WRIT-continued.

writs of entry or writs of right, the personal concerning goods, chattels, and personal injuries, and the mixed partaking of the nature of both. Again, writs concerning the possession of land were either possessory, of a man's own possession, or ancestral, of the seisin and possession of his ancestor as well. Writs also commonly bore some special name or addition descriptive of their particular purpose, e.g., writ of assistance, of inquiry, of capias, &c.

Writs original have been abolished, and all personal actions are now to be commenced by writ of summons (1 & 2 Vict. c. 110); also, all the real and mixed writs have been abolished (3 & 4 Vict. c. 17; C. L. P. Act, 1860), and ejectment itself even is now commenced by an ordinary writ of summons. For the varieties of the writ of summons, and also for the other varieties of now existing writs, see the respective titles, and in particular title SUMMONS, WRIT OF.

WRIT OF RIGHT. This was a writ which lay for a man who had the right of property against another man who had the right of possession and was in possession under such right. This severance of the two rights arose in three cases chiefly :

(1.) Upon discontinuance by tenant in tail;

(2.) After judgment in a possessory action; and

(3.) After the possessory action was barred by the Statute of Limitations.

The writ of right properly lay only to recover corporeal hereditaments for an estate in fee simple; but there were other writs said to be" in the nature of a writ of right" available for the recovery of incorporeal hereditaments or of lands for a less estate than a fee simple.

In this action, the demandant alleged some seisin of the lands in himself, or else in some one under whom he claimed; and usually the tenant in possession denied the demandant's right, which the latter was thereupon required to prove; and failing such proof, the demandant and his heirs were perpetually barred of his claim, otherwise he recovered the lands against the tenant and his heirs for ever. There was a limit to the seisin which the demandant might allege; and such limit was fixed by the Statute of Westminster the First (3 Edw. 1), c. 39, from the time of Richard I.; and afterwards by the stat. 32 Hen. 8, c. 2, seisin in a writ of right was to be alleged within sixty years.

By the stats. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 27, s. 36, and C. L. P. Act, 1860, s. 26, all writs of right and writs in the nature thereof have been abolished.

YARD. An enclosed space of ground generally attached to a dwelling-house.

YEA AND NAY. Yes and No; according to a charter of Athelstan, the people of Ripon were to be believed in all actions or suits upon their yea and nay.

YEAR. The year, as divided by Julius Cæsar, consists of twelve months. It appears that in early English times the year began with Christmas Day; but as from the reign of William I. the year is designated by that of the reign only. Upon the Reformation of Religion the year was made to begin with the 25th of March, being the day of the feast of the Annunciation, but the year of the reign continued to be the common mode of denoting dates until the Commonwealth, when the year of our Lord came into use; and ultimately, by the 24 Geo. 2, c. 23, it was enacted that the 1st of January next following the last day of December, 1751, should be the first day of the year 1752, and so on for the first day of every succeeding year; and that the then 2nd of September, 1752, should continue to be reckoned as the second, but the next succeeding day (which of right would be the 3rd of September, 1752) should be reckoned as the 14th of September, 175, omitting for that time only the eleven intermediate days. And all writings after the 1st of January, 1752, were to be dated according to the new style.

See also title TIME.

YEAR AND DAY. This period was fixed for many purposes in law. Thus, in the case of an estray, if the owner did not claim it within that time, it became the property of the lord. So the owners of wreck must claim it within a year and a day. Death must follow upon wounding within a year and a day if the wounding is to be indicted as murder. Also, a year and a day was given for prosecuting or avoiding certain legal acts, e.g., for bringing actions after entry, for making claim, for avoiding a fine, &c.

It was

YEAR, DAY, AND WASTE. formerly a part of the king's prerogative to take the profits of the lands of felons for a year and a day, and to make waste of the same lands, unless the lord of the felon redeemed the king's waste. But the king was restricted of this right of waste by Magna Charta, 9 Hen. 3, c. 22, and after taking the profits for a year and a day, he was to deliver them over to the lord. This prerogative of the king was abolished altogether by the stat. 54 Geo. 3, c. 145, which enacted that no future attainder for felony, except in cases of high treason or murder, should extend to the disinheriting of any heir, or to the prejudice of the right or title of any person other than the right or title of the offender himself during his life.

YEAR-BOOKS. Reports in a regular series from the reign of King Edward II. inclusive to the time of Henry VIII., said to have been taken by the prothonotaries or chief scribes of the Court at the expense of the Crown; they were published annually, whence their name.

YEARS, LEASES FOR. See title LEASES.

YEOMAN. A grade of society next in order to that of gentleman (6 Ric. 2, c. 4, and 20 Ric. 2, c. 2). The word etymologically means a common man, i.e., commoner.

Yeoman also designates an officer of the Queen's household, holding a middle place between serjeant and groom. Also, there are yeomen of the Queen's guard, being a body of soldiers first established in the reign of Henry VIII.

YEOMANRY: See title VOLUNTEERS.

YEW. A tree of which bows were commonly made for warfare; whence the tree was commonly planted in the churchyards, to ensure its protection.

YIELDING AND PAYING. The phrase which commonly expresses the reservation of rent in a deed of lease.

ZEALOT. This word is commonly taken in a bad sense, as denoting a separatist from the Church of England, or a fanatic.

ZEALOUS WITNESS. When a witness is over-zealous on behalf of his party, the counsel who calls him ought to interrogate him with an appearance of indifference, to repress the witness's readiness to give evidence, and to prevent him from diminishing the effect or weight of his testimony; and he ought to dismiss him so soon as he has obtained all the evidence that he wants from him. Of such a witness Quintilian says,-" Nec nimium instare interrogationi [debet], ne ad omnia respondendo testis fidem suam minuat; sed in tantum evocare eum, quantum sumere ex uno satis sit." Best's Evidence, 819. Over-zeal in a witness is clearly a matter affecting his trustworthiness. Tayl. Evid. p. 70.

ZOLLVEREIN. Is the name of the trade-league constituted by twenty-five of the states of the German Empire, until recently of the German Confederation. It comprises the kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Wurtemberg, together with one electorate (Hesse), three grand duchies, seven duchies, seven principalities, one landgraviate, and the These city of Frankfort-on-the-Main. states have agreed upon a general system of law with regard to commerce, the effect of which is to override the particular laws of the particular states, excepting where the general law is silent. See the Convention with regard to Letters Patent, dated the 21st of September, 1842, and ratified the 29th of June, 1843. (Johnson's Patentees' Manual, p. 356.) And see Wheaton's International Law, 70, 78 (n.)