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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  • DEFINITION
    A description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term. Webster. The process of stating the exact meaning of a word by means of other words. Worcester. See Warner v. Beers, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 103; Marvin v. State, 19 Ind. 181; More...
  • DEFINITIVE
    That which finally and completely ends and settles a controversy. A definitive sentence or judgment Is put in opposition to an interlocutory judgment. A distinction may be taken between a final and a definitive judgment The former term Is applicable when the judgment exhausts the powers of the particular court More...
  • DEFLORATION
    Seduction or debauching. The act by which a woman is deprived of her virginity.
  • DEFORCE
    In English law. To withhold wrongfully; to withhold the possession of lands from one who is lawfully entitled to them. 3 Bl. Comm. 172; Phelps v. Baldwin, 17 Conn. 212. In Scotch law. To resist tbe execution of the law; to oppose by force a public officer in the execution More...
  • DEFORCEMENT
    Deforcement is where a man wrongfully holds lands to which another person is entitled. It therefore includes disseisin, abatement discontinuance, and intrusion. Co. Litt 277b, 331b; Foxworth v. White, 5 Strob. (S. C.) 115; Woodruff v. Brown, 17 N. J. Law, 269; Hopper v. Hopper, 21 N. J. Law, 543. More...
  • DEFORCIANT
    One who wrongfully keeps the owner of lands and tenements out of the possession of them. 2 BL Comm. 350.
  • DEFORCIARE
    Ix Lat To withhold lands or tenements from the rightful owner. This is a word of art which cannot be supplied by any other word. Co. Litt 3315.
  • DEFORCIATIO
    L. Lat In old English law. A distress, distraint, or seizure of goods for satisfaction of a lawful debt Cowell.
  • DEFOSSION
    The punishment of being burled alive.
  • DEFRAUD
    To practice fraud; to cheat or trick; to deprive a person of property or any interest, estate, or right by fraud, deceit, or artifice. People v. Wiman, 148 N. Y. 29, 42 N. E. 408; Alderman v. People, 4 Mich. 424, 69 Am. Dec. 321; U. S. v. Cur-ley (C. More...
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