ministratio. Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. 1. 1, t. 1, n. 202. CIVIL. This word has various significations. 1. It is used in contradistinction to barbarous or savage, to indicate a state of society reduced to order and regular government; thus we speak of civil life, civil society, civil government and civil liberty. 2. It is sometimes used in contradistinction to criminal, to indicate the private rights and remedies of men, as members of the community, in contrast to those, which are public and relate to the government; thus we speak of civil process and criminal process, civil jurisdiction and criminal jurisdiction. 3. It is also used in contradistinction to military or ecclesiastical, to natural or foreign; thus we speak of a civil station, as opposed to a military or ecclesiastical station; a civil death, as opposed to a natural death; a civil war as opposed to a foreign war. Story on the Const. § 789; 1 Bl. Com. 6, 125, 251; Montesq. Sp. of Laws, B. 1, c. 3; Ruth. Inst. B. 2, c. 2, Id. ch. 3, Id. ch. 8. p. 359; Hein. Elem. Jurisp. Nat. B. 2, ch. 6. CIVIL COMMOTION. In the printed proposals which are considered as making a part of the contract of insurance against fire, it is declared that the insurance company will not make good any loss happening by any civil commotion. Lord Mansfield defines a civil commotion to be "an insurrection of the people for general purposes, though it may not amount to rebellion where there is an usurped power." 2 Marsh. Inst. 793. CIVIL DEATH, persons, is the change of the state (q. v.) of a person who is declared civilly dead by judgment of a competent tribunal. In such case the person against whom such a sentence is pronounced is considered as dead. 2 John. R. 248. Vide Death, civil. CIVIL LAW. See Law, civil. CIVIL LIST, is the sum which is yearly paid by the state to its monarch, and the domains of which he is suffered to have the enjoyment. CIVIL OBLIGATION, civil law, is one which binds in law, vinculum juris, and which may be enforced in a court of justice. Poth. Obl. 173, and 191. See Obligation. CIVIL OFFICER. The constitution of the United States, art. 2, s. 4, provides, that the president, vice president, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. By this term are included all officers of the United States who hold their appointments under the national government, whether their duties are executive or judicial, in the highest or the lowest departments of the government, with the exception of officers of the army and navy. Rawle on Const. 213; 2 Story, Const. § 790; a senator of the United States, it was decided, was not a civil officer, within the meaning of this clause in the constitution. Senate Journals, 10 January, 1799; 4 Tuck. Bl. Com. Appx. 57, 58; Rawle, Const. 213; Serg. on Const. Law, 376; Story, Const. § 791. CIVIL REMEDY, practice; this term is used in opposition to the remedy given by indictment in a criminal case, and signifies the remedy which the law gives to the party against the offender. In cases of treason and felony, the law, for wise purposes, suspends this remedy in order to promote the public interest, until the wrongdoer shall have been prosecuted for the public wrong. 12 East, 409; R. T. H. 359; 1 Hale's P. C. 546; 2 T. R. 751, 756; 17 Ves. 329; 4 Bl. Com. 363; Bac. Ab. Trespass, E 2; and Trover, D. This is the principle of the common law; it has been adopted in New Hampshire, N. H. R. 239; changed in New York by statutory provision, 2 Rev. Stat. 292, § 2, and by decisions in Massachusetts, except perhaps in felonies punishable with death, 15 Mass. R. 333; in Ohio, 4 Ohio R. 377; in North Carolina, 1 Tayl. R. 58. By the common law, in cases of homicide, the civil remedy is merged in the felony. 1 Chit. Pr. 10. Vide art. Injuries; Merger. CIVIL STATE, is the union of individual strength in a common direction; the establishment of a public authority to cause the execution of the laws in a nation or state; the fundamental of which laws is, that none of the members of the community shall do himself justice, but that he shall appeal to the depositaries of the public power, or the united forces for the security of all, in those cases which admit of possibility to have recourse to it; hence the citizens are justly considered as being under the safeguard, of the law. 1 Toull. n. 201. Vide Self defence. CIVILIAN, a doctor, professor or student of the civil law. CLAIM. A claim is a challenge of the ownership of a thing which a man has not in possession, and is wrongfully withheld by another. Plowd. 359; see 1 Dall. 444; 12 S. & R. 179. In Pennsylvania the entry of the lien of a mechanic or materialman for work done or material furnished in the erection of a building in those counties to which the lien laws extend, is called a claim. CLAIM, CONTINUAL. Continual claim. Wils. 409; 1 Chit. Pl. 403; Vin. CLAIMANT. In the courts of admiralty, when the suit is in rem, the cause is entitled in the name of the libellant against the thing libelled, as A B v. Ten cases of calico; and it preserves that title through the whole progress of the suit. When a person is authorised and admitted to defend the libel, he is called the claim. ant. The United States v. 1960 bags of coffee, 8 Cranch, R. 398; The United States v. The Mars, 8 Cranch, R. 417; 30 hhds. of sugar, (Bentzon, claimant,) v. Boyle, 9 Cranch, R. 191. CLANDESTINE. That which A is done in secret and contrary to law. Generally a clandestine act in cases of the limitation of actions will prevent the act from running. clandestine marriage is one which has been contracted without the form which the law has prescribed for this important contract. Alis. Princ. 543. CLARENDON. The constitutions of Clarendon were certain statutes made in the reign of Henry the Second, of England, in a parliament holden at Clarendon, by which the king checked the power of the pope and his clergy. 4 Bl. Com. 415. CLAUSE, contracts. A particu. lar disposition which makes part of a treaty; an act of the legislature; a deed, written agreement, or other written contract or will. When a clause is obscurely written, it ought to be construed in such a way as to agree with what precedes and what Vide follows, if possible. Vide Dig. 50, 17, 77. Construction; Interpretation. CLAIM OF CONUSANCE, Eng. law, is defined to be an intervention by a third person, demanding judicature in the cause against the plaintiff, who has chosen to commence his action out of the claimant's court. 2 CLAUSUM FREGIT, torts, remedies; he broke the close. These words are used in a writ for an action of trespass to real estate, the defendant being summoned to an swer and show cause quare clausum fregit, that is, why he broke the close of the plaintiff. 3, Bl. Com. 209. CLEARANCE, comm. law. The name of a certificate given by the collector of a port in which is stated the master or commander (naming him) of a ship or vessel named and described, bound for a port named, and having on board goods described, has entered and cleared his ship or vessel according to law. The act of congress, of 2d March, 1790, section 93, directs, that the master of any vessel bound to a foreign place, shall deliver to the collector of the district from which such vessel shall be about to depart, a manifest of all the cargo on board, and the value thereof, by him subscribed, and shall swear or affirm to the truth thereof; whereupon the collector shall grant a clearance for such vessel and her cargo; but without specifying the particulars thereof in such clearance unless required by the master so to do. And if any vessel bound to any foreign place shall depart on her voyage to such foreign place, without delivering such a manifest and obtaining a clearance, the master shall forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars for every such offence. Provided, anything to the contrary notwithstanding, the collectors and other officers of the customs shall pay due regard to the inspection laws of the states in which they respectively act, in such manner that no vessel having on board goods liable to inspection, shall be cleared out until the master or other person shall have produced such certificate, that all such goods have been duly inspected, as the laws of the respective states do or may require, to be produced to the collector or other officer of the customs. And provided, that receipts for the payment of all legal fees which shall have accrued on any vessel, shall before any clearance is granted, be produced to the collector or other officer aforesaid. According to Boulay-Paty, Dr. Com. tome 2, p. 19, the clearance is imperiously demanded for the safety of the vessel, for if a vessel should be found without it at sea, it may be legally taken and brought into some port for adjudication, on a charge of piracy. Vide Ship's papers. CLEARING HOUSE, comm. law. Among the English bankers, the clearing house is a place in Lombard street, in London, where the bankers of that city daily settle with each other the balances which they owe, or to which they are entitled. Desks are placed around the room, one of which is appropriated to each banking house, and they are occupied in alphabetical order. Each clerk has a box or drawer along side of him, and the name of the house he represents is inscribed over his head. A clerk of each house comes in about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, and brings the drafts or checks on the other bankers, which have been paid by his house that day, and deposits them in their proper drawers. The clerk at the desk credits their accounts separately which they have against him, as found in the drawer. Balances are thus struck from all the accounts, and the claims transferred from one to another, until they are so wound up and cancelled, that each clerk has only to settle with two or three others, and the balances are immediately paid. When drafts are paid at so late an hour that they cannot be cleared that day, they are sent to the houses on which they are drawn, to be marked, that is, a memorandum is made on them, and they are to be cleared the next day. See Gilbart's Practical Treatise on Banking, pp. 16-20; Babbage on the Economy of Machines, n. 173, 174; Kelly's Cambist; Byles on Bills, 106, 110. CLERK, commerce, contract, is a person in the employ of a merchant, who attends only to a part of his business, while the merchant himself superintends the whole. He differs from a factor in this, that the latter wholly supplies the place of his principal. Pard. Dr. Com. n. 38; 1 Chit. Pract. 80. CLERK, officer, is a person appointed to an office generally to write or register what has been done therein; as, clerk of the court. Some clerks, however, have little or no writing to do in their offices, as, the clerk of the market, whose duties are confined chiefly to superintending the markets. In the English law, clerk also signifies a clergyman. CLEMENTINES, eccl. law, is the name usually given to the collection of decretals or constitutions of Pope Clement V., which was made by order of John XXII. his successor, who published it in 1317. The death of Clement V., which happened in 1314, prevented him from publishing this collection, which is properly a compilation, as well of the epistles and constitutions of this pope, as of the decrees of the council of Vienna, over which he presided. The Clementines are divided in five books, in which the matter is distributed nearly upon the same plan as the Decretals of Gregory IX. Vide La Bibliothèque des auteurs ecclésiastiques, par Dupin. Ch. Pr. 27; 4, he should at the end of the suit promptly pay his attorney his fees. Ib.-His rights are, 1, to be diligently served in the management of his business; 2, to be informed of its progress; and, 3, that his counsel will not disclose what has been professionally confided to him. See Attorney at law; Confidential communication. CLOSE, signifies the interest in the soil, and not merely a close or enclosure in the common acceptation of the term. Doct. & Stud. 30; 7 East, 207; 2 Stra. 1004; 6 East, 154; 1 Burr. 133; 1 Ch. R. 160. In every case where one man has a right to exclude another from his real immovable property, the law encircles his estate, if it is not already enclosed, with an imaginary fence, reaching in extent upwards a superficie terra usque ad cœlum where he is the owner of the surface, and downwards as far as his property descends; and entitles him to a compensation in damages for the injury he sustains by the act of another passing through his boundary, denominating the injurious act a breach of the enclosure. Hamm. N. P. 151. An ejectment will not lie for a close. 11 Rep. 55; 1 Rolle's R. 55; Salk. 254; Cro. Eliz. 235; Adams on Eject. 24. CLOSE ROLLS, or close writs, Engl. law, are writs containing grants from the crown, to particular persons, and for particular purposes, and, not being intended for public inspection, are closed up and sealed on the outside, and for that reason called close writs, in contradistinction from grants relating to the public in general, which are left open and not sealed up, and are called letters-patent, (q. v.) 2 Bl. Com. 346. CLIENT, practice, is one who employs and retains an attorney or counsellor to manage or defend a suit or action in which he is a party, or to advise him about some legal matters. The duties of the client towards his counsel are, 1st, to give him a written authority, 1 Ch. Pr. 19; 2, to disclose his case with perfect can. CLUB. An association of persons. dour; 3, to offer, spontaneously, ad- It differs from a partnership in this, vances of money to his attorney, 2 that the members of a club have no where the goods to be exported are entered, is so called; also the custom house seal, or the parchment sealed and delivered by the officers of customs to merchants, as a warrant that their goods are customed. Crabbe's Tech. Dict. authority to bind each other further | land the office at the custom house, than they are authorised, either expressly or by implication as each other's agent in the particular transaction; whereas in trading associations, or common partnerships, one partner may bind his co-partners, as he has the right of property for the whole. 2 Mees. & Welsb. 172; COCKETTUM, commerce. Colly. Partn. 31; Story, Partn. 144; the English law this word signifies, Wordsworth on Joint Stock Compa-1, the custom-house seal; 2, the office at the custom where cockets are to be procured. Crabbe's Tech. Dict. nies, 154, et seq. COADJUTATOR eccls. law. A fellow helper or assistant; particularly applied to the assistant of a bishop. COALITION, French law. By this word is understood an unlawful agreement among several persons, not to do a thing except on some condition agreed upon. The most usual coalitions, are, 1st, those which take place among master workmen, to reduce, diminish or fix at a low rate the wages of journeymen and other workmen; 2d, those among workmen or journeymen, not to work except at a certain price. These offences are punished by fine and imprisonment. Dict. de Police, h. t. In our law this offence is known by the name of conspiracy, (q. v.) In CODE, legislation, signifies in general a collection of laws; it is a name given by way of eminence to a collection of such laws made by the legislature. Among the most noted may be mentioned the following: CODES, Les Cing, French law, the five codes. These codes are, 1st, Code Civil, which is divided into three books; book 1, treats of persons, and of the enjoyment and privation of civil rights; book 2, of property and its different modifications; book 3, of the different ways of acquiring property. One of the most perspicuous and intelligent commentators on this code, is Toullier, frequently cited in this work.-2d. Code de procédure civille, which is divided into two parts; part 1, is divided into five books, 1, of justices of the peace; 2, of inferior tribunals; 3, of royal courts; 4, of extraordinary means of proceeding; 5, of execution and judgment. Part 2, is divided into three books; 1, of tender and consignation; 2, process in relation to the opening of a succession; 3, of arbitration.-3d. Code de Commerce, in four books; 1, of commerce in general; 2, of maritime commerce; 3, of failures and bankruptcy; 4, of commercial jurisdiction. Pardessus is one of the ablest commentators on this code.4th. Code d'Instructions Criminelle, COCKET, commerce. In Eng. in two books; 1, of judiciary police, COAST. The margin of a country bounded by the sea. This term includes the natural appendages of the territory which rise out of the water, although they are not of sufficient firmness to be inhabited or fortified. Shoals perpetually covered with water are not, however, comprehended in the name of coast. The small islands, situate at the mouth of the Mississippi, composed of earth and trees drifted down by the river, which are not of consistency enough to support the purposes of life, and are uninhabited, and resorted to for shooting birds, were held to form a part of the coast. 5 Rob. Adm. R. 385, (c). |