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S 178 - Law Dictionary Search Results

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Wills

Wills. A will is the valid disposition by a living person, to take effect after his death, of his disposable property. ''But in law ultima voluntas in scriptis is used, where lands or tenements are devised, and testamentum, when it concerneth chattels': Co. Litt. 111 a.Depository of Will of Living Person.-By the (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 172, replacing s. 91 of the Court of Probate Act, 1857:-There shall, under the control and direction of the High Court, be provided safe and convenient depositories for the custody of the wills of living persons, and any person may deposit his will therein.And see (English) Administration of Justice Act, 1928 (18 & 19 Geo. 5, c. 26), s. 11, as to deposit of wills under control of the High Court.Law before 1838.-The right of testamentary aliena-tion of lands is a matter depending on Act of Parliament. Before 32 Hen. 8, c. 1, a will could not be made of land, and before the Statute of Frauds a will (see NUNCUPATIVE WILL) could be made by word of mouth...


Bastard

Bastard [fornication], one born not of lawful marriage. [(English) Age of Marriage Act, 1929 (19 & 20 Geo. 5, c. 36)]The civil and canon laws did not allow a child to remain a bastard if the parents afterwards intermarried, but a proposal by the bishops to assimilate the law of England to the canon law in this respect was rejected by Parliament in 1235. See MERTON, STATUTE OF. The law of England remained thus for nearly 700 years, until the Legitimacy Act, 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5, c. 60), legitimated a child born out of wedlock upon the subsequent marriage of parents if they were domiciled in England or Wales at the date of marriage. See LEGITIMATION. In Scotland, however, and in most other Christian countries, including most, if not all, of the British Dominions, and most, if not all, of the United States of America, legitimation of the children has always followed the intermarriage of the parents.The mother of a bastard cannot validly contract with another person for the transfer to tha...


Collusion

Collusion [fr. collusio, Lat., fr. colludo, to unite in the same play or game, and thus to unite for the purposes of fraud or deception], an agreement or compact between two or more persons to do some act in order to prejudice a third person, or for some improper purpose. Collusion in judicial proceedings is a secret agreement between two persons that the one should institute a suit against the other, in order to obtain the decision of a judicial tribunal for some sinister purpose, and appears to be of two kinds: (1) When the facts put forward as the foundation of the sentence of the Court do not exist; (2) When they exist, but have been corruptly preconcerted for the express purpose of obtaining the sentence. In either case the judgment obtained by such collusion is a nullity. See Duchess of Kingston's case, (1776) 2 Sm. L.C. Collusion between the petitioner and either of the respondents in presenting or prosecuting a suit for dissolution of marriage is a bar to such suit by the Judic...


Condonation

Condonation, a pardoning or remission. In cases of adultery it is forgiveness, legally releasing the injury, by virtue of Judicature Act, 1925, s. 178, replacing the (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, s. 30; Keats v. Keats, (1859) 28 LJP & M 57. When cruelty by a husband is condoned, it is revived by subsequent adultery on his part (Norman v. Norman, 1908 p. 6).Forgiveness and restoration, Dr. N.G. Dastane v. S. Dastane, (1975) 2 SCC 326: AIR 1975 SC 1534 (1545): (1975) 3 SCR 967. [Hindu Marriage Act (25 of 1955) s. 23(1)(b) and 10(1)(b)]...


Married women's property

Married women's property, At Common Law, a woman, by marrying, transferred the ownership of all her property, real and personal, present and future, to her husband absolutely, so that he might sell, pay his debts out of, give away, or dispose by will of it as he pleased, with these exceptions and modifications:-1) Her freehold estate became his to manage and take the profits of during the joint lives only. After his death, leaving her surviving, it passed to her absolutely; after her death, leaving him surviving, provided that it was an estate in possession and issue who could in her it had been born during the marriage, it passed to him as 'tenant by the curtesy (q.v.) of England,' during his life, and after his death to her heir-at-law.(2) Her leasehold estate, her personal estate in expectancy, and the debts owing to her and other 'choses in action,' became his absolutely if he did some act to appropriate or reduce them into possession during the marriage, or if he survived her. If ...


Workmen's Compensation Act

Workmen's Compensation Act. (English) The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897, introduced the principle of compulsory insurance of workmen by employers in a restricted number of trades. The gist of a right to compensation under the Acts is 'accident arising out of and in the course of the employment' causing personal injury to a workman (Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925 [15 & 16 Geo. 5, c. 84), s. 1 (1)] The compensation is not damages for negligence or any other tort at common law or by statute (see COMPBELL (LORD) ACTS (Fatal Accidents Acts, 1846-1908) and Employers Liability Act, 1880, sub tit. MASTER AND SERVANT), and an employer is not liable both for damages and compensation; but the workman or his representatives may elect between the remedies, and in an unsuccessful action for damages the Court may assess or refer the question of compensation to the proper tribunal, subject to an equitable order for costs (Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, s. 25). Compensation is not payable for a...


King's Bench

King's Bench. The Court of King's or Queen's bench (so called because the King used formerly to sit there in person (though the judges determined the causes), the style of the Court still being coram ipso rege, or coram ipsa regina) was a Court of record, and the Supreme Court of Common Law in the kingdom, consisting of a chief justice and four puisne justices, who were by their office the sovereign conservators of the peace and supreme coroners of the land.This court, which was the remnant of the aula regia, was not, nor could be, from the very nature and constitution of it, fixed to any certain place, but might follow the King's person wherever he went, for which reason all process issuing out of this Court in the King's name was returnable 'ubicunque fuerimus in Anglia.' For some centuries, and until the opening of the Royal Courts, the court usually sat at Westminster, being an ancient palace of the Crown, but might remove with the King as he thought proper to command.The jurisdict...


Acknowledgement of a wife's assurance

Acknowledgement of a wife's assurance. If, before 1st January, 1925 [see (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 167], a woman married before 1883 disposed of her estate or interest in lands or her revisionary interest in personal property she was required, unless her title thereto had accrued since 1882, or unless she was entitled thereto for her separate use to comply with the formalities prescribed by the (English) Fines and Recoveries Act, 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74), ss. 77-91, with regard to land, and by 20 & 21 Vict. C. 57, commonly called (English) 'Malins's Act,' which incorporated the procedure of the (English) Fines and Recoveries Act, with regard to reversionary interests in personal estate.The (English) Fines and Recoveries Act requiredthe acknowledgment to be made before two commissioners, but the 7th section of the (English) Conveyancing Act, 1882, substituted one only, and also dispensed with the affidavit and certificate of acknowledgment required by the former Act; se...


Lord Mayor's Court in London

Lord Mayor's Court in London. An inferior [Cox v. Mayor of London, (1867) LR 2 HL 239] Court of the king, held before the lord mayor and aldermen. Its practice and procedure were amended and its powers enlarged by the Mayor's Court of London Procedure Act, 1857. In this Court the recorder presided, or, in his absence, the common serjeant (s. 43), or the assistant judge appointed under the Borough Courts of Record Act, 1872. The Mayor's and City of London Court Act, 1920, amalgamated the City of London Court (see that title) (the jurisdiction of which was that of county Court) with the Mayor's Court, and by the County Court Act, 1934 (24 & 25 Geo. 5, c. 53), s. 186, now to be deemed a county Court, subject to the Mayor's Court Act of 1920, and the London (City) Small Debts Extension Act, 1852, with all its powers, rights and privileges preserved; and see Bowater & Sons Ltd. v. Davidson's Paper Sales, (1936) 1 KB 465. The conjoint Court thus established has all the powers and jurisdictio...


Queen's Bench Division

Queen's Bench Division, means the English court, formerly known as the Queen's Bench or King's Bench, that presides over tort and contract actions, applications for judicial review, and some Magistrate-court appeals, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1259.The jurisdiction of the Court of Queen's Bench was assigned, by s. 34 of the (English) Jud. Act, 1873, to the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice; and by Order in Council under s. 32 of the same Act, the Common Pleas and Exchequer Divisions were, in February 1881, merged in the same 'Queen's Bench Division,' which began to be styled, after the death of the late Queen Victoria in January, 1901, the 'King's Bench Division.' As to assignment of business to, see (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 56 (2)....


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