日期：2008-03-21 PRESS . By a figure this word signifies the art of printing. The press is free. 2. All men have a right to print and publish whatever they may deem proper, unless by doing so they infringe the rights of another, as in the case of copyrights, (q. v.)... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRESERVATION . keeping safe from harm; avoiding injury. This term always presupposes a real or existing danger. 2. A jettison, which is always for the preservation of the remainder of the cargo, must therefore be made only when there is a real dange... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRESENTEE , eccles. law., A clerk who has been presented by his patron to a bishop in order to be instituted in a church. PRESENTMENT , crim. law, practice. The written notice taken by a grand jury of any offence, from their own knowledge or observa... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRESENCE . The existence of a person in a particular place. 2. In many contracts and judicial proceedings it is necessary that the parties should be present in order to reader them valid; for example, a party to a deed when it is executed by himself... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRESCRIPTIBLE . That which is subject to prescription. PRESCRIPTION . The manner of acquiring property by a long, honest, and uninterrupted possession or use during the time required by law. The possession must have been possessio longa, continua, e... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PREMIUM PUDICITIAE , contracts. Literally the price of chastity. 2. This is the consideration of a contract by which a man promises to pay to a woman with whom he has illicit intercourse a certain sum of money. When the contract is made as the payme... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PREMISES . that which is put before. The word has several significations; sometimes it means the statements which have been before made; as, I act upon these premises; in this sense, this word may comprise a variety of subjects, having no connexion... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PREGNANT , pleading. A fulness in the pleadings which admits or involves a matter which is favorable to the opposite party. 2. It is either an affirmative pregnant, or negative pregnant. See Affirmative pregnant; Negative pregnant. PREJUDICE . To de... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PREGNANCY , med. jurisp. This is defined by medical writer; to be the state of a female who has within her ovary or womb, a fecundated germ which gradually becomes developed in the latter receptaale. Dunglison's Med. Diet. h. t. 2. The subject may b... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRE-EMPTION , intern. law. The right of preemption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase. 1 Chit. Com. Law, 103; 1 Bl. C... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRECIPUT , French law. An object which is ascertained by law or the agreement of the parties, and which is first to be taken out of property held in common, by one having a right, before a partition takes place. 2. The preciput is an advantage, or a... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRECEDENTS . the decision of courts of justice; when exactly in point with a case before the court, they are generally held to have a binding authority, as well to keep the scale of justice even and steady, as because the law in that case has been s... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRECARIOUS RIGHT . The right which the owner of a thing transfers to another, to enjoy the same until it shall please the owner to revoke it. 2. If there is a time fixed during which the right may be used it is then vested for that time, and cannot... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRAGMATIC SANCTION , French law. This expression is used to designate those ordinances which concern the most important object of the civil or ecclesiastical administration. Merl. Repert, h. t.; 1 Fournel, Hist. des Avocats, 24, 38, 39. 2. In the ci... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 PRAEDIUM RUSTICUM , civil law. By this is understood all heritages whicb are not destined for the use of man's habitation; such, for example, as lands, meadows, orchards, gardens, woods, even though they should be within the boundaries of a city. PR... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 POWER OF ATTORNEY . Vide Letter of attorney, and 1 Mood. Or. Cas. 57, 58. POYNING'S LAW , Engl. law. The name usually given to an act which was passed by a parliament holden in Ireland in the tenth of Henry the Seventh; it enacts that all statutes m... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 POUNDAGE , practice. The amount allowed to the sheriff, or other officer, for commissions on, the money made by virtue of an execution. This allowance varies in different states, and to different officers. POURPARLER , French law. The conversations... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 POT-DE-VIN , French law. A sum of money frequently paid, at the moment of entering into a contract, be=yond the price agreed upon. 2. It differs from arrha, (q. v.) in this, that it is no part of the price of the thing sold, and, that the person who... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 POSTMASTER GENERAL . The chief officer of the post office department of the United States. Various duties are imposed upon this officer by the acts of congress of March 3, 1825, and July 2, 1836, which will be found under the articles Mail; Post Off... 阅读全文>>

日期：2008-03-21 POSTLIMINIUM . That right in virtue of which persons and things taken by the enemy are restored to their former state, when coming again under the power of the nation to which they belong. Vat. Liv. 3, c. 14, s. 204; Chit. Law of Nat. 93 to, 104; Le... 阅读全文>>