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States are prohibited from passing such laws by the Constitution of the United States. Burrill. Kent.

by which a testator was obliged to leave at least a fourth of his estate to the heir. Burrill.

tail (Law), an estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. Burill.

ury a question of fact which it becomes necessary to settle in the progress of a cause. Burill. Bouvier.

s his life while engaged in the commission of an unlawful or malicious act; a suicide. Burrill.

An act on the part of the vassal which cost him his fee by forfeiture. Burrill.

A woman. Burrill. Feme covert (Law), a married woman. See Covert, a., 3. -- Feme sole (Law), a single or unmarried woman; a woman who has never been married, or who has been divorced, or whose husband is dead. -- Feme sole trader or merchant (Eng. Law), a married woman, by the custom of London, engages in business on…

An ancient officer of the court of wards. Burrill.

where the vassal, in place of military services, makes a return in grain or in money. Burrill.

A small fiber; the branch of a fiber; a very slender thread; a fibrilla. Cheyne.

A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music. Fife major (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer who superintends the fifers of a regiment. -- Fife rail. (Naut.) (a) A rail about the mast, at the deck, to hold belaying pins, etc. (b) A railing around the break of a…

e fifteenth part of what the personal property in each town, etc., had been valued at. Burrill.

e name of several plants of the genus Mesembryanthemum, some of which are prized for the brilliancy and beauty of their flowers. -- Fig tree (Bot.), any tree of the genus Ficus, but especially F. Carica which produces the fig of commerce.

; as, the envoy figured at court. Sociable, hospitable, eloquent, admired, figuring away brilliantly. M. Arnold.

on Pleas; -- so called because he filed the writs on which he made out process. [Obs.] Burrill.

ive body by presenting proper papers in a regular way; as, to file a petition or bill. Burrill.

, and to declare such a determination to a court; as, the jury find for the plaintiff. Burrill.

or inquiry, especially into some matter of fact; a verdict; as, the finding of a jury. Burrill. After his friends finding and his rent. Chaucer.

Splendor; brilliancy; luster; hence, a star. Stars, hide your fires.Shak. As in a zodiac representing the heavenly fires.Milton.

A very brilliantly luminous beetle (Pyrophorus noctilucus), one of the elaters, found in Central and South America; -- called also cucujo. The name is also applied to other species. See Firefly.