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LAW TERMS AND PHRASES.
to take out a subpoena, or resort to the pro-per legal steps, to obtain the attendance ofhis witnesses, is not legally entitled to acontinuance. 1 Ashm. R. 221.
CONVERSION is where a person hasfound another’s goods and refuses to de-liver them, on demand, but converts themto his own use. 3 Bl. Com. 152.
COURT. A justice of the peace must,necessarily, have his court, or place ofadministering justice, at which his dutiesought to be performed. 1 Penn. Rep. 15.
COURT OF ADMIRALTY is a courterected for deciding maritime causes. Ithath jurisdiction only to determine causesarising wholly upon the sea out of thejurisdiction of a county. 1 Inst. 260.
CREDIT. If I usually deal with atradesman by myself, or constantly payhim ready money, I am not answerablefor what my servant takes upon trust, forthere is no implied order to the tradesmanto trust my servant; but if I usually sendhim upon trust, or sometimes on trust,and sometimes with ready money, I amanswerable for all he takes up; forthe tradesman cannot possibly distinguishwhen he comes by my order, and whenupon his own authority. Black. Com.
CRIME is a positive breach, or disre-gard of some existing public law, andgenerally means such offences as amountto a felony. 4 Bl. Com. 5.
CUSTOM AND USAGE. To makea custom, or usage, of trade obligatory, asa law of that trade, it must be certain,uniform, reasonable, and sufficiently an-cient, to be generally known.
DAMAGE signifies generally any hurtor hindrance that a man receives in hisestate; but in a particular sense, it is ap-plied to what the jurors are to inquire ofand bring in, when any action passeth forthe plaintiff. Co. Lift. 257.
Damages are a species of property ac-quired and lost by suit and judgment atlaw, and are given to a man by a jury, as_ a compensation and satisfaction for someinjury sustained; as for battery, for im-prisonment, for slander, for trespass. 2Bl. Com. 438.
DATE of a deed is the description ofthe time; viz. the day, month, year of ourLord, year of the reign in which the datewas made. 1 Inst. 6.
DAY, is a certain space of time con-taining twenty-four hours: the natural
day consists of twenty-four hours, andcontains the solar day and the night; andthe artificial day begins from the risingof the sun, and ends when it sets. Co. Litt.135.
DEBT, in the usual acceptance of theword, is a sum of money due from oneperson to another. But in the legal sense,it is taken to be an action which liethwhere a man oweth another a certain sumof money by obligation or bargain, for athing sold, or by contract, &c., and thedebtor will not pay the debt at the dayagreed. Sel. N. P. 484.
DEDIMUS POTESTATEM, is a writissued out of the court of chancery, [orother court], to commissioners, authori-zing them to take an answer, to examinewitnesses in a cause, to levy a fine in theCommon Pleas, &c. Also, when anyjustice intends to act under any commis-sion of the peace, he sues out a writ ofdedimus potestatem, from the clerk ofthe crown in chancery, empowering cer-tain persons, therein named, to administerthe usual oaths to him, which done, he isat liberty to act. 1 Bl. Com. 351.
DEED, is an instrument in writing, onparchment, or paper, and under seal,containing some conveyance, contract,bargain, or agreement between the partiesthereto; and it consists of three principalpoints, writing, sealing, and delivering.Co. Litt. 171. 2 Bl. Com. 295.
DEFAMATION is the offence of speak,ing slanderous words of another. Tcrmesde la Ley, 261.
DEFAULT is commonly taken fornon-appearance in court at a day assign-ed, though it extends to any omission ofthat which we ought to do. 3 Co. Litt.259.
DEFENDANT is the party that issued in a personal action; as tenant is hethat is sued in an action real. Cowell,Blount.
DEMAND, signifies a calling upon ttman for any thing due. 8 Rep. 153.
DEPOSITION is the testimony of awitness, otherwise called a deponent, putdown in writing, by way of answer to in-terrogatories, [or questions asked], exhib-ited for that purpose in courts of equity ;and the copies of such depositions, regu.larly taken and published, are rend asevidence at the hearing of the causa.Pract. Attorn, edit. 1 . p. 234.DILATORY PLEAS are such as a to