they be discharged or removed into another ship, or a court artial shall be held to inquire of the causes of the loss of the ship. And if upon inquiry it shall appear, that all or any of the officers and seamen did their utmost to save the ship, and behaved obediently to their superior officers, their pay shall go on: as also shall the pay of officers and seamen taken by the enemy, having done their best to defend the ship, and behaved obediently. If any officer shall receive any goods en board, contrary to the 18th article, he shall further forfeit the value of such goods, or 500%, at the election of the informer; one moiety to the informer, the other to Greenwich chest.

ARTICLES of WAR. The crown, with regard to military offences, has almost an absolute legislative power; for his majesty, by the annual mutiny act," may form articles "of war, and constitute courts mar ial, with "power to try any crime by such articles; " and inflict penalties by sentence or judg. "ment of the same, not extending to life or "limb, except for crimes expressly declared to be so punishable by the act." ARTICULI CLERI, (articles of the clergy) are statutes containing certain articles relating to the church and clergy, and causes ecclesiastical. 9 E. 2. Stat. 1. c. 14. 9 E. 3. Stat. 1.

ARTICULUS, an article, or complaint, exhibited by way of libel, in a court christian. Cowel. Blount.

ARTIFICERS, or workmen, are taken for such as are masters of their art, or whose calling and employment doth consist chiefly of manual labour. For the acts relating to artificers or workmen, see title Manufac tures.

ARUNDINETUM, a ground or place where reeds grow. 1 Inst. 4.

ARVIL-SUPPER, a feast or entertainment made at funerals, in the north part of England: arvil bread is the bread deli vered to the poor at funeral solemnities. Cruel.

ASCESTERIUM, (archisterium, arcisterium, acisterium, alcisterium, archithium) is a Greek word, and signifies a monastery. It often occurs in old histories. Du Cange.

ASPORTATION, the carrying away of goods; thus in all felonies there must not only be a taking, but a carrying away: cepit et asportavit was the old law Latin: and a bare removal from the place in which he found the goods, though the thief does not quite make off with them, is a sufficient as. portation, or carrying away. 4 Black. 231.

ASSACH, or assath, was a custom of purgation used of old in Wales, by which the party accused did clear himself by the oaths of 300 men. It is mentioned in ancient MSS. and prevailed till the time of Henry 5. when it was abrogated. 1 H.5. c. 6. ASSART, (assartum) Fr. assartir, to make

plain. Minwood, in his Forest Laws, says it is an offence committed in the forest, by pulling up the woods by the roots that are thickets and coverts for the deer, and making the ground plain as arable land; this is esteemed the greatest trespass that can be done in the forest to vert or venison, as it contains in it waste and more; for whereas waste of the forest is but the felling down the covers, which may grow up again, assart is a plucking them up by the roots, and utterly destroying them, so that they can never afterwards spring up again. Manwood, part 1, p. 171. Cowel. Blount.

ASSAULT (assultus). At this day no words whatsoever, be they ever so provoking, can amount to an assault. 1 Hawk. P. C. 134.

To strike a man, though he be not hurt with the blow, is an assault and to strike at a person, notwithstanding he be neither bort nor hit, hath been so adjudged. 22 Lib. Ass pl. 60. For assault doth not always necessarily imply a hitting, or blow; because in trespass for assault and battery a man may be found guilty of the assault, and excused of the battery. 25 Ed. 3. c. 4. If a person in anger lift up or stretch forth his arm, and offer to strike another or menace any one with any staff or weapon, it is trespass and assault in law; and it a man threaten to beat another person, or lie in wait to do it, if the other is hindered in his business, and receives loss thereby, a special action on the case, laying the damages with a per quod, may be brought for the injury. Lamb. lib. 1. 22 Ass. pl. 60.

In many cases a man may justify an as sault; thus, to lay hands gently upon another, not in anger, is no foundation of an action of trespass and assault: the defendant may justify molliter manus imposuit in defence of his person or goods, or of his wife, father, mother, or master; or for the maintenance of justice. Bract. 9 E. 4. 35 H. 6.

c. 51.

But a master cannot justify an assault in defence of a servant. L. Reym. 62.

If an officer, having a warrant against one who will not suffer himself to be arrested, beat or wound him in the attempt to take him, he may justify it; so if a parent in a reasonable manner chastise his child, or master his servant, being actually in his service at that time, or a schoolmaster his scholar, or a gaoler his prisoner, or even a husband his wife (for reasonable and proper cause); or if one confine a friend who is mad, and bind and beat him in such manner as is proper in his circumstances; or if a man force a sword from one who offers to kill another; or if a man gently lays his hand on another, and thereby stay him from inciting a dog against a third person; if I beat one (without wounding him, or throwing at him a dangerous weapon) who wrongfully endeavours with violence to dispossess

me of my lands or goods, or the goods of another delivered to me to be kept for him, and who will not desist upon my laying my hands gently on him, and disturbing him; or if a man beat, wound, or main one who makes an assault upon his person, or that of his wife, parent, child, or master; or if a man fight with, or beat one who attempts to kill any stranger, if the beating was actually necessary to obtain the good end proposed, or rendered necessary in defence of the person so laying his hands on, by an assault from the other; in these cases it seems the party may justify the assault and battery. 1 Hawk. P. C. 130.

And on an indictment the party may plead Not Guilty, and give special matter in evidence; but in an action he must plead it specially. 6 Mod. 172.

For an assault the wrong-doer is subject both to an action at the suit of the party, wherein he shall render damages, and also to an indictment at the suit of the king, wherein he shall be fined according to the heinousness of the offence. 1 Hawk. 134.

But if both are depending at one time, unless in very particular cases, the attorney general will, on application, grant a nolle prosequi, if the party will not discontinue his

action.

By 8 & 9 W. 3. c. 11, it is enacted that "where there are several defendants to any action of assault, &c. and one or more acquitted, the person so acquitted shall recover costs of suit, unless the judge certify that there was a reasonable cause for making quch person a defendant or defendants to such action."

And where the jury who try the action shall give less damages than 40s. the plaintiff shall be allowed no more costs than damages, unless the judge before whom the cause is tried shall certify under his hand on the back of the record that an actual battery (and not an assault only) was proved. 21 Jac. 1. c. 16. ASSAY of weights and measures, (from the Fr. essay, i. e. a proof or trial) is the examination of weights and measures by clerks of markets, &c. Cowel. Blount.

ASSAYER OF THE KING, (assayalor regis an officer of the king's mint, for the trial of silver; he is indifferently appointed between the master of the mint and the merchants that bring silver thither for exchange. Cowel. Blount.

ASSAYERS of plate made by goldsmiths. The assaying and marking gold and silver plate is regulated by statute.

ASSAYSIARE, a word used in old charters for to take fellow judges. Cowel. Blount. ASSECURARE, (adsecurare) to make secure by pledges, or any solemn interposition of faith. Hoveden, anno 1174. Cowel. Blunt. ASSEMBLY UNLAWFUL, (from the Fr. assembler, i e. aggregare) to flock together. It is the meeting of three or more persons to

do an unlawful act, although they do it or not: as to assault or beat any person enter into houses, or lands, &c. West. Symb. part. 2. sect. 65. 3 Inst 9. See Riots. ASSENT, or consent, when necessary in Law. See Agreements, Executors, Legacies, and other proper titles.

ASSESSORS, those that assess public taxes. for which see title Taxes.

ASSETS, (Fr. assez, i. e. satis) signifies goods and chattels in the hands of the executor or administrator sufficient or enough to discharge that burden which is cast upon the executer or administrator in satisfying the debts and legacies, so far as such goods and chattels extend. 2 Black. 510.

Assets by descent, or real, is where a man hath lands in fee simple, and dies seised thereof, the lands which come to his heir are assets real: and where the ancestor is bound in an obligation, such lands shall be assets, and the heir shall be charged as far as the land to him descended will extend. Terms de Ley. Cowel. Blount.

But by stat. 3 Will. and Mar. c. 14. "the heir is made liable to the value of the land by him sold, in action of debt brought against him by the obligee, who shall recover to the value of the said land, as if the debt was the proper debt of the heir; but the land which is sold or aliened bona fide before the action brought shall not be liable to execution upon a judgment recovered against the heir in any such action"

By Stat. 29 Car. 2. c. 3. Lands of cestui que trust shall be assets by descent; s. 1. and estates pur autre vie shall be assets in the hands of the heir, if it come to him by reason of a special occupancy, and if it be not devised, and there is no special occupant, it shall go to the executors or administrators of the party that had the estate thereof by virtue of the grant, and shall be assets in their hands. Sec. 12. And in such last case, viz. if there is no special occupant thereof, or it be not devised by 14 Geo. 2. c. 20. such estates pur autre vie, after payment of debts, shall be distributed in the same manner as the personal estate of the testator or intestate.

Lands by descent in ancient demesne will be assets in debt. But a copyhold estate descending to an heir is not assets: nor is any right to an estate assets, without possession, &c. till recovered and reduced into possession. Dano. 577.

An annuity is no assets, for it is only a chose en action. Br. Assets per Descent, pl. 26.

Equity of redemption of an estate mortgaged, and a term for years to attend the inheritance are assets. 3 Leon. 32. ASSEWIARE, to draw or drain water from marsh grounds. Cowel. Blount. ASSIDERE, or assedare, to tax equally. Ibid.

ASSIGN, (assignare) hath two significations, one general, as to set over a right to another, or appoint a deputy, &c. And the other special, to set forth or point at, as we say, to assign error, assign false judgment, waste, &c. F. N. B 19. 112. Reg. Orig. 72. Comel. Blount. Also justices are said to be 253 gned to take assises. Stat. 11 H. 6. c. 2. ASS GNEE, (assignatus) one that is assigned or appointed by another to do any act, or perform any business. It also signifies one that taketh any right, title, or interest in things by assignment from an assignor. These assignees inay be by deed, or in law: assignee by deed is when a lessee of a term sells and assigns the same to another, that other is his assignee by deed: assignee in law is he upon whom by law the property devolves, without any appointment of the person; thus an executor is assignee in law to the testator. Dyer 6.

ASSIGNMENT, (assignatio) is the transferring and setting over to another of some right, title, or interest.

But a possibility, right of entry, title for condition broken, a trust, or thing in action, or cause of suit, cannot be granted or assigned over. Co. Lit. 214.

Yet though a bond, being a chose in action, cannot be assigned over so as to enable the assignee to sue in his own name, yet he has by the assignment such a title to the paper and wax that he may keep or cancel it. Co. Lit. 232.

Also in equity a bond is assignable for a valuable consideration paid, and the assignee alone becomes entitled to the money; so that if the obligor, after notice of the assignment, pays the money to the obligee, he will be compelled to pay it over again. 2 Vern. 595. But the assignee must take it subject to the same equity that was in the hands of the obligee. 2 Vern. 428.

An office of trust is not grantable or assignable to another; Dyer 7, neither can a personal trust which one man reposes in another, such as a trusteeship, executorship, or the like, be assigned over, however able such assignee may be to execute it. 1 Bac. Abr. tit. As. Nor can the full pay or the half pay of an officer in the army be assigned. 1 Hen. Black, 627. 4 Ter. Rep. 248. 3 Ter. Rep. 681. And by Stat. 1 Geo. 2. st. 2. c. 14. s. 7, all assignments of seamens wages are declared void. Arrears of rent, and the like, as choses in acfion, are not assignable. Skin. 6.

ASSIMULARE, to put highways together: it is mentioned in Leg. Hen. 1. c. 8. Cowel. Blount.

ASSISA CADERE. This word signifies to be nonsuited; as when there is such a plain and legal insufficiency in a suit that the complainant can proceed no further on it. Fleta, lib. 4, cap. 15. Bracton, lib. 2. cap. 7. Cowel, Blount.

ASSISA CADIT IN JURATAM, is where a thing in controversy is so doubtful that it must necessarily be tried by a jury. Fleta, lib. 4. c. 15. in modum assisæ, is when the defendant pleads to the assise without taking any exception to the count, declaration, or writ. Cowel. Blount.

an ancient

ASSISA CONTINUANDA, writ directed to the justices of assise for continuation of a cause, when certain records alleged could not be produced in time by the party that had occasion to use them. Reg. Orig. 217. Cowel. B'ount.

ASSISA PANIS ET CEREVISÆ, the power or privilege of assising or adjusting the weights and measures of bread and beer; Corvel.

ASSISA PROROGANDA, is a writ directed to the justices assigned to take assises for the stay of proceedings, by reason of the party's being employed in the king's business, Reg. Orig. 208. Cowel. Blount.

ASSISE (Fr. assis). This word is properly derived from the Latin verb assideo, to sit together; and is also taken for the court, place, or time when and where the writs or processes of assise are handled or taken. And in this signification assise is general, as when the justices go their several circuits with commission to take all assises; or special, where a special commission is granted to certain persons (formerly oftentimes done) for taking an assise upon one or two disseisins only. Bract, lib. 3. 1 Inst. 153. 3 Black. 185.

At this day all the counties in England are divided into six circuits; and the court of Assise and Nisi prius at this day in each county are composed of two judges, who are assigned by the king's special commission for every circuit, and hold their assises twice a year in every county, except London or Middlesex, where the king's courts of Nisi prius do sit in and after every term, before the chief or some other judge of the respective courts at Westminster. 3 Black. 57.

These judges upon their circuits sit by virtue of five several commissions. 3 Blac. 58. 1. The commission of the peace, in every county of the circuits; and all justices of the peace of the county are bound to be present at the assises; and sheriffs are also to give their attendance on the judges, or they shall be fined. Bacon's Elem. 15, 16, &c. 3 Black. Com. 58.

2. Of oyer and terminer, directed to them and many other gentlemen of the county, by which they are empowered to try treasons, felonies, &c. and this is the largest commission they have. Ibid.

3. Of gaol delivery, directed to the judges and the clerk of assise associate, which gives them power to try every prisoner in the gaol,

committed for any offence whatsoever, but none but prisoners in the gaol; so that one way or other they rid the gaol of all the prisoners in it. Ibid.

4. Of assise, directed to themselves only and the clerk of assise, to take assises, and do right upon writs of assise brought before them by such as are wrongfully thrust out of their lands and possessions: which writs were heretofore frequent, but now mens possessions are socner recovered by ejectments, &c. Ibid.

5. Of nisi prius, directed to the judges and clerk of assise, by which civil causes grown to issue in the courts above, are tried in the vacation by a jury of twelve men of the county where the cause of action arises; and on return of the verdict of the jury to the court above, the judges there give judgment. Ibid.

In Wales there are but two circuits, Nerth and South Wales; for each of which the king appoints two persons learned in the laws to be judges. Stat. 18 Eliz. c. 8.

ASSISE, Writ of, is a remedy which the law hath appointed for the restitution of a freehold, of which the party has been disseised, and appears to have been in the nature of a commission to put the disseisee in possession by trial at the assises. Bac. Abr. Ass.

The word assise is derived by sir El. Coke, 1 Inst. 153, from the Latin assideo, to sit together; and it signifies originally the jury who try the cause, and sit together for that purpose; and the reason, saith Littleton, (Co. Lit. 159,) why such writs at the begining were called assises was, for that in these writs the sheriff is ordered to summon a jury or assise, which is not expressed in any other original writ. F. N. B. 195.

This mode of proceeding is now seldom made use of except for the recovery of offices, being supplied by other actions less perplexed, and which yield a more expeditious remedy. Bac. Abr. tit. Ass.

It is therefore here only necessary to observe, that this remedy by writ of assise is only applicable to two species of injury by ouster, viz. abatement, and a recent or novel disseisin as follows. 3 Black. 185.

ASSISE of Mort d'ancestor. If the abatement happened upon the death of the demandant's father or mother, brother or sister, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, the remedy is by an assise of mort d'ancestor, or the death of one's ancestor; and the general purport of this writ is, to direct the sheriff to summon a jury or assise, to view the land in question, and to recognize whether such ancestor were seised thereof on the day of his death, and whether the demandant be the next heir. F. N. B. 195. Finch L. 290. And in a short time after the judges usually come down by the king's commission to take the recognition of assise; when, if these points are found in the affirmative, the law imme

diately transfers the possession from the tenant to the demandant. If the abatement happened on the death of one's grandfather or grandmother, then an assise of mort d'ancestor no longer lies, but a writ of ayle, or the avo: if on the death of the great grandfather or great grandmother, then a writ of bestyle, or de proavo; but if it mounts one degree higher, to the tresuyle or grandfather's grandfather; or if the abatement happened upon the death of any collateral relation, other than those before mentioned, the writ is called a writ of cosinage, or de consanguineu. Finch L. 266, 267. And the same points shall be inquired of in all these actions ancestrel, as in an assise of mort d'ancestor, they being of the very same nature. Sint. West. 2. 13 Ed. 1. c. 20, Though they differ in this point of form, that these ancestrel writs, (like all other writs of precipe) expressly assert the demandant's title, (viz. the seisin of the ancestor at his death, and his own right of inheritance) the assise asserts nothing directly, but only prays an inquiry whether those points be so. 2 Inst. 399. There is also another ancestrel writ, denominated a nuper obiit, to establish an equal division of the land in question, where on the death of an ancestor who has several heirs, one enters and holds the others out of possession. F. N. B. 197. Finch L. 293. But a man is not allowed to have any of these possessory actions for an abatement consequent on the death of any collateral relation, beyond the fourth degree. Hale on F. N. B. 221. though in the lineal ascent he may proceed ad infinitum. Fitzh. Abr. tit. Cusinage, 15. For the law will not pay any regard to the possession of a collateral relation, so very distant as hardly to be any at all. 3 Black. 185, 186.

It was always held to be law, Bract. 1. 4. de assis, mort antecessoris, c. 13. s. 3. F. N. B. 196. that where lands were devisable in a man's last will by the custom of the place, there an assise of mort d' ancestor did not lie. For, where lands were so devisable, the right of possession could never be determined by a process which inquired only of these two points, the seisin of the ancestor, and the heirship of the demandant. And hence it might be reasonable to conclude, that when the statute of wills, 32 Hen. 8. c. 1, made all socage lands devisable, an assise of mort d'ancestor no longer could be brought of lands held in socage; (see 1 Leon. 267.) and that now, since the statute 12 Car. 2. c. 24, which converts all tenures, a few only excepted, into free and common socage, it should follow, that no assise of mort d'angesfor can be brought of any lands in the king dom; but in case of abatements recourse must be properly had to the more ancient writs of entry.

ASSISE of novel disseisin, is so called because the justices in eyre went their cir