Legal Term Dictionary

An officer in the English exchequer, who entered every seller's bill on the parchment rolls, the roll of receipts, and the roll of disbursements.

An officer in the English exchequer, who entered every seller's bill on the parchment rolls, the roll of receipts, and the roll of disbursements. Less...

The wool pulled off the skin or pelt of dead sheep. 8 Hen. VI. c 22.

The wool pulled off the skin or pelt of dead sheep. 8 Hen. VI. c 22. Less...

Punishable; inflicting a punishment ; containing a penalty, or relating to a penalty. -Penal action. In practice. An action upon a penal statute; an action for the recovery of a penalty given by statute. 8 Steph. 535, 536. Distinguished from a popular or qui tam action, in which the action More...

Punishable; inflicting a punishment ; containing a penalty, or relating to a penalty. -Penal action. In practice. An action upon a penal statute; an action for the recovery of a penalty given by statute. 8 Steph. 535, 536. Distinguished from a popular or qui tam action, in which the action is brought by the informer, to whom part of the penalty goes. A penal action or information is brought by an officer, and tbe penalty goes to the king. 1 Chit. Gen. Pr. 25, note; 2 Archb. Pr. 18& But in American law, tbe term includes actions brought by informers or other private persons, as well as those instituted by governments or public officers. In a broad sense, the term has been made to include all actions in which there may be a recovery of exemplary or vindictive damages, as suits for libel and slander, or in which special, double, or treble damages are given by statute, such as actions to recover money paid as usury or lost in gaming. See Bailey v. Dean, 5 Barb. (N. Y.) 303; Ashley v. Frame, 4 Kan. App. 265, 45 Pac. 927; Cole v. Groves, 134 Mass. 472. But in a more particular sense it means (1) an action on a statute which gives a certain penalty to be recovered by any person who will sue for it (In re Barker, 56 Vt 20,) or (2) an action in which the judgment against the defendant is in the nature of a fine or is intended as a punishment actions in which the recovery is to be compensatory in its purpose and effect not being penal actions but civil suits, though they may carry damages by statute. See Moller v. U. 57 Fed. 490, 6 C. C. A. 459; Atlanta v, Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Works, 127 Fed. 23. 61 C. C. A. 387. 64 L. R. A. 721.-Penal hill. An instrument formerly in use, by which a party bound himself to pay a certain sum or sums of money, or to do certain acts, or, in default thereof, to pay a certain specified sum by way of penalty; thence termed a "penal sum." These instruments have been superseded by the use of a bond in a penal sum, with conditions. Brown.-Penal pond. A bond promising to pay a named sum of money (the penalty) with a condition underwritten that If a stipulated collateral thing, other than the payment of money, be done or forborne, as the case may be, the obligation ahall be void. Burnside v. Wand, 170 Mo. 531, 71 S. W. 387. 62 L. R. A. 427.-Penal clause. A penal clause is a secondary obligation, entered into for the purpose of enforcing the performance of a Summary obligation. Civ. Code La. art. 2117. lso a clause in a statute declaring a penalty for a violation of the preceding clauses.-Penal laws. Those which prohibit an act and impose a penalty for the commission of it. 2 Cro. Jac 415. Strictly and properly speaking, a penal law is one imposing a penalty or punishment (and properly a pecuniary fine or mulct) for some offense of a public nature or wrong committed against the state. Sackett v. Sackett 8 Pick. (Mass.) 320; Kilton v. Providence Tool Co., 22 R. I. 605. 48 Atl. 1039; Drew v. Russell. 47 Vt. 252: Nebraska Nat. Bank v. Walsh, 68 Ark. 433, 59 S. W. 952, 82 Am. St Rep. 301. * Strictly speaking, statutes giving s private action against a wrongdoer are not penal in their nature, neither the liability imposed nor the remedy given being penal. If the wrong done is to the individual, the law giving him a right of action is remedial, rather than penal, though the sum to be recovered may be called a . "penalty" or may consist in double or treble damages. See Huntington v. Attrill. 146 U. S. 657, 13 Sup. Ct. 224, 36 L. Ed. 1123 o Diver-sey v. Smith. 103 111. 390. 42 Am. Rep. 14; CulHnan v. P"rkhard, 41 Misc. Rep. 321, 84 N. Y. Supp. 825; People v. Common Council of Bay City, 36 Mich. 189.-Penal servitude, in English criminal law, is a punishment which consists in keeping an offender in confinement, and compelling him to labor. Steph. Crim. Dig. 2.-Penal statutes. See "penal law*," supra. -Penal ram. A sum agreed upon in a bond, to be forfeited if the condition of the bond is not fulfilled. Less...

1. The sum of money which the obligor of a bond undertakes to pay by way of penalty, in the event of his omitting to perform or carry out the terms imposed npon him by the conditions of the bond. Brown; Tayloe v. Sandiford, 7 Wheat 13, 5 L. Ed. More...

1. The sum of money which the obligor of a bond undertakes to pay by way of penalty, in the event of his omitting to perform or carry out the terms imposed npon him by the conditions of the bond. Brown; Tayloe v. Sandiford, 7 Wheat 13, 5 L. Ed. 384; Watt v. Sheppard, 2 Ala. 445. A penalty is an agreement to pay a greater sum, to secure the payment of a less sum. It is conditional, and can be avoided by the payment of the less sum before the contingency agreed upon shall happen. By what name it is called is immaterial. Henry v. Thompson, Minor (Ala.) 209, 227. "2. A punishment; a punishment Imposed by statute as a consequence of the commission of a certain specified offense. Lancaster v. Richardson, 4 Lans. (N. Y.) 136; People v. Nedrow, 122 111. 363, 13 N. E. 533; Iowa v. Chicago, etc., R. Co. (C. C.) 37 Fed. 497, 3 I* R. A. 554." The terms "fine," "forfeiture," and "penalty" are often used loosely, and even confusedly; but when a discrimination is made, the word oopenalty" is found to be generic in its character, including both fine and forfeiture. A "fine fe a pecuniary penalty, and is commonly (perhaps always) to be collected by suit in some form. A "forfeiture" is a penalty by which one loses his rights and interest in his property. Gosseiink v. Campbell, 4 Iowa, 300. "3.The term also denotes money recoverable by virtue of a statute imposing a payment by way of punishment" Less...

In ecclesiastical law. An ecclesiastical punishment inflicted by an ecclesiastical court for some spiritual offense. Ayl. Par. 420.

In ecclesiastical law. An ecclesiastical punishment inflicted by an ecclesiastical court for some spiritual offense. Ayl. Par. 420. Less...

Suspense; tbe state of being pendent or undecided; the state of an action, etc., after it has been begun, and before the final disposition of it. .-- PENDENS. Lat. Pending; as lis pendens, a pending suit.

Suspense; tbe state of being pendent or undecided; the state of an action, etc., after it has been begun, and before the final disposition of it. .-- PENDENS. Lat. Pending; as lis pendens, a pending suit. Less...

Lat. Pending the suit; during the actual progress of a suit; during litigation. Pendente lite nihil innovetnr. Co.Litt. 344. During a litigation nothing new should be introduced.

Lat. Pending the suit; during the actual progress of a suit; during litigation. Pendente lite nihil innovetnr. Co.Litt. 344. During a litigation nothing new should be introduced. Less...

In the civil law. The fruits of the earth not yet separated from the ground; the fruits hanging by the roots. Ersk. Inst 2, 2, 4.

In the civil law. The fruits of the earth not yet separated from the ground; the fruits hanging by the roots. Ersk. Inst 2, 2, 4. Less...

In Scotch law. A piece or parcel of ground.

In Scotch law. A piece or parcel of ground. Less...

Begun, but not yet completed; unsettled; undetermined; in process of settlement or adjustment Thus, an action or suit is said to be "pending" from its inception until the rendition of final judgment. Wentworth v. Farmington, 48 N. H. 210; Mauney v. Pemberton, 75 N. O. 221; Ex parte Munford, 57 More...

Begun, but not yet completed; unsettled; undetermined; in process of settlement or adjustment Thus, an action or suit is said to be "pending" from its inception until the rendition of final judgment. Wentworth v. Farmington, 48 N. H. 210; Mauney v. Pemberton, 75 N. O. 221; Ex parte Munford, 57 Mo. 603. Less...