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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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SUPREME POWER
The highest authority in a state, all other powers in it being inferior thereto.

The highest authority in a state, all other powers in it being inferior thereto. Less...
SUPREMUS
Lat. Last; the last. Supremus est qnem nemo sequitar. He is last whom no one follows. Dig. 50,16, 92.

Lat. Last; the last. Supremus est qnem nemo sequitar. He is last whom no one follows. Dig. 50,16, 92. Less...
SUPREME COURT
A court of high powers and extensive jurisdiction, existing in most of the states. In some it is the official style of the chief appellate court or court of last resort In others (as New Jersey and New York) the supreme court is a court of general original jurisdiction, possessing More...

A court of high powers and extensive jurisdiction, existing in most of the states. In some it is the official style of the chief appellate court or court of last resort In others (as New Jersey and New York) the supreme court is a court of general original jurisdiction, possessing also (in New York) some appellate jurisdiction, but; not the court of last resort -Supreme oourt of errors. In American law. An appellate tribunal, and the court of last resort m, the state of Connecticut.-Supreme Court of the United States. The court of last resort in the federal judicial system. It is vested by the constitution with original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state is a party, and appellate Jurisdiction over all other cases within the judicial power of the United States, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as congress may make. Its appellate powers extend to the subordinate federal courts, and also (in certain cases) to the supreme courts of the several states. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices.-Supreme Judioial oourt. In American law. An appellate tribunal, and the court of last resort, in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Less...
SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
The court formed by the English judicature act 1873, (as modified by the judicature act 1875, the appellate jurisdiction act, 1876; and the judicature acts of 1877, 1879, and 1881,) in substitution for the various sultrier courts of law, equity, admiralty, probate, and divorce, existing when the act was passed, More...

The court formed by the English judicature act 1873, (as modified by the judicature act 1875, the appellate jurisdiction act, 1876; and the judicature acts of 1877, 1879, and 1881,) in substitution for the various sultrier courts of law, equity, admiralty, probate, and divorce, existing when the act was passed, including the court of appeal in chancery and bankruptcy, and the exchequer chamber. It consists of two permanent divisions, vis., a court of original jurisdiction, oailed the "high court of justice," and a oourt pf appellate jurisdiction, called the "court of appeal." Its title of "supreme" is now a misnomer, as the superior appellate Jurisdiction of the house of lords and privy council, which was originally intended to be transferred to it, bas been allowed to remain. Sweet -High court of justice. That branch of the English supreme court of judicature (q. v.) which exercises (1) the original jurisdiction formerly exercised by the court of chancery, the courts of queen's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, the courts of probate, divorce, and admiralty, the court of common pleas at Lancaster, the court of pleas at Durham, and the courtB of the' judges or commissioners of assise: and (2) the appellate jurisdiction of such of those courts as heard apnea Is from inferior courts. Judicature act 1873, I 16. Less...
SUR
Fr. On; upon; over. In the titles of real actions "sur" was used to point out what the writ was founded upon. Thna, a real action brought by the owner of a reversion or seigniory, in certain cases where his tenant repudiated his tenure, was called "a writ of right More...

Fr. On; upon; over. In the titles of real actions "sur" was used to point out what the writ was founded upon. Thna, a real action brought by the owner of a reversion or seigniory, in certain cases where his tenant repudiated his tenure, was called "a writ of right sur disclaimer." So, a writ of entry sur disseisin was a real action to recover the possession of land from a disseisor. Sweet -Sur oui ante divortium. See CUI ANTE DIVORTIUM.-Sur oui in vita. A writ that lay for the heir of a woman whose husband had aliened her land in fee, and she had omitted to bring the writ of cut in vita for the recovery thereof; in which case her heir might have thin writ against the tenant after her decease. CowelL See Cm IN VITA.-Sur disclaimer. A writ in the nature of a writ of right brought by the lord against a tenant who had disclaimed his tenure, to recover the land.-Sur mortgage. Upon a mortgage. In some states the method of enforcing the security of a mortgage, upon default, is by a writ of "scire facias sur mortgage" which requires the defendant (mortgagor) to show cause why it should not he foreclosed. Less...
SURCHARGE
n. an over charge, an exaction, Impost, or incumbrance beyond what is just and right, or beyond one's authority or power. "Surcharge" may mean a second or further mortgage. Wharton.

n. an over charge, an exaction, Impost, or incumbrance beyond what is just and right, or beyond one's authority or power. "Surcharge" may mean a second or further mortgage. Wharton. Less...
SURCHARGE
v. To put more cattle upon a common than the herbage will sustain or than the party has a right to do. 3 Bl. .Comm. 237. In equity practice. To show that a particular item, in favor of the party surcharging, ought to have been included, but was not, in More...

v. To put more cattle upon a common than the herbage will sustain or than the party has a right to do. 3 Bl. .Comm. 237. In equity practice. To show that a particular item, in favor of the party surcharging, ought to have been included, but was not, in an account which is alleged to be settled or complete. -Second surcharge. In English law. The surcharge of a common a second time, by the same defendant against whom the common was before admeasured, and for which the writ of second surcharge was given by the statute of Westminster. 2. 3 Bl. Comm. 239.-Surcharge and falsify. This phrase, as used in the courts of chancery, denotes the liberty which these courts will occasionally grant to a plaintiff, who disputes an account which the defendant alleges to be settled, to scrutinise particular items therein without opening the entire account. The showing an item for which credit ought to have beeu given, but was not is to surcharge the account; the proving an item to have been inserted wrongly is to falsify the account. Brown. See Philips v. Belden, 2 Edw. Ch. (N. Y.) 23; Rehill v. McTagne, 114 Pa. 82, 7 Atl. 224, 60 Am. Rep. 341; Kennedy v. Adickes, 37 S. C. 174, 15 S. E. 022. Less...
SURDUS
Lat. In the civil law. Deaf; a deaf person. Inst 2, 12, 3. Surdua ei tnutua, a deaf and dumb person.

Lat. In the civil law. Deaf; a deaf person. Inst 2, 12, 3. Surdua ei tnutua, a deaf and dumb person. Less...
SURENCHERE
In French law. A party desirous of repurchasing property at auction before the court can, by offering one-tenth or one-sixth, according to the case, in addition to the price realized at the sale, oblige the property to be put up once more at auction. This bid upon a bid is More...

In French law. A party desirous of repurchasing property at auction before the court can, by offering one-tenth or one-sixth, according to the case, in addition to the price realized at the sale, oblige the property to be put up once more at auction. This bid upon a bid is called a "aurenchere." Arg. Fr. Merc Law, 575. Less...
SURETYSHIP
The contract of suretyship is that whereby one obligates himself to pay the debt of another In consideration of credit or indulgence, or other benefit given to his principal, the principal remaining bound therefor. It differs from a guaranty in this: that the consideration of the latter is a benefit More...

The contract of suretyship is that whereby one obligates himself to pay the debt of another In consideration of credit or indulgence, or other benefit given to his principal, the principal remaining bound therefor. It differs from a guaranty in this: that the consideration of the latter is a benefit flowing to the guarantor. Code Ga. 1882, ft 2148. See SURETY. Suretyship is an accessory promise by which a person binds himself for another already bound, and agrees with the creditor to satisfy the obligation, if the debtor does not Civ. Code La. art. 3035. A contract of suretyship is a contract whereby one person engages to be answerable for the debt default, or miscarriage of another. Pltm. Princ. & Sur. 1, 2 For the distinctions between "suretyship", and "guaranty," see GUARANTY, n. Less...

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