Improve
Defined in 8 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Kinney (1893), Black's (1891), Anderson (1889), Stimson (1881)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
TO impeach as false or forged; to cultivate. 4 Cow. (N. Y.) 190. In Scotch Law. To improve a lease means to grant a lease of unusual duration to encourage a tenant, when the soil is exhausted, etc. Bell, Diet.; Stair, Inst. p. 676, § 23.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
To cultivate; to reclaim. Clark v. Phelps, 4 Cow. (N. Y.) 190. “Improved’’ land may mean simply land “occupied;’’ it Is not a precise technical word; Bond v. Fay, 8 Allen (Mass.) 213; it includes ground appropriated for a railroad; Road in Lancaster City, 68 Pa. 396. Land on which there are three dwellinghouses, besides suitable farm buildings, which has been farmed for the last twenty rents, besides a share of the landlord ^ the growing crops, is not “unimproved real estate,” as that phrase is used in a will; Murphy V. Taylor, 173 Pa. 320, 33 Atl. 1041; and the fact that the property was bought by the testator for the purpose of being cut into city lots, and sold as such, does not render it “unimproved” land; id.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
A Law Dictionary and Glossary
George C. Kinney · 1893
In Scots law. forged. Improvement, An outlay of money or a settler expresses hia ing a cabin, clearing, of patents, an addition into a country from another country; a bringing goods, etc., into a country from a solicitation; urgent request; application for a is urged with troublesome frequency or per-
A Dictionary of Law
Henry Campbell Black · 1891
In Scotch law. To disprove; to invalidate or impeach; to prove false or forged. 1 Forb. Inst. pt. 4, p. 162. To improve a lease means to grant a lease of unusual duration to encourage a tenant, when the soil is exhausted, etc. Bell; Stair, Inst. p. 676, § 23,
A Dictionary of Law
William C. Anderson · 1889
To cultivate, as, land. "Improved land " is such as has been reclaimed, is used for purposes of husbandry, and is cultivated as such, — whether the appropriation is for tillage, meadow or pasture. " Improvement. 1. Amelioration in the condition of property by the outlay of labor or money. Includes repairs or additions to buildings, the erection of fences, the annexation of fixtures, etc.'' See Eetterment; Estoppel. As used in a will, relative to property, construed according to the Subject-matter. A gift of the improvement of land may constitute a freehold estate, for the devisee's life; of plate, pictures, furniture, it would be the possession and use; of money, securities, •or stocks, it would be the i:ncome.s Bedding oysters is not an "improvement," within the meaning of a statute authorizing riparian owners to make improvements on navigable streams. The mei-e depositing of the oysters in the water implies no essential union or relation between the main land ^nd the soil under the water contiguous; and there- 1 [Pike D. Hanson, 9 N. H. 493 (1838); Smith v. State, •7 Humph. 43 (1846). See also 85 Ind. 15, 286; 43 id. 65; Baldw. 600; 12 Ark. 43; 133 Mass. 399; 81 N. iC. 538; ■a Johns. 117; 5 Vt. 588; 1 Bish. Cr. L. § 558. = 3 Bl. Com. 127, 138; 4 id. 218; Castro v. De Uriarte, 13,F. E. 253 (1882). » Wood V. Graves, 144 Mass. 367-68 (1887), cases. « E. S. § 990; The Blanche Page, 16 Blatoh. 8 (1879). « 1 Mc Master, Hist. Peop. V. S. 98 (1883). « [Clark V. Phelps, 4 Cow. 208 (1825). See also 40 Cal. 83; 8 Allen, 213; 68 Pa. 396. ' See Schenley's Appeal, 70 Pa. 102 (1871); Schmidt t'. Armstrong, 72 id. 356 (1872); French v. Mayor of New York, 16 How. Pr. 823 (1858)^ 33 Iowa, 254; 34 id. 559; 1 Cush. 98; 23 Barb. 260; 78 N. Y. 1, 581; 18 N. J. L. fore does not effect an improvement of the laud implied in something created or constructed, attached to the shore. 1 Internal improvements. Works within the State, by which the public are supposed to be beiiefited; such as the improvement of highways and channels of travel and commerce.2 See Aid, 1, Municipal. Under improvement. Used, occupied, employed, turned to profitable account.' S. An addition of some useful thing to a patentable object. See further Invejntion; Patent, 3; Process, 3.
Glossary of Technical Terms, Phrases, and Maxims of the Common Law
Frederic Jesup Stimson · 1881
Scotch, to disprove,