The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

NISI coram deo. No one is obliged to accuse himself unless before God. Hardr. 139. one who has committed a crime, so that he may be brought to justice and punishment. ACCUSATOR POS

One who is charged with a crime.

One who makes an accusation. ACEPHALI (Graeco-Lat.) Persons without a head or superior. In Civil Law. A sect of religious persons enumerated among the heretics. Otherwise called ac

ACHAT, ACHATA, or ACHET (Law Pr.) In old English law. Purchase; a purchase, contract, or bargain. Per colour de achate, by color of purchase. St. Westminster I. c. 1. Bought. Achat

An ancient English measure of grain, supposed to be the same with their quarter, or eight bushels.

The act of one who has executed a deed, in going before some competent officer or court, and declaring it to be his act or deed. The acknowledgment is certified by the officer or c

In English law. A sum paid by tenants of copyhold in some parts of England, as a recognition of their superior lords. Cowell; Blount. Called a fine by Blackstone. 2 Bl. Comm. 98.

An inferior church servant, who, next under the deacon, followed and waited upon the priest and deacons, and performed the meaner offices of lighting the candles, carrying the brea

In civil law. Property which has been acquired by purchase, gift, or otherwise than by succession. Immovable property which has been acquired otherwise than by succession. Merlin,

A silent appearance of consent. Worcester. It is to be distinguished from avowed consent, on the one hand, and from open discontent or opposition, on the other. It amounts to a con

A writ of justices, formerly Ijnng for the surety against a creditor who refuses to acquit him after the debt has been satisfied. Eeg. Writs, 158; Cowell; Blount.

(Lat. ad, for, and qv Merere, to seek). To make property one's own. It is regularly applied to a permanent acquisition. A man is said to obtain or procure a mere temporary acquisit

The act by which a person procures the property of a thing. The thing the property in which is secured. Original acquisition is that by which a man secures a property in a thing wh

In Contracts. A release or discharge from an obligation or engagement. 26 Wend. (N. Y.) 283. According to Lord Coke, there are three kinds of acquittal, namely, by deed, when the p

In contracts. An agreement in writing to discharge a party from an engagement to pay a sum of money. It is evidence of payment, and differs from a release in this, that the latter

Jn Scotch practice. The minute book of a court. 1 Swinb. 81.

In French law. Denotes a document, or formal, solemn writing, embodying a legal attestation that something has been done, corresponding to one sense or use of the English word "act

An act performed out of court, and which is not a matter of record. A deed or an assurance transacted between two or more private persons in the country, that is, according to the

In civil law. A specific mode of enforcing a right before the courts of law, e. g., legis actio; actio sacramenti. In this sense we speak of actions in our law, e. g., the action o

In civil law. An action instituted for the purpose of compelling the person against whom it was brought to exhibit some thing or title in his power. It was always preparatory to an

In the civil law. An arbitrary action; one depending upon the discretion of the judge (ex arbitrio judicis pendens); or in which the judge was allowed to determine, according to eq

See "Actio" (4).

In the civil law. An action to restrain the defendant from prosecuting a groundless proceeding or trumped-up charge against the plaintiff. Hunter, Rom. Law, 859.

In civil law. An action by a lender against a borrower, the principal object of which is to obtain a restitution of the thing lent. Poth. Pret. a Usage, notes 65, 68.

In civil law. An action by the borrower against the lender, to compel the execution of the contract. Poth. Pret. a Usage, note 75.

In civil law. An action for a division of the property held in common. Story, Partn. (Bennett Ed.) § 352.

A common action. A term applied by Br acton to an action where the thing demanded was common, and not several. Bracton, fol. 103.

In civil law. An action by which the plaintiff recovers the amount of a sum of money or other thing he paid by mistake. Poth. Promutuum, note 140.

In the civil law. An affirmative action; an action founded upon the affirmative allegation of some right in the plaintiff in another's land, as a right of way, etc., and not upon t

In the civil law. A contrary or cross action, as distinguished from actio directa. Heinec. Elem. Jur. Civ. lib. 3, tit. 15, §§ 805, 816, 826; Bracton, fol. 103.

In the common law. A criminal action. Bracton, fol. 102b.

In the civil law. An action of fraud; an action which lay for a defrauded person against the defrauder and his heirs, who had been enfraudulently deprived, with all its accessions

In the civil law. An action concerning a thing converted to the profit of another; an action granted to one who had contract with a son or slave, in order to recover whatever the f

In the civil law. An action concerning or against the peculium, patrimony, or separate estate. Inst, action to which fathers and masters were liable on the contracts of their child

In the civil law. An action for money engaged to be paid; an action which lay against any person who had engaged to pay money for himself, or for another, without any formal stipul

In civil law. An action which the depositary has against the depositor, to compel him to fulfill his engagement toward him. Poth. du Depot, note 69.

In civil law. An action which is brought by the depositor against the depositary, in order to get back the thing deposited. Poth. du Depot, note 60.

In civil law. An action which the bailor of a thing for hire may bring against the bailee, in order to compel him to redeliver the thing hired. Poth. du,Contr. de Louage, note 59.

See "Action."

See "Action."

In the civil law. An action of purchase, or upon purchase; an action which a buyer is entitled to maintain against a seller, in order to cause him to deliver possession of the thin

In the civil law. An action against the exercitor or employer of a vessel. See "Exercitoria Actio."

In the civil law. An action upon letting; an action which the person (locator) who let a thing for hire to another might have against the hirer (conductor). Dig. 19. 2; Code, 4. 65

In the civil law. An action to enforce a stipulation.

In the civil law. An action upon sale; an action which a seller is entitled to maintain against a buyer to recover the price of a thing sold and delivered. Inst. 4. 6. 28; Heinec.

In civil law. An action for the division of an inheritance. Inst. 4. 6. 20; Bracton, 100b.

In the civil law. An action for the determination of boundaries between adjoining lands. Inst. 4. 17. 6; Id. 4. 6. 20. Enumerated by Bracton and Fleta among mixed actions. Bracton,

In the civil law. An action of theft; an action founded upon theft. Inst. 4. 1. 13-17; Bracton, fol. 444. This could only be brought for the penalty attached to the offense (tantum

An indirect action. A species of action mentioned by Bracton, probably the reverse of the actio directa. Bracton, fol. 103a.

In civil law. An action adapted to the particular case which had an analogy to some actio in jus, which was founded on some subsisting acknowledged law. Spence, Eq. Jur. 212. The o

or DAMNI INJUria. In the civil law. An action for injuries done by beating, wounding, slanderous language, libel, and the like. Inst. 4. 4. pr. 1, 12; Bracton, fol. 103b.

In the civil law. An action for the quadruple value of a thing. Inst. 4. 6. 21; Bracton, fol. 103a.

An action against the thing. See "Actio" (2).

In the civil law. An action for the single value of a thing. Inst. 4. 6. 21. 22; Bracton, fol. 103a.

In the civil law. An action for the triple value of a thing. Inst. 4. 6. 21. 24; Bracton, fol. 103a.

In civil law. An action instituted, after four months had elapsed after the rendition of judgment, in which the judge issued his warrant to seize, first, the movables, which were s

In the Roman law. A legal or lawful action; an action of or at law. Dig. 1. 2. 2. 6, One of the sources of the unwritten law of Rome. Butler, Hor. Jur. 47. So called, according to

In the civil law. An action under the Aquilian law; an action to recover damages for maliciously or injuriously killing or wounding the slave or beast of another, or injuring in an

In the civil law. An acthe contract were not complied with by the latter. Inst. 3. 25. pr.; Dig. 19. 2; Heinec. Elem. Jur. Civ. lib. 3, tit. 25, § 928. gee "Actio ex Locato."

In civil law. An action founded upon a mandate. ACTIO MIXTA (or MISTA). See "Actio" (3). An action in which each party is actor, or plaintiff; such as the actions finium regundorum

For which an action will lie 3 Bl. Comm. 23.

A commercial term used in Europe to denote a proprietor of shares or actions in a joint-stock company.

(or NEGATIVA). In the civil law. A negatory or negative action; an action founded on the denial (negatio) of another's right; as where a right of way or other servitude in a partic

In the civil law. An action upon, or on account of, business done. An action given in cases where a person transacted the business of another during his absence (cum quia negotia a

Actions. Plural of actio (q. v.), and is used in combination in the same manner. ACTIONUM GENERA MAXIME SUNT servanda. The kinds of actions are especially to be preserved. Loilt, 4

See "Actio in Personam."

See "Actio in Rem."

In Scotch law. An action for multures or tolls against those who are thirled to a mill, i. e., bound to grind their corn at a certain mill, and fail to do so. Bell, Diet.

In Scotch law. An action competent to a husband or wife, to compel either party to adhere in case of desertion. It is analogous to the English suit for restitution of conjugal righ

A phrase used when a defendant pleads some matter by which he shows that the plaintiff had no cause to have the writ sued upon, although it may be that he is entitled to another wr

A form of action resorted to in the states of Connecticut and Vermont for the recovery of claims, such as usually evidenced by a book account. 1 Day (Conn.) 105; 4 Day (Conn.) 105;

In pleading. The declaration in a special plea "that the said plaintiff ought not to have or maintain his aforesaid action thereof against" the defendant (in Latin, actio non haber

An action is not given to one who is not injured. Jenk. Cent. Cas. 69.

NISI MENS sit rea. An action does not make one guilty unless the intention be bad. Lofft, 37. ACTIO NON ULTERIUS (Lat.) In English pleading. A name given to the distinctive clause

See "Case."

In the civil law. A noxal action; an action which lay against a master for a crime committed or injury done by his slave, and in which the master had the alternative either to pay

See "Redhibitory Action."

See "Rescissory Actions."

In Scotch law. All actions which are not rescissory.

In the civil law. A perpetual or unlimited action; one not limited to any particular period within which it should be brought. Inst. 4. 12. pr. The opposite of the actio temporalis

A personal action. The proper term in the civil law is actio in personam, ACTIO PERSONALIS MORITUR CUM persona (Lat.) A personal action dies with the person. In Practice. A maxim w

In the civil law. An action of pledge; an action founded on the contract of pledge {pignus). Dig. 13. 7; Code, 4. 24.

In the civil law. An action prosecuted for a penalty only, and not for a specific thing. Inst. 4. 6. 16. 18.

In the civil law. A penal action; an action brought to enforce ACTIO POENALIS IN HAEREDEM NON datur, nisl forte ex damno locupletlor haeres factus sit. A penal action Is not given

In the civil law. A preliminary or preparatory action; an action brought for the determination of some point or question arising in another or principal action, and so called from

In civil law. A form of action which derived its force from continued usage or the responsa pmdentium, and was founded on the unwritten law. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 212. The distinction

In the civil law. A praetorian action; one introduced by the praetor, as distinguished from the more ancient actio civilis. Inst. 4. 6. 3; 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, p. 189, § 194.

Ad action brought for the recovery of a several thing {res propria), as distinguished from a thing held in common. Bracton, fol. 103a.

In the civil law. An action for a copartner; an action which one copartner (socius) might have against another. Dig. 17. 2; Code, 4. 37.

In the civil law. An action which lay for one who had lost a thing of which he had bona fide obtained possession before he had gained a property (dominium) in it, in order to have

Every action proceeds in its own course. Jenk. Cent. Cas. 77.

In the civil law. An action given to a purchaser who had paid more for a thing than it was in- (quanti minoris), or fell short in value, by reason of the defect. Poth. Cont. pt. 2,

In the civil law. An action given against a master, founded on some business done by his slave, acting under his order (jussu). Inst. 4. 7. 1; Dig. 15. 4; Code, 4. 26.

In the civil law. An action granted by unlawful force, or fear (metus causa) that was not groundless (metus probabilis or Justus), to deliver, sell, or promise a thing to another.

In civil law. An action to compel a vendor to take back the thing sold, and return the price paid.'

In the civil law. An action for the recovery of a specific thing (rei presequendae causa comparata) or damages; as distinguished from the actio poenae persecutoria, and the actio m

In the civil law. An action for things removed; an action which, in cases of divorce, lay for a husband against a wife, to recover things carried away by the latter, in contemplati

In c Wl law. An action for rescinding a title acquired by prescription in a case where the party bringing the action was entitled to exemption from the operation of the prescriptio

In the civil law. An action which lay for the lessor of a farm, or rural estate, to recover the gopds of the lessee or farmer, which were pledged or bound for the rent. Inst. 4. 6.

In the civil law. A special action; an action brought to enforce the delivery of one of several single things. 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, p. 193, § 196; Dig. 6. 1. 1. ACTIO STRICTI JURIS