Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

In Old English Law. The demesne land of a manor; a farm distinct from the mansion. Sometimes it is used for the manor house itself; and in some places for out houses and fold yards

Knights by tenure of a base military fee, as distinguished from bannerets, who were the chief or superior knights. Kennett, Paroch. Ant.; Blount.

It is a game of skill within the criminal offense of betting on such a game; Mace v. State, 58 Ark. 79, 22 S. W. 1108. Prohibition of base ball playing on Sunday does not violate t

An inferior court, that is, not of record, as the court baron. Cunningham.

A fee which has a qualification annexed to it, and which must be determined whenever the annexed qualification requires. A grant to A and his heirs, tenants of Dale, continues only

A floor partly beneath the surface of the ground but distinguished from a cellar by being well lighted anil fitted fur living purposes. In England the ground floor of a city house.

An abridgment of the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, translated into Greek and first published in the ninth century. The emperor Basilius, finding the Corpus Juri3 Civilis of Ju

See Base Fee. BASTARD (has or bast, abject, low, base, acrd, nature). One born of an illicit connection, and before the lawful marriage of its parents. One begotten and born out of

A female bastard. Calvinus, Lex.

Bastard elder. By the old English law, when a man had a bastard son, and he afterwards married the mother, and by her had a legitimate son, the first was called a bastard eigne, or

The statutory mode of proceeding against the putative father of a bastard to secure a proper maintenance for the bastard.

In Old English Law. A staff or club. In some old English statutes the servants or officers of the wardens of the fleet are so called, because they attended the king's courts with a

See Wageb of Battel.

Any unlawful beating, or other wrongful physical violence or constraint, inflicted on a huiiiau being without his consent. 2 Bish. Cr. L. § 71; Clark, Cr. L. 199; Long v. Rogers, 1

In French and Canadian law, a member of the bar selected as the head of the bar. B'ATTURE (Fr. shoals, shallows). An elevation of the bed of a river under the surface of the water;

An enclosure, or other contrivance, to keep in the water for the supply of a mill, so that the water may be able to drive the wheels of such mill. Stat 27 Eliz. c. 19. (This is gen

A stream which is the outlet of a swamp near the sea. Applied to the creeks in the lowlands lying on the Gulf of Mexico.

A window projecting from the wall of a building so as to form a recess or bay within and, properly speaking, rising from tbe ground or basement, with straight sides only; but the t

See Foreshore; Sea-Shore.

Money paid for the maintenance of a beacon. Comyns, Dig. Navigation (H). BEADLE (Sax. Beodan, to bid). A church servant chosen by the vestry, whose business it is to attend tbe ves

One who bears or carries a thing. If a bill or note be made payable to bearer, it will pass by delivery only, without indorsement; and whoever fairly acquires a It has been decided

Such as bear down or oppress others; maintainers.

Words frequently used In pleading and conveyancing to introduce the date which has been put upon an instrument. When in a declaration the plaintiff alleges that the defendant made

Any four-footed animal which may be used for labor, food, or sport; as opposed to man; any irrational animal. Webst A cow is a beast; Taylor v. State, 6 Humph. (Tenn.) 2S5; and so

Properly, the buck, doe, fox, martin, and roe, but in a common and legal sense extending likewise to all the beasts of the forest, which beside the others are reckoned to be the hi

See Beasts of the Chase.

Hares, coneys, and roes. Co. Litt. 233; 2 Bla. Com. 39. BEAT or BEATING. To strike or hit repeatedly, as with blows. To beat, in a legal sense, is not merely to whip, wound, or hur

An ancient custom in England by which, once a year, the minister, etc., of a parish walked about its boundaries to preserve a recollection of them. Cent. Diet. (Perambulation). BEA

The channel of a stream; the part between the hanks worn by the regular flow of the water. See Howard v. Ingersoll, 13 How. (U. S.) 426, 14 L. Ed. 189. The phrase divorce from bed

A hospital or almshouse for bedesmen or poor people who prayed for their founders and benefactors; from the Saxon biddan, to pray. Cunningham.

In English Law. A crier or messenger of court, who summons men to appear and answer therein. Cowell. An inferior officer in a parish or liberty, or in an institution, such as the B

The jurisdiction of a bedel. as a bailiwick is the jurisdiction of a bailiff. Co. Litt. 234 b; Cowell.

A service which certain tenants were anciently bound to perform, as to reap their landlord's com at harvest Said by Whishaw to be still in existence in some parts of England. Bloun

Those which we now call banditti; profligate and excommunicated persons. Cunningham.

A malt liquor of the lighter sort and differs from ordinary beer or ales, not so much in its ingredients as in its processes of fermentation. BEES are animals force naturw while un

One who obtains his livelihood by asking alms. The laws of several of the states punish begging as an offence. See Tramp; Vagrant.

"To be begotten" means the same as "begotten," embracing all those whom the parent shall have begotten during his life, quos procreaverit. 1 Maule & S. 135; Wager v. Wager, 1 S. &

Benefit, support, defence, or advantage.

Manner of having, holding, or keeping one's self; carriage of one's self, with respect to propriety, morals, and the requirements of law. Surety to be of good behavior is a larger

In Spanish Law. Lands situated in districts and manors in which the inhabitants had the right to select their own lords. BEHOOF (Sax.). Use; service; profit; advantage. It occurs i

Conviction of the mind, arising not from actual perception or knowledge, but by way of inference, or from evidence received or information derived from others. See Deceit. Belief m

In International Law. The status of de facto statehood attributed to a body of insurgents, by which their hostilities are legalized. Before they can be recognized as belligerents t

In International Law. As adj. and noun. Engaged in lawful war; a state so engaged. In plural. A body of insurgents who by reason of their temporary corps of volunteers, and others,

To appertain to; to be the property of. Property "belonging" to a person has two general meanings: (1) ownership; (2) the absolute right of user. A road may be said with perfect pr

Inferior; preliminary. The court below is the court from which a cause has been removed. See Bail.

A tribunal for the administration of justice. The judges taken collectively, as distinguished from counsellors and advocates, who are called the bar. The term, indicating originall

Seniors in the Inns of Court, intrusted with their government. They have the absolute and Irresponsible power of punishing a barrister of their Inn guilty of misconduct, by either

An order issued by or from a bench, for the attachment or arrest of a person. It may issue either in case of a contempt, or where an indictment has been found.

An ecclesiastical preferment. In its more extended sense, it includes any sneb preferment; in a more limited sei: applies to rectories and vicarages only, i icium; Simony.

See Benefit of Discussion.

Voluntary associations for mutual assistance in need and sickness, and for the care of families of deceased members. Niblack, Ben. Soc. and Accid. Ins. These associations form in s

Profit, benefit, or advantage resulting from a contract, or the ownership of an estate as distinct from the legal ownership or control. A cestui que trust has the beneficial intere

It is used in New York and has for its object the donee of the power, and is to be executed solely for his bene Ot, in contradistinction to trust 1, which have for their obje other

See Beneficial Associations.

A term suggested by Judge Story as a substitute for cestui que trust, and adopted to some extent. 1 Story. Eq. Jur. § 321. The person named in a policy of insurance to whom the ins

Benefit of clergy, which see. BENEFICIUM C 0 MPETE NTI /E. In Scotch Law. The privilege of retaining a competence helonging to the obligor in a tutes a good defence in part to an a

See Beni 1 1 l of Inventory.

In Scotch and Civil Law. The privilege of the surety allowing him to require that the creditor shall take complete legal proceedings against the debtor to exhaust him before he cal

Profit, fruit, or advantage. The acceptance of the benefits of a contract estops a party from denying its validity; City of St. Louis v. Davidson, 102 Mo. 149, 14 S. W. 825, 22 Am.

See Beneficial Associations.

The English rule is that only he can sue from whom the consideration has moved. That is, even a promisee cannot sue, if he has not provided the consideration; 1 B. & S. 393; K R. 4

In Civil Law. The release of a debtor from future imprisonment for his debts, to which he is entitled upon the surrender of his property for the benefit of his creditors. Pothier,

Originally it meant that an ordained clerk charged with felony could be tried only in the Ecclesiastical Court. But, before the end of Henry

The right which a surety has to cause the property of the principal debtor to be applied in satisfaction of the obligation in the first instance.

In Civil Law. The right of one of several joint sureties, when sued alone, to have the whole obligation apportioned amongst the solvent sureties, so that he need pay but his share.

In Civil Law. The privilege which the heir obtains of being liable for the charges and debts of the succession, only to the value of the effects of the succession, by causing an in

A service which the tenant rendered to his lord with his plow and cart. Cowell.

A voluntary gratuity given by the subjects to the king. Cowell. Benevolences were first granted to Edward IV.; but under subsequent monarchs they became anything but voluntary gift

The form in ancient fines and submissions to purchase the king's pardon and favor in order to be restored to place, title or estate. Paroch. Antiq. 172.

In Berkshire, a remedy for the inhabitants thereof to levy money recovered against them on the statute of hue and cry. 39 Eliz. c. 25.

To give personal property by will to another. Lasher v. Lasher, 13 Barb. (N. Y.) 106. The word may be construed devise, so as to pass real estate; Wigram, Wills 11; or devise and b

A gift by will of personal property. See Legacy. BERTILL0N SYSTEM. See Anthropometry.

BESAYLE. The great-grandfather, proavus. 1 Bla. Com. 180.

In addition to; moreover. In provisions in a will for children "besides" an eldest son, no children take unless there be a son; 4 Dr. & War. 235. is to he delirious, sill or insane

The best evidence of which the nature of the case admits, n highest or strongest evidence which the nature of the thing to he proved admits of: e. g. a copy of a deed is not the be

A sexual connection between a human being and a brute of the opposite sex. Buggery seems to include both sodomy and bestiality; Ausman v. Veal, 10 Ind. 356, 71 Am. Dec. 331. See So

The right which, in a court of equity, a second incumbrancer has who has taken securities against subsequent dealings to his prejudice, which a prior incumbrancer neglected to take

Improvements made to an estate. It signifies such improvements as render it better than mere repairs. Maddocks v. Jellison, 11 Me. 482; Davis' Lessee v. Powell, 13 Ohio, 308; M'Kin

The act of making a wager; a species of gambling. A bet or wager is ordinarily an agreement between two or more that a sum of money or some valuable thing, in contributing happenin

In the intermediate space of, without regard to distance; from one to another; belonging to two as a mutual relation. The words "between A. & B." In a deed excludes the termini men

Out of the kingdom of England; out of the state; out of the United States. "Beyond seas" means, generally, without the jurisdiction of the state or government in which the question

A particular influential power which sways the judgment; the inclination or propensity of the mind towards a particular object; adopted in Willis v. State, 12 Ga. 449. Justice requ

A term applied by Jeremy Bentham to the division of a legislative body into two chambers, as in the United States government.

A two-wheeled vehicle propelled by the rider. To ride a bicycle in the ordinary manner on a public highway for convenience, pleasure, or business is lawful. A person driving a hors

An offer to pay a specified price for an article about to be sold at auction. An offer to perform a contract for work and labor or supplying materials at a specified price.

One who offers to pay a specified price for an article offered for sale at a public auction. Webster v. French, 11 111. 254;. one who offers to enter into a contract for work and l

In a statute this term signifies not duration of time, but a period for the happening of an event; People v. Tremain, 9 Hun (N. Y.) 573. In most of the states legislative sessions

The state of a man who has two wives, or of a woman who has two husbands, living at the same time. When the man has more than two wives, or the woman more than two husbands, living

A book in which bankers, merchants, and traders write a statement of all they owe and all that is due to them. A balance sheet. The term is used in Louisiana, and is derived from t

A contract in which both the contracting parties are bound to fulfill obligations reciprocally towards each other. Lee. EUm. § 781. See Contract; Unilateral Contract; Acceptance.

The state of a ship in which water is freely admitted through holes and breaches made in the planks of the bottom, occasioned by injuries, whether the ship's timbers are broken or

Collateral. Bl UNGUIS. Using two languages. A term formerly applied to juries half of one nation and half of another. Plowd. 2. BILL (Lat billa). A complaint in writing addressed t

SINGLE. A written unconditional promise by one or more persons to pay to another person or other persons therein named a sum of money at a time therein specified. It is usually und

SUPPLEMENTAL. See Supplemental Bill. BILL TO CARRY A DECREE INTO EX-

A bill of exchange.

A bill of lading. BILLA VERA (Lat). A true bill. The form of words indorsed on a bill of indictment, when proceedings were conducted in Latin, to indicate the opinion of the grand

A contract to furnish a bill of exchange. A contract to pay the value of a bill of exchange already furnished. Guyot, Rupert. Univ. Where a person intends to furnish a bill of exch

One filed in a court of equity praying for an injunction after a judgment at law when there is any fact which renders it against conscience to execute such judgment, and of which t

One which is filed by a mortgagee against the morcgagor, for the purpose of having the property sold, thereby to obtain the sum secured on the premises, with interest and costs. 1

A bill which assumes as its basis the principle of a decree and seeks merely to carry it into effect. Story, Eq. PI. § 249. For instance, where all the facts do not distinctly appe