Codicil. A supplement, or addition, to a will, forming a part thereof, and executed with the same formalities.

Commerce. The exchange of merchandise or commodities between different places, countries, or communities.

Concurrent. Joint and equal. Existing together, and operating on the same objects. With equal authority.

Confiscation. The act of the government in appropriating the prop erty of an individual, as a penalty, to the public use.

Consanguinity. Relation by blood. Relationship of persons de scended from a common ancestry, distinct from relationship by mar riage.

Consignee. A person to whom goods or other things are sent, in trust, for sale or superintendence. A factor.

Consignment. The act of consigning goods or other things. The goods or property sent to a consignee.

Consignor. A person who makes a consignment.

Conspiracy. An unlawful combination of persons for any purpose. Constable. An officer of the peace having power, and bound, to execute the warrants and other processes of judicial officers.

Constituent. A person who appoints another to act for or represent him. A Congressman's constituency are the people of his district. Constitution. The fundamental law of a country, whether expressed

in a written document, or implied in the institutions and usages of the government.

Contraband. Merchandise or traffic prohibited in time of war. Contract. An agreement between two or more parties competent to

contract, based on a sufficient consideration, promising to do or not to do certain things possible to be done, which things are not prohibited by law. Conversion. An unlawful or wrongful appropriation, by one person, of the personal property of another.

Conveyance. The legal transfer of the property of one person to another. An instrument in writing by which this is done.

Convict. A person found guilty of a crime by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Conviction. The act of convicting by the verdict of a jury and judg ment of a court.

Copartner. A person who is jointly concerned with others in any busi ness-transactions. A member of a partnership.

Copartnership. A joint interest between two or more persons in pecuniary or business matters.

Coroner. An officer whose duty it is to summon a jury to inquire into

the cause and manner of sudden or suspicious deaths, produced by vio lence or otherwise. In certain cases, he acts as sheriff. Corporation. A body politic or corporate, composed of many individ

uals, formed and authorized by law, and empowered to act in many respects as a single person, capable of suing and being sued, holding property, conveying the same, and transmitting it to their successors. Corporator. A member of a corporation.

Counsel. One who gives legal advice professionally. Advice and aid given in legal proceedings.

Counselor. A person authorized by law to give legal advice professionally, and to manage causes in court.

Court. One or more persons sitting for the trial of causes in a judicial capacity.

Covenant. A contract in writing, usually under sesi, though not neces

sarily.

Covenantee. The person to whom a covenant is made.

Covenantor. The person who makes the covenant.

Crime. An offense against the laws of the land, to which a penalty is attached.

Criminal. A person who has been judicially adjudged guilty of a crime.

D.

Debt. A sum of money due.

Debtor. A person who owes another a debt.

Decree. A decision, order, sentence, or judgment, by a court or magis

trate.

Deed. An instrument in writing, under seal in due form of law, convey ing title.

Defaulter. One who is deficient in his accounts.

pear in court when properly called.

One who fails to ap

Defendant. A person against whom suit is brought in a court.

Defense. The method adopted by the defendant to protect himself against the plaintiff's action.

Demise. The conveyance of an estate in fee, or for a limited period

specified.

Demurrer. An admission of facts as stated by the opposite party, but a denial of the legal consequences which that party claims.

Deponent. A person who makes a deposition or affidavit.

Deposition. Testimony committed to writing, under the proper legal
forms, to be afterwards used on the trial of a cause.
Descent. Transmission by succession or inheritance.
Devise. A disposition of real property by will.

Devisee. A person to whom a devise is made.
Devisor. The person who makes a devise.

Disfranchisement. Deprivation of the rights of citizenship; as of

voting, or holding office.

Divorce. A legal dissolution of the marriage-contract.

Domicile. An abode or mansion.

Donation. A gift.

Permanent residence

Donee. The person to whom a gift is made.

Donor. The person who makes a gift.

Dower. The right of the widow to the use of a certain portion of the rear estate of which her husband was seized during marriage. Duress. A state of compulsion induced by fear or restraint.

E.

Edict. An order issued by a sovereign to his subjects.

Ejectment. A process of dispossession or expulsion.

Elector. One who has the right to vote; also one chosen to cast the vote of his constituency for the President and Vice-President of the United States.

Embargo. A detention of ships and vessels, by order of government, from sailing out of port; generally on account of impending war or public danger. Embezzlement. Fraudulent appropriation to one's own use of personal property intrusted to him by another for a particular purpose. Emblements. The produce or fruits of land sown or planted. Endowment. A permanent provision for the support of a person or an institution.

Equity. Definition of, 290.

Estate. The interest which one has in property of any kind.

Execution. A judicial writ empowering an officer to carry a judgment into effect. The signing and sealing of a legal instrument, as a deed or will.

Executor. The person to whom the execution of a will is intrusted by the testator.

F.

Fealty. Fidelity to one's government. Loyalty. Allegiance.
Fee. An unconditional estate of inheritance transmissible to heirs.
Felon. One who has been convicted of felony.

Felony. A heinous crime punishable by imprisonment or death.
Fine. A sum of money imposed by a court for commission of crime.
Foreclosure. The process of enforcing collection of a mortgage.

Forgery. Fraudently making or altering a writing, or making a thing in imitation of another, with intent to deceive or defraud.

Fratricide. A murderer of a brother or sister.

Fraud. Deliberate deception for the purpose of obtaining unfair and unlawful advantage in business-matters.

Freehold. An estate in real property, for life or in fee.
Freeholder. The owner of a freehold.

G.

Government. The manner in which sovereignty is exercised. The administration of the laws.

Grand Jury. A body of men, not less than twelve, nor more than twenty-three, summoned according to the forms of law, attending upon court for the purpose of inquiring into the commission of crimes within their jurisdiction. They find indictments against criminals, and pre

sent them to the court.

Grant. A transfer of property by deed or writing.

Grantee. The person to whom a grant is made.

Grantor. The person who makes a grant.

Guardian. One who has the lawful supervision of the person and business-affairs of an infant or other incompetent person.

H

Habeas Corpus. Literally, you may have the body. A writ having for its object to bring a party before a court or judge, especially with a view to inquire into the cause of a person's imprisonment or detention by another. If the person is found to be unlawfully restrained of his liberty, he will be discharged; if not, he will be remanded to prison or custody.

Heir. One who receives, inherits, or is entitled to, the possession of any property after the death of its owner. One to whom property descends by inheritance.

Homestead. One's dwelling-place, with that part of his real estate immediately surrounding it.

I.

Illegal. Contrary to law. Unlawful.

Impeachment. An arraignment of a public officer, under a written,

formal accusation of corruption in office, or of crimes and misdemeanors for which he ought to be removed from office.

Imports. Goods and chattels brought from foreign countries in the

course of trade.

Imposts. Taxes or duties imposed; more especially on imports.
Inalienable. Not transferable.

Inchoate. That which is not yet complete or finished.

Indictment. A written accusation of crime against a person, made by a grand jury in due form of law.

Informer. One who informs the judicial authorities against a persor who has viclated some penal statute.

Inheritance. A continuing right in an estate to a person and his heirs. A right transmitted by operation of law.

Injunction. A writ granted by a competent court or a judge thereof, commanding a person to do some specific act mentioned in the writ.

Inquest. A judicial inquiry. An official examination.

Insolvency. A condition of inability to pay one's debts.

Insurgent. A person who rises in revolt against the authority or gov

ernment or law.

Intestate. A person who dies without making a will.

J.

Judge. A judicial magistrate above the grade of justice of the peace. Judgment. A judicial determination of a court or a judge, on the facts and issues tried in a cause.

Judicial. Pertaining to courts of justice.

Judiciary. That branch of government represented by the courts, giv、 ing interpretation and application to the laws.

Jurat. The certificate of the officer at the end of an affidavit, showing when and before whom it was made.

Jurisprudence. The science of law.

Jurist.

One well versed in the science of the laws of the land. Juror. One who serves on a jury.

Jury. A body of men summoned and sworn in court, to make inquest, or to give verdict on the facts of a cause as they appear from the evidence. Jury-Box. The place where the jury sits during the trial of a cause.

L.

Landlord. The owner of lands or houses leased to tenants.

Larceny. The unlawful taking and carrying away and appropriating the personal property of another. Stealing.

Law. A rule of action prescribed by the supreme power of a State, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong.