Legal Term Dictionary

In old English law. To discharge from being forest. To free from forest laws.

In old English law. To discharge from being forest. To free from forest laws. Less...

To traffic; to transact business; to trade. Makers of an accommodation note are deemed dealers with whoever discounts it. Vernon v, Manhattan Co., 17 Wend. (N. Y.) 524. -Dealer. A dealer, in the popular, and therefore in the statutory, sense of the word, is not one who buys to keep, More...

To traffic; to transact business; to trade. Makers of an accommodation note are deemed dealers with whoever discounts it. Vernon v, Manhattan Co., 17 Wend. (N. Y.) 524. -Dealer. A dealer, in the popular, and therefore in the statutory, sense of the word, is not one who buys to keep, or makes to sell, but one who bujTs to sell again. Norris v. Com., 27 Pa. 496; Com. v. Campbell, 33 Pa. 380.-Dealings. Transactions in the course of trade or business. Held to include payments to a bankrupt. Moody A M. 137; 3 Car. & P. 85.-Dealers' talk. The puffing of goods to induce the sale thereof; not regarded in law as fraudulent unless accompanied by some artifice to deceive the purchaser and throw him off his guard or some concealment of intrinsic defects not easily discoverable. Kimball v. Bangs. 144 Mass. 321. 11 N. E. 113; Reynolds v. Palmer (C. C.) 21 Fed. 433. Less...

In English ecclesiastical law. An ecclesiastical dignitary who presides over the chapter of a cathedral, and is next in rank to the bishop. So called from having been originally appointed to superintend ten canons or prebendaries. 1 Bl. Comm. 382; Co. Litt 95; Spelman. There are several kinds of deans, More...

In English ecclesiastical law. An ecclesiastical dignitary who presides over the chapter of a cathedral, and is next in rank to the bishop. So called from having been originally appointed to superintend ten canons or prebendaries. 1 Bl. Comm. 382; Co. Litt 95; Spelman. There are several kinds of deans, namely: Deans of chapters; deans of peculiars; rural deans; deans in the colleges; honorary deans; deans of provinces. -Dean and chapter. In ecclesiastical law. The council of a bishop, to assist him with their advice in the religious and also in the temporal affairs of the see. 3 Coke, 75; 1 Bl. Comm. 382; Co. Litt. 103, 300.-Dean of the arches. The presiding judge of the Court of Arches. He is also an assistant judge in the court of admiralty. 1 Kent, Comm. 371; 3 Steph. Comm. 727. Less...

The extinction of life; the departure of the soul from the body; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc. In legal contemplation, it is of two kinds: 1) More...

The extinction of life; the departure of the soul from the body; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc. In legal contemplation, it is of two kinds: 1) Natural death, i. e., the extinction of life; 2) Civil death, which is that change in a person's legal and civil condition which deprives him of civic rights and juridical capacities and qualifications, as natural death extinguishes his natural condition. It follows as a consequence of being attainted of treason or felony, in English law, and anciently of entering a monastery or abjuring the realm. The person in this condition is said to be civiliter mortuus, civilly dead, or dead in law. Baltimore v. Chester, 53 Vt. 319, 38 Am. Rep. 677; Avery v. Everett, 110 N. Y. 317, 18 N. E. 148, 1 L. It. A. 264, 6 Am. St. Rep. 368; In re Donnelly's Estate, 125 Cal. 417, 58 Pac. 61, 73 Am. St. Rep. 62; Troup v. Wood, 4 Johns. Ch. (N. Y.) 248; Coffee v. Haynes, 124 Cal. 561, 57 Pac. 482, 71 Am. St Rep. 99. "Natural" death is also used to denote a death which occurs by the unassisted operation of natural causes, as distinguished from a "violent" death, or one caused or accelerated by the interference of human agency. Death warrant. A warrant from the proper executive authority appointing the time and place for the execution of the sentence of death upon a convict judicially condemned to suffer that penalty. Death watch. A special guard set to watch a prisoner condemned to death, for some days before the time for the execution, the special purpose being to prevent any escape or any attempt to anticipate the sentence. Less...

In Scotch law. A state of sickness which ends in death. Ersk. Inst. 3, 8, 95. -Death-bed deed. In Scotch law. A deed made by a person while laboring under a distemper of which he afterwards died. Ersk. Inst 3, 8, 96. A deed is understood to be in death-bed, More...

In Scotch law. A state of sickness which ends in death. Ersk. Inst. 3, 8, 95. -Death-bed deed. In Scotch law. A deed made by a person while laboring under a distemper of which he afterwards died. Ersk. Inst 3, 8, 96. A deed is understood to be in death-bed, if, before signing and delivery thereof, the grantor was sick, and never convalesced thereafter. 1 Forbes, Inst. pt. 3, b. 2, c. 4, tit. 1, i 1. But it is not necessary that he should be actually confined to his bed at the time of making the deed. Bell. Less...

See DEAD'S PART; DEAD MAN'S PART.

See DEAD'S PART; DEAD MAN'S PART. Less...

The executioner; hangman; he that executes the extreme penalty of the law.

The executioner; hangman; he that executes the extreme penalty of the law. Less...

To entice, to corrupt and, when used of a woman, to seduce. Originally, the term had a limited signification, o meaning to entice or draw one away from his work, employment or duty; and from this sense its application has enlarged to include the corruption of manners and violation of More...

To entice, to corrupt and, when used of a woman, to seduce. Originally, the term had a limited signification, o meaning to entice or draw one away from his work, employment or duty; and from this sense its application has enlarged to include the corruption of manners and violation of the person. In its modern legal sense, the word carries with it the idea of "carnal knowledge," aggravated by assault, violent seduction, ravishment Koenig v. Nott, 2 Hilt. (N. Y.) 323. And see Wood v. Mathews, 47 Iowa, 410; State v. Curran, 51 Iowa, 112, 49 N. W. 1006. Less...

A certificate given by the collector of a port, under the United States customs laws, to the efTect that an importer of merchandise therein named is entitled to a drawback, (q. v.t) specifying the amount and time when payable. See Act Cong. March 2, 1799, ? 80. In English law. More...

A certificate given by the collector of a port, under the United States customs laws, to the efTect that an importer of merchandise therein named is entitled to a drawback, (q. v.t) specifying the amount and time when payable. See Act Cong. March 2, 1799, ? 80. In English law. A security for a loan of money Issued by a public company, usually creating a charge on the whole or a part of the company's stock and property, though not necessarily in the form of a mortgage. They are subject to certain regulations as to the mode of transfer, and ordinarily have coupons attached to facilitate the payment of interest They are generally issued in a series, with provision that they shall rank pari passu in proportion to their amounts. See Bank v. Atkins, 72 Vt. 33, 47 Atl. 176. An Instrument in use In some government departments, by which government is charged to pay to a creditor or his assigns the sum found due on auditing his accounts. Brande; Blount Less...

A stock or fund representing money borrowed by a company or public body, in England, and charged on the whole or part of its property. Debet esse finis Utlnm. There ought to be an end of suits; there should he some period put to litigation. Jenk. Cent. 61.

A stock or fund representing money borrowed by a company or public body, in England, and charged on the whole or part of its property. Debet esse finis Utlnm. There ought to be an end of suits; there should he some period put to litigation. Jenk. Cent. 61. Less...