AMERCIAMENT, AMERCEMENT, English law. A pecuniary¹ punishment arbitrarily imposed by some lord or count, in distinction from a fine which is expressed according to the statute². Kitch. 78. Amerciament royal, when the amerciament is made by the sheriff, or any other officer of the king. 4 Bl. Com. 372.

AMI. A friend; or, as it is written in old works, amy. Vide Prochein amy.

AMICABLE³ ACTION, Pennsylvania practice. An action entered by agreement of parties on the dockets of the courts; when entered, such action is considered as if it, had been adversely⁴ commenced, and the defendant⁵ had been regularly summoned. An amicable action may be entered by attorney, independently of the provisions of the act of 1866. 8 Er & R. 567.

AMICUS CURIAE, practice. A friend of the court. One, who as a stander by, when a judge is doubtful or mistaken in a matter of law, may inform the court. 2 Inst. 178; 2 Vin. Abr. 475; and any one, as amicus curia, may make an application to the court in favor of an infant, though he be no relation. 1 Ves. Sen. 313. AMITA. A paternal⁶ aunt; the sister of one's father. Inst. 3, 6, 3.

AMNESTY, government. An act of oblivion of past offences, granted by the government to those who have been guilty of any neglect or crime, usually upon condition that they return to their duty within a certain period.

2. An amnesty is either express or implied; it is express, when so declared in direct terms; and it is implied, when a treaty of peace is made between contending parties. Vide Vattel, liv. 4, c. 2, 20, 21, 22; Encycl. Amer. h.t.

3. Amnesty and pardon, are very different. The former is an act of the sove reign⁷ power, the object of which is to efface⁸ and to cause to be forgotten, a crime or misdemeanor; the latter, is an act of the same authority, which exempts⁹ the individual on whom it is bestowed¹⁰ from the punishment the law inflicts¹¹ for the crime he has committed. 7 Pet. 160. Amnesty is the abolition¹² and forgetfulness of the offence; pardon is forgiveness. A pardon is given to one who is certainly guilty, or has been convicted; amnesty, to those who may have been so.

4. Their effects are also different. That of pardon, is the remission of the whole or a part of the punishment awarded by the law; the conviction remaining unaffected when only a partial pardon is granted: an amnesty on the concrary, has the effect of destroying the criminal act, so that it is as if it had not been committed, as far as the public interests are concerned.

5. Their application also differs. Pardon is always given to individuals, and properly only after judgment¹³ or conviction: amnesty may be granted either before judgment or afterwards, and it is in general given to whole classes of criminals or supposed criminals, for the purpose of restoring tranquillity¹⁴ in the state. But sometimes amnesties are limited, and certain classes are excluded from their operation.

AMORTIZATION¹⁵, contracts, English law. An alienation¹⁶ of lands or tenements¹⁷ in mortraain. 2 Stat. Ed. I.

2. The reduction of the property of lands or tenements to mortmain.

AMORTISE, contracts. To alien lands in mortmain. AMOTION. In corporations and companies, is the act of removing an officer from his office; it differs from disfranchisement, which is applicable to members, as such. Wille. on Corp. n. 708. The power of amotion is incident to a corporation. 2 Str. 819; 1 Burr. 639.

2. In Rex v. Richardson, Lord Mansfield specified¹⁹ three sorts of offences for which an officer might be discharged; first, such as have no immediate²⁰ relation to the office, but are in themselves of so infamous²¹ a nature, as to render the offender²² unfit to execute any public franchise¹⁸; secondly²³, such as are only against his oath, and the duty of his office as a corporator, and amount to breaches²⁴ of the tacit condition annexed²⁵ to his office; thirdly, the third offence is of a mixed nature; as being an offence not only against the duty of his officer but also a matter indictable at common law. 2 Binn. R. 448. And Lord Mansfield considered the law as settled, that though a corporation has express power of amotion, yet for the first sort of offences there must be a previous indictment²⁶ and conviction; and that there was no authority since Bagg's Case, 11 Rep. 99, which says; that the power of trial as well as of amotion, for the second offense²⁷, is not incident to every corporation. He also observed: "We think that from the reason of the thing, from the nature of the corporation, and for the sake of order and good government, this power is incident as much as the power of making by-laws." Doug. 149. See generally, Wilcock on Mun. Corp. 268; 6 Conn. Rep. 632; 6 Mass. R. 462; Ang. & Am. on Corpor. 236.