Punishment that is devoid of any human compassion and is so brutally cruel that it endangers the life of the person being punished. In the law of divorce. Such barbarous cruelty or severity as endangers the life or health of the party to whom it is addressed, or creates a well-founded apprehension of such danger. The phrase commonly employed in statutes is "cruel and inhuman … [Read more...]

A tax assessed in England on inhabited dwelling-houses, according to their annual value, (St 14 A 15 Vict. c. 36; 32 & 33 Vict. c. 14, … [Read more...]

In Scotch practice. A technical expression applied to the decision of an inferior judge who has decided contrary to law; he is said to have committed iniquity. Bell. lniquum est alios permittere, alios inhibere mercaturam. It is inequitable to permit some to trade and to prohibit others. 3 Inst. 181. Iniquum est aUquem rei sui esse judicem. It is wrong for a man to be a judge … [Read more...]

That which is so strongly present and an essential a part of something so that it always is present by the very nature of that thing. … [Read more...]

(1) Placed at the beginning. The initials of a man's name are the first letters of his Dame; as, G. W. for George Washington. When in a will the legatee is described by the initials of his name only, parol evidence may be given to prove his identity. 3 Ves. 148. And a signature made simply with initials is binding. (2) That which begins or stands at the beginning. The first … [Read more...]