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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  • BURDEN OF PROOF
    (Lat. onus probanda) In the law of evidence. The necessity or duty of affirmatively proving a fact or facts in dispute on an issue raised between the parties in a cause. Willett v. Rich, 142 Mass. 356, 7 N. E. 776, 56 Am. Rep. 684; Wilder v. Cowles, 100 Mass. More...
  • BUREAU
    An office for the transaction of business. A name given to the several departments of the executive or administrative branch of government, or to their larger subdivisions. In re Strawbridge, 39 Ala. 375.
  • BUREAUCRACY
    A system in which the business of government is carried on in departments, each under the control of a chief, in contradistinction from a system in which the officers of government have a coordinate authority.
  • BURG, BURGH
    A term anciently applied to a castle or fortified place; a borough, (q. v.) Spelman.
  • BURGAGE
    A name anciently given to a dwelling-house in a borough town. Blount.
  • BURGAGE-HOLDING
    A tenure by which lands in royal boroughs in Scotland were held of the sovereign. The service was watching and warding, and was done by the burgesses within the territory of the borough, whether expressed in the charter or not.
  • BURGAGE-TENURE
    In English law. One of the three species of free socage holdings; a tenure whereby houses and lands which were formerly the site of houses, in an ancient borough, are held of some lord by a certain rent. There are a great many customs affecting these tenures, the most remarkable More...
  • BURGATOR
    One who breaks into houses or inclosed places, as distinguished from one who committed robbery in the open country. Spelman.
  • BURGBOTE
    In old English law. A term applied to a contribution towards the repair of castles or walls of defense, or of a borough.
  • BURGENSES
    In old English law. Inhabitants of a burg us or borough; burgesses. Fleta, lib. 5, c. 6, f 10.
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