Abbreviatio Placitorum ([schwa]-bree-vee-ay-shee-oh plas-i-tor-[schwa]m), n. [Law Latin “summary of the pleas”] Hist. An abstract of pleadings culled from the rolls of the Curia Regis, Parliament, and common-law courts from the 12th to 14th centuries, compiled in the 17th century, printed in 1811, and attributed variously to Arthur Agarde, Deputy Chamberlain of the Exchequer, and to […]
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automatism (aw-tom-[schwa]-tiz-[schwa]m), n. 1. Action or conduct occurring without will, purpose, or reasoned intention, such as sleepwalking; behavior carried out in a state of unconsciousness or mental dissociation without full awareness. • Automatism may be asserted as a defense to negate the requisite mental state of voluntariness for commission of a crime. [Cases: Criminal Law
Carta Mercatoria (kahr-t[schwa] m[schwa]r-k[schwa]-tor-ee-[schwa]). Hist. An English statute (enacted in 1303) establishing various rules that favored certain foreign merchants. • In exchange for paying customs duties, merchants received extensive trading rights throughout England, the power to export their mer-chandise, the liberty to dwell where they pleased, and certain legal rights. — Also termed Statutum de
The pleasure, comfort, and advantage that a person may derive from the occupancy of land. • The term includes not only the interests that a person may have for residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and other purposes, but also interests in having the present-use value of the land unimpaired by changes in its physical condition.
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stand mute. 1. (Of a defendant) to refuse to enter a plea to a criminal charge. • Standing mute is treated as a plea of not guilty. [Cases: Criminal Law 300. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 378–379.] 2. (Of any party) to raise no objections.
notice to appear. A summons or writ by which a person is cited to appear in court. • This is an informal phrase sometimes used to refer to the summons or other initial process by which a person is notified of a lawsuit. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require the summons to state that
The corrupted form of the Norman French language that arose in England in the centuries after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and that was used for several centuries as the primary language of the English legal system; the Anglo-French used in medieval England in judicial proceedings, pleadings, and lawbooks. — Abbr. L.F. —
chirographer of fines (kI-rog-r[schwa]-f[schwa]r) Hist. A Court of Common Pleas officer who engrossed court-ordered fines and delivered indentures of the fines to the parties. See INDENTURE OF A FINE. “Chirographer of fynes… signifieth in our common lawe, him in the common bench office, that ingrosseth fines in that court acknowledged, into a perpetuall record, after
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motion to strike. 1. Civil procedure. A party’s request that the court delete insufficient defenses or immaterial, redundant, impertinent, or scandalous statements from an opponent’s pleading. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f). [Cases: Federal Civil Procedure 1144; Pleading 351, 361. C.J.S. Pleading §§ 624–625.] 2. Evidence. A request that inadmissible evidence be deleted from the record