Legal Term Dictionary

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  • PRIOR (NOUN)
    n. The chief of a convent; next in dignity to an abbot.
  • PRIOR (ADJ.)
    adj. Earlier; elder; preceding; superior in rank, right, or time; as, a prior lien, mortgage, or judgment See Fidelity, etc., Safe Deposit Co. v. Roanoke Iron Co. (C. C.) 81 Fed. 447. Prior tempore potior Jnre. He who is first in time is preferred in right Co. Litt 14a; Broom, More...
  • PRIORI PETENTI
    To the person first applying. In probate practice, where there are several persons equally entitled to a grant of administration, (e. g., next of kin of the same degree,) the rule of the court is to make the grant priori pctenti, to the first applicant Browne, Prob. Pr. 174; Coote, More...
  • PRIORITY
    A legal preference or precedence. When two persons have similar rights in respect of the same subject-matter, but one is entitled to exercise his right to the exclusion of the other, he is said to have priority. In old English law. An antiquity of tenure, in comparison with one not. More...
  • PRISAGE
    An ancient hereditary revenue of the crown, consisting in the right to take a certain quantity from cargoes or wine imported into England. In Edward I.'s reign it was converted Into a pecuniary duty called "butlerage." 2 Steph. Comm. 561.
  • PRISE
    Fr. In French law. Prize; captured property. Ord. Mar. liv. 3, tit 9. See Dole v. Insurance Co., 6 Allen (Mass.) 373.
  • PRISEL EN AUTER LIEU
    L. Fr. A taking in another place. A plea In abatement in the action of replevin. 2 Ld. Raym. 1016, 1017.
  • PRISON
    A public building for the confinement or safe custody of persons, whether as a puuisbment Imposed by the law or otherwise in the course of the administration of Justice. See Scarborough v. Thornton, 9 Pa. 451; Sturtevant v. Com., 158 Mass. 598, 33 N. E. 648; Pen. Code N. Y. More...
  • PRISONAM FRANGENTIBUS, STATUTUTE DE
    The English statute 1 Edw. II. St 2, (in Rev. St 23 Edw. I.,) a still unrepealed statute, whereby it is felony for a felon to break prison, but misdemeanor only for a misdemeanant to do so. 1 Hale, P. 0. 612.
  • PRISONER
    One who is deprived of his liberty; one who is against his will kept in confinement or custody. A person restrained of his liberty upon any action, civil or criminal, or upon commandment Cowell. A person on trial for crime. "The prisoner at the bar." The Jurors are told to More...
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