Legal Term Dictionary

Lat. In the civil law. Compensation, or set-off. A proceeding re* sembling a set-off in the common law, being a claim on the part of the defendant to have an amount due to him from the plaintiff deducted from his demand. Dig. 16, 2; Inst 4, 6, 30, 39 ; More...

Lat. In the civil law. Compensation, or set-off. A proceeding re* sembling a set-off in the common law, being a claim on the part of the defendant to have an amount due to him from the plaintiff deducted from his demand. Dig. 16, 2; Inst 4, 6, 30, 39 ; 3 Bl. Comm. 305. —Compensatio eriminis. (Set-off of crime or guilt.) In practice. The plea of recrimination in a suit for a divorce; that is, that the complainant is guilty of the same kind of offense with which the respondent is charged. Less...

Indemnification; payment of damages; making amends; that which la necessary to restore an injured party to his former position. An act which a court orders to be done, or money which a court orders to be paid, by a person whose acts or omissions have caused loss or injury to More...

Indemnification; payment of damages; making amends; that which la necessary to restore an injured party to his former position. An act which a court orders to be done, or money which a court orders to be paid, by a person whose acts or omissions have caused loss or injury to another, in order that thereby the person damnified may receive equal value for his loss, or be made whole in respect of his injury. Railroad Co. v. Denman, 10 Minn. 280 (Gil. 206). Also that equivalent In money which is paid to the owners and occupiers of lands taken or injuriously affected by the operations of companies exercising the power of eminent domain. In the constitutional provision for "just compensation" for property taken under the power of eminent domain, this term means a payment in money. Any benefit to the re-% maining property of the owner, arising from public works for which a part has been taken, cannot be considered as compensation. Railroad Co. v. Burkett, 42 Ala. 83. As compared with consideration and damages compensation, in its most careful use, seems to be between them. Consideration is amends for something given by consent, or by the owner's choice. Damages is amends exacted from a wrong-doer for a tort Compensation is amends for something which was taken without the owner's choice, vet without commission of a tort Thus, one should say, consideration for land sold; compensation for land taken for a railway; damages for a trespass. But such distinctions are not uniform. Land damages is a common expression for compensation for lands taken for public use. Abbott. The word also signifies the remuneration or wages given to an employe or officer. But it is not exactly synonymous with "salary." See People v. Wemple, 115 N. Y. 302, 22 N. E. 272; Com. v. Carter, 55 S. W. 701, 21 Ky. Law Rep. 1509; Crawford County v. Lindsay, 11 111. App. 261; Kilgore v. People, 76 111. 548. In the oivil, Scotch, and French law. Recoupment; set-off. The meeting of two debts due by two parties, where the debtor in the one debt is the creditor in the other; that is to say, where one person is both debtor and creditor to another, and therefore, to the extent of what Is due to him, claims allowance out of the sum that he is due. Bell; 1 Karnes, Eq. 395, 396. Compensation is of three kinds,—legal, or by operation of law; compensation by way of exception; and by reconvention. Stewart v. Harper, 16 La. Ann. 181. —Compensatory damages. See DAMAGES.* Less...

In the Roman law. The adjournment of a cause, in order to hear the parties or their advocates a second time; a second hearing of the parties to a cause. Calvin.

In the Roman law. The adjournment of a cause, in order to hear the parties or their advocates a second time; a second hearing of the parties to a cause. Calvin. Less...

In the civil law. A judicial inquest made by delegates or commissioners to find out and relate the truth of a cause.

In the civil law. A judicial inquest made by delegates or commissioners to find out and relate the truth of a cause. Less...

In practice. A plea in an action of debt on a bail bond that the defendant appeared at the day required.

In practice. A plea in an action of debt on a bail bond that the defendant appeared at the day required. Less...

In the law of evidence. The presence of those characteristics, or the absence of those disabilities, which render a witness legally fit and qualified to give testimony in a court of Justice. The term is also applied, in the same sense, to documents or other written evidence. Competency differs from More...

In the law of evidence. The presence of those characteristics, or the absence of those disabilities, which render a witness legally fit and qualified to give testimony in a court of Justice. The term is also applied, in the same sense, to documents or other written evidence. Competency differs from credibility. The former is a question which arises before considering the evidence given by the witness; the latter concerns the degree of credit to be given to his story. The former denotes the personal qualification of the witness; the latter his veracity. A witness may Be competent, and yet give incredible testimony; he may be incompetent, and yet his evidence, if received, be perfectly credible. Competency is for the court; credibility for the jury. Yet in some cases the term "credible" is used as an equivalent for "competent" Thus, in a statute relating to the execution , of wills, the term "credible witness'' is held to mean one who is entitled to be examined and to give evidence In a court of justice; not necessarily one who is personally worthy of belief, but one who is not disqualified by Imbecility, interest, crime, or other cause. 1 Jarm. Wills, 121; Smith v. Jones, 68 Vt 132, 34 Atl. 424; Com. v. Holmes, 127 Mass. 424, 34 Am. Rep. 391. In French law. Competency, as applied to a court means its right to exercise jurisdiction in a particular case. Less...

Duly qualified; answering all requirements; adequate; suitable; sufficient; capable; legally fit Levee Dist v. Jamison, 176 Mo. 557, 75 S. W. 679.. —Competent and omitted. In Scotch practice. A term applied to a plea which might have been urged by a party during the dependence of a cause, but which More...

Duly qualified; answering all requirements; adequate; suitable; sufficient; capable; legally fit Levee Dist v. Jamison, 176 Mo. 557, 75 S. W. 679.. —Competent and omitted. In Scotch practice. A term applied to a plea which might have been urged by a party during the dependence of a cause, but which had been omitted. Bell.—Competent authority. As applied to courts and public officers, this term imports jurisdiction and due legal authority to deal with the particular matter in question. Mitchel v. TJ. 9 Pet 735 9 L. Ed. 283; Charles v. Charles, 41 Minn. 201, 42 N. W. 935.—Competent evidence. That which the very nature of the thing to be proven requires, as the production of a writing where its contents are the subject of inquiry. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 2; Chapman v. McAdams, 1 Lea (Tenn.) 500: Horbach State, 43 Tex. 242; Porter v. Valentine, 18 Misc. Rep. 213, 41 N. Y. Supp. 507.—Competent witness. One who is legally qualified to be heard to testify in a cause. Hogan v. Sherman, 6 Mich. 60; People v. Compton, 123 Cal. 403, 56 Pac. 44; Com. v. Mullen, 97 Mass. 545. See COMPETENCY. Less...

In Scotch practice. The contest among creditors claiming on their respective diligences, or creditors claiming on their securities. Bell. —Unfair competition in trade. See UNFAIR.

In Scotch practice. The contest among creditors claiming on their respective diligences, or creditors claiming on their securities. Bell. —Unfair competition in trade. See UNFAIR. Less...

To compile is to copy from various authors into one work. Between a compilation and an abridgment there is a clear distinction. A compilation consists of selected extracts from different authors; an abridgment is a condensation of the views of one author. Story v. Holcombe, 4 McLean, 306, 814, Fed. More...

To compile is to copy from various authors into one work. Between a compilation and an abridgment there is a clear distinction. A compilation consists of selected extracts from different authors; an abridgment is a condensation of the views of one author. Story v. Holcombe, 4 McLean, 306, 814, Fed. Cas. No. 13,497. —Compilation. A literary production, composed of the works of others and arranged in a methodical manner.—Compiled statutes. A collection of the statutes existing and in force in a given state, all laws and parts of laws relating to each subject-matter being brought together under one head, and the whole arranged systematically in one book, either under an alphabetical arrangement or some other plan of classification. Such a collection of statutes differs from a code in this, that none of the laws so compiled derives any new force or undergoes any modification in its relation to other statutes in pari materia from the fact of the compilation, while a code is a re-enactment of the whole body of the positive law and is to be read and interpreted as one entire and homogeneous whole. Railway Co. v. State, 104 Ga. 831, 81 S. E. 531; Black, Interp. Laws, p. 363. Less...

In practice. One who applies to the courts for legal redress; one who exhibits a bill of complaint This is the proper designation of one suing in' equity, though "plaintiff" is often used in equity proceedings as well as at law. Benefit Ass'n v. Robinson, 147 111. 138, 35 N. More...

In practice. One who applies to the courts for legal redress; one who exhibits a bill of complaint This is the proper designation of one suing in' equity, though "plaintiff" is often used in equity proceedings as well as at law. Benefit Ass'n v. Robinson, 147 111. 138, 35 N. E. 168. Less...