Legal Term Dictionary

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  • COEMPTIO
    Mutual purchase. One of the modes in which marriage was contracted among the Romans. The man and the woman delivered to each other a small piece of money. The man asked the woman whether she would become to him a materfamilias, (mistress of his family,) to which she replied that More...
  • CO-EMPTION
    The act of purchasing the whole quantity of any commodity. Wharton.
  • COERCION
    Compulsion; force; duress. It may be either actual, (direct or positive,) where physical force is put upon a man to compel him to do an act against his will, or implied, (legal or constructive,) where the relation of the parties is such that one is under subjection to the other, More...
  • CO-EXECUTOR
    One who is a joint executor with one or more others.
  • COFFEE-HOUSE
    A house of entertainment where guests are supplied with coffee and other refreshments, and sometimes with lodging. Century Diet A cotTee-house is not an inn. Thompson v. Lacy, 3 Barn. A Aid. 283; Pitt v. Laming, 4 Camp. 77; Insurance Co. v. Langdon, 6 Wend. (N. Y.) 627; Com. v. More...
  • COFFERER OF THE QUEEN'S HOUSEHOLD
    In English law. A principal officer of the royal establishment next under the controller, who, in the counting-house and elsewhere, had a special charge and oversight of the other officers, whose wages he paid. Coeitationis poenam nemo patitnr. No one is punished for his thoughts. Dig. 48, 19, 18.
  • COGNATES
    (Lat cognati.) Relations by the mother's side, or by females. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 144. A common term in Scotch law. Ersk. Inst 1, 7, 4.
  • COGNATI
    Lat. In the civil law. Cognates ; relations by the mother's side. 2 Bl. Comm. 235. Relations in the line of the mother. Hale, Com. Law, c xi. Relations by or through females.
  • COGNATIO
    Lat. In the civil law. Cognation. Relationship, or kindred generally. Dig. 38, 10, 4, 2; Inst. 3, 6, pr. Relationship through females, as distinguished from agnatio, or relationship through males. Agnatio a patre sit, cog-natio a mat re. Inst 3, 5, 4. See AGNATIO. In canon law. Consanguinity, as distinguished More...
  • COGNATION
    In the civil law. Signifies generally the kindred which exists between two persons who are united by ties of blood or family, or both.
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