Legal Term Dictionary

An agreement or contract. Usually applied to conventions between nations or sovereign states. A compact is a mutual consent of parties concerned respecting some property or right that is the object of the stipulation, or something that is to be done or forborne. Chesapeake A O. Canal Co. v. Baltimore More...

An agreement or contract. Usually applied to conventions between nations or sovereign states. A compact is a mutual consent of parties concerned respecting some property or right that is the object of the stipulation, or something that is to be done or forborne. Chesapeake A O. Canal Co. v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 4 Gill & J. (Md.) 1. The terms "compact" and "contract" are synonymous. Green v. Biddle, 8 Wheat. 1, 92, 5 L. Ed. 547. Less...

All kinds of food, except bread and drink. Spelman.

All kinds of food, except bread and drink. Spelman. Less...

An English statute, (8 Vict c. 16,) passed in 1845, which consolidated the clauses of previous laws still remaining in force on the subject of public companies. It is considered as incorporated into all subsequent acts authorising the execution, of undertakings of a public nature by companies, unless expressly excepted More...

An English statute, (8 Vict c. 16,) passed in 1845, which consolidated the clauses of previous laws still remaining in force on the subject of public companies. It is considered as incorporated into all subsequent acts authorising the execution, of undertakings of a public nature by companies, unless expressly excepted by such later acts. Its purpose is declared by the preamble to be to avoid repeating provisions as to the constitution and management of the companies, and to secure greater uniformity in such provisions. Wharton. Less...

One of the knights of the Order of the Garter.

One of the knights of the Order of the Garter. Less...

In French law. A general term, comprehending all persons who compose the crew of a ship or vessel. Poth. Mar. Cont no. 168.

In French law. A general term, comprehending all persons who compose the crew of a ship or vessel. Poth. Mar. Cont no. 168. Less...

A society or association of persons, in considerable number, interested In a common object and uniting themselves for the prosecution of some commercial or industrial undertaking, or other legitimate business. Mills v. State, 28 Tex. 808; Smith v. Janesville, 52 Wis. 680, 9 N. W. 789. The proper signification of More...

A society or association of persons, in considerable number, interested In a common object and uniting themselves for the prosecution of some commercial or industrial undertaking, or other legitimate business. Mills v. State, 28 Tex. 808; Smith v. Janesville, 52 Wis. 680, 9 N. W. 789. The proper signification of the word "company," when applied to persons engaged in trade, denotes those united for the same purpose or in a joint concern. It is so commonly used in this sense, or as indicating a partnership, that few persons accustomed to purchase goods at shops, where they are sold by retail, would misapprehend that such was its meaning. Palmer v. Pinkham, 33 Me. 32. Joint stock oompanies. Joint stock companies are those having a joint stock or capital, which is divided into numerous transferable shares, or consists of transferable stock. Lindl. Partn. 6. The term is not identical with "partnership," although every unincorporated society la, in its legal relations, a partnership. In common use a distinction is made, the name "partnership" being reserved for business associations of a limited number of persons (usually not more than four or five) trading under a name composed of their individual names set out in succession; while "company" is appropriated as the designation of a society comprising a larger number of persons, with greater capital, and engaged in more extensive enterprises, and trading under a title not disclosing the names of the individuals. See Allen v. Long, 80 Tex. 261, 16 S. W. 43, 26 Am. St Rep. 735; Adams Exp. Co. v. Schofield, 131 Ky. 832, 64 S. W. 903; Kossakowski v. People, 177 111. 563, 53 N. E. 115; In re Jones, 28 Misc. Rep. 356, 59 N. Y. Supp. 983; Attorney General v. Mercantile Marine Ins. Co., 121 Mass. 525. Sometimes the word is used to represent those members of a partnership whose names do not appear in the name of the firm. See 12 Toullier, 97. —-Limited company. A company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited by the number of shares he has taken, so that he cannot be called on to contribute beyond the amount of his shares. In England, the memorandum of association of such company may provide that the liability of the directors, manager, or managing director thereof shall be unlimited. 80 A 31 Vict c. 131; 1 Lindl. Partn. 383; Mozley A Whitley.—-Public company. In English law. A business corporation; a society of persons joined together for carrying on some commercial or industrial undertaking. Less...

In the civil law. Comparison of writings, or handwritings. A mode of proof allowed in certain cases.

In the civil law. Comparison of writings, or handwritings. A mode of proof allowed in certain cases. Less...

Proceeding by the method of comparison; founded on comparison; estimated by comparison. —Comparative interpretation. That method of interpretation which seeks to arrive at the meaning of a statute or other writing by comparing its several parts and also by comparing it as a .whole with other like documents proceeding from More...

Proceeding by the method of comparison; founded on comparison; estimated by comparison. —Comparative interpretation. That method of interpretation which seeks to arrive at the meaning of a statute or other writing by comparing its several parts and also by comparing it as a .whole with other like documents proceeding from the same source and referring to the same general subject Glenn v. York County, 6 Rich. (8. C.) 412.—Comparative jurisprudence. The study of the principles of legal science by tbe comparison of various systems of law.—Comparative negliagence. That doctrine in the law of negligence by which the negligence of the parties is compared, in the degrees of "slight," "ordinary." and "gross" negligence, and a recovery permitted, notwithstanding the contributory negligence of the plaintiff, when the negligence of the plaintiff is slight and the negligence of the defendant gross, but refused when the plaintiff has been guilty of a want of ordinary care, thereby contributing to his injury, ¦ or when the negligence of the defendant is not gross, but only ordinary or slight, when compared, under the circumstances of the case, with the contributory negligence of the plaintiff. 3 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, 367. See Steel Co. v. Martin, 115 111. 358. 3 N. E. 456; Railroad Co. v. Ferpuson, 113 Ga. 708, 39 S. E. 306, 54 U R. A. 802; Straus v. Railroad Co., 75 Mo. 185; Hurt v. Railroad Co.. 94 Mo. 255, 7 S. W. 1, 4 Am. St. Rep. 374. Less...

A comparison by the Juxtaposition of two writings, in order, by such comparison, to ascertain whether both were written by the same person. A method of proof resorted to where the genuineness of a written document is disputed; it consists in comparing the handwriting of the disputed paper with that More...

A comparison by the Juxtaposition of two writings, in order, by such comparison, to ascertain whether both were written by the same person. A method of proof resorted to where the genuineness of a written document is disputed; it consists in comparing the handwriting of the disputed paper with that of another instrument which is proved or admitted to be in the writing of the party sought to be charged, in order to infer, from their identity or similarity in this respect, that they are the work of the same hand. Johnson v. Insurance Co., 105 Iowa, 273, 75 N. W. 101; Rowt v. Kile, 1 Leigh (Va.) 216; Travis v. Brown, 43 Pa. 9, 82 Am. Dec. 540. Less...

Belonging to commonage. Jus compascuum, the right of common of pasture.

Belonging to commonage. Jus compascuum, the right of common of pasture. Less...