Legal Term Dictionary

The surrender, relinquishment, disclaimer, or cession of property or of rights. Stephens v. Mansfield, 11 Cal. 363; Dikes v. Miller, 24 Tex. 417; Middle Creek Ditch Co. v. Henry, 15 Mont 558, 39 Pac. 1054. The giving up a thing absolutely, without reference to any particular person or purpose, as More...

The surrender, relinquishment, disclaimer, or cession of property or of rights. Stephens v. Mansfield, 11 Cal. 363; Dikes v. Miller, 24 Tex. 417; Middle Creek Ditch Co. v. Henry, 15 Mont 558, 39 Pac. 1054. The giving up a thing absolutely, without reference to any particular person or purpose, as throwing a jewel into the highway; leaving a thing to itself, as a vessel at sea; vacating property with the intention of not returning, so that it may be appropriated by the next comer. 2 Bl. Comm. 9, 10; Pidge y. Pidge, 3 Mete. (Mass.) 265; Breedlove v. Stump, 3 Yerg. (Tenn.) 257, 276; Richardson v. McNulty, 24 Oal. 339, 345; Judson v. Mal-loy, 40 Cal. 299, 310. To constitute abandonment there must concur an intention to forsake or relinquish the thing in question and some external act by which that intention is manifested or carried into effect. Mere nonuser is not abandonment unless coupled with an intention not to resume or reclaim the use or possession. Sikes v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 28 S. W. 688; Barnett v. Dickinson, 93 Md. 258, 48 Atl. 838; Welsh v. Taylor, 134 N. Y. 450, 31 N. E. 896, 18 L. R. A. 535. In marine insurance. A relinquishment or cession of property by the owner to the insurer of it in order to claim as for a total loss, when in fact it is so by construction only. 2 Steph. Comm. 178. The exercise of a right which a party having insured goods or vessels has to call upon the insurers, in cases where the property insured has, by perils of the sea, become so much damaged as to be of little value, to accept of what is or may be saved, and to pay the full amount of the insurance, as if a total loss had actually happened. Park, Ins. 143; 2 Marsh. Ins. 559; 3 Kent, Comm. 318-335, and notes; The St Johns (D. C.) 101 Fed. 469; Roux v. Salvador, 3 Bing. N. C. 260, 284; Mellish v. Andrews, 15 East, 13; Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Duffield, 6 Ohio St. 200, 67 Am. Dec. 339. Abandonment is the act by which, after a constructive total loss, a person insured by contract of marine insurance declares to the insurer that he relinquishes to him his interest in the thing insured. Civil Code Cal. i 2716. The term is used only in reference to risks in navigation; but the principle is applicable in fire insurance, where there are remnants; and sometimes, also, under stipulations in life policies in favor of creditors. In maritime law. The surrender of a vessel and freight by the owner of the same to a person having a claim thereon arising out of a contract made with the master. See Poth. Chart § 2, art 3, § 51. In patent law. As applied to inventions, abandonment is the giving up of his rights by the inventor, as where he surrenders his idea or discovery or relinquishes the intention of perfecting his invention, and so throws it open to the public, or where he negligently postpones the assertion of his claims or fails to apply for a patent, and allows the public to use his invention without objection. Woodbury, etc., Machine Co. y. Keith, 101 U. S. 479, 485, 25 L. Ed. 939: American Hide, etc., Co. v. American Tool, etc., Co., 1 Fed. Cas. 647; Mast v. Dempster Mill Co. (C. C) 71 Fed. 701; Bartlette v. Crittenden, 2 Fed. Cas. 981; Pitts v. Hall, 19 Fed. Oas. 754. There may also be an abandonment of a patent where the inventor dedicates it to the public use; and this may be shown by his failure to sue infringers, to sell licenses, or otherwise to make efforts to realize a personal advantage from his patent. Ransom v. New York, 4 Blatchf. 157, 20 Fed. Cas. 286. Of easement, right of way, water right. Permanent cessation of use or enjoyment with no intention to resume or reclaim. Welsh v. Taylor, 134 N. Y. 450, 31 N. E. 896, 18 L. R. A. 535; Corning v. Gould, 16 Wend. (N. Y.) 531; Tucker v. Jones, 8 Mont 225, 19 Pac. 571; McClain v, Chicago, etc., R. Co., 90 Iowa, 646, 57 N. W. 594; Oviatt v. Big Four Min. Co., 39 Or. 118, 65 Pac. 811. Of mining claim. The relinquishment of a claim held by location without patent where the holder voluntarily leaves his claim to be appropriated by the next comer, without any intention to retake or resume it, and regardless of what may become of it in the future. McKay v. McDougall, 25 Mont. 258, 64 Pac. 669, 87 Am. St. Rep. 395; St John v. Kidd, 26 Cal. 263, 272; Oreamuno v. Uncle Sam Min. Co., 1 Nev. 215; Derry v. Ross, 5 Colo. 295. Of domicile. Permanent removal from the place of one's domicile with the intention of taking up a residence elsewhere and with no intention to returning to the original home except temporarily. Stafford v. Mills, 57 N. J. Law, 570, 31 Atl. 1023; Mills v. Alexander, 21 Tex.: 154; Jarvais v. Moe 38 Wis. 440. By husband or wife. The act of a husband or wife who leaves his or her consort willfully, and with an intention of causing perpetual separation. Gay v. State, 105 Ga. 599, 31 S. E. 569, 70 Am. St. Rep. 6S; People v. Cullen, 153 N. Y. 029, 47 N. E. 894, 44 L B. A. 420. "Abandonment, in the sense in which it is used in the statute under which this proceeding was commenced, may be defined to be the act of willfully leaving the wife, with the intention of causing a palpable separation between the parties, and implies an actual desertion of the wife by the husband." Stan-brough v. Stanbrough, 60 Ind. 279. In French law. The act by which a debtor surrenders his property for the benefit of his creditors. Merl. Repert "Abandonment." Less...

In the civil law. The act of a person who was sued in a noxal action, i. e., for a tort or trespass committed by his slave or his animal, in relinquishing and abandoning the slave or animal to the person injured, whereby he saved himself from any further responsibility. More...

In the civil law. The act of a person who was sued in a noxal action, i. e., for a tort or trespass committed by his slave or his animal, in relinquishing and abandoning the slave or animal to the person injured, whereby he saved himself from any further responsibility. See Inst 4, 8, 9; Fitzgerald v. Ferguson, 11 La. Ann. 396. Less...

Anything sequestered, proscribed, or abandoned. Abandon, i.e. in bannum res missa, a thing banned or denounced as forfeited or lost, whence to abandon, desert, or forsake, as lost and gone. Cowell.

Anything sequestered, proscribed, or abandoned. Abandon, i.e. in bannum res missa, a thing banned or denounced as forfeited or lost, whence to abandon, desert, or forsake, as lost and gone. Cowell. Less...

Lat. To detect or discover, and disclose to a magistrate, any secret crime. Leges Canuti, cap. 10.

Lat. To detect or discover, and disclose to a magistrate, any secret crime. Leges Canuti, cap. 10. Less...

L. Lat In old English law. An abatement of freehold; an entry upon lands by way of interposition between the death of the ancestor and the entry of the heir. Oo. Litt. 277a; Yel. 151.

L. Lat In old English law. An abatement of freehold; an entry upon lands by way of interposition between the death of the ancestor and the entry of the heir. Oo. Litt. 277a; Yel. 151. Less...

In pleading. The effect produced upon an action at law, when the defendant pleads matter of fact showing the writ or declaration to be defective and incorrect. This defeats the action for the time being, but the plaintiff may proceed with it after the defect is removed, or may recommence More...

In pleading. The effect produced upon an action at law, when the defendant pleads matter of fact showing the writ or declaration to be defective and incorrect. This defeats the action for the time being, but the plaintiff may proceed with it after the defect is removed, or may recommence it in a better way. In England, in equity pleading, declinatory pleas to the jurisdiction and dilatory to the persons were (prior to the Judicature act) sometimes, by analogy to common law, termed "pleas in abatement" In chancery practice. The determination, cessation, or suspension of all proceedings in a suit from the want of proper parties capable of proceeding therein, as upon the death of one of the parties pending the suit. See 2 Tidd, Pr. 932; Story, Eq. PI. f te4; Witt v. Ellis, H Cold. (Tenn.) 38. In mercantile law. A drawback or rebate allowed in certain cases on the duties due on imported goods, in consideration of their deterioration or damage suffered during importation, or while in store. A diminution or decrease in the amount of tax imposed upon any person. In contracts. A reduction made by the creditor for the prompt payment of a debt due by the payor or debtor. Wesk. Ins. 7. Of legacies and debts. A proportional diminution or reduction of the pecuniary legacies, when the funds or assets out of which such legacies are payable are not sufficient to pay them in full. Ward, Leg. p. 369, c. 6, | 7; 1 Story, Eq. Jur- | 555; 2 Bi. Comm. 512, 513; Brown v. BroWn; 79 Va. 648; Neistrath's Estate, 66 Cal. 330, 5 Pac. 507. In equity, when equitable assets are insufficient to satisfy fully all the creditors, their debts must abate in proportion, and they must be content with a dividend; for aequitas est quasi aequalitas. Less...

The removal, prostration, or destruction of that which causes a nuisance, whether by breaking or pulling it down, or otherwise removing, disintegrating, or effacing it. Ruff v. Phillips, 50 Ga. 130. The remedy which the law allows a party injured by a nuisance of destroying or removing it by his More...

The removal, prostration, or destruction of that which causes a nuisance, whether by breaking or pulling it down, or otherwise removing, disintegrating, or effacing it. Ruff v. Phillips, 50 Ga. 130. The remedy which the law allows a party injured by a nuisance of destroying or removing it by his own act so as he commits no riot in doing it nor occasions (in the case of a private nuisance) any damage beyond what the removal of the inconvenience necessarily requires. 3 BL Comm. 5, 168; 8 Steptu Comm. 361; 2 Salk. 458. Less...

This takes place where a person dies seised of an inheritance, and, before the heir or devisee enters, a stranger, having no right, makes a wrongful entry, and gets possession of it. Such an entry is technically called an "abatement" and the stranger an "abator." It is, in fact a More...

This takes place where a person dies seised of an inheritance, and, before the heir or devisee enters, a stranger, having no right, makes a wrongful entry, and gets possession of it. Such an entry is technically called an "abatement" and the stranger an "abator." It is, in fact a figurative expression, denoting that the rightful possession or freehold of the heir or devisee is overthrown by the unlawful intervention of a stranger. Abatement differs from intrusion, in that it is always to the prejudice of the heir or immediate devisee, whereas the latter is to the prejudice of the reversioner or remainder-man; and disseisin differs from them both, for to disseise is to put forcibly or fraudulently a person seised of the freehold out of possession. 1 Co. Inst 277a; 3 Bl. Comm. 166; Brown v. Burjllck, 25 Ohio St 268. By the ancient laws , of Normandy, this term was used to signify the act of one who, having an apparent right, of possession to an estate, took possession of it immediately after the death of the actual possessor, before the heir entered. (Howard, Anciennes Lois des Fraucais, tome 1, p. 539.) Bouvier. Less...

In real property law, a stranger who, having no right of entry, contrives to get possession of an estate of freehold, to the prejudice of the heir or devisee, before the latter can enter, after the ancestor's death. Litt 5 397. In the law of torts, one who abates, prostrates, More...

In real property law, a stranger who, having no right of entry, contrives to get possession of an estate of freehold, to the prejudice of the heir or devisee, before the latter can enter, after the ancestor's death. Litt 5 397. In the law of torts, one who abates, prostrates, or destroys a nuisance. Less...

Anything diminished. Moneta abatuda is money clipped or diminished in value. Cowell; Dufresne.

Anything diminished. Moneta abatuda is money clipped or diminished in value. Cowell; Dufresne. Less...