Ad Nocumentum

Lat. To the nuisance, or annoyance. Ad nocwnentum Uberi ienefnenti sui; to the nuisance of his freehold. Formal words in the old of nuisance.

8 Bl. Com. 221.

AD OSTIUM ECCLESIiE. L. Lat. Fr. al huis d'esglise.] At the door of the e church. Bract, fol.

92 a. 2 Bl. Com. 132, 138.

See Dower ad ostium ecclesice. Ad pr^xima Bi anfcccdciu flaf relatia, (■!• •liatfpedliatseateatia.} Relation should be had, or made to the next antecedent, unless the sense forbid. Jenk. Cent. 180. I^oy's Max. 4. Words in construction must be referred to the next, antecedent, where the matter itself doth not hinder it. Wingate's Max. 15, max. 10. Thus, where a devise was to H., and the heirs of his body, remainder to T. C. of W. and the heirs male of his body, upon condition that he or they, or any of them, should not alien, &c., the words he or they were held to refer not to H., but to T. C. of W., (fee. 6 Co. 68 a. But where an award was that one party should pay before such a feast ten pounds to the other, and that then the other should make him a release, it was held that the word then should not be referred to the feast, but to the time of payment of the money. Dy^ er, 15 b, arg. See Broom's Max. 292 — 294. The meaning of this maxim has been smgularly mistaken in most of the translations of it. Thus, in Branch, — " Let the antecedent relate to that which follows next to it, unless a sentence intervene." In Noy, — " The antecedent bears relation to what follows next, unless it destroys the meaning of the sentence." In Wharton, — " Let the antecedent relation be connected with that which follows, unless it is intervened by a sentence." It is hardly necessary to add that the last of these reduces the maxim to an absurdity. The use of impediatur for impediat, in some of the books,* has tended in a considerable degree to obscure the sense. Adqavstianeai facti aon respondent jadiecst ad qaastionem Icgis non respondent Jnrataree. Judges do not answer to a question of fact: jurors do not answer to a ques- ^ tion of law. Co. Litt. 295 b. 8 Co. 308, [155.] Or, as the converse is sometimes affirmatively stated: Ad qaaatioaeai Jarle reepandeni jadices} ad qnaetlenem AmiI respendent Jnratoree. Judges answer tO a question of law; jurors, to a question of fact. A maxim embodying the great leading principle of pleading, that a question or issue of law must be answered, that is, determined by the court; and a question or issue of fact must be answered, that is, tried by a jury. Broom's Max. 43. Used, also, as expressive of the general rule of proceeding on trials before a jury, viz: tliat it is the office of l^e judge to instruct the jury in points of law, and of the jury to decide on matters of fact. Co, Litt 295 b. See Broom's Max. 43 — 48.