PATENT AMBIGUITY-continued. although admissible in all cases to remove a latent ambiguity, is admissible in no case to remove a patent one. See title EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE. PATENTS. In consequence of the abuse of the prerogative in granting monopolies (see that title), the statute 21 Jac. 1, c. 3, was passed, which, after declaring that the letters patent theretofore granted were contrary to the laws of this realm, and therefore utterly void and of none effect, went on to provide and enact that any declaration in the Act before mentioned should not extend to any letters patent for the term of one and twenty years or under theretofore made, or thereafter to be made, of the sole working or making of any manner of new manufacture within this realm to the first and true inventor or inventors of such manufactures, which others at the time of the granting of such letters patent did not use, so they be not contrary to the law nor mischievous to the state by raising of the prices of commodities at home, or hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient. Upon this statute the whole patent law is to the present day substantially founded; but it is competent upon petition to the Crown to obtain an extension of this patent right after the expiration of the fourteen years allowed by the statute of James for such further period as the Privy Council shall think is fit or proper for the due remuneration of the inventor. This extension is permitted under the statutes 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 83, and the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 83). See also titles NOTICE OF OBJECTIONS; and SPECIFICATION. PATRON (patronus). He who has the right, title, power, or privilege of presenting to an ecclesiastical benefice. See title ADVOWSON. PAUPERIS FORMA: See title FORMÂ PAUPERIS. PAWNBROKERS. Are a species of paid bailees, and their liabilities in respect of negligence are determined accordingly (see title NEGLIGENCE). If left to the Common Law, the rights of pawnbrokers would be the rights of ordinary pawnees or pledgees (see title PLEDGE); but owing to certain abuses to which the trade of pawnbroking is exposed, the Legislature has thought fit to control it by statutory provision. The Acts upon the subject in force until recently were the 39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 99, and 23 & 24 Vict. c. 21; but both these statutes, together with many minor ones, have been repealed, and the whole law of pawnbrokers consolidated PAWNBROKERS-continued. and amended by the Pawnbrokers Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 93). That Act divides loans into two classes: (1.) Loans above 108. and not above 40s., on which class of loans a charge of one penny is allowed for the ticket, and one halfpenny per two shillings per calendar month by way of profit, all fractions of two shillings or calendar months (unless under a fortnight) being chargeable at the same rate; and (2.) Loans above 40s. and not above £10, on which class of loans a charge of one penny is allowed for the ticket, and one halfpenny per half-crown per calendar month by way of profit, all fractions of half-crowns or calendar months being chargeable at the same rate. The statute (s. 16) directs that every pledge shall be redeemable within twelve months from the day of pawning, exclusive of that day, with seven days of grace. And by s. 17, a pledge pawned for 108. or under, if not redeemed within that time becomes the absolute property of the pawnbroker; but by s. 18, a pledge for above 108. continues redeemable beyond that time until the actual sale thereof. The sale shall be only by public auction (s. 19), and the pawnbroker is to account for the surplus (if any), allowing for costs of sale and any set-off. The Act does not prohibit special contracts between the pawnbroker and his customer (s. 24). Upon production of the ticket and payment of all sums owing on the pledge within the period for redemption, the pawnbroker is bound to deliver up the same; and by s. 27, he is made liable for all damage or destruction occasioned by fire. Section 29 makes provisions for cases in which the ticket has been lost. By the Common Law (Morley v. Attenborough, 3 Ex. 500), a pawnbroker could not retain goods illegally pawned, e.g., stolen goods, nor could the purchaser from him retain same, as against the true owner; but under s. 30 of the Act of 1872, upon conviction of the thief, the Court may (in its discretion) either allow the pawnbroker to retain the goods as a security for the money advanced or order the restitution thereof to the true owner. PAYMENT OF MONEY INTO COURT continued. or a part of the plaintiff's claim, he often, with the view of preventing the plaintiff from further maintaining his action, pleads what is termed a "plea of payment into Court," by which he alleges that he brings a sum of money into Court ready to be paid to the plaintiff if he will accept the same, and that the plaintiff has no claim to a larger amount; and this plea is accompanied by an actual payment of the specified sum into the hands of the proper officer of the Court, where the plaintiff, or usually his attorney, may, upon application, obtain it. Should the plaintiff, after this, proceed with the action, he does so at the peril of being defeated, and having the costs to pay, unless he should, upon the trial, prove that a further sum still remains due to him from the defendant. By the C. L. P. Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 76), s. 70, in extension of a similar provision contained in the 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42, s. 21, it is lawful for the defendant in all actions (except actions for assault and battery, false imprisonment, libel, slander, malicious arrest or prosecution [criminal conversation], or debauching of the plaintiff's daughter or servant), and, by leave of the Court or a judge, upon such terms as to the latter shall seem fit, for one or more of several defendants, to pay into Court a sum of money by way of compensation or amends. Such payment into Court admits the plaintiff's ground of action, and the plaintiff is entitled to have the money in any event; but, semble, the Court may control or direct the application of the money. Carr v. Royal Exchange Insurance Company, 34 L. J. (Q. B.) 31. PEACE, ARTICLES OF THE. Where a person says that his life is endangered through the hostility of some one, he may exhibit articles of the peace (being a formal statement of the danger) to the Court or a magistrate, who will thereupon require the party informed against to give security to keep the peace. But the Court must satisfy itself that there is on the face of the articles a reasonable ground of fear. The articles are put in upon oath, and the defendant cannot controvert the allegations contained therein, even by affidavit. Rex v. Doherty, 13 East, 171. PEACE OF GOD AND THE CHURCH. Anciently meant to signify that rest and cessation which the king's subjects had from trouble and suit of law between the terms. Cowel. PECULIAR. This was the phrase used to designate a particular parish or church that had jurisdiction within itself for PECULIAR-continued. granting probates of wills, &c., exempt from the Ordinary or Bishop's Courts. The Court of Peculiars was a Court annexed to the Court of Arches, and had jurisdiction over all those parishes dispersed through the province of Canterbury, in the midst of other dioceses, which were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction and subject to the metropolitan only, in which Court all ecclesiastical causes arising within these peculiar or exempt jurisdictions were originally cognizable. Les Termes de la Ley. PECUNIARY CAUSES. These were causes arising either from the withholding ecclesiastical dues, or the doing or neglecting some act relating to the church whereby some damage accrued to the plaintiff'; towards obtaining satisfaction for which he was permitted to institute a suit in the Spiritual Court. Such, for instance, were the subtraction and withholding of tithes from the parson or vicar; the non-payment of ecclesiastical dues to the clergy, as pensions, mortuaries, compositions, and the like. PEERS. Those who are impanelled in an inquest upon any man for the convicting or clearing him of any offence for which he is called in question. The jury was so called from the Latin pares, i.e., equals, because it is the custom of this country to try every man by his equals, that is to say, by his peers (judicio parium suorum). The word "peer" seems also not merely to have signified one of the same rank; but it was also used to signify the vassals or tenants of the same lord, who attended him in his Courts and adjudicated upon matters arising out of their lord's fees, and were thence called peers of fees Whence (Cowel; Les Termes de la Ley). also apparently the king's barons, who sit in the House of Lords, are called his peers, being (or having at any rate been) to some extent and for some purposes the equals of the sovereign. See also titles BARONY; and LORDS, PEERS, QUALITY OF SPIRITUAL. For the general nature of Barony, in the case of the Temporal Peers or Lay Lords, as they may be called, see title BARONY. With reference to the Spiritual Peers, or Bishops, as they now are, their title of peerage seems to rest upon the following bases or basis: In early times the title of the prelates to sit in the House of Peers was cumulative, resting on one or more of the following grounds: (1.) Their learning, (2.) The custom of Western Europe (in PEERS, QUALITY OF SPIRITUAL clusive of England) to admit the (3.) The tenure of lands by barony. Probably, however, the third of these three grounds was the chiefest, as the absence of it is in some instances (e.g., that of the Prior of St. James, at Northampton, in 12 Edw. 2, and that of the Abbot of Leicester in 25 Edw. 3) made a ground of exemption to the prelate from attendance in Parliament; it is certain, however, that the third ground was not a sine quâ non in the Spiritual Peerage, as many spiritual peers were in the House upon the grounds of their learning and of the custom of Europe alone, or upon one of such grounds; and that, or those, are the present titles of the spiritual peers to sit in the House of Lords. To all intents and purposes the spiritual peers were (with one exception) upon a level with the temporal peers for the time being, but they must necessarily have been (in most if not all cases) life peers only. The one exception to this general equality consisted in the following peculiarity, namely, the spiritual had not (nor have they) the right of being present during the trial or (at any rate) upon the judg ment (whether of condemnation or of acquittal) of a temporal peer, or of being themselves tried (like a temporal peer) by their peers. This point of inferiority, however, has never been assented to by the spiritual peers themselves; e.g., in 25 Edw. 3, upon the trial of a certain temporal peer, the spiritual peers, upon retiring, remonstrated that they had full right to remain; and again, e.g., in 1357, the Bishop of Ely claimed to be tried by the Lords, but that claim was disallowed, and he went before a jury; and the same was the case with Bishop Fisher in the reign of Henry VIII., which latter case settled the law. PENAL BILL. An instrument formerly in use by which a party bound himself to pay a certain sum or sums of money, or to do certain acts, or in default thereof to pay a certain specified sum by way of penalty, thence termed a penal sum. These instruments have been superseded by bonds in a penal sum, with conditions. PENAL STATUTES. Statutes imposing certain penalties on the commission of certain offences; and actions brought for the recovery of such penalties are denominated penal actions. Inasmuch as a penal statute is, to the extent of the penalty, a money-bill, the Commons claim the exclusive right as to all such enactments, PENAL STATUTES-continued. the Lords and Crown having merely an assenting vote. See title MONEY-BILLS. PENALTY OF A BOND. The sum of money which the obligor of a bond undertakes to pay by way of penalty, in the event of his omitting to perform or carry out the terms imposed upon him by the conditions of the bond. The distinction between a penalty and a sum payable as liquidated damages is this, that the penal sum is generally or always double the amount of the debt secured by the bond, whereas liquidated or ascertained damages, as the name indicates, are intended to denote, and usually denote, the exact amount of the debt. The Courts of Law and also of Equity relieve against penalties upon payment of the principal debt, and interest, and costs; nor will this right to relief be excluded by the parties merely designating that as liquidated damages which is in reality a penalty (Kemble v. Farren, 6 Bing. 141), unless where the damages are altogether unascertainable, otherwise than by the amount fixed by the instrument. Atkyns v. Kinnier, 1 Ex. 659. Pending the suit, PENDENTE LITE. whilst the suit is pending. See also title LIS PENDENS. PENSION (pensio). That which in the Inner and the Middle Temple is called a parliament, and in Lincoln's Inn a council, is in Gray's Inn termed a pension; that is, an assembly of the members of the society to consult of their affairs. Certain annual payments of each member of the Inns of Court are also so termed. There is also a writ called a pension writ, which seems to be a sort of peremptory order against those members of the society who are in arrear with their pensions and other dues. Cowel. See also titles CIVIL LIST; PENSION PENSION LIST. This is the list of persons receiving pensions from the royal bounty. As to the limits of such bounty, see title CIVIL LIST. PEPPERCORN RENT. Where only a nominal rent is wished to be reserved, the reservation is frequently confined to 66 one peppercorn." PER AUTER VIE. For or during the life of another, for such a period as another person shall live. See title PUR AUTRE VIE. PER CUI ET POST,-Writ of Entry. PER CURIAM (By the Court). A figurative phrase commonly used in the reports, and meaning that the presiding julge or judges spoke to this or that effect. PER, IN THE: See title ENTRY, WRIT OF. PER MY ET PER TOUT (by the half and by all). This phrase is applied to joint tenants who are said to be seised per my et per tout; that is, by the half or moiety and by all; that is, they each have the entire possession as well of every parcel or piece of the land as of the whole considered in the aggregate. For one of them has not a seisin of one-half or moiety, and the other of the other half or moiety; nor can one be exclusively seised of one acre and his companion of another, but each has an undivided half or moiety of the whole, and not the whole of an undivided moiety. PEREMPTORY MANDAMUS-contd. perfect obedience and due execution of the writs. See also title MANDAMUS. PEREMPTORY PAPER. A list of the causes which are enlarged at the request of the parties, or which stand over from press of business in Court. PEREMPTORY PLEAS. Pleas in bar are so termed in contradistinction to that class of pleas called dilatory pleas. The former, viz., peremptory pleas, are usually pleaded to the merits of the action with the view of raising a material issue between the parties; whilst the latter class, viz., dilatory pleas, are generally pleaded with the view of retarding the plaintiff's proceedings, and not for the purpose of raising an issue upon which the parties may go to trial and settle the point in dispute. Peremptory pleas are also called pleas in bar, while dilatory pleas are said to be in abatement only. See title ABATEMENT, PLEAS IN. PEREMPTORY RULE TO DECLARE. When the plaintiff in an action was not ready to declare within the time limited, and the defendant wished to compel the plaintiff to declare, he procured what was termed a peremptory rule to declare, which was in the nature of an order from the Court, compelling the plaintiff to declare peremptorily under pain of judgment of non pros. being signed against him. But by the C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 53, rules to declare, or declare peremptorily, shall not be necessary, but instead thereof a notice shall be given requiring the opposite party to declare, otherwise judgment. If the plaintiff is not prepared to declare within the four days, he may obtain from the judge an extension of time upon sufficient grounds. PEREMPTORY WRIT. This was an original writ called a si te fecerit securum, from the words of the writ; which directed the sheriff to cause the defendant to appear in Court without any option given him, provided the plaintiff gave the sheriff security effectually to prosecute his claim; this writ was in use where nothing was specifically demanded, but only a satisfaction in general; as in the case of writs of trespass on the case, wherein no debt or other specific thing is sued for, but only damages to be assessed by a jury. 1 Arch. Pract. 205. PERFECTING BAIL. Certain qualifications of a property character being required of persons who tender themselves as bail, when such persons have justified, i.e., esta T PERFECTING BAIL-continued. blished their sufficiency by satisfying the Court that they possess the requisite qualifications, a rule of Court is made for their allowance, and the bail is then said to be perfected, i.e., the process of giving bail is finished or completed. See also titles BAIL; JUSTIFYING BAIL. PERFORMANCE. This, like payment, is the normal and natural mode of discharging an obligation. In Equity practice it has acquired a somewhat extended and peculiar development. Thus, when a person covenants to do an act, and without making any express reference to the covenant, he does an act which may either wholly or partially be taken as or towards a performance of the covenant, Equity imputes to him the intention, i.e., implies an intention, on his part to perform the covenant. Cases of performance in Equity fall under two divisions, viz. :— (1.) Covenants to purchase and settle lands, and lands are, in fact, purchased, but no settlement thereof is made (Willcocks v. Willcocks, 2 Vern. 558); and (2.) Covenants to leave personal property, and the covenantee in fact receives property left by reason of the covenantor's intestacy. Blandy v. Widmore, 1 P. Wms. 323. The rules applicable to both these groups of cases are the same, viz. : (1.) When the lands purchased or personal property left by intestacy are of less value than the intention of the covenant, they go in part towards a performance of the covenant (Lechmere v. Carlisle (Earl), 3 P. Wms. 211); and (2.) The omission of immaterial requi sites to the due performance of the covenant will count for nothing, e.g., the omis sion or neglect to obtain the trustee's consent to the purchase, or even to purchase the lands through the trustees as agents (Sowden v. Sowden, 1 Bro. C. C. 582); but (3.) There is no performance in these cases if the covenant is broken in the lifetime of the covenantor. Oliver v. Brickland, 3 Atk. 420. See also title SATISFACTION. PERJURY is defined by Coke to be a crime committed when a lawful oath is administered in some judicial proceeding to a person who swears wilfully, absolutely, and falsely in a matter material to the issue or point in question. And under various modern statutes offences against veracity of the like sort, although not on oath, are rendered indictable and punishable as perjury, e.g., in the case of the PERJURY-continued. declarations substituted for oaths. The Common Law penalty for perjury was fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the Court; the statute law penalty is under 2 Geo. 2, c. 25, s. 2, transportation or imprisonment with hard labour in the house of correction, for any term not exceeding seven years; and now penal servitude is, under 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, and 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, substituted for transportation. Two witnesses are required to ensure a conviction for perjury. PERNANCY. Pernancy signifies taking, receiving, enjoying, &c. Thus the pernancy of the profits of an estate means the receipt or enjoyment of the profits, e.g., "estates in possession are those where the tenant is entitled to the actual pernancy of the profits" (2 Cruise, tit. "Remainder," s. 1); and he who is so in the receipt of the profits is termed the pernor of the profits. OF PERPETUATING TESTIMONY WITNESSES. When a party in a suit in equity is desirous of preserving the evidence of witnesses concerning a matter which cannot be immediately investigated in a Court of Law, or when he is likely to be deprived of the evidence of material witnesses by their death or departure from the realm, it is usual to file a bill in equity to perpetuate and preserve the testimony of such witnesses; and the Court then usually empowers certain persons to examine such witnesses, and to take their depositions. The evidence so taken is then available on any future trial, if the witness or witnesses should in the meantime have died, but not otherwise. PERPETUITY. Various attempts have from time to time been made to keep land in a certain line or family in perpetuity, but the law disliking a perpetuity has frustrated every such attempt. The most noteworthy attempts have been the following: (1.) Restraints imposed upon tenants in (3.) The creation of executory interests |