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r for repelling a demand in law; to answer to an indictment; as, to plead usury; to plead statute of limitations; to plead not guilty. Kent.

hnson. Popular action (Law), an action in which any person may sue for penalty imposed by statute. Blackstone.

uction or preface, as to a book, document, etc.; specifically, the introductory part of a statute, which states the reasons and intent of the law.

Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.] Private act or statute, a statute exclusively for the settlement of private and personal interests, of which courts do not take judicial notice; -- opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community. -- Private nuisance or wrong. See Nuisance. -- Private…

to their dealings with their clients, and officers of state as to state secrets; also, by statute, clergymen and physicans are placed in the same category, so far as concerns information received by them professionally.

A proceeding prescribed by statute for ascertaining and fixing the boundaries of land. See 2d Procession. [ Local, U. S.] Bouvier.

ctured articles which some person or persons have exclusive right to make and sell. U. S. Statutes.

ance; a condition; a previous agreement; a proviso; as, the provisions of a contract; the statute has many provisions.

An article or clause in any statute, agreement, contract, grant, or other writing, by which a condition is introduced, usually beginning with the word provided; a conditional stipulation that affects an agreement, contract, law, grant, or the like; as, the contract was impaired by its proviso. He doth deny his prisoner…

adopted by a majority of votes; especially, one adopted by vote of the Athenian people; a statute. J. P. Mahaffy.

general use; as, a public road; a public house. "The public street." Shak. Public act or statute (Law), an act or statute affecting matters of public concern. Of such statutes the courts take judicial notice. -- Public credit. See under Credit. -- Public funds. See Fund, 3. -- Public house, an inn, or house of ente…

publication of the law at Mount Sinai; the publication of the gospel; the publication of statutes or edicts.

The limit or scope of a statute; the whole extent of its intention or provisions. Marshall. Profanations within the purview of several statutes. Bacon.

n which any payment, especially rent, becomes due. In matters influenced by United States statutes, quarter days are the first days of January, April, July, and October. In New York and many other places, as between landlord and tenant, they are the first days of May, August, November, and February. The quarter days us…

ntended for a remedy, or for the removal or abatement of an evil; as, remedial treatment. Statutes are declaratory or remedial. Blackstone. It is an evil not compensated by any beneficial result; it is not remedial, not conservative. I. Taylor.

To recall, as a deed, will, law, or statute; to revoke; to rescind or abrogate by authority, as by act of the legislature; as, to repeal a law.

ho, or that which, represents (anything); that which exhibits a likeness or similitude. A statute of Rumor, whispering an idiot in the ear, who was the representative of Credulity. Addison. Difficulty must cumber this doctrine which supposes that the perfections of God are the representatives to us of whatever we perce…

ng by returned action; affecting what is past; retrospective. Beddoes. Retroactive law or statute (Law), one which operates to make criminal or punishable, or in any way expressly to affect, acts done prior to the passing of the law.

To review, alter, and amend; as, to revise statutes; to revise an agreement; to revise a dictionary. The Revised Version of the Bible, a version prepared in accordance with a resolution passed, in 1870, by both houses of the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, England. Both English and American revisers were emp…

ection; review; as, the revision of a book or writing, or of a proof sheet; a revision of statutes.