THE LAW GLOSSARY: BEING A SELECTION OF THE GREEK, LATIN, SAXON, FRENCH, NORMAN AND ITALIAN SENTENCES, PHRASES, AND MAXIMS, FOUND IN THE LEADING ENGLISH AND AMERICAN REPORTS, AND ELEMENTARY WORKS WITH HISTORICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, for the UBE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, LAW STUDENTS, SHERIFFS, JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, ETC. ETC. DEDICATED, (BY PERMISSION,) TO THE HONORABLE JOHN SAVAGE, LATE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. BY THOMAS TAYLER, AUTHOR OF "PRECEDENTS OF WILLS, DRAWN CONFORMABLY TO THE Northern District of New York, ss.: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the second day of November, in the fifty-eighth [L. S.] year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1833, JAMES HUNTER, of the said district, hath deposited in this Office, the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "The Law Glossary: being a Selection of the Greek, Latin, Saxon, French, Norman and Italian Sentences, Phrases and Maxims, found in the works of Lord Coke, Shower, Peere Williams, Sir William Blackstone, Sir Francis Buller, Vezey, Chancellor Kent, Reeves, Durnford and East, Taunton, Sellon, Johnson, Cowen, Sugden, Preston, Bosanquet, Starkie, Tidd, Phillips, Chitty, Moore, Wendell, and numerous other Law Writers: with Historical and Explanatory Notes: alphabetically arranged and translated into English, for the use of the members of the Legal Profession, Law Students, Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, &c., &c. Dedicated (by permission) to the Honorable John Savage, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York." The right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in conformity with an Act of Congress, en titled An Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copyrights. RUTGER B. MILLER, Clerk of the Northern District of New York. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by JAMES J. STEWART, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, BY LEWIS & BLOOD, Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York PREFACE WHETHER or not it is to be regretted that almost all our Law publications abound with Sentences, Quotations, and Maxims chiefly extracted from the dead languages, it is not the author's purpose to inquire. He has been led to examine the propriety of presenting this compilation, from observing that the student, although well educated, frequently becomes disgusted with his labors, by finding innumerable uncouth and many abbreviated passages from the barbarous Latin and Norman-French of the Middle Ages, so constantly interspersed through our valuable Law Treatises and books of Reports. The author, in this undertaking, has endeavored, to the best of his ability, to meet the difficulty alluded to; and although, in so great a number as nearly five thousand translations, he may not have come up, in many instances, to the critical interpretation of the original, yet he hopes, from the labor he has for years bestowed on this work, and the assistance he has received, that not many errors have been made, affecting the sense or spirit of the passages. Many of our judicial decisions have reference to analogous cases adjudged in the English courts, and innumerable Sentences, Quotations and Maxims from the ancient Law volumes are necessarily used and interspersed through all our reports, treatises, and books of prac tice, thus rendering very obscure some of the most important passages with which the student should be intimately acquainted. The Law Maxims have been, as it were, handed down to us like heirlooms, through a succession of ages, many of them as fundamental and unalterable principles of the Common Law, as the Lex non scripta of our ancestors, founded on the traditional consent of many successive ages. Lord Coke remarks "that the Maxims of the Common Law are as eternal as nature's rights, control acts of parliament, and adjudge them void, when made against common right and reaBon;" but it is well known that their very essence is enveloped in foreign Languages, sometimes difficult to translate in the spirit of the original. Where it has been possible, the author has given a literal translation; but in very many instances he has been obliged to deviate in this respect, in order to make the sense intelligible, and has frequently, after the primary or literal translation, introduced some words by way of further explanation. It should be here particularly observed, that taking many of the quotations in an isolated manner, or per se, (being parts of sentences,) no precise idea can be formed of them; and it is only by a perusal of their contexts that their application can be fully discerned. It is considered proper to make this observation, as several extracts, which appear at first sight superfluously inserted, are, in fact, absolutely necessary, inasmuch, as by referring to their contexts, passages of considerable importance will often be found attached to them. Sentences and Maxims also frequently occur, wherein the language is very ungrammatical; but it was thought proper, for the reason above alluded to, to give such translations as the cases afforded, rather than to omit them altogether. On perusing some of these we are surprised at the language in which they are couched; but when we reflect on the state of literature in the Middle Ages, we cease to wonder at their barbarous composition. A considerable number of the Maxims of the Common Law originated with the Feudal system, which continued for several successive centuries, when the deeply-rooted customs and habits of the northern nations were in full vigor, and many vestiges thereof are yet remaining, and are discernible in our codes of jurisprudence. After the work was far advanced, it was thought advisable to add some Notes, particularly from Roman authors, for the illustration of the most prominent part of the quotations found in the esteemed Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone, and of other extracts found in different law writers, especially as very many of our judicial decisions respecting personal property and testamentary dispositions are derived from the Roman Law. As there is no well-educated lawyer but must have observed how much the decisions of the Law Courts, since the time of Lord Mansfield, have approximated to the equitable character of the Roman jurisprudence, the author believes these Notes may not be unacceptable, but, in some cases, enable the student more fully to comprehend some of the reasons upon which a considerable part of our Common Law is founded; at what time many of its Maxims and Principles originated; and how far they are interwoven with the Feudal System. Thus he will often discriminate what part remains to us of Feudal origin, and what part we possess of the milder jurisprudence of the Roman Code. In these Notes will be found some account of the state of society in Europe during the dark ages; and the contrast between the Feudal and the Roman Law will be frequently observable; for, as a learned author justly remarks, "various are the reasons drawn from the splendid monuments of Justinian, and from the castellated remains of Feudal grandeur, 'rich with the spoils of time,' instructive as well as amusing to the student." PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. THE great utility of the following work, and its appreciation by a discerning public, are shown by the rapid exhaustion of three large editions, and the demand for a fourth. It is, indeed, extremely popular with the profession, and has become an almost indispensable adjunct of every law-library. Nor is its practical value confined to lawyers, for whom it was originally prepared and mainly designed. The intelligent of both sexes, and among all classes of our citizens, no less than the members of the other learned professions, cannot fail to derive profitable instruction from its pages. Its matter has been carefully gathered, with judgment and great good taste, from the ancient oracles and standard authorities of the law. It contains many phrases of classical beauty, and much curious learning, expressed in the rich, though quaint language, of the olden time. Nowhere else within the same compass, can be found such stores of rare and useful information. Thus much have we felt at liberty to say in commendation of this work. All who are familiar with it will bear us witness that we have not over-estimated it, nor can we, as humble editors of the distinguished labors of another (now no more), be charged with egotism in thus frankly expressing our admiration of this his legacy to the generations to come after him. A single word will dispose of what we have done. The work has been thoroughly revised with a view to its entire accuracy, and it is now placed in a permanent form. To the present edition have been added over one hundred pages of new matter, comprising upwards of eighteen hundred phrases, besides several notes. It is now complete in all respects, and we confidently look for a continuance of the patronage and favor it has hitherto received. NEW YORK, March 1st 1855. |