the judgment debtor might be examined as to any debts due and owing to him before a master of the court. On affidavit that the judgment was still unsatisfied, and that any other person within the jurisdiction was indebted to the judgment debtor, the judge was empowered to attach all debts due from such third person (called the garnishee} to the judgment debtor, to answer the judgment debt. This order binds the debts in the hands of the garnishee, and if he does not dispute his liability execution issues against him at once. If he disputes his liability the question must be tried. Payment by the garnishee or execution against him is a complete discharge as against the judgment debtor. These provisions were, by an order in Council of 18th Nov. 1867, extended to the County Courts. (By 33 and 34 Vict. c. 30, it is enacted that no order for the attachment of the wages of any servant, labourer, or workman shall be made by the judge of any court of record or inferior court.) The proposed rules and regulations under the Judicature Act, 1873, retain the process for attachment of debts as established by the Pro cedure Act of 1854.
ATTAINDER, in the Law of England, was the imme
diate and inseparable consequence from the common law
upon the sentence of death. When it was clear beyond all
dispute that the criminal was no longer fit to live, he was
called attaint, attinctus, stained or blackened, and could
not, before the 6 and 7 Vict. c. 85, 1, be a witness in
any court. This attainder took place after judgment of
death, or upon such circumstances as were equivalent to
judgment of death, such as judgment of outlawry on a
capital crime, pronounced for absconding from justice.
Conviction without judgment was not followed by attainder.
The consequences of attainder were 1st, Forfeiture ; 2d,
Corruption of blood. On attainder for treason, the criminal
forfeited to the Crown his lands, rights of entry on lands,
and any interest he might have in lands for his own life
or a term of years. For murder, the offender forfeited to
the Crown the profit of his freeholds during life, and in the
case of lands held in fee -simple, the lands themselves
for a year and a day ; subject to this, the lands escheated
to the lord of the fee. These forfeitures related back to
the time of the offence committed. Forfeitures of goods
and chattels ensued not only on attainder, but on conviction
for a felony of any kind, or on flight from justice, and had no
relation backwards to the time of the offence committed.
By corruption of blood, " both upwards and downwards,"
the attainted person could neither inherit nor transmit
lands. The lands escheated to the lord of the fee, subject
to the Crown s right of forfeiture. The doctrine of
attainder has, however, ceased to be of much importance.
By the 33 and 34 Viet. c. 23, it is enacted that henceforth
no confession, verdict, inquest, conviction, or judgment of
or for any treason or felony, or felo de se, shall cause any
attainder or corruption of blood, or any forfeiture or escheat.
Sentence of death, penal servitude, or imprisonment with
hard labour for more than twelve months, after conviction for
treason or felony, disqualifies from holding or retaining a
seat in Parliament, public offices under the Crown or other
wise, right to vote at elections, &c., and such disability is to
remain until the punishment has been suffered or a pardon
obtained. Provision is made for the due administration of
convicts estates, in the interests of themselves and their
families. Forfeiture consequent on outlawry is exempted
from the provisions of the Act.
Bills of Attainder in Parliament ordinarily commence
in the House of Lords ; the proceedings are the same as
on other bills, but the parties affected by them may appear
by counsel and witnesses in both Houses. In the case of
an impeachment, the House of Commons is prosecutor and
the House of Lords judge; but proceedings by Bill of
Attainder are legislative in form, and the consent of Crown,
Lords, and Commons is therefore necessary.
ATTALIA, an ancient city of Pamphylia, which derived its name from Attalus II., king of Pergamus. It seems to have been a place of considerable importance, and is most probably to be identified with the modern Adalia, Antalia, or Sataliah, as it is variously called. See Sataliah.
ATTAR, or Otto, of Roses, a well-known perfume of
great strength, is an essential oil of roses, prepared chiefly
in Hindustan and Persia. See Oils and Perfumery.
ATTENTION, in Psychology, may be defined as the
concentration of consciousness, or the direction of mental
energy upon a definite object or objects. By means of it
we either bring within the circle of our conscious life per
ceptions and ideas which would not otherwise have risen
from their obscurity, or render clearer and more distinct
some of those already under notice. Its mode of operation
and the effects produced by it may be compared with the
concentration of visual activity on some definite part of
the field of vision, and the clearer perception of the
limited portion which is thereby attained. In both
cases the result is brought about, not by effecting any
change in the perceptions themselves, but simply by isolat
ing them, and considering them to the exclusion of all
other objects. Since all consciousness involves discrimina
tion, i.e., isolation of one object from others, it involves
attention, which might therefore be defined as the neces
sary condition of consciousness. Such a definition is,
however, too general, and throws no light upon the nature
of the process whereby our mental energy is strengthened
in particular cases. This increase of force, when conscious
ness is directed to any one object to the exclusion of others,
is partly to be explained by reference to the general law
that, as the amount of intellectual energy at our disposal is
limited, the greater the number of objects over which it is
spread, the less will each receive, pluribus intentus, minor
est ad singida sensus; and conversely, the greater the con
centration, the fewer must be the objects attended to.
In addition to this general law of limitation, there are
special circumstances which determine the amount of
consciousness we shall bestow on any object. In the first
place, there are certain mechanical influences only partly
subject to the will, such are the force or vividness of the
impression, the interest attaching to an object, the trains
of associated ideas excited, or the emotions roused by
its contemplation. There is, secondly, an exercise of voli
tion employed in fixing the mind upon some definite
object ; this is a purely voluntary act, which can be
strengthened by habit, is variable in different individuals,
and to which, as being its highest stage, the name Atten
tion is sometimes restricted. The general law of the
limitation of conscious activity, pointed out above, throws
considerable light on the nature of abstraction and its
relation to Attention. It is clear that concentration of
consciousness upon any one attribute or attrioutes of an
object involves withdrawal of consciousness from all other
attributes. This withdrawal is, logically and etymologically,
Abstraction, which is thus the negative side of Attention,
or, as Hamilton expresses it, the two processes form the
negative and positive poles of the same mental act.
ATTERBOM, PER DANIEL AMADEUS, a Swedish
poet, was born in Ostergothland in 1790, studied in the
University of Upsala from 1805 to 1815, became Professor
of Philosophy there in 1828, and died in 1 855. He was the
leader in the great romantic movement which revolutionised
Swedish literature. In 1807, when in his 17th year, he
founded at Upsala an artistic society, called the Aurora
League, the members of which included Palmblad, Elgstrom,
Hedborn, and other youths, whose names were destined to
