and under the obedience of the government; 2 Kent, 42. At common law, in England and America, natural allegiance could not be renounced except by permission of the government to which it was due; 1 Bla. Com. 370, 371; 1 East, Pl. Cr. 81; 3 Pet. 99, 242; but see 8 Op. Att.Gen. U. S. 139; 9 id. 356. Held to be the law of Great Britain in 1868; Cockb. Nationality. It was otherwise in the civil law and in most continental nations. After many negotiations between the two countries, the rule has been changed in the United States by Act of July 27, 1868, and in England by Act of May 10, 1870. Whether natural allegiance revives upon the return of the citizen to the country of his allegiance, is an open question; Whart. Conf. L. § 6. See Cockb. Nationality; Whart. Conf. L.; 18 Am. L. Reg. 595, 565; Lawrence's Wheat. Int. L., App.; NATURALIZATION; EXPATRIATION. ALLIANCE (Lat. ad, to, ligare, to bind). The union or connection of two persons or families by marriage; affinity, In International Law. A contract, treaty, or league between two sovereigns or states, made to insure their safety and common defence. Defensive alliances are those in which a nation agrees to defend her ally in case she is attacked. ALLODARII. Those who own allodial lands. Those who have as large an estate as a subject can have; Coke, Litt. 1; Bacon, Abr. Tenure, A. ALLODIUM (Sax. a, privative, and lode or leude, a vassal; that is, without vassalage). Án estate held by absolute ownership, without recognizing any superior to whom any duty is due on account thereof; 1 Washb. R. P. 16. It is used in opposition to feodum or fief, which means property the use of which was bestowed upon another by the proprietor, on condition that the grantee should perform certain services for the grantor, and upon the failure of which the property should revert to the original possessor. In the United States the title to land is essentially allodial, and every tenant in fee simple has an absolute and unqualified dominion over it; yet in technical language his estate is said to be in fee, a word which implies a feudal relation, although such a relation has ceased to exist in any form, while in several of the states the lands have been declared to be allodial; 44 Penn. 492; 2 id. 191; 10 Gill & J. 443; but see 7 Cush. 92; 2 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 77, n.; 1 Washb. R. P. 41, 42; Sharswood's Lecture on Feudal Law, 1870. In some states, the statutes have de Offensive alliances are those in which nations unite for the purpose of making an at-clared lands to be allodial. See also 28 Wis. tack, or jointly waging the war against another nation. ALLOCATIONE FACIENDA. In English Law. A writ directed to the lord treasurer and barons of the exchequer, commanding that an allowance be made to an accountant for such moneys as he has lawfully expended in his office. ALLOCATUR (Lat., it is allowed). A Latin word formerly used to denote that a writ or order was allowed. A word denoting the allowance by a master or prothonotary of a bill referred for his consideration, whether touching costs, damages, or matter of account; Lee, Dict. ALLOCATUR EXIGENT. A writ of exigent which issued in a process of outlawry, upon the sheriff's making return to the original exigent that there were not five county courts held between the teste of the original writ and the return day; 1 Tidd, Pract. 128. 367. In England there is no allodial tenure, for all land is held mediately or immediately of the king; but the words tenancy in fee simple are there properly used to express the most absolute dominion which a man can have over his property; 3 Kent, 390; Cruise, Prelim. Dis. c. 1, § 13; 2 Bla. Com. 45. ALLONGE (Fr.). A piece of paper annexed to a bill of exchange or promissory note, on which to write endorsements for which there is no room on the instrument it self; Pardessus, n. 343; Story, Prom. Notes, §§ 121, 151. ALLOY (spelled also allay). An inferior metal used with gold and silver in making coin. The amount of alloy to be used is determined by law, and is subject to changes from time to time. ALLUVIO MARIS (Lat.). Soil formed by the washing-up of earth from the sea; Schultes, Aq. Rights, 138. ALLUVION. That increase of the earth on a shore or bank of a river, or to the shore of the sea, by the force of the water, as by a current or by waves, which is so gradual that no one can judge how much is added at each moment of time; Inst. 1. 2, t. 1, § 20; 3 B. & C. 91; Code Civil Annoté, n. 556; Ang. Watercourses, 53; 9 Cush. 551. The proprietor of the bank increased by alluvion is entitled to the addition, this being regarded as the equivalent for the loss he may ALTA VIA. The highway. ALTARAGE. In Ecclesiastical Law. Offerings made on the altar; all profits which accrue to the priest by means of the altar; Ayliffe, Par. 61. ALTERATION. A change in the terms of a contract made by the agreement of the parties thereto. An act done upon an instrument in writing by a party entitled under it, without the consent of the other party, by which its meaning or language is changed. The term is properly applied to the change in the language of instruments, and is not used of changes in the contract itself. And it is in strictness to be distinguished from the act of a stranger in changing the form or language of the instrument, which is called a spoliation. This latter distinction is not always observed in practice, however. sustain from the breaking-in or encroachment of the waters upon his land; 1 Washb. R. P. 451; 2 Md. Ch. Dec. 485; 1 Gill & J. 249; 4 Pick. 273; 17 id. 41; 1 Hawks. 56; 6 Mart. La. 19; 11 Ohio, 311; 18 La. 122; 5 Wheat. 380; 48 N. H. 9; 64 Ill. 56; 26 Ohio St. 40; 58 N. Y. 437; 18 Iowa, 549; 23 Wall. 46; 4 Wall. 502. The increase is to be divided among riparian proprietors by the following rule: measure the whole extent of their ancient line on the river, and ascertain how many feet each proprietor owned on this line; divide the newly-formed river-line into equal parts, and appropriate to each proprietor as many of these parts as he owned feet on the old line, and then draw lines from the points at which the proprietors respectively bounded on the old to the points thus determined as the points of division on the newly-formed shore. In applying this rule, allowance must be made for projections and An alteration avoids the instrument; 11 indentations in the old line; 17 Pick. 41; 9 Coke, 27; 5 C. B. 181; 4 Term, 320; 15 Me. 44; 51 N. H. 496; 17 Vt. 387; see 19 East, 29; 8 Cowen, 71; 2 Halst. 175; but Mich. 325. Where the increase is instanta- not, it seems, if the alteration be not material; neous, it belongs to the sovereign, upon the 2 N. H. 543; 8 id. 139; 10 Conn. 192; 5 ground that it was a part of the bed of the Mass. 540; 6 id. 519; 20 Vt. 217; 3 Ohio river of which he was proprietor; 17 Ala. 9; St. 445; 5 Nebr. 233, 439; 12 N. H. 466. 2 Bla. Com. 269; the character of alluvion The insertion of such words as the law supdepends upon the addition being impercepti-plies is said to be not material; 15 Pick. 239; ble; 3 B. & C. 91; 26 Wall. 46; 18 La. 3 Metc. Mass. 103; 29 Me. 298. As to whether tearing and putting on a seal is material; see 2 Pick. 451; 4 Gilm. 411; 11 M. & W. 778; 13 id. 343; 1 Parsons, Contr. 227. The question of materiality is one of law for the court; 1 N. H. 95; 2 id. 543; 11 Me. 115; 13 Pick. 165; 5 Miss. 231; and depends upon the facts of each case; L. R. 1 Ex. D. 176. The principle seems to be that a party "is discharged from his liability, if the altered instrument, supposed to be genu 122. Sea-weed which is thrown upon a beach, as partaking of the nature of alluvion, belongs to the owner of the beach; 7 Metc. 322; 2 Johns. 322: 3 B. & Ad. 967. But sea-weed below low-water mark on the bed of a navigable river belongs to the public; 9 Conn. 38. Alluvion differs from avulsion in this, that the latter is sudden and perceptible; 23 Wall. 46. See AVULSION. And see 2 Ld. Raym. 737; Cooper, Inst. 1. 2, t. 1; Angell, Water-ine, would operate differently to the original courses, 53 et seq.; Phillimore, Int. Law, 255; 2 Am. Law Jour. 282, 393; Angell, Tide Waters, 249; Inst. 2. 1. 20; Dig. 41. 1. 7; id. 39. 2. 9; id. 6. 1. 23; id. 41. 1. 5; 1 Bouvier, Inst. 74. ALLY. A nation which has entered into an alliance with another nation; 1 Kent, 69. A citizen or subject of one of two or more allied nations; 4 C. Rob. Adm. 251; 6 id. 205; 2 Dall. 15; Dane, Abr., Index. ALMS. Any species of relief bestowed upon the poor. That which is given by public authority for the relief of the poor; Shelford, Mortm. 802, note (X); Haywood, Election, 263; 1 Dougl. El. Cas. 370; 2 id. 107. ALNAGER (spelled also Ulnager). ̈ A public sworn officer of the king, who, by himself or his deputy, looks to the assize of woollen cloth made throughout the land, and to the putting on the seals for that purpose ordained; Statute 17 Ric. II. c. 2; Cowel; Blount; Termes de la Ley. ALNETUM. A place where alder-trees grow; Domesday Book; Cowel; Blount. ALTA PRODITIO. High treason. instrument, whether it be or be not to his prejudice;" Anson, Contr. 319; 5 E. & B. 89. For instances, see 74 N. Y. 307; 39 Mich. 182; 57 Ala. 379; 51 Iowa, 473; 66 Ind. 331; 69 Mo. 429. Alteration of a deed will not defeat a vested estate or interest acquired under the deed; 11 Mees. & W. 800; 2 H. Bla. 259; 23 Pick. 231; 1 Me. 73; 1 Watts, 236; 3 Barb. 404; see 18 Vt. 466; but as to an action upon covenants, has the same effect as alteration of an unsealed writing; 11 M. & W. 800; 23 Pick. 231; 2 Barb. Ch. 119. As to filling up blanks in deeds, see 6 M. & W. 200; 5 Mass. 538; 17 S. & R. 438; 20 Penn. 12; 4 M'Cord, 239; 7 Cowen, 484; 2 Dana, 142; 4 id. 191; 2 Wash. Va. 164; 2 Ala. 517; 10 Am. Dec. 267. A spoliation by a third party without the knowledge or consent of a party to the instru ment will not avoid an instrument even if material, if the original words can be restored with certainty; 1 Parsons, Contr. 224; 1 Greenl. Ev. § 566; but the material alteration of an instrument by a stranger, while it is in the custody of the promisee, avoids his rights under it; 11 Coke, 27 b; L. R. 10 Ex. 330; because one who has the custody of 66 an instrument made for his benefit, is bound to preserve it in its original state;" 13 M. & W. 352; 3 E. & B. 687. But see 23 Pick. 231. Where there has been manifestly an alteration of a parol instrument, the party claiming under it is bound to explain the alteration; 6 Cush. 314; 9 Penn. 186; 11 N. H. 395; 13 id. 385; 2 La. 290; 3 Harr. Del. 404; 8 Miss. 414; 17 id. 375; 7 Barb. 564; 6 C. & P. 273; 7 Ad. & E. 444; 8 id. 215; 2 M. & G. 890, 909; see 11 Conn. 531; 9 Mo. 705; 2 Zabr. 424; 5 Harr. & J. 36; 20 Vt. 205; 13 Me. 386. As to the rule in case of deeds, see Coke, Litt. 225 b; 1 Kebl. 22; 5 Eng. L. & Eq. 349; 1 Zabr. 280. ALTERNAT. A usage among diplomatists by which the rank and places of different powers, who have the same right and pretensions to precedence, are changed from time to time, either in a certain regular order, or one determined by lot. In drawing up treaties and conventions, for example, it is the usage of certain powers to alternate, both in the preamble and the signatures, so that each power occupies, in the copy intended to be delivered to it, the first place; Wheaton, Int. Law, § 157. ALTERNATIVE. Allowing a choice between two or more things or acts to be done. In contracts, a party has often the choice which of several things to perform. A writ is in the alternative which commands the defendant to do the thing required, or show the reason wherefore he has not done it; Finch, 257; 3 Bla. Com. 273. The first mandamus is an alternative writ; 3 Bla. Com. 111. ALTIUS NON TOLLENDI. In Civil Law. A servitude by which the owner of a house is restrained from building beyond a certain height. ALTIUS TOLLENDI. In Civil Law. A servitude which consists in the right, to him who is entitled to it, to build his house as high as he may think proper. In general, every one enjoys this privilege, unless he is restrained by some contrary title. ALTO ET BASSO. High and low. This phrase is applied to an agreement made between two contending parties to submit all matters in dispute, alto et basso, to arbitration; Cowel. ALTUM MARE. The high sea. ALUMNUS. A foster-child. ALVEUS (Lat.). The bed or channel through which the stream flows when it runs within its ordinary channel; Calvinus, Lex. Alveus derelictus, a deserted channel; 1 Mackeldey, Civ. Law, 280. AMALPHITAN TABLE. A code of sea laws compiled for the free and trading republic of Amalphi toward the end of the eleventh century; 3 Kent, 9. It consists of the laws on maritime subjects which were or had been in force in countries bordering on the Mediterranean; and, on account of its being collected into one regular system, it was for a long time received as authority in those countries; 1 Azuni, Mar. Law, 376. AMBACTUS (Lat. ambire, to go about). A servant sent about; one whose services his master hired out; Spelman, Gloss. AMBASSADOR. In International Law. A public minister sent abroad by some sovereign state or prince, with a legal commission and authority to transact business to which he is sent. on behalf of his country with the government ticular or extraordinary occasions, or residing Extraordinary are those employed on parat a foreign court for an indeterminate period; Vattel, Droit des Gens, 1. 4, c. 6, §§ 70-79. Ordinary are those sent on permanent missions. An ambassador is a minister of the highest rank. The United States have always been represented by ministers plenipotentiary, never having sent a person of the rank of an ambassador in the diplomatic sense; 1 Kent, 39, n. Ambassadors, when acknowledged as such, are exempted absolutely from all allegiance, and from all responsibility to the laws; 7 Cranch, 138. If, however, they should be so regardless of their duty, and of the object of their privilege, as to insult or openly to attack the laws of the government, their functions may be suspended by a refusal to treat with them, or application can be made to their own sovereign for their recall, or they may be dismissed, and required to depart within a reasonable time. By fiction of law, an ambassador is considered as if he were out of the territory of the foreign power; and it is an implied agreement among nations, that the ambassador, while he resides in the foreign state, shall be considered as a member of his own country, and the government he repreand control of his person; Grotius, b. 2, c. sents has exclusive cognizance of his conduct 18, §§ 1-6. Ambassadors' children born abroad are held not to be aliens; 7 Coke, 18 a. The persons of ambassadors and their domestic servants are exempt from arrest on civil process; 1 Burr. 401; 3 id. 1731; Cas. temp. Hardw. 5; Stat. 7 Anne, c. 12; Act of Cong. April 30, 1790, § 25. Consult 2 Wash. C. C. 435; 7 Cranch, 138; 1 Kent, 14, 38, 182; 1 Bla. Com. 253; Ruthc. 8, § 113; erford, Inst. b. 2, c. 9; Vattel, b. 4, c. Grotius, 1. 2, c. 8, §§ 1, 3. AMBIDEXTER (Lat.). both hands. Skilful with Applied anciently to an attorney who took pay from both sides, and subsequently to a juror guilty of the same offence; Cowel. AMBIGUITY (Lat. ambiguitas, indistinctness; duplicity). Duplicity, indistinctness, or uncertainty of meaning of an expression used in a written instrument. Latent is that which arises from some collateral circumstance or extrinsic matter in AMBIT 155 AMERCEMENT cases where the instrument itself is sufficiently amend money-bills passed by the house of certain and intelligible. representatives, but cannot originate such bills. The constitution of the United States contains a provision for its amendment; U. S. Const. art. 5. Patent is that which appears on the face of the instrument; that which occurs when the expression of an instrument is so defective that a court of law which is obliged to put a In Practice. The correction, by allowconstruction upon it, placing itself in the situa-ance of the court, of an error committed in tion of the parties, cannot ascertain therefrom the progress of a cause. the parties' intention; 4 Mass. 205; 4 Cranch, 167; 1 Greenl. Ev. §§ 292–300. The term does not include mere inaccuracy, or such uncertainty as arises from the use of peculiar words, or of common words in a peculiar sense; Wigram, Wills, 174; 3 Sim. 24; 3 Mann. & G. 452; 8 Metc. 576; 13 Vt. 36; see 21 Wend. 651; and intends such expressions as would be found of uncertain meaning by persons of competent skill and information; 1 Greenl. Ev. § 298. Latent ambiguities are subjects for the consideration of a jury, and may be explained by parol evidence; 1 Greenl. Ev. 2301; and see Wigram, Wills, 48; 2 Starkie, Ev. 565; 1 Stark. 210; 5 Ad. & E. 302; 6 id. 153; 3 B. & Ad. 728; 8 Metc. 576; 7 Cowen, 202; 1 Mas. 11. Patent ambiguity cannot be explained by parol evidence, and renders the instrument as far as it extends inoperative; 4 Mass. 205; 7 Cranch, 167; Jarman, Wills, 315. AMBIT. A boundary line. a AMBITUS (Lat.). A space beside building two and a half feet in width, and of the same length as the building; a space two and a half feet in width between two adjacent buildings; the circuit, or distance around; Cicero; Calvinus, Lex. AMBULATORY (Lat. ambulare, to walk about). Movable; changeable; that which is not fixed. Ambulatoria voluntas (a changeable will) denotes the power which a testator possesses of altering his will during his lifetime. Amendments, at common law, independently of any statutory provision on the subject, are in all cases in the direction of the court, for the furtherance of justice. Under statutes in modern practice, they are very liberally allowed in all formal and most substantial matters, either without costs to the party amending, or upon such terms as the court think proper to order. An amendment, where there is something to amend by, may be made in a criminal as in a civil case; 12 Ad. & E. 217; 2 Pick. 550. But an indictment, which is a finding upon the oaths of the grand jury, can only be amended with their consent before they are discharged; 2 Hawkins, Pl. Cr. c. 25, §§ 97, 98; 13 Pick. 200. An information may be amended after demurrer; 4 Term, 457; Burr. 2568. AMENDS. A satisfaction given by a wrong-doer to the party injured, for a wrong committed; 1 Lilly, Reg. 81. By statute 24 Geo. II. c. 44, in England, and by similar statutes in some of the United States, justices of the peace, upon being notified of an intended suit against them, may tender amends for the wrong alleged or done by them in their official character, and, if found sufficient, the tender debars the action; 5 S. & R. 209, 517; 4 Binn. 20; 6 id. 83. AMERCEMENT. In Practice. A pecuniary penalty imposed upon an offender by a judicial tribunal. The judgment of the court is, that the party be at the mercy of the court (sit in misericordia), AMELIORATIONS. Betterments; 6 upon which the affeerors-or, in the superior Low. Can. 294; 9 id. 503. courts, the coroner-liquidate the penalty. As AMENABLE. Responsible; subject to distinguished from a fine, at the old law an answer in a court of justice; liable to pun-imposed by a court not of record, and was for an ishment. amercement was for a lesser offence, might be uncertain amount until it had been affeered. Either party to a suit who failed was to be amerced pro clamore falso (for his false claim); but these amercements have been long since disused; 4 Bla. Com. 379; Bacon, Abr., Fines and Amercements. The officers of the court, and any person who committed a contempt of court, was also liable to be amerced. the writs, rules, or orders of the court, he Formerly, if the sheriff failed in obeying might be amerced; but this practice has been of the United States, however, the sheriff may, generally superseded by attachment. In some by statutory provision, be amerced for making a return contrary to the provision of the statute; Coxe, 136, 169; 2 South, 433; 3 Halst. 270; 5 id. 319; 6 id. 334; 1 Green, N. J. 159, 341; 2 id. 350; 1 Ohio, 275; 2 id. 503; 6 id. 452; Wright, Ohio, 720; 3 Ired. 407; 5 id. 385; Cam. & N. 477. AMEUBLISSEMENT. A species of dividual on whom it is bestowed from the punagreement which by a fiction gives to immov-ishment the law inflicts for the crime he has able goods the quality of movable; Merl. Rép.; 1 Low. Can. 25, 58. AMI (Fr.). A friend. See PROCHEIN AMY. AMICABLE ACTION. In Practice. An action entered by agreement of parties on the dockets of the courts. and forgetfulness of the offence; pardon is forgiveness. A pardon is given to one who is certainly guilty, or has been convicted; amnesty, to those who may have been so. committed; 7 Pet. 160. Amnesty is the abolition Their effects are also different. That of pardon is the remission of the whole or a part of the punishment awarded by the law,-the conviction remaining unaffected when only a partial pardon is granted; an amnesty, on the contrary, has the effect of destroying the criminal act, so that it is as if it had not been committed, as far as the public interests are concerned. This practice prevails in Pennsylvania. When entered, such action is considered as if it had been adversely commenced and the defendant had been regularly summoned. AMICUS CURIÆ (Lat. a friend of the given to individuals, and properly only after court). In Practice. A friend of the court. One who, for the assistance of the court, gives information of some matter of law in regard to which the court is doubtful or mistaken; Coke, 2d Inst. 178; 2 Viner, Abr. 475. The information may extend to any matter of which the court takes judicial cognizance; 8 Coke, 15. Any one as amicus curice may make a plication to the court in favor of an infant, though he be no relation; 1 Ves. sen. 313; and see 11 Gratt. 656; 11 Tex. 698; 2 Mass. 215. court). To be excluded from the right to attend court; Stat. Westm. 2, c. 44. AMITTERE LIBERAM LEGEM. To lose the privilege of giving evidence under oath in any court; to become infamous, and incapable of giving evidence; Glanville, 2. If either party in a wager of battle cried "craven," he was condemned amittere liberam legem; 3 Bla. Com. 340. AMNESTY. An act of oblivion of past offences, granted by the government to those who have been guilty of any neglect or crime, usually upon condition that they return to their duty within a certain period. Express amnesty is one granted in direct terms. Implied amnesty is one which results when a treaty of peace is made between contending parties; Vattel, 1. 4, c. 2, §§ 20-22. Amnesty and pardon are very different. The former is an act of the sovereign power, the object of which is to efface and to cause to be forgotten a crime or misdemeanor; the latter is an act of the same authority, which exempts the in Their application also differs. Pardon is always Judgment or conviction; amnesty may be granted either before judgment or afterwards, and it is in general given to whole classes of criminals or supposed criminals, for the purpose of restoring ties are limited, and certain classes are excluded But sometimes amnestranquillity in the state. from their operation. The term amnesty belongs to international law, and is applied to rebellions which, by their magnitude, are brought within the rules of international law, but has no technical meaning in the common law, but is a synonym of oblivion, which, in the English law, is the synonym of pardon; 10 Ct. Cl. 397. As to amnesty proclamation of 29 May, 1865, see 7 Ct. Čl. 444. The general amnesty granted by President Johnson on Dec. 25, 1868, does not entitle one receiving its benefits to the proceeds of his property previously condemned and sold under the act of 17 July, 1862, the proceeds having been paid into the treasury; 95 U. S. 147. As to amnesty in cases arising out of the rebellion; 6 Wall. 766; 4 id. 333; 13 id. 128, 154; 16 id. 147; 7 Ct. Cl. 398, 443, 501, 595; 8 id. 457. AMORTISE. To alien lands in mort main. AMORTIZATION. An alienation of lands or tenements in mortmain. The reduction of the property of lands or tenements to mortmain. AMOTION (Lat. amovere, to remove; to take away). An unlawful taking of personal chattels out of the possession of the owner, or of one who has a special authority in them. A turning out the proprietor of an estate in realty before the termination of his estate; 3 Bla. Com. 198, 199. In Corporations. A removal of an official agent of a corporation from the station assigned to him, before the expiration of the term for which he was appointed; 8 Term, 356; 1 East, 562; 6 Conn. 532; Dill. Mun. Corp. § 238. The term is distinguished from disfranchisement, which deprives a member of a public coris the usual phrase in reference to loss of memporation of all rights as a corporator. Expulsion bership of private corporations. The term seems in strictness not to apply properly to cases where officers are appointed merely during the will of the corporation, and are superseded by the choice of a successor, but, as commonly used, includes such cases. |