Legal Term Dictionary

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  • PERPETUITY
    A future limitation, whether executory or by way of remainder, and of either real or personal property, which, is not to vest until after the expiration of or will not necessarily vest within the period fixed and prescribed by law for the creation of future estates and interests, and which More...
  • PERPETUITY OF THE KING
    That fiction of the English law which for certain political purposes ascribes to the king in his political capacity the attribute of immortality; for, though the reigning monarch may die, yet by this fiction the king never dies, i. c, the office is supposed to be reoccupied for all political More...
  • PERQUISITES
    In its most extensive sense, "perquisites" signifies anything obtained by industry or purchased with money, different from that which descends from a father or ancestor. Bract 1. 2, c. 30, n. 3. Profits accruing to a lord of a manor by virtue of his court-baron, over and above the yearly More...
  • PERQUISITIO
    Purchase. Acquisition by one's own act or agreement and not by descent.
  • PERQUISITOR
    In old English law. A purchaser; one who first acquired an estate to his family; one who acquired an estate by sale, by gift or by any other method, except only that of descent 2 Bl. Comm. 220.
  • PERSECUTIO
    Lat. In the civil law. A following after; a pursuing at law; a suit or prosecution. Properly that kind of judicial proceeding before the prietor which was called "extraordinary." In a general sense, any judicial proceeding, including not only "actions," (actiones,) properly so called, but other proceedings also. Calvin.
  • PERSEQUI
    Lat. In the civil law. To follow after; to pursue or claim in form of law. An action is called a "jus persequendi."
  • PERSON
    A man considered according to the rank he holds in society, with all the rights to which the place he holds entitles him, and the duties which it Imposes. 1 Bouv. Inst .no. 137. A human being considered as capable of having rights and of being charged with duties; while More...
  • PERSONA
    Lat In tne civil law. Character, in virtue of which certain rights belong to a man and certain duties are imposed upon him. Thus one man may unite many characters, (persona?,) as, for example, the characters of father and son, of master and servant Mackeld. Rom. Law, | 129. In More...
  • PERSONABLE
    Having the rights and powers of a person; able to hold or maintain a plea in court; also capacity to take anything granted or given. Personam viae fungitur munioipinm et deenria. Towns and boroughs act as if persons. Warner v. Beers, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 103, 144.
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