as pasture for the cattle or all the owners, and in some cases for the cattie of other persons as well; each owner is called a "severalty owner," and his rights of pasture are called :severalty rights," as opposed to the rights of persons not owners. Cooke, Incl. Acts, 37. l63n.
SEVERANCE. In pleading. Separation; division. The separation by defendants in their pleas; the adoption, by several defendants, of separate pleas, instead of joining in the same plea. Steph. Pl. 2.37.
In estates. The destruction of any one of the unities of a Joint tenancy. It is so called because the estate is no longer a joint tenancy, but is severed.
The word "severance" is also used to signify the cutting of the crops, such as corn, grass, etc., or the separating of anything from the realty. Brown.
SEWARD, or SEAWARD. One who guards the sea-coast; custos maris.
SEWER. A fresh-water trench or little river. encuuupassod with banks on both sides, to drain on’ surplus water into the sea. Gow- eil. Properly, a trench artiflcially made for the purpose of carrying water into the sea, (or a river or pond.) Crabh, Real Prop. I 113.
in its modern and more usual sense, a
"sewer" means an under-ground or covered ch:umei used for the drainage of two or more separate buildings, as opposed to a "drain." which is u clunnel used for carrying oil the drahnage of one building or set of buildings in one curtilage. SweeL See Valparaiso v. Pnker. 143 Ind. 379, -11 N. E 830; Fuchs v. St. Louis, 167 M0. 620, 67 S. W. 610, 57 L. R. A. 136: State Board of Health v. Jersey City. 55 N. J. Eq. 116. 35 Ati. S33; Aldrich v. Paine, 106 Iowa, 461, 76 N. W. 812. —Commissioners of sewers. In English law. The court of comm‘ ‘ioners of seuers is n temporary tribunal erecnd by virtue of a com- mission under the great seal. Its jurisdiction is to overlook the repairs of sen-banks and sea- wulls, and the cieunsing of [mbiic li\'£'IS, streams. ditches, and other conduits whereby any waters are carried elf, and In confined to such county or pnrticuiar district as the com- mission expressly names. Brown.
SEX. The distinction between mnie and female; or the property or chaiacter by which an animal is male or female. Webster.
SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. In ecclesi- astical law. The second Sunday before Lent. being about the sixtleth day before Easter.
SEXHINDENI. In Saxon law. die thanes, valued at 6005.
The mid-
SEXTANS. Lat. In Roman imv. Asui)- division or the as. containing two unciaa; the proportion of two-twelfths, or one-sixth. 2 Bl. Comm. 462, note.
SEXTARY. In old records. An ancient measure of liquids, and of dry commodities; a quarter or seam. Spelnian.
SEXTERY LANDS. Lands given to a church or religious house for maintenance of a sexton or sucristnn. 0owe].L
SEXTUS DECBETALIUM. Lnt. The sLuh (book) of the decretais; the sext, or sixth decretai. so caiied hecnuse appended, in the body of the canon law. to the five books of the (let-retnis of Gregory IX.; it consists of a collection of suppiemeutnry decretuis, and was published A. D. 1298. Butl. Hor. Jur. 172; 1 Bl. Comm. S2.
INVERSION See Insnurr;
SEXUAL INSTINCT, AND PERVERSION OF. Pnunansn: Sonomv.
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. Cnrnhl COD- uiation or male and female, iinpiying actual
penetration of the organs of the intter. State v. Frazier, 54 Kan. 119, 39 Pac. 822. SHACK. In English law. The stray-
ing and escaping of cattie out of the lands of their owners into other uninciosed land; an interconzmoning of cattle. 2 H BL 4.16. It sometimes happens that a number of adjacent fields, though held in severslty, G. c., by separate owners, and cultivated separate- ly, are, after the crop on each parcel has been carried in, thrown open as pasture to the cattie of all the owners. "Arable lauds cuitivated on this pian are called ‘shack fields,‘ and the right of each owner of a part to feed cattie over the whole during the autumn and winter is known in law as ‘com- mon of shack.’ a right which is distinct in its nature from common because of vicina::e. though sometimes said to be nearly identical with it." Elton, Commons, 30: Sweet.
SHALL. As used in statutes and simi- lar instruments. this word is genemiiy imperative or mandatory: but it may be construed as mereiy per sive or directory, (as equivalent to "may.") to carry out the ieggislative intention and in cases wheie no right or benefit to any one depends on its being taken in the imperative sense, and where no public or private right is impaired by its interpretation in the other sense. Also, as against the government, "sliaii" is to be construed as "may." unless a cuntnry intention is manifest. See Wheeier v. chicago. 24 I11. 105, 76 Am. Dec T36; People v. Chicago Sanitary Dist., 184 Ill. 597, 56 l\'. I-_‘. 9.3.}: Madison v. Daley (C. C.) 58 Fed 753; Cairo & F IL Co. v. Ilecht, 95 U. S. 170, 24 L. Ed. 4%.
SHAM PLEA. See PLEA.
