Legal Term Dictionary

A child born in lawful wedlock ; also one born to betrothed but unmarried parents. Spelman.

A child born in lawful wedlock ; also one born to betrothed but unmarried parents. Spelman. Less...

To game or play at a game for money. Buckley v. O'Niel, 113 Mass. 193. 18 Am. Rep. 466. The word "gamble" is perhaps the most apt and substantial to convey the idea of unlawful play that our language affords. It Is inclusive of hazarding and betting as well as More...

To game or play at a game for money. Buckley v. O'Niel, 113 Mass. 193. 18 Am. Rep. 466. The word "gamble" is perhaps the most apt and substantial to convey the idea of unlawful play that our language affords. It Is inclusive of hazarding and betting as well as playing. Bennett v. State, 2 Yerg. (Tenn.) 474. -Gambler. One who follows or practices games of chance or skill, with the expectation and purpose of thereby winning money or other property. Buckley v. O'Niel, 113 Mass. 193, 18 Am. Rep. 466.-Gambling. See GAMING. -Gambling device. A machine or contrivance of any kind for the playing of an unlawful game of chance or hazard. In re Lee Tong (D. C.) 18 Fed. 257; State v. Hardin, 1 Kan. 477.-Gambling policy. In life insurance. One issued to a person, as beneficiary, who bas no pecuniary interest in the life insured. Otherwise called a "wager policy." Gambs Covenant Mut. L. Ins. Co., 50 Mo. 47. Less...

1. Birds and beasts of a wild nature, obtained by fowling and hunting. Bacon, Abr. See Coolldge v. Choate, 11 Mete. (Mass.) 79. The term is said to include (in England) hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards. Brown. See 1 A 2 Wm. IV. More...

1. Birds and beasts of a wild nature, obtained by fowling and hunting. Bacon, Abr. See Coolldge v. Choate, 11 Mete. (Mass.) 79. The term is said to include (in England) hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards. Brown. See 1 A 2 Wm. IV. c. 32. -Game-keeper. One who has the care of keeping and preserving the game on an estate, being appointed thereto by a lord of a manor. -Game-laws. Laws passed for the preservation of game. They usually forbid the killing of specified game during certain seasons or by certain described means. As to English game-laws, see 2 Steph. Comm. 82; 1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 32. 2. A sport or pastime, played with cards, dice, or other appliances or contrivances. See GAMING. -Game of chance. One in which the result, as to success or failure, depends less upon the skill and experience of the player than upon purely fortuitous or accidental circumstances, incidental to the game or the manner of playing it or the device or apparatus with which it is played, but not under the control of the player. A game of skill, on the other hand, although the element of chance necessarily cannot be entirely eliminated, is one in which success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, attention, experience, and skill of the player, whereby the elements of luck or chance in the game are overcome, improved, or turned to his advantage. People v. Lavin, 179 N. Y. 164, 71 N. E. 753, 66 L. R. A. 601; Stearnes v. State, 21 Tex. 692; Harless v. U. S., Morris (Iowa) 172; Wortham v. State, 59 Miss. 182; State v. Gupton, 30 N. C. 271. Less...

The act or practice of playing games for stakes or wagers; gambling; the playing at any game of hazard. An agreement between two 6r more persons to play together at a game of chance for a stake or wager which is to become the property of the winner, and to More...

The act or practice of playing games for stakes or wagers; gambling; the playing at any game of hazard. An agreement between two 6r more persons to play together at a game of chance for a stake or wager which is to become the property of the winner, and to which ail contribute. In re Stewart (D. C.) 21 Fed. 398; People v. Todd, 51 Hun, 446, 4 N. Y. Supp. 25; State v. Shaw, 39 Minn. 153, 39 N. W. 305; State v. Morgan, 133 N. C. 743, 45 S. E. 1033. Gaming is an agreement between two or more to risk money on a contest or chance of any kind, where one must be loser and the other gainer. Bell v. State, 5 Sneed (Tenn.) 507. In general, the words "gaming" and "gambling," in statutes, are similar in meaning, and either one comprehends the idea that, by a bet, by chance, by some exercise of skill, or by the transpiring of some event unknown until it occurs, something of value is, as the conclusion of premises agreed, to be transferred from a loser to a winner, without which latter element there is no gaming or gambling. Bish. St. Crimes, f 85a. "Gaming" implies, when used as describing a condition, an element of illegality; and, when people are said to be "gaming," this generally supposes that the "games" have been games in which money comes to the victor or his backers. When the terms "game" or "gaming" are used in statutes, it is almost always in connection with words giving them the latter rensa. and in such case it is only by averring and proving the differentia that the prosecution can be sustained. But when "gaming" is spoken of in a statute as indictable, it is to be regarded as convertible with "gambling." 2 Whart. Crim. Law, ( 14656. "Gaming" is properly the act or engagement of the players. If by-standers or other third persons put up a stake or wager among themselves, to go to one or the other according to the result of the game, this is more correctly termed "betting." -Gaming contracts. See WAGES.-Gaming-houses. In criminal law. Houses in which gambling is carried on as the business of the occupants, and which are frequented by persons for that purpose. They are nuisances, in the eyes of the law, being detrimental to the public, as they promote cheating and other corrupt practices. 1 Russ. Crimes, 299; Rose. Crim. Ev. 663; People v. Jackson, 3 Denio (N. Y.) 101, 45 Am. Dec. 449; Anderson v. State (Tex. App.) 12 S. W. 869; People v. Weithoff, hi Mich. 203, 16 N. W. 442, 47 Am. Rep. ooi ; Morgan v. State, 42 Tex. Cr. R. 422, 60 8. W. 763. Less...

In Spanish law. A species of community in property enjoyed by husband and wife, the property being divisible between them equally on a dissolution of the marriage. 1 Burge, Confl. Law, 418. See Cartwright v. Cartwright, 18 Tex. 634; Cutter v. Waddingham, 22 Mo. 254.

In Spanish law. A species of community in property enjoyed by husband and wife, the property being divisible between them equally on a dissolution of the marriage. 1 Burge, Confl. Law, 418. See Cartwright v. Cartwright, 18 Tex. 634; Cutter v. Waddingham, 22 Mo. 254. Less...

In Spanish law. Gains or profits resulting from the employment of property held by husband and wife in common. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 7, c. 5.

In Spanish law. Gains or profits resulting from the employment of property held by husband and wife in common. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 7, c. 5. Less...

The time when the bounds of the parish are lustrated or gone -over by the parish officers,-rogation week. Enc. Lond.

The time when the bounds of the parish are lustrated or gone -over by the parish officers,-rogation week. Enc. Lond. Less...

Officers in ancient times whose business it was to examine weights and measures. Skene.

Officers in ancient times whose business it was to examine weights and measures. Skene. Less...

(pronounced "gauntlett") A military punishment, in which the criminal running between the ranks receives a lash from each man. Enc. Lond. This was called "running the gauntlett."

(pronounced "gauntlett") A military punishment, in which the criminal running between the ranks receives a lash from each man. Enc. Lond. This was called "running the gauntlett." Less...

A prison for temporary confinement; a jail; a place for the confinement of offenders against the law. There is said to be a distinction between "gaol" and "prison;" the former being a place for temporary or provisional confinement, or for the punishment of the lighter offenses and misdemeanors, while the More...

A prison for temporary confinement; a jail; a place for the confinement of offenders against the law. There is said to be a distinction between "gaol" and "prison;" the former being a place for temporary or provisional confinement, or for the punishment of the lighter offenses and misdemeanors, while the latter is a place for permanent or long-continued confinement, or for the punishment of graver crimes. In modern usage, this distinction is commonly taken between the words "gaol" and "penitentiary," (or state's prison,) but the name "prison" is indiscriminately applied to either. -Gaol liberties, gaol limits. A district around a gaol, denned by limits, within which prisoners are allowed to go at large on giving security to return. It is considered a part of the gaol.-Gaoler. The master or keeper of a prison; one who has the custody of a place where prisoners are confined. Less...