The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

A customary service of ploughing. Du Cange.

Tenants who paid a reserved rent, besides some customary duties to be done by them. Cowell.

The tenure by which almost all lands in England were held prior to the Conquest, and which is still preserved in Kent. All the sons of a tenant of gavelkind lands take equally, or

An officer of the English crown having the general management of the mines, pits, and quarries in the forest of Dean and hundred of St. Briavels, subject, in some respects, to the

A tenant who is liable to tribute. Somn. Gavelkind, p. 33; Blount. Gavelingmen were tenants who paid a reserved rent, besides customary service, Cowell.

A customary service of mowing meadow land or cutting grass (consuetudo faleandi). Soran. Gavelkind, Append.; Blount. bid or command of the lord. Somn. Gavelkind, 19, 21; Cowell.

or GAVELWEEK. A customary service, either manuopera, by the person of the tenant, or carropera, by his carts or carriages. Phill. Purv.; Blount; Somn. Gavelkind, 24; Du Cange.

(L. Fr.) Plough tackle, or implements of Husbandy; wainage, Kelham.

The official newspaper of the English government. It is published twice each week, and contains all the acts of state and proclamations, and also dissolutions of partnership and no

or GEBURSCRIPT. Neighborhood or adjoining district. Cowell.

In old English law. A country neighbor; an inhabitant of the same geburscip or village. Cowell. GELD (from Saxon gildan; Law Lat. geldum). A payment; tax; tribute. Laws Hen. I. c.

In medical jurisprudence. Concealment of pregrnancy or delivery. Dungl. Med. Diet.

or GEMOTE. (Saxon, from gemettand, to meet or assemble; Law Lat. gemotum). An assembly; a mote or moot, meeting, or public assembly. The folcgemot, or general assembly of the peopl

The summary history or table of a house or family, showing how the persons there named are connected together.

The head of a family. Rapalje & L. GENEATH (Saxon.) In Saxon law. A villein, or agricultural tenant {villanus villicus); a hind or farmer; (firmarius rusticus). Spelman. GENER (Lat

One who Is appointed to administer the whole estate, without any limit of time or place or of the subject matter. Special Executor. One who is appointed or constituted to administe

The entry of a general prayer and allowance of time to plead till the next term, without reserving to the defendant the benefit of any exception, so that after such an imparlance t

The son of a gentleman. Generally abbreviated "gen fil."

Gentleman; a gentleman. Spelman.

A degree of consanguinity; Spelman. GENS (Lat.) In Roman law. A union of families, who bore the same name, who were of an ingenuous birth (ingenui), none of whose ancestors had bee

In Roman law. The members of a gens or common tribe.

In English law. A person of superior birth. According to Sir Edward Coke, he is one who bears coat armor, the grant of which adds gentility to a man's family. The eldest son had no

An addition formerly appropriate in England to the state or degree of a woman. 2 Inst. 667.

Not spurious or counterfeit. Used in relation to a written instrument, it does not cover either the authority (149 N. QERECHT8B0DE (Belg.) In old New York law. A court messenger or

Reeve, {q. v.)

Bearing. Gerens datum, bearing date. 1 Ld. Raym. 336; Hob. 19.

Whole or entire, as respects genealogy or descent; thus, "brother german" denotes one who is brother both by the father's and mother's side; "cousins german," those in the first an

In civil law. Officers appointed to manage hospitals for poor old persons. Clef des Lois Rom. "Administrateurs."

In the civil law. An institution or hospital for taking care of the old. Calv. Lex. Their managers are called "gerontocomi."

In old English. Fineable, or liable to be mulcted, fined, or amerced at the discretion of the lord. Cowell. GERSUME (Saxon.) In old English law. Expense; reward; compensation; weal

GUST or GESTE. In Saxon law. A guest.

See "Period of Gestation." GESTIO (Lat.) In civil law. The doing or management of a thing. Negotiorum gestio, the doing voluntarily without authority business of another. De neg. g

Behavior as as by taking possession of title deeds, receiving rents, etc. Bell, Diet.

In civil law. One who acts for another, or transacts another's business. Calv. Lex. GESTUM (Lat.) In Roman law. A thing done; a transaction. Strictly, a thing done vdthout words, a

In old Scotch law. Gaolers. 1 Pitc. Grim. Tr. pt. 2, p. 234.

In Saxon law. The ancient convention of the people to decide a cause. Laws Aethel. c. 1. GEWITNESSA (Saxon). In Saxon and old English law. The giving of evidence. Laws Aethel. c. 2

In Saxon law. Deeds or charters; writings. 1 Reeve, Hist. Eng. Law, 10.

A voluntary conveyance; that is, a conveyance not founded on the consideration of money or blood. The word denotes rather the motive of the conveyance, so that a feoffment or grant

A stream of water. Blount.

A scheme whereby gifts or premiums are distributed among the patrons of a business establishment, either the value of the premium, or the persons who shall receive the same, being

In Swedish law. He who has a right to dispose of a woman in marriage. This right is vested in the father, if living; if dead, in the mother. They may nominate a person in their pla

See "Guild."

See "Geldable."

See "Guildhall." GILDA MERCATORIA (Law Lat.) A mercantile meeting. If the king once grants to a set of men to have gildam mercatoriam, a mercantile meeting or assembly, this is alo

In Saxon law. Member of a gild or decennary. Oftener spelled "congildo." Du Cange; Spelman, "Geldum."

or GIRANTE. In common law. An Italian word, which signifies the drawer. It is derived from girare, to draw, in the same manner as the English verb to murder is transformed into mur

A girth, or yard, is a measure of length. The word is of Saxon origin, taken from the circumference of the human body. Girth is contracted from girdeth, and signifies as much as gi

In Scotch law. A refuge or place of safety given to those who had slain a man in heat of passion (chaude melle), and unpremeditatedly. Abolished at the Reformation. 1 Hume, Hist. E

Agistment; cattle taken in to graze at a certain price; also the money received for grazing cattle. Rapalje & L. GISER (Law Fr.) In old English law. To lie. Giser et mason, to lie

An agister. See "Gisement."

A term used in deeds of conveyance. At common law, it implied a covenant. 2 Hilliard, Real Prop. 366. So in Kentucky. 1 Pirtle, Dig. 211. In Maryland and Alabama it is doubtful. 7

He who makes a gift. By his gift the giver always impliedly agrees with the donee that he will not revoke the gift.

In Louisiana. A term which signifies that a debtor, instead of paying a debt he owes in money, satisfies his creditor by giving in payment a movable or immovable. See "Dation en Pa

A ceremony by gift of finger rings by a barrister on being made a serjeant-at-law.

An agreement by which a creditor gives his debtor a delay or time in paying his debt beyond that contained in the original agreement. When other persons are responsible to him, eit

The author of the oldest treatise on English law, written in Latin, about A. D. 1181, under the title of Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (A Treatise of the Laws and

A hand dart. Cowell.

The act of gathering such grain in a field where it grew as may have been left by the reapers after the sheaves were gathered. There is a custom in England, it is said, by which th

In the Civil Law. A turf, sod, or clod of earth; the soil or ground; cultivated land in general. In Old English Law. Church land

See "Adscriptlti."

In Ecclesiastical Law. The land which belongs to a church. It is the dowry of the church. Gleba est terra qua consistit dos ecclesiae. 9 Cranch (U. S.) 329. In Civil Law. The soil

Commissioners appointed to determine differences between scholars in a school or university and the townsmen of the place. Jacob.

A commentator or annotator of the Roman law. One of the authors of the Gloss.

STATUTE OF. An English statute, passed 6 Edw. I., A. D. 1278. So called because it was passed at Gloucester. There were other statutes made at Gloucester which do not bear this nam

In was an ancient custom on a maiden assize, when there was no offender to be tried, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves. It is an immemorial custom to

Extraordinary rewards formerly given to oiflcers of courts, etc.; money formerly given by the sheriff of a county in which no offenders are left for execution to the clerk of assiz

A hollow between two mountains; a valley or glen. Co. Litt. 5b.

When a prisoner is arraigned, he is asked, "How will you be tried?" He answers, "By God and my country." This practice arose when the prisoner had the right to choose the mode of t

In ecclesiastical law. An ecclesiastical or church fine imposed upon an offender for crimes and offenses committed against God.

In old English law. Money given to bind a bargain; earnest-money. So called because such money was anciently given to God, — that is, to the church and the poor. See "Denarius Dei.

An old form of "cucking stool" (q. v.). Cowell.

A business establishment which continues to transact its ordinary business, though it may be embarrassed, or even insolvent. 30 Fed. 865,

The act of the chief of an English common-law court in demanding of every member of the bar, in order of seniority, if he has anything to move. This was done at the sitting of the

When a party, under the common-law system of pleading, 'finished his pleading by the words, "and of this he puts himself upon the country," this was called "going to the country."

One who is going out of the jurisdiction of the court, although only into a state or country under the general sovereignty; as, for example, if he is going from one to another of t

A mine. Blount. A sink or passage for water. Cowell.

In English law. Banker's notes. So called because the trades of banker and goldsmith were originally joined. Chit. Bills, 423.

Reasonable; suitable; sufficient; valid; meeting all legal requirements. See 10 Gray (Mass.) 302; 36 Mo. App. 192. As Applied to Commercial Paper. Genuine; collectible. 4 Mete. (Ma

See "Abearance."

Those qualified to serve on juries; that is, those of full age, citizens, not infamous or -rvon compos mentis; and they must be resident in the county where the venue is laid. Bac.

Conduct authorized by law. Surety of good behavior might at common law be demanded from any person justly suspected, upon sufficient grounds, of intending to commit a crime or misd

See "Consideration."

Honesty; absence of fraud, collusion, or deceit. 91 Wis. 464. See "Bona Fide Purchaser."

What constitutes good moral character may vary from one generation to another. It would seem that whatever is forbidden by the law of the land ought to be considered, for the time

The word goods, as a technical term of the law is nomen generalissimum,, and has a very extensive meaning. 35 N. H. 483. In Contracts. The term "goods" is not so wide as "chattels,

WARES, AND MERCHANDISE. A phrase used in the statute of frauds, covering, generally, all classes of personal property. Fixtures do not come within it. 1 Cromp., M. & R. 275; 3 Tyrw

In Contracts. A term which includes not only personal property in possession, but choses in action and chattels real, as a lease for years of house or land, or emblements. 12 Coke,

A phrase used to designate the action of assumpsit brought on a contract of sale, where the purchaser has not accepted delivery of the goods.

A phrase used to indicate the action of assumpsit brought when the sale and delivery of goods furnish the cause.

A perfect title, free and clear from any legal exception or charge thereon. 23 Barb. (N. Y.) 370.

The benefit which arises from the establishment of particular trades or occupations. The advantage or benefit which is acquired by an establishment, beyond the mere value of the ca

Land held by a cottager, whether in socage or villenage. Cowell; Blount.

A term of the commercial law, indicating the dishonor of commercial paper by nonpayment or nonacceptance, whereby it becomes subject to protest (gr. v.).

Words used to denote that a party is dismissed the court. He is said to go without day, because there is no day appointed for him to appear again.

Favor or indulgence, as distinguished from right.

DAYS OF. See "Days of Grace." GRADATIM (Lat.) In old English law. By degrees or steps; step by step; from one degree to another. Bracton, fol. 64. GRADUS (Lat. a step). A measure o

A pedigree; a table of relationship.

or GRAFFARIUS. In old English law. A graffer, notary, or scrivener. St. 5 Hen. VIII. c. 1.

A register; a leger book or cartulary of deeds and evidences.

A baron, inferior to a count. 1 Mart. Anec. Collect. 13. A fiscal judge; an advocate. Du Cange; Spelman; Cowell. For various derivations, see Du Cange.