the action, or special bail, is otherwise termed ball above. 3 Bl. Comm. 291. See Below.
ABOVE CITED, or MENTIONED. Quoted before. A figurative expression taken from the ancient manner of writing books on scrolls, where whatever is mentioned or cited before in the some scroll must be above. Encyc. Lond.
ABPATRUUS. Lat. In the civil law. A great-great-grandfather's brother, (abavi frater.) Inst. 3. 6, 6; Dig. 38, 10, 3. Called patruus maximus. Id. 38, 10, 10, 17. Called, by Bracton and Fleta, abpatruus magnus. Bract fol. 68b; Fleta, lib. 6, c. 2, § 17.
ABRIDGE. To reduce or contract; usually spoken of written language.
In copyright law to abridge means to epitomize; to reduce; to contract. It implies preserving the substance, the essence, of a work, in language suited to such a purpose. In making extracts there is no condensation of the anuthor's language, and hence no abridgement. To abridge requires the exercise of the mind: it is not copying. Between a compilation and an abri lununt there is a clear distinction. A compilation consists of selected extracts from different a|'ltll()l‘~, an ahridgment is a condcns.t~tinu of the views of one nuthor. Story v. gin]:-ombe, 4 McLean, 306. 310, Fed. Cas. No. .497.
In practice. To shorten a declaration or count by taking away or severing some of the substance of it. Brooke, Ahr "Abridgement."
ABRIDGMENT. An epitome of compendium of another and larger work, wherein the principal ideas of the larger work are summarily contained.
Abridgements of the law are brief digests of the law, arranged alphabetically. The oldest are those of Fitzherbert, Brooke, and Rolle: the more modern those of Viner, Comyns, and Bacon. (1 Steph. Comm. 51.) The term "digest" has now supplanted that of "abridgement." Sweet.
ABRIDGMENT OF DAMAGES. The right of the court to reduce the damages in certain cases. Vide Brooke, tit. "Abridgment."
ABROGATE. To annul, repeal, or destroy: to annul or repeal an order or rule issued by a subordinate authority; to repeal a former law by legislative act, or by usage.
ABROGATION. The annulment of a law by constitutional authority. It stands opposed to rogation; and is distinguished from derogation, which implies the taking away only some part of a law; from subrogation, which denotes the adding a clause to it; from dispensation, which only sets it aside in a particular instance; and from antiquation, which is the refusing to pass a law. Encyc. Lond.
--Implied abrogation. A statute is said to work an "implied abrogation" of an earlier one, when the inter statute contains provisions which are inconsistent with the further continuance of the earlier law; or a statute is impliedly abrogated when the reason of it, or the object for which it was passed, no longer exists.
ABSCOND. To go in a clandestine manner out of the jurisdiction of the courts, or to lie concealed, in order to avoid their process.
To hide, conceal, or absent oneself clandestinely, with the intent to avoid legal process. Smith v. Johnson. 43 Ncb. 754. 0° \ W. 217; Hongett v. Emerson, 8 Han. '_’f Ware v. Todd. 1 Aia. 200; Kingsland v. Worsham, 15 MO. 657.
ABSCONDING DEBTOR. One who absconds from his creditors. An absconding debtor is one who lives without the state. or who has ll.|i’t‘.lllZi.Oni\1ly concealed himseif from his creditors, or withdrawn himself from the reach of their suits, with Intent to frustrate their just demands. Thus, if in person departs from his usuai residence, or remains absent therefrom, or conceals himself in his house. so that he cannot be served with process, with intent unlawfully to delay or defraud his creditors. he is an absconding debtor; but if he departs from the state or from his usual ahode, with the inteution of again returning, and without any fraudulent design, he has not absconded, nor ahsented himseit’, within the intendment of the law. Stafford v. Miils, 57 N. J. Law. 574, 32 Atl. 7; Fitch v. Waite, 5 Conn. 117.
A party may abscond, and subject himself to the operation of the attachment law against albconding debtors, without ieriving the limits of the state. Fieid v. Adreon. 7 Md. 209.
A debtor who is shut up from his creditors in his own house is an absconding debtor. Ives v. Curtiss, 2 Root (Conn.) 133.
ABSENCE. The state of being absent, removed, or away from one's domicile, or usual place of residence.
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 stuilr (til E‘nt‘ircl_i/ a~olm1fm-1/ on account of trade, incrcbiindise, and the like (5) Absence cimi data at Lltljiii, as not nppca ng to a writ, subpa'aa citation. etc., or to «inlay or defeat creditors. or avoidinz a_I-rest. either on civil or criminal process. Aylitfe.
Where the statute allows the vacation of a judgment l‘(’.I'(lBI‘.(l against a defendant "in his absence." the term "absence" means non-appearance to the action, and not merely that the party was not present in court. Sti inc v. Kaufman. 12!\‘ch. 423. 11 N. W. SGT.
In Scotch law. Want OF default of appearance. A decree is said to be in absence where the defender (defendant) does not appear. Ersk. inst. bk. 4, tit. 3, § 6. See Decreet.
