Legal Term Dictionary

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  • FATUOUS PERSON
    One entirely destitute of reason; is qui omnino desipit. Ersk. Inst. 1, 7, 48.
  • FATUUS
    An idiot or fool. Bract. fol. 420b. Foolish; absurd; indiscreet; or ill considered. Fatuum judicium, a foolish judgment or verdict. Applied to the verdict of a jury which, though false, was not criminally so, or did not amount to perjury. Bract fol. 289. Fatuus, upud juriconsultos nostros, accipitur pro non More...
  • FAUBOURG
    In French law, and in Louisiana. A district or part of a town adjoining the principal city; a suburb. See City Council of Lafayette v. Holland, 18 La. 286.
  • FAUCES TERRAE
    (Jaws of the land.) Narrow headlands and promontories, inclosing a portion or arm of the sea within them. 1 Kent, Comm. 367, and note; Hale, De Jure Mar. 10; The Harriet, 1 Story, 251, 259, Fed. Cas. No. 6,099.
  • FAULT
    In the civil law. Negligence; want of care. An improper act or omission, injurious to another, and transpiring through negligence, rashness, or ignorance. There are in law three degrees of faults,- the gross, the slight, and the very slight fault. The gross fault is that which proceeds from inexcusable negligence More...
  • FAUTOR
    In old English law. A favorer or supporter of others; an abettor. Cowell; Jacob. A partisan. One who encouraged resistance to the execution of process. In Spanish law. Accomplice; the person who aids or assists another in the commission of a crime.
  • FAUX
    In old English law. False; counterfeit. Faux action, a false action. Litt. s. 688. Faux money, counterfeit money. St Westm. i, c. 15. Faux peys, false weights. Britt c. 20. Faux serement, a false oath. St Westm. 1, c. 38. In French law. A falsification or fraudulent alteration or suppression More...
  • FAVOR
    Bias; partiality; lenity; prejudice. See CHALLENGE. Favorabilia in lege sunt fiscus, dos, vita, libertas. Jenk. Cent. 34. Things favorably considered in law are the treasury, dower, life, liberty. Favorablliores rei, potius quam actores, habentur. The condition of the defendant must be favored, rather than that of the plaintiff. In other More...
  • FEAL
    Faithful. Tenants by knight service swore to their lords to be feal and leal; i. e., faithful and loyal.
  • FEAL AND DIVOT
    A right in Scotland, similar to the right of turbary in England, for fuel, etc.
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