LAW DICTIONARY. A, as the first letter of the alphabet is used to distinguish the first page of a book, the first subdivision of an alphabetical list or index, the first foot note on a printed page, &c., from the following ones which are marked b, c, d, etc. For its use as an abbreviation, see TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS, ante p. v. A, AB.-From, by, of, at, in, on, with. Used in various Latin phrases, such asA cœlo usque ad centrum: From the heavens to the centre of the earth. A consiliis: A counsellor; of counsel. son. A latere: Collateral. A term used in speaking of the succession of property. A. Ab initio: From the beginning. (See RELATION.) An act supposed to be legal when said to have been void or illegal ab initio. Plowd. done, may, in the light of its consequences, be 6, a; 11 East 395; 10 Johns. (N. Y.) 253. Ab intestato: From the intestate. An in heritance from one dying without making a will. A NOTE, or A BILL, (in a statute, when means several notes or bills). 8 Com. B. 849. A RAILROAD LEADING TO MILWAUKEE, (in city ordinance). 24 Minn. 78. A TRUE BILL, (indorsed on indictment). 17 Minn. 76, 241. ABACTOR.- -LATIN: ab and agere, to lead. away. A cattle thief. One who steals cattle by the herd or drove, not one beast at a time.. ABANDONMENT.--FRENCH: abandonne- ment. A me: From me. (1). A tenure obtained directly from the superior lord. (2). One who The surrender, relinquishment, or disunjustly obtains possession of another's prop-claimer of property rights. Desertion. erty is said to withhold it a me the true owner. A mensa et thoro: From bed and board. A limited divorce or separation by judicial de cree. See DIVORCE. A posteriori: By (or from) the later reason. A priori: By (or from) the earlier reason. These two phrases are used, respectively, to designate arguments from effect back to cause, and vice versa. A quo: From which. The court (or judge) below, or from which a cause has been removed, is called the court (or judge) a quo. A retro: In arrear; behind. A tempore cujus contrarii memoria non existet: From time of which memory to the contrary does not exist. A verbis legis non est recedendum: From the words of the law there is no receding. A vinculo matrimonii: From the bonds of matrimony. An absolute divorce dissolving the marriage contract. See DIVORCE. Ab agendo: From acting. Unable to act by reason of mental, physical or other incapacity. Ab ante: In advance. 1 Sumn. (U.S.) 308. Ab assuetis non fit injuria: From that to which one is accustomed no injury arises. Ab extra: From without. Ab inconvenienti: From hardship, or inconvenience. An argument founded upon the hardship of the case, and the inconvenience, or disastrous consequences to which a different course of reasoning would lead. ? 1. In marine insurance, where the subject-matter insured is constructively lost to the assured, he cannot call upon the underwriter to settle with him for a total loss without abandoning--that is, relinquishing to the underwriter whatever may be saved-because the property still exists in specie, and there is a prospect, however remote, of its arriving at its destination. As to what is a constructive total loss, see Loss. Abandonment is effected by giving express and unconditional notice to the underwriter within a reasonable time after the assured has received intelligence of the loss, (Smith Merc. L. 382 et seq.; Maude & P. Mer. Sh. 413 et seq.), and its effect is to transfer the whole property and interest in the thing insured to the underwriter. Id. 416. See DERELICTION; NON-USER. ? 2. In fire insurance.-The principle of abandonment is also applicable in fire insurance, where there are remnants, and sometimes also under stipulations in life policies in favor of creditors. 2 Phill. Ins. ?? 1490, 1514, 1515; 3 Kent Com. 265; 16 Har. & J. (Md.) 467, 476; 10 Pick. (Mass.) 310; Ohio St. 200.-Bouvier. 9 Metc. (Mass.) 395; 3 McCord. (S. C.) 194; 12 448; 3 Campb. 514; 3 Barn. & C. 332; 5 Dow. Ves. 265; 3 Mas. (U. S.) 276; 3 Kent. Com. & Ry. 234; 5 Gray (Mass.) 409; 10 Humph. (Tenn.) 165. 3. Of railway.-In England, the Board of Trade have power to authorize the abandonment of the whole or part of a railway, so as to release the company from all liability to make or work it. The holders of three-fifths of the shares must consent, and provision is made for the compensation of persons damnified. Hodg. Railw. 433; Abandonment of Railways Acts, 1850, 1867, 1869. Mass. 297; 23 Pick. (Mass.) 216; 4 McCord (of a mill site). 34 Me. 394; 17 (S. C.) 96; 7 Bing. 682. (of a mining claim). 6 Cal. 510. (of patent for invention). 7 Pet. (U.S.) 292; 1 Story (U. S.) 280; 4 Mas. (U. S.) 111. (of office). 64 Mo. 89. 395. ? 4. Of children.—In English criminal law, the offence of abandoning or exposing children under the age of two years is punishable by penal servitude for five years. (Stat. 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, 27; 27 and 28 Vict. c. 47.) Similar Wend. provisions are to be found in the penal laws of most if not all the States of the Union. 25. Of wife, or husband.-The willful departure of the husband or wife from the society of the other and the common home, with an intention never to return or to resume the marital relation. (27 Conn. 14.) But where the husband, by his cruelty, compels the wife to leave him, he, not she, is guilty of abandonment. 9 Cal. 475; 16 Md. 213. See DESERTION. 26. Of property rights.-Property may be abandoned without transferring it to another, in which case the title remains in abeyance (q. v.) until reduction to possession by some other person. In this way an invention or literary work may be abandoned to the public, or a wrecked vessel may be abandoned by the owner in such a manner as to free him from liability for injuries to other vessels occasioned by the wreck, though it may lie in navigable waters. But mere non-user does not ordinarily amount to abandonment. 16 Barb. (N. Y.) 150; 24 Id. 44; 10 Pick. (Mass.) 310; 23 Id. 141; 3 Strobh. (S. C.) 224; 2 Wash. Real Prop. 83. See DERELICT. ABANDONMENT, (of lands). 3 Yeates (Pa.) 200, 269; 4 Id. 330, 534; 2 Binn. (Pa.) 124; 1 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 120, 519; 2 Id. 410; 4 Id. 431; 11 Id. 266, 337, 340; 12 Id. 149; 5 Watts (Pa.) (of improvement on land). 5 Watts. 173. (Pa.) 13. (of application for land). 2 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 378; 5 Id. 215. (of rights under land warrant). 23 Pa. St. 271. 60 Ind. (of personal property). 1 Penn. (N. J.) (of a road). 2 Green (N. J.) 254; 12 (N. Y.) 371. (of a suit). 12 East 508, 588. (of a trust fund). 3 Yerg. (Tenn.) 258. (of a vessel). 5 Binn. (Pa.) 547. 275; 16 Md. 213. (of wife). 9 Cal. 475; 27 Conn. 14; (by insured). 1 Curt. (U. S.) 148; 3 Gill & J. (Md.) 450; 1 Gray (Mass.) 154, 371. ABATE, (legacies to, when). 1 South. (N. J.) 423. (suit shall). 1 Halst. (N. J.) 433; 1 South. (N. J.) 376; 6 Conn. 130; 1 Wheel. Am. C. L. 70. ABATED, (as respects a nuisance, defined). 50 Ga. 132. ABATEMENT.-NORMAN-FRENCH: abatement from abatre, to throw down, destroy. (Britton, 122 b. 155; Co. Litt. 134 b. 277 a.) In treating of abatement in the second sense (infra, 2), Britton sometimes spells the word enbatre, embatement, (Britton, 161 et seq.) which makes it possible that it was a different word from abatement in the other meanings, and signified intrusion rather than destruction of the estate. 1. Of nuisance.—To abate a nuisance is to remove it: thus, if a house or wall is erected by my neighbor so near to mine that it stops my ancient lights, I may enter his land and pull it down; or, if an obstruction is unlawfully placed in a highway, I may cut it down or remove it. Abatement is a remedy by act of the party (see REMEDY); it must be effected peaceably, and (in the case of a private nuisance) without doing more damage than is necessary. 3 Steph. Com. 244. 2. Of land. In the law of real property, where a person dies seised of land, and a stranger who has no right makes entry and gets possession of the freehold before the heir or devisee enters, this is called an abatement, and the stranger is an abator. (Co. Litt. 277 a.) The person entitled has, of course, a right of action to recover the land. See DEFORCEMENT; DISSEISIN. 3. Of legacies, &c.-In the administration of a testator's estate, abatement is where the amount payable to a legatee or appointee has to be reduced because there is not enough to pay all the legatees or appointees of the same class in full, or because the claimant is not entitled to participate in a certain part of the estate. Thus, where the estate of a testator, after payment of his debts and specific legacies, is insufficient to pay all the general legacies, they must abate or be reduced in proportion to their respective amounts. Wms. Exr. 1260, 1271; Wats. Comp. Eq. S34, 1244. 24. Of charitable legacies.-In England, if a testator, whose estate consists both of pure and impure personalty, gives a legacy to a charity without directing it to be paid out of his pure personalty, the legacy must abate in the proportion which the impure personalty bears to the whole residuary personal estate-(thus, whole estate, £1500 pure personalty, £1000 :: amount of legacy, £300: amount payable to charity, £200); because the charity cannot participate in the impure personalty, owing to the provisions of the Charitable Uses Act, commonly called the Mortmain Act. Wats. Comp. Eq. 54. 5. Of action.—In procedure, abatement is where an action is put an end to and destroyed by the death of one of the parties, or some other event which makes it impossible to continue the action. Thus, an action for assault abates on the death of either plaintiff or defendant, because the right of action, or liability (as the case may be), does not survive to his representives. (See ACTIO PERSONALIS MORITUR CUM PERSONA). Formerly, almost every change of interest pendente lite caused an abatement, which could be cured in cases where the right of action or liability survived, by Revivor, Scire Facias, or Suggestion (q. v.); but this is no longer the case. 7 Ch. D. 111; 3 Steph. Com. 591; Smith Ac. (11th ed.) 194; U. S. Dig. tit. Abatement. As to pleas in abatement, see PLEA. 26. In chancery practice, abatement is the suspension of all proceedings in a suit from the want of proper parties capable of proceeding therein. Unlike an abatement at law, the suit is not entirely dead, but may be revived by supplemental bill in the nature of a bill of revivor.Bourier. 7. Of duties on imports.-Where goods are damaged during importation, or while in store, a portion of the duties is deducted, or, if already paid, refunded. This is called in mercantile law an abatement of the duties. ? 8. Of taxes.-In like manner, in some jurisdictions, taxes are subject to abatement in certain cases, by decreasing the amount, refunding, &c. ABATOR.-(1) One who removes or throws down a nuisance. (2) A stranger who enters without right into a freehold after the death of its former possessor, and before his heirs or devisees. See ABATEMENT, 2. ABATUDA.-Anything diminished. Moneta Abatuda is money clipped or diminished in value.-Cowel. 2. In criminal law, abduction is the act of taking away or detaining a woman, either against her own will, or (in the case of a woman under age) against the will of her parents or any other person having the lawful charge of her, for the purpose of marriage, concubinage or prostitution. In England, this criminal offence is of three kinds, viz., (1) kidnapping; (2) carrying away infant females under sixteen; and (3) stealing heiresses. Stat. 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, § 53 et seq.; 1 Russ. Cr. 883; Steph. Cr. Dig. 177. ABDUCTION, (what is, under N. Y. statute). 8 Barb. (N. Y.) 603. (of child). 2 Chit. Bl. Com. 140. (of woman for purposes of prostitution). 8 Iowa 447; 12 Metc. (Mass.) 93; 8 Barb. (N. Y.) 603; 6 Park. (N. Y.) Cr. 129. (of married woman). Stat. 3 Edw. I. c. 13; 3 Steph. Com. 437; 3 Sharsw. Bl. Com. 139. (of voter). Stat. 17 and 18 Vict. c. 102. ABEARANCE. - Behavior, conduct. A recognizance for good abearance, is a recognizance for good behavior. ABEREMURDER.-A plain or right murder, as distinguished from the less heinous crime of manslaughter or chance medley. as always potentially existing. Litt. ¿? 645– 647; 2 Bl. Com. 107; 1 Steph. Com. 236; Fearne Cont. Rem. 353, et seq. 2. Of glebe.-Thus, in England, the feesimple in the glebe of a church is in perpetual abeyance, for it is not in the patron, nor the ordinary, nor the parson. Again, when the parson of a church dies, the freehold of the glebe is in no one during the time that the parsonage is void, and is therefore said to be in abeyance until another is made parson. Litt. 647. As to abeyance of an estate tail, see Id. ¿? 649 et seq. 3. Of dignity.-A dignity is said to be in entitled to it. Thus, where an earl dies, leaving abeyance when there is for a time no person only daughters, the dignity is in abeyance until the king confers it upon one of them. Co. Litt. 165 a; 2 Bl. Com. 216. ABIDE, (by order of court, bond to). 8 Cush. (Mass.) 294, 297. (by a decision). 108 Mass. 585. (by an award). 48 N. H. 36. ABIDING IN SERVICE, (in a statute). 4 East 353. ABIGEUS.-An abactor, (q. v.) ABILITY, (to pay). Coxe (N. J.) 48. (of father to maintain children). 1 Mad. Ch. 343; 1 Cox. 80; Coop. 53; 3 Atk. 123. ABISHERING, or ABISHERSING. down--Quit of amercements. It originally signified a forfeiture or amercement, and is more properly mishering, mishersing, or miskering, according to Spelman. It has since been termed a liberty of freedom, because, wherever this word is used in a grant or charter, the persons to whom the grant is made have the forfeitures and amercements of all others, and are themselves free from the control of any within their fee. ABET-ABETTOR.-OLD FRENCH: à and beter, to bait or excite an animal. Skeat, Etym. Dict. 8. V. To abet is to incite, or encourage a person to commit a crime; an abettor is a person who, being present or in the neighborhood, incites another to commit a crime, and thus becomes a principal in the offence. (4 Bl. Com. 34. See PRINCIPAL). The abettor must be present at the commission of the offence, which distinguishes him from an accessory, who, though concerned in the crime, is not then present. See ACCESSORY. ABETTING, (in a verdict). 4 Burr. 2078, 2082. (an offence, makes party principal in second degree). 3 Yeates (Pa.) 386. ABETTOR, (distinguished from accessory). Wheat. (U. S.) 460; 1 Hall (N. Y.) 446; Mo. 382; 1 Wis. 159. 12 13 ABEYANCE.-NORMAN-FRENCH: abeiance, abaience, from baer, bayer, to gape, to expect. Co. Litt. 342 b; Loysel, Gloss. 8. v.; Diez. i. 44. In expectation or contemplation of law. 1. Of estate. -A hereditament or other right is said to be in abeyance when it exists only in contemplation of law, because there is no person in esse in whom it is vested, although the law considers it A foreswearing or renouncing by oath. 1. To abjure the realm was to take a perpetual oath of banishment; abjuration was "a deportation for ever into a forreine land," and was a civil death, (Co. Litt. 133a,) until it was abolished by stat. 21 Jac. 1, c. 28. 4 Bl. Com. 133. 2. The oath of abjuration, by which members of parliament and public officials were required to abjure or renounce the Pretender, was abolished by stat. 21 and 22 Vict. c. 48, and 29 and 30 Vict. c. 19; 2 Steph. Com. 338, 401. 3. Abjuration of allegiance.-An alien seeking naturalization in the United States, is required to renounce and abjure, on oath or affirmation, all allegiance to any foreign prince, and particularly the sovereign whose subject he has heretofore been. ABLE, (promise to pay when). 3 Esp. 159; 4 Id. 36 2 Stark. 88; 3 Bing. 638; 6 Barn. & C. 603; 2 Moo. & P. 581; 2 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 208; 2 H. Bl. 116; 1 Esp. 282; 4 Ves. Jr. 372; 1 Harr. Dig. 471. ABLE, (in a statute providing for furnishing nurses to an infected person). 67 Me. 370. ABNEPOS.—The grandson of a grandson or granddaughter. ABRIDGMENT.-FRENCH: abregement. 1. In general.—An epitome or compend of another and more extensive work, compressing the latter into a smaller comof a book is not a violation of copyright; pass. If fairly compiled, an abridgment but if colorable, merely, it may be en ABNEPTIS.-The granddaughter of a joined. grandson or granddaughter. DENCE. ? 2. Abridgments of the law are brief digests of the law, arranged alpha ABODE, (place of). 7 Barn. & C. 314; 1 Watts (Pa.) 51; 2 Id. 412. See DOMICILE; RESI-betically. The oldest are those of Fitzherbert, Brooke and Rolle, the more modern ABORDAGE.-Collision between ves- those of Viner, Comyns and Bacon. (1 Steph. Com. 51.) The term "digest" has now supplanted that of "abridgment." sels. See COLLISION. ABORTION.—LATIN: abortio. A miscarriage, or the premature expulsion of the foetus from the uterus, before the term of gestation is completed. The offences of producing or attempting to produce an abortion, and of administering drugs to that end, are now, both in England and America, specifically provided for and punished by statute. Formerly it was essential to the offence that the child had quickened, but this is no longer the case. See 10 How. (N. Y.) Pr. 224; also MISCAR RIAGE. ABOUT, (defined). 4 Zab. (N. J.) 753; Pet. C. C. 49. 4 Id. 290. (Me.) 482. Me. 121. (in description, in a deed). 5 Me. 482; (a certain time, in a deed). 5 Greenl. (a certain sum, in promise to pay). 22 (a certain distance, in an entry of land). 2 Wheat. (U.S.) 206, 316; 5 Cranch. (U.S.) 191. (in a report). 1 Green (N. J.) 103. (in a verdict). 2 Green (N. J.) 123. (the month of Sept., in Narr. for trespass). South. (N. J.) 95. (8 tons, in contract). 13 East 410; 2 Green (N. J.) 123. (400 tons, in writ of replevin). 13 Wend. (N. Y.) 496. (8 weeks, prisoner off limits). South. (N. J.) 499. (9 weeks, ship out in policy). 1 Johns. (N. Y.) Cas. 408. dollars, in deed of assignment). 5 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 402. acres, in a deed). 1 Pet. C. C. (U.S.) 49, 58; Sugd. Vend. P. 220; 2 Swanst. 223; 1 Hov. Sup. Ves. 495, 496; 2 Wheat. (U. S.) 211,323; 3 Call (Va.) 218; 11 Wheat. (U.S.) 223. (30 miles above a creek, in a warrant). 11 Wheat. (U. S.) 223; 2 Litt. (Ky.) 162; 2 Inst. 318. (350 quarters more or less, in agreement to purchase). 2 Barn. & Ad. 106. (the neck, in an indictment). 5 Car. & P. 121. ABRIDGMENT, (of a book). Amb. 403, 696; 2 Atk. 143; 1 Bro. C. C. 451; 4 McLean (U. S.) 306, 310; 5 Ves. 709. ask. ABROGATE.-LATIN: ab, from, and rogo, to To annul, or destroy. To abrogate is to annul or repeal an order or rule issued by a subordinate authority; e.g. a rule of practice issued by the judges of a court. To repeal a former law, by legislative act, or by usage. See REPEAL. ABSCOND.-LATIN: abscondo, to hide away. To leave one's ordinary residence or country, or to remain concealed therein, to avoid legal proceedings. 2 Ch. D. 220; 11 Id. 298. 1. The Absconding Debtors Act, 1870 (33 and 34 Vict. c. 76), is intended to prevent "insolvent debtors departing for foreign countries before the necessary proceedings can be taken to make them bankrupt;" and for that purpose enables a bankruptcy court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the debtor before the petition for adjudication has been presented. See BANKRUPTCY; DEBTORS ACT. 2. The laws of most of the States of the Union authorize the attachment of property belonging to absconding debtors, and declare who shall be deemed such. ABSCONDED, (in a plea). 2 Hen. & M. (Va.) 309; 1 Wheel. Am. Ĉ. L. 68. ABSCONDING DEBTOR, (who is, under attachment acts). 5 Port. (Ala.) 77; 1 Ala. 199; 2 Root (Conn.) 133; o Conn. 117; 43 Ill. 185; 7 Md. 209; 1 Green (N. J.) 250; 2 Cai. (N. Y.) 318; 15 Johns. (N. Y.) 196; 27 Vt. 118; 1 Wheel. Am. C. L. 105. ABSENCE.-Being away from one's usual residence or domicile. When continued for a long time (usually seven years) it raises a presumption of death. It is also |