Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/115

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AUTHORITIES
107
AVAILABLE MEANS

AUTHORITIES. Citations to statutes, precedents, judicial decisions, and text-books of the law, made on the argument of questions at law or the trial of causes before a court, in support of the legal positions contneded for.

AUTHORITY. In contracts. The law- ful dciegation of power by one person to an- other.

In the English law relating to public ad- ministration, an authority is a body having jurlsdicuon in certain matters of a public nature.

In governmental law. Legal power; 1 right to command or to act; the right and pnner of public officers to require obedience to their orders lawfully issued in the scope of their public duties.

Authority to execute a deed must be given by deed. Com. Dig. "Atto1'ney." C, .3. 4 Term. 313: 7 Term. 207; 1 Holt, 141: liinod v. Goodrich. 9 Wend. (N. Y.) 68, 75. 24 Am. Dec. 121; Bantu-gee v. Hm-ey, 5 H155. ll. 4 Am. Dec. 17; Cooper v. Rankin, 5 Bin. (Pu ) 613.

AUTO ACORDADO. In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from some su- perior tribunal, promuigated in the name and by the authority of the sovereign. Schm. Chil Law. 93.

AUTOCRACY. The name of an unlim- licd lT|0ii:il‘LlliC:1l government. A government at the will of one man, (called an "autocrat.") unchecked by constitutional restrictions or ilmitatinns.

AUTOGRAPH. The handwriting of any OIJP.

AUTOMATISM. In medical jurispru- uience, this term is applied to actions or cnuduct of an individual apparently occurring without will, purpose, or reasoned in- lention on his part; a condition sometimes nl-2-rvcql in persons Who, without being ac- inally insane, suiier from an ohscuration of [he mental far-nities. loss of volition or of memory, or kindred uiiections. "Amhulatory nutomatism" describes the pathological in)- linlse to pnrpuseless and irresponsible wan- (lcriugs from piace to place often characteristic or patients suflering from loss of mem- ory with dissociation of personality.

AUTONOMY. The political independence at a nation; the right (and condition) at seit-government.

AUTOPSY. The dissection of a dead bmly for the purpose of inquiring into the (--ruse of death. Pub. St. Mass. 1882, p. 1288. Sudduth v. Insurance C0. (0. C.) 106 Fed. 823.

AUTRE. L. Fr. Another.

—Autre action pendant. Another action ps~nahng.—-Ant:-e droit. The right of another. .—Antre vie. Anuilmrn iiie .\ person hull]ing an estate for or during the life of another 15 tn.l]c(l B. tenant "pm um’/'c tin," or "pur ilzlbnie diautre vie." Litt. § 56; 2 Bl. Comm.

AUTREFOIS. L. Fr. At another time; former-iy; before: heretofore.

—Antrefois acquit. In criminal law. Formerly acquitted. ’l‘he name of a piea in bar to a criminal action, stating that the deft-iulant has been once already indicted and tried for the same alleged uifense and has been acquitted. Simco v. State, 9 Tex. App. P.-R; . v. Gihcrt. 2.’: Fed. Cos. 1.29—l,—-Autrefois nttnlnt. In criminal law. Formerly attainted. A 'plt‘:1 that the defendant has already been attninted for one feionv, and therefore cannot be criminally prosecuted for another. 4 Bi. Comm. 33G.—Antz-efoia convict. Formerly convicted. In criminal law. A plea by a criminal in bar to an indictment that he has been. formerly convicted of the same identical crime. 4 Bl. i‘omm. 336; 4 Steph. Comm. 404; Sim- co v. State, 9 T App. 348: U. S. v. Olsen (D. C.) 57 Fed. 532; Shepherd v. People, 25 N. Y. 420.

AUXILIARY. Aiding; attendant on; nnciliary. (:1. -v.) As an auxiliary bill in equity, an auxiliary receiver. See Buckley 17. Harrison. 10 Misc. Rep. 683, 31 N. Y. Supp. 1001.

AIJXILIUM. In feudal and old English law. Aid; compulsory aid, hence a tax or tribute; a kind of tribute paid by the vassnl to his lord. being one of the incidents of the tenure by kui::ht‘s service. Spelman.

-—Auxi1inJn ad fllium militem faciendum et filiam maritandam. An ancient writ which was addressed to the sheriff to levy compnisoriiv nn nid towards the hnighiing of a son and the marrying of a daughter of the tenants in rapite at the crown.-—Auxilinm curiae. In old English law. A precept or order of court citing and convening a party, at the suit and reqlmst of another, to warrant sometbin .— Anxilium regis. In English law. The Iiinz'a nirl or rnouny levied for the royai use and the public service. us taxes grnntcrl by parliament. —AuxIli11m vice cnrmiti. An ancient duty paid to sheriffs. Cowell.

AVAIL OF MARRIAGE. In feudal law. The right of marriage, which the lord or guardian in chivalry had of disposing of his infant ward in matrimony. A guardian in socage had also the same right, but not attended with the same advantage. 2 Bl. Comm. 88.

In Scotch law. A certain sum due by the heir of a deceased ward vassal, when the heir became or marriageable age. Ersk. inst. 2. 5, 18.

AVAILABLE MEANS. This phrase, among mercantile men, is a term well understood to be anything which can readily be converted into money; but it is not nec- essarily or primarily money itself. Mc'i<"adden v. Leeka, 43 Ohio St. 513, 28 N. E. 874;