THE CYCLOPEDIC LAW DICTIONARY COMPRISING THE TERMS AND PHRASES OF AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE, INCLUDING ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVIL LAW, THE FRENCH AND THE SPANISH LAW, ETC., ETC. WITH AN EXHAUSTIVE COLLECTION OF LEGAL MAXIMS By WALTER A. SHUMAKER AND GEORGE FOSTER LONGSDORF SECOND EDITION CHICAGO CALLAGHAN AND COMPANY Preface to Second Edition The present edition of the Cyclopedic Law Dictionary is necessitated by causes seldom occurring in legal publications. The popularity of the work has been such that the innumerable reprints required to supply the demand literally wore out the plates of the first edition. greater tribute to the merit of the work is possible. No In this edition the earlier edition has been carefully revised and approximately two thousand additional words and definitions have been incorporated. The selection of this additional material involved the careful examination of every source, including unpublished manuscripts, every effort being directed toward making the work as complete as possible and to increase its value not only to the student, but to the general practitioner as well. A complete table of abbreviations of standard legal works of reference will be found in the appendix. An expression of grateful appreciation is due to Mr. Basil Jones for his suggestions and assistance. Chicago: July, 1922. JAMES C. CAHILL. Preface to First Edition The purpose of this dictionary is to present, within one volume of convenient size, every legal definition or other appropriate matter which is requisite to any probable need of the student or the practitioner. lt is believed that, on the one hand, both convenience and economy require that a work designed to be primarily a dictionary of the law should not exceed a single volume. On the other hand, no law dictionary is complete if it fails to define every word or phrase, ancient or modern, which the searcher may reasonably expect to find therein. Moreover, while a mere general definition is ordinarily sufficient as to foreign and obsolete terms, yet in respect to those terms of jurisprudence which in themseives describe recognized topics of the law, or are of present interest, or are in a formative state, a bare definition is of no particular value. These topical terms the authors have endeavored to treat encyclopedically, avoiding the comprehensiveness of a treatise or commentary, but exhibiting all the elements of a subject in a complete and logical manner. They realize that only by those having legislative authority can definitions of such terms be framed which will be in every particular correct, and, like all writers dealing with modern law, they can do no more than present the result of a critical examination of the adjudged cases. In addition to this, it has been the aim to make the work exhaustive as a glossary, covering all matters within the research, not only of the practitioner and the student of the law, but of the lay student of ancient laws and history. The principal terms of the Saxon, Norman, and Old Scotch law, and of International and Feudal law, with many titles from other foreign systems, and the great variety of entire and fragmentary phrases in various languages to be met with in old law books and records, are defined and explained. Particular attention has been given to the Civil law, long explanatory articles being devoted to the more important Roman customs and institutions. There has been considerable discussion in the past as to the propriety of including in a law dictionary terms and phrases no longer in current use. To the authors it seems that a dictionary which does not include such terms fulfills but a small part of its essential purpose. The law of the present day is rooted in the antiquities of the English common law, and that, in its turn, is inextricably interwoven with the law of the civilians. No question of law can be exhaustively investigated without bringing the searcher in contact with a multitude of legal terms and phrases now regarded as obsolete. The authors are unwilling to believe that the modern tendency toward codification and superficial case-learning has progressed so far that there is no longer a demand for the definitions and explanations which will enable the student to trace the doctrines of |