl. Comm. 212.

Litt. § 1. A fee-simple, so called because fee is the same as inheritance, and simple is the same as lawful or pure; and thus fee-simple is the same as a lawful inheritance, or pur

I.e., her editas in quandam certitudinem limitata. Litt. § 13. Fee-tail, i. e., an inheritance limited in a definite descent.

A feoffment 2 BL Comin. 310.

To enfeoff; to bestow a fee. The bestower was called "feoffator," and the grantee or feoffee, "feoffatus."

In old English law. A feoffer; one who gives or bestows a fee; one who makes a feoffment Bract, fols. 12b, 81.

In old English law. A feoffee; one to whom a fee is givn or a feoffment made. Bract fols. 17b, 44b.

He to whom a fee is conveyed. Litt. § 1; 2 Bl. Comm. 20. —Feoffee to uses. A person to whom land was conveyed for the use of a third party. The latter was called "cestui que use."

A person to whom (before the statute of uses) land was conveyed "for the use" of a third person. He held the nominal or legal title, while the third person, called the "cestui que

The gift of any corporeal hereditament to another, (2 Bl. Comm. 310), operating by transmutation of possession, and requiring, as essential to Its completion, that the seisen be pa

A feoffment of lands to one person to the use of another.

The person making a feoffment or enfeoffing another in fee. 2 Bl. Comm. 310; Litt. §§ 1, 57.

This Saxon word meant originally cattle, and thence property or money, and, by a second transition, wages, reward or 4ee. It was probably the original form from which the words "fo

In forest law. The fawning season of deer.

A certain portion of the produce of the land due by the grantee to the lord according to the terms of the charter. Spel. Feuds, e. 7.

Wild beasts.

Ital. A kind of small vessel or boat. Mentioned in old Scotch law, and called "fercost." Skene.

A fardel-land; ten acres; or perhaps a yard-land. Cowell.

Sax. A summons to serve in the army. An acquittance from going into the army. Fleta, llb. 1, c. 47, § 23.

A term denoting, apparently, a freeman of the lowest class, being named after the cotseti.

In Saxon law. An acquittance of manslaughter committed In the army; also a fine imposed on persons for not going forth on a military expedition. Cowell.

In Roman law. Holidays; generally speaking, days or seasons during which free-born Romans suspended their political transactions and their lawsuits, and during which slaves enjoyed

In old English law. A weekday ; a holiday; a day on which process could not be served; a fair; a ferry. Cowell; Du Cange; Spelman.

Holidays; also weekdays, as distinguished from Sunday. Cowell.

In old European law. A wound; a stroke. Spelman.

In old records. The fourth part of a penny; also the quarter of a ward in a borough.

A fourth part of a yardlaud.

A furlong. Ch Litt 5b.

A farm; a rent; a lease; a house or land or both, taken by indenture or lease. Plowd. 195,; Vicat See Farm.

Beverages produced by or which have undergone, a process of uicoholic fermentation, to which they owe their intoxicating properties, including beer, wine, hard cider, and the like,

A lessee; a farmer. One who holds a term, whether of lands or an incorporeal right, such as customs or revenue.

In old English law. The winter season for killing deer.

In French law. One who farms any publlc revenue.

A house or land, r both, let by lease. Cowell.

In old records. A place In monasteries, where they received the poor, (hospitio excipiebant,) and gave them provisions, (ferm, firma.) Spelman. Hence the modern infirmary, used in

Lat. Of a wild nature or disposition. Animals which are by nature wild are so designated, by way of distinction from such as are naturally tame, the latter being called "domitæ nat

In old English law. A waste ground or place where fern grows. Cowell.

In the civil law. To be borne; that is on or about the person. This was distinguished from portari, (to be carried,) which signified to be carried on an animal. Dig. 60, 16, 235.

The toll or fare paid for the transportation of persons and property across a ferry. Literally speaking, it is the price or fare fixed by law for the transportation of the travelin

In old pleading. An iron mine. Townsh. PI. 273.

Iron. In old English law. A horse-shoe. Ferrura, shoeing of horses.

A llberty to have a boat upon a river for the transportation of men. horses, and carriages with their contents, for a reasonable toll. The term is also used to designate the place

The public grant of a right to maintain a ferry at a particular place; a right conferred to land at a particular point and secure toll -for the transportation of persons and proper

One employed in taking persons across a river or other stream, in boats or other contrivances, at a ferry. State v. Clarke, 2 McCord (S. C.) 48, 13 Am. Dec. 701.

In old English law. The remuneration to the proprietor of a domain for the privilege of feeding swine under the oaks and beeches of his woods.

In old English law. Grand holidays, on which choirs wore cape, Jacob.

Hob. 97. Hasty justice is the stepmother of misfortune.

In old English law. A frank-pledge or one who was surety for the good behavior of another. Monasteries enjoyed the privilege of being "free from festing-men," which means that they

Earnest given to servants when hired or retained. The same as arles-penny. Cowell.

Lat A speedy remedy. The writ of assise was thus characterized (in comparison with the less expeditious remedies previously available) by the statute of Westminster 2, (13 Edw. I.