TO DEFEND. To forbid. This word is used in some old English statutes¹ in the sense it has in French, namely, to forbid. 5 Pic. 2, c. Lord Coke uses the word in this sense: it is defended by law to distrain² on the highway." Co Litt. 160, b. 161 a. In an old work entitled , Legends, printed by Winkin de Worde, in 1527, fo. 96, we find examples of the use of the word in this sense, " He defended," (forbade) " to pay the wage," (tribute,) " for he said he was a king." " She wrote the obligation when she put her hand to the tree against the defence." (prohibition of God.)

2. In pleading, to defend is to deny; and the effect of the word "defends" is, that the defendant³ denies the right of the plaintiff, or the force and wrong charged. Steph. Pl. 432.

3. In contracts, to defend is to guaranty; to agree to indemnify. In most conveyances⁴ of land the grantor covenants⁶ to warrant and defend. It is his duty, then, to prevent all persons against whom he defends, from doing any act which would evict⁷ him; when there is a mortgage upon the land, and the mortgagee demands possession or payment of the covenantee, and threatens suit, this is a breach⁸ of the covenant⁵ to defend, and for quiet enjoyment⁹. 17 Mass. R. 586.

DEFENDANT. A party who is sued in a personal action. Vide Demandant; Par- ties to Actions; Pursuer; and Com. Dig. Abatement¹⁰, F; Action upon the case upon assumpsit, E, b; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

2. At common law a defendant cannot have judgment¹¹ to recoyer a sum of money of the plaintiff. But this rule is, in some cases, altered by the act of assembly in Pennsylvania, as by the. Act of 1705, for defalcation¹², by which he may sue out a sci. fac. on the record of a verdict for a sum found in his favor. 6 Binn. Rep. 175. See Account 6.

DEFENDANT IN ERROR. A party against whom a writ¹³ of error is sued out.

DEFENDER¹⁴, canon law. The name by which the defendant or respondent is known in the ecclesiastical courts.

DEFENSIVE¹⁵ ALLEGATION. The defence or mode of propounding¹⁶ a defence in the spiritual courts, is so called.

DEFICIT¹⁷. This Latin term signifies that something is wanting. It is used to express the deficiency which is discovered in the accounts of an accountant, or in the money in which he has received.