reeve (reev). Hist. 1. A ministerial officer of high rank having local jurisdiction; the chief magistrate of a hundred. • The reeve executed process, kept the peace, and enforced the law by holding court within the hundred. 2. A minor officer serving the Crown at the hundred level; a bailiff or deputy-sheriff. 3. An overseer […]
folkland. Hist. Land held by customary law, without written title. — Also spelled folcland. Cf. BOOKLAND. “In all discussions on Anglo-Saxon law bookland is contrasted with ‘folkland.’ The most recent and probably the most correct view is that folkland simply means land subject to customary law, as opposed to land which was held under the
tallage. 1. Hist. An arbitrary tax levied by the monarch on towns and lands belonging to the crown. • Royal tallages were abolished in the 14th century when Parliament gained the power to approve or disapprove the monarch’s direct-taxation schemes. 2. Hist. A levy demanded by a feudal lord from tenants in lieu of the
bad-man theory. The jurisprudential doctrine or belief that a bad person’s view of the law represents the best test of what the law actually is because that person will carefully calculate precisely what the rules allow and operate up to the rules’ limits. • This theory was first espoused by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his
chose (shohz), n. [French] A thing, whether tangible or intangible; a personal article; a chattel. See THING. chose in action. 1. A proprietary right in personam, such as a debt owed by another person, a share in a joint-stock company, or a claim for damages in tort. [Cases: Property 5. 5. C.J.S. Property § 22;
injuria (in-joor-ee-[schwa]), n. [Latin] Roman law. 1. See WRONG. Cf. DAMNUM INJURIA DATUM ; actio injuriarum under ACTIO. 2. An assault on a person’s reputation or body. Pl. injuriae (in-joor-ee-ee). “By injuria (or outrage), as the fourth ground of delict obligation, is meant some affronting wrong, calculated to wound the self-respect and touch the honor
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A 1978 federal statute that established new procedures and courts to authorize electronic surveillance of foreign intelligence operations in the United States. • The Act established the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review. It allows the Attorney General to obtain warrants that authorize electronic surveillance of
foreign intelligence surveillance act Read More »
An instrument that indicates who is to serve as a trustee but fails to identify either the beneficiary or the terms of the trust, or both. • Traditionally, this trust was deemed to fail for want of an ascertainable beneficiary. But the modern view is to provide the same relief as that given for a
chancer (chan-s[schwa]r), vb. To adjust according to equitable principles, as a court of chancery would. • The practice arose in parts of New England when the courts had no equity jurisdiction, and were compelled to act on equitable principles. “The practice of ‘chancering’ is a very old one. A forfeiture could be ‘chancered’ under a
A trial judge’s decision or action that appears to a reviewing court to have been unquestionably erroneous. • Even though a clear error occurred, it may not warrant reversal. [Cases: Appeal and Error 999(1), 1008.1(5). C.J.S. Appeal and Error §§ 784, 805, 810.]