of the absconding debtor until bail be found, or the debt be paid. The power of authorizing the arrest of absconding debtors was, theretofore, confined to the Superior Courts. This act has been repealed by the 32 & 33 Vict. c. 83. But by 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, s. 6, there is still a power of arresting absconding debtors; as to which see ARREST ON MESNE PROCESS. And now, by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 76, debtors about to abscond after service of a debtor's summons under the 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, may be arrested. to Ireland, see 35 & 36 Vict. c. 58, sections 78 et seq., and 35 & 36 Vict. c. 57.

As

Absence is of a fivefold kind:—(1) A necessary absence, as in banished or transported persons; this is entirely necessary. (2) Necessary and voluntary, as upon the account of the commonwealth, or in the service of the church. (3) A probable absence, according to the civilians, as that of students on the score of study. (4) Entirely voluntary on account of trade, merchandise, and the like. (5) Absence cum dolo et culpâ, as not appearing to a writ, subpoena, citation, etc., or to delay or defeat creditors, or avoiding arrest, either on civil or criminal process.Ayliffe.

Absence of Husband or Wife for Seven Years is, under certain circumstances, a defence in an indictment for bigamy. By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 57, Any person marrying a second time, whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years last past, and shall not have been known by such person to be living within that time,' is exempted from the penal consequences of bigamy.

Absentee, a person who is away from his usual place of residence; a non-resident landlord.

Absentees, or des absentees. A parliament so called was held at Dublin, 10th May, 8 Hen. VIII. It is mentioned in letters-patent 29 Hen. VIII.

Absentia ejus qui reipublicæ causa abest, neque ei, neque alii damnosa esse debet.--(The absence of any person who is abroad in the service of the state ought to be detrimental neither to him nor to another.)

Absionare, to shun or avoid, used by the English-Saxons in the oath of fealty. Sommer.

Absoluta sententia expositore non indiget, 2 Inst. 533.-(A positive decree is not in need. of any interpreter.)

See

Absolute, complete, unconditional.. Jud. Act, 1875. Ord. LIII. r. 2. See MOTION, NEW TRIAL. A rule or order absolute is a completed judgment of a Court, and is so called in contradistinction to a rule or

order ni: which is made on the application of one party only (ex parte), to be made absolute unless the other party succeed in showing cause why it should not be made absolute (discharged).

Absolute Covenant, a covenant which is unconditional.

Absolute Law, the true and proper law of nature, immutable in the abstract or in principle; in theory, but not in application. For very often the object, the reason, situation, and other circumstances, may vary its exercise and obligation.-See 1 Steph. Com.

Absolute Warrandice, a warranting or assuring of property against all mankind. Scotch Conveyancing Phrase. It is, in effect, a covenant of title.

Absolution, a dispensation; a remission of sins; an acquittal by sentence of law. Ayliffe.

Absolve, to acquit of a crime, to pardon or set free from excommunication. See ASSOILE.

Absolvi animam meam. I have done my duty; I have relieved my mind.

Absolvitor (Scotch Law), an acquittal; a decree in favour of the defender in any action.

Absque hoc [Lat.] (without this), technical words of exception which were made use of in a special traverse; as, the defendant pleads that such a thing was done at B., etc., without this (absque hoc), that it was done at, etc.-1 Saund. 22; abolished, C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 65.

Absque impetitione vasti [Lat.] (without impeachment of waste), a reservation frequently made to a tenant for life, that no man shall proceed against him for waste committed. This reservation does not extend to allow manifest injury to the inheritance. See WASTE.

Absque tali causa [Lat.] (without such cause) formal words in the now obsolete replication de injuria.-Stephen on Pl. 191.

Abstention, keeping an heir from possession; also, tacit renunciation of a succession by an heir. French Law.

Abstract (in the abstract), a thing looked at purely by itself and without comparison with any other thing or with any reference to surrounding circumstances.

Abstract [fr. abstrahere, abstractus; fr. trahere, Lat., to draw], an abridgment or epitome; also a purloining.

Abstract of Pleas. By the C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 81, a plaintiff or defendant was allowed, by leave of the Court or a judge, to plead several matters in answer to the pleading of his opponent. An abstract or epitome of the several pleas was usually attached to the summons for leave. This is now obsolete; as a Statement of Defence is substituted for pleas by the practice under the Judicature Act.

See Rules of Court, Ord. XXII. See STATEMENT OF DEFENCE.

Abstract of Title, an epitome of the evidences of ownership.

Such an abstract should show the soundness of a person's right to a given estate, together with any charges or circumstances in anywise affecting it. A perfect abstract discloses that the owner has both the legal and equitable estates at his own disposal perfectly unincumbered.

Upon a sale or mortgage, the solicitor of the owner usually prepares the abstract at his client's expense (except on sales to a company under the Land Clauses Act, 1845, when it must be borne by the company, unless it be stipulated otherwise, 8 Vict. c. 18, s. 22), and delivers it to the solicitor of the proposed purchaser or mortgagee, who compares it with the original title-deeds, and makes requisitions (when necessary), in order to ascertain any important but undisclosed facts, to remedy any defects, or to dissipate any doubts or ambiguities. He then should lay all the papers before counsel, for his opinion as to the safety of the title.

Should the abstract be long and voluminous, a list of the dates and nature of the deeds and muniments, chronologically arranged, with references to the pages of the abstract in which they are to be found, facilitates perusal.

The object of every abstract is to enable the purchaser or mortgagee, or his counsel, to judge of the evidence deducing, and of the incumbrances affecting, the title.

Every title involves the question of legal and equitable ownership; for as it is in vain that there is a good title at Law, if that title be bad or defective in Equity, so it is not sufficient that there is a good title to the legal estate or to the equitable estate, if it be incumbered with judgments, legacies, debts to the crown, or other charges, because in proportion to the extent of such incumbrances there must be a reduction in the actual value of the vendor's interest.

Every abstract, then, should describe whatever will tend to enable a purchaser or mortgagee, or his counsel, to form an opinion of the precise state of the title at Law and in Equity, together with all chances of eviction or even of adverse claims.

An abstract showing a clear and good root of title for sixty years to a freehold estate has heretofore been generally taken to be sufficient, although the owner have title-deeds relating to a much earlier period; while these, however, need not be abstracted, yet the purchaser or mortgagee has a right to inspect them, in order to see that they do not disclose any

defects, or lead to any dangerous consequences, and a vendor would not be justified in withholding them. But now, by the Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 78), s. 1, forty years has been substituted for sixty years as the root of a title.

A simple abstract relating to one estate only should set forth chronologically a clear statement of the material parts of the deeds, wills, writings, records, and private acts of parliament, which at all affect or concern the title to be deduced, together with such matters in pais, as births, majorities, marriages, deaths, survivorships, pedigrees, descents, and successions, as connect the several transactions, or in anywise vary the title; and these facts should be authenticated by such legal evidence as would be deemed satisfactory and conclusive in an action to try the title. Judgments, crown-debts, charges, and incumbrances, should be fairly stated.

But a complex or compound abstract is not susceptible of a chronological arrangement; as when the title relates to different parcels of land or different interests, or the property belongs to joint tenants, tenants in common, or coparceners, who have entered into partition, and there is a different title to their shares; it would then be better to arrange the documents relating to one portion under a distinct heading, so as to keep the title to each part in a connected series, and, sometimes, separate abstracts for the different titles would simplify the business and avoid an embarrassing confusion, especially if the several properties be distinct, or the title is compounded of both freehold and copyhold estates. Should the distinct titles to the several parts of the property afterwards become united, then there should be a deduction of the title to each part separately up to the point of junction.

As soon as practicable, after the abstract of title is delivered to the vendee's solicitor, he should himself diligently compare it with the original documents, since he is answerable for the consequences of any negligence. For this purpose they are usually produced at the chambers of the vendor's solicitor, or at the vendor's residence. If they are in town, the solicitor's agent should be instructed to undertake the comparison; but if they are in a distant part of the country, then the journey of the vendee's solicitor occasioned thereby will be at the vendor's expense if there be no stipulation to the contrary.

The points to which the attention of the solicitor should be most particularly directed in comparing the muniments with the abstract, are the stamps upon the deeds, the dates of the different assurances (he should

not depend upon the indorsement for this purpose); the names and additions of the parties, and the characters in which they respectively act, as whether trustee, executor, or heir-at-law; that no important recitals are omitted, and that those that are abstracted are faithfully given. The receipt-clause should be attended to, to see that there is no unusual or special matter contained in it relative to the purchase money, which may affect the purchaser. The amount of the consideration, the names of the grantors and grantees, and particularly the identity of the parcels, and that there are no exceptions therein. The words of the different limitations of uses and trusts must be cautiously made to agree, and any deficiency therein must be supplied by the necessary alteration in the abstract; the covenants for quiet enjoyment and freedom from incumbrances should be scrutinized, for if there be any collateral right of enjoyment or lurking incumbrance, it will most probably make its appearance there, so all burdensome covenants in leases must be looked into. The interest which tenants in possession have in the lands must also be inquired after, for the purchaser will be bound thereby; but in nothing is caution more necessary than in attending to the execution and attestation of the different deeds, to see that they are executed by all the parties, or that the abstract notices those who have not done so; and when the execution and attestation are under a power which directs a particular mode of execution, there is still greater necessity to be satisfied that the precise terms of the power have been complied with; and, in the case of wills, that the law requiring two witnesses has been observed, and that the attestation expresses that the testator signed in their presence. In deeds bearing to be for a consideration in money, care should be taken to see that the receipt for the consideration money is indorsed on the deed and witnessed. It is generally witnessed by the same party who attests the execution of the deed. And, lastly, where the deed has been enrolled or registered, or livery of seisin has been requisite, the indorsement of these different acts upon the deed should be noticed.

Whenever the deeds are in the possession of third parties, they should be informed of the negotiation to purchase the estate to which they relate, and an inquiry should be made of them respecting their particular interests therein. Such an inquiry should also be made of tenants or persons in possession, when the leases under which they hold cannot be inspected. If the property be vested in trustees, inquiries should be made of them as to any incumbrances, and they should have

notice of the intended purchase, in order to exclude a subsequent purchaser, or incumbrancer, since priority of notice gives priority of equity.

Of course those persons to whom these questions are put will be bound by their answers; but an incumbrancer need not satisfy any inquiry relative to his security in the absence of an offer to satisfy his claim. See TITLE, and see also the Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874' (37 & 38. Vict. c. 78).

Absurdum est affirmare (re judicata) credendum esse non judici, 12 Co. 25.-(It is absurd to say, after judgment, that any one else than the judge should be hearkened to.)

Abundans cautela non nocet, 11 Co. 6.— (Extreme care does no mischief.)

Abuse of process. There is said to be an abuse of process, when an adversary through the malicious and unfounded use of some regular legal proceeding obtains some advantage over his opponent. See Lush's Pr., 3rd. ed., 193. Actions manifestly frivolous or brought against good faith have also not unfrequently been stayed in chambers as an abuse of the process of the Court. See e.g. Edmunds v. Attorney General, 47 L. J. Ch. 345.

Abusing children, having carnal intercourse with young girls. If the girl be under the age of twelve (formerly 10) years, the offence is a felony, punishable with penal servitude for life, or not less than five years, or imprisonment (with or without hard labour), for not more than two years; if the girl be above the age of twelve (formerly 10) and under thirteen (formerly 12), the offence is a misdemeanour, punishable by penal servitude for five years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, to the extent of two years. -Offences against the Person Act, 1875,' 38 & 39 Vict. c. 94, repealing and replacing 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, ss. 50, 51, which fixed a lesser age as above. An attempt to have carnal intercourse with a girl under twelve years, even with her consent, is an offence punishable by a like imprisonment, by 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 52.

Abut [fr. aboutir, Fr., to touch at the end], to border upon or approach.-Encyc. Lond. Abuttals. See ABBUTTALS.

Accipitare, to pay relief to lords of manors. Capitali domino accapitare, i.e., to pay a relief, homage, or obedience to the chief lord on becoming his vassal. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 50.

Accapitum, money paid by a vassal upon his admission to a feud; the relief due to the chief lord.-Encyc. Lond.

Accedas ad curiam [Lat.] (that you go to the Court), an original writ to the sheriff, issued out of Chancery, where a man has

received false judgment in a Hundred Court or Court Baron, or justice has been delayed. If a plaint in replevin be therein levied, it was removed by this writ, which was in every respect the same as the recordari facias loquelam, excepting that it directed the sheriff to go to the Lord's Court, and there cause the plaint to be recorded, and so to return it to the Court above, being one of the Superior Courts of Common Law at Westminster.-F. N. B. 18; Termes de la Ley.

Accedas ad vicecomitem [Lat.] (that you go to the sheriff). Where the sheriff has a writ called pone delivered to him, but suppresses it, this writ is sent to the coroner, commanding him to deliver a writ to the sheriff.-Reg. Orig. 83.

Acceleration, the shortening of the time for the vesting in possession of an expectant interest.

Acceptance, the taking and receiving of anything in good part, and as it were a tacit agreement to a preceding act, which might have been defeated or avoided if such acceptance had not been made.-Bro. Abr.

The acceptance of a Bill of Exchange is defined by the 'Bills of Exchange Act,' 1882, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 61, s. 17, as 'the signification by the drawee of his assent to the order of the drawer.' It must be written on the bill, and signed by the drawee, whose mere signature is sufficient to charge him; and it must not express that the drawee will perform his promise by any other means than the payment of money.-Ib.

Acceptilatio, the verbal extinction of a verbal contract, with a declaration that the debt has been paid when it has not, or the acceptance of something merely imaginary in satisfaction of a verbal contract.-Scotch Law; Smith's Dict. of Antiq.; Sand. Just., 5th ed., 386. See STIPULATION.

Acceptor, or Accepter, a person who accepts a bill of exchange drawn upon him; he is called a drawee before acceptance; he is the first and principal party liable to pay the amount of the bill. See ACCEPTANCE.

Access, approach, or the means of approaching. The presumption of a child's legitimacy is rebutted, if it be shown that the husband had not access to his wife within such a period of time before the birth, as admits of his having been the father. If a husband have access, although others, at the same time, are carrying on a criminal intimacy with his wife, a child born under. such circumstances is still legitimate.' Per Alderson, J., in Cope v. Cope, 5 C. & P. 604. Neither husband nor wife is admissible as a witness to prove non-access. 'This' (says Lord Mansfield, in Goodright v. Moss, 2 Cowp.

594) is a rule founded on decency, morality and policy.'

Accessary, or Accessory [particeps criminis quasi accedens ad culpam, Lat., as though assenting to the offence], he who is not a chief actor at a felony, nor present at its perpetration, but yet is in some way concerned therein, either. before or after the fact committed. An accessory before the fact is one, who being absent at the time of the commission of the felony, yet procures, counsels, or commands another to commit a crime. Absence is necessary to make him an accessory, for if he be present, he becomes a principal. An accessory after the fact may be, where a person knowing a felony to have been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the felon. To make an accessory ex post facto, it is in the first place requisite that he knows that the felony has been committed; in the next place, he must receive, relieve, comfort, or assist the felon, and generally, any assistance whatever given to hinder the apprehension, trial, or punishment of the felon, makes the assister an accessory. In treason and misdemeanours there are no accessories, either before or after the offence, every person implicated being a principal (see 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 8). In manslaughter there cannot be an accessory before the fact, for it is by judgment of Law an unpremeditated offence. As to the trial and punishment of accessories:-By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94 (the Accessories and Abettors Act), ss. 1, 2, 3, an accessory before the fact to any felony may be indicted, tried, convicted, and punished in all respects as if he were a principal felon, and any accessory, either before or after the fact, may be indicted and convicted either as such accessory, together with the principal felon, or after his conviction, or may be indicted and convicted of a substantive felony (whether the principal felon shall have been convicted or not, or shall or shall not be amenable to justice) and may thereupon be punished as an accessory before or after the fact (if convicted as an accessory), may respectively be punished. An accessory after the fact is in general punishable with imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years (with or without hard labour), and may also be required to find security to keep the peace, or in default to suffer an additional imprisonment to the extent of one year, 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 4; but an accessory after the fact to murder is punishable by penal servitude for life, or not less than three (now five, 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47, s. 2) years, or by imprisonment (with or without hard labour) to the extent of two years. (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 67.)

See also Russell on Crimes; Roscoe's Criminal Evidence; and Archbold's Crim. Pleading.

Accession [fr. accedo, Lat.], addition, arriving at, the commencement of a sovereign's reign. Also the absolute or conditional acceptance by a nation of a treaty already concluded between other countries.

Accession, property by. The doctrine of property arising from accession is grounded on the right of occupancy, and derived from the Roman law; thus, if any given corporeal substance receive an accession, either by natural or artificial means, as by the growth of vegetables, the pregnancy of animals, the embroidering of cloth, or the conversion of wood or metal into utensils, the original owner of the thing was entitled by his right of possession to the property of it under its improved state; but if the thing itself, by such operation, was changed into a different species, as by making wine, oil, or bread out of another's grapes, olives, or wheat, it belonged to the new operator, who only made a satisfaction to the former proprietor for the materials so converted. The brood of tame and domestic animals belongs to the owner of the dame or mother, the English law agreeing with the civil, that partus sequitur ventrem (the offspring follows the mother); and in accordance with the Roman law principle, si equam meam equus tuus prægnantem fecerit non est tuum sed meum quod natum est (if your horse gets my mare with foal, the foal is not your property, but mine). Bracton, l. 2, c. 2, s. 3; Puff. De. Jur. Nat. et G. l. 4, c. 7. The rule of the Roman law was expressed thus: Accessio cedit principali. Commentators have used the word accessio not only for the increase itself, but also for the mode in which the increase becomes one's property.-Sand. Justin., 5th ed., 98; Dig. 34, l. 2, c. 19, s. 13. Accessorium non ducit, sed sequitur suum principale, Co. Litt. 152.-(That which is the accessory or incident does not lead but follows its principal.)

Accessorius sequitur naturam sui principalis, 3 Inst. 139.-(An accessory follows the nature of his [or its] principal.)

Accessory. See ACCESSARY.

Accessory to Adultery, a phrase used in the law of divorce, and derived from the criminal law. It implies more than connivance, which is merely knowledge with consent. A conniver abstains from interference, an accessory directly commands, advises, or procures the adultery. A husband or wife who has been accessory to the adultery of the other party to the marriage cannot obtain a divorce on the ground of such adultery.-20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, ss. 29, 31. See Browne on Divorce.

Accident, an extraordinary incident; something not expected. It is also a head of equitable jurisdiction, which was concurrent with that of the Courts of Law.

The meaning to be attached to the word accident,' in relation to equitable relief, is any unforeseen and undesigned event, productive of disadvantage.

Where title-deeds are lost, the defect occasioned by such an accident will be supplied; thus a mortgage-deed being stolen, the mortgagor or purchaser of the property will be compelled to pay the loan or considerationmoney upon the mortgagee's reconveyance, and indemnity against such loss. If after a contract for sale of an estate, and before the title is accepted, the title-deeds are destroyed by fire, Equity will compel the specific per-. formance of the contract, provided the vendor can furnish the purchaser with the means of showing what were the contents of the destroyed deeds, and of proving that such deeds were duly executed and delivered.

A purchaser being deemed the equitable owner of the purchased estate from the signing the contract for sale, he will be compelled to complete the purchase, although the property be destroyed during the negotiation, but a bidder at a sale under the authority of the High Court of Justice, not being deemed the purchaser until the certificate that he is the highest bidder has been confirmed, he is not liable to any loss by fire or otherwise which may happen to the property in the meantime; he would, however, have to pay the purchase-money if the estate were merely a life interest, and the cestui que vie should die immediately after the acceptance of his bid.

It is upon the principle of relieving against the prejudicial consequences of accident by loss of deeds, that grants are often presumed; thus the payment of rent for twenty years, raises the presumption that there has been a grant; and the enclosure of a common for thirty years raises the presumption that the enclosure was properly made.

Although it is a delicate function to restrain the exercise of a legal right, yet Equity relieves against penalties and forfeitures on the ground of accident, provided an adequate compensation can be given, or the thing can be done afterwards without damaging the interests of other parties. Thus, in the case of a bond for the payment of money at a given time under a penalty, if the money is not paid, Equity will relieve against the penalty on the ground that it would be unjust for the obligee to avail himself of the penalty when an offer of full indemnity, by the payment of the sum due with interest, is