ALNETUM, a place where alders grow, or a grove of alder trees. Domesday Book. ALODIUM, see ALLODIAL.

ALOVERIUM, a purse. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 82, par. 2.

ALTA PRODITIO, high treason.
DE ALTA ripa, Dantry.

ALTARAGE, offering made upon the altar, and the profit arising to the priest by reason of the altar. Termes de Ley, 39. ALTERATION, changing. When witnesses are examined upon exhibits, &c., they (the exhibits) ought to remain in the place where the examination took place, and not to be taken back into private hands, by whom they may be altered. Hob. 254.

Alternatica petitio non est audienda. 5 Co. 40.—(An alternative petition is not to be heard.)

ALTO ET BASSO, an absolute submission of all differences. Blount.

Cowel.

AMABYR, or AMOABYR, a custom in the honour of Clun, belonging to the Earls of Arundel. Pretium virginitatis domino solvendum. Abolished. Cowel. AMBACTUS, a servant or client. AMBASSADOR [Legatus, Lat.], a person sent by one sovereign power to another, with authority by letters of credence, to treat on affairs of state. Ambassadors are either ordinary, who reside in the place whither they are sent, the protection of commerce being their greatest care; or, extraordinary, who are employed upon some special matter, as condolements, congratulations, or overtures of marriage, &c. The person of an ambassador is protected from civil arrest by 7 Anne, c. 8. Consult Bac. Abr., " Ambassador," or Com. Dig.

AMBER, or AMBRA, a measure of four bushels. Intro. Domesd. vol. 1, p. 133. AMBIDEXTER, one who plays on both sides. A juror or embraceror, who takes bribes from both parties to influence his verdict. Termes de Ley, 38.

Ambigua responsio contra proferentem est accipienda. 10 Co. 59.-(An ambiguous answer is to be taken against him who offers it.) Ambiguis casibus semper præsumitur pro rege. (In doubtful cases the presumption is always in favour of the King.)

which is called ambiguitas patens; and that which, although apparently certain, and without ambiguity, for anything that appears upon the face of the deed or instrument, is rendered ambiguous by extrinsic and collateral matter out of the deed, which is called ambiguitas latens. The former ambiguity cannot be explained by parol evidence, because the law will not couple and mingle matter of specialty, which is of the higher account, with matter of averment, which is of inferior account in law; but the latter can be explained by the actions of the parties previous to and contemporaneous with the contract. Ambiguity of language is, however, to be distinguished from unintelligibility and inaccuracy, for words cannot be said to be ambiguous, unless their signification seem doubtful and uncertain to persons of competent skill and knowledge to understand them. Story on Contracts, 272; Phillipps on Evidence.

Pleadings must not be ambiguous or doubtful in meaning, and when two different meanings present themselves, that construction shall be adopted, which is most unfavourable to the party pleading. A pleading, however, is not objectionable as ambiguous or obscure, if it be certain and clear to a common intent, that is, if it be clear enough according to reasonable intendment or construction, though not worded with absolute precision. Ambiguity is ground for demurrer, but it is in general cured by verdict or by pleading over. Stephens' Pleading, 415 -422.

AMBOGLANNA, Ambleside in Westmoreland, and Burdoswold in Cumberland. AMBROSII BURGUS, Amesbury in Wilts. AMBRY, a place where the arms, plate, vessels, and everything belonging to housekeeping were kept. Cowel.

AMENABLE, tractable, that may be led or governed, applied to a wife who is governable by her husband. Also responsible or subject to answer, &c., in a court of justice. Ibid.

AMENDMENT, a correction of any errors in actions, suits, or prosecutions, which power has been much extended, but not so as to prejudice any party. Consult Chitty's Archbold, tit. "Amendment."

MENSA ET THORO (from table and bed). It is a partial divorce, when the marriage is just and lawful, ab initio (from the beginning), but for some supervenient cause it becomes improper or impossible for the parties to live together, as in the case of intolerable cruelty in the husband, or adultery in either of them. This divorce is effected by sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court. It causes the separation of the husband and wife only, but does not annul the marriage, so that neither of them can marry during the life of the other. Stephen's Com., vol. 2, p. 311.

AMERCEMENT, the pecuniary punishment of an offender, a penalty assessed by the peers or equals of the party amerced for an offence

done, for which he places himself at the mercy of the lord. The difference between amer cements and fines is as follows:-the latter are certain, and were created by some statute, they can only be imposed and assessed by courts of record; the former are arbitrarily imposed by courts not of record, a court leet for instance. Termes de Ley, 40. AMHINIOGAU TIR (land borderers). Witnesses in a court for landed property, whose lands bordered on that in dispute. Ant. Inst. Wales.

AMITIA, a cap made with goats' or lambs' skins. See ALMUTIUM.

AMICTUS, or AMESSE, the uppermost of the six garments worn by priests, tied round the neck and covering the breast and heart. The other five garments are alba, cingulum, stola, manipulus, and planeta. Cowel. AMICUS CURIÆ (friend to the court). A stander by, who may inform, the court when doubtful, or mistaken. 2 Co. Litt. 178. AMITTERE LEGEM TERRÆ, or LIBERAM LEGEM. To lose and be deprived of the liberty of swearing in any court. But by the recent statute, 6 & 7 Vict. c. 85, witnesses are not excluded from giving evidence by incapacity from crime or interest, their credibility being left to the jury. A person outlawed is said to lose his law; i. e., put without its protection, so that he cannot sue, although he may be sued. Glanvil, lib. 2.

AMMOBRAGIUM, a service, or poll money, like chevage. Spel. AMMODWR [am-bod-wr], a compactor, one before whom a compact is made and so adnissible as a witness to prove the terms of it. Ant. Inst. Wales.

AMNESTY [μvnoría], an act of pardon or oblivion, by which crimes against the government to a certain time are so obliterated that they can never be brought into charge. AMNIUM INSULE. Isles upon the west coast of Britain. Blount.

AMOBH [am-gobr, fee]. The fee paid to a

lord by the person subject to that payment on the marriage of a female. Ant. Inst. Wales. AMORTIZATION, or AMORTIZEMENT, an alienation of lands in mortmain to any corporation or fraternity and their successors, i. e., to some community that never is to cease. Encyc. Lond.

AMORTIZE, to alienate lands in mortmain, which cannot be done without licence from the Crown. Ibid.

AMOTION, a putting away, a removing. Scott. AMOVE, to remove from a post or station. AMOVEAS MANUS,or OUSTER LE MAIN, a livery of land to be amoved out of the king's hands on a judgment obtained upon a monstrans de droit, to restore the land, it being as much as if the judgment were given that the party should have his land again. Abolished by 12 Car. II., c. 24.

AMPLIATION, an enlargement, a referring of judgment till the cause be further examined. Cowel.

AMRYGOLL [am-rhy-coll, total loss]. Loss of property. Ant. Inst. Wales. AMY or AMI [Amicus, Lat.], usually called prochein amy, the next friend (not the guardian), suing on behalf of an infant or orphan. Infants sue by prochein amy, or guardian, and defend by guardian. Alien amy, an alien friend, is a foreigner residing here, who is subject to some sovereign who is at peace with us. Cowel.

AN, JOUR, ET WASTE, year, day, and waste. A forfeiture of the lands to the Crown incurred by the felony of the tenant, after this time the lands escheat to the lord. Termes de Ley, 40.

ANACOENOSIS, a rhetorical figure, whereby we seem to deliberate and argue the case with others upon any matter of moment. Encyc. Lond.

ANACOLUTHON, or ANACOLUTHUS (a priv., and Koλoulos, consequent, i. e., an inconsequence in a discourse). A rhetorical figure, when a word that is to answer another is not expressed. Ib.

ANACRISIS [enquiry], among civilians, was an investigation of truth, interrogation of witnesses, and enquiry made into any fact, especially by torture. 1b.

ANALOGISM, an argument from the cause to the effect.

ANANCEION, a rhetorical figure to prove the necessity of anything. ANATHEMATIZE, to pronounce accursed by ecclesiastical authority, to excommunicate. Encyc. Lond.

ANATOCISM (và and TÓKOS, Gk., usury), taking usurious interest for, the loan of money, when compound interest is extorted, or the interest of several years are added together as principal, upon which interest is required. Interest upon interest.

This

is the worst kind of usury, and has been severely condemned by the Roman law, as well as by the common law of most other nations.

ANCESTOR, one that has gone before in a family; it differs from predecessor, in that it is applied to a natural person, and his progenitors, while the latter is applied to a corporation, and those who have held offices before those who now fill them. Co. Litt. 78 b.

ANCESTREL, that which has relation to ancestors. Blount.

ANCHOR, a measure containing ten gallons. Lex Mercatoria. ANCHORAGE, a duty taken of ships for the use of the haven where they cast anchor. MS. Arth. Trevor Ann. ANCIENT DEMESNE, a tenure existing in certain manors, which, though now perhaps granted to private persons, were actually in the possession of the Crown in the times of Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror, and so appear to have been by the great survey in the Exchequer called Domesday Book, and, therefore, whether lands are ancient demesne or not, is to be tried only by this book, called in conse

ANNIVERSARY DAYS, solemn days appointed to be celebrated yearly in commemoration of the death or martyrdom of saints; or the days, whereon, on the return of every year, meu were wont to pray for the souls of dead friends, according to the custom of the Roman Catholics, mentioned in the statute of 1 Edwd. VI., c. 14. Lib. Rames, s. 134. It is a day annually observed at our two Universities, &c., in gratitude to their founders and benefactors. It was anciently called year-day or mind day. Jacob. ANNI-NUBILES, the marriageable age of woman. 2 Co. Litt. 434.

ANNO DOMINI (abbreviated A.D.) The Christian computation of time, from the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is generally inserted in the dates of public writings, and private assurances, together with the year of the sovereign's reign, but both are not necessary. It is called the "Vulgar Era." Scaliger, a high authority in chronology, classes the Nativity of the Saviour among the mysteries that will never be discovered. Greswell advances as a conjecture, that the day of the Nativity is that on which the Paschal Lamb was set apart preparatory to the sacrifices, that is on the tenth of Nisan, answering to the fifth April, in the year of Rome, 750, four years before the vulgar æra. The Romans began their æra from the building of Rome, 753 B. C.; the Greeks computed time by Olympiads, first observed by the Idæi Dactyli, B. C. 1453. Lempriere; Macbride's Diatessaron. ANNOISANCE, or ANNOYANCE, any hurt done to a place, public or private, by placing anything thereon that may breed infection, or by encroachment, or such like means. It is the same as noisance or nuisance. 22 Hen. VIII., c. 5.

ANNUA PENSIONE, an ancient writ to

provide the King's chaplain, unpreferred, with a pension. Reg. Orig. 165, 307. ANNUALE, the yearly rent or income of a prebendary. Cowel

ANNUALIA, a yearly stipend assigned to a priest for celebrating an anniversary, or for saying continued masses for the soul of a deceased person. Blount.

ANNUITY, a yearly payment of a certain sum of money, granted to a person for life, for years, or in fee, chargeable upon the person of the grantor; it, therefore, differs from a rent-charge, which is charged upon the land. Doctor and Student, Dial. 1, c. 3; Stephen's Com., vol. 2, p. 26. By 53 Geo. III., c. 141, repealing the 17 Geo. III., c. 26, and itself amended by the 3 Geo. IV., c. 92, and 7 Geo. IV., c. 75, it is directed, that upon the sale of any annuity or rent-charge granted for one or more life or lives, or for any term of years or greater estate, determinable on one or more life or lives, a memorial of the date and nature of the security, the names of the parties, cestui que trusts, cestui que vies, and witnesses, the consideration money and the manner in which it was paid, and the amount of such annuity or rent charge, shall, within

thirty days after its execution, be enrolled in the Court of Chancery, otherwise the security shall be null and void; and that in case of collusive practices respecting the consideration, the Court in which any action is brought or judgment obtained upon such collusive security, may order the same to be cancelled, and the judgment (if any) to be vacated, and also that all contracts for the purchase of annuities from infants shall remain utterly void and be incapable of confirmation, after such infants attain their majority. These acts do not extend to any annuity or rent-charge given by will, or by marriage settlement, or for the advancement of a child, nor to any annuity or rent-charge secured upon freehold, copyhold, or customarylands in Great Britain or Ireland, or in her Majesty's possessions beyond the seas, or by actual transfer of stock in the public funds, nor to any voluntary annuity or rent-charge granted without regard to pecuniary consideration or money's worth, nor to any annuity or rent-charge granted by any body corporate or under any authority or trust created by act of Parliament. It is the duty of the grantee to enrol a memorial of the annuity, for the full particulars of which consult Sugden's Vends. and Purc. vol. 3, p. 350, et. seq.

ANNUITIES OF TEINDS, i. e., tithes, are 10s. out of the boll of teind wheat, 8s. out of the boll of beer, less out of the boll of rye, oats, and peas, allowed to the Crown yearly out of the tiends not paid to bishops or set apart for other pious uses. Scotch Law. ANNULUM ET BACULUM, a ring and pastoral staff or crosier, the delivery of which by the prince, was the ancient mode of granting investitures or bishoprics. Com. 377.

1 Bl.

ANNUM LUCTUS, the year of mourning, during which the widow, by the ordinances of the civil law, could not marry, to prevent the inconvenience of a widow bearing a child, which, by the period of gestation, may be the child either of her deceased or her present husband. Cod. 5, 9, 2.

ANNUS DELIBERANDI, the year allowed by the Scottish law for the heir to deliberate whether he will enter upon his ancestor's lands, and represent hin. Entry has very serious effects, and, therefore, this time is given for consideration; it commences at the ancestor's death, unless in the case of a posthumous heir, and then from his birth. Scotch Law.

ANOMY [a priv., and vóμos, Gk., law], breach of law.

ANRHAITH-ODDEV, spoliation, sufferance. A term used when a person's goods were confiscated and seized by the lord. Ibid. ANRHAITH-GRIBDDAIL, pilfering, spoliation. A term for the graver spoliation to be exercised towards a homicide. Ibid. ANSEL, or ANSUL, an ancient manner of weighing by hanging scales or hooks at either end of a beam or staff, which being lifted by the middle, discovered the equality or difference between the weight at one end and the thing weighed at the other. Termes de Ley, 66.

ANSWER IN CHANCERY. It is a defence upon the merits, and generally controverts the allegations stated in the plaintiff's bill, or some of them, and states facts showing the defendant's rights in the subject of the suit. It sometimes admits the truth of the case made out by the bill, and either with or without stating additional facts, submits the questions, arising upon the case thus made, to the judgment of the Court. If the answer do not state any new facts, or such only as the plaintiff is willing to admit, no further pleading is necessary, but the cause may be set down on bill and answer. If, on the contrary, the plaintiff deny the truth of the answer, he files a replication, which puts the cause at issue. The answer, where relief is sought, properly consists of two parts, performing, in fact, a double office, first, the defendant's defence to the case as disclosed in the bill, and second, the defendant's examination on oath, as to the facts charged against him, of which a discovery is sought by numbered interrogatories. It combines two proceedings, which are separated in the practice of the Ecclesiastical, though not always in the Admiralty Courts. Where there are several defendants, each is entitled, if he like (subject to an ultimate question as to costs, if the proceeding be oppressive), to put in a separate answer, although they have a common defence. The form of the answer is borrowed from the civil law, it is filed with the Clerk of Records and Writs, signed by the defendant upon oath, except in the case of peers, who wage their honour, Quakers, who solemnly affirin, and corporations, who only set their seal to it. It is taken, in town, before a Master Ordinary, or a Clerk of Records and Writs, and, in the country, before commissioners, duly appointed. Counsel signs the answers in town cases, but not in country cases, the commissioners being responsible for the propriety of its contents, at it is supposed to be taken by them from the mouth of the defendant, as, indeed, was formerly the practice. The defendant's oath and signature may be dispensed with, by an order of the Court obtained upon the plaintiff's consent thereto. Consult Mitf. Eq. Pl. by Jeremy, 15, 16; Cooper Eq. Pl. 325, 326; Story's Com. on Equity Pleadings, ch. 18; Smith's Practice, and Daniel's Practice, title " Answer." ANTAGOGE, a figure in rhetoric, by which, when the accusation of the adversary is un

answerable, we load him with the same or other crimes. Encyc. Lond. ANTANACLASIS [Lat., from ἀντανακλάω, Gk., to repurcuss], a figure in rhetoric, when the same word is repeated in a different, if not in a contrary signification; as, In thy youth learn some craft, that in old age thou mayest get thy living without craft. It is also a returning to the matter at the end of a long parenthesis, as, Shall that heart (which does not only feel them, but hath all motion of his life placed in them), shall that heart, I say, &c. Ibid.

Leg.

ANTAÑAGOGE [from avтl, against, ävάyw, Gk., to take up]. In rhetoric, a reply to an accusation by way of recrimination. bid. ANTEJURAMENTUM, or PRÆJURAMENTUM, an oath taken by the accuser and accused before any trial or purgation. The accuser swore that he would prosecute, and the accused was to swear on the day of ordeal that he was innocent. Athelstan apud Lambard, 23. ANTHORISMUS. In rhetoric, denotes a contrary description or definition of a thing from that given by the adverse party. Thus, if the plaintiff urge, that to take anything away from another without his knowledge or consent is a theft, this is called spos, or definition. If the defendant reply, that to take a thing away from another without his knowledge or consent, provided it be done with design to return it to him again, is not theft, this is an ανθορισμός. Ibid.

ANTICHRESIS, in the civil law, a covenant or convention, whereby a person_borrowing money of another engages or makes over his lands or goods to the creditor, with the use and occupation thereof, for the interest of the money lent. This covenant was allowed of by the Romans, among whom usury was prohibited; it was afterwards called MORTgage, to distinguish it from a simple engagement, where the fruits of the ground were not alienated, which was called Vir-gage, i. e., vivum vadium. Encyc. Lond. ANTIENT DEMESNE. See Ancient De

mesne.

ANTINOMY [àrl, against, and vóuos, Gk. law]. A contradiction between two laws or two articles of the same law. Encyc. Lond. ANTIPELARGIA, an ancient and righteous law, whereby children were obliged to furnish necessaries to their aged parents. The ciconia, or stork is a bird famous for the care it takes of its parents, when grown old. Hence, in some Latin writers, this is rendered lex ciconiaria, or the stork's law. Encyc. Lond.

ANTISTITIUM, a monastery. Blount. ANTITHELARIUS, the recriminating upon the accuser of the same crime, which he has charged against the accused. Canutus, c. 47. ANTIVESTÆUM, the Land's End, in Cornwall.

ANTONA, the river Avon, in Warwickshire. APATISARIO, an agreement or compact. Upton, lib. 2, c. 12.