BRIDGNORTH. 496 BRIEF. feet above tlio river. There arc two churches, and a town hall dating from 1852. The town owns its water and gas works, and maintains markets and a cemetery. It has an ancient Latin school, a mechanics' school, and a public library. Its industries include the manufacture of carpets and woolen goods. It is the birth- place of Bishop Porcv. author of the Relujiies. Population, in 1801, 5805: in IHOI, fi04!). The town, which was at one time called Bruges or Brug. is said to be of Saxon origin. In the be- ginning of the Twelfth Century, Robert de Belesme defended the town unsuccessfully against Henry I. It was besieged in the same century by Henry II. : and during the Civil War it wasburned by the Parliamentary forces. BRIDLE (from its similarity to the bridle of a horse). A chain or rope span, the ends being made fast and the power or weight be- tween; the bowlines are attached to the sails in this way. The chains of permanent moorings, if the ends are attached to separate anchors, form a mooring-bridle. the vessel being made fast to the centre of the span. BRIDLE AND BIT. See Saddlery. BRIDXINGTON, local pron. bflrllng-ton, or BuRLiNGTO.N". A seacoast town in the East Rid- ing of Yorkshire. England, six miles west of Flamborough head, 40 miles east-northeast of York (Map: England, F '2). Bridlington is situ- ated on a gentle slope in a recess of a beautiful bay. It has the aspect of an old town with narrow, irregular streets. Bridlington is well known as a watering-place. It has an excellent harbor, carries on a considerable trade in grain and possesses an intermittent spring which supplies the town with fresh water. The town was incorporated in 1899. It has several schools and a library. Population, in 1891, 8919; in 1901, 12,473." Bridlington is noted for its chalk- flint fossils. Remains of Danish and Saxon times are found around Bridlington. After the Conquest, it became the site of a rich Augustine abbey, traces of which still exist in the parish church of Saint Mary. Consult Thompson, His- torical Sketches of' Bridlington (Bridlington, 1821). BRIDOIE, bri'dwa'. A caricature on contem- porarv lawgivers, in Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantiigruel. He decides all his cases by throw- ing dice. BRIDOISON, br6'dwii'zON'. A judge in Beau- marcliais's he mariage de Figaro, patterned after Bridoie in tlarguntua and Pantagruel. BBID'PORT. A seajjort town of Dorsetshire, Englaiul, at the conllueiice of the Asker and Brit, two miles from tlic English Channel and 10 miles west-northwest of Dorsetshire (Map: Eng- land, DO). Its public buildings include the fine parish church of Saint Mary, of the Perpendicu- lar period, a town hall, markets, mechanics' in- stitute, and school of art. It has manufactures of ropes, cordage, sail-cloth, etc., and carries on some foreign and coasting trade. Bridport mint is mentioned in the Domesday Book. From Henry VIII. it received a monopoly of the cor- tlagc-supi)lv for the British Navy. Population in 1891, 601 1"; in 1901, .'")710. BRIE, br*. An ancient district of France sit- uated between the rivers Seine and Marne, now comprised in the departments of Aisne, Marne, and Seine-et-Marne. Its capital was Meaux. In olden times it was almost wholly covered by a forest. Subdued by the Franks, it formed, suc- cessively, part of the kingdom of Neustria and of the provinces of Champagne and Ile-de-Francc. It was ruled by its own counts until it became Crown property in KiOl. Brie was, and is still, celebrated for its grain and dairy products, espe- cially cheese. BRIEF (OF., from Lat. hrevis, brief). In the ancient law-writers, a writ or breve. Xow, a concise and orderly statement of the points of law, pleadings, and evidence to be laid by one party to a cause before a court at its trial. The word is used in England and in the United States with very different meanings. In Great Britain it is the duty of the attorney (q.v. ) or solicitor to prepare the case only — to draw up and serve papers, to marshal the evidence, to prepare the case for trial generally; and to the barrister is committed the task of arguing the case before the court, introducing the evidence, cross-examining, and taking entire conduct of the case in open court. A brief, under this Eng- lish practice, is the concise statement of the case as it leaves the hands of the attorney, and it serves as a guide to the barrister and as his instructions for proceeding in open court. In the practice of courts in the United States, one person serves the oflice of both the English at- torney and barrister. In our courts, according- ly, the brief is the abbreviated statement of pleadings, affidavits, evidence, and all points of law to be argued, prepared by the counsel for liis own use, or to lay before the court as an assistance in following his presentation of the case. In appellate courts of the States, and in the United States courts, the brief is the skeleton or analysis of the argument prepared by the counsel, setting forth the legal propositions he offers, citing cases in support thereof, and indicating the rulings for which he argues. It is usual, and, indeed, in some States it is required by law, that such a brief should be printed and furnished to the court, to the official reporter, and to the opposing counsel. Consult the author- ities referred to under Practice. The ])lirase Brief of Title is sometimes em- ployed in place of the usual term Abstract of Title (q.v.), to denote the concise statement of the deeds, conveyances, and changes in owner- ship which may have occurred in the history of the title to a certain piece of real estate. BRIEF, Papal (Lat. brcvis, short; cf. Ger. Brief, a letter). A word used to denote certain letters of tlic Popes, which, however, do not re- ceive their name from the brevity of the compo- sition, but from the sraallness of the calligraphy. The Papal brief differs from the Papal bull (q.v.) in several points. It gives decisions on matters of inferior importance, such as disci- pline, dispensations, release from vows, inchil- gences. etc., which do not necessarily require the deliberations of a conclave of cardinals. Still, it is not to be confounded with motu propria, or private epistle of the Pope as an individual, as its contents are always of an official character, though expressing a kind of familiar parental authority, and the brief is consequently superscribed I'apa, while the form of address is dilecte fili (beloved son). It is signed not by the Pope, but by the segrctario
