Lat. In the civil law. A trench. A place sunk by the side of a stream, so called because it is.cut (incidatur) into or through the stone or earth. Dig. 43, 21, 1, 5. The term seems to have included ditches (fossa) and wells, (putei.) … [Read more...]

Evidence that is not admitted and unable to be used in court. … [Read more...]

A house burner; one guilty of arson; one who maliciously and willfully sets another person's building on fire. Incendium cere alieno non exult deb itorem. Cod. 4, 2, 11. A fire does not release a debtor from his debt … [Read more...]

Heedlessness; lack of attention; failure of a person to pay careful and prudent attention to the progress of a negotiation or a proceeding in court by which his rights may be affected. Used chiefly in statutory enumerations of the grounds on which a Judgment or decree ma? be vacated or set aside; as, "mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect." See Skinner v. Terry, … [Read more...]

This word is applied to those things, the property of which cannot be lawfully transferred from one person to another. Public highways and rivers are of this kind; there are also many rights which are inalienable, as the rights of liberty, or of speech. Not subject to alienation; the characteristic of those things which cannot be bought or sold or transferred from one person to … [Read more...]