Legal Term Dictionary

In old law. A cutting off the branches or boughs of trees. Cowell; Spelman.

In old law. A cutting off the branches or boughs of trees. Cowell; Spelman. Less...

To scald. It is said that to scald hogs was one of the ancient tenures in serjeanty. Wharton.

To scald. It is said that to scald hogs was one of the ancient tenures in serjeanty. Wharton. Less...

In old English law. A writ of exchange. A license in the shape of a writ, formerly granted to an English merchant to draw a bill of exchange on another in foreign parts. Reg. Orig. 194.

In old English law. A writ of exchange. A license in the shape of a writ, formerly granted to an English merchant to draw a bill of exchange on another in foreign parts. Reg. Orig. 194. Less...

An old English law term, signifying exchange.

An old English law term, signifying exchange. Less...

The departure or deliverance out of custody of a person who was lawfully imprisoned, before he is entitled to his liberty by the process of law. The voluntarily or negligently allowing any person lawfully in confinement to leave the place. 2 Bish. Crim. Law, 5 917. Escapes are either voluntary More...

The departure or deliverance out of custody of a person who was lawfully imprisoned, before he is entitled to his liberty by the process of law. The voluntarily or negligently allowing any person lawfully in confinement to leave the place. 2 Bish. Crim. Law, 5 917. Escapes are either voluntary or negligent. The former is the case when the keeper voluntarily concedes to the prisoner any liberty not authorized by law. The latter is the case when the prisoner contrives to leave his prison by forcing his way out, or any other means, without the knowledge or against the will of the keeper, but through the latter's carelessness or the insecurity of the building. Cortis v. DaUey, 21 App. Div. 1, 47 N. Y. Supp. 454; Lansing v. Fleet, 2 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 3, 1 Am. Dec. 142; Atkinson v. Jameson, 5 Term, 25; Butler v. Washburn, 25 N. II. 258; Martin v. State, 32 Ark. 124; Adams v. Turrentine, 30 N. C. 147. -Escape warrant. In English practice. This was a warrant granted to retake a prisoner committed to the custody of the king's prison who had escaped therefrom. It was obtained on affidavit from the judge of the court in which the action had been brought, and was directed to all the sheriffs throughout England, commanding them to retake the prisoner and commit him to gaol when and where taken, there to remain until the debt was satisfied. Jacob; Brown. Less...

In old English law. Delivered from that punishment which by the laws of the forest lay upon those whose beasts were found upon forbidden land. Jacob.

In old English law. Delivered from that punishment which by the laws of the forest lay upon those whose beasts were found upon forbidden land. Jacob. Less...

That which comes by chance or accident. Cowell.

That which comes by chance or accident. Cowell. Less...

A measure of corn. Cowell. Esohseta derivatnr a vorbo GaUioo eschoir, qnod est accidere, quia aoeidlt domino ox eventu et ex insporato. Co. Litt 93. Escheat is derived from the French word "eschoir" which signifies to happen, because it falls to the lord from an event and from an unforeseen More...

A measure of corn. Cowell. Esohseta derivatnr a vorbo GaUioo eschoir, qnod est accidere, quia aoeidlt domino ox eventu et ex insporato. Co. Litt 93. Escheat is derived from the French word "eschoir" which signifies to happen, because it falls to the lord from an event and from an unforeseen circumstance. Eschate vulgo dicuntur quae deoi-dentibns lis quse do rege tenent, onm non existit ratione sanguinis lucres, ad flseum relabuntur. Co. Litt. 13. Those things are commonly called "escheats" which revert to the exchequer from a failure of issue in those who hold of the king, when there does not exist any heir by consanguinity. Less...

In feudal law. Escheat is an obstruction of the course of descent, and consequent determination of the tenure, by some unforeseen contingency, in which case the land naturally results back, by a kind of reversion, to the original grantor, or lord of the fee. 2 Bl. Comm. 15; Wallace v. More...

In feudal law. Escheat is an obstruction of the course of descent, and consequent determination of the tenure, by some unforeseen contingency, in which case the land naturally results back, by a kind of reversion, to the original grantor, or lord of the fee. 2 Bl. Comm. 15; Wallace v. Harm-stad, 44 Pa. 501; Marshall v. Lovelass, 1 N. O. 445. It is the casual descent, in the nature of forfeiture, of lands and tenements within his manor, to a lord, either on failure of issue of the tenant dying seised or on account of the felony of such tenant. Jacob. Also the land or fee itself, which thus fell back to the lord. Such lands were called "excadentto," or "terra excadentiales" Fleta, lib. 6, c. 1; Co. Litt 13a. In American law. Escheat signifies a reversion of property to the state in consequence of a want of any individual competent to inherit. The state is deemed to occupy the place and hold the rights of the feudal lord. See 4 Kent Comm. 423, 424. Hughes v. State, 41 Tex. 17; Crane v. Reeder, 21 Mich. 70, 4 Am. Rep. 430; Civ. Code Ga. 1895, | 3575. "Escheat at feudal law was the right of the lord of a fee to re-enter upon the same when it became vacant by the extinction of the blood of the tenant. This extinction might either be per defectum sanguinis or else per delictum tenentist, where the course of descent was broken by the corruption of the blood of the tenant. As a fee might be holden either of the crown or from some inferior lord, the escheat was not always to the crown. The word 'escheat,' in this country, at the present time, merely indicates the preferable right of the state to an estate left vacant, and without there being any one in existence able to make claim thereto. 29 Am. Dec 232, note. -Escheat, writ of. A writ which anciently lay for a lord, to recover possession of lands that had escheated to him. Reg. Orig. 161b; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 143.-Single escheat. When all a person's movables fall to the crown, as a casualty, because of his being declared rebel. Wharton. Less...

In English law. The name of an officer who was appointed in every county to look after the escheats which fell due to the king in that particular county, and to certify the same into the exchequer. An escheator could continue in office for one year only, and was not More...

In English law. The name of an officer who was appointed in every county to look after the escheats which fell due to the king in that particular county, and to certify the same into the exchequer. An escheator could continue in office for one year only, and was not re-eligible until three years. There does not appear to exist any such officer at the present day. Brown. See 10 Vin. Abr. 158; Co. Litt. 13b. Less...