Legal Term Dictionary

Lat. Having personally touched" "the holy Gospel. Cro. Eliz. 105. The description of a corporal oath.

Lat. Having personally touched" "the holy Gospel. Cro. Eliz. 105. The description of a corporal oath. Less...

Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed, as a fee or estate in fee, to a certain order of succession, or to certain heirs.

Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed, as a fee or estate in fee, to a certain order of succession, or to certain heirs. Less...

An estate of inheritance, which, instead of descending to heirs generally, goes to the heirs of the donee's body, which means his lawful issue, his children, and through them to his grandchildren in a direct line, so long as his posterity endures in a regular order and course of descent, More...

An estate of inheritance, which, instead of descending to heirs generally, goes to the heirs of the donee's body, which means his lawful issue, his children, and through them to his grandchildren in a direct line, so long as his posterity endures in a regular order and course of descent, and upon the death of the first owner without issue, the estate determines. 1 Washb. Real Prop. *72. An estate tail is a freehold of inheritance, limited to a person and the heirs of his body, general or special, male or female, and is the creature of the statute de Bonis. The estate, provided the entail be not barred, reverts to the donor or reversioner, if the donee die without leaving descendants answering to the condition annexed to the estate upon its creation, unless there be a limitation over to a third person on default of such descendants, when it vests in such third person or remainder-man. Wharton. -Several tail. An entail severally to two; as if land is given to two men and their wives, and to the heirs of their bodies begotten ; here the donees have a joint estate for their two lives, and yet they have a several inheritance, because the issue of the one shall have his taoi-ety, and the issue of the other the other moiety. Cowell.-Tail after possibility of Issne extinct. A species of estate tail which arises where one is tenant in special tail, and a person from whose body the issue was to spring dies without issue, or, having left issue, that issue becomes extinct. In either .of these cases the surviving tenant in special tail becomes "tenant in tail after possibility of issue extinct." 2 Bl. Comm. 124.-Tail female. When lands are given to a person and the female heirs of his or her body, this is called an "estate tail female," and the male heirs are not capable of inheriting it.-TaIl general. An estate in tail granted to one "and the heirs of his body begotten," which is called "tail general" because, how often soever such donee in tail be married, his issue in general by all and every such marriage is, In successive order, capable of inheriting the estate tail per formam doni. 2 Bl. Comm. 113. This is where an estate is limited to a man and the heirs of his body, without any restriction at aU; or, according to some authorities, with no other restriction than that in relation to sex. Thus, tail male general is the same thing as tail male; the word "general," In such case, implying that there is no other restriction npon the descent of the estate than that it must go in the male line. So an estate in tail female general is an estate in tail female. The word "general," in the phrase, expresses a purely negative idea, and may denote the absence of any restriction, or the absence of some given restriction which is tacitly understood. Mozley & Whitley.-Tall male. When lands are given to a person and the male heirs of his or her body, this is called an "estate tail male." and the female heirs are not capable of inheriting it.-Tail special. An estate in tail where the succession is restricted to certain heirs of the donee's body, and does not go to all of them in general; e. jr., where lands and tenements are given to a man and "the heirs of his body on Mary, his now wife, to be begotten;" here no issue can inherit but such special issue as is engendered between those two, not such as the husband may have by another wife, and therefore it is called "special tail." 2 Bl. Comm. 113. It is defined by Cowell as the limitation of lands and tenements to a man and his wife and the heirs of their two bodies. But the phrase need not be thus restricted. Tail special, in its largest sense, is where the gift is restrained to certain heirs of the donor's body, and does not go to all of them in general. Mozley A Whitley. Less...

A piece cut out of the whole; a share of one's substance paid by way of tribute; a toll or tax. Cowell.

A piece cut out of the whole; a share of one's substance paid by way of tribute; a toll or tax. Cowell. Less...

Fr. In old French law. A tax or assessment levied by the king, or by any great lord, upon his subjects, usually taking the form of an imposition upon the owners of real estate. Brande. In old English law. The fee which la opposed to fee-simple, because it is so More...

Fr. In old French law. A tax or assessment levied by the king, or by any great lord, upon his subjects, usually taking the form of an imposition upon the owners of real estate. Brande. In old English law. The fee which la opposed to fee-simple, because it is so minced or pared that it is not in the owner's free power to dispose of it, but it is, by the flrst giver, cut or divided from all other, and tied to the issue of the donee,-in short, an estate-tail. Wharton. Less...

In Scotch law. An entail. A tailzied fee is that which the owner, by exercising his inherent right of disposing of his property, settles upon others than those to whom it would have descended toy law. 1 Forb. Inst pt 2, p. 101.

In Scotch law. An entail. A tailzied fee is that which the owner, by exercising his inherent right of disposing of his property, settles upon others than those to whom it would have descended toy law. 1 Forb. Inst pt 2, p. 101. Less...

A conviction of felony, or the person so convicted. Cowell.

A conviction of felony, or the person so convicted. Cowell. Less...

One who takes or acquires; particularly, one who takes an estate by devise. When an estate is granted subject to a remainder or executory devise, the devisee of the immediate Interest is called the "first taker."

One who takes or acquires; particularly, one who takes an estate by devise. When an estate is granted subject to a remainder or executory devise, the devisee of the immediate Interest is called the "first taker." Less...

1. To lay hold of; to gain or receive into possession; to seize; to deprive one of the possession of; to assume ownership. Thus, it is a constitutional provision that a man's property shall not be taken for public uses without just compensation. Evansville A C. R. Co. v. Dick, More...

1. To lay hold of; to gain or receive into possession; to seize; to deprive one of the possession of; to assume ownership. Thus, it is a constitutional provision that a man's property shall not be taken for public uses without just compensation. Evansville A C. R. Co. v. Dick, 0 Ind. 433. 2. To obtain or assume possession of a chattel unlawfully, and without the owner's consent; to appropriate things to one's own use with felonious intent Thus, an actual taking is essential to constitute larceny. 4 Bl. Comm. 430. 3. To seize or apprehend a person; to arrest the body of a person by virtue of lawful process. Thus, a capias commands the officer to take the body of the defendant 4. To acquire the title to an estate; to receive an estate in lands from another person by virtue of some species of title. Thus, one is said to "take by purchase," "take by descent" "take a life-interest under the devise," etc. 5. To receive the verdict of a jury; to superintend the delivery of a verdict; to hold a court. The commission of assize in England empowers the judges to take the assizes; that is, according to its ancient meaning, to take the verdict of a peculiar species of Jury called an "assize;" but in Its present meaning, "to hold the assizes." 8 Bl. Comm. 59, 185." -Take up. A party to a negotiable instrument, particularly an indorser or acceptor, is said to "take up" the paper, or to "retire" it when he pays its amount or substitutes other security for it, and receives It again into his own hands. See Hartzell v. McClurg, 54 Neb. 316, 74 N. W. 626. Less...

In criminal law and torts. The act of laying hold upon an article, with or without removing the same.

In criminal law and torts. The act of laying hold upon an article, with or without removing the same. Less...