sworn at the lord's court. There were two sorts, one of the town or village, another of the lord of the manor.-Ken. Paroch. Antiq. 534, 576.

Agio [aggio, Ital., an exchange of money for a premium], expresses the difference in point of value, between metallic and paper money or between one sort of metallic money and another.-McCull. Com. Dict.

Agiotage, a speculation on the rise and fall of the public debt of states, or the public funds. The speculator is called agioteur.

Agist [fr. gisement, Fr., a bed or resting place], to take in and feed strangers' cattle in the Royal Forest, and to collect the money due for it.-Manw. Forest Laws, cc. 11–80. Agistatio animalium in foresta, the drift or numbering of cattle in the forest.-Ibid. Agisters, or Gist Takers (called also Agistators), officers appointed to look after cattle, etc.-Ibid.

Agistment [fr. jacere, Lat.; gésir, Fr., to lie, whence giste, a lodging], the taking in of other men's cattle into pasture-land, at a certain rate per week, without letting them the land for their exclusive use as tenants; so called, because the cattle are suffered agiser, i.e., to be levant et couchant there. Also the profit of such feeding. Agistment of sea banks [terræ agistatæ, Lat.], where lands are charged with a tribute to keep out the sea.

Agnates, agnati, or adgnati, relations derived per virilis sexus personas, i.e., relations by the father's side as distinguished from cognati, relations by the mother's. An agnate is related by generation; thus, my son, brother, paternal uncle, and their children, as also my daughter and sister, are agnated to me.-See Smith's Dict. of Antiq.-Cognate. Agnation, kinship by the father's side. Agnomen, a name derived from some notable personal circumstance, as the name Africanus, borne by the two Scipios on account of their victories over the Carthagenians.—Cum. C. L. 170.

Agnomination, a sur-name.

Agnus Dei (Lat.), a piece of white wax, in a flat, oval form, like a small cake, stamped with the figure of a lamb, and consecrated by the Pope.-Cowel.

Agraria lex. The Agrarian law was enacted to distribute among the Roman people all the lands which they had gained by conquest, and to limit the quantity of land possessed by each person to a certain number of acres.Cicero pro Leg.; Agr. Smith's Dict. of Antiq.

An agrarian law was clearly developed in the regulations of the Jewish lawgiver, who, following the example of the Egyptians, made

agriculture the basis of the state. He accordingly apportioned to every citizen a certain quantity of land, and gave him the right of tilling it himself, and of transmitting it to his heirs. The person who had thus come into possession could not alienate the property for any longer period than the year of the coming jubilee-a regulation which prevented the rich from coming into possession of large tracts of land, and then leasing them out in small parcels to the poor. See Graves on the Pentateuch. Agreed. This word in a deed creates a

covenant.

Agreement [fr. gratus, Lat., acceptable; aggregatio mentium, Lat.], a joining together of two or more minds in anything done or to be done. Also, the effect of a joint-consent of two or more parties to a contract or bargain. There are three sorts :-(1) An agreement executed at once, as where money is paid for the matter agreed, or other satisfaction made, at the time it is entered into. (2) An agreement after an act done by another, as where one does a thing and another afterwards agrees to it, this is also called an executed agreement. (3) An agreement executory, or to be performed at some future time.—Termes de la Ley, 31; Plowd. 5. See CONTRACT.

Agri, arable lands in common fields.— Fortescue.

Agri limitati, lands belonging to the state by right of conquest, and granted or sold in plots.-Sand. Just., 7th ed., 99.

Agricultural (Children) Act, 1873, 36 & 37 Vict. c. 67. This act made regulations with respect to the employment of children under ten years of age. It was repealed by the Elementary Education Act, 1876, 39 & 40 Vict. c. 76, but its principal provisions were in effect re-enacted thereby. There is an exemption of children between 8 and 10 from restrictions of the Education Act, in reference to operations of husbandry, under s. 9, sub. 3 of that act.

Agricultural fixtures, see FIXTURES.

Agricultural Gangs Act, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 130. This act, after reciting that in certain counties in England certain persons known as gangmasters hire children, young persons, and women, with a view to contracting with farmers and others for the execution on their lands of various kinds of agricultural work, enacts certain regulations to be observed by gangmasters, and requires them to obtain licenses. Amended as to children by the Agricultural Children Act, 1873, ante.

Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1875. By this act provision was made for agricultural tenants (whose tenancies commenced after the commencement of the act, i.e., after February 14th, 1876) obtaining, on

the determination of their tenancies, compensation from their landlords for improvements such as buildings, drainage, etc., and for the application of manure to the land, the amount of compensation varying according to a certain classification provided by the act, subject to certain deductions. The act also contained provisions giving the tenant a property in fixtures, and substituting one year's notice for half a year's notice, as the notice necessary to determine a tenancy from year to year. The provisions of the act did not interfere with freedom of contract between the landlord and the tenant: its operation could be excluded from existing tenancies by notice in writing from either party to the other within 2 months from its commencement, and from future tenancies by mutual agreement in writing; and as a matter of fact the operation of the act was in the vast majority of cases so excluded.

Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1883, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 61. An act of the same purpose as the act of 1875 above mentioned, but differing from it in being compulsory as far as the compensation clauses (see s. 55) are concerned, and also in greatly restricting the landlord's right of distress (see ss. 44-52). The act applies to all holdings either wholly agricultural or wholly pastoral, or partly agricultural and partly pastoral, or wholly or partly cultivated as market gardens, held under a landlord for a term of years, or for lives, or for lives and years, or from year to year, by a tenant holding no employment under the landlord. The compensation is payable on the basis of the value of the improvement to an incoming tenant, but the landlord is equally liable to pay it whether there be an incoming tenant or not. The amount is settled by a reference, with an appeal on limited grounds to a County Court Judge. See Lely & Pearce-Edgcumbe on Agricultural Holdings.

Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts, 1875 and 1883. Acts of a similar scope to the above, and differing therefrom in respect of procedure only.

Agusadura, in ancient customs, a fee, due from the vassals to their lord for sharpening their ploughing tackle. Anciently, the tenants in some manors were not allowed to have their agricultural implements sharpened by any but those whom the lord appointed; for which an acknowledgment was paid, called agusadura or agusage, which some take to be the same with what was otherwise called rullage, from the ancient French reille, a ploughshare.-Encyc. Lond.

Agweddi [ag-gweed, conjunction], a portion given with a bride.-Anc. Inst. Wales.

6

Aid of the King [auxilium regis, Lat.], the king's tenant prays this, when rent is demanded of him by others. A city or borough, holding a fee-farm from the king, if anything be demanded which belongs to such fee-farm, may pray in aid of the king,' and the king's bailiffs, collectors, or accountants, shall have aid of the king. The proceedings are then stayed until the Crown counsel are heard, but this aid will not be granted after issue, because the Crown cannot rely upon the defence made by another.-Jenk. Cent. 64; Termes de la Ley, 35.

Aid Prayer, formerly made use of in pleading for a petition in Court, praying in aid of the tenant for life, etc., from the reversioner or remainder-man, when the title to the inheritance was in question. It was a plea in suspension of the action.- Com. Dig. Aide,' B. 5; 3 Bl. Com. 300.

They

Aiders, advocates, abettors. See ACCESSARY. Aids [fr. aides, Fr.; auxilia, Lat.], originally mere benevolences granted by a tenant to his lord, in times of distress, but at length the lords claimed them as of right. were principally three: (1) To ransom the lord's person, if taken prisoner; (2) To make the lord's eldest son and heir apparent a knight; (3) To give a suitable portion to the lord's eldest daughter on her marriage. Abolished by 12 Car. II. c. 24. Also, extraordinary grants to the Crown by the House of Commons, and which were the origin of the modern system of taxation.-2 Bl. Com. 63, 64.

Aiel, or Aile [fr. aïeul, Fr.; avus, Lat., a grandfather], a writ which lay when a man's grandfather, or great grandfather (called besaile), died seised of lands in fee-simple, and on the day of his death the heir was dispossessed of his inheritance by a stranger.F. N. B. 222.

Aillt [aill, other], a villain.-Anc. Inst. Wales.

Ainsty, a district on the south-west of the city of York, annexed thereto 27 Hen. VI., and subject to the Lord Mayor and Corporation under the name of the county of the city of York.-Gorton's Topographical Dictionary.

Air. As to the right to the enjoyment of air free and unpolluted, see Gale on Easements, and 2 Br. & Had. Com. 12, 40.

Airway, a passage for the admission of air into a mine. To maliciously fill up, obstruct, or damage, with intent to destroy, obstruct, or render useless the airway to any mine, is a felony punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment at the discretion of the Court. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, s. 28.

Al, or ald [eald, Sax., age]. This syllable prefixed to the names of places denotes anti

Ala Campi, Wingfield.

Alæ ecclesiæ, the wings or side aisles of a church.-Blount.

Alænus, the river Ax, in Devonshire.

Alanerarius, a manager and keeper of dogs. for the sport of hawking; from alanus, a dog known to the ancients. A falconer.-Blount. Alauna, Alnwick in Northumberland; also Alcester in Warwickshire.

Alba, a surplice or white sacerdotal vest, anciently worn by officiating priests.-Blount. Alba firma. When quit-rents payable to the Crown by freeholders of manors were reserved in silver or white money, they were called white-rents or blanch-farms, reditusalbi, in contradistinction to rents reserved in work, grain, etc., which were called reditusnigri, black-mail.—2 Inst. 19.

Albinatus jus, the droit d'aubaine in France. whereby the king, at an alien's death, was entitled to all his property, unless he had peculiar exemption. Repealed by the French laws in June, 1791.

Albo Monasterio, De, Whitechurch. Albrea and Albericus, Aubrey. Albom, white rent paid in silver. ALBA FIRMA.

See

Albus Liber, an ancient book containing a compilation of the law and customs of the City of London. It has lately been reprinted by order of the Master of the Rolls.

Alcade, a judicial officer in Spain. Alder, the first, as alder best is the best of all; alder liefest, the most dear.—Blount.

Alder Carr, land covered with alders.Norfolk phrase.

Alderman [ealdorman, Ang.-Sax., fr. eald, old, ealdor, a parent]. Originally the word was synonymous with 'elder,' but was also used to designate an earl, and even a king. The word is now confined to the class of municipal officers in a borough next in order to the mayor. The Municipal Corporation Act, 1835, 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, which gave aldermen no special duties of any importance, enacted that they should be in number, onethird of the number of the councillors, should remain 6 years in office (being twice the length of the councillors' period of office), and be elected by the councillors, but not necessarily from amongst the councillors; and this enactment is repeated by s. 14 of the Consolidating Act of 1882. See MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, and as to 'county aldermen,' see COUNTY COUNCIL.

Alderney, one of the islands in the English Channel, which formed part of the Duchy of Normandy, and was annexed to the English Crown by the first princes of the Norman

own laws, chiefly collected in the book called Le Grand Coustumier.' As to Alderney Harbour, see 37 & 38 Vict. c. 92. Alditheleia, De, Audley.

Ale-conner, or Ale-kenner [gustator cerevisia, Lat.], one who kens or knows what good ale is; an officer appointed at a court-leet, who is sworn to look at the assize and goodness of ale and beer within the precincts of the lordship.-Kitch. 46. There were at one time four ale-conners, chosen by the liverymen of the City of London, in Common hall, on Midsummer-day, whose office it was to inspect the measures used in public-houses.--Encyc. Lond.

Ale-founder. SEE ALE-CONNER.

Ale-house, a place where ale is sold to be drunk on the premises where sold. Such a house, commonly called also a public-house, has for a long time, by a series of acts consolidated in 1828, by 9 Geo. IV. c. 61, required a license from justices of the peace as well as an excise license; whereas the houses called beer houses, first established in 1830 by Geo. IV. & Wm. IV. c. 30, required an excise license only until the passing of the Wine and Beerhouse Act, 1869. See INTOXICATING LIQUORS.

Ale Silver, a rent or tribute paid annually to the Lord Mayor of London, by those who sell ale within the liberty of the city.-Antiq. Purvey, 183.

Ale-stake, a maypole or long stake driven into the ground, with a into the ground, with a sign on it for the sale of ale.-Cowel.

Ale-taster. See ALE-CONNER.

Alfet, a cauldron into which boiling water was poured, in which a criminal plunged his arm up to the elbow and there held it for some time, as an ordeal.-Du Cange.

Algarum maris, probably a corruption of Laganum maris, lagan being a right, in the middle ages, like jetsam and flotsam, by which goods thrown from a vessel in distress became the property of the king or the lord on whose shores they were stranded.-Spel. Jacob and Du Cange.

Alia enormia [Lat.] (other wrongs). A declaration in trespass sometimes concluded thus and other wrongs to the plaintiff

then did,' etc. This was technically called an allegation of alia enormia.

Aliamenta, a liberty of passage, open way, water-course, etc., for the tenant's accommodation. Kitch.

Alias (otherwise), a second or further writ, which was issued after a first writ had expired without effect.-Cowel. Abolished by

15 & 16 Vict. c. 76, s. 10.

Alias (dictus) (otherwise called), a second name applied to a person where it is doubtful which of two names is his real name.Dyer, 50.

Alibi (elsewhere). It is a defence resorted to where the party accused, in order to prove that he could not have committed the crime with which he is charged, offers evidence that he was in a different place at the time the offence was being committed.—Encyc. Lond. This defence, necessarily, is not confined to criminal trials.

Alien [fr. alienigena, alibi natus, Lat.], a child of a foreign father, born in a foreign country, or in the United Kingdom before the naturalization of his father. At common law aliens were subject to very many disqualifications, the nature of which will appear from the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 66, which greatly relaxed the law in their favour. It provided, inter alia, that every person born of a British mother should be capable of holding real or personal estate; that alien friends might hold every species of personal property, except chattels real; that subjects of a friendly power might hold lands, etc., for the purposes of residence or business for a term of years not exceeding twenty-one years; and it also provided for aliens becoming naturalised. This act has (along with many others) been repealed by The Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 14), which enacts (subject to certain provisoes) that real and personal property of every description may be taken, acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural-born British subject, and that a title to real and personal property of every description may be derived through, from, or in succession to an alien, in the same manner in all respects as through, from, or in succession to a natural-born British subject. The act also enables naturalized aliens to divest themselves of their status in certain cases, and enables British-born subjects to resign their claim to be regarded as such. The act also, while it enables British subjects to renounce allegiance to Her Majesty, provides for their re-admission to British nationality, and contains enactments with respect to the national status of women and children. alien is no longer entitled to be tried by a

An

jury de medietate linguæ (s. 5). An alien is disqualified both for the parliamentary and municipal franchise, and also, by 12 & 13 Wm. III. c. 2, for being a member of either house of parliament, or of the Privy Council.

Alien Act, 33 Geo. III. c. 4, a temporary act passed in 1793, whereby any particular alien might be ordered by Royal Proclamation to depart the realm, or might be forcibly expelled. A similar, though not so stringent, temporary statute, 11 & 12 Vict. c. 20, was passed in 1848, and revived for a period of 3 years by the Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1882, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 25, s. 15.

Alien ami, or amy, a subject of a nation which is at peace with this country.

Alien enemy, a subject of a nation which is at war with this country.

Alien nee, a man born an alien. Alienage, the state of an alien. Alienate, or Aliene, to transfer property. Alienation, a transferring property to another. Co. Litt. 118.

Alienigena est alienæ gentis, seu alienæ ligeantiæ qui etiam dicitur peregrinus, alienus, exoticus, extraneus, etc. 7 Co. 16.-(An alien is of another nation or another allegiance, who is also called a stranger, foreigner, etc.)

Alienatio, i.e., alienum facere; vel, ex nostro dominio in alienum transferre; sive, rem aliquam in dominium alterius transferre. Co. Litt. 118.-(Alienation, that is, to make alien, or to transfer from one ownership to that of another, or to transfer anything into the power of another.)

Alienatio licet prohibeatur, consensu tamen omnium, in quorum favorem prohibita est, potest fieri, et quilibet potest renunciare juri pro se introducto. Co. Litt. 98. (Although alienation be prohibited, yet, by the consent of all in whose favour it is prohibited, it may take place; for it is in the power of any man to renounce a law made in his own favour.)

Alienatio rei præfertur juri accrescendi Co. Litt. 185.-Alienation is favoured by the law rather than accumulation.)

Alienation office, a place to which all writs of covenants and entries were carried for the recovery of fines levied thereon.

Alienee, one to whom a transfer of property is made.

Alieni juris, under another's authority. Alienor, one who transfers property. Aliment [fr. alimentum, Lat.], a fund for maintenance,-alimony.-Scotch Term.

Alimentorum appellatione venit victus, vestitus, et habitatio. 2 Inst. 17.-(Under the expression of aliments come food, clothes, and lodging.)

Alimony [fr. alimonia, Lat.], the allowance made to a wife out of her husband's estate for her support, either during a matrimonial suit, or at its termination, when she proves herself entitled to a separate maintenance, and the fact of a marriage is established. But she is not entitled to it if she elope with an adulterer, or wilfully leave her husband without any just cause for so doing.

It is of two kinds; (a) In causes between husband and wife. The husband is obliged to allow his wife alimony during the suit, and this whether the suit be commenced by or against him, and whatever its nature may be. It is usually about one-fifth of the husband's net annual income, and will be reduced according to fluctuations of income. The wife may apply for an increase if his means have improved. (b) Permanent alimony, which is allotted to a wife after final decree. Alimony is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court for Divorce and Matrimonia Causes. The Court may direct its payment either to the wife herself or to any trustee on her behalf. With regard to permanent provision for a wife, after a decree dissolving the marriage has been pronounced, the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, s. 32, enacts that the Court may, on a decree for dissolving marriage, order the husband to secure to the wife such gross sum of money, or such annual sum of money for any term not exceeding her own life, as, having regard to her fortune (if any), to the ability of the husband, and to the conduct of the parties, it shall seem reasonable. See Browne on Divorce.

A l'impossible nul n'est tenu.-(There is not any obligation to the impossible.)

Alio intuitu, with a collateral motive, a motive other than the proper and professed one e.g., when a man brings an action by way of advertising his goods or his character.

Aliquid conceditur ne injuria remaneat ne injuria remaneat impunita, quod alias non concederetur. Co. Litt. 197.-(Something is conceded, which otherwise would not be conceded, lest an injury should remain unpunished.)

Aliquis non debet esse judex in propria causâ, quia non potest esse judex et pars. Co. Litt. 141 a.-(A person ought not to be judge in his own cause, because he cannot act as judge and party.)-See Dimes v. Grand Junction Railway Company, 3 H. L. C. 759, where it was decided that the possession, by a judge, of shares in a joint-stock company, party to a suit in which their interest was involved, was disqualification.

Aliter (otherwise).

а

Aliter puniuntur ex isdem factionibus servi,

quam liberi; et aliter qui quidem aliquid in dominum, parentemve commiserit, quam in extraneum; in magistrum, quam in privatum. 3 Inst. 220.-(Slaves and freemen are punished differently for the same offences; he who has committed an offence against a master or parent is punished otherwise than if he had committed it against a stranger; against a magistrate than if against a private person.)

Aliud actum aliud simulatum.-(The pretence was different from the reality.)

Aliud est celare, aliud tacere.-(To conceal is one thing, to be silent another.)

Aliud est possidere, aliud esse in possessione. Hob. 103. (It is one thing to possess, it is another to be in possession.)

Aliunde, from another place or person.

Alkali works. The acts regulating alkali works, 26 & 27 Vict. c. 120,-a temporary act, made perpetual by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 36,— and 37 & 38 Vict. c. 43, are consolidated and amended by the Alkali, etc., Works Regulation Act, 1881, 44 & 45 Vict. c. 37, s. 29 of which defines alkali work' as every work for the manufacture of alkali, sulphate of soda, or sulphate of potash, in which muriatic acid gas is evolved.'

6

Allaunds [fr. alanis, Scythia gente, Lat.], hare-hounds.-Cowel.

Allay, or Alloy [fr. lex, Lat., lega, It., loi, alloi, Fr., law or rule], the mixture of base metals with silver or gold, to increase the weight, in order to defray the charge of coinage, and to make it more fusile to cast. A pound weight of gold, by the present mint standard, is twenty-two carats fine and two carats allay. A carat weighs four grains. A pound of silver consists of eleven ounces two pennyweights of fine silver, and eighteen pennyweights of allay.-Lowndes's Essay on Coins, 19. From signifying the proportion of base metal, the term alloy was applied to the base metal itself.—Wedgw.

Allegans contraria non est audiendus. Jenk. Cent. 16.—(A person making contradictory allegations is not to be heard.)

Allegans suam turpitudinem non est audiendus. 4 Inst. 279.-(A person alleging his own infamy is not to be heard.)

Allegari non debuit quod probatum non relevat. 1 Chan. Ca. 45.-(That which, if proved, would not be relevant, ought not to be alleged.)

Allegata, a word anciently subscribed at the bottom of rescripts and constitutions of the Roman emperors, as signata or testata under other instruments.-Encyc. Lond.

Allegata et probata, assertions and facts. Allegation [fr. alleguer, Fr., legare, allegare, Lat., to depute], an asserted fact; the