abide, vb. 1. To tolerate or withstand (the widow found it difficult to abide the pain of losing her husband). 2. To obey (try to abide the doctor’s order to quit smoking). 3. To await (the death-row prisoners abide execution). 4. To perform or execute (an order or judgment) (the trial court abided the appellate […]
dowager-queen. The widow of the king of England. — Also termed queen dowager. See QUEEN MOTHER. “A queen dowager is the widow of the king, and as such enjoys most of the privileges belonging to her as queen consort. But it is not high treason to conspire her death; or to violate her chastity …
A will that depends on the occurrence of an uncertain event for the will to take effect. • Most jurisdictions hold a conditional will valid even though the testator’s death does not result from or on the occasion of the condition mentioned in the will. The courts generally hold that the condition is the inducement
Court of Wards and Liveries. Hist. A court created in 1540 to assert the Crown’s right to income from a variety of feudal tenures. • The Court’s unpopularity led to its abolition in 1660. “[I]nquests of office were more frequently in practice than at present, during the continuance of the military tenures among us: when,
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first fruits. 1. Hist. One year’s profits from the land of a tenant in capite, payable to the Crown after the tenant’s death. — Also termed primer seisin. 2. Hist. Eccles. law. The first year’s whole profits of a clergyman’s benefice, paid by the incumbent to the Pope, or (after the break with Rome) to
escheat (es-cheet), n. 1. Hist. The reversion of land ownership back to the lord when the immediate tenant dies without heirs. See WRIT OF ESCHEAT. 2. Reversion of property (esp. real property) to the state upon the death of an owner who has neither a will nor any legal heirs. [Cases: Escheat 1–8. C.J.S. Escheat
polygamy (p[schwa]-lig-[schwa]-mee), n. 1. The state or practice of having more than one spouse simultaneously. — Also termed simultaneous polygamy; plural marriage. [Cases: Bigamy 1. C.J.S. Bigamy §§ 2–6, 8.] 2. Hist. The fact or practice of having more than one spouse during one’s lifetime, though never simultaneously. • Until the third century, polygamy included
An agreement by which a borrower promises to pay to the lender a lump sum (exceeding the amount advanced) upon the death of a person whose property the borrower expects to inherit. • Equity traditionally enforces such bonds only if the terms are just and reasonable. — Also termed post-obit agreement.