Legal Term Dictionary

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  • AUTOMATISM
    In medical jurisprudence, this term is applied to actions or conduct of an individual apparently occurring without will, purpose, or reasoned intention on his part; a condition sometimes observed in persons who, without being actually insane, suffer from an obscuration of the mental faculties, loss of volition or of memory, More...
  • AUTONOMY
    The political independence of a nation; the right (and condition) of self-government.
  • AUTOPSY
    The dissection of a dead body for the purpose of inquiring Into the cause of death. Pub. St. Mass. 1882, p. 1288. Sudduth v. Insurance Co. (C. C.) 106 Fed. 823.
  • AUTRE
    L. Fr. Another. —Autre action pendant. Another action pending.—Autre droit. The right of another. —Autre vie. Another's life. A person holding an estate for or during the life of another is called a tenant "pur autre vie" or "pur terms d'autre vie." Litt s 56; 2 Bl. Comm. 120. .
  • AUTREFOIS
    L. Fr. At another time; formerly; before; heretofore. —Autrefois acquit. In criminal law. Formerly acquitted. The name of a plea in bar to a criminal action, stating that the defendant has been once already indicted and tried for the same alleged offense and has been acquitted. Simco v. State, 9 More...
  • AUXILIARY
    Aiding; attendant on; ancillary, (q. v.) As an auxiliary bill in equity, an auxiliary receiver. See Buckley v. Harrison, 10 Misc. Rep. 683, 31 N. Y. Supp. 1001.
  • AUXILIUM
    In feudal and old English law. Aid; compulsory aid, hence a tax or tribute; a kind of tribute paid by the vassal to his lord, being one of the incidents of the tenure by knight's service. Spelman. —Auxilium ad filium militem faciendum et filiam meritandum. An ancient writ which was More...
  • AVAIL OF MARRIAGE
    In feudal law. The right of marriage, which the lord or guardian in chivalry had of disposing of his infant ward in matrimony. A guardian in socage had also the same right but not attended with the same advantage. 2 BL Comm. 88. In Scotch law. A certain sum due More...
  • AVAILABLE MEANS
    This phrase among mercantile men, is a term well understood to be anything which can readily be converted into money; but it is not necessarily or primarily money itself. McFad-den v. Leeka, 48. Ohio St 513, 28 N. E. 8741 Benedict v. Huntington, 32 X. Y. 224; Brig-ham v. Tillinghast, More...
  • AVAILS
    Profits, or proceeds. This word seems to have been construed only in reference to wills, and in them it means the corpus or proceeds of the estate after the payment of the debts. 1 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, 1039. See Allen v. De Witt, 3 N. Y. 279; McNaughton More...
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