B. When the name of a place begins with 44, it denotes that either the place beJonged to some abbey, or that an abbey was founded there: thus Abingdon in Berkshire took that name soon after Cissa king of the West Saxons had founded the abbey there; for before it was called Cloveshoe. Cowel. Blownt.

ABACOT, the cap of state used in old time by our English kings, wrought up in the figure of two crowns. Chron. Ang. 1463. Spelman. Cowel.

ABACTORS, (Abactores, ab abigendo,) were stealers of cattle or beasts by herds or great numbers. Blount. Cowel.

ABACUS, (Arithmetic) or the art of numbering, from the abacus or table on which dust was strewed, and whereon the ancients set down their figures: hence also abacista an arithmetician. Cowel. Blount.

ABANDONMENT, (on marine insurances) is the exercise of a right, which the assured has, to call upon the underwriters or insurers to accept of what is saved, and to pay the full amount of the insurance, as if a total luss had happened, where the matter insured is, by some of the usual perils of the sea, be

Come of little value.

Abandonment is as ancient, as the contract of insurance itself, and must be total and not partial of any particular part of the property insured. 1 Ter, Rep. 608. 2 Bur. 697.

1211.

notice in a reasonable time, otherwise he will be taken to waive his right to abandon, and can never after recover for a total loss. 1 Ter. Rep. 608.

But if the insured hearing that his ship is much disabled, and has put into port to repair, express his desire to the underwriters to abandon, and be dissuaded from it by them, and they order the repairs to be inade, they are liable to the owner for all the subsequent damage occasioned by that refusal, though it amount to the whole sum insured, for they have by their own act superseded the necessity of notice. 2 Ter. Rep. 407.

The insured may abandon to the underwriters, and call upon them for a total loss, if the damage exceed half the value, if the voyage be absolutely lost or not worth pursuing, if further expence be necessary, and the insurer will not engage at all event to bear that expence, though it should exceed the value or fail of success; but he cannot abandon, unless at some period or other of the voyage there has been acutal loss. 1 Ter. Rep. 187. Park, c. 9.

Also if neither the ning insured, nor the voyage be lost, and the damage does not amount to a mosty of the value, he shall not 2 Bur. 1211. 3 Atk. be allowed to abandon. 195. 2 Bur: 683.

And the right to abandon, must depend on the nature of the case, at the time of the action brought, or at the time of the offer to abandon: therefore where there was a capture and re-capture, and it was stated that at the time of the offer to abandon, the peril was over, as the ship was safe in port, and had suffered no damage, the court held that the in2 Bur. sured had no right to abandon. 1198. 1 Black. Rep. 276.

When the underwriter bas discharged his insurance, and the abandonment is made,

B

he stands in the place of the insured, and is entitled to all the advantages resulting from that situation, in case the ship or property is not totally lost, or is afterwards restored by recapture. Park. c. 9. 1 Fez. 98.

ABANDUN, (Abandonum) any thing sequestered, proscribed: abandon, i, e. in barnum res mi sa: a thing bann'd or denounced as forfeited and lost: to abandon or desert or forsake as lost and gone. Cowel.

ABARNARE, to detect and discover to a magistrate any secret crime: from the Saxon abarian, to uncover, disclose or make bare, Cowel B.

ABARSTICK, insatiable, from a privative, and the Saxon Berstan, disrumpi.

ABATE, seems to be derived from the French wordabattre destruere,prosternere,tofell, break down or destroy, and is used in various senses in the law; as for instance, to abate a castle or fort is to beat it down, old Nat. Brev. 45 St. Westm. 1.c. 17. abattre maison, to ruin or cast down a house and level it with the ground. Cowel. Blount.

ABATEMENT of Freehold. An abatement in this sense is where a person dies seised of an inheritance, and before the heir or devisee enters, a stranger who has no right makes entry and gets possession of the freehold this entry of him is called an abatement, and he himself is denominated an abator: this expression of abating which is derived from the French, is a figurative expression, and signifies to quash, bear down, or destroy and in the present sense denotes that the rightful possession or freehold of the heir or devisee is overthrown by the intrusion of a stranger. 3 Black. Com. 168. 1 Inst. 277. Comyns' Dig. Abatement.

This abatement of a freehold is somewhat similar to an immediate occupancy in a state of nature, which is effected by taking possession of the land the same instant that the prior occupant by his death relinquishes it. Be this, however agreeable to natural justice, nsidering man merely as an individual, is ametrically opposite to the law of society, and particularly the law of England; which, for the reservation of public peace, hath prohibited as far as possible all acquisitions by mere occupany; and hath directed that lands on the death of the present possessor, shall immediately vest either in some person expressly named and appointed by the deceased as his devisee, or, on default of such appointment, in such of his next relations as the law hath selected and pointed out as his natural representative or heir: every entry therefore of a mere stranger, by way of intervention between the ancestor and heir or person next entitled, which keeps the heir or devisee out of possession, is one of the highest injuries to the rights of real property. S Black. Com. 168, 9.

ABATEMENT of Nuisances, is a species of remedy al owed by the law to the party in

or

jured by a Nuisance, to abate, destroy, remove,or put an end to the same by his own act: thus whatsoever unlawfully annoys or doth damage to another is, in contemplation of law, a nuisance, and such nuisance may be abated, that is, taken away or removed by the party aggrieved thereby, so as he commits no riot in the doing of it: as for instance, if a house or wall is erected so near to mine that it stops my ancient Eghts, which is a private nuisance, I may enter my neighbour's land and peaceably pull it down: if a new gate be erected across the public highway, which is a common nuisance, any of the king's subjects passing that way may cut it down and destroy it. And the reason why the law allows this private and summary method of doing one's self justice, is because injuries of this kind, which obstruct or annoy such things as are of daily convenience and use, require an immediate remedy, and cannot wait for the slow progress of the ordinary forms of justice. 5 Rep. 101. 9 Rep. 55. Salk. 459. Cro. Car. 184. 3 Black. Com. 5. 6.

ABATEMENT amongst Legulees. If a man bequeaths specific legacies and pecuniary legacies, and the estate falls short to answer the pccuniary legacies, they shall abate in proportion, but nothing shall be abated from the specific legacies. 2 Fonbl. 369.

And as all legatees are on a deficiency of assets to be paid in proportion, so if the cxecutor pay one of the legatees, yet the rest shall make him refund in proportion: and even if one of the legatees get a decree for his legacy and is paid,and afterwards the assets appearto have been originally deficient, yet the legatee who received shall refund: but if the executor had at first enough to pay all the legacies, and afterwards by his wasting the assets they became deficient, in such case the legatee who has received his legacy shall not be compelled to refund, but shall retain the advantage of his legal diligence, which the other legatees neglected by not bringing their suit in time, before the wasting by the executor: whereas if the other legatees had commenced their suit before such waste committed, they might have met with the like success, et vigilantibus non dormientibus jura, Ibid. 371. 1 Pere. Wms. 595. 2 Pere. Wms. 146.

Bro. Ch. Rep. 305.

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