Frank law
Defined in 5 dictionaries — Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Black's (1891), Burrill (1850)
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
An obsolete expression signifying the rights and privileges of a citizen, and seeming to correspond to our term “civil rights.”
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
An obsolete expression signifying the rights and privileges of a citizen, or the liberties and civic rights of a freeman.
Defined under Frank in Black's Law Dictionary.
A Dictionary of Law
Henry Campbell Black · 1891
An obsolete expression signifying the rights and privileges of a citizen, or the liberties and civic rights of a freeman.
A New Law Dictionary and Glossary
Alexander M. Burrill · 1850
[L. "Er.fraanche ley; L. Lat. libera Ux, lex terroe.'] In old English law. The liberty of being sworn m courts, as a juror or witness; one of the ancient privileges of a freeman, or free and lawful man, (liber et legalis komo.) Otherwise called the law of the land, (lex terroe y) or simply, law, (lex,)* The nature of this privilege may be understood from Bracton's description of the consequences of losing it, among which the principal one was that the parties incurred perpetual infamy, so that they were never afterwards to be admitted to oath, because they were not deemed to be othesworth, (that is, not worthy of making oath,) nor allowed to give testimony. Perpetuam infamiam incurrant, et legem terrae amittant, et ita quod nunquam postea ad eacramentum admittantur, quia de catero non erunt ot])fst Dortt, nee ad testimonium recipientur. Bract, fol. 292 b. This was one of the punishments of jurors who had been convicted of perjury. Id, ibid. See Amittere liberam legem, Othesworth, Liber et legalis hmru), Lawworth. Tliis term has been very generally defined, "the privilege of the law's protection,*' and "the l^nefit of the free and common law of the land." Holthouse, Wharton's Lex, But that it had a more particular and determinate meaning is clear both from the testimony of the ancient writers, and from the peculiar signification of the word law, which, from a very early period, denoted an oath, or the taking or making of an oath; as in the common expressions wager of law, and making law. A lawful man, {legalis homo,) was one who was competent to be sworn as a juror or witness; and the word lawful is used in tlus sense in jury process, to this day. 3 Bl. Com. 840, 341, 352. See Lawworth.