An instrument for decapitation used in France for the infliction of the death penalty on convicted criminals consisting essentially of a heavy and weighted knife-blade moving perpendicularly between grooved posts which is made to fall from a considerable height upon the neck of the sufferer immovably fixed in position to receive the impact. … [Read more...]

Total amount of earnings prior to any deductions or expenses taken. … [Read more...]

1. Soil; earth; a portion of the earth's surface appropriated to private use and under cultivation or susceptible of cultivation. Though this term is sometimes used in conveyances and in statutes as equivalent to "land," it is properly of a more limited signification, because it applies strictly only to the surface, while "land includes everything beneath the surface, and … [Read more...]

In old European law. A pledge. Spelman; Calvin. A custom. Spelman. Spelled also "wadla." … [Read more...]

This is the grand total of all the assets of an estate. … [Read more...]