Legal Term Dictionary

The act of giving a dowry or portion; endowment in general, including the endowment of a hospital or other charitable institution.

The act of giving a dowry or portion; endowment in general, including the endowment of a hospital or other charitable institution. Less...

n. In Spanish law. The marriage portion of a wife. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit 6, c. 1. The property which the wife gives to the husband on account of marriage, or for the purpose of supporting the matrimonial expenses. Id. b. 1, tit 7, c. 1, ? 1; More...

n. In Spanish law. The marriage portion of a wife. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit 6, c. 1. The property which the wife gives to the husband on account of marriage, or for the purpose of supporting the matrimonial expenses. Id. b. 1, tit 7, c. 1, ? 1; Schm. Civil Law, 75; Cutter v. Wadding-ham, 22 Mo. 254; Hart v. Burnett, 15 Cal. 566. Less...

v. "To besot" is to stupefy, td make dull or senseless, to make to dote; and "to dote" is to be delirious, silly, or insane. Gates v. Meredith, 7 Ind. 441.

v. "To besot" is to stupefy, td make dull or senseless, to make to dote; and "to dote" is to be delirious, silly, or insane. Gates v. Meredith, 7 Ind. 441. Less...

A writ which lay for a widow, when it was judicially ascertained that a tenant to the king was seised of tenements in fee or fee-tail at the day of his death, and that he held of the king in chief. In such case the widow might come into chancery, More...

A writ which lay for a widow, when it was judicially ascertained that a tenant to the king was seised of tenements in fee or fee-tail at the day of his death, and that he held of the king in chief. In such case the widow might come into chancery, and then make oath that she would not marry without the king's leave, and then she might have this writ. These widows were called the "king's widows." Jacob; Holthouse. Less...

A writ. which lies for a widow to whom no dower has been assigned. 3 Bl. Comm. 182. By 23 & 24 Vict c 126, an ordinary action commenced by writ of summons has taken its. place; but it remains in force in the United States. Dower undo nihil habet More...

A writ. which lies for a widow to whom no dower has been assigned. 3 Bl. Comm. 182. By 23 & 24 Vict c 126, an ordinary action commenced by writ of summons has taken its. place; but it remains in force in the United States. Dower undo nihil habet (which title see.) Doti lea fa vet | prsemium pudoris est; ideo pareatnr. Co. Litt 31. The law favors dower; it is the reward of chastity; therefore let It be preserved. Less...

Ad measurement of dower, where the widow holds more than her share, etc.

Ad measurement of dower, where the widow holds more than her share, etc. Less...

A dowager.

A dowager. Less...

Twofold; acting in two capacities or having two aspects; multiplied by two. This term has ordinarily the same meaning in law as in popular speech. The principal compound terms into which it enters are noted below. -Double adultery. Adultery committed by two persons each of whom is married to another More...

Twofold; acting in two capacities or having two aspects; multiplied by two. This term has ordinarily the same meaning in law as in popular speech. The principal compound terms into which it enters are noted below. -Double adultery. Adultery committed by two persons each of whom is married to another as distinguished from "single" adultery, where one of the participants is unmarried. Hunter v. U. S., 1 Pin. (Wis.) 91, 39 Am. Dec. 277.-Double avail of marriage. In Scotch law. Double the ordinary or single value of a marriage. Bell. See DUPLEX VALOR MABI> TAGII.-Double bond. In Scotch law. Av bond with a penalty, as distinguished from a single bond. 2 Karnes, Eq. 359.-Double complaint, or double quarrel. In ecclesiastical law. A grievance made known by 4f clerk or other person, to the archbishop of the province, against the ordinary, for delaying or refusing to do justice in some cause ecclesiastical, as to give sentence, institute a clerk, etc. It is termed a "double complaint," because it is most commonly made against both the judge and him at whose suit justice is denied or delayed; the effect whereof is that the archbishop, taking notice of the delay, directs his letters, under his authentical seal, to all clerks of his province, commanding them to admonish the ordinary, within a certain number of days, to do the justice required, or otherwise to appear before him or his official, and there allege the cause of his delay; and to signify to the ordinary that if he neither perform the thing enjoined, nor appear nor show cause against it, he himself, in his court of audience, will forthwith proceed to do the justice that is due. Cowell.-Double costs. See COSTS.-Double damages. See DAMAGES.-Double eagle. A gold coin, of the United States of the value of twenty dollars.-Double entry. A system of mercantile book-keeping, in. which the entries in the day-book, etc., are posted twice into the ledger. First, to a personal account, that is, to the account of the person with whom the dealing to which any given entry refers has taken place: secondly, to an impersonal account, as "goods." Mozley & Whitley.—Double fine. In old English law. A fine sur done grant et render was called a "double fine," because it comprehended the fine sur cog* nizanee de droit come ceo, etc., and the fine sur concessit. 2 Bl. Comm. 353—Double insurance is where divers insurances are made upon the same interest in the same subject against the same risks in favor of the same assured, in proportions exceeding the value. 1 Phill. Ins. H 359, 366. A double insurance exists where the same person is insured by several insurers separately in respect to the same subject and interest. Civ. Code Cal. § 2641; Wells v. Insurance Co., 9 Serg. A R. (Pa.) 107; Insurance Co. v. Gwathmey, 82 Va. 923, 1 S. E. 209; Perkins v. Insurance Co., 12 Mass. 218; Lowell Mfg. Co. v. Safeguard F. Ins. Co., 88 N. Y. 597.—Double plea, double pleading. See DUPLICITY ; PLEA : PLEADING.—Double possibility. A possibility upon a possibility. 2 Bl. Comm. 170.—Double rent. In English law. Rent payable by a tenant who continues in possession after the time for which he has given notice to quit, until the time of his quitting possession. St. 11 Geo. II. c. 19.—Double taxation. The taxing of the same item or piece of property twice to the same person, or taxing it as the property of one person and again as the property of another; but this does not include the imposition of different taxes concurrently on the same property (e. g.t a city tax and a school tax), nor the taxation of the same piece of property to different persons when they hold different interests in it or when it represents different values in their hands, as when both the mortgagor and mortgagee of property are taxed in respect to their interests In ft, or when a tax is laid upon the capital or property of a corporation and also upon the value of its shares of stock in the hands of the separate stockholders. Cook v. Burlington, 59 Iowa,^251, 13 N. W. 113, 44 Am. Rep. 679; Cheshire County Tel. Co. v. State, 63 N. H. 167; Detroit Common Council v. Detroit Assessors, 91 Mich. 78, 51 N. W. 787, 16 L. R. A. 59.—Double use. In patent law. An application of a principle or process, previously known and applied, to some new use, but which does not lead to a new result or the production of a new article. De Lamar v. De Lamar Min. Co, (C. C.) 110 Fed. 542; In re Blandy, 3 Fed. Cas. 671.—Double value. In English law. This is a penalty on a tenant holding over after his landlord's notice to quit. By 4 Geo. II. c. 28, || 1, it is enacted that if any tenant for life or years hold over any lands, etc., after the determination of his estate, after demand made, and notice in writing given, for delivering the possession thereof, by the landlord, or the person having the reversion or remainder therein, or his agent thereunto lawfully authorized, such tenant so holding over shall pay to the person so kept out of possession at the rate of double the yearly value of the lands, etc., so detained, for so long a time as the same are detained. See Woodf. Landl. A Ten. (12th Ed.) 717. et seq.—Double vouch-er. This was when a common recovery was had, and an estate of freehold was first conveyed to any indifferent person against whom the praecipe was brought, and then he vouched the tenant in tail, who vouched over the common vouchee. For, if a recovery were had immediately against a tenant in tail, it barred only the estate in the premises of which he was then actually seised, whereas, if the recovery were had against another person, and the tenant in tail were vouchee, it barred every latent right and interest which he might have in the lands recovered. 2 Bl. Comm. 359.—Double waste. When a tenant bound to repair suffers a house to be wasted, and then unlawfully fells timber to repair it, he is said to commit double waste. Co. Litt. 53.—Double will. A will in which two persons join, each leaving his property and estate to the other, so that the survivor takes the whole. Evans v. Smith, 28 Ga. 98, 73 Am. Dec. 751. Less...

Letters-patent Cowell.

Letters-patent Cowell. Less...

Uncertainty of mind; the absence of a settled opinion or conviction; the attitude of mind towards the acceptance of or belief in a proposition, theory, or statement in which the judgment is not at rest but inclines alternately to either side Rowe v. Baber. 93 Ala. 42?, 8 South. 865; More...

Uncertainty of mind; the absence of a settled opinion or conviction; the attitude of mind towards the acceptance of or belief in a proposition, theory, or statement in which the judgment is not at rest but inclines alternately to either side Rowe v. Baber. 93 Ala. 42?, 8 South. 865; Smith v. Railway Co., 143 Mo. 33, 44 S. W. 718 ; West Jersey Traction Co. v. Camden Horse R. Co., 52 N. J. Eq. 452, 29 Atl. 333. Reasonable doubt. This is a term often used, probably pretty well understood, but not ' easily defined. It does not mean a mere possible doubt, because everything relating to human affairs, and depending on moral evidence, Is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. It is that state of the case which, after the entire comparison and consideration of all the evidence, leaves the minds of jurors in that condition that they cannot say they feel an abiding conviction to a moral certainty of the truth of the charge. Donnelly v. State, 26 N. J. Law, 601, 615. A reasonable doubt is deemed to exist, within the rule that the jury should not convict unless satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, when the evidence is not sufficient to satisfy the judgment of the truth of a proposition with such certainty that a prudent man would feel safe in acting upon it in his own important affairs. Arnold v. State, 23 Ind. 170. The burden of proof is upon the prosecutor. All the presumptions of law independent of evidence are in favor of innocence; and every person is presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty. If upon such proof there is reasonable doubt remaining, the accused is entitled to the benefit of it by an acquittal; for it is not sufficient to establish a probability, though a strong one, arising from the doctrine of chances, that the fact charged is more likely to be true than the contrary, but the evidence must establish the truth of the fact to a reasonable and moral certainty,-a certainty that convinces and directs the understanding and satisfies the reason and judgment of those who are bound to act conscientiously upon it This is proof beyond reasonable doubt; because if the law, which mostly depends upon considerations of a moral nature, should go further than this, and require absolute certainty, it would exclude circumstantial evidence altogether. Per Shaw, C. J., in Com. v. Webster, 5 Cush. (Mass.) 320, 52 Am. Dec. 711. And see further, Tompkins v. Butterfield (C.C.) 25 Fed. 558; State v. Zdanowicz, 69 N. J. Law. 619, 55 Atl. 743; U. S. v. Youtsey (C. C.) 91 Fed. 868; State v. May, 172 Mo. 630, 72 S. W. 918; Com. v. Childs, 2 Pittsb. R. (Pa/) 400: State v. Hennessy, 55 Iowa, 300. 7 N. W. 641; Harris v. State, 155 Ind. 265, 58 N. E. 75; Knight v. State, 74 Miss. 140, 20 South. 860; Carleton v. Stote, 43 Neb. 373, 61 N. W. 699; State v. Reed. 62 Me. 129; State v. Ching Ling, 16 Or. 419, 18 Pac. 844; Stout v. State, 90 Ind. 1; Bradlev v. State. 31 Ind. 505; Allen v. State, 111 Ala. 80, 20 South. 494; State v. Rover, 11 Nev. 344 ; Jones v. State, 120 Ala. 303. 25 South. 204; Siberry v. State, 133 Ind. 677, 33 N. E. 681; Purkey v. State, 3 Heisk. (Tenn.) 28; U. S. v. Post (D. C.) 128 Fed. 057; U. S. v. Breese (D. C.) 131 Fed. 917. Less...