Legal Term Dictionary

When an action is brought, not for the recovery of lands, goods, or sums of money, (as is the case in real or mixed actions or the personal action of debt or detinue,) but for damages only, as in covenant, trespass, etc., the action is said to be "sounding in More...

When an action is brought, not for the recovery of lands, goods, or sums of money, (as is the case in real or mixed actions or the personal action of debt or detinue,) but for damages only, as in covenant, trespass, etc., the action is said to be "sounding in damages." Steph. PI. 116. See Collins v. Greene, 67 Ala. 211; Rosser v. Bunn, 66 Ala. 03. Less...

General health; freedom from any permanent disease. 1 Car. A M. 201.

General health; freedom from any permanent disease. 1 Car. A M. 201. Less...

The origins from which particular positive laws derive their authority and coercive force. Such are constitutions, treaties, statutes, usages, and customs. In another sense, the authoritative or reliable works, records, documents, edicts, etc., to which we are tp look for an understanding of what constitutes the law. Such, for example, More...

The origins from which particular positive laws derive their authority and coercive force. Such are constitutions, treaties, statutes, usages, and customs. In another sense, the authoritative or reliable works, records, documents, edicts, etc., to which we are tp look for an understanding of what constitutes the law. Such, for example, with reference to the Roman law, are the compilations of Justinian and the treatise of Gains; and such, with reference to the common law, are especially the ancient reports and tfce works of such writers as Bracton, Littleton, Coke, "Fleta," and others. Less...

Fr. In French law. Under private signature; under the private signature of the parties. A contract or instrument thus signed is distinguished from an "authentic act" which is formally concluded before a notary or judge. Civil Code La. art 2240.

Fr. In French law. Under private signature; under the private signature of the parties. A contract or instrument thus signed is distinguished from an "authentic act" which is formally concluded before a notary or judge. Civil Code La. art 2240. Less...

L. Fr. Under. Bendloe, 33.

L. Fr. Under. Bendloe, 33. Less...

The produce of the taxes appropriated to pay the interest of such part of the English national debt as was advanced by the South Sea Company and Its annuitants. The holders of South Sea annuities have been paid off, or have received other stock in lieu thereof. 2 Steph. Comm. More...

The produce of the taxes appropriated to pay the interest of such part of the English national debt as was advanced by the South Sea Company and Its annuitants. The holders of South Sea annuities have been paid off, or have received other stock in lieu thereof. 2 Steph. Comm. 578. Less...

A chief ruler with supreme power; a king or other ruler with limited power. In English law. A gold coin of Great Britain, of the value of a pound sterling. -Sovereign people. A term familiarly used to describe the political body, consisting of the entire number of citizens and qualified More...

A chief ruler with supreme power; a king or other ruler with limited power. In English law. A gold coin of Great Britain, of the value of a pound sterling. -Sovereign people. A term familiarly used to describe the political body, consisting of the entire number of citizens and qualified electors, who, in their collegiate capacity, possess the powers of sovereignty and exercise them through their chosen representatives. See Scott v. Sand-ford, 19 How. 404, 15 IA. Bd. 691.-Sovereign power. That power in a state to which none other is superior or equal, and which includes all the specific powers which are necessary to accomplish the legitimate ends and purposes of government. See Boggs v. Merced Min. Co., 14 Cal. 309: Donnelly v. Decker, 58 Wis. 461, 17 N. W. 389, 46 Am. Rep. 637; Com. v. Alger, 7 Cush. (Mass.) 81.-Sovereign rigbt. A right which the state alone, or some of its governmental agencies, can possess, and which it possesses in the character of a sovereign, for the common benefit, and to enable it to carry out ita proper functions; distinguished from such "proprieta- ry" rights as a state, like any private person, may have in property or demands which it owns. See St. Paul v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., 45 Minn. 387, 48 N. W. 17.-Sovereign states. States whose subjects or citizens are in the habit of obedience to them, and which are not themselves subject to any other (or paramount) state in any respect. The state is said to be semi-sovereign only, and not sovereign, when in any respect or respects it is liable to be controlled (like certain of the states in India) by a paramount government, (e. g.t by the British empire.) Brown. "In the intercourse of nations, certain states have a position of entire independence of others, and can perform all those acts which it Is possible for any state to perform in this particular sphere. These same states have also entire power of self-government; that is, of independence upon all other states as far as their own territory and citizens not living abroad are concerned. No foreign power or law can have control except by convention. This power of independent action in externa] and internal relations constitutes complete sovereignty." Wools. Pol. Science, I. 204. Less...

The possession of sovereign power; supreme political authority; paramount control of the constitution and frame of government and its administration; the self-sufficient source of political power, from which all specific political powers are derived; the International independence of a state, combined with the right and power of regulating its internal More...

The possession of sovereign power; supreme political authority; paramount control of the constitution and frame of government and its administration; the self-sufficient source of political power, from which all specific political powers are derived; the International independence of a state, combined with the right and power of regulating its internal affairs without foreign dictation; also a political society, or state, which is sovereign and Independent. See Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 455, 1 L. Ed. 440; Union Bank v. Hill, 3 Cold. (Tenn.) 325; Moore V. Shaw, 17 Cal. 218, 79 Am. Dec. 123. "The freedom of the nation has its correlate in the sovereignty of the nation. Political sovereignty is the assertion of the self-determinate will of the organic people, and in this there is the manifestation of its freedom. It is in and through the determination of its sovereignty that the order of the nation is constituted and maintained." Mulford, Nation, p. 129. "If a determinate human superior, not In a habit of obedience to a like superior, receive habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society, that determinate superior is sovereign in that society, and the society (including the superior) is a society political and independent." Aust Jur. Less...

In old Scotch law. Surety. Skene.

In old Scotch law. Surety. Skene. Less...

February; so called In South Wales. Cowell.

February; so called In South Wales. Cowell. Less...