Black's Law Dictionary

To communicate to another, in any proper or permissible legal manner, information or warning of an existing fact or state of facts or (more usually) of some intended future action.

A donor; he who makes a gift.

The act of a creditor in extending the time for the payment or satisfaction of a claim beyond the time stipulated in the original contract. If done without the consent of the suret

In the rules of navigation, one vessel is said to "give way" to another when she deviates from her course in such a manner and to such an extent as to allow the other to pass witho

In Louisiana law. A phrase (translating the Fr. "dation en payement") which signifies the delivery and acceptance of real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt, instead of

A ceremony anciently performed in England by serjeants at law at the time of their appointment. The rings were inscribed with a motto, generally in Latin.

A little sword or dagger; a kind of sedge. Mat Paris.

Lat. A sword. An ancient emblem of defense. Hence the ancient earls or comites (the king's attendants, advisers, and associates in his government) were made by being girt with swor

A sword, lance or horseman's staff. One of the weapons allowed in a trial by combat.

In the civll law. Acorns or nuts of the oak or other trees. In a larger sense, all fruits of trees.

A term used in St 1 Jac. L c. 7, for wandering rogues or vagrants.

A hand dart Cowell.

The gathering of grain after reapers or of grain left ungathered by reapers. Held not to be a right at common law. 1 H. Bl. 51.

A turf, sed or clod of earth. The soil or ground; cultivated land in general. Church land, (solum et dos ecclesiæ.) Spelman. See Glebe.

Vlllein-socmen, who could not be removed from the land while they did the service due. Bract, a 7; 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 269.

Turfs dug out of the ground. Cowell.

In ecclesiastical law. The land possessed as part of the endowment or revenue of a church or ecclesiastical benefice. In Roman law. A clod; turf; soll. Hence, the soil of an inheri

In Saxon law. A fraternity.

Commissioners appointed to determine differences between scholars in a school or university and the townsmen of the place. Jacob.

Lat. In the civil law. A husband's sister. Dig. 38, 10, 4, 6.

An interpretation, consisting of one or more words, interlinear or marginal; an annotation, explanation or comment on any passage in the text of a work, for purposes of elucidation

Lat A gloss, explanation or interpretation. The glossœ of the Roman law are brief illustrative comments or annotations on the text of Justinian's collections, made by the professor

In the civil law. A commentator or annotator. A term applied to the professors and teachers of the Roman law in the twelfth century, at the head of whom was Iraerius. Mackeld. Rom.

11 Coke, 34. It is a poisonous gloss which corrupts the essence of the text.

It was an ancient custom on a maiden assize, when there was no offender to be tried, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves. It is an immemorial custom to

Extraordinary rewards formerly given to officers of courts, etc.; money formerly given by the sheriff of a county in which no offenders are left for execution to the clerk of assiz

A hollow between two mountains; a valley or glen. Co. Litt 5b.

To be dismissed from a court. To issue from a court "The court said a mandamus must go." 1 W. Bl. 50. "Let a supersedeas go." 5 Mod. 421. "The writ may go." 18 C. B. 35. —Go hail.

In old English law. A contrivance or structure for draining waters out of the land into the sea. Callis describes goats as "usual engines erected and bullt with portcullises and do

The answer made by a prisoner, when arraigned, in answer to the question, "How wlll you be tried?" In the ancient practice he had the choice (as appears by. the question) whether t

An ecclesiastical or church fine paid for crimes and offenses committed against God. Cowell.

That which is offered to God or his service. Jacob.

In old English law. Earnest-money; money given as evidence of the completion of a bargain. This name is probably derived from the fact that such money was given to the church or di

An old form of the word "cucking-stool," (q. v.) Cowell.

To assume the responsibility of a surety on a bail-band.

To depart from the court; with the further implication that a suitor who is directed to "go hence" is dismissed from further attendance upon the court in respect to the suit or pro

In various compound phrases (as those which follow) this term implies either motion, progress, active operation or present and continuous validity and efficacy. —Going before the w

In the language of mariners and in the rules of navigation, a vessel is said to be going "before the wind" when the wind is free as respecte her course, that is, comes from behind

A firm or corporation which, though embarrassed or even insolvent, continues to transact its ordinary business. White, etc., Mfg. Co. v. Pettes Importing Co. (C. G.) 30 Fed. 865; C

See "Going before the Wind," supra.

The prevalent price ; the current market value of the article in question at the time and place of sale. Kelsea v. Haines, 41 N. H. 254.

The act of the chief of an English common-law court in demanding of every member of the bar, in order of seniority, if he has anything to move. This was done at the sitting of the

When a party, under the common-law system of pleading, finished hls pleading by the words "and of this he puts himself upon the country," this was called "going to the country." It

As applied to the property or plant of a manufacturing or industrial corporation. a public-service corporation, etc., this means the value which arises from having an established b

One who is about to take his departure from the jurisdiction of the court, although only unto a state or country under the general sovereignty; as from one to another of the United

A mine. Blount A sink or passage for water. Cowell.

Bankers' cash notes (i. e., promissory notes given by a banker to his customers as acknowledgments of the receipt of money) were originally called in London "goldsmiths' notes," fr

A mulct or flne in gold.

In Lat. A jester, buffoon or Juggler. Spelman, voc. "Gollar-densis."

In Hindu law. An agent; a steward; a confidential factor; a representative,

In medical jurisprudence. A venereal disease, characterized by a purulent inflammation of the urethra.

1. Valid; sufficient in law; effectual ; unobjectionable. 2. Responsible; solvent; able to pay an amount specified. 3. Of a value corresponding with its terms; collectible. A note

See Abearance.

Those who are not disqualified for service on juries by non-age, alienage, infamy, or lunacy, and who reside in the county of the venue. Bonds v. State, Mart. & Y. (Tenn.) 146, 17

Reliable, sufficient, and unimpeachable in law; adequate; responsible.

Orderly and lawful conduct; behavior such as is proper for a peaceable and law-abiding citizen. Surety of good behavior may be exacted from any one who manifests an intention to co

As distinguished from valuable consideration, a consideration founded on motives of generosity, prudence, and natural duty; such as natural love and affection. Potter v. Grade, 58

In Scotch law. Good men of the country. A name given to a jury.

Good faith consists in an honest intention to abstain from taking any unconscientious advantage of another, even through the forms or technicalities of law, together with an absenc

A jury of which the members are selected from the list of special jurors. See L. R. 5 C. P. 155.

The fictitious plaintiff in the old action of ejectment, most frequently called "John Doe," was sometimes called "Goodright" or "Goodtitle."

In contracts. The term "goods" is not so wide as "chattels," for it applies to Inanimate objects, and does not include animals or chattels real, as a lease for years of house or la

This phrase is a general denomination of personal property, as distinguished from real property; the term "chattels" having the effect of extending its scope to any objects of that

A phrase frequently used in the action of assumpsit, when the sale and delivery of goods furnish the cause.

A general and comprehensive designation of such chattels as are ordinarily the subject of traffic and sale. The phrase is used in the statute of frauds, and is frequently found in

This means such a title as a court of chancery would adopt as a sufficient ground for compelling specific performance, and such a title as would be a good answer to an action of ej

The custom or patronage of any established trade or business; the benefit or advantage of having established a business and secured its patronage by the public. The advantage or be

In old English law. A breach in a bank or sea wall or a passage worn by the flux and refiux of the sea. St. 16 & 17 Car. II. c. 11.

A wear, pool or pit of water. Termes de la Ley.

In old English law, a small, narrow slip of ground. Cowell. In modern land law, a small triangular piece of land, such as may be left between surveys which do not close. In some of

In canon law. Compa-ternity; spiritual affinity.

In a statute, will, or other instrument, a direction that property shall "go to" a designated person means that it shall pass or proceed to such person, vest in and belong to him.

Commercial paper is said to "go to protest" when it is dishonored by non-payment or non-acceptance and is handed to a notary for protest.

In medical Jurisprudence. An inflammation of the fibrous and ligamentous parts of the joints, characterized or caused by an excess of uric acid in the blood; usually, but not invar

1. The regulation, restraint, supervision or control which is exercised upon the individual members of an organized jural society by those invested with the supreme political autho

These societies are formed in England under 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 14, to enable the industrious classes to make provisions for themselves by purchasing, on advantageous terms, a governm

A government of fact. A government actually exercising power and control in the state, as opposed to the true and lawful government; a government not established according to the c

A government of right; the true and lawful government; a government established according to the constitution of the state, and lawfully entitled to recognition and supremacy and t

The title of the chief executive in each of the states and territories of the United States; and also of the chief magistrate of some colonies, provinces, and dependencies of other

Words used to denote that a party is dismissed the court. He is said to go without day, because there is no day appointed for him to appear again.

This word is commonly used in contradistinction to "right." Thus, in St 22 Edw. III., the lord chancellor was instructed to take cognizance of matters of grace, being such subjects

In old English law. By degrees or steps; step by step; from one degree to another. Bract, fol. 64.

In the civil and old English law. A measure of space. A degree of relationship. A step or degree generally; e. g., gradus honorum, degrees of honor. Vicat. A pulpit; a year; a gene

A pedigree; a table of relationship.

In old English law. A graffer, notary or scrivener. St. 5 Hen. VIII. c. 1.

A notary or scrivener. See St 5 Hen. VIII. c. 1. The word is a corruption of the French "grefft,ef," (q. v.)

A writing-book, register or cartulary of deeds and evidences. Cowell.

A baron, inferior to a count. A fiscal judge. An advocate. Spelman; Cowell.

A term used In equity to denote the confirmation, by relation back, of the right of a mortgagee in premises to which, at the making of the mortgage, the mortgagor had only an imper

In Troy weight, the twenty-fourth part of a pennyweight. Any kind of corn sown in the ground. —Grain rent. A payment for the use of land in grain or other crops ; the return to the

An ancient duty in London under which the twentieth part of salt imported by aliens was taken.

A payment for the use of land in grain or other crops ; the return to the landlord paid by croppers or persons working the land on shares. Railroad Co. v. Bates, 40 Neb. 381, 58 N.

In England, this term designates a school in which such instruction is given as will prepare the student to enter a college or university, and in this sense the phrase was used in

9 Coke, 48. False grammar does not vitiate a deed.

(Græco-Lat.) In the civil law. A place for keeping writings or records. Dig. 48, 19, 9, 6.

The unit of weight in the metric system. The gramme is the weight of a cubic centimeter of distilled water at the temperature of 4° C. It is equal to 15.4341 grains troy or 5.6481

In Old English law. An officer having charge of a granary. Fleta, llb. 2, c. 82, § 1; Id. c. 84.

As to grand "Assize," "Bill of Sale," "Cape," "Distress," "Jury," "Larceny," and "Serjeanty," see those titles.

A peculiar species of trial by jury, introduced in the time of Henry II., giving the tenant or defendant in a writ of right the alternative of a trial by battel, or by his peers. A

A judicial writ in the old real actions, which issued for the demandant where the tenant, after being duly summoned, neglected to appear on the return of the writ, or to cast an es