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

JUDICIAL. A judicial oath is a solemn declaration made in some form warranted by law, before a court of justice or sume officer authorised to administer it, by which the person who

PROMISSORY, is an oath taken, by authority of law, by which the party declares that he will fulfil certain duties therein mentioned, as the oath which an alien takes © on becoming

SUPPLETORY, civil _ and eccles. law. Is an oath required by the judge from either party in a cause, upon half proof already made, which being joined to half proof, supplies the evi

in the civil law, is that which was deferred to the complainant as to the value of the thing in dispute on failure of other proof, particularly when there was a fraud on the part o

is the performance of a command. Ofhcers who obey the command of their superiors, having jurisdiction of the subject matter, are not responsible for their acts. -A sheriff may ther

That particular solemnity or office for the dead, which the Roman Catholic church appoints to be read or performed over the body of a deceased member of that communion before inter

in contracts. In its general and most extensive sense an obligation is synonymous with duty. Obligations are of three kinds: imperfect obligations, natural or moral obligations, an

ALTERNA-

INQUEST OF. Vide Inquisition.

Eng. law. When an inquisition is made to the, king’s use of any thing, by virtue of ofice of him who inquires, and the: inquisition is found, it is said to be office found.

civil- and canon laws. In the ancient civil law, the person who was the minister of, or lattendant upon a magistrate, was ‘called the offictal. In the canon law, the person to whom

EX. Vide Ex officto, ‘and 3 Bl. Coin, 447.

Multa ignoramus que non laterent, si veterum Lectio nobis esset familiaris. Macrobius.

comm. law, denominations of money of Spain. In the ad valorem duty upon goods, dc. the former are computed at ten cents, and the latter at five cents each. Act of March 2, 1799, s.

An omission is the neglect to perform what the law requires. When a public law enjoins on certain officers duties to be performed by them for the public, and they omit to perform t

merc. law. <A term used to express the ageregate value of the different stocks in which a loan is usually funded. 2 Esp. Rep. 361.

civil law. The name of a servitude by which the wall or pillar of one house is bound to sustain the weight of the buildings of the neighbour. The owner of the servient building is

Scotchlaw, a valuable consideration.

when for the plaintiff, is that he recover a sum of money ascertained by a jury, for his damages occasioned by the committing of the grievances complained of, and the costs of suit

Choice; Election, (q.v.) where the subject is considered. OR, in the termination of words, has an active signification, and usually denotes the doer of any act; as, the grantor, he

An ancient superstitious mode of trial. When in a criminal case the accused was arraigned, he might select the mode of trial either by God and his country, that is, by jury; or by

Rules made by a court or other competent jurisdiction. The formula is generally in these words: It ts ordered, g&c. Orders also signify the instructions given by the owner to the c

legislation. A law,a statute, a decree. This word is moré usually applied to the laws of a corporation, than to the acts of the legislature; as the ordinances of the city of Philad

civ. and eccles. law. An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right and not by deputation. In England the ordinary is an officer who has immediate jurisdiction in eccle

Verbally; orally. Formerly the pleadings of the parties were ore tenus, and the practice is said to have been retained till the reign of Edward the Third. 3 Reeves, 95; Steph. Pl.

contracts, practice, as a model or example to be copied or imitated. It also means first, or not deriving any authority from any other source; as, original jurisdiction, original w

Engl. law. The transcripts and other documents sent to the office of the treasurer-remembrancer in the exchequer, are called by this name to distinguish them from recorda, which co

practice in the English law, is a mandatory _ letter issued in the king’s name, sealed with his great seal, and directed to the sheriff of the county wherein the injury is committe

It is an admitted principle, that a person shall not be permitted to claim under any instrument, whether it be a deed or a will, without giving full effect to it m every respect, s

A minor or infant who has lost both of his or her parents. g Sometimes the term is applied to such a person who has lost only one of his or her parents. 3 Mer. 48; 2 Sim. & Stu. 93

The name of a court in some of the states, having juridiction of the estates and persons of orphans.

pleading, evidence. In actions of trespass, the declaration concludes by charging generally, that the defendant did other wrongs to the plaintiff to his great damage. When the inju

Vide Weights.

torts. An ouster is the actual turning out, or keeping excluded, the party entitled to possession of any real property corporeal. An ouster can properly be only from real property

To abandon or forsake a right.

title to property, is the right by which a thing belongs to some one in particular, to the exclusion of all other persons. Louis. Code, art. 480.

The name of a court authorised to hear and determine all treasons, felonies and misdemeanors, and, generally, invested with other power in