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Elmes's Practice in Lunacy, 1 vol.
Hunter's Suit in Equity, 1 vol.
Morgan's Chancery Acts and Orders,
1 vol.

Morgan and Davey's Costs in
Chancery, 1 vol.

Pemberton on Supplement and Re-
vivor, 1 vol.

Roche and Hazlitt on Bankruptcy, 1 vol.

Seton on Decrees, 2 vols.

III. REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY.

(A.) General Principles.

Burton's Compendium, 1 vol. Dart's Vendors and Purchasers, 2 vols.

Elton on Copyholds, 1 vol.

Fawcett's Landlord and Tenant, 1 vol.

Jarman on Wills, 2 vols.

Platt on Leases, 2 vols.

Preston on Conveyances, 3 vols.
Estates, 1 vol.

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Scriven on Copyholds, 1 vol. Shelford's Real Property Statutes,

1 vol.

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A NEW LAW DICTIONARY.

ABANDONMENT.

This is a word of very general application, and bears in every instance of its use its natural or popular meaning. Thus, the abandonment of children, or their desertion and exposure, for the law as to which see R. v. Falkingham (L. R. 1 C. C. R. 222); also, the abandonment of a distress or of an execution, for the law as to which see titles DISTRESS and EXECUTION; also, the abandonment of the excess of a claim in order to give jurisdiction to the County Court, for the law as to which see COUNTY COURT JURISDICTION,are so many uses of the word. For Abandonment in the law of Marine Insurance, see title MARINE INSURANCE; and see also two following titles.

ABANDONMENT OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS. Such abandonment may either be voluntary, where the plaintiff does it of his own accord, or compulsory, where the defendant compels him either to abandon or to continue his action. The plaintiff may not voluntarily abandon his action, even although adverse, without first satisfying the defendant his costs (Pugh v. Kerr, 5 M. & W. 164). Under the C. L. P. Act, 1854, the application of the defendant to compel an abandonment is to be made on summons, 8. 92. In case the plaintiff voluntarily abandons his action, he should give prompt notice thereof to the defendant, in order to save further costs. See Pugh v. Kerr, supra.

See

ABANDONMENT OF RAILWAYS. Abandonment of Railways Act, 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 83), and the other Acts in Godefroi and Shortt's Law of Railway Companies.

ABATEMENT OF ACTIONS AND SUITS. As applied to actions or suits, this word denotes that for some cause or other the suit is become defective, and can no longer be proceeded with until such defect is removed. Various provisions have been made by recent statutes preventing or remedying such abatements,-of these provisions the principal are the following:

1. C. L. P. Act, 1852, ss. 135-140, where the death of parties is or (but for that Act) would have been the cause of the abatement.

ABATEMENT OF ACTIONS AND SUITS --continued.

2. C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 141, where the marriage of a feme sole (party) is, or (but for that Act) would have been, the cause.

3. Bankruptcy Act, 1869, s. 80, for the case of bankruptcy, and

4. Chancery Jurisdiction Amendment Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 86), s. 52, which enacts that upon any suit becoming abated by death, marriage, or otherwise, or defective by reason of some change or transmission of interest or liability, it shall not be necessary to exhibit any bill of revivor or supplemental bill in order to obtain the usual order to revive such suit, or the usual or necessary decree to carry on the proceedings; but an order to the effect of the usual order to revive or of the usual supplemental decree may be obtained as of course upon an allegation of the abatement of such suit, or of the same having become defective, and of the change or transmission of interest or liability, such order to be served upon the successors in interest or liability, and (when the same is served) to have the effect of rendering such successors parties to the abated suit, with liberty nevertheless to discharge the order for sufficient cause assigned.

In the

ABATEMENT OF NUISANCE. case of a public nuisance the party abating same must have sustained some particular or special damage from it, i.e., some damage other than and besides the general inconvenience sustained by the public at large (Mayor of Colchester v. Brook, 7 Q. B. 339); but in the case of a private nuisance the party prejudiced may at once abate same (Lonsdale (Earl) v. Nelson, 2 B. & C. 302). However, the abatement must be made without any breach of the peace, and also without doing any unnecessary damage (Roberts v. Rose, 4 H. L. C. 163). Under the statute 18 & 19 Vict. c. 121, and the other Acts relative to the preservation of the public health, local authorities and their officers may abate nuisances in the manner mentioned in the Acts.

See also title NUISANCE.

B

This is

ABATEMENT OF POSSESSION. that species of injury to real property which is committed when a stranger, upon the death of an owner in fee, enters upon and takes possession of the land in exclusion of the heir or devisee of such deceased owner.

See also titles DISSEISIN; INTRUSION. ABATEMENT OF RENT. This is an agreement to accept a less sum for rent than that comprised in the original agreement. No parol agreement to make such an abatement is binding. Levinge v. O'Brien, 4 Ir. Jur. 22.

ABATEMENT OF WRIT. This is the defeat or overthrow of a writ. Thus, in stat. 11 Hen. 6, c. 2, the words are, that the justices shall cause the said writ to be abated and quashed. So in Staundf. P. C. 148, it is said that an appeal shall abate and be defeated by reason of covin or deceit.

ABATEMENT, PLEAS IN. These pleas, which are also called dilatory pleas, because they delay for the time the further progress of the suit, or action, or prosecution, are pleas of some matter not material to the merits of the proceeding, but technically necessary or proper; and as such they are opposed to pleas in bar or peremptory pleas. They occur either in civil or in criminal proceedings.

I. In civil proceedings,-They are the following:

(1.) To the jurisdiction of the Court;
(2.) To the person of the plaintiff';
as that (a) he is an outlaw;
or (b) an alien;

or (c) an excommunicated

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(4.) To the writ and action, and for-
merly-

(5.) On account of certain events
happening, namely,-
(a.) The demise of the sovereign,
corrected by 1 Edw. 6, c. 7,
and other subsequent sta-
tutes;

(b.) The marriage of the cor-
(c.) The death parties rected

by C. L. P. Act, 1852, and Chancery Jurisdiction Act, 1852.

II. In criminal proceedings, they are, generally speaking, the same; but under the statute 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, s. 19, no indictment or information is to be abated for

ABATEMENT, PLEAS IN-continued. misnomer, or addition, but the same shall be amended if the Court is satisfied by affidavit of the true name or description. See Rex v. Shakspeare, 10 East, 83.

Inasmuch as pleas in abatement are odious, they must be certain to every intent (2 Wms. Saund. 620), and must go so far as to specify the true mode of procedure (Evans v. Stevens, 4 T. R. 227); and the same rule holds good in criminal cases also (O'Connell v. Reg. (in error), 11 Cl. & F. 155). And so a plea in abatement for non-joinder of defendants should mention all the co-defendants who are not joined (Crellin v. Calvert, 14 M. & W.11). Every such plea must also be verified by affidavit (4 & 5 Anne, c. 16, s. 11), otherwise the plaintiff may sign judgment (Poole v. Pembrey, 1 Dowl. 692); and such affidavit must be delivered with the plea, unless an extension of time be granted. The time for pleading is also very limited, being four days after declaration. Ryland v. Wormwald, 5 Dowl. 581.

Upon issue joined on a plea in abatement, the judgment, when for the plaintiff, may be of either of two kinds, namely,

(1.) Final, as when the issue is an issue of fact;

(2.) Respondeat ouster, as when the issue is one of law.

Large powers of amendment are, however, now given by the C. L. P. Acts, 1852 and 1854, in cases of the non-joinder or mis-joinder of parties; for which see titles MIS-JOINDER and NON-JOINDER.

Pleas generally, whether in bar or in abatement, must be pleaded in the following order, which is invariable, namely,— (i.) To the jurisdiction;

(ii.) In abatement,

(a.) To the person (1) of the plaintiff, or (2) of the defendant,

(b.) To the count,

(c) To the writ;

(iii.) In bar of the action.

Pleading a plea in any one of these classes is a waiver of the right to plead in any of the preceding classes.

See also title PLEA IN BAR.

ABBAT, called also Abbot, was a spiritual lord, and an abbacy was the lordship with the revenues thereof and the spiritual duties attaching thereto. In England, abbats were either elective or presentative; and again some abbats were mitred, having episcopal authority, and not being themselves subject to the jurisdiction of any diocesan, but others were unmitred, and were subject to such jurisdiction. The mitred abbats alone were lords of parliament. It is supposed that there were twenty-seven such parliamentary abbats. All the abbacies are supposed to have been

ABBAT continued.

founded between 602 and 1133. An abbat together with his monks formed a convent, and were a corporation. By statute 27 Hen. 8, c. 28, the lesser monasteries were abolished, and by statute 31 Hen. 8, c. 13, the larger ones were dissolved also.

ABDICATION.

This is a renunciation

of office by some magistrate or other person in office before the natural expiration thereof. Such a renunciation differs from a resignation of office, being usually pure and simple, whereas resignation is commonly in favour of some particular successor. James II. was considered to have abdicated the Crown in 1688.

ABDUCTION. This word is commonly used of the criminal offence of carrying off females on account of their fortunes. See statute 9 Geo. 4, c. 31; but the law is now comprised in 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, ss. 53-4. And by the same statute (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100), s. 55, the unlawfully taking away any unmarried female under the age of sixteen years out of the possession and against the will of her parents or guardian is a misdemeanour; and under s. 56 of the same Act the like offence in respect of an unmarried female under the age of fourteen years is a felony.

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ABEYANCE. This word as applied to real property, whether estates or dignities, denotes that the same are in expectation, remembrance, or intendment of the law. Abeyance is said to be of two sorts, being either-(1) Abeyance of the fee simple, or (2) Abeyance of the freehold. The first is where there is an actual estate of freehold in esse, but the right to the fee simple is suspended, and is to revive upon the happening of some event; e.g. in the case of a lease to A. for life, remainder to the right heirs of B. who is alive, the fee simple is in abeyance until B. dies (Co. Litt. 342 b.) Similarly, during the incumbency of each successive incumbent of a church, he having only a freehold interest therein, the fee simple is in abeyance (Lirt. § 644-6.) The second species of abey

ance,

i.e. an abeyance of the freehold itself, occurs on the death of an incumbent, and until the appointment of his successor (Litt. s. 647.) But saving this one case, the freehold is never in abeyance, and cannot possibly be so.

It was customary in speaking of a thing in abeyance to say that it was "in nubibas" (which was rather a profane expression, or "in gremio legis (Carter v. Barnardiston, 1 P. Wms. 516), the latter

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ABEYANCE-continued.

phrase denoting that the fee simple or freehold which was in abeyance was meanwhile under the care or protection of the law.

There is no abeyance either of the fee simple or of the freehold in the case of conveyances operating under the Statute of Uses, for in these what is not given away remains in the grantor until it is so given.

ABILITY TO PAY. Before any one may be imprisoned at the present day under the 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62 (The Debtors Act, 1869), it is necessary (subject to the exceptions mentioned in s. 4 of the Act), that the debtor should have had since the date of the order or judgment the means to pay the sum in respect of which he has made default, s. 5 of the Act being substituted for ss. 98 and 99 of the County Court Act, 1846. Moreover, no imprisonment under this section is to operate as a satisfaction or extinguishment of any debt or demand, or cause of action, or to deprive any person of any right to take out execution against the lands or goods of the person imprisoned.

ABJURATION. This is a foreswearing or renouncing upon oath. To abjure the realm was to take an oath to quit it for ever, and such abjuring persons were and are civilly dead. So also to abjure the Pretender was to take an oath disclaiming all allegiance or obedience to him. The oath of abjuration is a natural issue from the duty of allegiance, but, apparently, was not devised until after the Revolution of 1688, when the 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 27, first imposed it in respect of temporal sovereigns at least. (See title PRÆMUNIRE, as to spiritual sovereigns.) More recently the oath of abjuration has been wrapped up in the oath of allegiance prescribed by the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 48, s. 1, which is in these words: "I, A. B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, &c., and I do faithfully promise to maintain, &c." the succession to the Crown as settled by the Act of Settlement, 1701 (12 & 13 Will. 3, c. 2), "hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person claiming or pretending a right to the Crown of this realm; and I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm." Under the Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 14), s. 9, the oath of allegiance leaves out the words of abjuration, being merely an expression of

ABJURATION-continued.

the positive duty of allegiance to the Queen.

Formerly, i.e., in the time of Edward the Confessor, and the other succeeding sovereigns, down to the reign of James I., if a person committed a felony he might obtain sanctuary in a church or churchyard; and there on confession of the crime, he might abjure the realin. But this privilege, growing into an abuse, the thing was abolished by 21 Jac. 1, c. 28, since which statute this kind of abjuration has ceased. 2 Inst. 629.

ABORTION. Under the statute 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 58, any woman being with child who with intent to procure her own miscarriage, unlawfully administers to herself any poison, or uses any instrument with the like intent, and any person other than the woman doing for her the like (whether or not the woman is with child), is guilty of felony; and by s. 59, the person supplying such poison or instrument with knowledge of the intended unlawful use thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanour. For the complete commission of this offence, the earlier statutes of 43 Geo. 3, c. 58, and 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 14, had required that the woman should be quick with child; but that is no longer a requisite. R. v. Goodhall, 2 C. & K. 293; R. v. Isaacs, 9 Cox, C. C. 228; Arch. Crim. Pl. and Evid. 711.

That is an epitome.

ABRIDGMENT. The principal abridgments of the law are the following:-

1516. Fitzherbert's Abridgment, going down to 21 Henry VII.

1568. Brooke's "Grand Abridgment," going down to Elizabeth. Statham's Abridgment, going down to Henry VI.

1762. Comyns' Digest.

1726-51. Bacon's Abridgment.
1741-51. Viner's Abridgment.
1:99-1806, with Supplement.
1853. Chitty's Equity Index, 3rd Ed.;
and

1870. Harrison's Digest, by Fisher.

ABSCONDING DEBTOR. Under the Debtors Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 62), s. 12, a bankrupt or liquidating debtor, who either after or within four months before the commencement of the bankJuptcy or liquidation, quits England, and wrongfully takes with him property to the amount of £20 or upwards, is guilty of felony. And under the statute 33 & 34 Vict. c. 76, intituled "The Absconding Debtors Act, 1870," such a debtor may be arrested, notwithstanding the abolition of arrest on mesne process by the Debtors Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 62), s. 6.

ABSENCE. In French law, where a person has absented himself from his residence and domicile for four years, and nothing has meanwhile been heard of him, a declaration of absence may be obtained against him (la déclaration d'absence), one year after the parties have applied for same, failing the success of the inquiries for him that are officially directed upon such application. The effect of such a declaration is to put his next of kin (héritiers présomptifs), into possession of his property, they giving security, and distributing the property according to the will of the absent person, or (in the case of intestacy), according to law. In case the absentee returns home, the next of kin are accountable to him, and return him a fifth part of the income if he returns before fifteen years, and one-tenth part if after fifteen years and before thirty: if after thirty, they return no part at all, and cease to be accountable, their security being discharged. The consort of such an absentee may re-marry, and the second marriage is not impeachable excepting by the absentee (personally).

ABSENTING HIMSELF. This conduct, if done with the intention of avoiding one's creditors, is an act of bankruptcy sufficient to found an adjudication of bankruptcy within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, s. 6.

ABSQUE HOC (without this).

These

These

were formal words made use of in the conclusion of a special traverse, and the traverse itself was thence frequently called a traverse with an absque hoc. words were not essential to a special traverse, others of a similar import being sometimes used in their stead; their object was directly to deny some proposition or averment set forth in the plaintiff's declaration. By the C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 65, it is enacted that special traverses shall not be necessary in any pleading.

See SPECIAL TRAVERSE.

ABSTRACT OF TITLE. This is an epitome of the vendor's evidence of ownership. It should commence with a purchase deed or marriage settlement; and if it commences with a will, proof of the testator's seisin or possession, or at any rate of his receipt of the rents and profits at the time of his decease, should be furnished. If the abstract commences with a disentailing deed (or fine or common recovery), then the creation of the entail which purports to be barred thereby ought to be shewn. The abstract should set forth in epitome every subsequent document relating to or affecting the title, excepting leases which have expired, but not excepting mortgages, although the money has

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