WITH EXTENSIVE ADDITIONS, EMBODYING THE WHOle of the rECENT ALTERATIONS IN THE LAW. BY THOMAS COLPITTS GRANGER, ESQ. OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. AND W. T. CLARKE; LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN; S. BAGSTER; T. CADELL; ADVERTISEMENT. THIS Edition of THE LAW-DICTIONARY was originally undertaken by the late MR. DODD, who had made considerable progress in the printing of the first volume, when he was compelled through ill health to abandon the task, and the completion of it was committed to the present Editor, whose responsibility begins with the title Deposition. Although the latter was aware, previous to commencing his labours, that they would be of some duration, yet the time and attention requisite to prepare the work for the press have greatly exceeded his anticipations. Owing to the extensive changes that have been effected during the fifteen years which have elapsed since the last Edition, in almost every branch of the Law, both civil and criminal, and to the alterations made in the practice of the Courts of Law and Equity, there is hardly a title of any importance that has not called for a thorough revision, and generally very considerable additions; while, besides the supply of new matter, the present Editor has in numerous instances considered it advisable to recast and arrange the old, so as to give to it a more systematic and connected form. Many new heads of Law also have been introduced, with a view to increase the utility of the publication, as a work of general reference. It may perhaps be thought, he might have expunged more of the old Law, where it has been reduced to a dead letter by recent enactments; but in the cases in which it is left, it has been retained in a condensed shape, in order to afford to the reader-what it is one of the objects of this Dictionary to comprise a historical summary of the rise and progress of our legal forms and institutions. In consequence of the length of time which the undertaking has occupied, several titles in the first volume have been altered by acts subsequently passed. These are, however, for the most part, noticed in the Appendix to that volume, and it is therefore hoped that the work will be found to embody the material provisions of the Statutes enacted in the last Session of Parliament, as well as an accurate Digest of the Law generally down to the end of the past year, and with respect to the greater portion of the second volume, nearly down to the present moment. In conclusion, the Editor trusts that this Edition will support the high character which has hitherto been maintained by THE LAW-DICTIONARY, and that it will prove useful to the profession at large, but particularly to such members of it as are not possessed of extensive libraries, since it contains more general information, and embraces a wider range of subjects, than are to be met with in any other legal publication. June 12th, 1835. 12, KING'S BENCH WALK, TEMPLE. THE LAW DICTIONARY. ABA AB, from the word abbot, in the beginning of the name of any place, shows that probably it once belonged to some abbey; or that an abbey was founded there. Blount. ABACOT. A cap of state wrought up in the form of two crowns; worn by our ancient British kings. Chron. Angl. 1463. Spelm. Gloss. ABACTORS, abaciores, ab abigendo.] Stealers and drivers away of cattle by herds, or in great numbers. Cowel. ABACUS. Arithmetic: from the abacus, or table strewed with dust, on which the ancients made their characters and figures. Cowel: Du Fresne. Hence ABACISTA. An arithmetician. Cowel. ABANDUM, abandonum.] Any thing sequestered, proscribed, or abandoned. Abandon, i. e. in bannum res missa; a thing banned or denounced as forfeited and lost; from whence, to abandon, desert, or forsake as lost and gone. See title Insurance. ABARNARE, from Sax. Abrian.] To discover and disclose to a magistrate any secret crime. Leg. Canuli, c. 104. ABATAMENTUM. An entry by interposition. 1 Inst. 277. See the succeeding articles. TO ABATE, from the Fr. Abattre.] To prostrate, break down, or destroy; and in law to abate a castle or fort, is to beat it down. Old Nat. Br. 45: Stat. West. 1. c. 17. Abattre maison, to ruin or cast down a house, and level it with the ground; so to abate a nuisance is to destroy, remove, or put an end to it. See title Nuisance. To abate a writ, is to defeat or overthrow it, by showing some error or exception. Brit. c. 48. In the statute de conjunctim feoffatis, it is said the writ shall be abated; i. e. disabled and overthrown. Stat. 34 E. 1. st. 1. So it is said an appeal shall abate, and be defeated by reason of covin or deceit. Staundf. P. C. 148. And the justices shall cause the said writ to be abated and quashed. Stat. 11 H. 6. c. 2. The word abate is also used in contradistinction to disseise; for as he that puts a person seized of the freehold out of possession of his house, land, &c. is said to disseise; so he that steps in between the former possessor and his heir, or devisee, is said to abate; he is called an abator, and this act of interposition is termed an abatement. 3 Blac. Comm. 168: 1 Inst. 277: a Kitch. 173: Old Nat. Br. 91. 115. See titles Disseisin; Intrusion. ABATEMENT. For its least usual meanings see the two preceding articles. In its present most general signification it relates to writs or plaints; and means, the quashing or destroying the plaintiff's writ or plaint. VOL. I. ABATEMENT, I. 1. A Plea in Abatement, is a plea put in by the defendant, in which he shows cause to the court why he should not be impleaded or sued; or if impleaded, not in the manner and form he then is; therefore praying that the writ or plaint may abate; that is, that the suit of the plaintiff may for that time cease. 1 Inst. 134. b. 277: F. N. B. 115: Gilb. H. C. P. 186: Terms de Ley, 1: Chitty on Pleading, vol. 1. As to abatement in Chancery, see this Dictionary, title Revivor. On this subject shall be considered, I. The various Pleas in Abatement, at Law. 2. To the Person of the Plaintiff. II. The Time and Manner of pleading in Abatement; and herein of pleading in Bar or Abatement. III. The Judgment in Abatement. I. 1. The courts of Westminster have a superintendency over all other courts, and may, if they exceed their jurisdiction, restrain them by prohibition; or, if their proceedings are erroneous, may rectify them by writs of error and false judgment. Nothing shall be intended within the jurisdiction of an inferior court but what is expressly alleged; so that where an action on promise is brought in such inferior court, not only the promise, but the consideration of it (i. e. the whole cause of action), must be alleged to arise within that jurisdiction; Bac. Ab. Pleas (E.1.): 1 Will. Saund. 74. n. 1; such inferior courts being confined in their original creation, to causes arising within the express limits of their jurisdiction; and therefore if a debtor who has contracted a debt out of such limited jurisdiction comes within it, yet he cannot be sued there for such a debt. (Ibid.) There are no pleas to the jurisdiction of the courts at Westminster in transitory actions, unless the plaintiff by his decla B |