Droit

In French law. Right, justice, equity, law, the whole body of law; also a right. This term exhibits the same ambiguity which is discoverable in the Gorman equivalent, "recht" and the English W(ord "right." On the one hand, these terms answer to the Roman "jus," and thus indicate law in the abstract, considered as the foundation of all rights, or the complex of underlying moral principles which impart the character of justice to all positive law, or give it an ethical content. Taken in this abstract sense, the terms may be adjectives, in which case they are equivalent to "Just," or nouns, in which case they may be paraphrased by the expressions "justice," "morality," or "equity." On the other hand, they serve to point out a right; that is, a power, privilege, faculty, or demand, inherent in one person, and incident upon another.

In the latter signification, droit (or recht or right) is the correlative of "duty" or "obligation." In the former, sense, it may be considered as opposed to wrong, injustico, or the absence of law. Droit has the further ambiguity that it is sometimes used to denote the existing body of law considered as one whole, or the sum total of a number of individual laws taken together. See Jus; Recht; Right.

— Droit d'accession. That property which is acquired by making a new species out of the material of another. It is equivalent to the Roman "specificatio."

— Droit d'anbaine. A rule by which all the property of a deceased foreigner, whether movable or immovable, was confiscated to the use of the state, to the exclusion of his heirs, whether claiming ob intestato or under a will of the deceased. Finally abolished in 1819. Opel v. Shoup, 100 Iowa, 407, 69 N. W. 560, 37 L. R. A. 583.

— Droit d'execution. The right of a stockbroker to sell the securities bought by him for account of a client, if the latter does not accept delivery thereof. The same expression is also applied to the sale by a stockbroker of securities deposited with him by his client, in order to guaranty the payment of operations for which the latter has given instructions. Arg. Fr. Merc. Law, 557.

— Droit de bris. A right formerly claimed by the lords of the coasts of certain parts of France, to shipwrecks, by which not only the property, but the persons of those who were cast away, were confiscated for the prince who was lord of the coast. Otherwise called "droit de hris sur le naufrage." This right prevailed chiefly in Bretagne, and was solemnly abrogated by Henry III. as duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Guienne, in a charter granted A. D. 1226, preserved among the rolls at Bordeaux.

— Droit de garde. In French feudal law. Right of ward. The guardianship of the estate and person of a noble vassal, to which the king, during his minority, was entitled. Steph. Leet. 250.

— Droit de gite. In French feudal law. The duty incumbant on a roturier, holding lands within the royal domain, of supplying board and lodging to the king and to his suite while on a royal progress. Steph. Leet. 351.

— Droit de greffe. In old French law. The right of selling various offices connected with the custody of judicial records or notarial acts. Steph. Leet 354. A privilege of the French kings.

— Droit de maitrise. In old French law. A charge payable to the crown by any one who, after having served his apprenticeship in any commercial guild or brotherhood, sought to become a master workman in it on his own account. Steph. Leet. 354.

— Droit de prise. In French feudal law. The duty (incumbent on a roturier) of supplying to the king on credit, during a certain period, such articles of domestic consumption as might be required for the royal household. Steph. Leet 35l.

— Droit de quint. In French feudal law. A relief payable by a noble vassal to the king as his seigneur, on every change in the ownership of his fief. Steph. Leet. 350.

— Droit de suite. The right of a creditor to pursue the debtor's property into the hands of third persons for the enforcement of his claim.

— Droits civils. This phrase in French law denotes private rights, the exercise of which is independent of the status (qualitd) of citizen. Foreigners enjoy them; and the extent of that enjoyment is determined by the principle of reciprocity. Conversely, foreigners may be sued on contracts made by them in France. Brown.

— Droit 6crit. In French law. (The written law.) The Roman civil law, or Corpus Juris Civilis. Steph. Leet. 130.

— Droit international. International law.

— Droit maritime. Maritime law. In old English law. Law; right; a writ of right. Co.. Litt 158b.

— Autre droit. The right of another.

— Droit-close. An ancient writ, directed to the lord of ancient demesne on behalf of those of his tenants who held their lands and tenements by charter in fee-simple, in fee-tail, for life, or In dower. Fitzh. Nat Brev. 23.

— Droit common. The common law. Litt. § 213 ; Co.. Litt142a. -Droit-droit. A double right; that is, the right of possession and the right of property. These two rights were, by the theory of our ancient law, distinct; and the above phrase was used to indicate the concurrence of both in one person, which concurrence was necessary to constitute a complete title to land. Mozley & Whitley.

— Droits of admiralty. Rights or perquisites of the admiralty. A term applied to goods found derelict at sea. Aplied also to property captured in time of war y non-commissioned vessels of a belligerent nation. 1 Kent, Comm. 96.

droict, dreit, I. fr. Right; justice; the law; a writ of right Droit ne done pinis que soit deinaunde: the law gives not more than is demanded. Droit ne poet pas morier: right cannot die. Droits of admiralty: rights or perquisites of the admiralty; goods In old law. Droit close: a writ for a tenant in ancient demesne against the lord. Drot d' Anbaine: a right or prerogative of the sovereign in some countries of Europe to the property of an a Uea dying within his dominions. Droit droit: a double right

In French law. Right, justice, equity, law, the whole body of law; also a right. This term exhibits the same ambiguity which is discoverable in the German equivalent, "recht" and the English word "right." On the one hand, these terms answer to the Roman "jus," and thus indicate law in the abstract, considered as the foundation of all rights, or the complex of underlying moral principles which impart the character of justice to all positive law, or give it an ethical content. Taken in this abstract sense, the terms may be adjectives, in which case they are equivalent to "just," or nouns, in which case they may be paraphrased by the expressions "justice," "morality," or "equity." On the other hand, they serve to point out a right; that is, a power, privilege, faculty, or demand, inherent in one person, and incident upon another.

In the latter signification, droit (or recht or right) is the correlative of "duty" or "obligation."

In the former sense, it may be considered as opposed to wrong, injustice, or the absence of law. Droit has the further ambiguity that it is sometimes used to denote the existing body of law considered as one whole, or the sum total of a number of individual laws taken together. See Jus; Recht; Right. In old English law. A writ of right, so called in the old books. Co. Litt. 158b. The common law is sometimes termed "common droit." Litt. § 213; Co. Litt. 142a.

A right; law abstractly considered. Opposed to Idi: law in the concrete sense. Equivalent to jtis in the Roman law. See Monstbans. Autre droit. Another's right. En autre droit. In another's right. Applied to an administrator, executor, guardian, prochein ami, or other representative of another's rights or interest.* Droit civil. A private right independent of citizenship. Droit-droit. A right upon a right; a double right: rights of possession and of property joined — necessary to a complete title to land. A jus duplicatum." Droit international. International law. Droit maritime. Maritime law. Droit of admiralty. In English law, applied to a ship of the enemy taken by an uncommissioned subject; and to a vessel seized in a port, on the breaking out of war. Also spoken of as an admiralty droit.^ »Soule V. San Francisco Gas Light Co., 64 Cal. 241 (1880). = The Nithsdale, 15 XTp. Can. Law J. 269 (1879). 'Watson V. Knowles, 13 E. I. 641 (1882). • See 1 Greenl. Ev. § 179. » See 2 Bl. Com. 199. Droitural. Used of an action upon a writ of right, as distinguished from a possessory action, upon the fact of, or right to, possession merely.

droict, dreit,/r. Bight, justice; the law; a writ of right. Droit droit: a double right the right of possession united maandd: the law gives no more than is aslced. Droit ne poet pas morier: right cannot die. Droits of Admiralty: goods found abandoned at sea; property captured in a time of war by non-commissioned vessels; the goods of the enemy claimed by the Crown. Droit d'Aubaine: a right or prerogative claimed by some European sovereigns of seizing the goods and estate of an alien dying within their dominions. Droit close: an old writ for a tenant in ancient demesne against the lord. Droit patent: a writ of right patent. Droit d'eignesse: V. Esnecy.

Droict, Dreii. h. Ft. [Lat jus, rectum, directum."] Right, justice. Co. Litt. 158 b. See Directum, Bight. A right. See infra, and see Jus. A writ of right, so called in the old books. Co. Litt. 168 b. Law. The common law is sometimes termed common droit. Litt. sect. 213. Co. Litt, 142 a. See Commcn Law. The law gives not more than is demanded. 2 Inst. 286. ]»r«it ii« paet pa« aia Tier. Right cannot die. Jenk. Cent. 100, case 95. DROIT D'AUBAINE (D'AUBAIGNE, and sometimes DROIT D'AUBENAGE.) L. Fr. [L. Lat. jus albinatus, jus albanagiu\ A right or prerogative of ihe sovereigns of some countries in Europe, entitling them, on the death of an alien or stranger, to all he was worth, unless he had a particular exemption. 1 Rob. Charles V. Appendix, Note xxix. 1 Bl. Com. 3Y2. This was particularly the case in France, where from the time of Charlemagne, down to within a recent period, a stranger could not, except by special favor, dispose of his property by will, and when he died, the sovereign or lord of the barony succeeded by right of inheritance to his estate. Id. ibid. Spelman, voc. Albanus. Ducange, voc. Albani. Be^ perioirh de Jurisp, par Merlin, tit. Aubaine. 2 Km Vs Com. 61 — 69. It was abolished in 1791, but revived under Napoleon, and was finally abolished only in 1819. Id. ibid. It appears, however, to have survived in other places to the present day, being formally relinquished as a subsisting right, in treaties made very recently between the United States and several of the European powers. Convention with Hesse Cassel, March 25, 1844, Art. 1. Convention with Wurttemhurg, April 10, 1844. The etymology of aubaine has been variously given. Nicot says it was anciently spelt hobaine from the verb hober, which signifies to remove from one place to another. Thresor de la Lang. Franc, fol. Paris, 1606. Cujacius derives the word from the Lat. advena, a foreigner or stranger. Cujac. Opera, fol. Neap. 1758, tom. ix. col. 1719. Spelman derives it from the Lat. alibi natus, (a person bom elsewhere) which seems the best explanation. Spelman, voc. Albanus. P, Cyclop, voc, Aubaine.

a French word: which in that language signifies the whole collection of laws, written and unwritten, and is synonymous to our word law. With us it means right, jus. Co. Litt. 158. A person was said to have drott drott, plurimum uris, and plurimum tones, when he had a freehold, the fee, and the property in him. Ib. 266; Crabb’s H. Eng. L. 400.