Open

To begin. He begins or opens who has the affirmative of an issue. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 74. To open a case is to make a statement of the pleadings in a case, which is called the opening. This should be concise, very distinct, and perspicuous. Its use is to enable the judge and jury to direct their attention to the real merits of the case and the points in issue; 1 Stark. 439; 2 id. 317. To vacate; to relieve a party who has an equitable right to such relief against a proceeding which is to him a formal or legal bar; to allow a re-discussion on the merits. For example, to open a rule of court. 2 Chitty, Bail 263; 1 Mann. & G. 555; 7 Ad. & E. 519. To open a judgment or default; Taylor v. Place, 4 R. I. 324; Rogan v. Walker, 1 Wis. 631. See Opening a Judgment. To open an account; to make a judicial announcement, that a party, e. g. an executor, shall not be absolutely bound by the account he has rendered, but may show that it contains errors to his prejudice. To open a marriage settlement or an estate-tail; i. e. to allow a new settlement of the estate. To open biddings; i. e. to allow a re-sale. See Opening Biddings. To open a contract; Tucker v. Madden, 44 Me. 206; a highway; State v. County Ave. Com'rs, 37 N. J. L. 14.

adj. Patent; visible; apparent; notorious; not clandestine; not closed, settled, fixed or terminated.

— Open hulk. In the mass ; exposed to view; not tied or sealed up. In re Sanders (G„ C.) 52 Fed. 807, 18 L. R. A. 549,

— Open court. This term may mean either a court which has been formally convened and declared open for the transaction of its proper judicial business, or a court which is freely open to the approach of all decent and orderly persons in the character of spectators. Hobart v. Hobart, 45 Iowa, 501; Conover v. Bird, 56 N. J. Law, 228, 28 Atl. 428; Ex parte Branch, 63 Ala. 383; Hays v. Railroad Go., 99 Md. 413, 58 Atl. 439.

— Open doors. In Scotch law. "Letters of open doors" are process which empowers the messenger, or officer of the law} to break open doors of houses or rooms in which the debtor has placed, his goods. Bell.

— Open fields, or meadows. In English law. Fields which are undivided, but belong to separate owners; the part of each owner is marked off by boundaries until the crop has been carried off, when the pasture is shared promiscuously by the joint herd of all the owners. Elton, Commons, 31; Sweet.

— Open law. The making or waging of law. Magna Charta, c. 21.

— Open season. That portion of the year wherein the laws for the preservation of game and fish permit the killing of a particular species of game or the taking of a particular variety of fish.

— Open theft. In Saxon law. The same with the Latin "furtum manifestum," (q. v.) As to open "Acoount," "Corporation," "Entry," "Insolvency," "Lewdness," "Policy," "Possession," and "Verdict," see those titles

v. To render accessible, visible or available; to submit or subject to examination, inquiry or review, by the removal of restrictions or impediments.
—Open a case. In practice To open a case is to begin it; to make an initiatory explanation of its features to the court, jury, referee, etc., by outlining the nature of the transaction on which it is founded, the questions involved, and the character and general course of the evidence to be adduced.
—Open a commission. To enter upon the duties under a commission, or commence to act under a commission, is so termed in English law. Thus, the judges of assize and nisi prius derive their authority to act under or by virtue of commissions directed to them for that purpose; and, when they commence acting under the powers so committed to them, they are said to open the commissions ; and the day on which they so commence their proceedings is thence termed the "commission day of the assizes." Brown.
—Open a conrt. To open a court is to make a formal announcement, usually by the crier or bailiff, that its session has now begun and that the business before the court will be proceeded with.
—Open a credit. To accept or pay the draft of a correspondent who has not furnished funds. Par-dessus, no. 296.
—Open a deposition. To break the seals by which it was secured, and lay it open to view, or to bring it into court ready for use.
—Open a jndgment. To lift or relax the bar of finality and conclusiveness which it imposes so as to permit a re-examination of the merits of the action in which it was rendered. This is done at the instance of a party showing good cause why the execution of the judgment would be inequitable. It so far annuls the judgment as to prevent its enforcement until the final determination upon it, but does not in the mean time release its lien upon real estate. See Insurance Co. v. Beale, 110 Pa. 32l, 1 Atl. 926. -
—Open a rule. To restore or recall a nils which has been made absolute to its conditional state, as a rule nisi, so as to readmit of cause being shown against the rule. Thus, when a rule to show cause has been made absolute under a mistaken impression that no counsel had been instructed to show cause against it, it is usual for the party at whose instance the rule was obtained to consent to have the rule opened, by which all the proceedings subsequent to the day when cause ought to have been shown against it are in effect nullified, and the rule is then argued in the ordinary way. Brown.
— Open a street or highway. To establish it by law and make it passable and available for public travel. See Reed v. Toledo, 18 Ohio, 161; Wilcoxon v. San Luis Obispo, 101 Cal. 508, 35 Pac. 988; Gaines v. Hudson County Ave. Com'rs, 37 N. J. Law, 12.
—Open bids. To open bids received on a foreclosure or other judicial snie is to reject or cancel them for fraud, mistake, or other cause, and order a reside of the property. Andrews v. Scotton, 2 Bland (Md.) 644.
—Open the pleadings. To state briefly at a trial before a jury the substance of the pleadings. This is done by the junior counsel for the plaintiff at the commencement of the trial.

To commence or begin; to enter upon; to vacate, or set aside; to undo or recall; to proclaim, to explain; to clear of obstructions. Open a decree, open a judgement: to set aside a judgment or decree; to vacate it. Open a default: to give a party a new opportunity to do that for not doing which the default was entered., Open biddings: to allow a resale of property once sold under a decree. Open court: to proclaim a court as convened and ready to proceed with business.

1. To open a case is to begin it; to make an initiatory explanation of its features to the court, jury, referee, etc., by outlining the nature of the transaction on which it is founded, the questions involved, and the character and general course of the evidence to be adduced. 2. To open a court is to make a formal announcement, usually by the crier, that its session has now begun, and that the business before the court will be proceeded with. 3. To open a legal document, e.g., a deposition, is to break the seals by which it was secured, and lay it open to view, or to bring it into court ready for use. 4. To open a judgment, decree, or similar act of a court is to lift the bar of finality which it imposes, so as to allow a party who is entitled to such relief to proceed to a re-examination of the merits. 5. To open a street or highway is to establish it and make it available to public travel. 6. To open a rule or order is to revoke the action by which it was made final or absolute, and give an opportunity to show cause against it. 7. To open bids received on a judicial sale of property is to reject or cancel them for fraud or other cause, and direct a resale.

1, V. (1) To begin: as, to open an argument. See Affirmative (1). (2) To order a resale: as, to open biddings received on judicial sale for irregularity, fraud, or gross inadequacy of price.' See further.BlD. (3) To proclaim as convened and ready for the transaction of judicial business: as, to open court. Compare Open, 2, (6); Crier. (4) To set aside, vacate: as, to open a decree, a judgment. (5) To restore or recall to its conditional state: as, to open a rule made absolute, in order to admit of cause being shown against the rule. (6) To explain the nature of the issue, and the evidence to he offered: as, to open a trial, a hearing, a case.s (7) To admit the public to its use; to clear of obstructions: as, to open a street or road.' 1 Mundorfl v. Wickersham, 63 Pa. 89 (1869), cases. 2 Finch V. United States, 102 U. S. 272 (1880). s Rogers v. Law, 1 Black, 361 (1861). * State 1). Kelsey, 44 N. J. L. 33 (1882). 'Taylor v. Taintor, 16 Wall. 369 (1872). • Beers v. Haughton, 9 Pet. 368 (1856), Story, J. ' See Tripp v. Cook, 26 Wend. 156-57 (1841); 31 Miss. 514; 13 Gratt.639; Sugd. Vend. 90. 8 [3 Bl. Com. 366; 10 F. E. 825; 89 N. C.543; 10 Oreg. 176. Whenever a public road is traveled it is in fact opened, although nothing may have been done by the overseers for the purpose of opening it. ' A road which is not closed or inclosed, shut up or obstructed, must be an opened road,^ A highway laid out and established through wild and unf enced lands, and afterward used and traveled by the public, is " lawfully opened." ' 2, adj. (1) Subject to adjustment or dispute; still continuing: as, an open account, q. V. (2) Public; overt, q. v.: as, an open act of crime. See (10); Patent, 1. (3) With names of witnesses not named, or time and place not fixed: as, an open commission to take testimony. (4) Unperformed: as, a contract left open. (5) In which all members have a voice in the election of officers: as, an open corporation, q. V. (6) In session, organized for the transaction of judicial business; or public, free to all: as, open court.^ See Open, 1, (3); Chambers. Courts of equity are said to be always " open." ^ (7) In the presence of witnesses; public: as, an open entry upon land." (8) In a condition admitting the filing of objections: as, open to exception. (9) With no property applicable to the payment of debts: as, open insolvency.' (10) Opposed to secret. Indecent exposure of the person to one individual of the opposite sex constitutes " open " lewdness, q. v. (11) Not restricted as to person, time, or, perhaps, as to price: as, an open order to sell realty. (13) With the value of the subject to be ascertained in case of loss: as, an open policy of marine insurance, q. v. (13) An instruction that if a defect in a sidewalk was "open and notorious" the defendant is chargeable with notice, is not erroneous. "Open" would not imply the existence of an " open hole " in the sidewalk, but " not concealed, not hidden, exposed to view, apparent," a secondary signification in which the word is frequently used.* Keep open. See Keep. Open door. See HorsE.

V. 1. Spoken of a trial or hearing, to open is to make oral explanation, at the commencement, of the questions involved, and general nature and course of the evidence to be offered. Opening is used as participle and adjective, and participial noun, in this general sense of the word. Thus a counsel, making the customary address cause; and the address is called the opening (adj.) speech, or, briefly, the opening. In trials of issues of fact before a court and jury, it is the practice for the plaintiff's counsel to state briefly the substance and effect of the pleadings in the cause, in order that the jury may know what are the issues about to be tried; and this is termed opening the cause, or opening the pleadings. The opening by plainiiffi's counsel follows the impanelling of the jury; it is a bi'ief statement of the pleadings and of the general facts of the plaintiff's case, as counsel believes they will be proved. In turn, the defendant's counsel, when the plaintiff rests, makes an opening for the defence, explaining the grounds on which he relies to defeat the case which has been presented. 2. Spoken of a decree, judgment, oi order already passe(f, to open is to grant the party against whom it bears a new opportunity to be heard, done in the exercise of judicial discretion, upon considerations of fairness and justice, and not of strict right. Opening is used, in this sense, as a participle and participial noun; not, that we have observed, as an adjective. When a party against whom a decree, judgment, or order has been made, is able to show error or irregularity in it, or that it is, for any reason, void, so that he is relieved from it as matter of right, the court is said to set it aside, to vacate it. Open is not appropriate in this class of cases; but imports that although the part/ is legally bound, yet he has shown such reasons, by way of excuse for his default, new evidence in his favor, surprise, injustice, or the like, that the court is induced in its discretion to give him a new opportunity to be heard. This may be done, subj'ect to such terms as the court sees fit to impose to prevent hardship to the adverse party. But the whole subject is regulated by statutes, varying in different jurisdictions. Open court. This expression is to lie understood as conveying the idea that the court must be in session, organized for the transaction of judicial business; or, may be tried in open court is not merely to prevent secret proceedings therein, by providing that no one shall be refused admittance to the court while such cases are on hearing, but rather that the trials shall be before the courts themselves, and not elsewhere, or at any other times, than the law prescribes for the sessions of courts. Hobart V. Hobart, 45 Iowa, 501. Opening an account. Declaring, iudicially, that a party, as an agent, executor, &c., who has rendered an account of his dealings, shall not be absolutely bound by it, but may show that it contains errors to his prejudice. Opening biddings. Under the longestablished practice of the English court of chancery, when landed property was sold under decree, the court was accustomed to order the property to be put up again for sale, whenever a reliable offer to bid a higher price than that obtained by the first sale was reasonably made. Under this practice of opening biddings, wherever it prevails according to English precedents, a person desirous of opening a bidding must, at his own expense, apply to the court, by motion for that purpose, stating the advance offered. Notice of the motion must be given to the person certified as the purchaser of the lot, and to the parties in the cause. If the court approve of the Bum offered, the application will be granted, and, on the order being drawn up, entered, and served, a new sale must be had before the chief clerk. The order is made at the expense of the person opening the biddings; and he must bear the expense of paying in his deposit, and pay the costs of the first pui'chaser, and interest, at the rate of four per cent, on such part of the purchasemoney as the chief clerk shall find to have lain dead. Biddings may be opened more than once, even on the application of the same person, if a sufficient advance is offered, but, in general, cannot be opened after the confirmation of the certificate of the highest bidder. Where the biddings are opened, the advance is to be deposited immediately. In England, this practice of opening biddings was found at length to produce inconvenience, by discouraging the outlow, was never sure of his bargain. Hence it was restricted by Stat. 30 & 31 Vict. ch. 48, § 7, passed in 1867; and the opening of biddings is now allowed only in cases of fraud or misconduct in the sale. In the various states, the practice on this subject varies somewhat, with a very general leaning, as we understand, to the doctrine that a court under whose decree a sale is made has power to open the biddings, but will not in general do so merely to obtain a higher price: fraud or irregularity, or gross inadequacy of price, such as raises suspicion of fraud, must be shown. Opening a commission. An entering upon the duties under a commission, or commencing to act under a commission, is so termed. Thus the judges of assise and nisi prius derive their authority to act under or by virtue of commissions directed to them for that purpose; and, when they commence acting under the powers so committed to them, they are said to open the commissions; and the day on which they so commence their proceedings is thence termed the commission day of the assises. Brown. Opening a rule. The act of restoring or recalling a rule, which has been made absolute, to its conditional state, as a rule nisi, so as to readmit of cause being shown against the rule. Thus, when a rule to show cause has been made absolute, under a mistaken impression that no counsel had been instructed to show cause against it, it is usual for the party at whose instance the rule was obtained to consent to hare the rule opened, by which all the proceedings subsequent to the day when cause ought to have been shown against it are in effect nullified, and the rule is then argued in the ordinary way. Brown. Opening a rule is where the court allows the propriety of a rule to be again open for argument after it has been made absolute. Where a rule has issued improvidently through a mistake of the officer of the court, or in a case in which the court had no jurisdiction to grant it, the court will allow it to be opened for the purpose of correcting the mistake or discharging the rule; but this will not in general be done on any other ground. Lush Pr. (Steph.) B62. 3. Spoken of some documentary matters, to open is used in a sense partly literal, pai-tly figurative, meaning that the seals are broken, and the document brought into view and use. Thus, one speaks of opening a deposition; attending at the opening of open it is to announce in form that it is convened, and ready for transaction of business. 5. Spoken of a highway, to open means to establish it and make it available to public travel; but the meaning is often restricted or extended by the context. A power to " open and keep in repair " streets, &c., was held to carry an implied power to alter the grade or level, in Smith V. Corporation of Washington, 20 How. 136. The power conferred by an act on the authorities of a city to " open and extend " streets, was held to include construction, as well as laying out, in Sugar Refining Co. v. Mayor, &c. of Jersey City, 26 N. J. Eq. 247.