Legal Term Dictionary

According to custom. Calvin. Ex multltudine signorum, oolligitur identitas vera. From a great number of signs or marks, true identity is gathered or made up. Bac. Max. 103, in regula 25. A thing described by a great number of marks is easily identified, though, as to some, the description may More...

According to custom. Calvin. Ex multltudine signorum, oolligitur identitas vera. From a great number of signs or marks, true identity is gathered or made up. Bac. Max. 103, in regula 25. A thing described by a great number of marks is easily identified, though, as to some, the description may not be strictly correct. Id. Less...

From or out of loan. In the old law of England, a debt was said to arise ex mutuo when one lent another anything which consisted in number, weight or measure 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 159; Bract fol. 99.

From or out of loan. In the old law of England, a debt was said to arise ex mutuo when one lent another anything which consisted in number, weight or measure 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 159; Bract fol. 99. Less...

Of necessity. 8 Rep. Ch. 123. -Ex necessitate legis. From or by necessity of law. 4 Bl. Comm. 394.-Ex necessitate rei. From the necessity or urgency of the thing or case. 2 Pow. Dev. (by Jarman,) 308. -Ex nihilo nihil fit. From nothing nothing comes. Jackson v. Waldron, 13 Wend. More...

Of necessity. 8 Rep. Ch. 123. -Ex necessitate legis. From or by necessity of law. 4 Bl. Comm. 394.-Ex necessitate rei. From the necessity or urgency of the thing or case. 2 Pow. Dev. (by Jarman,) 308. -Ex nihilo nihil fit. From nothing nothing comes. Jackson v. Waldron, 13 Wend. (N. Y.) 178, 221; Root v. Stuyvesant, 18 Wend. (N. Y.) 257, 801. Ex nudo pacto non oritur [nascitur] actio. Out of a nude or naked pact [that is, a bare parol agreement without consideration] no action arises. Bract, fol. 99; Fleta, lib. 2, c. 56, s 3; Plowd. 305. Out of a promise neither attended with particular solemnity (such as belongs to a specialty) nor with any consideration no legal liability can arise. 2 Steph. Comm. 113. A parol agreement without a valid consideration, cannot be made the foundation of an action. A leading maxim both of the civil and common law. Cod. 2, 3, 10; Id. 5, 14, 1; 2 Bl. Comm. 445; Smith, Cont 85, 86. Less...

From office; by virtue of the office; without any other warrant or appointment than that resulting from the holding of a particular office. Powers may be exercised by an officer which are not specifically conferred upon him, but are necessarily implied in his office; these are ex officio. Thus, a More...

From office; by virtue of the office; without any other warrant or appointment than that resulting from the holding of a particular office. Powers may be exercised by an officer which are not specifically conferred upon him, but are necessarily implied in his office; these are ex officio. Thus, a judge has ex officio the powers of a conservator of the peace. Courts are bound to notice public statutes judicially and ex officio. -Ex officio information. In English law. A criminal information filed by the attorney general ex officio on behalf of the crown, in the court of king's bench, for offenses more immediately affecting the government, and to be distinguished from informations in which the crown is the nominal prosecutor. Mozley & Whitley; 4 Steph. Comm. 372-378.-Ex officio oath. An oath taken by offending priests; abolished by 13 Car. II. St 1, c 12. Ex pacto illioito non oritur actio. From an illegal contract an action does not arise. Broom, Max. 742. See 7 Clark & F. 729. Less...

On one side only; by or for one party; done for, in behalf of, or on the application of, one party only. A judicial proceeding, order, injunction, etc, is said to be ex parte when it is taken or granted at the instance and for the benefit of one party More...

On one side only; by or for one party; done for, in behalf of, or on the application of, one party only. A judicial proceeding, order, injunction, etc, is said to be ex parte when it is taken or granted at the instance and for the benefit of one party only, and without notice to, or contestation by, any person adversely interested. "Ex parte" in the heading of a reported case, signifies that the name following is that of the party upon whose application the case is heard. In its primary sense, ex parte, as applied to an application in a judicial proceeding, means that it is made by a person who is not a party to the proceeding, but who has an interest in the matter which entitles him to make the application. Thus, in a bankruptcy proceeding or an administration action, an application by A. B., a creditor, or the like, would be described as made "ex parte A. B.," i. e., on the part of A. B. In its more usual sense, ex parte means that an application is made by one party to a proceeding in the absence of the other. Thus, an ex parte injunction is one granted without the opposite party having had notice of the application. It would not be called "ex parte" if he had proper notice of it, and chose not to appear to oppose it. Sweet. Less...

On the mother's side; of the maternal line.

On the mother's side; of the maternal line. Less...

On the father's side; of the paternal line. The phrases "ex parte materna" and "ex parte paterna" denote the line or blood of the mother or father, and have no such restricted or limited sense as from the mother or father exclusively. Banta v. Demarest 24 N. J. Law, 43L.

On the father's side; of the paternal line. The phrases "ex parte materna" and "ex parte paterna" denote the line or blood of the mother or father, and have no such restricted or limited sense as from the mother or father exclusively. Banta v. Demarest 24 N. J. Law, 43L. Less...

A writ that lay for a bailiff or receiver, who, having auditors appointed to take his accounts, cannot obtain of them reasonable allowance, but Is cast into prison. Fitzh. Nat Brev. 129. Ex paucis dictis intendere plurima possis. Litt. | 384. You can imply many things from few expressions. Ex More...

A writ that lay for a bailiff or receiver, who, having auditors appointed to take his accounts, cannot obtain of them reasonable allowance, but Is cast into prison. Fitzh. Nat Brev. 129. Ex paucis dictis intendere plurima possis. Litt. | 384. You can imply many things from few expressions. Ex panels plurima concipit ingenium. Litt g 560. From a few words or hints the understanding conceives many things. Less...

After the fact; by an act or fact occurring after some previous act or fact, and relating thereto; by subsequent matter; the opposite of ab initio. Thus, a deed may be good ab initio, or, if invalid at its inception, may be confirmed by matter ex post facto.

After the fact; by an act or fact occurring after some previous act or fact, and relating thereto; by subsequent matter; the opposite of ab initio. Thus, a deed may be good ab initio, or, if invalid at its inception, may be confirmed by matter ex post facto. Less...

A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commission of an act, which retrospectively changes the legal consequences or relations of such fact or deed. By Const. U. S. art. 1, | 10, the States are forbidden to pass "any ex post facto law." In this connection the More...

A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commission of an act, which retrospectively changes the legal consequences or relations of such fact or deed. By Const. U. S. art. 1, | 10, the States are forbidden to pass "any ex post facto law." In this connection the phrase has a much narrower meaning than its literal translation would justify, as will appear from the extracts given below. The phrase "ex post facto," in the constitution, extends to criminal and not to civil cases. And under this head is included: (1) Every law that makes an action, done before the passing of the law, and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action. (2) Every law that aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was when committed. (3) Every law that changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when committed. (4) Every law that alters the legal rules of evidence, and receives less or different testimony than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense, in order to convict the offender. All these, and similar laws, are prohibited by the constitution. But a law may be ex post facto, and still not amenable to this constitutional inhibition; that is, provided it mollifies, instead of aggravating, the rigor of the criminal law. Boston v. Cummins. 16 Ga. 102. 60 Am. Dec. 717; Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 18 L. Ed. 356; U. S. v. Hall, 2 Wash. C. C. 366, Fed. Cas. No. 15,285; Woart v. Winnick, 3 N. H. 473. 14 Am. Dec. 384; Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall. 390, 1 L. Ed. 648 ; 3 Story, Const. 212. An ex post facto law is one which renders an act punishable, in a manner in which it was not punishable when committed. Such a law may inflict penalties on tbe person, or pecuniary penalties which swell the public treasury. The legislature is therefore prohibited from passing a law by which a man's estate, or any part of it shall be seized for a crime, which was not declared, by some previous law, to render him liable to such punishment. Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87, 138. 3 L. Ed. 162. "The plain and obvious meaning of this prohibition is that the legislature shall not pass any law, after a fact done by any citizen, which shall have relation to that fact, so as to punish that which was innocent when done; or to add to the punishment of that which was criminal; or to increase the malignity of a crime; or to retrench the rules of evidence, so as to make conviction more easy. This definition f an ex post facto law is sanctioned by long usage. Strong v. State, 1 Black (Ind)196. The term "ex post facto law," in the United States constitution, cannot be construed to include and to prohibit the enacting any law after a fact, nor even to prohibit the depriving a citizen of a vested right to property. Calder v. BulL 3 Dall. 386, 1 L. Ed. 648. "Ex post facto" and "retrospective" are not convertible terms. The latter is a term of wider signification than the former and includes it. All ex post facto laws are necessarily retrospective, but not e converse. A curative or confirmatory statute is retrospective, but not ex post facto. Constitutions of nearly all the states contain prohibitions against ex post facto laws, but onty a few forbid retrospective legislation in specific terms. Black, Const. Prohib. | 170, 172, 222. "Retrospective laws divesting vested rights are impolitic and unjust; but they are not "ex post facto laws," within the meaning of the constitution of the United States, nor repugnant to any other of its provisions; and, if not repugnant to the state constitution, a court cannot pronounce them to be void, merely because in their judgment they are contrary to the principles of natural justice. Albee v. May, 2 Paine, 74, Fed. Cas. No. 134. Every retrospective act is not necessarily an ex post facto law. That phrase embraces only such laws as impose or affect penalties or forfeitures. Locke v. New Orleans, 4 Wall. 172, 18 L. Ed. 334. Retrospective laws which do not impair the obligation of contracts, or affect vested rights, or partake of the character of ex post facto laws, are not prohibited by the constitution. Bay v. Gage, 36 Barb. (N. Y.) 447. Ex praecedentibus et eonsequentibus optima fit interpretatio 1 Roll. 374. Tbe best Interpretation is made from the context Less...