Foreign

Forein. [from L. Fr.forein, foret/n, forain; Lat forinseeus; from forts, without, on the outside.] That which is without or beyond the limits of a particular territory, district or jurisdiction; as a foreign nation, a foreign state, a foreign countffp (qq. v.) That which belongs without, or to another jurisdiction; as foreign matter, a foreign answer, (qq. v.) That which originates or comes from without or abroad, or is subject to another jurisdiction; as & foreigner, (q. v.) That which is done or transacted without, or in another territory or jurisdiction; as a foreign assignment, a foreign judgment, a foreign marriage, (qq. v.) That which operates without, or in another territory or jurisdiction; that which goes abroad; as a foreign bill of exchange, (q. t.) Extrinsic or irrelevant; belonging elsewhere; ij^. Yr. dehors.) Extraordinary or extra. See Foreign Apposer. It was argued in Spratt v. Spratt, (I Feters' R. 343,) that foreign properly siffnified that which had an origin abroad; and the derivation of the word from forit, (without,) and origo, (origin,) was relied on. But this seems hardly so good an etymology as foris and regnum, which has also been given. Both these conjectures appear to be based entirely on the presence of the letter g, which, however, is a mere variation of spelling /oreen, (as darreign was of dar* rein,) the word itself being essentially French. Foreign or forein, (as it is written by Blount) seems clearly derived, by the simple process of contraction, from the Lat. forinseeus, the signification of which was by no means limited to the idea of origin. See Forinseeus. Foreign, in common speech, has, in most of its applications, the sense of remoteness. But this idea has never entered into its legal meaning. Hence, in American law, the several states of the Union are, in certain points of view, foreign states to each other, though the states to which the term is applied may be immediately adjacent See Foreign state. So each county in a state, considered with reference to the others, is a foreign county. See Foreign county. And in old English law the term was applied to still smaller subdivisions, as a lord's fee; and even to an outside ridge or furrow of land. See Foreign service, Forinseeus.