EMINENCE1; A title of honor given to cardinals2.
EMINENT3 DOMAIN4. The right which people or government retain over the estates of individuals, to resume the same for public use.
2. It belongs to the legislature to decide what improvements are of sufficient importance to justify5 the exercise of the right of eminent domain. See 2 Hill. Ab. 568 1 U. S. Dig. 560; 1 Am. Eq. Dig. 312 3 Toull. n. 30 p. 23; Ersk. hist. B. 2) tit. 1, s. 2; Grotius, h. t. See Dominium.
EMISSARY. One who is sent from one power or government into another nation for the purpose of spreading false rumors6 and to cause alarm. He differs from a spy. (q. v.)
EMISSION7, med. jur. The act by which any matter whatever is thrown from the body; thus it is usual to say, emission of urine, emission of semen, &c.
2. In cases of rape8, when the fact of penetration9 is proved, it may be left to the jury whether emission did or did not take place. Proof of emission would perhaps be held to be evidence of penetration. Addis. R. 143; 2 So. Car. Const. R. 351; 2 Chitty, Crim. Law, 810; 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 140 1 Russ. C. & M. 560; 1 East, P. C. 437.
TO EMIT. To put out; to send forth10,
2. The tenth section of the first article of the constitution, contains various prohibitions11, among which is the following: No state shall emit bills of credit. To emit bills of credit is to issue paper intended to circulate through the-community for its ordinary purposes, as money, which paper is redeemable12 at a future day. 4 Pet. R. 410, 432; Story on Const. §1358. Vide Bills of credit.
EMMENAGOGUES, med. jur. The name of a class of medicines which are believed to have the power. of favoring the discharge of the menses. These are black hellebore, savine, (vide Juneperius Sabina,) madder, mercury, polygala, senega, and pennyroyal. They are sometimes used for the criminal purpose of producing abortion13. (q. v.) They always endanger the life of the woman. 1 Beck's Medical Jur. 316; Dungl. Med. Diet. h. t.; Parr's Med. Dict. h. t.; 3 Paris and Fonbl. Aled. Jur. 88.
EMOLUMENT14. The lawful15 gain or profit which arises from an office.
EMPALEMENT. A punishment in which a sharp polo was forced up the fundament. Encyc. Lond. h. t.
TO ENPANEL, practice. To make a list or roll, by the sheriff or other authorized16 officer, of the names of jurors who are summoned to appear for the performance of such service as jurors are required to perform.
EMPEROR, an officer. This word is synonymous with the Latin imperator; they are both derived17 from the. verb imperare. Literally18, it signifies he who commands.
2. Under the Roman republic, the title emperor was the generic19 name given to the commanders-in-chief in the armies. But even then the application of the word was restrained to the successful commander, who was declared emperor by the acclamations of the army, and was afterwards honored with the title by a decree of the senate. 3. It, is now used to designate some sovereign prince who bears this title. Ayl. Pand. tit. 23.