HOSTELLAGIUM, Engl. law. A right reserved to the lords to be lodged1 and entertained in the houses of their tenants2.
HOSTILITY3. A state of open enmity; open war. Wolff, Dr. de la Rat. §1191. Hostility, as it regards individuals, may be permanent or temporary; it is permanent when the individual is a citizen or subject of the government at war, and temporary when he happens to be domiciliated or resident in the country of one of the belligerents4; in this latter case the individual may throw off the national character he has thus acquired by residence, when he puts himself in motion, bona fide, to quit the country sine animo revertendi. 3 Rob. Adm. Rep. 12; 3 Wheat. R. 14.
2. There may be a hostile character merely as to commercial purposes, and hostility may attach only to the person as a temporary enemy, or it may attach only to the property of a particular description. This hostile character in a commercial view, or one limited to certain intents and purposes only, will attach in, consequence of having possessions in the territory of the enemy, or by maintaining a commercial establishment there, or by a personal residence, or, by particular modes of traffic, as by sailing under the enemy's flag of passport. 9 Cranch, 191 5 Rob. Adm. Rep.21, 161; 1 Kent Com. 73; Wesk. on Ins. h. t.; Chit. Law of Nat. Index, h. t.
HOTCHPOT, estates. This homely5 term is used figuratively to signify the blending and mixing property belonging to different persons, in order to divide it equally among those entitled to it. For example, if a man seised of thirty acres of land, and having two children, should, on the marriage of one of them, give him ten acres of it, and then die intestate seised of the remaining twenty; now, in order to obtain his portion of the latter, the married child, must bring back the ten acres he received, and add it to his father's estate, when an equal division of the whole will take place, and each be entitled to fifteen acres. 2 Bl. Com. 190. The term hotchpot is also applied6 to bringing together all the personal estate of the deceased, with the advancements8 he has made to his children, in order that the same may be divided agreeably to the provisions of the statute9 for the distribution of intestate's estates. In bringing an advancement7 into hotchpot, the donee is not required to account for the profits of the thing given; for example, he is not required to bring into hotchpot the produce of negroes, nor the interest of money. The property must be accounted for at its value when given. 1 Wash. R. 224; 17 Mass. 358; 2 Desaus. 127.; 3 Rand. R. 117; 3 Pick. R. 450; 3 Rand. 559; Coop. Justin. 575.
2. In Louisiana the term collation10 is used instead of hotchpot. The collation of goods is the supposed or real return to the mass of the succession, which an heir makes of property which he received in advance of his share or otherwise, in order that such property maybe divided, together with the other effects of the succession. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1305; and vide from that article to article 1367. Vide, generally, Bac. Ab. Coparceners, E; Bac. Ab. Executors, &c., K; Com. Dig. Guardian11, G 2, Parcener, C 4; 8 Com. Dig. App. tit. Distribution, Statute of, III. For the French law, see Merl. Rep´rt. mots Rapport12 a succession.
HOUR measure of time. The space of sixty minutes, or the twenty-fourth part of a natural day. Vide Date; Fraction; and Co. Litt. 135; 3 Chit. Pr.110.
HOUSE, estates. A place for the habitation and dwelling13 of man. This word has several significations, as it is applied to different things. In a grant or demise14 of a house, the curtilage and garden will pass, even without the words "with the appurtenances," being added. Cro. Eliz. 89; S. C.; 3 Leon. 214; 1 Plowd. 171; 2 Saund. 401 note 2; 4 Penn. St. R; 93.
2. In a grant or demise of a house with the appurtenaces, no more, will pass, although other lands have been occupied with the house. 1 P. Wms.603; Cro. Jac. 526; 2 Co. 32; Co. Litt. 5 d.; Id. 36 a. b.; 2 Saund. 401, note 2.
3. If a house, originally entire, be divided into several apartments, with an outer door to each apartment and no communication with each other subsists15, in such case the several apartments are considered as distinct houses. 6 Mod. 214; Woodf. Land. & Ten. 178.
4. In cases of burglary, the mansion16 or dwelling-house in which the burglary might be committed, at common law includes the outhouses, though not under the same roof or adjoining to the dwelling-house provided they were within the curtilage, or common fence, as the dwelling or mansion house. 3 Inst. 64;1 Hale, 558; 4 Bl. Com. 225; 2 East, P. C. 493; 1 Hayw. N. C. Rep. 102, 142; 2 Russ. on Cr. 14.
5. The term house, in case of arson17, includes not only the dwelling but all the outhouses, as in the case of burglary. It is a maxim18 in law that every man's house is his castle, and there he is entitled to perfect security; this asylum19 cannot therefore be legally invaded, unless by an officer duly authorized21 by legal process; and this process must be of a criminal nature to authorize20 the breaking of an outer door; and even with it, this cannot be done, until after demand of admittance and refusal. 5 Co. 93; 4 Leon. 41; T. Jones, 234. The house may be also broken for the purpose of executing a writ22 of habere facias. 5 Co. 93; Bac. Ab. Sheriff, N3.
6. The house protects the owner from the service of all civil process in the first instance, but not if he is once lawfully23 arrested and he takes refuge in his own house; in that case, the officer may pursue him and break open any door for the purpose. Foster, 320; 1 Rolle, R. 138; Cro. Jac. 555; Bac. Ab. ubi sup. In the civil law the rule was nemo de domo sua extrahi debet. Dig. 50, 17, 103. Vide, generally, 14 Vin. Ab. 315; Yelv. 29 a, n.1; 4 Rawle, R. 342; Arch. Cr. Pl. 251; and Burglary.
7. House is used figuratively to signify a collection of persons, as the house of representatives; or an institution, as the house of refuge; or a commercial firm, as the house of A B & Co. of New Orleans; or a family, as, the house of Lancaster, the house of York.