PRECEPT
other like officer, for the bringing of a person or record before him. Cowell.
The direction formerly issued by a sheriff to the proper returning officers of cities and boroughs within his jurisdiction for the election of members to serve in parliament. 1 31. Comm. 178.
The direction by the judges or commissnuuexs of assize to the sheriff for the sum- Bltlilillg a sumr-lent number of jurors. 3 Staph. Pomnn. 516.
‘me direction issued by the clerk of the peace to the overseers of parishes for making out the jury lists. 3 Steph. Comm. 516. note.
In old English criminal law. Instigation to commit a crime. Bract. fol. 1381;: Cowell.
In Scotch law. An order. mandate. or warrant to do some act. The precept of sel- sin was the order of a superior to his bailie. to give lnfeftment of certain lands to his vassal. Bell.
In 0141 French law. A kind of letters issued by the king in subversion of the laws. being orders to the judges to do or tolerate things contrary to law.
—Precept of nlare constat. A deed in the Scotch law by which a superior acknowledges
aim title of the heir of a deceased vessel to suc- reed to the lands.
FR-ICES. Lat. In Roman law. Prayers. One of the names of an application to the emperor. 'l‘oyl. Civil Law, 230.
PR]-ICES PRIMARIIE. in English e<.~ cleslastlcal law. A right of the crown to name to the first prebend that becomes va- cant after the accession of the sovereign, in every church of the empire. This right was exercised by the crown of England in the reign of Edward I. 2 Steph. Comm. 670. note.
PRECINCT. A const2\ble's or police district. The immediate neighborhood af a palace or court A poll-district See Union Pac. Ry. CO. v. Ryan. 113 T‘. S. 516, 5 Sup. Ct. 601. 28 L. Ed. 1093; Railway Co. v. Oconto, 50 Wis. 189, 6 N. W. 607. 36 Am. Rep. S40; State v. Anslinger, 171 Mo. 600, 71 S. W. 1041.
PRECIPE. Another form of the name of the written instructions to the clerk of court; also spelled "pnzcipe," (q. 7:.)
PEECIPITIN TEST. Precipltlns are formations in the blood of an animal induced by repeated lujechons into its veins of the blood-serum of an animal of another species; and their importance in diagnosis lies in the fact that when the blood-serum of an animal so treated is mixed with that of any animal of the second species (or a closely related species) and the mixture kept
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PREDECESSOR
at a temperature of about 98 degrees for several hours, a visible precipitate will re suit, but not so if the second ingredient of the mixture is drawn from an animal of an entirely dll1'erent species. In mcdlco-legal practice, therefore, a suspected stain or clot having been lirst tested by other methods and demonstrated to be blood, the question whether it is the blood of a human being or of other origin is resolved by mixing :1 solution of it with a quantity of blood- serum taken from a rabbit or some other small animal which has been pretiously prepared by injections of human blood- serum. After treatment as ahove described. the presence of a precipitate will furnish strong presumptive evidence that the blood tested was of human origin. The test is not absolutely conclusive, for the reason that blood from an anthropold ape would produce the same result. in this experiment, as hu- man blood But if the alternative hypothesis presented attributed the blood in question to some animal of an unrelated species (as, a dog, sheep, or horse) the preclpltin test could be fully relied on, as also in the case where no precipitate resulted.
PRECIPUT. In French law. A portion of an estate or inheritance which falls to one of the co-heirs over and above his equal share with the rest, and which is to be taken out before partition is made.
PRECLUDI NON. Let. in Dioslding. The commencement of a replication to a plea in bar, by which the plaintiff "says that, by reason of anything in the sold plea alleged, he ought not to be barred from having and maintaining his aforesaid action against hi.m, the said defendant because he says." etc. Steph. Pl 440.
PRECOGNITION. In Scotch practice. Preliminary examination. The investigation of a criminal case, preliminary to committing the accused for trial 2 Ahs. Crlm. Pr. 134.
PRECOGNOSCE. in Scotch practice. To examine beforehand. Arkley. 232. PRECONIZATION. Proclamation.
PRECONTRACT. A contract or engagement made by a person, which is of such a nature as to preclude him from lawfully entering into another contract of tile mule nature. See 1 Blsh. Mar. & Div. §§ 112. 272.
PREDECESSOR. One who goes or has gone before; the correlative of "sut-cessor." Applied to a body politic or corporate. in the same sense as "ancestor" is applied to a natural person. Lorillzlrd Co. v. Paper (0. 0.) 65 Fed. 598.
In Scotch law. Eq. 371.
An ancestor. 1 K-ames,
