Legal Term Dictionary

Search our free database of thousands of legal terms. The easiest-to-read, most user-friendly guide to legal terms.This dictionary is from the early 20th century and is not to be construed as legal advice.

Search
  • PRAETOR
    Lat. In Roman law. A municipal officer of the city of Rome, being the chief judicial magistrate, and possessing an extensive equitable jurisdiction. -Prsetor ndei-commissarius. In the civil law. A special praetor created to pronounce judgment in cases of trusts or fidei-coinmissa. Inst 2, 23, 1.
  • PRAEVARICATOR
    Lat In the civil law. One who betrays his trust, or is unfaithful to his trust An advocate who aids the opposite party by betraying his client's cause. Dig. 47, 15, 1.
  • PRAEVENTO TERMINO
    In old Scotch practice. A form of action known in the forms of the court of session, by which a delay to discuss a suspension or advocation was got the better of. Bell.
  • PRAGMATIC SANCTION
    In French law. An expression used to designate those ordinances which concern the most Important objects of the civil or ecclesiastical administration. Merl. Repert. In tbe civil law. The answer given by the emperors on questions of law, when consulted by a corporation or the citizens of a province or More...
  • PRAGMATICA
    In Spanish colonial taw. An order emanating from the sovereign, and differing from a cedula only In form and In the mode of promulgation. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note.
  • PRAIRIE
    An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. Webster. See Buxton v. Railroad Co., 58 Mo. 45; Brunell v. Hopkins, 42 Iowa, 429.
  • PRATIQUE
    A license for the master of a ship to traffic in the ports of a given country, or with the inhabitants of a given port upon the lifting of quarantine or production of a clean bill of health.
  • PRAXIS
    Lat. Use; practice. Praxis jndionm est interpres legnnt. Hob. 96. The practice of the judges is the interpreter of the laws.
  • PRAY IN AID
    In old English practice. To call upon for assistance. In real actions, the tenant might pray in aid or call for assistance of another, to help him to plead, because of the feebleness or imbecility of his own estate. 3 Bl. Comm. 300.
  • PRAYER
    The request contained in a bill in equity that the court will grant the process, aid, or relief which the complainant desires. Also, by extension, the term is applied to that part of the bill which contains this request
Showing 10930 of 14636