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

contracts, is a contract which takes place by the mutual consent of the giver, who divests himself of the thing given, in order to transmit the title of it to the donee gratuitousl

He to whom a gift is made, or a bequest given. called the statute de donis condztionalibus. This statute revives, in some sort, the ancient feudal restraints, which were originally

The place of usual entrance in a house, or into a room in the house. Doors are distinguished into outer doors and inner doors. To authorise the breach of an outer door in order to

practice. According to the English law, when double costs are given by the statute, the term is not to be understood, according to its literal import, twice the amount of single co

contracts, is where the insured makes re-insurance in this, that it is* made by the insured, with a view of receiving a double satisfaction in case of loss; whereas a re-insurance

A widow endowed; one who has a jointure. In England, this is a title or addition given to the widows of princes, dukes, earls, and other noblemen. DOWER is the right of a woman ina

pleading, a plea by which a defendant denies the right of a widow who sues for, and demands her dower in lands, &c. late of her with him, or any time afterwards, seised of such est

was formerly applied to mean that which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; this is now called a portion. This word is sometimes confounded with dower. Vide Co. Litt. 31; Ci

contracts. The party who makesa billof exchange. The obligations of the drawer to the drawee and every subsequent holder lawfully entitled to the possession, that the person on who

a French word: which in that language signifies the whole collection of laws, written and unwritten, and is synonymous to our word law. With us it means right, jus. Co. Litt. 158.

intoxication with strong liquor. This is an offence generally punished by local regulations, more or less severely. Although drunkenness reduces a man to a temporary insanity, it d

contracts. A term invented for disguising and covering usury, in which something was pretended to pass on both sides, when in truth nothing passed on one side, whence it was called

practice, evi- - dence, i. e. bring with thee. A writ, commonly called a subpena duces tecum, commanding the person to whom it is directed to bring with him some writings, papers,

_ punishment, an instrument used in dipping women in the water as a punishment on conviction of being common scolds. - It is sometimes confounded with tumbrel (q. v-) This barbarou

crim. law, is the fighting of two persons one against the other, at an appointed time and piace, upon a precedent quarrel. It differs from an affray in this, that the latter occurs

Vide Mute.

contracts. In gales at auction, when the amount which the owner of the thing sold is willing to take for the article, is written and placed by the owner under a candlestick or othe

practice. In default of the representatives and creditors to administer to the estate of an intestate, the officer entitled to grant letters of administration, may grant to such pe

mer. law, pieces of wood placed against the sides and bottom of the hold of a vessel to preserve the cargo from the effect of leakage, according to its nature and quality. 2 Magens

is the double of any thing. It is usually applied to agreements, letters, receipts and the like, when two originals are made of either of them. Each copy has the same efiect. In th

pleading. Duphcity, or double pleading, consists in alleging, for one single purpose or object, two or more distinct ds of complaints or defence,. when one of them would be as effe

a term equivalent to during, which is used in some law phrases, as durante absentia, during absence; durante minore etate, during minority; durante bene placito, during our pleasur

In its most enlarged sense, this word is nearly equivalent to taxes, embracing all impositions or charges levied on persons or things; in its more restrained sense, it is often use

in Scotland, is a habit which debtors who are set free on a cessio bonorum, are

eritm. law. A corpse. To take up a dead body without lawful authority, even for the purposes of dissection, is a misdemeanor, for which the offender may be indicted at common law.

in the English law, is a title of nobility next below a marquis and above a viscount. Earls were anciently called comites, be-. cause they were wont comitart regem, to wait upon th

is the evidence of those who relate, not what they know themselves, but what they have heard from others. As a general rule hearsay evidence of a fact is not admissible. If any fac

Words used on an. acquittal, or when a be dismissed. Dane’s Abr. Index, ht.

crim. law, are such persons as wait under walls or windows or the eaves of a house, to listen after discourses, and thereupon to frame mischievous tales. The common law punishment

_ Belonging to, er set apart for the church; as distinguished from civil or secular.

Engl. law, are courts held by the king’s authority as supreme governor of the church, for matters which chiefly concern religion. These six courts which may be ranged under this cl

Vide Law, Canon.

in some countries, is a law ordained by the sovereign, by which he forbids or commands something, and extends either to the whole country, or only to some particular provinces. Edi

perpetual, is the title of a compilation of all the edicts. This collection was made by Salvius Julianus, a jurist who was selected by the emperor Adrian for the purpose, and who p

The operation of a law, an agreement, or an act, is called its effect. What is null produces no effect.

estates, is the * conveyance of a man’s interest or right, which he hath unto a thing, to another that hath the possession thereof, or some estate therein.” ‘Touch. 320. The words

in practice. It is frequently at the choice of the plaintiff what kind of an action to bring; a skilful practitioner will naturally select that in which his client can most easily

Engl. practice, remedies, a writ of execution directed to the sheriff, commanding him to make delivery of a moiety of the party’s land, and all his goods, beasts of the plough only

capacity to be elected. Citizens are in general eligible to all offices, the exceptions arise from the want of those qualifications which the constitution requires; these are sucha

practice, are two persons appointed by the court to return a jury, when the sheriff and the coroner have. been challenged as incompetent, in this case the elisors return their retu

practice, this word signifies, literally, to remove at a reat distance; to remove afar off. tis used as a return toa writ of replevin, when the chattels have been removed out of th

practice, is the return made by the sheriff to a writ of replevin, when the goods have been removed to places unknown to him. See the form of this return, Wats. Sher. Appx. c. 18,

is the departure of a married woman from her husband, and dwelling with an adulterer. While the wife resides with her husband, and cohabits with him, however exceptionable her cond

in another place. 1. Where one devises all his lands in A, B, and C, three distinct towns, and elsewhere, and had lands of much greater value than those in A, B, and C, in another

is an act by which a person who was once in the power of another, 13 rendered free.’ By the laws of Louisiana, minors may be emancipated. Emancipation is express or implied. Expres

rights. By term is understood the crops upon the land. By crops here meant the products of the which grow yearly and are by annual expense and labour, great manurance and industry,

crim. law, he when a matter is on trial beparty and party, comes to the corrupt the judge. Co. Litt. 369.

crim. law, is an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury, or any way incline them to be more favourable to the one side than the other, by.money, promises, threats, or persuasions;

one who quits his country for any lawful reason, with a design to settle elsewhere, and who takes his family and property with him. Vatt. b. 1, c. 19, § 224.

the act of removing from one place to another. It is sometimes used in the same sense as expatriation, (q- v.) but there is some difference in the signification. Expatriation is th

med. jur. The act, by which any matter whatever is thrown from the body; thus it is usual to say, emission of urine, emission of semen, &c. Incases of rape when the fact of penetra

med. jur., of favouring the discharge of the menses. These are black hellebore, savine, (vide Juneperius Sabina,) madder, mercury, polygala senega, and pennyroyal. They are sometim

an officer. ‘This word is synonymous with the latin — tmperator, they are both derived from the verb imperare. Literally it signifies, he who commands. Under the Roman republic, th

in contracts, is he who hires another to perform labour or services for him. As to his duties towards those whom he has hired, see Story on Bailm. § 425.

med. jur., a French word which signifies pregnant: when a woman is pregnant, and 1s convicted of a capital crime she cannot be punished till after her delivery. Inthe English law w

an unlawful gaining upon the right or possession of another; as when a man sets his fence beyond his line, in this case the proper remedy for the party injured is an action of ejec

a

The bestowmg or assuring of dower to a woman. It is sometimes used metaphorically for the setting a provison for a charitable institution, as the endowment of a hospital.

English law, is an exemption of the punishment of death which the laws impose on the commission of certain crimes, on the culprit demanding it; by modern statutes, benefit of clerg

St Clerke ordcine—\er—if a Clerk ordained—tf a Clerk be ordered. Al checer—2W1—to perform, to attourn—to come to. D'maine un gule—212—from Hand to Mouth—of his own Hand. Est fief d

international law. By this term is understood the whole body of a nation at war with another, hence we say the enemy. It also signifies a citizen or subject of such @ nation, as wh

is’ the right which a man possesses of receiving all the product of a thing for his necessity, his use or his pleasure.

WRIT OF. Vide Writ of Entry.

international law. In diplomatic language an envoy is a minister of the second rank, on whom his government has conferred a degree of dignity and respectability, which without bein

one many. The motto of the arms the United States.

Possessing the same rights and being liable to the same duties. Persons are all equal before the law, whatever adventitious advantages some may possess over others. All persons are

COURT OF. Vide Chancery.:

is a right which the mortgagee of an estate has of redeeming it, after it has been forfeited at law by the nonpayment at the time appointed of the money secured by the mortgage to

in practice in the English courts, is a day appointed some days before the end of the term, at which matters left undone on the affirmance day are finished. 2 Tidd, 1224,

is the non-conformity or opposition of our ideas to the nature or state of things. It differs from ignorance, (q. v.) which is the want of knowledge. Error is alsoa mistake made in

WRIT OF. Vide Writ of Error,

An escape is the deliverance of a person out of prison, who is lawfully imprisoned, before such person is entitled to such deliverance by law. Escapes are either negligent or volun

CONSTRUCTIVE. Where the prisoner still remains in prison, but owing to some act of the keeper he is not in the same strict confinement in which he ought to be, it ig a constructive

VOLUNTARY. Voluntary escapes are such as are by the consent of the keeper. In civil cases, when the prisoner is confined under a ca. sa. after a voluntary escape, the sheriff can n

The name of an officer whose duties are generally to ascertain what escheats have taken place, and to prosecute the claim of the commonwealth for the purpose of recovering the esch

conveyancing, contracts, is a conditional delivery of a deed to a stranger, and not to the grantee himself, until certam conditions shall be performed, and then it is to be dehvere

323, a; 10 East, 476; 2 Br. practice, properly speaking, is the ————E——_—T—_ & Bing. 403; Cowp. 215; 2 Wils. notice taken by a grand jury of any 53. The subjects of prescription of

are the products which the land or ground yields, as the hay of the meadows, the herbage of the pasture, corn or other produce of the arable, rents and services. Termes de la Ley;

contracts, a mutual promise between a man and a woman to marry each other, at some other time: it differs from a marriage, because then the contract is completed. Wood’s Inst. 57;

a title applied by courtesy to officers of almost every description, to members of the bar, and others.. No one is entitled to it by law, and, therefore, it confers no distinction

practice, is an excuse which a party bound to be in court on a particular day, offers for not being there. 1 Sell. Pr. 4; Lee’s Dict. h. t. Essoin-day is the day on which the writ

This word has several meanings; 1, in its most extenmay consist, and includes personal and real property; hence we say personal estate, real estate. 8 Ves. 604. 2.Inits more limite

It is the right of a tenant who comes into possession of land by lawful title, but holds over by wrong after the determination of his interest. Co. Litt. 57, bh He hasa bare naked

An estate for life is a freehold interest in lands, the duration of which is confined to the life or lives of some particular person or persons, or to the happening or not happenin

estates, _ is the right of taking necessary wood for the use or furniture of a house or farm, from off another’s estate. ‘The word bote is used synonymously with the word stovers.

are cattle whose owner is unknown. In the United] States generally it is presumed by local regulations, they are subject to being sold for the benefit of the poor or some other pub

This term is used to signify a true copy or note of some original writing or record, and specially of fines and amercement imposed by a court, and eztracted from the record, and ce

is a male whose organs of generation have been so far removed or disorganized, that he is rendered incapable of reproducing his species. Domat, Lois Civ. lib. prel. tit. 2, s. 1, n

a subtle device to set aside the truth, or escape the punishment of the law; as if a man should tempt another to strike him first, in order that he may have an opportunity of retur

(B 5.); 4 Binn. R. 231; 1 Dall. R. 67; Yelv. R. 127 a, note (1); Cruise, Dig. tit. 32, c. 20, s. 23; 5 Johns. Ch. Rep. 23; Toullier in his Droit Civil Francais, lv. 3, t. 3, c. 6,

SECONDARY, in practice. Secondary evidence is the proof of the contents of a writing, when the original has been lost or destroyed, or it is in the possession of the opposite party

Frenck law, is the act by which a judge is deprived of cognizance of a suit over which he had jurisdiction, for the purpose of conferring on other judges the power of deciding it.

torts,a wilful wrong done by an officer, or by one who, under colour of his office, takes more fee or pay for his services than what the law allows. Between extortion and ezactton

practice, are persons appointed to question students of law, in order to ascertain their qualifications before they are admitted to practice. Officers in- the courts of chancery wh

legislation, construction. Exceptions are rules or laws which bound the extent of others; they limit the extent of the rule to which they apply, and render that just and proper, wh

practice, pleading. This term is used in the civil, nearly in the same sense that the sword plea has in the common law. Merl. Répert, h. t.; Ayl. Parerg. 251. In chancery practice,

contracts, is a penalty affixed by law on the non-payment of a bill.of exchange when it is not paid at maturity, and which the ‘parties to it are obliged to pay to the holder. The

comm. law. This word has several significations. 1. Exchange is a negociation by which one person transfers to another, funds which he has in a certain place, either at a price agr

conveyancing. An exchange is a mutual grant o1 equal interests in land, the one in consideration of the other. 2 Bl. Com. 323; Litt. s.62; Touchs. 289; there are five circumstances

Eng. law, is an ancient court of record, set up by William the conqueror. It is called exchequer from the chequed cloth, resembling a chess board, which covers the table there; 3 B