WOODGELD, old Eng. law. To be free from the payment of money for taking of wood in any forest. Co. Litt. 233 a. The same as Pudzeld. (q. v.)
WOODS, A piece of land on which forest trees in great number naturally grow. According to Lord Coke, a grant to another of omnes boscos suos, all his woods, will pass not only all his trees, but the land on which they grow. Co. Litt. 4 b.
WORD, construction. One or more syllables1 which when united convey an idea a single part of speech.
2. Words are to be understood in a proper or figurative sense, and they are used both ways in law. They are also used in a technical sense. It is a general rule that contracts and wills shall be construed2 as the parties understood them; every person, bowever, is presumed to understand the force of the words be uses, and therefore technical words must be taken according to their legal import, even iii wills, unlesh the testator manifests a clear intention to the contrary. 1 Bro. C. C. 33; 3 Bro. C. C. 234; 5 Ves. 401 8 Ves. 306.
3. Every one is required to use words in the sense they are generally understood, for, as speech has been given to man to be a sign of his thoughts, for the purpose of communicating them to others, he is bound in treating with them, to use such words or signs in the sense sanctioned by usage, that is, in the sense in which they themselves understand them, or else he deceives them. Heinnec. Praelect. in Puffendorff, lib. 1, cap. 17, §2 Heinnec. de Jure Nat. lib. 1, §197; Wolff, lust3. Jur. Nat. §7981.
4. Formerly4, indeed, in cases of slander5, the defamatory words received the mildest interpretation6 of which they were susceptible7, and some ludicrous decisions were the consequence. It was gravely decided8, that to say of a merchant, "he is a base broken rascal9, has broken twice, and I will make him break a third time," that no action could be maintained, because it might be intended that he had a hernia: ne poet dar porter action, car poet estre intend de burstness de belly10. Latch11, 104. But now they are understood in their usual signification. Comb. 37; Ham. N. P. 282. Vide Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.; Construction; Interpretation.
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