A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States

contracts. In the French law the act by which a debtor surrenders his property for the benefit of his creditors. Merl. Rép. Mot, Abandonment.

contracts.— In insurances the act by which the insured relinquishes to the assurer all the property to the thing insured. No particular form is required for an abandonment, nor nee

In maritime contracts in the civil law, principals are generally held indefinitely responsible for the obligations which their agents have contracted relative to the concern of the

contracts, is a reduction made by the creditor, for the prompt payment of a debt due 4 the payor or debtor. Wesk. on ns. 7

practice.— The omission of some words or letters in writing; as when fi. fa. is written for fieri facias. In writing contracts it is the better practice to make no abbreviations; b

government. 1. A simple renunciation of an office, generally understood of a supreme othce. James II. of England; Charles V. of Germany; and Christiana, queen of Sweden, are said t

crim. law, the carrying away of any person by force or fraud. This is a misdemeanor punishable by indictment. 1 East, P. C. 458; 1 Russcll, 569; the civil remedies are recaption, (

Estates, from the French aboyer, which in a figurative sense means to expect, to look for, to desire. When there is no person in esse in whom the freehold is vested, it is said to

in the English law. A defendant who pleads a frivolous plea, or a plea merely for the purpose of ‘delaying the suit; or who, for the same purpose, shall file a similar demurrer, ma

chancery practice. A bill in the nature of a bill of review, is one brought by a person not bound by a decree, praying that the same may be examined and reversed; as where a decrce

chancery practice. A bill in the nature of a bill of revivor, is one which is filed when the death of a party whose interest is not determined by his death, is attended with such a

from the beginning. © 1. Where a man makes a lawful entry, and subsequently abuses an authority tn law to enter, as to distrain or the lke, he becomes a trespasser ab initio. Bac.

civil law. A latin phrase which signifies by a man in anger. It is applied to bequests or gifts, which a man makes adverse to the interest of his heir, in consequence of anger or h

A renunciation of a country by oath. 1. The act of Congress of the J 4th of April, 1802, 2 Story’s Laws U. S. 850, requires that when an alien shall apply to be admitted a citizen

in the civil law, is the grandson of the grandson or grand-daughter, or fourth descendant.—A bneptis, is the grand-daughter which a thing is extinguished, abrogated or annihilated.

med. jur.andcriminal law. The expulsion of the foetus before the seventh month of uterogestation, or before it is viable. (q. v.) The causes of this accident are referable either t

signifies without any condition or encumbrance, as an ‘absolute bond,” simplex obligatio, in distinction from a_ conditional bond; an absolute estate, one that is free from all man

a definite sentence whereby a man accused of any crime is acquitted.

pleading, when the pleadings were in Latin, these words were employed in a traverse. Without this, that (q. v.) are now used for the same purpoze.

every thing which is contrary to good order established by usage. Merl. Rép. h. t.

The buttings and boundings of land, on the north or south, east or west, showmg on what other lands, rivers, highways, or other places it does abut. More properly, it is said, the

that you go to court, tn practice tn the English law, is an omginal writ, issuing out of chancery, now of course, returnable in K. B. or C. P. for the removal of a replevin sued by

IMPLIED, contracts. An agreement to pay a bill, not by direct and express terms, but by such acts of the parties from which an express agreement may be inferred; for example, if th

PARTIAL, contracts. An agreement to pay a bill of exchange, according to the tenor of the acceptance, and this may vary from the bill with respect to sum, time and place: it may al

contracts. The person who agrees to pay a bill of exchange drawn upon him. The acceptor of a bill is the principal debtor, and the drawer the surety. He is bound, though he accepte

persons, the means or power of approaching. In this sense a man who can readily be in company with his wife, is said to have access to her, and in that case her issue are presumed

criminal law. He who is not the chief actor in the perpetration of the offence, nor present at its performance, but is some way concerned therein, either before or after the fact c

The ownership of a thing, whether it be real or personal, moveable or immoveable carries with it the right to all that the thing produces, and to all that becomes united to it, eit

practice. This; Milf. Pl. Index, h. t.; 1 Madd. Ch. term in chancery practice, signifies ‘Pr. 23; 10 Mod. R. 1, 3; 3 Chit. such unforeseen events, misfortunes, Bl. Com. 426, n. los

common law. That which is done by one merchant or other person tor the convenience of some other, by accepting or endorsing his paper, or by lending him his notes or bills. In gene

contraets. An amicable agreement or composition between two contending parties. It differs from accord and satisfuction, which may take place without any difference having existed

crim. law. This term includes in its meaning all persons who have been concerned in the commission of a crime, all the partsceps criminis, whether they are considered in strict leg

in contracts, isa satisfaction agreed upon between the party injuring and the party injured, which when performed is a bar to all actions upon this account. 3 BI. Com. 15; Bac. Abr

remedies. This is the name of a writ or action more properly called account render. It lies against a bailiff or receiver, who by reason of his employment or business is to render

practice. A statement of the receipts and payments of an executor, administrator, or other trustee, of the estate confided to him. Every one whoadministers the affairs of another i

This word has several significations: 1. One who Is versed in accounts; 2. A person or officer appointed to keep the accounts of a public company; 3. He who renders to another or t

comm. daw. 1. A fund which merchants traders and others have deposited into the common cash of some bank, to be drawn out by checks from time to time as the owner or depositor may

comm. law. An account delivered by one merchant or tradesman to another, or by a factor to his principal, of the disposal, charges, commissions and net proceeds of certain merchand

To accouple, is to marry. See Ne unques accoup le.

crim. law. A charge made to a competent officer ayainst one who has committed a crime or misdemeanor so that he may be brought to justice and punishment. A neglect to accuse may in

one who makes an accusation.

This French word signifies a purchase. It is used in some of our law books, as well as achetor, a purchaser, which in some ancient states means purveyor. Stat. 36 Edw. ITI.

estates, in the civil law. Property which has been acquired by purchase, gift, or otherwise than by succession. Merlin Rép. h. t., confines acquets to immoveable property. In Louis

measures, is a quantity ACT OF GRACE, in the Scotch of land containing in length forty law, is the name by which the statute perches, and four in breadth, or one which provides for

This phrase is used when one pleads some matter by which he shows that the plaintiff had no cause to have the writ which he brought, and yet he may have a writ or action for the sa

pleading. After stating the appearance and defence special pleas begin with this allegation, “that the said plaintiff ought not to have or maintain his aforesaid action thereof aga

ORDINARY, in the Scotch law; by this term is understood all actions not rescissory. Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 4, 1, 5.

in the Scotch law, are divided into, 1, Actions of proper improbation; 2. Actions of reduction-improbation; 3. Actions of simple reduction. Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 4, 1, 5. 1. Proper im

in contracts. This phrase denotes those accidents which arise from physical causes, and which cannot be prevented. Where the law casts a duty on a party, the performance shall be e

those events which occur in consequence of some principle of law. If, for example, land out of which a rent charge has been granted, be recovered by an elder title, and thereby the

Every man of sound mind and discretion is bound by his own acts, and the law does not permit him to do any thing against it; and all acts are construed most strongly against him wh

statute of, vide De Mercatoribus; Cruise, Dig. tit. 14, s. 6.

practice, 1. A plaintiff; or complainant. 2. He on whom the burden of proof lies. In actions of; replevin both parties are said to actors. The proctor or advocate in the courts of

in the - laws of Scotland, are ordinances for regulating the forms of proceeding, before the court of session, in the administration of justice, made by the judges, who have a dele

in contracts, additional terms or propositions to be added to a former agreement.

In Pennsylvania it is a resolution of both branches of the legislature, two-thirds of each house concurring, requesting the governor to remove a judge from office. The constitution

action of, in the Scotch law, is an action competent to a husband or wife to compel either party to adhere in case of desertion. —

practice, a judicial writ commanding inquiry to be made of any thing relating to a cause depending in court.

is the dismissal by some court, legislative assembly, or’ properly authorised officer, of the business before them, either finally, which is called an adjournment sine die, without

in English practice, is a day so called from its being a further day appoint. ed by the judges at the regular sittings, to try causes at nisi prius.

in practice, is the giving or pronouncing a judgment in a cause; a judgment.

in the Scotch law, are certain proceedings against debtors, by way of actions, before the court of session; and are of two, kinds; special and general. 1. By statute 1672, c. 19, s

In the civil law, takes place when the thing belonging to one person is attached or united to that which belongs to another, whether this union is caused by inclusion, as if one ma

tn maritime law; the adjustment of a Joss is the settling and ascertaining the amount of the indemnity which the insured, after all proper allowances and deductions have been made,

at large, as title at large, assize at large. See Dane’s Abr. ch. 144, a, 16, § 7.

A term, in the Scotch and French law, for any writing or deed referred to by a. party, in an action at law for proving his allegations. 2. An ancient term for aid or support. 3. A

trusts, is the management of the estate of an intestate, a minor, a lunatic, a habitual drunkard, or other person who is incapable of managing his own affairs, entrusted to an admi

yovern- Letters of Administration. ment, is the management of the ADMIRAL, officer, in some affairs of the government; this countries is the commander in chief word is also applied

in corporations or companies, is the act of the corporation or company by which an individual acquires the rights of a member of such corporation or company. In trading and joint s

in pleading.— Where one party means to take advantage of or rely upon some matter alleged by his adversary, and to make it part of his case, he ought to admit such matter in his ow

in evidence, are the declarations which a party, by himself or those who act under his authority, makes of the existence of certain facts. These admissions are generally evidence o

tn practice. It frequently occurs in practice, that in order to save expense as to mere formal proofs, the attorneys on each side consent to admit, reciprocally, certain facts in t

is a reprimand from a judge to a person accused, on being discharged, warning him of the consequences of his conduct, and intimating to him that should he be guilty of the same fau

persons, is that age which follows puberty and precedes majority; it commences - for males at fourteen and for females at twelve years completed, and continues till twenty-one year

civil law, the act by which a person chooses another from a strange family, to have all the rights of his own child. Merl. Répert, h. t- By art. 232, of the civil code of Louisiana

in the civil law, is an infant who, if a boy, has attained his full age of fourteen years, and if a girl her full age of twelve. considered one of full age. 1 Swanst. R. 553.

in criminal law, is a general term for rendering the public coin of less value than it ought to be; which comprehends debasing the coin, by the admixture of improper metals, or the

a: term used in the civil law to denote the issue of an adulterous intercourse. See Nicholas on Adulterine Bastardy.

in criminal law, from ad and alter another person; a criminal conversation, between two married persons, or a married and unmarried person. The married person is guilty of adultery

isthat which is given by a parent to his child or presumptive heir, by anticipation of what he might inherit. There is, generally,in the statute laws of the several states, provisi

contracts, are said to take place when a factor or agent pays to his principal a sum of money on the credit of goods belonging to the principal, which are placed, or are to be plac

adventitius, from advenio,; what comes incidentally; as adventitia bona, goods that fall to a man otherwise than by inheritance; or adventitia dos, a dowry or portion given by some

ttéle to lands, is the enjoyment of land, or such estate as lies in grant, under such circumstances as indicate that assertion of right on the part of the possessor. 3 East, R. 394

practice, is the opinion given by counsel to their clients; this should never be done but upon mature deliberation to the best of the counsel’s ability; and without regard to the f

an office to be so held as to determine only by the death or delinquency ‘of the possessor; in other words it is held quam diu se bene gesserit.

in the civil and ecclesiastical law. 1. An officer who maintains or defends the rights of his client in the same manner as the counsellor does in the common law.—Lord Advocate, an

in the English law; those who upon oath settle and moderate fines in courts leet. Hawk. I. 2, ch. 112.

in contracts, from afidare or dare fidem, to give a pledge; a plighting of troth between a man and woman. Litt. s. 39; Pothier, Traité du Mariage, n. 24, defines it to be an. agree

‘To plight one’s faith, or give fealty, i. e. fidelity by making oath, &c. Cunn. Dict. h. t. !

A tenant by fealty. Cunn. Dict. h. t.

in practice: an oath or affirmation reduced to writing, sworn or affirmed to before some officer who has authority to administer it. Affidavit to hold to batl,is inmany cases requi

isa connexion formed by marriage which places the husband in the same degree of] nominal propinquity to the relations of the wife, as that in which she herself stands towards them,

practice, one who makes affirmation instead of making oath that the evidence which he is about to give shall be the truth, as if he had been sworn. * He is hable to all the pains a

practice, a solemn declaration and asseveration, which a witness makes before an officer competent to administer an oath in a like case, to tell the truth as if he had been sworn.

criminal law, is the fighting of two or more persons in some public place to the terror of the people. To constitute this offence there must be, 1st, a fighting; 2d, the fighting m

contracts, is an agreement, express or implied, by which one of the parties, called the principal, confides to the othér denomi- ‘nated the agent, the management of some business,

contracts. One who undertakes to manage some affair to be transacted for another on account of the latter, who is called the principal, and to render an account of it. There are va

in the English law, in practice. When an action is brought agaiust an intant for lands which he had by descent, he may show this to the court, and pray qued loquela remaneat until

in pleading, is the introduction of matter in the declaration which only tends to increase the amount of damages, and does not concern the right of action itself. Steph. Pl. 257; 1

crim. law. He who has begun a quarrel or dispute, either by threatening or striking another. No man is justified to strike another because he has threatened, or in consequence ‘of