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Legal Term Dictionary

Search our free database of thousands of legal terms. The easiest-to-read, most user-friendly guide to legal terms.This dictionary is from the early 20th century and is not to be construed as legal advice.

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DEFENSIVE WAR
A war in defense of, or for the protection of, national rights. It may be defensive in its principles, though offensive in its operations. 1 Kent, Comm. 50, note.

A war in defense of, or for the protection of, national rights. It may be defensive in its principles, though offensive in its operations. 1 Kent, Comm. 50, note. Less...
DEFENSO
That part of any open field or place that was allotted for corn or hay, and upon which there was no common or feeding, was anciently said to be in defenso; so of any meadow ground that was laid in for hay only. The same term was applied to a More...

That part of any open field or place that was allotted for corn or hay, and upon which there was no common or feeding, was anciently said to be in defenso; so of any meadow ground that was laid in for hay only. The same term was applied to a wood where part was inclosed or fenced, to secure the growth of the underwood from the injury of cattle. Cowell. Less...
DEFENSOR
In the civil law. A defender; one who assumed the defense of another's case in court. Also an advocate. A tutor or curator. In canon law. The advocate or patron of a church. An officer who had charge of the temporalities of the church. In old English law. A guardian, More...

In the civil law. A defender; one who assumed the defense of another's case in court. Also an advocate. A tutor or curator. In canon law. The advocate or patron of a church. An officer who had charge of the temporalities of the church. In old English law. A guardian, defender, or protector. The defendant in an action. A person vouched in to warranty. -Defensor civitatls. Defender or protector of a city or municipality. An officer under the Roman empire, whose duty it was to protect tbe people against the injustice of the magistrates, the insolence of the subaltern officers, and the rapacity of the money-lenders. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 16; Cod. 1 55. 4. He had the powers of a judge, with jurisdiction of pecuniary causes to a limited amount, and the lighter Bpecies of offenses. Cod. 1, 55, 1: Nov. 15, c. 3. | 2; Id. Less...
DEFENSUM
An inclosure of land; any fenced ground. See DEFENSO.

An inclosure of land; any fenced ground. See DEFENSO. Less...
DEFERRED
Delayed; put off; remanded; postponed to a future time. -Deferred life annuities. In English law. Annuities for the life of the purchaser, but not commencing until a date subsequent to the date of buying them, so that, if the purchaser die before that date, the purchase money is lost Granted More...

Delayed; put off; remanded; postponed to a future time. -Deferred life annuities. In English law. Annuities for the life of the purchaser, but not commencing until a date subsequent to the date of buying them, so that, if the purchaser die before that date, the purchase money is lost Granted by the commissioners for reduction of the national debt. See 16 & 17 Vict, c. 45, ? 2. Wharton.-Deferred stock. See STOCK. Less...
DEFICIENCY
A lack, shortage, or insufficiency. The difference between the total amount of the debt or payment meant to be secured by a mortgage and that realized on foreclosure and sale when less than the total. A judgment or decree for the amount of such deficiency is called a "deficiency Judgment" More...

A lack, shortage, or insufficiency. The difference between the total amount of the debt or payment meant to be secured by a mortgage and that realized on foreclosure and sale when less than the total. A judgment or decree for the amount of such deficiency is called a "deficiency Judgment" or "decree." Goldsmith v. Brown, 35 Barb. (N. Y.) 492. -Deficiency bill. In parliamentary practice, an appropriation bill covering items of expense omitted from the general appropriation bill or bills, or for which insufficient appropriations were made. If intended to cover a variety of such items, it is commonly called a "general deficiency bill;" if intended to make provision for expenses which must be met immediately, or which cannot wait the ordinary course of the general appropriation bills, it is called an "urgent deficiency bill." Denciente nno sanguine non potest esse hares. 3 Coke, 41. One blood being wanting, he cannot be heir. But see 3 A 4 Wm. IV. c. 106, * 9, and 33 & 34 Vict. c. 23, { 1. Less...
DEFICIT
Something wanting, generally in the accounts of one intrusted with money, or in the money received by htm. Mutual L. & B. Ass'n v. Price, 19 Fla. 135.

Something wanting, generally in the accounts of one intrusted with money, or in the money received by htm. Mutual L. & B. Ass'n v. Price, 19 Fla. 135. Less...
DEFILE
To debauch, deflower, or corrupt the chastity of a woman. The term does not necessarily imply force or ravishment, nor'does it connote previous immaculateness. State v. Montgomery, 79 Iowa, 737, 45 N. W. 292; State v. Fernald, 88 Iowa, 553, 55 N. W. 534.

To debauch, deflower, or corrupt the chastity of a woman. The term does not necessarily imply force or ravishment, nor'does it connote previous immaculateness. State v. Montgomery, 79 Iowa, 737, 45 N. W. 292; State v. Fernald, 88 Iowa, 553, 55 N. W. 534. Less...
DEFINE
To explain or state the exact meaning of words and phrases; to settle, make clear, establish boundaries. U. S. v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 160, 5 L. Ed. 57; Walters v. Richardson, 93 Ky. 374, 20 S. W. 279; Miller v. Improvement Co., 99 Va. 747, 40 S. E. 27, 86 More...

To explain or state the exact meaning of words and phrases; to settle, make clear, establish boundaries. U. S. v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 160, 5 L. Ed. 57; Walters v. Richardson, 93 Ky. 374, 20 S. W. 279; Miller v. Improvement Co., 99 Va. 747, 40 S. E. 27, 86 Am. St Rep. 924; Gould v. Hutchins, 10 Me. 145. "An examination of onr Session Laws will show that acts have frequently been passed, the constitutionality of which has never been questioned, where the powers and duties conferred could not be considered as merely explaining or making more clear those previously conferred or attempted to be, although the word 'define' was used in the title. In legislation it it frequently used in the creation, enlarging, and extending the powers and duties of boards and officers, in defining certain offenses and providing punishment for the same, and thus enlarging and extending the scope of the criminal law. And it is properly used in the title where the object of the act is to determine or fix boundaries, more especially where a dispute has arisen concerning them. It is used between different governments, as to define the extent of a kingdom or country." People v. Bradley, 36 Mich. 452. Less...
DEFINITIO
Lat. Definition, or, more strictly, limiting or bounding; as in the maxim of the civil law: Omnia definitio pericu-losa est, parum est enim ut non subverti pos-sit, (Dig. 50, 17, 202;) i. e., the attempt to bring the law within the boundaries of precise definitions is hazardous, as there are More...

Lat. Definition, or, more strictly, limiting or bounding; as in the maxim of the civil law: Omnia definitio pericu-losa est, parum est enim ut non subverti pos-sit, (Dig. 50, 17, 202;) i. e., the attempt to bring the law within the boundaries of precise definitions is hazardous, as there are hut few cases in which such a limitation cannot be subverted. Less...

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