Legal Term Dictionary

An officer in ancient Greece answering in some respects to our juryman, but combining, on trials had before them, the functions of both judge and jury. The dicasts sat together in numbers varying, according to the importance of the case, from one to five hundred.

An officer in ancient Greece answering in some respects to our juryman, but combining, on trials had before them, the functions of both judge and jury. The dicasts sat together in numbers varying, according to the importance of the case, from one to five hundred. Less...

Small cubes of bone or ivory, marked with figures or devices on their several sides, used in playing certain games of chance. See Wetmore v. State, 55 Ala. 198.

Small cubes of bone or ivory, marked with figures or devices on their several sides, used in playing certain games of chance. See Wetmore v. State, 55 Ala. 198. Less...

To order or instruct what is to be said or written. To pronounce, word by word, what is meant to be written by another. Hamilton v. Hamilton, 6 Mart (N. S.) (La.) 143.

To order or instruct what is to be said or written. To pronounce, word by word, what is meant to be written by another. Hamilton v. Hamilton, 6 Mart (N. S.) (La.) 143. Less...

In Louisiana, this term is used in a technical sense, and means to pronounce orally what is destined to be written at the same time by another. It is used in reference to nuncupative wills. Prendergast v. Prendergast 16 La. Ann. 220, 79 Am. Dec. 675.

In Louisiana, this term is used in a technical sense, and means to pronounce orally what is destined to be written at the same time by another. It is used in reference to nuncupative wills. Prendergast v. Prendergast 16 La. Ann. 220, 79 Am. Dec. 675. Less...

A magistrate invested with unlimited power, and created in times of national distress and peril. Among the Romans, he continued in office for six months only, and had unlimited power and authority over both the property and lives of the citizens.

A magistrate invested with unlimited power, and created in times of national distress and peril. Among the Romans, he continued in office for six months only, and had unlimited power and authority over both the property and lives of the citizens. Less...

Arbitrators.

Arbitrators. Less...

In general. A statement remark, or observation. Oralis dictum; a gratuitous or voluntary representation; one which a party is not bound to make. 2 Kent, Comm. 486. Simplex dictum; a mere assertion ; an assertion without proof. Bract, fol. 320. The word is generally used as an abbreviated form of More...

In general. A statement remark, or observation. Oralis dictum; a gratuitous or voluntary representation; one which a party is not bound to make. 2 Kent, Comm. 486. Simplex dictum; a mere assertion ; an assertion without proof. Bract, fol. 320. The word is generally used as an abbreviated form of obiter dictum, 44a remark by the way;" that Is, an observation or remark made by a judge in pronouncing an opinion upon a cause, concerning some rule, principle, or application of law, or the solution of a question suggested by the case at bar, but not necessarily Involved in the case or essential to its determination; any statement of the law enunciated by the court merely by way of illustration, argument analogy, or suggestion. See Railroad Co. v. Schutte, 103 U. S. 118,143, 26 L. Ed. 327; In re Woodruff (D. C.) 96 Fed. 317; Hart v. Stribling. 25 Fla. 433, 6 South. 455; Buchner v. Railroad Co., 60 Wis. 264, 19 N. W. 56; Rush v. French, 1 Ariz. 99, 25 Pac. 816; State v. Clarke, 3 Nev. 572. Dicta are opinions of a judge which do not embody the resolution or determination of the court, and made without argument, or full consideration of the point are not the professed deliberate determinations of the judge himself. Obiter dicta are such opinions uttered by the way, not upon tbe point or question pending, as if turning aside for the time from the main topic of the case to collateral subjects. Rohrbach v. Insurance Co., 62 N. Y. 47, 58, 20 Am. Rep. 451. In old English law. Dictum meant an arbitrament or the award of arbitrators. In French law. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it Poth. Proc. Civil, pt 1, c. b art 2. -Dictum de Kenilworth. The edict or declaration of Kenilworth. An edict or award between King Henry III. and all the barons and others who had been in arms against bim; and so called because it was made at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, in the fifty-first year of his reign, containing a composition or five yean* rent for the lands and estates of those who had forfeited them in that rebellion. Blount; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 62. Less...

See DYING WITHOUT ISSUE.

See DYING WITHOUT ISSUE. Less...

Lat In Roman law. This name was given to a notice promulgated by a magistrate of his intention to present an impeachment against a citizen before the people, specifying the day appointed, the name of the accused, and the crime charged.

Lat In Roman law. This name was given to a notice promulgated by a magistrate of his intention to present an impeachment against a citizen before the people, specifying the day appointed, the name of the accused, and the crime charged. Less...

(Lat He has closed his last day,-died.) A writ which formerly lay on the death of a tenant in capite, to ascertain the lands of which he died seised, and reclaim them into the king's hands. It was directed to the king's escheators. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 251, K; 2 Reeve, More...

(Lat He has closed his last day,-died.) A writ which formerly lay on the death of a tenant in capite, to ascertain the lands of which he died seised, and reclaim them into the king's hands. It was directed to the king's escheators. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 251, K; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 327. A writ awarded out of the exchequer after the death of a crown debtor, the sheriff being commanded by it to inquire by a jury when and where the crown debtor died, and what chattels, debts, and lands he had at the time of his decease, and to take and seize them into the crown's hands. 4 Steph. Comm. 47, 48. Less...