Close

An interest in the soil (Doctoj & Stud. 30; 6 East, 154; 7 East, 207; 1 Burrov/s, 133), or in trees or growing crops (4 Mass. 266; 9 Johns. [N. Y.] 113). An inclosed tract of land. 3 Bl. Comm. 209. In every case where one has a right to exclude another from his land, the law encircles it, if not actually inclosed, with an imaginary fence, and entitles him to a compensation in damages for the injury he sustains by the act of another passing through his boundary, denominating such land a "close." Hammond, N. P. 151; Doctor & Stud. dial. 1, c. 8, p. 30; 2 Whart. (Pa.) 430.

An interest in the soil. Doctor & Stud. 30; 6 East 154; 1 Burr. 133; or in trees or growing crops. Clap v. Draper, 4 Mass. 266, 3 Am. Dec. 215; Stewart v. Doughty, 9 Johns. (N. Y.) 113. In every case where one man has a right to exclude another from his land, the law encircles it, if not already inclosed, with an imaginary fence, and entitles him to a compensation in damages for the injury he sustains by the act of another passing through it. 3 Bl. Com. 209; Doctor & Stud. dial. 1, c. 8, p. 30; Worrall v. Rhoads, 2 Whart. (Pa.) 430, 30 Am. Dec. 274. In considering the cases in which trespass might be supported for an injury to land (for breaking the close) it is laid down that the term close, being technical, signifies the interest in the soil, and not merely an inclosure in the common acceptance of that term. It lies, however temporary the tenant's interest, and though it be merely in the profits of the soil as vesturae terrae or herbagii pasturae; Co. Litt. 4 b; 5 East 480; 6 id. 606; 5 T. R. 535; prima tonsura; 7 East 200; chase for warren, etc.; 2 Salk. 637; if it be in exclusion of others; 2 Bla. Rep. 1150; 8 M. & S. 499. So it lies by one having a right to take off grass; 6 East 602; or after a tenancy expires, a right to emblements; Stewart v. Doughty, 9 Johns. (N. Y.) 108; or by one having the right to cut timber trees; Clap v. Draper, 4 Mass. 266, 3 Am. Dec. 215. Ejectment will not lie for a close; 11 Co. 55; Cro. Eliz. 235; Ad. Ej. 24. See Clausum.

adj.

In practice. Closed or sealed up. A term applied to writs and letters, as distinguished from those that are open or patent

— Close copies. Copies of legal documents which might be written closely or loosely at pleasure; as distinguished from office copies, which were to contain only a prescribed number of words on each sheet.

— Close corporation. One in which the directors and officers have the power to fill vacancies in their own number, without allowing to the general body of stockholders any choice or vote in their election. McKim v. Odom, 3 Bland (Md.) 416, note.

— Close rolls. Rolls containing the reconi of the close write (literœ clauses) and grants of the king, kept with the public records. 2 Bl. Comm. 346.

— Close season. In game and fish laws, this term means the season of the year in which the taking of particular game or fish is prohibited, or in which all hunting or fishing is forbidden by law. State v. Theriault, 70 Vt. 617, 41 A(I. 1080, 43 L. R. A. 290, 67 Am. St. Rep. 695.

— Close writs. In English law. Certain letters of the king, sealed with his great seal, and directed to particular persons and for particular purposes, which, not being proper for public inspection, are closed up and sealed on the outside, and are thence calied "writs close." 2 Bl. Comm. 346; Sewell, Sheriffs, 372. Write directed to the sheriff, instead of to the lord. 3 Reeve, Eng. Law, 45.

A portion of land, as a field, enclosed, as by a hedge, fence or other visible enclosure; t'he interest of a person in a particular piece of ground, whether enclosed or not.

#. A portion of land, as a field, inclosed, ag by a hedge, fence, or other visible inclosure. 38 Bl. Comm. 209. The interest of a person in any particular piece of ground, whether actually inclosed@or not. 7 East, 207. The noun “close,” in its lagal sense, imports a portion of land inciosed, but not necessarily inclosed by actual or visible barriers, The invisible, ideal boundary, founded on limit of title, which surrounds every man’s land, constitutes it his close, irrespective of walls, fences, ditches, or the like, In practice. The word means termination; winding up. ‘Thus the close of the pleadings is where the pleadings are finished, #. e., When issue has been joined.

1. A piece of land held as private property. 2. Clause; sealed. Close -writs: the opposite of letters patent. Writs directed to the sheriff, not the lord; or to a particular person, not people generally. Close rolls: rolls preserved among the public records in England, containing the record of close writs and other documents. Close copies: not of Soe copies, which required to have a certain number of words to each sheet, but copies written close, or not, at pleasure.

[Lat. clausum, q. v.] A portion of land, as a field, enclosed, as by a hed^e, fence or other visible enclosure.* 3 BL Com. 209. The interest of a person in any particular piece of ground, whether actually enclosed or not. Id. ibid. 1 East, 207. Boct. <& Stud. dial. 1, c. 8. Every man's land is, in the eye of the law, enclosed and set apart from his neighbor's; and that either by a visible and material fence, as one field is divided from another by a hedge; or by an ideal invisible boundary, existing only in the contemplation of law, as when one man's land adjoins to another's in the same field. 3 BL Com, 209, 210.

In common acceptation, close means an enclosed field; but in law it rather signifies the separate mterest of the party in a particular spot of land, whether enclosed or not. 7 East, 207. DocL d; Stud. dial. 1, c. 8. The idea of a close as a piece of land adjoining and enclosing a dwelling-house, and peculiarly privileged from entry or invasion, is of very great antiquity in European law, and is clearly traced by Montesquieu to the habits of the ancient Germans, of whom it is said by Tacitus, — Suam quisque domum spatio circumdat; every one surrounds his house with a space of ground. De Mor. Oerm. c. 16. Montesquieu translates this passage " chacun laisse autour de sa m^aison un petit terrein ou space, qu'est clos et fermi,** and refers to some of the laws of the barbarian codes (as the law of the Allemans, c. 10, and the law of the Bavarians, tit. 10, § 1, 2;) as containing decrees against those who threw down this enclosure, as well as against those who broke into the house. Esprit des Lois, liv. 18, c. 22. This enclosure was called curtis (a court) in the ancient charters. See Court, Curtis.