Legal Term Dictionary

Search our free database of thousands of legal terms. The easiest-to-read, most user-friendly guide to legal terms.This dictionary is from the early 20th century and is not to be construed as legal advice.

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  • APANAGE
    In old French law. A provision of lands or feudal superiorities assigned by the kings of France for the maintenance of their younger sons. An allowance assigned to a prince of the reigning house for his proper maintenance out of the public treasury. 1 Ha 11am, Mid. Ages, pp. 11, More...
  • APARTMENT
    A part of a house occupied by a person, while the rest is occupied by another, or others. As to the meaning of this term, see 7 Man. & G. 95; 6 Mod. 214; McMillan v. Solomon, 42 Ala. 356, 94 Am. Dec. 654; Commonwealth v. Estabrook, 10 Pick. (Mass.) More...
  • APATISATIO
    An agreement or compact. Du Cange.
  • APERTA BREVIA
    Open, unsealed writs.
  • APERTUM FACTUM
    An overt act.
  • APERTURA TESTAMENTI
    In the civil law. A form of proving a will, by the witnesses acknowledging before a magistrate their having sealed it
  • APEX
    The summit or highest point of anything; the top; e. g.; in mining law, "apex of a vein." See Larkin v. Upton, 144 U. S. 19, 12 Sup. Ct. 614, 36 L. Ed. 330; Stevens v. Williams, 23 Fed. Cas. 40; Duggan v. Davey, 4 Dak. 110, 26 N. W. More...
  • APHASIA
    In medical jurisprudence. Loss of the faculty or power of articulate speech; a condition in which the patient, while retaining intelligence and understanding and with the organs of speech unimpaired, is unable to utter articulate words, or unable to vocalize the particular word which is in his mind and which More...
  • APHONIA
    In medical jurisprudence. Loss of the power of articulate speech in consequence of morbid conditions of some of the vocal organs. It may be incomplete, in which case the patient can whisper. It is to be distinguished from congenital dumbness, and from temporary loss of voice through extreme hoarseness or More...
  • APICES LITIGANDI
    Extremely fine points, or subtleties of litigation. Nearly equivalent to the modern phrase "sharp practice." "It is unconscionable in a defendant to take advantage of the apices litigandi, to turn a plaintiff around and make him pay costs when his demand is just." Per Lord Mansfield, in 3 Burr. 1243.
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