PAYMENT, pleadings. The name of a plea by which the defendant1 alleges2 that he has paid the debt claimed in the declaration; this plea must conclude to the country. 4 Call, 371; Minor3, 137. Vide Solvit ad them; Solvit post diem.
PAYS. The country. Trial per pays, is a trial by the country; that is, by jury. Vide Pais.
PAX REGIS, Eng. law. The king's peace. In ancient times there were certain limits which were known by this name. The pax regis, or the verge4 of the court, as it was afterwards called, extended from the palace gate to the distance of three miles, three furlongs, three acres, nine feet, nine palms and nine barleycorns. Crabb's C. L. 41.
PEACE. The tranquillity5 enjoyed by a political society, internally, by the good order which reigns6 among its members, and externally, by the good understanding it has with all other nations. Applied7 to the internal regulations of a nation, peace imports, in a technical sense, not merely a state of repose8 and security, as opposed to one of violence and warfare9, but likewise a state of public order and decorum. Ham. N. P. 139; 12 Mod. 566. Vide, generally, Bac. Ab. Prerogative10, D 4; Hale, Hist. P. C. 160; 3 Taunt11. R. 14; 1 B. & A. 227; Peake, R. 89; 1 Esp. R. 294; Harr. Dig. Officer, V 4; 2 Benth. Ev. 319, note. Vide Good behaviour; Surety of the peace.
PECK. A measure of capacity, equal to two gallons. Vide Measure.
PECULATION12, civil law. The unlawful appropriation13 by a depositary of public funds, of the property of the government entrusted14 to his care, to his own use or that of others. Domat, Suppl. au Droit Public, liv. 3, tit. 5.
PECULIAR15, eccles. law. In England, a particular parish or church, which has, within itself, independent of the ordinary jurisdiction16, power to grant probate of wills, and the like. 1 Eng. Eccl. R. 72, note; Shelf. on Mar17. & Div. 538. Vide Court of peculiars.
PECULIUM, civil law. The savings18 which were made by a son or slave with the consent of his father or master. Inst. 2, 9, 1; Dig. 15, 1, 5, 3; Poth. ad Pand. lib. 50 , tit. 17, c. 2, art. 3.
2. A master is not entitled to the extraordinary earnings19 of his apprentice20, which do not interfere21 with his services so as to affect his master's profits. An apprentice was therefore decreed to be entitled to salvage22 in opposition23 to his master's claim for it. 2 Cranch, 270.
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