O. 0.
840
OATH
O
O. O. An abbreviation, in the civil law, for "ope consilio," (q. v.) In American law, these letters are used as an abbreviation for "Orphans' Court"
O. K. A conventional symbol, of obscure origin, much used in commercial practice and occasionally in indorsements on legal documents, signifying "correct," "approved," "accepted," "satisfactory," or "assented to." See Getchell & Martin Lumber Co. v. Peterson, 124 Iowa, 599, 100 N. W. 550; Morgan-ton Mfg. Co. v. Ohio River, etc., Ry. Co., 121 N. C. 514, 28 S. E. 474, 61 Am. St. Rep. 679; Citizens' Bank v. Farwell, 56 Fed. 570, 6 C. C. A. 24; Indianapolis, D. & W. R. Co. v. Sands, 133 Ind. 433, 32 N. E. 722.
O. N. B. An abbreviation for "Old Na-tura Brevium." See Natura Brevium.
O. NI. It was the course of the English exchequer, as soon as the sheriff entered into and made up his account for issues, amerciaments, etc, to mark upon each head "O. NL," which denoted oneratur, nisi habeat sufficientem exonerationem, and presently he became the king's debtor, and a debet was set upon his head; whereupon the parties paravaile became debtors to the sheriff, and were discharged against the king, etc. 4 Inst. 116; Wharton.
O. S. An abbreviation for "Old Style," or "Old Series."
OATH. An external pledge or asseveration, made in verification of statements made or to be made, coupled with an appeal to a sacred or venerated object, in evidence of the serious and reverent state of mind of the party, or with an invocation to a supreme being to witness the words of the party and to visit him with punishment if they be false. See O'Reilly v. People, 86 N. Y. 154, 40 Am. Rep. 525; Atwood v. Welton, 7 Oonn. 70; Clinton v. State, 33 Ohio St 32; Brock v. Milligan, 10 Ohio, 123; Blocker %. Burness, 2 Ala. 354.
A religious asseveration, by which a person renounces the mercy and imprecates the vengeance of heaven, if he do not speak the truth. 1 Leach, 430.
? —Assertory oath. One relating to a past or presont fact or state of facts, as distinguished from a "promissory" oath which relates to future conduct; particularly, any oath required by law other than in judicial proceedings and upon induction to office, such, for example, as an oath to be made at the custom-house relative to goods fmported.—Corporal oath. See Cor-foral.—Decisory oath. In the civil law. An oath which one of the parties defers or refers back to the other for the decision of the cause.—Extrajudicial oath. One not taken in any judicial proceeding, or without any authority or requirement of law, though taken formally before a proper person.—Judicial
oath. One taken in some judicial proceeding or in relation to some matter connected with judicial proceedings.—Oath against bribery. One which could have'been administered to a voter at an election for members of parliament. Abolished in 1854. Wharton.—Oath ex officio. The oath by which a clergyman charged with a criminal offense was formerly allowed to swear himself to be innocent; also the oath by which the compurgators swore that they believed in his innocence. 3 Bl. Comm. 101, 447; Mozley & Whitley.—Oath in litem. In the civil law. An oath permitted to be taken by the plaintiff, for the purpose of proving the value of the subject-matter in controversy, when there was no other evidence on that point, or when the defendant fraudulently suppressed evidence which might have been available.—Oath of allegiance. An oath by which a person promises and binds himself to bear true allegiance to a particular sovereign or government, e. g., the United States; administered generally to high public officers and to soldiers and sailors, also to aliens applying for naturalization, and, occasionally, to citizens generally as a prerequisite to their suing in the courts or prosecuting claims before government bureaus. See Rev. St U. S. §§ 1756, 2165, 3478 <U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 1202, 1329, 2321), and section 5018.—Oath of calumny. In the civil law. An oath which a plaintiff was obliged to take that he was not prompted by malice or trickery in commencing his action, but that he had bona fide a good cause of action. Poth. Pand. lib. 5, tt. 16, 17, s. 124.—Oath-rite. The form used at the taking of an oath.—Official oath. One taken by an officer when he assumes charge of his office, whereby he declares that he will faithfully discharge the duties of the same, or whatever else may be required by statute in the particular case.—Poor debtor's oath. See that title. —Promissory oaths. Oaths which bind the party to observe a certain course of conduct, or to fulfill certain duties, in the future, or to demean himself thereafter in a stated manner with reference to specified objects or obligations; such, for example, as the oath taken by a high executive officer, a legislator, a judge, a person seeking naturalization, an attorney at law. Case v. People, 6 Abb. N. C. (N. Y.) 151 —Purgatory oath. An oath by which a person purges or clears himself from presumptions, charges, or suspicions standing against him, or from a contempt.—Qualified oath. One the force of which as an affirmation or denial may be qualified or modified by the circumstances under which it is taken or which necessarily enter into it and constitute a part of it; especially thus used in Scotch law.—Solemn oath. A corporal oath. Jackson v. State, 1 Ind. 184.—Suppletory oath. In the civil and ecclesiastical law. The testimony of a single witness to a fact is called "half-proof," on which no sentence can be founded; in order to supply the other half of proof, the party himself (plaintiff or defendant) is admitted to be examined in his own behalf, and the oath administered to him for that purpose is called the "suppletory oath," because it supplies the necessary quantum of proof on which to found the sentence. 3 Bl. Comm. 370. This term, although without application in American law in its original sense, is sometimes used as a designation of a party's oath required to be taken in authentication or support of some piece of documentary evidence which he offers, for example, his books of account.—Voluntary oath. Such as a person may take in extrajudicial mat* ters, and not regularly in a court of justice, or before an officer invested with authority to administer the same. Brown
OB
841
OBLATA
OB. Lat. On account of; for. Several Latin phrases and maxims, commencing with this word, are more commonly introduced by "in" (q. v.)
OB CAUSAM ALIQUAM A RE MAKI-TIMA ORTAM. For some cause arising out of a maritime matter. 1 Pet. Adm. 92. Said to be Selden's translation of the French definition of admiralty jurisdiction, "pour le fait de la mer." Id.
OB CONTINENTIAM DELICTI. On
account of contiguity to the offense, i. e., being contaminated by conjunction with something illegal. For example, the cargo of a vessel, though not contraband or unlawful, may be condemned in admiralty, along with the vessel, when the vessel has been engaged in some service which renders her liable to seizure and confiscation. The cargo is then said to be condemned oft con-tincntiam delicti, because found in company with an unlawful service. See 1 Kent, Comm. 152.
OB CONTINGENTIAM. On account of connection; by reason of similarity. In Scotch law, this phrase expresses a ground for the consolidation of actions.
OB FAVOREM MERCATOBTTM. In
favor of merchants. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 63, § 12.
Ob infamiam non solet juxta legem terrse aliquis per legem apparentem se purgare, nisi prius convictus fuerit vel confessns in, cnria. Glan. lib. 14, c. ii. On account of evil report, it is not usual, according to the law of the land, for any person to purge himself, unless he have been previously convicted, or confessed in court.
OB TURPEM CAUSAM. For an immoral consideration. Dig. 12, 5.
OB.XRATUS. Lat. In Roman law. A debtor who was obliged to serve his creditor till his debt was discharged. Adams, Rom. Ant. 49.
OBEDIENCE. Compliance with a command, prohibition, or known law and rule of duty prescribed; the performance of what is required or enjoined by authority, or the abstaining from what is prohibited, in compliance with the command or prohibition. Webster.
OBEDIENTIA. An office, or the administration of it; a kind of rent; submission; obedience.
Obedientia est legis essentia. 11 Coke, 100. Obedience is the essence of law.
OBEDIENTIARIUS. A monastic officer. Du Cange,
OBIT SINE PROLE. Lat [He] died without issue.' Yearb. M. 1 Edw. II. 1.
OBIT. In old English law. A funeral
solemnity, or office for the dead. Cowell.
The anniversary of a person's death; the an
niversary office. Cro. Jac. 51.
OBITER. Lat. By the way; in passing; incidentally; collaterally.
—Obiter dictum. A remark made, or opinion expressed, by a judge, in his decision upon a cause, "by the way," that is, incidentally or collaterally, and not directly upon the question before him, or upon a point not necessarily involved in the determination of the cause, or introduced by way of illustration, or analogy or argument.
OBJECT, v. In legal proceedings, to object (e. g., to the admission of evidence) is to interpose a declaration to the effect that the particular matter or thing under consideration is not done or admitted with the consent of the party objecting, but is by him considered improper or illegal, and referring the question of its propriety or legality to the court
OBJECT, n. This term "includes whatever is presented to the mind, as well as what may be presented to the senses; whatever, also, is acted upon, or operated upon, affirmatively, or intentionally influenced by anything done, moved, or applied thereto." Woodruff, J., Wells v. Shook, 8 Blatchf. 257, Fed. Cas. No. 17,406.
—Object of an action. The thing sought to be obtained by the action; the remedy demanded or the relief or recovery sought or prayed for; not the same thing as the cause of action or the subject of the action. Scarborough v. Smith, 18 Kan. 406; Lassiter v. Norfolk & C. R. Co., 136 N. C. 89, 48 S. EL 643.—Object of a statute. The "object" of a statute is the aim or purpose of the enactment, the end or design which it is meant to accomplish, while the "subject" is the matter to which it relates and with which it deals. Medical Examiners v. Fowler, 50 La. Ann. 1358, 24 South. 809; McNeely v. South Penn Oil Co., 52 W. Va. 616, 44 S. E. 508, 62 L. R. A. 562; Day Land & Cattle Co. v. State, 68 Tex. 542, 4 S. W. 865.—Objects of a power. Where property is settled subject to a power given to any person or persons to appoint the same among a limited class. the members of the class are called the "objects" of the power. Thus, if a parent has a power to appoint a fund among his children, the children are called the "objects" of the power. Mozley & Whitley.
OBJECTION. The act of a party who objects to* some matter or proceeding in the course of a trial, (see Object, v. .-) or an argument or reason urged by him in support of his contention that the matter or proceeding objected to is improper or illegal.
OBJURGATRICES. In old English law. Scolds or unquiet women, punished with the cucking-stool.
OBLATA. Gifts or offerings made to the king by any of his subjects; old debts,
OBLATA TERR,®
842
OBLIGATION
brought, as it were, together from preceding years, and put on the present sheriff's charge. Wharton.
OBLATA TERRJE. Half an acre, or, as some say, half a perch, of land. Spelman.
OBXATI. In old European law. Voluntary slaves of churches or monasteries.
OBXATI ACTIO. In the civil law. An action given to a party against another who had offered to him a stolen thing, which was found in his possession. Inst. 3,1, 4.
OBLATIO. Lat In the civil law. A tender of money in payment of a debt made by debtor to creditor. Whatever is offered to the church by the pious. Oalvin.
Oblationes dicuntur qusecunque a pii» fidelibusque Christianis oflernntur Deo et ecclesiae, sive res solidse sive mobiles.
2 Inst 389. Those things are called "oblations" which are offered to God and to the church by pious and faithful Christians, whether they are movable or immovable.
OBLATIONS, or obventions, are offerings ©r customary payments made, in England, to the minister of a church, including fees on marriages, burials, mortuaries, etc., (g. v.) and Easter offerings. 2 Steph. Comm. 740; Phillim. Ecc. Law, 1596. They may be commuted by agreement.
OBLIGATE. To bind or constrain; to bind to the observance or performance of a duty; to place under an obligation. To bind one's self by an obligation or promise; to assume a duty; to execute a written promise or covenant; to make a writing obligatory. Wachter v. Famachon, 62 Wis. 117, 22 N. W. 160; Maxwell v. Jacksonville Loan & Imp. Co., 45 Fla. 425, 34 South. 255.
OBLIGATIO. Lat In Roman law. The legal relation existing between two certain persons whereby one (the creditor) is authorized to demand of the other (the debtor) a certain performance which has a money value. In this sense oMigatio signifies not only the duty of the debtor, but also the right of the creditor. The fact establishing such claim and debt, as also the instrument evidencing it, is termed "obligation." Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 360.
That legal relation subsisting between two persons by which one is bound to the other for a certain performance. The passive relation sustained by the debtor to the creditor is likewise called an "obligation." Sometimes, also, the term "oMigatio" is used for the causa ooligationis, and the contract itself is designated an "obligation." There are passages in which even the document which affords the proof of a contract is called an "obligation." Such applications, how-
ever, are but a loose extension of the term, which, according to its true idea, is only properly employed when it is used to denote the debt relationship, in its totality, active and passive, subsisting between the creditor and the debtor. Tomk. & J. Mod. Rom. Law, 301.
Obligations, in the civil law, are of the several descriptions enumerated below.
Obligatio chilis is an obligation enforceable by action, whether it derives its origin from jus civile, as the obligation engendered by formal contracts or the obligation enforceable by bilaterally penal suits, or from such portion of the jus gentium as had been completely naturalized in the civil law and protected by all its remedies, such as the obligation engendered by formless contracts.
Obligatio naturahs is an obligation not immediately enforceable by action, or an obligation imposed by that portion of the jus gentium which is only imperfectly recognized by civil law.
Obligatio ex contractu, an obligation arising from contract, or an antecedent jus in personam. In this there are two stages,—first, a primary or sanctioned personal right antecedent to wrong, and, afterwards, a secondary or sanctioning personal right consequent on a wrong. Poste's Gaius' Inst. 359.
Obligatio ex delicto, an obligation founded on wrong or tort, or arising from the invasion of a jus in rem. In this there is the second stage, a secondary or sanctioning personal right consequent on a wrong, but the first stage is not a personal right, {jus in personam,) but a real right, (jus in rem,) whether a primordial right, right of status, or of property. Poste's Gams' Inst. 359.
Obhgationes ex delicto are obligations arising from the commission of a wrongful injury to the person or property of another. "Delictum" is not exactly synonymous with "tort," for, while it includes most of the wrongs known to the common law as torts, it is also wide enough to cover some offenses (such as theft and robbery) primarily injurious to the individual, but now only punished as crimes. Such acts gave rise to an obligatio, which consisted in the liability to pay damages.
Obligationes quasi ex contractu. Often persons who have not contracted with each other, under a certain state of facts, are regarded by the Roman law as if they had actually concluded a convention between themselves. The legal relation which then takes place between these persons, which has always a similarity to a contract obligation, is therefore termed "obligatio quasi ex contractu." Such a relation arises from the conducting of affairs without authority, (negotiorum gestioj) from the management or property that is in common when the community arose from casualty, (communis incidens;) from the payment of what was not due, (solutio in-debiti;) from tutorship and curatorship; and from taking possession of an inheritance. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 491.
Obligationes quasi ex delicto. This class embraces all torts not coming under the denomination of "deUcta," and not having a special form of action provided for them by law. They differed widely in character, and at common law would in some cases give rise to an action on the case; in others to an action on an implied contract Ort. Inst. §§ 1781-1792.
OBLIGATION. An obligation is a legal duty, by which a person is bound to do or not to do a certain thing. Civ. Code Gal. § 1427; Civ. Code Dak. § 798.
The binding power of a vow, promise, oath, or contract or of law, civil, political, or mor-
OBLIGATION £
al, independent of a promise; that which constitutes legal or moral duty, and,which renders a person liable to coercion and punishment for neglecting it. Webster.
"Obligation" is the correlative of "right." Taking the latter word in its politico-ethical sense, as a power of free action lodged in a person, "obligation" is the corresponding duty, constraint, or binding force which should prevent all other persons from denying, abridging, or obstructing such right, or interfering with its exercise. And the same is its meaning as the correlative of a "jus in rem." Taking "right" as meaning a "jus in personam," (a power, demand, claim, or privilege inherent in one person, and incident upon another,) the "obligation" is the coercive force or control imposed upon the person of incidence by the moral law and the positive law, (or the moral law as recognized and sanctioned by the positive law,) constraining him to accede to the demand, render up the thing claimed, pay the money due, or otherwise perform what is expected of him with respect to the subject-matter of the right.
In a limited and arbitrary sense, it means a penal bond or "writing obligatory," that is, a bond containing a penalty, with a condition annexed for the payment of money or performance of covenants. Co. Litt. 172.
Obligation is (1) legal or moral duty, as opposed to physical compulsion; (2) a duty incumbent upon an individual, or a specific and limited number of individuals, as opposed to a duty imposed upon the world at large; (3) the right to enforce such a duty, (jus in personam,) as opposed to such a right as that of property, (jus tn rem,) which avails against the world at large; (4) a bond containing a penalty, with a condition annexed, for the payment of money, performance of covenants, or the like. Mozley & Whitley.
In English expositions of the Roman law, and works upon general jurisprudence, "obligation" is used to translate the Latin "06-Ugatio." In this sense its meaning is much wider than as a technical term of English law. See Obiligatio.
Classification. The various sorts of obligations may be classified and defined as follows: They are either perfect or imperfect. A perfect obligation is one recognized and sanctioned by positive law; one of which the fulfillment can be enforced by the aid of the law. Aycock v. Martin, 37 Ga. 124, 92 Am. Dec. 56. But if the duty created by the obligation operates only on the moral sense, without being enforced by any positive law, it is called an "imperfect obligation," and creates no right of action, nor has it any legal operation. The duty of exercising gratitude, charity, and the other merely moral duties is an example of this kind of obligation. Civ. Code La. art. 1757; Edwards v. Kearzey, 96 U. S. 600, 24 L. Ed. 793.
They are either natural or civil. A natural obligation is one which cannot be enforced by action, but which is binding on the party who makes it in conscience and according to natural justice. Blair v. Williams, 4 Litt. (Ky.) 41. A civil obligation is a legal tie, which gives the party with whom it is contracted the right of enforcing its performance by law Civ. Code La. art. 1757; Poth. Obi. 173, 191.
They are either express or implied; the former being those by which the obligor binds himself in express terms to perform his obligation; while the latter are'such as are raised by the implication or inference of the law from the nature of the transaction.
They are determinate or indeterminate; the former being the case where the thing contract-
OBLIGATION
ed to be delivered is specified as an individual; the latter, where it may be any one of a particular class or species.
They are divisible or indivisible, according as the obligation may or may not be lawfully broken into several distinct obligations without the consent of the obligor.
They are joint or several; the former, where there are two or more obligors binding themselves jointly for the performance of the obligation; the latter, where the obligors promise, each for himself, to fulfill the engagement.
They are personal or real; the former being the case when the obligor himself is personally liable for the performance of the engagement, but does not directly bind his property; the latter, where real estate, not the person of the obligor, is primarily liable for performance.
They are heritable or personal. The former Is the case when the heirs and assigns of one party may enforce the performance against the heirs of the other; the latter, when the obligor binds himself only, not his heirs or representatives.
They are either principal or accessory. A principal obligation is one which is the most important object of the engagement of the contracting parties; while an accessory obligation depends upon or is collateral to the principal.
They may be either conjunctive or alternative. The former is one in which the several objects in it are connected by a copulative, or in any other manner which shows that all of them are severally comprised in the contract. This contract creates as many different obligations as there are different objects; and the debtor, when he wishes to discharge himself, may force the creditor to receive them separately. But where the things which form the object of the contract are separated by a disjunctive, then the obligation is alternative. A promise to deliver a certain thing or to pay a specified sum of money is an example of this kind of obligation. Civ. Code La. art 2063.
They are either simple or conditional. Simple obligations are such as are not dependent for their execution on any event provided for by the parties, and which are not agreed to become void on the happening of any such event. Conditional obligations are such as are made to depend on an uncertain event If the obligation is not to take effect until the event happens, it is a suspensive condition; _ if the obligation takes effect immediately, but is liable to be defeated when the event happens, it is then a resolutory condition. Civ. Code La. arts. 2020, 2021; Moss v. Smoker, 2 La. Ann. 989.
They may be either single or penal; the latter, when a penal clause is attached to the undertaking, to be enforced in case the obligor fails to perform; the former, when no such penalty is added.
Other compound and descriptive terms. —Moral obligation. A duty which is valid and binding in the forum of the conscience but is not recognized by the law as adequate to set in motion the machinery of justice; that is, one which rests upon ethical consideration's alone, and is not imposed or enforced by positive law. Taylor v. Hotchkiss, 81 App. Div. 470, 80 N. Y. Supp. 1042; Goulding v. Davidson, 25 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 483; Bailey v. Philadelphia, 167 Pa. 569, 31 Atl. 925, 46 Am. St. Rep. 691.—Obligation of a contract. As used in Const. U. S. art. 1, § 10, the term means the binding and coercive force which constrains every man to perform the agreements he has made; a force grounded in the ethical principle of fidelity to one's promises, but deriving its legal efficacy from its recognition by positive law, and sanctioned by the law's providing a remedy for the infraction of the duty or for the enforcement of the correlative right. See Story, Const. § 1378; Black, Const. Pro-hib. § 139. See Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat 213, 6 L. Ed. 606; Blair v. Williams, 4 Litt.
OBLIGATION
844
OBSOLETE
(Ky.) 36; Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 197, 4 L. Ed. 529: Wachter v. Famachon, 62 Wis. 117, 22 N. W. 160.—Obligation soli-daire. This, in French law, corresponds to }"oint and several liability in, English law, but is applied also to the joint and several rights of the creditors parties to the obligation.—Primary obligation. An obligation which is the principal object of the contract For example, the primary obligation of the seller is to deliver the thing sold, and to transfer the title to it. It is distinguished from the accessory or secondary obligation to pay damages for not doing so. 1 Bouv". Inst. no. 702. The words "primary" and "direct," contrasted with "secondary," when spoken with reference to an obligation, refer to the remedy provided by law for enforcing the obligation, rather ^ than to the character and limits of the obligation itself. Kilton v. Providence Tool Co., 22 R. I. 605, 48 Atl. 1039.—Principal obligation. That obligation which arises from the principal object of the engagement which has been contracted between the parties. Poth. Obi. no. 182. One to which is appended an accessory or subsidiary obligation.—Pure obligation. One which is not suspended by any condition, whether it has been contracted without any condition. or, when thus contracted, the condition! has been accomplished. Poth. Obi. no. 176 — Real obligation. In the civil law and in Louisiana. An obligation attached to immovable property, that is, real estate. Civ. Code La. 1900, art 2010.—Simple obligation. In the civil law. An obligation which does not depend for its execution upon any event provided for by the parties, or which is not agreed to become void on the happening of any such event. Civ. Code La. art. 2015.—Solidary obligation. In the law of Louisiana, one which binds each of the obligors for the whole debt, as distinguished from a "joint" obligation, which binds the parties each for his separate proportion of the debt Groves v. Sentell, 153 U. S. 465, 14 Sup. Ot. 898, 38 L. Ed. 785.
OBLIGATORY. The term "writing obligatory" is a technical term of the law, and means a written contract under seal. Wat-eon v. Hoge, 7 Yerg. (Tenn.) 350.
OBLIGEE. The person in favor of whom some obligation is contracted, whether such obligation be to pay money or to do or not to do something. Code La. art. 3522, no. 1L The party to whom a bond is given.
OBLIGOR. The person who has engaged to perform some obligation. Code La. art. 3522, no. 12. One who makes a bond.
OBLIQUTTS. Lat In the old law of descents. Oblique; cross; transverse; collateral. The opposite of rectus, right, or upright
In the law of evidence. Indirect; circumstantial.
OBLITERATION. Erasure or blotting out of written words.
Obliteration is not limited to effacing the letters of a will or scratching them out or blotting them so completely that they cannot be read. A line drawn through the writing is obliteration, though it may leave it as legible as it was before. See Glass v. Scott, 14 Oolo. App. 377, 60 Pac. 186; Evans' Appeal,
58 Pa. 244; Townshend v. Howard, 86 Me. 285, 29 Atl. 1077; State v. Knippa, 29 Tex. 29a
OBLOQUY. To expose one to "obloquy" is to expose him to censure and reproach, as the latter terms are synonymous with "obloquy." Bettner v. Holt, 70 Cal. 275, 11 Pac 716.
OBRA. In Spanish law. Work. Obras, works or trades; those which men carry on in houses or covered places. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 5, c. 3, § 6.
OBREPTIO. Lat The obtaining a thing by fraud or surprise. Calvin. Called, in Scotch law, "obreption."
OBREPTION. Obtaining anything by fraud or surprise. Acquisition of escheats, etc., from the sovereign, by making false representations. Bell.
OBROGARE. Lat In the civil law. To pass a law contrary to a former law, or to some clause of it; to change a former law in some part of it Calvm.
OBROGATION. In the civil law. The alteration of a law by the passage of one inconsistent with it Calvin.
OBSCENE. Lewd; impure; indecent; calculated to shock the moral sense of man by a disregard of chastity or modesty. Tim-mons v. U. S., 85 Fed. 205, 30 C. C. A. 74; U. S. v. Harmon (D. C.) 45 Fed. 414; Dunlop v. U. S., 165 U. S. 486, 17 Sup. Ct 375, 41 L. Ed. 799; Com. v. Landis, 8 Phila. (Pa.) 453.
OBSCENITY. The character or quality of being obscene; conduct tending to corrupt the public morals by its indecency or lewdness. State v. Pfenninger, 76 Mo. App. 313; U. S. v. Loftis (D. C.) 12 Fed. 671.
OBSERVE. In the civil law. To perform that which has been prescribed by some law or usage. Dig. 1, 3, 32. See Marshall County r. Knoll, 102 Iowa, 573, 69 N. W. 1146.
OBSES. Lat. In the law of war. A hostage. Obsides, hostages.
OB SIGN ARE. Lat In the civil law. To seal up; as money that had been tendered and refused.
OBSIGNATORY. Ratifying and confirming.
OBSOLESCENT. Becoming obsolete; going out of use; not entirely disused, but gradually becoming so.
OBSOLETE. Disused; neglected; not observed. The term is applied to statutes
OBSTA PRINOIPIIS
845 OCCULTATIO THESAURI
which have become inoperative by lapse of time, either because the reason for their enactment has passed away, or their subject-matter no longer exists, or they are not applicable to changed circumstances, or are tacitly disregarded by all men, yet without being expressly abrogated or repealed.
OBSTA PRINCIPIIS. Lat. Withstand beginnings; resist the first approaches or encroachments. "It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon. Their motto should be 'Obsta principiis:" Bradley, J., Boyd v. U. S., 116 U. S. 635, 6 Sup. Ct. 535, 29 L. Ed. 746.
OBSTANTE. Withstanding; hindering. See Non Obstante.
OBSTRUCTION. Obligation; bond.
OBSTRUCT. 1. To block up; to interpose obstacles; to render impassable; to fill with barriers or impediments; as to obstruct a road or way. U. S. v. Williams, 28 Fed. Cas. 633; Chase v. Oshkosh, 81 Wis. 313, 51 N. W. 560, 15 L. R. A. 553, 29 Am. St. Rep. 898; Overhouser v. American Cereal Co., 118 Iowa, 417, 92 N. W. 74; Gor-ham v. Withey, 52 Mich. 50, 17 N. W. 272.
2. To impede or hinder; to interpose ob
stacles or impediments, to the hindrance or
frustration of some act or service; as to ob
struct an officer in the execution of his duty.
Davis v. State, 76 Ga. 722.
3. As applied to navigable waters, to "ob
struct" them is to interpose such impedi
ments in the way of free and open naviga
tion that vessels are thereby prevented from
going where ordinarily they have a right to
go or where they may find it necessary to go
in their maneuvers. See In re City of Rich
mond (D. C.) 43 Fed. 88; Terre Haute Draw
bridge Co. v. Halliday, 4 Ind. 36; The Van
couver, 28 Fed. Cas. 960.
4. As applied to the operation of rail
roads, an "obstruction" may be either that
which obstructs or hinders the free and safe
pass&ge of a train, or that which may re
ceive an injury or damage, such as it would
be unlawful to inflict, if run over or against
by the train, as in the case of aattle or a
man approaching on the track. Nashville
& C. R. Co. v. Carroll, 6 Heisk. (Tenn.) 368;
Louisville N. & G. R. Go. v. Reidmond, 11
Lea (Tenn.) 205; South & North Alabama
R. Co. v. Williams, 65 Ala. 77.
OBSTRUCTING PROCESS. In criminal law. The act by which one or more persons attempt to prevent or do prevent the execution of lawful process.
OBSTRUCTION. This is the word properly descriptive of an injury to any one's
incorporeal hereditament, e. g., his right to an easement, or profit & prendre; an alternative word being "disturbance." On the other hand, "infringement" is the word properly descriptive of an injury to any one's patent-rights or to his copyright. But "obstruction" is also a very general word in law, being applicable to every hindrance of a man in the discharge of his duty, (whether official, public, or private.) Brown.
OBTAIN. To acquire; to get hold of by effort; to get and retain possession of; as, in the offense of "obtaining" money or property by false pretenses. See Com. v. Schmunk, 207 Pa. 544, 56 Atl. 1088, 99 Am. St. Rep. 801; People v. General Sessions, 13 Hun (N. Y.) 400; State v. Will, 49 La. Ann. 1337, 22 South. 378; Sundmacher v. Block, 39 111. App. 553.
Obtemperandiun est consuetndini ra-tionabili tanquam legi. 4 Coke, 38. A reasonable custom is to be obeyed as a law.
OBTEMPERARE. Lat. To obey. Hence the Scotch "obtemper," to obey or comply with a judgment of a court.
OBTEST. To protest
OBTORTO COIXO. In Roman law. Taking by the neck or collar; as a plaintiff was allowed to drag a reluctant defendant to court. Adams, Rom. Ant. 242.
OBTUXIT SE. (Offered himself.) In old practice. The emphatic words of entry on the record where one party offered himself in court against the other, and the latter did not appear. 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 417.
OBVENTTO. Lat. In the civil law.
Rent; profits; income; the return from an investment or thing owned; as the earnings of a vessel.
In old English, law. The revenue of a spiritual living, so called. Also, in the plural, "offerings."
OCASION. In Spanish law. Accident. Las Partidas, pt. 3, tit. 32, 1. 21; White, New Recop. b. 2, tit. 9, c. 2.
OCCASIO. In feudal law. A tribute which the lord imposed on his vassals or tenants for his necessity. Hindrance; trouble; vexation by suit
OCCASIONARI. To be charged or loaded with payments or occasional penalties.
OCCASIONES. In old English law. Assarts. Spelman.
Occultatio thesauri invent! fraudu-losa. 3 Inst. 133. The concealment of discovered treasure is fraudulent
OCCUPANCY
846 OCCUPYING CLAIMANT ACT3
OCCUPANCY. Occupancy is a mode of acquiring property by which a thing which belongs to nobody becomes the property of the person who took possession of it, with the intention of acquiring a right of ownership in it. Civ. Code La. art. 3412; God-dard v. Winchell, 86 Iowa, 71, 52 N. W. 1124, 17 L. R. A. 788, 41 Am. St. Rep. 481.
The taking possession of things which before belonged to nobody, with an intention of appropriating them to one's own use.
"Possession" and "occupancy," when applied to land, are nearly synonymous terms, and may exist through a tenancy. Thus, occupancy of a homestead, such as will satisfy the statute, may be by means other than that of actual residence on the premises by the widow or child. Walters v. People, 21 111. 178.
There is a use of the word in public-land laws, homestead laws, "occupying-claimant" laws, cases of landlord and tenant, and like connections, which seems to require the broader sense of possession, although there is, in most of these uses, a shade of meaning discarding any prior title as a foundation of right. Perhaps both uses or views may be harmonized, by saying that in jurisprudence occupancy or occupation is possession, presented independent of the idea of a chain of title, of any earlier owner. Or "occupancy" and "occupant" might be used for assuming property which has no owner, and "occupation" and "occupier" for the more general idea of possession. Judge Bouvier's definitions seem partly founded on such a distinction, and there are indications of it in English usage. It does not appear generally drawn in American books. Abbott
In international law. The taking possession of a newly discovered or conquered country with the intention of holding and ruling it.
OCCUPANT. In a general sense. One
who takes possession of a thing, of which there is no owner; one who has the actual possession or control of a thing.
In. a special sense. One who takes possession of lands held pur autre vie, after the death of the tenant, and during the life of the cestui que vie.
—General occupant. At common law where a man was tenant pur autre vie, or had an estate granted to himself only (without mentioning his heirs) for the life of another man, and died without alienation during the life of cestui que vie, or him by whose life it was holden, he that could first enter on the land might lawfully retain the possession, so long as cestui que vie lived, by right of occupancy, and was hence termed a "general" or common "occupant." 1 Steph. Comm. 415.—Special occupant. A person having a special right to enter upon and occupy lands granted pur autre vie, on the death of the tenant, and during the life of cestui que vie. Where the grant is to a man and his heirs during the life of cestui que vie, the heir succeeds as special occupant, having a special exclusive right by the terms of the original grant. 2 Bl. Comm. 259; 1 Steph. Comm. 416.
Occupantis finnt dereliota. Things abandoned become the property of the (first) occupant. Taylor-v. The Cato, 1 Pet. Adm. 53, Fed. Cas. No. 13,786.
OCCUPARE. Lat. In the civil law. To seize or take possession of; to enter upon a vacant possession; to take possession before another. Calvin.
OCCUPATTLE. That which has been left by the right owner, and is now possessed by another.
OCCUPATION. 1. Possession; control; tenure; use.
In its usual sense "occupation" is where a person exercises physical control over land. Thus, the lessee of a house is in occupation of it so long as he has the power of entering into and staying there at pleasure, and of excluding all other persons (or all except one or more specified persons) from the use of it. Occupation is therefore the same thing as actual possession. Sweet.
The word "occupation," applied to real property, is, ordinarily, equivalent to "possession." In connection with other expressions, it may mean that the party should be living upon the premises; but, standing alone, it is satisfied by actual possession. Lawrence v. Fulton, 19 Oal. 683.
2. A trade; employment; profession; business ; means of livelihood.
—Actual occupation. An open, visible occupancy as distinguished from the constructive one which follows the legal title. Cutting v. Patterson, 82 Minn. 375, 85 N. W. 172; People v. Ambrecht, 11 Abb. Prac. (N. Y.) 97; Bennett v. Burton, 44 Iowa, 550.—Occupation tax. A tax imposed upon an occupation or the prosecution of a business, trade, or profession; not a tax on property, or even the capital employed in the business, but an excise tax on the business itself; to be distinguished from a "license tax," which is a fee or exaction for the privilege of engaging in the business, not for its prosecution. See Adler v. Whitbeck, 44 Ohio St. 539, 9 N. E. 672; Appeal of Banger, 109 Pa. 95; Pullman Palace Car Co. v. State, 64 Tex. 274, 53 Am. Rep. 788.
OCCUPATIVE. Possessed; used; employed.
OCCUPAVIT. Lat. In old English law. A writ that lay for one who was ejected out of his land or tenement in time of war. Cowell.
OCCUPIER. An occupant; one who is in the enjoyment of a thing.
OCCUPY. To hold in possession; to hold or keep for use. Missionary Soc. of M. E. Church v. Dalles City, 107 U. S. 343, 2 Sup. Ct. 677, 27 L. Ed. 545; Jackson v. Gill, 11 Johns. (N. Y.) 214, 6 Am. Dec. 363.
OCCUPYING CLAIMANT ACTS. Statutes providing for the reimbursement of a bona fide occupant and claimant of land, on its recovery by the true owner, to the extent to which lasting improvements made by him have increased the value of the land, and generally giving him a lien therefor. Jones v. Great Southern Hotel Co., 86 Fed. 370, 30 C. C. A. 108.
OCEAN
847
OFFENSE
OCEAN. The main or open sea; the high sea; that portion of the sea which does not lie within the body of any country and is not subject to the territorial jurisdiction or control of any country, but Is open, free, and common to the use of all nations. See U. S. v. Rodgers, 150 U. S. 249, 14 Sup. Ct. 109, 37 L. Ed. 1071; D. S. v. New Bedford Bridge, 27 Fed. Cas. 120; De Lovio v. Bolt, 7 Fed. Cas. 428; U. S. v. Morel, 26 Fed. Cas. 1312.
OCHIERN. In old Scotch law. A name of dignity; a freeholder. Skene de Verb. Sign.
OCHLOCRACY. Government by the
multitude. A form of government wherein
the populace has the whole power and ad
ministration in its own hands.
OCTAVE. In old English law. The eighth day inclusive after a feast; one of the return days of writs. 3 Bl. Comm. 278.
OCTO TALES. Eight such; eight such men; eight such jurors. The name of a writ, at common law, which issues when upon a trial at bar, eight more jurors are necessary to fill the panel, commanding the sheriff to summon the requisite number. 3 BI. Comm. 364. See Decem Tales.
OCTROI. Ft. In French law. Originally, a duty, which, by the permission of the seigneur, any city was accustomed to collect on liquors and some other goods, brought within its precincts, for the consumption of the Inhabitants. Afterwards appropriated to the use of the king. Steph. Lect. p. 361.
Oderunt peccare boni, virtutis amoie; oderunt peccare mail, formidine poenee.
Good men hate sin through love of virtue; bad men, through fear of punishment.
ODHAIh Complete property, as opposed to feudal tenure. The transposition of the syllables of "odhal" makes It "allodh" and hence, according to Blackstone, arises the word "allod" or "allodial," (q. v.) "Allodh" Is thus put in contradistinction to "feeodh." Mozley & Whitley.
ODIO ET ATIA. A writ anciently called "oreve de oono et malo," addressed to the sheriff to inquire whether a man committed to prison upon suspicion of murder were committed on just cause of suspicion, or only upon malice and 111 will; and if, upon the inquisition, it were found that he was not guilty, then there issued another writ to the sheriff to bail him. Reg. Orig. 133.
Odiosa et inhonesta non sunt in lege prsesumanda. Odious and dishonest acts are not presumed in law. Co. Litt. 78; Jackson y. Miller, 6 Wend. (N. Y.) 228, 231,
21 Am. Dec. 316; Nichols y. Pinner, 18 N. Y. 295, 300.
Odiosa non prsesumuntur. Odious things are not presumed. Burrows, Sett. Oas. 190.
(ECONOMICUS. L. Lat. In oid English law. The executor of a last will and testament. Cowell.
CECONOMUS. Lat. In the civil law. A manager or administrator. Calvin.
OF COUNSEL. A phrase commonly applied in practice to the counsel employed by a party in a cause, and particularly to one employed to assist in the preparation or management of a cause, or its presentation on appeal, but who is not the principal attorney of record for the party.
OF COURSE. Any action or step taken in the course of judicial proceedings which will be allowed by the court upon mere application, without any inquiry or contest, or which may be effectually taken without even applying to, the court for leave, Is said to be "of course." Stoddard v. Treadwell, 29 Cal. 281; Merchants' Bank y. Crysler, 67 Fed. 390, 14 C. C. A. 444.
OF FORCE. In force; extant; not obsolete; existing as a binding or obligatory power.
OF GRACE. A term applied to any permission or license granted to a party in the course of a judicial proceeding which is not claimable as a matter of course or of right, but is allowed by the favor or indulgence of the court. See Walters v. McElroy, 151 Pa. 549, 25 Atl. 125.
OF NEW. A Scotch expression, closely translated from the Latin "de novo" (q. v.)
OF RECORD. Recorded; entered on the records; existing and remaining in or upon the appropriate records.
OFFA EXECRATA. In old English law. The morsel of execration; the corsn-ed, (g. v.) 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 21.
OFFENSE. A crime or misdemeanor', a breach of the criminal laws. Moore v. Illinois, 14 How. 13, 14 L. Ed. 306; lilies v. Knight, 3 Tex. 312; People v. French, 102 N. Y. 583, 7 N. E. 913; State v. West, 42 •Minn. 147, 43 N. W. 845.
It is used as a genus, comprehending every crime and misdemeanor, or as a species, signifying a crime not indictable,. but punishable summarily or by the forfeiture of a penalty. In re Terry (C. C.) 37 Fed. 649.
—Continuing offense. A transaction or a series of acts set on foot by a single impulse,
OFFENSE
848
OFFICE
and operated by an unintermittent force, no matter how long a time it may occupy. People v. Sullivan, 9 Utah, 195, 33 Pac. 701.—Quasi offense. One which is imputed to the person who is responsible for its injurious consequences, not because he himself committed it, but because the perpetrator of it is presumed to have acted under his commands.
OFFENSIVE. In the law relating to nuisances and similar matters, this term means noxious, causing annoyance, discomfort, or painful or disagreeable sensations. See Rowland v. Miller (Super. N. Y.) 15 N. Y. Supp. 701; Moller v. Presbyterian Hospital, 65 App. Div. 134, 72 N. Y. Supp. 483; Barrow v. Richard, 8 Paige (N. Y.) 360, 35 Am. Dec. 713. As occasionally used in criminal law and statutes, an "offensive weapon" is primarily one meant and adapted for attack and the infliction of injury, but practically the term includes anything that would come within the description of a "deadly" or "dangerous" weapon. See State v. Dineen, 10 Minn. 411 (Gil. 325); Rex v. Grice, 7 Car. & P. 803; Rex v. Noakes, 5 Car. & P. 326. In international law, an "offensive and defensive league" Is one binding the contracting powers not only to aid each other in case of aggression upon either of them by a third power, but also to support and aid each other in active and aggressive measures against a power with which either of them may engage in war.
OFFER. 1. To bring to or before; to present for acceptance or rejection; to hold out or proffer; to make a proposal to; to exhibit something that may be taken or received or not. Morrison v. Springer, 15 Iowa, 346; Vincent v. Woodland .Oil Co., 165 Pa. 402, 30 Atl. 991; People v. Ah Fook, 62 Cal. 494.
2. To attempt or endeavor; to make an
effort to effect some object; in this sense
used principally in criminal law. Com. v.
Harris, 1 Leg. Gaz. R. (Pa.) 457.
3. In trial practice, to "offer" evidence
is to state its nature and purport, or to re
cite what is expected to be proved by a giv
en witness or document, and demand its
admission. Unless under exceptional circum
stances, the term is not to be taken as equiv
alent to "introduce." See Ansley v. Meikle,
81 Ind. 260; Lyon v. Davis, 111 Ind. 384,
12 N. E. 714; Harris v. Tomlinson, 130
Ind. 426, 30 N. E. 214.
OFFERINGS. In English ecclesiastical law. Personal tithes, payable by custom to the parson or vicar of a parish, either occasionally, as at sacraments, marriages-, churching of women, burials, etc., or at constant times, as at Easter, Christmas, etc.
OFFERTORIUM. In English ecclesiastical law. The offerings of the faithful, or the place where they are made or fcept; the service at the time of the Communion.
OFFICE. "Office" is defined to be a right to exercise a public or private employment, and to take the fees and emoluments thereunto belonging, whether public, as those of magistrates, or private, as of bailiffs, receivers, or the like. 2 Bl. Comm. 36. Rowland v. New York, 83 N. Y. 372; Dailey v. State, 8 Blackf. (Ind.) 330; Blair v. Marye, 80 Va. 495; Worthy v. Barrett, 63 N. C. 202; People v. Duane, 121 N. Y. 367, 24 N. E. 845; U. S. v. Hartwell, 6 Wall. 393, 18 L. Ed. 830.
That function by virtue whereof a person has some employment in the affairs of another, whether judicial, ministerial, legislative, municipal, ecclesiastical, etc. Cowell.
An employment on behalf of the government in any station or public trust, not merely transient, occasional, or incidental. In re Attorneys' Oaths, 20 Johns. (N. Y.) 493.
The most frequent occasions to use the word arise with reference to a duty and power conferred on an individual by the government; and, when this is the connection, "public office" is a usual and more discriminating expression. But a power and duty may exist without immediate grant from government, and may be properly called an "office;" as the office of executor, the office of steward. Here the individual acts towards legatees or towards tenants in performance of a duty, and in exercise of a power not derived from their consent, but devolved on him by an authority which quoad hoc is superior. Abbott.
Offices may be classed as civil and military; and civil offices may be classed as political, judicial, and ministerial. Political offices are such as are not connected immediately with the administration of justice, or the execution of the mandates of a superior officer. Judicial are those which relate to the administration of justice. Ministerial are those which give the officer no power to judge of the matter to be done, and require him to obey the mandates of a superior. It is a general rule that a judicial office cannot be exercised by deputy, while a ministerial one may. Waldo v. Wallace, 12 Ind. 569.
"Office" is frequently used in the old books as an abbreviation for "inquest of office," (Q. v.)
—Lucrative office. See Lucrative.—Office-book. Any book for the record of official or other transactions, kept under authorityof the state, in public offices not connected with the courts.—Office-copy. A copy or transcript of a deed or record or any filed document made by the officer having it in custody or under his sanction, and by him sealed or certified.—Office found. In English law. Inquest of office found; the finding of certain facts by a jury on an inquest or inquisition of office. 3 Bl. Comm. 258, 259. This phrase has been adopted in American law. 2 Kent, Comm. 61. See Phillips v. Moore, 100 U. S. 212, 25 L. Ed. 603; Baker v. Shy, 9 Heisk. (Tenn.) 89.—Office grant. A designation of a conveyance made by some officer of the law to effect certain purposes, where the owner is either unwilling or unable to execute the requisite deeds to pass the title; such, for example, as a tax-deed. 3 Washb. Real Prop. *537.—Office hours. That portion of the day during which public offices are usually open for the transaction of business. —Office of honor. See Honor.—Office of judge. A criminal suit in an ecclesiastical court, not being directed to the reparation of a
OFFICE
private injury, is regarded as a proceeding emanating from the office of the judge, and may be instituted by the mere motion of the judge. But, in practice, these suits are instituted by private individuals, with the permission of the judge or his surrogate ; and the private prosecutor in any such case is, accordingly, said to "promote the office of the judge." Mozley & Whitley.—Political office. Civil offices are usually divided into three classes,—political, judicial, and ministerial. Political offices are such as are not immediately connected with the administration of justice, or with the execution of the mandates of a superior, such as the president or the head of a department. "Waldo v. Wallace, 12 Ind. 569; Fitzpatrick v. U. S., 7 Ct. CI. 293.—Principal office. The principal office of a corporation is its headquarters, or the place where the chief or principal affairs and business of the corporation are transacted. Usually it is the office where the company's books are kept, where its meetings of stockholders are held, and where the directors, trustees, or managers assemble to discuss and transact the important general business of the company; but no one of these circumstances is a controlling test. See Jossey v. Georgia & A. Ry., 102 Ga 706, 28 S. E. 273; Milwaukee Steamship Co v. Milwaukee, 83 Wis. 590, 53 N. W. 839, 18 L. R. A. 353; Standard Oil Co. v. Com., 110 Ky. 821, 62 S. W. 897; Middletown Ferry Co. v. Middletown, 40 Conn. 69.
As to various particular offices, see Land Office, Petty Bag Office, Post Office, etc.
OFFICER. The incumbent of an office; one wha is lawfully invested with an office. One who is charged by a superior power (and particularly by government) with the power and duty of exercising, certain functions.
—Civil officer. Any officer of the United States who holds his appointment under the national government, whether his 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. 1 Story. Const. § 792; State v. Clarke, 21 Nev. 333, 31 Pac. 545, 18 L. R A. 313. 37 Am. St. Rep. 517; State v. O'Driscoll, 3 Brev. (S. C.) 527; Com'rs v. Goldsborough, 90 Md. 193, 44 Atl. 1055.—Officer de facto. As distinguished from an officer de jure, this is the designation of one who is in the actual possession and administration of the office, under some colorable or apparent authority, although his title to the same, whether by election or appointment, is in reality invalid or at least formally questioned. See Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U. S. 425, 6 Sup. Ct. 1121, 30 L. Ed. 78; State v. Carroll. 38 Conn. 449, 9 Am. Rep. 409; Trenton v. McDaniel, 52 N. C. 107; Barlow v. Stanford, 82 111. 298; Brown v. Lunt, 37 Me. 423; Gregg Tp. v. Jamison, 55 Pa. 468; Pierce v. Edington, 38 Ark. 150; Plymouth v. Painter, 17 Conn. 585, 44 Am. Dec. 574; Prescott v. Hayes, 42 N. H. 56; Jewell v. Gilbert, 64 N. H. 12, 5 Atl. 80, 10 Am. St. Rep. 357; Griffin v. Cunningham, 20 Grat. (Va.) 31; Ex parte Strang, 21 Ohio St. 610.—Officers of justice. A general name applicable to all persons connected with the administration of the judicial department of government, but commonly used only of the class of officers whose duty is to serve the process of the courts, such as sheriffs, constables, bailiffs, marshals, sequestrators, etc. —Public officer. An officer of a public corporation ; that is, one holding office under the government of a municipality, state, or nation. In English law, an officer appointed by a joint-stock banking company, under the statutes reg-. ulating such companies, to prosecute and defend suits in its behalf.
BiL.LAW Diot.(2d Ed.)—54
9 OFFICIAL
For definitions of the various classes and kinds of officers, see the titles "Commissioned Officers," "Executive," "Fiscal," "Judicial," "Legislative," "Ministerial," "Municipal," "Non-Commissioned," "Peace," and "State."
Officia judicialia non concedantur an-tequam vacent. 11 Coke, 4. Judicial offices should not be granted before they are vacant.
Officia magistratus non debent esse venalia. Co. Litt 234. The offices of magistrates ought not to be sold.
OFFICIAL, n. An officer; a person invested with the authority of an office.
In the civil law. The minister or apparitor of a magistrate or judge.
In canon law. A person to whom a bishop commits the charge of his spiritual jurisdiction.
In common and statnte law. The person whom the archdeacon substitutes in the execution of his jurisdiction. Cowell.
OFFICIAL, adj. Pertaining to an office; invested with the character of an officer; proceeding from, sanctioned by, or done by, an officer.
—Demi-official. Partly official or authorized. Having color of official right.—Official act. One done by an officer in his official capacity under color and by virtue of his office. Turner v. Sisson, 137 Mass. 192; Lammon v. Feusire, 111 U. S. 17, 4 Sup. Ct. 286, 28 L. Ed. 337.— Official assignee. In English practice. An assignee in bankruptcy appointed by the lord chancellor to co-operate with the other assignees in administering a bankrupt's estate.—Official managers. Persons formerly appointed, under English statutes now repealed, to superintend the winding up of insolvent companies under the control of the court of chancery. Wharton. —Official misconduct. Any unlawful behavior by a public officer in relation to the duties of his office, willful in its character, including any willful or corrupt failure, refusal, or neglect of an officer to perform any duty enjoined on him by law. Watson v. State, 9 Tex. App. 212; Brackenridge v. State, 27 Tex. App. 513, 11 S. W. 630, 4 L. R. A. 360.—Official principal. An ecclesiastical officer whose duty it is to hear causes between party and party as the delegate of the bishop or archbishop by whom he is appointed. He generally also holds the office of vicar general and (if appointed by a bishop) that of chancellor. The official principal of the province of Canterbury is called the "dean of arches " Phillim Ecc. Law, 1203, et seq.; Sweet.—Official solicitor to the court of chancery. An officer in England whose functions are to protect the suitors' fund, and to administer, under the direction of the court, so much of it as now comes under the spending power of the court. He acts for persons suing or defending in forma pauperis, when so directed by the judge, and for those who, through ignorance or forgetfulness, have been guilty of contempt of court by not obeying process. He also acts generally as solicitor in all cases in which the chancery division requires such services. The office is transferred to the high court by the judicature acts, but no alteration in its name appears to have been made.
OFFICIAL
850 OLOGRAPHIC TESTAMENT
Sweet.—-Official trustee of charity lands.
The secretary of the English charity commissioners. He is a corporation sole for the purpose of taking and holding real property and leaseholds upon trust for an endowed charity in cases where it appears to the court desirable to vest them in him. He is a bare trustee, the possession and management of the land remaining in the persons acting in the administration of the charity. Sweet.
As to official "Bonds," "Liquidator," "Log-Book," "Newspaper," "Oath," and "Use," see those titles.
OFFICIALTY. The court or jurisdiction of which an official is head.
OFFICIARIIS NON FACIENDIS VEL AMOVENDIS. A writ addressed to the magistrates of a corporation, requiring them not to make such a man an officer, or to put one out of the office he has, until Inquiry is made of his manners, etc. Reg. Orig. 126.
OFFICINA JUSTITLSS. The workshop or office of justice. The chancery was formerly so called. See 3 Bl. Comm. 273; Yates v. People, 6 Johns. (N. Y.) 363.
OFFICIO, EX, OATH. An oath whereby a person may be obliged to make any presentment of any crime or offense, or to confess or accuse himself of any criminal matter or thing whereby he may be liable to any censure, penalty, or punishment. 3 Bl. Comm. 447.
OFFICIOUS WILL. A testament by which a testator leaves his property to Ms family. Sandars, Just. Inst. 207. See Inofficious Testament.
Officit conatus si eflectns sequatur.
The attempt becomes of consequence, if the effect follows. Jenk. Cent, 55.
Officinm nemini debet esse damnosum.
Office ought not to be an occasion of loss to any one. A maxim in Scotch law. Bell.
OFFSET. A deduction; a counterclaim; a contrary claim or demand by which a given claim may be lessened or canceled. See Leonard v. Charter Oak L. Ins. Co., 65 Conn. 529, 33 Atl. 511; Cable Flax Mills v. Early, 72 App. Div. 213, 76 N. Y. Supp. 191. The more usual form of the word is "set-off," (ff. v.)
OFFSPRING. This term Is synonymous with "issue." See Barber v. Railroad Co., 166 U. S. 83, 17 Sup. Ct. 488, 41 L. Ed. 925; Allen v. Markle, 36 Pa. 117; Powell v. Brandon, 2 Cushm. (Miss.) 343.
OIR. In Spanish law. To hear; to take cognizance. White, New Recop. b. 3, tit 1, c. 7.
OKER. In Scotch law. Usury; the tak* lng of interest for money, contrary to law. Bell.
OLD NATURA BREVIUM. The titlt of a treatise written in the reign of Edward III. containing the writs which were then most in use, annexing to each a short comment concerning their nature and the application of them, with their various properties and effects. 3 Reeve, Eng. Law, 152.
It is so called by way of distinction from the New Natura Brevium of Fitzherbert, and is generally cited as "O. N. B.," or as "Vet. Na. B.," using the abbreviated form of the Latin title.
OLD STYLE. The ancient calendar or method of reckoning time, whereby the year commenced on March 25th. It was superseded by the new style {that now in use) in most countries of Europe in 1582 and I*. England in 1752.
OLD TENURES. A treatise, so called to distinguish it from Littleton's book on the same subject, which gives an account of the various tenures by which land was holden, the nature of estates, and some other incidents to landed property in the reign of Edward III. It is a very scanty tract, but has the merit of having led the way to Littleton's famous work. 3 Reeve, Eng. Law, 151.
OLEOMARGARINE. An artificial imitation of butter, made chiefly from animal fats. Its sale i is prohibited or restricted by statute in several of the states. See Cook v. State, 110 Ala. 40, 20 South. 360; Butler v. Chambers, 36 Minn. 69, 30 N. W. 308, 1 Am. St. Rep. 638; State v. Ransick, 62 Ohio St. 283, 56 N. E. 1024; Braun v. Coyne (C. C.) 125 Fed. 331; U. S. Comp. St 1901, p. 2228; State v. Armour Packing Co., 124 Iowa, 323, 100 N. W. 60; People v. Arensburg, 105 N. Y. 123, 11 N. E. 277, 59 Am. Rep. 483; Powell v. Com., 114 Pa. 265, 7 Atl. 913, 60 Am. Rep. 350; Powell v. Pennsylvania, 127 U. S. 678, 8 Sup. Ct. 992, 32 L. Ed. 253.
OLERON, LAWS OF. A code of maritime laws published at the island of Oleron in the twelfth century by Eleanor of Gui-enne. They were adopted in England successively under Richard I., Henry III., and Edward III., and are often cited before the admiralty courts. De Lovio v. Boit, 2 Gall, 398, Fed. Cas. No. 3,776.
OLIGARCHY. A form of government wherein the administration of affairs is lodged in the hands of a few persons.
OLOGRAPH. An instrument (e. g., a will) wholly written by the person from whom it emanates.
OLOGRAPHIC TESTAMENT. The olographic testament is that which is written
OLYMPIAD 851 OMNIA PR^SUMUNTUR
by the testator himself. In order to be valid It must be entirely written, dated, and signed by the hand of the testator. It is subject to no other form, and may be made anywhere, even out of the state. Civil Code La. art. 1588; Civil Code Cal. § 1277.
OLYMPIAD. A Grecian epoch; the space of four years.
OME BUENO. In Spanish law. A good man; a substantial person. Las Partidas, pt. 5, tit 13, 1. 38.
Omissio eornm quae tacite insunt nihil operatnr. The omission of those things which are tacitly implied is of no consequence. 2 Bulst. 131.
OMISSIS OMNIBUS ALUS NEGO-TIIS. Lat. Laying aside all other businesses. 9 Bast, 347.
OMITTANCE. Forbearance; omission.
Omne actum ab intentions agentis est judicandum. Every act is to be judged by the intention of the doer. Branch, Princ.
Omne crimen ebrietas et incendit et detegit. Drunkenness both inflames (or aggravates) and reveals every crime. Co. Litt. 247o; 4 Bl. Comm. 26; Broom, Max. 17.
Omne jus ant consensus fecit, aut ne-cessitas constituit aut firmavit consuetude Every right is either made by consent, or is constituted by necessity, or is established by custom. Dig. 1, 3, 40.
Omne magis dignum trah.it ad se minus dignum, quamvis minus dignum sit antiquius. Every worthier thing draws to It the less worthy, though the less worthy be the more ancient. Co. Litt. 3556.
Omne magnum exemplum habet ali-quid ex iniquo, quod publica utilitate compensatur. Hob. 279. Every great example has some portion of evil, which is compensated by the public utility.
Omne majus continet in se minus.
Every greater contains in itself the less. 5 Coke, 115a. The greater always contains the less. Broom, Max. 174.
Omne majus dignum continet in se minus dignum. Co. Litt. 43. The more worthy contains in itself the less worthy.
Omne majus minus in se complectitur.
Every greater embraces in itself the less. Jenk. Cent. 208.
Omne principale trahit ad se accesso-rium. Every principal thing draws to it-
self the accessory. Parsons v. Welles, 17 Mass. 425; Green y. Hart, 1 Johns. (N. Y.) 580.
Omne quod solo insedificatur solo cedit.
Everything which is built upon the soil belongs to the soil. Dig. 47, 3, 1; Broom, Max. 401.
Omne sacramentum debet esse de certa scientia. Every oath ought to be of certain knowledge. 4 Inst. 279.
Omne testamentum morte consumma-tum est. 3 Coke, 29. Every will is completed by death.
Omnes actiones in mundo infra certa tempora babent limitationem. All ac
tions in the world are limited within certain periods. Bract, fol. 52.
Omnes homines aut liberi sunt aut servi. All men are freemen or slaves. Inst. 1, 3, pr.; Fleta, 1. 1, c. 1, § 2.
Omnes licentiam habere his quae pro se indulta sunt, renunciare. [It is a rule of the ancient law that] all persons shall have liberty to renounce those privileges which have been conferred for their benefit Cod. 1, 3, 51; Id. 2, 3, 29; Broom, Max. 699.
Omnes prudentes ilia admittere solent quae probantur lis qui in arte sua bene ?ersati sunt. All prudent men are accustomed to admit those things which are approved by those who are well versed in the art. 7 Coke, 19.
Omnes sorores sunt quasi unus hseres de una hsereditate. Co. Litt. 67. All sisters are, as it were, one heir to one inheritance.
OMNI EXCEPTIONE MAJUS. 4 Inst 262. Above all exception.
Omnia delicta in aperto leviora sunt.
All crimes that are committed openly are lighter, [or have a less odious appearance than those committed secretly.] 8 Coke, 127a.
OMNIA PERFORMAVIT. He has done all. In pleading. A good plea in bar where all the covenants are in the* affirmative. Bailey v. Rogers, 1 Me. 189.
Omnia prsesumuntur contra spoliato-rem. All things are presumed against a despoiler or wrong-doer. A leading maxim in the law of evidence. Best, Ev. p. 340, f 303; Broom, Max. 938.
Omnia prsesumuntur legitime facta donee probetur in contrarium. All things are presumed to be lawfully done, until proof
OMNIA PR^SUMUNTUR 852 OMNIUM CONTRIBUTIONS
be made to the contrary. Co. Litt. 2326; Best, *Ev. p. 337, § 300.
Omnia prsesumuntur rite et solemni-ter esse acta doneo probetur in contra-rium. All things are presumed to have been rightly and duly performed until it is proved to the contrary. Co. Litt 232; Broom, Max. 944.
Omnia prsesnmnntnr solemniter esse acta. Co. Litt. 6. All things are presumed to have been done rightly.
Omnia quae jure contrahnntur contra-rio jure perennt. Dig. 50, 17, 100. All things which are contracted by law perish by a contrary law.
Omnia qnse sunt uxoris snnt ipsins viri. All things which are the wife's are the husband's. Bract, fol. 32; Co. Litt 112a. See 2 Kent, Comm. 130-143.
Omnia rite acta prsesnmnntnr. All
things are presumed to have been rightly done. Broom, Max. 944.
OMNIBUS AD QUOS PRiESENTES LITERS PERVENERINT, SALUTEM.
To all to whom the present letter/3 shall come, greeting. A form of address with which charters and deeds were anciently commenced.
OMNIBUS BILIi. 1. In legislative practice, a bill including in one act various separate and distinct matters, and particularly one joining a number of different subjects in one measure in such a way as to compel the executive authority to accept provisions which he does not approve or else defeat the whole enactment. See Com. v. Barnett, 199 Pa. 161, 48 Atl. 977, 55 L. R. A. 882; Yea-ger v. Weaver, 64 Pa. 425.
2. In equity pleading, a bill embracing the whole of a complex subject-matter by uniting all parties in interest having adverse or conflicting claims, thereby avoiding circuity or multiplicity of action.
Omnis actio est loquela. Every action is a plaint or complaint Go. Litt 292a.
Omnis conclnsio boni et veri jndicii seqnitnr ex bonis et veris prsemissis et dictis juratorum. Every conclusion of a good and true judgment follows from good and true premises, and the verdicts of jurors. Co. Litt. 2266.
Omnis consensus tollit errorem. Every consent removes error. Consent always removes the effect of error. 2 Inst 123.
Omnis definitio in jure civili pericu-losa est, parnm est enim nt non subvert! possit. Dig. 50, 17, 202. All defini-
tion in the civil law is hazardous, for there is little that cannot be subverted.
Omnis definitio in lege pericnlosa. All
definition in law is hazardous. 2 Wood. Lect 196.
Omnis eacceptio est ipsa qnoqne regula.
Every exception is itself also a rule.
Omnis indemnatns pro innoxis legibus habetur. Every uncondemned person is held •by the law as innocent Lofft, 121.
Omnis innovatio pins novitate pertur-bat qnam nltilitate prodest. Every innovation occasions more harm by its novelty than benefit by its utility. 2 Bulst 338; Broom, Max. 147.
Omnis interpretatio si fieri potest ita fienda est in instrnmentis, nt omnes con-trarietates amoveantur. Jenk. Cent. 96. Every interpretation, if it can be done, is to be so made in instruments that all contradictions may be removed.
Omnis interpretatio vel declarat, vel extendit, vel restringit. Every interpretation either declares, extends, or restrains.
Omnis nova constitntio futuris for-mam imponere debet, non prseteritis.
Every new statute ought to prescribe a form to future, not to past, acts. Bract fol. 228; 2 Inst. 95.
Omnis persona est homo, sed non vi-cissim. Every person is a man, but not every man a person. Calvin.
Omnis privatio prsesnpponit babitunu
Every privation presupposes a former enjoyment. Co. Litt 339a. A "rule of philosophic" quoted by Lord Coke, and applied to the discontinuance of an estate.
Omnis querela et omnis actio injnria-rum limita est infra certa tempora. Co.
Litt. 1146. Every plaint and every action for injuries is limited within certain times.
Omnis ratihabitio retrotrahitur et mandato priori sequiparatur. Every ratification relates back and is equivalent to a prior authority. Broom, Max. 757, 871; Chit Cont 196.
Omnis regula snas patitur exceptiones.
Every rule is liable to its own exceptions.
OMNIUM. In mercantile law. A term used to express the aggregate value of the different stock in which a loan is usually funded. Tomlins.
Omnium eontributione sarciatur qnod pro omnibus datum est. 4 Bing. 121. That which is given for all Is recompensed by
OMNIUM RERUM
853
ONEROUS
the contribution of all. A principle of the law of general average.
Omnium rerum quarum usus est, potest esse abusus, virtute solo excepta.
There may be an abuse of everything of which there is a use, virtue only excepted. Dav. Ir. K. B. 79.
ON ACCOUNT. In part payment; in partial satisfaction of an account. The phrase is usually contrasted with "in full."
ON ACCOUNT OF WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. When a policy of insurance expresses that the insurance is made "on account of whom it may concern," it will cover all persons having an insurable interest in the subject-matter at the date of the policy and who were then contemplated by the party procuring the insurance. 2 Pars. Mar. Law, 30.
ON CALL. There is no legal difference between an obligation payable "when demanded" or "on demand" and one payable "on call" or "at any time called for." In each case the debt is payable immediately. Bowman v. McChesney, 22 Grat. (Va.) 609.
ON CONDITION. These words may be construed to mean "on the terms," in order to effectuate the intention of parties. Mea-nor v. McKowan, 4 Watts & S. (Pa.) 302.
ON DEFAULT. In case of default; upon failure of stipulated action or performance; upon the occurrence of a failure, omission, or neglect of duty.
ON DEMAND. A promissory note payable "on demand" is a present debt, and Is payable without any demand. Young v. Weston, 39 Me. 492; Appeal of Andress, 99 Pa. 421.
ON FILE. Filed; entered or placed upon the files; existing and remaining upon or among the proper files. Slosson v. Hall, 17 Minn. 95 (Gil. 71); Snider v. Methvin, 60 Tex. 487.
ON OR ABOUT. A phrase used in reciting the date of an occurrence or conveyance, to escape the necessity of being bound by the statement of an exact date.
ON OR BEFORE. These words, inserted in a stipulation to do an act or pay money, entitle the party stipulating to perform at any time before the day; and upon performance, or tender and refusal, he is immediately vested with all the rights which would have attached if performance were made on the day. Wall v. Simpson, 6 J. J. Marsh. (Ky.) 156, 22 Am. Dec. 72.
Once a fraud, always a fraud. J£ Yin. Abr. 539.
ONCE A MORTGAGE, ALWAYS A MORTGAGE. This rule signifies that an instrument originally intended as a mortgage, and not a deed, cannot be converted into anything else than a mortgage by any subsequent clause or agreement.
Once a recompense, always a recompense. 19 Vin. Abr. 277.
ONCE IN JEOPARDY. A phrase used to express the condition of a person charged with crime, who has once already, by legal proceedings, been put in danger of conviction and punishment for the same offense. See Com. v. Fitzpatrick, 121 Pa. 109, 15 Atl. 466, 1 L. R. A. 451, 6 Am. St. Rep. 757.
Once quit and cleared, ever quit and cleared. (Scotch, anis quit and clenged, ay quit and clenged.) Skene, de Verb. Sign. voc. "Iter.," ad fin.
ONCUNNE. L. Fr. Accused. Du Cange.
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS CLAUSE. A precautionary stipulation inserted in a deed making a good tenant to the prcecipe in a common recovery. See 1 Prest. Conv. 110.
ONE-THIRD NEW FOR OLD. See
New foe Old.
ONERANDO PRO RATA PORTIONIS.
A writ that lay for a joint tenant or tenant in common who was distrained for more rent than his proportion of the land comes to. Reg. Orig. 182.
ONERARI NON. In pleading. The name of a plea, in an action of debt, by which the defendant says that he ought not to be charged.
ONERATIO. Lat. A lading; a cargo.
ONERATUR NISI. See O. Ni.
ONERIS FERENDI. Lat In the civil law. The servitude of support; a servitude by which the wall of a house is required to sustain the wall or beams of the adjoining house.
ONEROUS. A contract, lease, share, or other right is said to be "onerous" when the obligations attaching to it counterbalance or exceed the advantage to be derived from it, either absolutely or with reference to the particular possessor. Sweet.
As used in the civil law and In the systems derived from it, {French, Scotch, Spanish, Mexican,) the term also means based upon, supported by, or relating to a good and val-
ONEROUS i
uable consideration, i. e., one which imposes a burden or charge in return for the benefit conferred.
—Onerous cause. In Scotch law. A good and legal consideration.—Onerous contract. See Contract.—Onerous deed. In Scotch law. A deed given for a valuable consideration. Bell.—Onerous gift. A gift made subject to certain charges imposed by the donor on the donee.—Onerous title. A title acquired by the giving of a valuable consideration, as the payment of money or rendition of services or the performance of conditions or assumption or discharge of liens or charges. Scott v. Ward, 13 Cal. 458; Kircher v. Murray (G. O.) 54 Fed. 617; Noe v Card, 14 Cal. 576; Civ. Code La. 1900, art. 3556.
ONOMASTIC. A term applied to the signature of an instrument, the body of which is in a different handwriting from that of the signature. Best, Ev. 315.
ONKOERENDE AND VAST STAAT.
Dutch. Immovable and fast estate, that is, land or real estate. The phrase is used in Dutch wills, deeds, and antenuptial contracts of the early colonial period in New York. See Spraker v. Van Alstyne, 18 Wend. (N. Y.) 208.
ONUS. Lat. A burden or load; a weight. The lading, burden, or cargo of a vessel. A charge; an incumbrance. Cum onere, (g. v.,) with the incumbrance.
—Onus episcopale. Ancient customary payments from the clergy to their diocesan bishop, of synodals, pentecostals, etc.—Onus impor-tandi. The charge of importing merchandise, mentioned in St. 12 Car. II. c. 28.—Onus proband!. Burden of proving; the burden of proof. The strict meaning of the term "onu* proband?' is that, if no evidence is adduced by the party on whom the burden is cast, the issue must be found against him. Davis v. Rogers, 1 Houst (Del.) 44.
OPE GONSILIO. Lat By aid and counsel. A civil law term applied to accessaries, similar in import to the "aiding and abetting" of the common law. Often written "ope et consilio." Burrill.
OPEN, v. To render accessible, visible, or available; to submit or subject to examination, inquiry, or review, by the removal of restrictions or impediments.
—Open a case. In practice To open a case is to begin it; to make an initiatory explanation of its features to the court, jury, referee, etc., by outlining the nature of the transaction on which it is founded, the questions involved, and the character and general course of the evidence to be adduced.—Open a commission. To enter upon the duties under a commission, or commence to act under a commission, is so termed in English law. Thus, the judges of assize and nisi prim derive their authority to act under or by virtue of commissions directed to them for that purpose; and, when they commence acting under the powers so committed to them, they are said to open the commissions; and the day on which they so commence their proceedings is thence termed the "commission day of the assizes." Brown.—Open a court. To open a court is to make a formal announcement, usually by the crier or bailiff, that its
OPEN
session has now begun and that the business before the court will be proceeded with.—Open a credit. To accept or pay the draft of a correspondent who has not furnished funds. Par-dessus, no. 296.—Open a deposition. To break the seals by which it was secured, and lay it open to view, or to bring it into court ready for use.—Open a judgment. To lift or relax the bar of finality and conclusiveness which it imposes so as to permit a re-examination of the merits of the action in which it was rendered. This is done at the instance of a party showing good cause why the execution of the judgment would be inequitable. It so far annuls the judgment as to prevent its enforcement until the final determination upon it, but does not in the mean time release its lien upon real estate. See Insurance Co. v. Beale, 110 Pa. 321, 1 Atl. 926. —Open a rule. To restore or recall a rule which has been made absolute to its conditional state, as a rule nisi, so as to readmit of cause being shown against the rule. Thus, when a rule to show cause has been made absolute under a mistaken impression that no counsel had been instructed to show cause against it, it is usual for the party at whose instance the rule was obtained to consent to have the rule opened, by which all the proceedings subsequent to the day when cause ought to have been shown against it are in effect nullified, and the rule is then argued in the ordinary way. Brown.— Open a street or highway. To establish it by law and make it passable and available for public travel. See Reed v. Toledo, 18 Ohio, 161; Wilcoxon v. San Luis Obispo, 101 Cal. 508, 35 Pac. 988; Gaines v. Hudson County Ave. Com'rs, 37 N. J. Law, 12.—Open bids. To open bids received on a foreclosure or other judicial sale is to reject or cancel them for fraud, mistake, or other cause, and order a resale of the property. Andrews v. Scotton, 2 Bland (Md.) 644.—Open the pleadings. To state briefly at a trial before a jury the substance of the pleadings. This is done by the junior counsel for the plaintiff at the commencement of the trial.
OPEN, adj. Patent; visible; apparent; notorious; not clandestine; not closed, settled, fixed, or terminated.
—Open bulk. In the mass ; exposed to view; not tied or sealed up. In re Sanders (C C.) 52 Fed. 802, 18 L. R, A. 549.—Open court. This term may mean either a court which has been formally convened and declared open for the transaction of its proper judicial business, or a court which is freely open to the approach of all decent and orderly persons in the character of spectators. Hobart v. Hobart, 45 Iowa, 501; Conover v. Bird, 56 N. J. Law, 228, 28 Atl. 428; Ex parte Branch, 63 Ala. 383; Hays v. Railroad Co., 99 Md. 413, 58 Atl. 439.—Open doors. In Scotch law. "Letters of open doors" are process which empowers the messenger, or officer of the law, to break open doors of houses or rooms in which the debtor has placed- his" goods. Bell.—Open fields, or meadows. In English law. Fields which are undivided, but belong to separate owners; the part of each owner is marked off by boundaries until the crop has been carried off, when the pasture is shared promiscuously by the joint herd of all the owners. Elton, Commons, 31; Sweet.— Open law. The making or waging of law. Magna Charta, c. 21.—Open season. That portion of the year wherein the laws for the preservation of game and fish permit the killing of a particular species of game or the taking of a particular variety of fish.—Open theft. In Saxon law. The same with the Latin "fur-turn manife8tum," (q. v.)
As to open "Account," "Corporation," "Entry," "Insolvency," "Lewdness," "Policy," "Possession," and "Verdict," see those titles.
OPENING
855
OPINION
OPENING. In American practice. The beginning; the commencement; the first address of the counsel.
OPENTIDE. The time after corn is carried out of the fields.
OPERA. A composition of a dramatic kind, set to music and sung, accompanied with musical instruments, and enriched with appropriate costumes, scenery, etc. The house in which operas are represented is termed an "opera-house." Rowland v. Kleber, 1 Pittsb. R. (Pa.) 7L
OPEBARH. Such tenants, under feudal tenures, as held some little portions of land by the duty of performing bodily labor and servile works for their lord.
OPERATIO. One day's work performed by a tenant for his lord.
OPERATION. In general, the exertion of power; the process of operating or mode of action; an effect brought about in accordance with a definite plan. See Little Rock v. Parish, 36 Ark. 166; Fleming Oil Co. v. South Penn Oil Co., 37 W. Va. 653, 17 S. E. 203. In surgical practice, the term is of indefinite import, but may be approximately defined as an act or succession of acts performed upon the body of a patient, for his relief or restoration to normal conditions, either by manipulation or the use of surgical instruments or both, as distinguished from therapeutic treatment by the administration of drugs or other remedial agencies. See Akridge v. Noble, 114 Ga. 949> 41 S. E. 78.
—Criminal operation. In medical jurisprudence. An operation to procure an abortion. Miller v. Bayer, 94 Wis. 123, 68 N. W. 869.— Operation of law. This term expresses the manner in which rights, and sometimes liabilities, devolve upon a person by the mere application to the particular transaction of the established rules of law, without the act or cooperation of the party himself.
OPERATIVE. A workman; a laboring man; an artisan; particularly one employed in factories. Cocking v. Ward (Tenn. Ch. App.) 48 S. W. 287; In re City Trust Co., 121 Fed. 706, 58 C. C. A. 126; Rhodes v. Matthews, 67 Ind. 131.
OPERATIVE PART. That part of a conveyance, or of any instrument intended for the creation or transference of rights, by Mhich the main object of the instrument is carried into effect. It is distinguished from Introductory matter, recitals, formal conclusion, etc.
OPERATIVE WORDS, In a deed or lease, are the words which effect the transaction intended to be consummated by the instrument.
OPERIS NOVI NUNTIATIO. Lat la
the civil law. A protest or warning against [of] a new work. Dig. 39, 1.
OPETIDE. The ancient time of marriage, from Epiphany to Ash-Wednesday.
Opinio est duplex, scilicet, opinio -vulgaris, orta inter graves et discretos, et quae vultum veritatis habet; et opinio tantum orta inter leves et vnlgares homines, absque specie veritatis. 4 Coke, 107. Opinion is of two kinds, namely, common opinion, which springs up among grave and discreet men, and which has the appearance of truth, and opinion which springs up only among light and foolish men, without the semblance of truth.
Opinio quae favet testamento est te-nenda. The opinion which favors a will is to be followed. 1 W. Bl. 13, arg.
OPINION. 1. In the law of evidence, opinion is an inference or conclusion drawn by a witness from facts some of which are known to him and others assumed, or drawn from facts which, though lending probability to the inference, do not evolve it by a process of absolutely necessary reasoning. See Lipscomb v. State, 75 Miss. 559, 23 South. 210.
An inference necessarily involving certain facts may be stated without the facts, the inference being an equivalent to a specification of the facts; but, when the facts are not necessarily involved in the inference (e. g., when the inference may be sustained upon either of several distinct phases of fact, neither of which it necessarily involves,) then the facts must be stated. Whart. Ev. § 510.
2.A document prepared by an attorney for his client, embodying his understanding of the law as applicable to a state of facts submitted to him for that purpose.
3.The statement by a judge or court of the decision reached in regard to a cause tried or argued before them, expounding the law as applied to the case, and detailing the reasons upon which the judgment is based. See Craig v. Bennett, 158 Ind. 9, 62 N. E. 273; Coffey v. Gamble, 117 Iowa, 545, 91 N. W. 813; Houston v. Williams, 13 Cal. 24, 73 Am. Dec. 565; State v. Ramsburg, 43 Md. 333.
—Concurring opinion. An opinion, separate from that which embodies the views and decision of the majority of the court, prepared and filed by a judge who agrees in the general result of the decision, and which either reinforces the majority opinion by the expression of the particular judge's own views or reasoning, or (more commonly) voices his disapproval of the grounds of the decision or the arguments on which it was based, though approving the final result-Dissenting opinion. A separate opinion in which a particular judge announces his dissent from the conclusion held by a majority of the court, and expounds his own views.—Per curiam opinion. One concurred in by the entire court, but expressed as being "per owriam" or "by the court," without disclosing the name of any particular judge as being its author.
OPORTET QUOD CERTA 856' OPTIONAL WRIT
Oportet quod oerta res dedncatnr in donationem. It is necessary that a certain thing be brought into the gift, or made the subject of the conveyance. Bract, fol. 15o.
Oportet qnod certa res dedncatnr in judicium. Jenk. Cent. 84. A thing certain must be brought to judgment
Oportet qnod certa sit res quae vendi-tur. It is necessary that there should be a certain thing which is sold. To make a valid sale, there must be certainty as to the thing which is sold. Bract, fol. 61o.
Oportet quod certse personse, terrse, et certi status comprehendantur in declarations usuum. 9 Coke, 9. It is necessary that given persons, lands, and estates should be comprehended in a declaration of uses.
OPPIGNERARE. Lat. In the civil law. To pledge. Calvin.
OPPOSER. An officer formerly belonging to the green-wax in the exchequer.
OPPOSITE. An old word for "opponent."
OPPOSITION. In bankruptcy practice. Opposition is the refusal of a creditor to assent to the debtor's discharge under the bankrupt law.
In French law. A motion to open a judgment by default and let the defendant in to a defense.
OPPRESSION. The misdemeanor committed by a public officer, who under color of his office, wrongfully inflicts upon any person any bodily harm, imprisonment, or other injury. 1 Russ. Grimes, 297; Steph. Dig. Crim. Law, 71. See U. S. v. Deaver (D. 0.) 14 Fed. 597.
OPPRESSOR. A public officer who unlawfully uses his authority by way of oppression, (q. v.)
OPPROBRIUM. In the civil law. Ignominy ; infamy; shame.
Optima est legis interpres consuetudo.
Custom is the best interpreter of the law. Dig. 1, 3, 37; Broom, Max. 931; Lofft, 237.
Optima est lex quae minimum relinquit arbitrio judicis; optimus judex qui minimum sibi. That law is the best which leaves least to the discretion of the judge; that judge is the best who leaves least to his own. Bac. Aphorisms, 46; 2 Dwar. St. 782. That system of law is best which confides as littie as possible to the discretion of the judge; that judge the best who relies as little as possible on his own opinion. Broom, Max. 84; 1 Kent, Comm. 478.
Optima statuti interpretatriz est (omnibus particulis ejusdem inspectis) ip-sum statutum. The best interpreter of a statute is (all its parts being considered) the statute itself. Wing. Max. p. 239, max. 68; 8 Coke, 1170.
OPTIMACY. Nobility; men of the highest rank.
Optimam esse legem, quae minimum relinquit arbitrio judicis; id quod certi-tudo ejus prsestat. That law is the best which leaves the least discretion to the judge; and this is an advantage which results from its certainty. Bac. Aphorisms, 8.
Optimus interpres rerum nsus. Use or
usage is the best interpreter of things. 2 Inst 282; Broom, Max. 917, 930, 931.
Optimus interpretandi modus est sic leges interpretaxi ut leges legibus concordant. 8 Coke, 169. The best mode of interpretation is so to interpret laws that they may accord with each other.
Optimus legum interpres consuetudo.
4 Inst 75. Custom is the best interpreter of the laws.
OPTION. In English eoclesiastical law. A customary prerogative of an archbishop, when a bishop is consecrated by him, to name a clerk or chaplain of his own to be provided for by such suffragan bishop; in lieu of which it is now usual tor the bishop to make over by deed to the archbishop, his executors and assigns, the next presentation of such dignity or benefice in the bishop's disposal within that see, as the archbishop himself shall choose, which is therefore called his "option." 1- Bl. Comm. 381; 3 Steph. Comm. 63, 64; Cowell.
In contracts. An option is a privilege existing in one person, for which he has paid money, which gives him the right to buy certain merchandise or certain specified securities from another person, if he chooses, at any time within an agreed period, at a fixed price, or to sell such property to such other person at an agreed price and time. If the option gives the choice of buying or not buying, it is denominated a "call." If it gives the choice of selling or not, it is called a "put" If it is a combination of both these, and gives the privilege of either buying or selling or not, it is called a "straddle" or a "spread eagle." These terms are used on the stock-exchange. See Tenney v. Foote, 95 111. 99; Plank v. Jackson, 128 Ind. 424, 26 N. E. 568; Osgood v. Bauder, 75 Iowa, 550, 39 N. W. 887, 1LR.A. 655.
OPTIONAL WRIT. In old England practice. That species of original writ, otherwise called a "prcecipe," which was framed in the alternative, commanding the defend-
OPUS
857
ORDER
ant to do the thing required, or show the reason wherefore he had not done it. 3 BL Comm. 274.
OPUS. Lat Work; labor; the product of work or labor.
—Opus locatum. The product of work let for use to another; or the hiring out of work or labor to be done upon a thing.—Opus man-ificnm. In old English law. Labor done by the hands; manual labor; such as making a hedge, digging a ditch. Fleta, lib. 2, a 48, § 3. —Opus novum. In the civil law. A new work. By this term was meant something newly built upon land, or taken from a work already erected. He was said opus novum faeere (to make a new work) who, either by building or by taking anything away, changed the former appearance of a work. Dig. 39, 1, 1, 11.
OR. A term used in heraldry, and signifying gold; called "sol" by some heralds when it occurs in the arms of princes, and "topaz" or "carbuncle" when borne by peers. Engravers represent it by an indefinite, number of small points. Wharton.
OBA. A Saxon coin, valued at sixteen pence, and sometimes at twenty pence.
ORACULUM. In the civil law. The name of a kind of response or sentence given by the Roman emperors.
ORAL. Uttered by the mouth or in words; spoken, not written.
—Oral contract. One which is partly in writing and partly depends on spoken words, or none of which is in writing; one which? in so far as it has been reduced to writing, is incomplete or expresses only a part of what is intended, but is completed by spoken words; or one which, originally written, has afterwards been changed orally. See Snow v. Nelson (G. C.) 113 Fed. 353; Railway Passenger, etc., Ass'n v. Loomis, 142 111. 560, 32 N. E. 424.—Oral pleading. Pleading by word of mouth, in the actual presence of the court. This was the ancient mode of pleading in England, and continued to the reign of Edward III. Steph. PI. 23-26.—Oral testimony. That which is delivered from the lips of the witness. Bates' Ann. St. Ohio 1904, | 5262; Rev. St. Wyo. 1899, § 3704.
ORANDO PRO REGE ET REGNO.
An ancient writ which issued, while there was no standing collect for a sitting parlia« ment, to pray for the peace and good government of the realm.
ORANGEMEN. A party in Ireland who keep alive the views of William of Orange. Wharton.
ORATOR. The plaintiff in a cause or matter in chancery, when addressing or petitioning the court, used to style himself "orator," and, when a woman, "oratrix." But these terms have long gone into disuse, and the customary phrases now are "plaintiff" or "petitioner."
In Roman law, the term denoted an advocate.
ORATRIX. A female petitioner; a female plaintiff in a bill in chancery was formerly so called.
ORBATION. Deprivation of one's parents or children, or priva'tion in general. Little used.
ORCINUS LIBERTUS. Lat In Roman law. A freedman who obtained his liberty by the direct operation of the will or testament of his deceased master was so called, being the freedman of the deceased, (orcinus,) not of the hceres. Brown.
ORDAIN. To institute or establish; to make an ordinance; to enact a constitution or law. Kepner v. Oomm., 40 Pa. 124; U. S. v. Smith, 4 N. J. Law, 38.
ORDEAIi. The most ancient species of trial, in Saxon and old English law, being peculiarly distinguished by the appellation of "judicium Det," or "judgment of God," it being supposed that supernatural intervention would rescue an innocent person from the danger of physical harm to which he was exposed in this species of trial. The ordeal was of two sorts,—either fire ordeal or water ordeal; the former being confined to persons of higher rank, the latter to the common people. 4 Bl. Comm. 342.
—Fire ordeal. The ordeal by fire or red-hot iron, which was performed either by taking up in the hand a piece of red-hot iron, of one, two, or three pounds weight, or by walking barefoot and blindfolded over nine red-hot plowshares, laid lengthwise at unequal distances 4 Bl. Comm. 343; Cowell.
ORDEFFE, or ORDELFE. A liberty whereby a man claims the ore found in his own land; also, the ore lying under land. Cowell.
ORDELS. In old English law. The right of administering oaths and adjudging trials by ordeal within a precinct or liberty. Cowell.
ORDENAMIENTO. In Spanish law. An order emanating from the sovereign, and differing from a cedula only in form and in the mode of its promulgation. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note.
ORDENAMIENTO DE ALCALA. A
collection of Spanish law promulgated by the Cortes in the year 1348. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 75.
ORDER. In a general cense. A mandate, precept; a command or direction authoritatively given; a rule or regulation.,
The distinction between "order" and "requisition" is that the first is a mandatory act, the latter a request. Mills v. Martin, 19 Johns. (N. Y.) 7.
In practice. Every direction of a court or judge made or entered in writing, and not
ORDER
858
ORDINANCE
included in a judgment, is denominated an "order." An application for an order is a motion. Code Civ. Proc. Cal. § 1003; Code N. Y. § 400.
Orders are also issued by subordinate legislative authorities. Such are the English orders in council, or orders issued by the privy council in the name of the king, either in exercise of the royal prerogative or in pursuance of an act of parliament. The rules of court under the judicature act are grouped together in the form of orders, each order dealing with a particular subject-matter. Sweet.
An order is also an informal bill of exchange or letter of request whereby the party to whom it is addressed is directed to pay or deliver to a person therein named! the whole or part of a fund or other property of the person making the order, and which is in the possession of the drawee. See Carr v. Summerfield, 47 W. Va. 155, 34 S. E. 804; People v. Smith, 112 Mich. 192, 70 N. W. 466, 67 Am. St Rep. 392; State v. Nevins, 23 Vt 521.
It is further a designation of the person to whom a bill of exchange or negotiable promissory note is to be paid.
It is also used to designate a rank, class, or division of men; as the order of nobles, order of knights, order of priests, etc.
In French law. The name order (ordre) Is given to the operation which has for its object to fix the rank of the preferences claimed by the creditors in the distribution of the price [arising from the sale] of an immovable affected by their liens. Dalloz, mot "Ordre."
—Agreed order. See Agreed —Charging order. The name bestowed, in English practice, upon an order allowed by St. 1 & 2 Vict c. 110, § 14, and 3 & 4 Vict c. 82, to be granted to a judgment creditor, that the property of a judgment debtor in government stock, or in the stock of any public company in England, corporate or otherwise, shall (whether standing in his own name or in the name of any person in trust for him) stand charged with the payment of the amount for which judgment shall have been recovered, with interest. 3 Steph. Comm. 587, 588.—Decretal order. In chancery practice. An order made by the court of chancery, in the nature of a decree, upon a motion or petition. Thompson v. McKim, 6 Har. & J. Md. 319; Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co. v. Goshen Sweeper Co., 72 Fed. 545, 19 C. C. A. 25. An order in a chancery suit made on motion or otherwise not at the regular hearing of a cause, and yet not of an interlocutory nature, but finally disposing of the cause, so far as a decree could then have disposed of it. Mozley & Whitley.—Final order. One which either terminates the action itself, or decides some matter litigated by the parties, or operates to divest some right; or one which completely disposes of the subject-matter and the rights of the garties. Hobbs t. Beckwith, 6 Ohio St 254; fntrop y. Williams, 11 Minn. 382 (Gil. 276); Strull v. Louisville & N. R. Co. (Ky.) 76 S. W. 183.—General orders. Orders or rules of court, promulgated for the guidance of practitioners and the regulation of procedure in general, or in some general branch of its jurisdiction ; as opposed to a rule or an order made in an individual case; the rules of court.—Interlocutory order. "An order which decides not the cause, but only settles some intervening matter relating to it; as when an order is
made, on a motion in chancery, for the plaintiff to have an injunction to quiet his possession till the hearing of the cause. This or any such order, not being final, is interlocutory." Termes de la Ley--Money order. See Monet.—Order and disposition of goods and chattels. When goods are in the "order and disposition" of a bankrupt, they go to his trustee, and have gone so since the time of James I. Wharton. —Order nisi. A -provisional or conditional order, allowing a certain time within which to do some required act on failure of which the order will be made absolute.—Order of discharge. In England. An order made under the bankruptcy act of 1869, by a court of bankruptcy, the effect of which is to discharge a bankrupt from all debts, claims, or demands provable under the bankruptcy.—Order of filiation. An order made by a court or judge having jurisdiction, fixing the paternity of a bastard child upon a given man, and requiring him to provide for its support—Order of revivor. In English practice. An order as of course for the continuance of an abated suit. It superseded the bill of revivor.—Restraining order. In equity practice. An order which may issue upon the filing of an application for an injunction forbidding the defendant to do«the threatened act until a hearing on the application can be had. Though the term is sometimes used as a synonym of "injunction," a restraining order is properly distinguishable from an injunction, in that the former is intended only as a restraint upon the defendant until the propriety of granting an injunction, temporary or perpetual, can be determined, and it does no more than restrain the proceedings until such determination. Wetzstein v. Boston, etc., Min. Co., 25 Mont 135, 63 Pac. 1043; State v. Lichtenberg, 4 Wash. 407, 30 Pac. 716; Riggins v. Thompson, 96 Tex. 154, 71 S. W. 14. In English law, the term is specially applied to an order restraining the Bank of England, or any public company, from allowing any dealing with some stock or shares specified in the order. It is granted on motion or petition. Hunt Eq. p. 216.—Speaking order. An order which contains matter which is explanatory or illustrative of the mere direction which is given by it is sometimes thus called. Duff v. Duff, 101 Cal. 1, 35 Pac. 437.—Stop order. The meaning of a stop order given to a broker is to wait until the market price of the particular security reaches a specified figure, and then to "stop" the transaction by either selling or buying, as the case may be, as well as possible. Porter v. Wormser, 94 N. Y. 431.
ORDERS. The directions as to the course and purpose of a voyage given by the owner of the vessel to the captain or master. For other meanings, see Obdeb.
ORDERS OF THE DAY. Any member of the English house of commons who wishes to propose any question, or to "move the house," as it is termed, must, in order to give the house due notice of his Intention, state the form or nature of his motion on a previous day, and have it entered in a book termed the "order-book;" and the motions so entered, the house arranges, shall be considered on particular days, and such motions or matters, when the day arrives for their being considered, are then termed the "orders of the day." Brown. A similar practice obtains In the legislative bodies of this country.
ORDINANCE. A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of action; a
ORDINANCE
859
ORDINE8
law or statute. In a more limited sense, the term is used to designate the enactments of the legislative body of a municipal corporation. Citizens' Gas Co. v. Elwood, 114 Ind. 332, 16 N. E. 624; State v. Swindell, 146 Ind. 527, 45 N. E. 700, 58 Am. St. Rep. 375; Bills v. Goshen, 117 Ind. 221, 20 N. E. 115, 3 L. R. A. 261; State v. Lee, 29 Minn. 445, 13 N. W. 913.
Strictly, a bill or law which might stand with the old law, and did not alter any statute in force at the time, and which became complete by the royal assent on the parliament roU, without any entry on the statute roll. A bill or law which might at any time be amended by the parliament, without any statute. Hale, Com. Law. An ordinance was otherwise distinguished from a statute by the circumstance that the latter required the threefold assent of king, lords, and commons, while an ordinance might be ordained by one or two of these constituent bodies. See 4 Inst. 25.
The name has also been given to certain enactments, more general in their character than ordinary statutes, and serving as organic laws, yet not exactly to be called "constitutions." Such was the "Ordinance for the government of the North-West Territory," enacted by congress in 1787
ORDINANCE OF THE FOREST. In
English law. A statute made touching matters and causes of the forest. 33 & 34 Edw. I.
ORDINANDI LEX. Lat. The law of procedure, as distinguished from the substantial part of the law.
Ordinarius ita dicitur quia habet or-dinariam jurisdictionem, in jure pro-prio, et non propter deputationem. Co.
Litt 96. The ordinary is so called because he has an ordinary jurisdiction in his own right, and not a deputed one.
ORDINARY, n. At common law.
One who has exempt and immediate jurisdiction in causes ecclesiastical. Also a bishop; and an archbishop is the ordinary of the whole province, to visit and receive appeals from inferior jurisdictions. Also a commissary or official of a bishop or other ecclesiastical judge having judicial power; an archdeacon; officer of the royal household. Wharton.
In American law. A judicial officer, in several of the states, clothed by statute with powers in regard to wills, probate, administration, guardianship, etc.
In Scotch law. A single judge of the court of session, who decides with or without a jury, as the case may be. Brande.
In the civil law. A judge who has authority to take cognizance of causes in his own right, and not by deputation. Murden v. Beath, 1 Mill, Const. (S. C) 269.
—Ordinary of Newgate. The clergyman who is attendant upon condemned malefactors in that prison to prepare them for death; he
records the behavior of such persons. Formerly it was the custom of the ordinary to publish a small pamphlet upon the execution of any remarkable criminal. Wharton.—Ordinary of assize and sessions. In old English law. A deputy of the bishop of the diocese, anciently appointed to give malefactors their neck-verses, and judge whether they read or not; also to perform divine services for them, and assist in preparing them for death. Wharton.
ORDINARY, adj. Regular; usual; common; not characterized by peculiar or unusual circumstances; belonging to, exercised by, or characteristic of, the normal or average individual. See Zulich v. Bowman, 42 Pa. 83; Chicago & A. R Co. v. House, 172 111. 601, 50 N. E. 151; Jones y. Angell, 95 Ind. 376.
—Ordinary conveyances. Those deeds of transfer which are entered into between two or more persons, without an assurance in a superior court of justice. Wharton.—Ordinary conrse of business. The transaction of business according to the usages and customs of the commercial world generally or of the particular community or (in some cases) of the particular individual whose acts are under consideration. See Rison v. Knapp, 20 Fed. Oas: 835; Christianson v. Farmers' Warehouse Ass'n, 5 N. D. 438, 67 N. W. 300, 32 L. R. A. 730; In re Dibblee, 7 Fed. Cas. 654.—Ordinary repairs. Such as are necessary to make good the usual wear and tear or natural and unavoidable decay and keep the property in good condition. See Abell v. Brady, 79 Md. 94, 28 Atl. 817; Brenn v. Troy, 60 Barb. (N. Y.) 421; Clark Civil Tp. v. Brookshire, 114 Ind. 437, 16 N. E. 132—Ordinary seaman. A sailor who is capable of performing the ordinary or routine duties of a seaman, but who is not yet s'o proficient in the knowledge and practice of all the various duties of a sailor at sea as to be rated as an "able" seaman.—Ordinary skill in an art, means that degree of skill which men engaged in that particular art usually employ; not that which belongs to a few men only, of extraordinary endowments and capacities. Baltimore Baseball Club Co. v. Pickett, 78 Md. 375, 28 Atl. 279, 22 L. R. A. 690, 44 Am. St. Rep. 304; Waugh v. Shunk, 20 Pa. 130.
As to ordinary "Care," "Diligence," "Negligence," see those titles.
ORDINATION is the ceremony by which a bishop confers on a person the privileges and powers necessary for the execution of sacerdotal functions in the church. Phillim. Ecc. Law, 110.
ORDINATIONE CONTRA SERVIEN-TES. A writ that lay against a servant for leaving his master contrary to the ordinance of St. 23 & 24 Edw. III. Reg. Orig. 189.
ORDINATUM EST. In old practice. It is ordered. The initial words of rules of court when entered in Latin.
Ordine placitandi servato, servatur et jus. When the order of pleading is observed, the law also is observed. Co. Litt 303a; Broom, Max. 188.
ORDINES. A general chapter or other solemn convention of the religious of a particular order.
ORDINES MAJORES ET MINORES 860
ORIGINAL
ORDINES MAJORES ET MINORES.
In ecclesiastical law. The holy orders of priest, deacon, and subdeacon, any of which qualified for presentation and admission to an ecclesiastical dignity or cure were called "ordines majores;" and the inferior orders of chanters, psalmists, ostiary, reader, exorcist, and acolyte were called "ordines minores." Persons ordained to the ordines minores had their prima tonsura, different from the tonsura clericalis. Cowell.
ORDINIS BENEFICITJM. Lat In the
civil law. The benefit or privilege of order; the privilege which a surety for a debtor had of requiring that his principal should be discussed, or thoroughly prosecuted, before the creditor could resort to him. Nov. 4, c. 1; Heinecc. Elem. lib. 3, tit. 21, § 883.
ORDINUM FUGITIVI. In old English law. Those of the religious who deserted their houses, and, throwing off the habits, renounced their particular order in contempt of their oath and other obligations. Paroch. Antiq. 388.
ORDO. Lat. That rule which monks were obliged to observe. Order; regular succession. An order of a court.
—Ordo albus. The white friars or Augustines. Du Cange.—Ordo attachiamentoram. In
old practice. The order of attachments. Fle-ta, lib. 2, c. 51, f 12.—Ordo grisens. The gray friars, or order of Cistercians. Du Cange. —Ordo judicioruni. In the canon law. The order of judgments; the rule by which the due course of hearing each cause was prescribed. 4 Reeve, Eng. Daw, 17.—Ordo niger. The black friars, or Benedictines. The Cluniacs likewise wore black. Du Cange.
ORDONNANCE. Fr. In French law, an ordinance; an order of a court; a compilation or systematized body of law relating to a particular subject-matter, as, commercial law or maritime law. Particularly, a compilation of the law relating to prizes and captures at sea. See Coolidge v. Inglee, 13 Mass. 43.
ORE-LEAVE. A license or right to dig and take ore from land. Ege v. Kille, 84 Pa. 340.
ORE TENTJS. Lat. By word of mouth; orally. Pleading was anciently carried on ore tenus, at the bar of the court 3 Bl. Comm. 293.
ORFGILD. *In Saxon law. The price or value of a beast A payment for a beast The payment or forfeiture of a beast A penalty for taking away cattle. Spelman.
ORGANIC ACT. An act of congress conferring powers of government upon a territory.. In re Lane, 135 U. S. 443, 10 Sup. Ct 760, 34 L. Ed. 219.
ORGANIC LAW. The fundamental law, or constitution, of a state or nation, written or unwritten; that law or system of laws or principles which defines and establishes the organization of its government St Louis v. Dorr, 145 Mo. 466, 46 S. W. 976, 42 L. R. A. 686, 68 Am. St. Rep. 575.
ORGANIZE. To establish or furnish with organs; to systematize; to put into working order; to arrange in order for the normal exercise of its appropriate functions.
The word "organize," as used In railroad and other charters, ordinarily signifies the choice and qualification of all necessary officers for the transaction of the business of the corporation. This is usually done after all the capital stock has been subscribed for. New Haven & D. R. Co. v. Chapman, 38 Conn. 66.
ORGANIZED COUNTY. A county which has its lawful officers, legal machinery, and means for carrying out the powers and performing the duties pertaining to it as a quasi municipal corporation. In re Section No. 6, 66 Minn. 32, 68 N. W. 323.
ORGILD. In Saxon law. Without recompense; as where no satisfaction was to be made for the death of a man killed, so that he was judged lawfully slain. Spelman.
ORIGINAL. Primitive; first in order; bearing its own authority, and not deriving authority from an outside source; as original jurisdiction, original writ, etc. As applied to documents, the original is the first copy or archetype; that from which another instrument is transcribed, copied, or imitated.
—Original bill. In equity pleading. A bill which relates to some matter not before litigated in the court by the same persons standing in the same interests. Mitf. Eq. PI. 33; Long-worth v. Sturges, 4 Ohio St. 690; Christmas v. Russell, 14 Wall. 69, 20 L. Ed. 762. In old practice. The ancient mode of commencing actions in the English court of king's bench. See Bill.—Original charter. In Scotch law. One by which the first grant of land is made. On the other hand, a charter by progress is one renewing the grant in favor of the heir or singular successor of the first or succeeding vassals. Bell.—Original conveyances. Those conveyances at common law, otherwise termed "primary," by which a benefit or estate is created or first arises; comprising feoffments, gifts, grants, leases, exchanges, and partitions. 2 Bl. Comim. 309.—Original entry. The first entry of an item of an account made by a trader or other person in his account-books, as distinguished from entries posted into the ledger or copied from other books.—Original estates. See Estate.—Original evidence. See Evidence.—Original inventor. In patent law, a pioneer in the art; one who evolves the original idea and brings it to some successful, useful and tangible result; as distinguished from an improver. Norton v. Jensen, 90 Fed. 415, 33 C. C. A. 141.—Original jurisdiction. See Jurisdiction.—Original package. A package prepared for interstate or foreign transportation, and remaining in the same condition as when it left the shipper, that is, unbroken and undivided; a package of such form
ORIGINAL
861
OSTIA REGNI
and size as is used by producers or shippers for the purpose of securing both convenience in handling and security in transporation of merchandise between dealers in the ordinary course of actual commerce. Austin v. Tennessee, 179 U. S. 343, 21 Sup. Ct. 132, 45 L. Ed. 224; Haley v. State, 42 Neb. 556, 60 N. W. 962, 47 Am. St Rep. 718; State v. Winters, 44 Kan. 723, 25 Pac. 235, 10 L. R. A. 616.— Original process. See Process.—Original writ. See Writ.—Single original. An original instrument which is executed singly, and not in duplicate.
ORIGINAI.IA. In English law. Transcripts sent to the remembrancer's office in the exchequer out of the chancery, distinguished from recorda, which contain the judgments and pleadings in actions tried before the barons.
Origine propria neminem posse vo-lnntate sua eximi manifestum est. It is
evident that no one is able of his own pleasure, to do away with his proper origin. Code 10, 38, 4; Broom, Max. 77.
Origo rei inspici debet. The origin of a thing ought to be regarded Co. Litt. 248Z>.
ORNEST. In old English law. The trial by battle, which does not seem to have been usual in England before the time of the Conqueror, though originating in the kingdoms of the north, where it was practiced under the name of "holmgang," from the custom of fighting duels on a small island or holm. Wharton.
ORPHAN. Any person (but particularly a minor or infant) who has lost both (or one) of his or her parents. More particularly, a fatherless child. Soohan v. Philadelphia, 33 Pa. 24; Poston v. Young, 7 J. J. Marsh. (Kj.) 501; Chicago Guaranty Fund Life Soc. v. Wheeler, 79 111. App. 241; Stewart v. Morrison, 38 Miss. 419; Downing y. Shoenberger, 9 Watts (Pa.) 299.
ORPHANAGE PART. That portion of an intestate's effects which his children were entitled to by the custom of London. This custom appears to have been a remnant of what was once a general law all over England, namely, that a father should not by his will bequeath the entirety of his personal estate away from his family, but should leave them a third part at least, called the "children's part," corresponding to the "bairns' part" or legitim of Scotch law, and also (although not in amount) to the legitima quarta of Roman law. (Inst 2, 18.) This custom of London was abolished by St. 19 & 20 Vict c. 94. Brown.
ORPHANOTROPHI. In the civil law. Managers of houses for orphans.
ORPHANS' COURT. In American law. Courts of probate jurisdiction, In Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
ORTELLI. The claws of a dog's foot. Kitch.
ORTOLAGITJM. A garden plot or hor-tilage.
ORWIGE, SINE WITA. In old English law. Without war or feud, such security being provided by the laws, for homicides under certain circumstances, against the fcehth, or deadly feud, on the part of tb* family of the slain. Anc. Inst. Eng.
OSTENDIT VOBIS. Lat. In old pleading. Shows to you. Formal words with which a demandant began his count. Fleta, lib. 5, c. 38, § 2.
OSTENSIBLE AGENCY. An implied or presumptive agency, which exists where one, either intentionally or from want of ordinary care, induces another to believe that a third person is his agent, though he never in fact employed him. Bibb v. Bancroft (Cal.) 22 Pac. 484; First Nat. Bank v. Elevator Co., 11 N. D. 280, 91 N. W. 437.
OSTENSIBLE PARTNER. A partner whose name is made known and appears to the world as a partner, and who is in reality such. Story, Partn. § 80.
OSTENSIO. A tax anciently paid by merchants, etc., for leave to show or expose their goods for sale in markets. Du Cange.
OSTENTUM. Lat. In the civil law. A monstrous or prodigious birth. Dig. 50, 16, 38.
OSTEOPATHY. A method or system of treating various diseases of the human body without the use of drugs, by manipulation applied to various nerve centers, rubbing, pulling, and kneading parts of the body, flexing and manipulating the limbs, and the mechanical readjustment of any bones, muscles, or ligaments not in the normal position, with a view to removing the cause of the disorder and aiding the restorative force of nature in cases where the trouble originated iu misplacement of parts, irregular nerve action, or defective circulation. Whether the practice of osteopathy is "practice of medicine," and whether a school of osteopathy is a "medical college," within the meaning of statutes, the courts have not determined. See Little v. State, 60 Neb. 749, 84 N W. 248, 51 L. R A. 717; Nelson v. State Board of Health, 108 Ky. 769, 57 S. W. 501, 50 L. R. A. 383; State v. Liffring, 61 Ohio St 39, 55 N. E. 168, 76 Am. St. Rep. 358; Parks v. State, 159 Ind. 211, 64 N. E. 862, 59 L. R. A. 190.
OSTIA REGNI. Lat Gates of the kingdom. The ports of the kingdom of England are so called by Sir Matthew Hale. D« Jure Mar. pt 2, c. 3.
OSTIUM ECCLESI^
862
OUT OF TIME
OSTIUM ECCLESL32. Lat. In old English law. The door or porch of the church, where dower was anciently conferred.
OSWALD'S LAW. The law by which was effected the ejection of married priests, and the introduction of monks into churches, by Oswald, bishop of Worcester, about A. D. 964. Wharton.
OSWALDS LAW HUNDRED. An ancient hundred in Worcestershire, so called from Bishop Oswald, who obtained it from King Edgar, to be given to St. Mary's Church in Worcester. It was exempt from the sheriff's jurisdiction, and comprehends 300 hides of land. Camd. Brit
OTER LA TOUAILLE. In the laws of Oleron. To deny a seaman his mess. Literally, to deny the table-cloth or victuals for three meals.
OTHESWORTHE. In Saxon law. Oathsworth; oathworthy; worthy or entitled to make oath. Bract, fols. 185, 292&.
OUGHT. This word, though generally directory only, will be taken as mandatory if the context requires it. Life Ass'n v. St Louis County Assessors, 49 Mo. 518.
OUNCE. The twelfth part; the twelfth part of a pound troy or the sixteenth part of a pound avoirdupois.
OUNCE LANDS. Certain districts or tracts of lands in the Orkney Islands were formerly so called, because each paid an annual tax of one ounce of silver.
OURLOP. The lierwite or fine paid to the lord by the Inferior tenant when his daughter was debauched. Cowell.
OUST. To put out; to eject; to remove or deprive; to deprive of the possession or enjoyment of an estate or franchise.
OUSTER. In practice. A putting out; dispossession; amotion of possession. A species of injuries to things real, by which the wrong-doer gains actual occupation of the land, and compels the rightful owner to seek his legal remedy in order to gain possession. 2 Crabb, Real Prop. p. 1063, § 2454a. See Ewing v. Burnet, 11 Pet 52, 9 L. Ed. 624; Winterburn v. Chambers, 91 Cal. 170, 27 Pac. 658; McMullin v. Wooley, 2 Lans. (N. Y.) 396; Mason v. Kellogg, 38 Mich. 143.
—Actual ouster. By "actual ouster" is not meant a physical eviction, but a possession attended with such circumstances as to evince a claim of exclusive right and title, and a denial of the right of the other tenants to participate in the profits. Burns v. Byrne, 45 Iowa, 287.
OUSTER LE MAIN. L. Fr. Literally, out of the hand.
1. A delivery of lands out of the king's hands by judgment given in favor of the petitioner in a mom, trans de droit.
2. A delivery of the ward's lands out of the hands of the guardian, on the former arriving at the proper age, which was twenty-one in males, and sixteen in females. Abolished by 12 Car. II. c. 24. Mozley & Whitley.
OUSTER LE MER. L. Fr. Beyond the sea; a cause of excuse if a person, being summoned, did not appear in court. Cowell.
OUT-BOUNDARIES. A term used in early Mexican land laws to designate certain boundaries within which grants of a smaller tract, which designated such out-boundaries, might be located by the grantee. U. S. v. Maxwell Land Grant Co., 121 U. S. 325, 7 Sup. Ct 1015, 30 L. Ed. 949.
OUT OF COURT. He who has no legal status in court is said to be "out of court" i. e., he is not before the court. Thus, when the plaintiff in an action, by some act of omission or commission, shows that he is unable to maintain his action, he is frequently said to put himself "out of court." Brown.
The phrase is also used with reference to agreements and transactions in regard to a pending suit which are arranged or take place between the parties or their counsel privately and without being referred to the judge or court for authorization or approval. Thus, a case which is compromised, settled, and withdrawn by private agreement of the parties, after its institution, is said to b« settled "out of court." So attorneys may make agreements with reference to the conduct of a suit or the course of proceedings therein; but if these are made "out of court," that is, not made in open court or with the approval of the judge, it is a general rule that they will not be noticed by the court unless reduced to writing. See Welsh v. Blackwell, 14 N. J. Law, 345.
OUT OF TERM. At a time when no term of the court is being held; in the vacation or interval which elapses between terms of the court See McNeill v. Hodges, 99 N. C. 248, 6 S. E. 127.
OUT OF THE STATE. In reference to rights, liabilities, or jurisdictions arising out of the common law, this phrase is equivalent to "beyond sea," which see. In other connections, it means physically beyond the territorial limits of the particular state in question, or constructively so, as in the case of a foreign corporation. See Faw v. Rober-deau, 3 Cranch, 177, 2 L. Ed. 402; Foster v. Givens, 67 Fed. 684, 14 C. C. A. 625; Meyer v. Roth, 51 Cal. 582; Yoast v. Willis, 9 Ind. 550; Larson v. Aultman & Taylor Co., 80 Wis. 281, 56 N. W. 915, 39 Am. St Rep. 893.
OUT OF TIME. A mercantile phrase applied to a ship or vessel that has been so long at sea as to justify the belief of her total loss.
In another sense, a vessel is said to be
OUTAGE
863
OUTRIDERS
out of time when, computed from her known day of sailing, the time that has elapsed exceeds the average duration of similar voyages at the same season of the year. The phrase is identical with "misskig ship." 2 Duer, Ins. 469.
OUTAGE. A tax or charge formerly imposed by the state of Maryland for the inspection and marking of hogsheads of tobacco intended for export. See Turner v. Maryland, 107 U. S. 38, 2 Sup. Ct. 44, 27 L. Ed. 370; Turner v. State, 55 Md. 264.
OUTCROP. In mining law. The edge of a stratum which appears at the surface of the ground; that portion of a vein or lode which appears at the surface or immediately under the soil and surface debris. See Duggan v. Davey, 4 Dak. 110, 26 N. W. 887; Stevens v. Williams, 23 Fed. Cas. 40.
OUTER BAR. In the English courts, barristers at law have been divided into two classes, viz., king's counsel, who are admitted within the bar of the courts, in seats specially reserved for themselves, and junior counsel, who sit without the bar; and the latter are thence frequently termed barristers of the "outer bar," or "utter bar," in contradistinction to the former class. Brown.
OUTER HOUSE. The name given to the great hall of the parliament house in Edinburgh, in which the lords ordinary of the court of session sit as single judges to hear causes. The term is used colloquially as expressive of the business done there in contradistinction to the "Inner House," the name given to the chambers in which the first and second divisions of* the court of session hold their sittings. Bell.
OUTFANGTHEF. A liberty or privilege In the ancient common law, whereby a lord was enabled to call any man dwelling in his manor, and taken for felony in another place out of his fee, to judgment in his own court Du Cange.
OUTFIT. 1. An allowance made by the United States government to one of its diplomatic representatives going abroad, for the expense of his equipment
2. This term, in its original use, as applying to ships, embraced those objects connected with a ship which were necessary for the sailing of her, and without which she would not in fact be navigable. But in ships engaged in whaling voyages the word has acquired a much more extended signification. Macy v. Whaling Ins. Co., 9 Mete. ((Mass.) 364.
OUTHEST, or OUTHOM. A calling men out to the army by sound of horn. Jacob.
OUTHOUSE. Any house necessary for the purposes of life, in which the owner does
not make his constant or principal residence, is an outhouse. State v. O'Brien, 2 Root (Conn.) 516.
A smaller or subordinate building connected with a dwelling, usually detached from it and standing at a little distance from it, not intended for persons to live in, but to serve some purpose of convenience or necessity; as a barn, a dairy, a toolhouse, and the like.
OUTLAND. The Saxon thanes divided their hereditary lands into inland, such as lay nearest their dwelling, which they kept to their own use, and outland, which lay beyond the demesnes, and was granted out to tenants, at the will of the lord, like copyhold estates. This outland they subdivided into two parts. One part they disposed among those who attended their persons, called "theodans," or lesser thanes; the other part they allotted to their husbandmen, or churls. Jacob.
OUTLAW. In English law. One who is put out of the protection or aid of the law.
OUTLAWED, when applied to a promissory note, means barred by the statute of limitations. Drew v. Drew," 37 Me. 389.
OUTLAWRY. In English law. A process by which a defendant or person in contempt on a civil or criminal process was declared an outlaw. If for treason or felony, it amounted to conviction and attainder. Stim. Law Gloss. See Respublica v. Doan, 1 Dall.- (Pa.) 86, 1 L. Ed. 47; Dale County v. Gunter, 46 Ala\ 138; Drew v. Drew, 37 Me. 391.
OUTLOT. In early American land law, (particularly in Missouri,) a lot or parcel of land lying outside the corporate limits of a town or village but subject to Its municipal jurisdiction or control. See Kissell v. St. Louis Public Schools, 16 Mo. 592; St Louis v. Toney, 21 Mo. 243; Eberle v. St Louis Public Schools, 11 Mo. 265; Vasquez v. Ew-ing, 42 Mo. 256.
OUTPARTERS. Stealers of cattle. Cow-ell.
OUTPUTERS. Such as set watches for the robbing any manor-house. Cowell.
OUTRAGE. Injurious violence, or, In general, any species of serious wrong offered to the person, feelings, or rights of another. See McKinley v. Railroad Co., 44 Iowa, 314, 24 Am. Rep. 748; Aldrich v. Howard, 8 R. I. 246; Mosnat v. Snyder, 105 Iowa, 500, 75 N. W. 356.
OUTRIDERS. In English law. Bailiffs* errant employed by sheriffs or their deputies to ride to the extremities of their counties or hundreds to summon men to the county or hundred court Wharton.
OUTROPER
864
OVERRULE
OUTROPER. A person to whom the business of selling by auction was confined by statute. 2 H. Bl. 557.
OUTSETTER. In Scotch law. Publisher. 3 How. State Tr. 603.
OUTSTANDING. 1. Remaining undischarged ; unpaid; uncollected; as an outstanding debt
2. Existing as an adverse claim or pretension ; not united with, or merged in, the title or claim of the party; as an outstanding title.
—Outstanding term. A term in gross at law, which, in equity, may be made attendant upon the inheritance, either by express declaration or by implication.
OUTSUCKEN MULTURES. In Scotch law. Out-town multures; multures, duties, or tolls paid by persons voluntarily grinding corn at any mill to which they are not thirled, or bound by tenure. 1 Forb. Inst. pt 2, p. 140
OUVERTURE DES SUCCESSIONS. In
French law. The right of succession which arises to one upon the death, whether natural or civil, of another.
OVE. I*. Fr. With. Modern French avec.
OVEIiIi. L. Fr. EquaL
OVELTY. In old English law. Equality.
OVER. In conveyancing, the word "over" is used to denote a contingent limitation intended to take effect on the failure of a prior estate. Thus, in what is commonly called the "name and arms clause" in a will or settlement there is generally a proviso that if the devisee fails to comply with the condition the estate is to go to some one else. This is a limitation or gift over. Wats. Comp. Bq. 1110; Sweet.
OVER SEA. Beyond the sea; outside the limits of the state or country. See Gus-tin v. Brattle, Kirby (Conn.) 300. See Beyond Sea.
OVERCYTED, or OVERCYHSED.
Proved guilty or convicted. Blount.
OVERDRAW. To draw upon a person or a bank, by bills or checks, to an amount in excess of the funds remaining to the drawer's credit with the drawee, or to an amount greater than what is due.
The term "overdraw" has a definite and well-understood meaning. Money is drawn from the bank by him who draws the check, not by him who receives the money; and it is drawn upon the account of the individual by whose check it is drawn, though it be paid to and for the benefit of another. No one can draw money from bank upon his own account, except by
means of his own check or draft, nor can he overdraw his account with the bank in any other manner. State v. Stimson, 24 N. J. Law, 478. 484.
OVERDUE. A "negotiable instrument or other evidence of debt is overdue when the day of its maturity is past and it remains unpaid. Camp v. Scott, 14 Vt 387; La Due v. First Nat. Bank, 31 Minn. 33, 16 N. W. 426. A vessel is said to be overdue when she has not reached her destination at the time when she might ordinarily have been expected to arrive.
OVERHAUL. To inquire into; to review; to disturb. "The merits of a judgment can never be overhauled by an original suit" 2 H. Bl. 414.
OVERHERNISSA. In Saxon law. Contumacy or contempt of court Leg. .<EtheL C 25.
OVERISSUE. To issue in excessive quantity ; to issue in excess of fixed legal limits. Thus, "overissued stock" of a private corporation is capital stock issued in excess of the amount limited and prescribed by the charter or certificate of incorporation. See Hayden v. Charter Oak Driving Park, 63 Conn. 142, 27 Atl. 232.
OVERLIVE. To survive; to live longer than another. Finch, Law, b. 1, c. 3, no. 58; 1 Leon. 1.
OVERPLUS. What is left beyond a certain amount; the residue; the remainder of a thing. Lyon v. Tomkies, 1 Mees. & W. 603; Page v. Leapingwell, 18 Ves. 466.
OVERREACHING CLAUSE. In a resettlement, a clause which saves the powers of sale and leasing annexed to the estate for life created by the original settlement, when it is desired to give the tenant for life the same estate and powers under the resettlement. The clause is so called because it provides that the resettlement shall be overreached by the exercise of the old powers. If the resettlement were executed without a provision to this effect, the estate of the tenant for life and the annexed powers would be subject to any charges for portions, etc^ created under the original settlement 3 Da v. Conv. 489; Sweet
OVERRULE. To supersede; annul; reject by subsequent action or decision. A judicial decision is said to be overruled when a later decision, rendered by the same court or by a superior court in the same system, expresses a judgment upon the same question of law directly opposite to that which was be fore given, thereby depriving the earlier opinion of all authority as a precedent. The term is not properly applied to conflicting decisions on the same point by co-ordinate ox independent tribunals,
OVERRULE
865
OWNER
In another sense, "overrule" is spoken of the action of a court in refusing to sustain, or recognize as sufficient, an objection made in the course of a trial, as to the introduction of particular evidence, etc.
OVERSAMESSA. In old English law. A forfeiture for contempt or neglect in not pursuing a malefactor. 3 Inst 116.
OVERSEER. A superintendent or supervisor; a public officer whose duties involve general superintendence of routine affairs.
—Overseers of highways. The name given, in some of the states, to a board of officers of a city, township, or county, whose special function is the construction and repair of the public roads or highways:—Overseers of the poor. Persons appointed or elected to take care of the poor with moneys furnished to them by the public authority.
OVERSMAN. In Scotch law. An umpire appointed by a submission to decide where two arbiters have differed in opinion, or he is named by the arbiters themselves, under powers given them by the submission. Bell.
OVERT. Open; manifest; public; issuing in action, as distinguished from that which rests merely in intention or design.
—Market overt. See Market—Overt act. In criminal law. An open, manifest act from which criminality may be implied. An open act, which must be manifestly proved. 3 Inst. 12. An overt act essential to establish an attempt to commit a crime is an act done to carry out the intention, and it must be such as would naturally effect that result unless prevented by some extraneous cause. People v. Mills. 178 N. Y. 274, 70 N. E. 786, 67 L R. A 131. In reference to the crime of treason, and the provision of the federal constitution that a person shall not be convicted thereof unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same "overt act," the term means a step, motion, or action really taken in the execution of a treasonable purpose, as distinguished from mere words, and also from a treasonable sentiment, design, or purpose not issuing in action. —Overt word. An open, plain word, not to be misunderstood. Cowell.
OVERTURE. An opening; a proposal.
OWELTY. Equality. This word is used In law in several compound phrases, as follows:
1.Owelty of partition is a sum of money paid by one of two caparceners or co-tenants to the other, when a partition has been effected between them, but, the land not being susceptible of division into exactly equal shares, such payment is required to make the portions respectively assigned to them of equal value.
2.In the feudal law, when there is lord, mesne, and tenant, and the tenant holds the mesne by the same service that the mesne holds over the lord above him, this was called "owelty of services." Tomlins.
3.Owelty of exchange is a sum of money given, when two persons have exchanged
Bl.Law Dict.(2d Ed.)—65
lands, by the owner of the less valuable estate to the 'owner of the more valuable, to equalize the exchange.
OWING. Something unpaid. A debt, for example, is owing while it is unpaid, and whether it be due or not. Ooquard v. Bank of Kansas City, 12 Mo. App. 261; Mus-selman v. Wise, 84 Ind. 248; Jones v. Thompson, 1 El., Bl. & El. 64.
OWTjERS. In English law. Persons who carried wool, etc., to the sea-side by night, in order that it might be shipped off contrary to law. Jacob.
OWLING. In English law. The offense of transporting wool or sheep out of the kingdom ; so called from its being usually carried on in the night. 4 Bl. Comm. 154.
OWNER. The person in whom is vested the ownership, dominion, or title of property; proprietor. Garver v. Hawkeye Ins. Co., 69 Iowa, 202, 28 N. W. 555; Turner v. Cross, 83 Tex. 218, 18 S. W. 578, 15 L. R, A. 262; Coombs v. People, 198 111. 586, 64 N. E. 1056; Atwater v. Spalding, 86 Minn. 101, 90 N. W. 370, 91 Am. St Rep. 331.
He who has dominion of a thing, real or personal, corporeal or incorporeal, which he has a right to enjoy and do with as he pleases, even to spoil or destroy it, as far as the law permits, unless he be prevented by some agreement or covenant which restrains his right. Bouvier.
—Equitable owner. One who is recognized in equity as the owner of property, because the real and beneficial use and title belong to him, although the bare legal title is vested in another, e. g., a trustee for his benefit—General owner. The general owner of a thing is he who has the primary or residuary title to it; as distinguished from a special owner, who has a special interest in the same thing, amounting to a qualified ownership, such, for example, as a bailee's lien. Farmers' & Mechanics' Nat Bank v. Logan, 74 N. Y. 581.—Joint owners. Tw* or more persons who jointly own and hold titl» to property, e. g., joint tenants.—Legal owner. One who is recognized and held responsible by the law as the owner of property. 1ft a more particular sense, one in whom the legal title to real estate is vested, but who holds it in trust for the benefit of another, the latter being called the "equitable" owner.—Part owners. Joint owners; co-owners; those who have shares of ownership in the same thing, particularly a vessel.—Reputed owner. He who has the general credit or reputation of being the owner or proprietor of goods is said to be the reputed owner. See Santa Cruz Rock Pav. Co. v. Lyons (Cal.) 43 Pac. 601. This phrase is chiefly used in English bankruptcy practice, where the bankrupt is styled the "reputed owner" of goods lawfully in his possession, though the real owner may be another person. The word "reputed" has a much weaker sense than its derivation would appear to warrant; importing merely a supposition or opinion derived or made up from outward appearances, and often unsupported by fact. The term "reputed owner" is frequently employed in this sense. 2 Steph. Comm. 206.—Riparian owner. See Reparian.—Special owner. One who has a special interest in an article of property, amounting to a qualified ownership of it such, for example, as a bailee's lien; as distinguished from the general owner, who has the primary or residuary title to the same thing. Frazier v. State, 18 Tex. App. 441.
OWNERSHIP
866
OYEZ
OWNERSHIP. The complete dominion, title, or proprietary right in a thing or claim. See Pbopbety.
The ownership of a thing is the right of one or more persons to possess and use it to the exclusion of others. In this Code, the thing of which there may be ownership is called "property." Civ. Code Cal. § 654.
Ownership is the right by which a thing belongs to some one in particular, to the exclusion of all other persons. Civ. Code La. art 488.
Ownership is divided into perfect and imperfect. Ownership is perfect when it is perpetual, and when the thing is unincumbered with any real right towards any other person than the owner. On the contrary, ownership is imperfect when it is to terminate at a certain time or on a condition, or if the thing which is the object of it, being an immovable, is charged with any real right towards a third person; as a usufruct, use, or servitude. When an immovable is subject to a usufruct, the owner of it is said to possess the naked ownership. Civ. Code La. art. 490; Maestri v. Board of .Assessors, 110 La. 517, 34 South. 658.
OXFELD. A restitution anciently made by a hundred or county for any wrong done by one that was within the same. Lamb. Arch. 125.
OXGANG. In old English law. As much land as an ox could till. Co. Litt. 5a. A measure of land of uncertain quantity. In Scotland, it consisted of thirteen acres. Spel-man.
OYER. In old practice. Hearing; the hearing a deed read, which a party sued on a bond, etc., might pray or demand, and it was then read to him by the other party; the entry on the record being, "et ei legitur in haeo verba," (and it is read to him in these words.) Steph. PI. 67, 68; 3 Bl. Comm. 299; 3 Salk. 119.
In modern practice. A copy of a bond or specialty sued upon, given to the opposite party, in lieu of the old practice of reading it
OYER AND TERMINER. A half French phrase applied in England to the assizes, which are so called from the commission of oyer and terminer directed to the judges, empowering them to "inquire, hear, and determine" all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanors. This commission is now issued regularly, but was formerly used only on particular occasions, as upon sudden outrage or insurrection in any place. In the United States, the higher criminal courts are called "courts of oyer and terminer." Bur-rill.
OYER DE RECORD. A petition made in court that the judges, for better proof's sake, will hear or look upon any record. Cowell.
OYEZ. Hear ye. A word used in courts by the public crier to command attention when a proclamation is about to be made. Commonly corrupted into "O yes."
