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.

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  • SPECIE
    1. Coin of the precious metals, of a certain weight and fineness, and bearing the stamp of the government, denoting its value as currency. Trebilcock Wilson, 12 Wall. 695, 20 L. Ed. 460; Walkup v. Houston, 65 N. C. 501; Henry v. Bank of Salina, 5 Hill (N. Y.) 536. More...
  • SPECIES
    Lat In the civil law. Form; figure; fashion or shape. A form or shape given to materials. A particular thing; as distinguished from "genus" -Species facti. In Scotch law. The particular criminal act charged against a person.
  • SPECIFIC
    Having a certain form or designation; observing-a certain form; particular; precise. As to specific "Denial," "Devise," "Legacy," and "Performance," see those titles.
  • SPECIFICATIO
    Lat In the civil law. Literally, a making of form; a giving of form to materials. That mode of acquiring property through which a person, by transforming a thing belonging to another, especially by working up his materials into a new species, becomes proprietor of the same. Mackeld. Rom. Law, More...
  • SPECIFICATION
    As used in the law relating to patents and in building contracts, the term denotes a particular or detailed statement of the various elements involved. Gilbert v. U. S., 1 Ct CI. 34; State v. Kendall, 15 Neb. 262, 18 N. W. 85; Wilson v. Coon (C. C.) 6 Fed. More...
  • SPECIMEN
    A sample; a part of something intended to exhibit the kind and quality of the whole. People v. Freeman, 1 Idaho, 322.
  • SPECULATION
    In commerce. The act or practice of buying lands, goods, etc.. in expectation of a rise of price and of selling them at an advance, as distinguished from a regular trade, in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price More...
  • SPECULATIVE DAMAGES
    See DAMAGES.
  • SPECULUM
    Lat. Mirror or looking-glass. The title of several of the most ancient law-books or compilations. One of the ancient Icelandic books is styled "Speculum Regale." -- SPEEDY EXECUTION. An execution which, by the direction of the judge at nisi prius, issues forthwith, or on some early day fixed upon by More...
  • SPEEDY TRIAL
    In criminal law. As secured by constitutional guaranties, a speedy trial means a trial conducted according to fixed rules, regulations, and proceedings of law, free from vexatious, capricious, and oppressive delays manufactured by the ministers of Justice. See People v. Hall, 51 App. Div. 57, 64 N. Y. Supp. 433; More...
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