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Any written or other legal evidence of the conveyance of property; a conveyance; a deed.

To bind by moral or legal obligation. Wolsey.

To take by legal authority: (a) To arrest by writ, and bring before a court, as to answer for a debt, or a contempt; -- applied to a taking of the person by a civil process; being now rarely used for the arrest of a criminal. (b) To seize or take (goods or real estate) by virtue of a writ or precept to hold the same to…

A seizure or taking into custody by virtue of a legal process.

To subject (a person) to the legal condition formerly resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry, pronounced in respect of treason or felony; to affect by attainder. No person shall be attainted of high treason where corruption of blood is incurred, but by the oath of two witnesses. Stat. 7 & 8 Wm. III.…

One who is legally appointed by another to transact any business for him; an attorney in fact.

Vested with all due formalities, and legally attested.

Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; power exercised buy a person in virtue of his office or trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization; as, the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children; the authority of a court. Thus can the demigod, Authority, Make us pay down for our offe…

The act of giving authority or legal power; establishment by authority; sanction or warrant. The authorization of laws. Motley. A special authorization from the chief. Merivale.

To clothe with authority, warrant, or legal power; to give a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners to settle a boundary.

To write upon the back of; as, to back a letter; to indorse; as, to back a note or legal document.

Two strips of linen hanging from the neck in front as part of a clerical, legal, or academic dress.

Being a bankrupt or in a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay, or legally discharged from paying, one's debts; as, a bankrupt merchant.

The state of being actually or legally bankrupt.

The territory without the walls, but within the legal limits, of a town or city. Brande & C.

The whole body of lawyers licensed in a court or district; the legal profession.

imself to receive the property and pay the consideration. A contract is a bargain that is legally binding. Wharton.

A fraudulent breach of duty or willful act of known illegality on the part of a master of a ship, in his character of master, or of the mariners, to the injury of the owner of the ship or cargo, and without his consent. It includes every breach of trust committed with dishonest purpose, as by running away with the ship…

To make or prove to be a bastard; to stigmatize as a bastard; to declare or decide legally to be illegitimate. The law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock. Blackstone.

To be native to, or an inhabitant of; esp. to have a legal residence, settlement, or inhabitancy, whether by birth or operation of law, so as to be entitled to maintenance by the parish or town. Bastards also are settled in the parishes to which the mothers belong. Blackstone.