FOR LAWYERS
In the days when Marshall and Story, on the bench of the Supreme Court
at Washington, were listening to Webster’s thunder; when Chancellor Kent
was scrutinizing precedents in New York, and Rufus Choate quoting
Justinian at Salem, success at the bar depended upon elaborate rhetoric
and a close study of the Reports. To-day, sound advice is in greater
demand than brilliant oratory, and questions of fact are, as a rule,
more important and more perplexing than questions of law.
The Britannica is the one great Digest of Facts. Its articles cover all
scientific, industrial, commercial and financial subjects. Fifteen
hundred of the world’s foremost specialists, chosen from twenty
different countries, deal not only with all knowledge, but with the
practical application of knowledge in the laboratory, the machine shop,
in the mine, on the ship’s deck and in the ship’s engine-room, in the
railroad office and on the railroad line. Bankers and engineers,
builders and contractors, physicians and surgeons and manufacturers of
every kind describe the work which they have themselves successfully
done. They explain to the lawyer the details of his client’s own
business, which the client is almost always incapable of explaining.
They enable the lawyer to test his client’s knowledge and his client’s
good faith. They show the lawyer what he has to hope or to dread from
expert evidence.
[Sidenote: The Volumes as Used by Lawyers]
In a mining town in Alaska, where the workmen were mostly Servians, a
lawyer recently had an unusual case. The Servians had a church, which in
the absence of the Servian priest, was in the charge of a father or
“papa” of the Russian orthodox church, and he tried to exclude from
their church the entire congregation because they disobeyed him. The
lawyer brought into court the Encyclopaedia Britannica to prove the
independence of the Servian Church from the authority of the Russian
Church. The Britannica was recognized as an authority by the court, and
the Servian congregation won its suit for the use of its church
building.
A Buffalo lawyer in a recent letter to the publishers of the Britannica
told of his being retained in a case involving the qualities of
materials used in the construction of automatic car couplers. He read
many technical works to get information on this subject, but “the
article that to me was most instructive was that on IRON AND STEEL in
the Encyclopaedia Britannica.” He adds, “In my opinion the work is
invaluable to any person who desires the means of handy reference to,
and accurate information on, any topic.” Similar testimony from lawyers
all over the world to the usefulness of the Britannica could be adduced
in great volume.
A brief reference to the different parts of this Guide will show in a
general way the contents and value of the Britannica in the many fields
in which an attorney may need, in connection with the preparation of a
case, immediate and authoritative information on subjects not purely
legal.
But on legal topics, also, the lawyer or the law student will find much
valuable information.
[Sidenote: American Law]
He should read the stimulating and suggestive article on AMERICAN LAW
(Vol. 1, p. 828), by Simeon E. Baldwin, governor of Connecticut,
professor of constitutional and private international law at Yale, and
formerly chief justice of the Supreme Court of Errors, Connecticut.
Governor Baldwin’s article points out the general identity of origin of
American and English law, with the important exception of territory
formerly French or Spanish,—particularly Louisiana,—a point on which the
reader will find fuller information in the articles LOUISIANA (Vol. 17,
p. 57) and EDWARD LIVINGSTON (Vol. 16, p. 811). Besides he calls
attention to the fact that the state and not the nation is for the most
part the legislative unit and the legislative authority. And this leads
to a consideration of the great part played in American jurisprudence by
the Civil War and the consequent changes in the Federal Constitution,
especially the Fourteenth Amendment, which has been the basis of so many
recent cases in the Supreme Court and has “readjusted and reset the
whole system of the American law of personal rights” by transferring
final jurisdiction from state to Federal courts.
Within the Southern states the Reconstruction period affected local law
in various ways: by putting political power into the hands of outsiders
(“carpet baggers,” etc.), by the social revolution consequent on the
abolition of slavery, and by the commercial assimilation of the South to
the North.
Governor Baldwin points out that the judicial department has been made
partly administrative by the artificial distribution under most state
constitutions of governmental powers into executive, legislative and
judicial, overlooking the administrative, and making the courts the
interpreters of statutes and giving to them the power of deciding
whether or not statutes are constitutional.
That the police powers of the states are more and more liberally
interpreted by the Federal Supreme Court is an interesting tendency,
especially when the student remembers that in the last year or so
certain states (notably Washington, c. 74, _Laws_ 1911, Compensation of
Injured Workmen) have definitely stated the police power as the basis of
acts which the state supreme court might otherwise have declared
unconstitutional as depriving of property without due process of law.
The article on American law is supplemented:
(a) in a general way by the valuable contribution of James Bryce (author
of _The American Commonwealth_, and late British ambassador to the
United States) on the Constitution and Government of the United States
and of the states (Vol. 27, p. 646—an article which would fill about 50
pages of this Guide).
[Sidenote: State Statutes]
(b) more particularly, under the articles on the separate states (as
well as on Alaska, Hawaii, Philippines and Porto Rico), by the
description of the state or local constitution with an outline of
characteristic and peculiar statutes. For instance, in the article
ALABAMA (Vol. 1, p. 459), the first in the Britannica on a separate
state of the Union, there is a general sketch of the constitution and
government with particular attention to these points: term of judiciary,
6 years; legislative sessions, quadrennial; law against lobbying;
executive may not succeed himself; sheriffs whose prisoners are lynched
may be impeached; grandfather clause, practically disfranchising the
negro—with a summary of Giles _v._ Harris, 189 U. S. 474; Jim Crow law;
disfranchisement for vote-buying or selling; Australian ballot law;
anti-pass law; freight rebate law; homestead exemptions; wife’s earnings
separate property; women and child labour laws; peonage; liquor laws.
(c) by special articles, such as HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS (Vol. 13,
p. 639), ORIGINAL PACKAGE (Vol. 20, p. 273) and INTERSTATE COMMERCE
(Vol. 14, p. 711; equal to about 10 pages of this Guide), by Prof. Frank
A. Fetter of Princeton (formerly Cornell), which deal with purely
American legal topics.
(d) by legal sections in general economic articles, for instance: in
RAILWAYS, the section on _American Legislation_, by Prof. F. H. Dixon of
Dartmouth, author of _State Railroad Control_; in TRUSTS, by Prof. J. W.
Jenks, the great American authority on the subject; in EMPLOYERS’
LIABILITY; in TRADE UNIONS and in STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS, both by Carroll
D. Wright, late U. S. Commissioner of Labor; BANKRUPTCY, by Edward
Manson, author of _Law of Bankruptcy_; and in INSURANCE (Vol. 14,
especially p. 662 c).
(e) by general legal articles like: COMMON LAW; CRIMINAL LAW, by W. F.
Craies, editor of Archbold _On Criminal Pleading_; LIQUOR LAWS, by
Arthur Shadwell, author of _Drink, Temperance and Legislation_; MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE, by H. H. Littlejohn, professor of forensic medicine in
the University of Edinburgh; MILITARY LAW, by Sir John Scott, former
deputy judge-advocate-general, British Army; NAVIGATION LAWS, by James
Williams, of Lincoln College, Oxford; PRESS LAWS; SEAMEN, LAWS, RELATING
TO, etc.
and (f) by sections and paragraphs on American law in hundreds of
articles on legal topics—for list see below.
[Sidenote: Biographies of Lawyers]
The following list of American jurists does not include all American
lawyers about whom there are separate articles in the Britannica, but
will serve to suggest a brief course of biographical readings which the
lawyer could not duplicate even in a special and expensive work on the
American bar:
SAMUEL SEWALL (Vol. 24, p. 733)
JOHN RUTLEDGE (Vol. 23, p. 945)
SAMUEL CHASE (Vol. 5, p. 956)
FRANCIS DANA (Vol. 7, p. 792)
JOHN LOWELL (Vol. 17, p. 76)
OLIVER ELLSWORTH (Vol. 9, p. 294)
JOHN JAY (Vol. 15, p. 294)
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON (Vol. 16, p. 812)
LUTHER MARTIN (Vol. 17, p. 794)
THEOPHILUS PARSONS (Vol. 20, p. 868)
JOHN MARSHALL (Vol. 17, p. 770)
EDMUND RANDOLPH (Vol. 22, p. 886)
JAMES KENT (Vol. 15, p. 735)
EDWARD LIVINGSTON (Vol. 16, p. 811)
BUSHROD WASHINGTON (Vol. 28, p. 344)
ROGER BROOKE TANEY (Vol. 26, p. 396)
SAMUEL HOAR (Vol. 13, p. 542)
HORACE BINNEY (Vol. 3, p. 949)
JAMES WILSON (Vol. 28, p. 693)
WILLIAM PINKNEY (Vol. 21, p. 627)
LEMUEL SHAW (Vol. 24, p. 813)
DANIEL WEBSTER (Vol. 28, p. 459)
SIMON GREENLEAF (Vol. 12, p. 548)
HENRY WHEATON (Vol. 28, p. 583)
RICHARD RUSH (Vol. 23, p. 857)
JOHN BOUVIER (Vol. 4, p. 336)
JOSEPH STORY (Vol. 25, p. 969)
LEVI WOODBURY (Vol. 28, p. 790)
JAMES HALL (Vol. 12, p. 847)
REVERDY JOHNSON (Vol. 15, p. 462)
HUGH S. LEGARÉ (Vol. 16, p. 373)
RUFUS CHOATE (Vol. 6, p. 258)
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER (Vol. 4, p. 881)
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD (Vol. 10, p. 321)
S. P. CHASE (Vol. 5, p. 955)
JOHN J. CRITTENDEN (Vol. 7, p. 471)
HAMILTON FISH (Vol. 10, p. 427)
BENJAMIN R. CURTIS (Vol. 7, p. 652)
J. S. BLACK (Vol. 4, p. 18)
JUDAH P. BENJAMIN (Vol. 3, p. 739)
JOHN Y. MASON (Vol. 17, p. 840)
GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS (Vol. 7, p. 651)
R. H. DANA (Vol. 7, p. 792)
SAMUEL J. TILDEN (Vol. 26, p. 970)
SAMUEL F. MILLER (Vol. 18, p. 464).
STEPHEN J. FIELD (Vol. 10, p. 322)
W. M. EVARTS (Vol. 10, p. 4)
FRANCIS WHARTON (Vol. 28, p. 575)
MORRISON R. WAITE (Vol. 28, p. 246)
T. W. DWIGHT (Vol. 8, p. 741)
E. J. PHELPS (Vol. 21, p. 363)
STANLEY MATTHEWS (Vol. 17, p. 899)
L. Q. C. LAMAR (Vol. 16, p. 100)
C. C. LANGDELL (Vol. 16, p. 172)
D. W. VOORHEES (Vol. 28, p. 211)
T. F. BAYARD (Vol. 3, p. 554)
HORACE GRAY (Vol. 12, p. 391)
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE (Vol. 6, p. 258)
MELVILLE W. FULLER (Vol. 11, p. 296)
WAYNE MACVEAGH (Vol. 17, p. 269)
JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN (Vol. 12, p. 954)
RICHARD OLNEY (Vol. 20, p. 91)
CUSHMAN K. DAVIS (Vol. 7, p. 866)
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (Vol. 13, p. 616)
DAVID BENNETT HILL (Vol. 13, p. 464)
ELIHU ROOT (Vol. 23, p. 711)
PHILANDER C. KNOX (Vol. 15, p. 882)
Of great value to the student of law, as widening his scope, would be a
course of more general reading. This should include:
(a) the articles LAW, JURISPRUDENCE and COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE, by
Paul Vinogradoff, Corpus professor of jurisprudence at Oxford.
(b) articles on national and other legal systems, such as
ENGLISH LAW, _History_, by the late Frederick W. Maitland, Downing
professor of English law at Cambridge.
ANGLO-SAXON LAW, by Paul Vinogradoff.
GERMANIC LAWS, EARLY, by Professor Christian Pfister, of the Sorbonne.
CODE NAPOLÉON, by Jean Paul Esmein, professor of law in the University
of Paris, and ROMAN LAW, probably one of the most remarkable articles in
the new edition and of the utmost importance (as in a less degree are
the articles CODE and CODE NAPOLÉON) to the student of civil law. It is
based on the well-known article contributed to the Ninth Edition of the
Britannica by James Muirhead, professor of civil law, Edinburgh; but the
article is actually the work of the reviser, Henry Goudy, regius
professor of civil law, Oxford, and it may well be called the best
present treatment of the subject. The article is a brief text-book in
itself, containing matter equivalent in length to nearly 200 pages of
this Guide. The treatment is historical, beginning with the almost
mythical regal period and throwing light on the laws before the XII
Tables, but this does not mean that the later period, legally more
important, is not treated with proper fullness so that the practical as
well as the theoretical is considered.
[Sidenote: Some Legal Systems]
Slightly remoter systems are the subjects of separate articles: SALIC
LAW, by Professor Pfister of the Sorbonne; BREHON LAWS, by Lawrence
Ginnell, M. P., author of a monograph on the subject; WELSH LAWS; an
elaborate article on the little-known subject GREEK LAW, by John Edwin
Sandys of Cambridge, author of _History of Classical Scholarship_;
INDIAN LAW, by Sir William Markby, reader in Indian Law at Oxford,
formerly judge of the High Court of Calcutta; MAHOMMEDAN LAW (a subject
no longer alien to the American because of the large number of
Mahommedans in the Philippines), by D. B. Macdonald, professor in
Hartford Theological Seminary, and author of _Development of Muslim
Theology_; and BABYLONIAN LAW (by C. H. W. Johns, Master of St.
Catharine’s, Cambridge, author of _The Oldest Code of Laws_, etc.),
containing a summary of the famous code of King Khammurabi.
The following list does not include the biographies of lawyers and is
not a complete list of all topics pertaining to law in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, but it will give some idea of the scope of the legal
department of the work.
Abandonment
Abatement
Abdication
Abduction
Abettor
Abeyance
Abjuration
Abode
Abrogation
Abscond
Abstract of Title
Acceptance
Acceptilation
Access
Accession
Accessory
Accommodation Bill
Accomplice
Accord
Accountant-General
Accretion
Accumulation
Accusation
Acknowledgment
Act
Action
Act of Parliament
Act of Petition
Address, The
Ademption
Adjournment
Adjudication
Adjustment
Administration
Administrator
Admiralty, High Court
Admiralty Jurisdiction
Admission
Adoption
Adscript
Adultery
Advancement
Adventure
Advocate
Advocates, Faculty of
Advowson
Affidavit
Affiliation
Affinity
Affray
Affreightment
Age
Agent
Agistment
Agnates
Alabama Arbitration
Alderman
Alias
Alibi
Alien
Alienation
Aliment
Alimony
Allegiance
Alliance
Allocatur
Allodium
Allonge
Allotment
Allowance
Alluvion
Ambiguity
Amendment
Amercement
American Law
Amicus Curiae
Amnesty
Amortization
Analyst
Ancient Lights
Angary
Anglo-Saxon Law
Annates
Annexation
Annoy
Answer
Apology
Appanage
Apparitor
Appeal
Appearance
Appointment, Power of
Apportionment
Apportionment Bill
Appraiser
Appropriation
Appurtenances
Aram, Eugene
Arbitration
Arbitration, International
Arches, Court of
Aristocracy
Arraignment
Array
Arrest
Arrestment
Arrondissment
Arson
Art and Part
Articles of Association
Assault
Assembly, Unlawful
Assessment
Assessor
Assets
Assignment, Assignation, Assignee
Assize
Associate
Assumpsit
Asylum, Right of
Attachment
Attainder
Attaint, Writ of
Attempt
Attestation
Attorney
Attorney-General
Attornment
Auctions
Audience
Autocracy
Autonomy
Average
Avizandum
Award
Babylonian Law
Back-bond
Bail
Bailiff and Bailie
Bailment
Ballot
Bank Holidays
Bankruptcy
Banns of Marriage
Bar, The
Bargain and Sale
Barmote Court
Barratry
Barrington, George
Base fee
Basilica
Basoche
Bastard
Bastinado
Baylo
Beadle
Beheading
Belligerency
Bench
Benefice
Beneficiary
Bequest
Bering Sea Arbitration
Bet and Betting
Betterment
Bigamy
Bill
Bill of Exchange
Bill of Sale
Birth
Blackmail
Black Rod
Blanch Fee, or Blanch Holding
Blasphemy
Blinding
Blockade
Blue-book
Boarding-house
Bocland
Body-snatching
Boiling to Death
Bona Fide
Bond
Boot
Borough
Borough English
Bottomry
Bound, or Boundary
Brachylogus
Branding
Branks
Brawling
Breach
Brehon Laws
Breviary of Alaric
Bribery
Brief
Britton
Burgage
Burgess
Burglary
Burial and Burial Acts
Burke, William
Burning to Death
By-law
Cabinet
Cadastre
Camera
Cangue
Canon Law
Canton
Capital Punishment
Capitulary
Capitulation
Caption
Captive
Capture
Cargo
Carrier
Case
Casus Belli
Caucus
Caveat
Cemetery
Cessio Bonorum
Cestui, Cestuy
Challenge
Chamberlain
Chambers
Champerty, or Champarty
Chance-medley
Chancery
Chantage
Chargé d’affaires
Charging Order
Charter
Chartered Companies
Charter-Party
Chattel
Cheating
Children, Law relating to
Children’s Courts
Chiltern Hundreds
Chose
Church Rate
Churchwarden
Churchyard
Cinque Ports
Circuit
Citation
Citizen
City
Civil Law
Civil List
Civil Service
Clergy, Benefit of
Clerk
Closure
Code
Code Napoléon
Codicil
Coercion
Cognizance
Coif
Coinage Offences
Collateral
Collusion
Colony
Comity
Commercial Court
Commercial Law
Commission
Commissioner
Commitment
Common Law
Common Lodging-House
Common Pleas, Court of
Commons
Commonwealth
Company
Compensation
Compromise
Comptroller
Compurgation
Conacre
Concert
Conditional Fee
Conditional Limitation
Confarreatio
Confession and Avoidance
Confiscation
Congé d’Elire
Congress
Conjugal Rights
Conquest
Consanguinity, or Kindred
Conseil de famille
Conservator
Consideration
Consignment
Consistory Courts
Consolidation Acts
Consort
Conspiracy
Constable
Constituency
Constitution and Constitutional Law
Consul
Consulate of the Sea
Contempt of Court
Contraband
Contract
Contumacy
Conversion
Conveyancing
Convoy
Coparcenary
Copyhold
Copyright
Co-respondent
Coroner
Corporal Punishment
Corporation
Corpse
Corrupt Practices
Costs
Counsel and Counsellor
Counterfeiting
County
County Court
Court
Court Baron
Court Leet
Court-martial
Covenant
Coverture
Covin
Credentials
Crime
Criminal Law
Criminology
Crimp
Crown Debt
Crown Land
Cruelty
Culprit
Curator
Curtesy
Curtilage
Custom
Customary Freehold
Custos Rotulorum
Cy-près
Damages
Day
Death
Debentures
Debt
Declaration
Declaration of Paris
Declarator
Decree
De Donis Conditionalibus
Deed
Defamation
Default
Defeasance
Defence
Defendant
Del Credere
Demesne
Demise
Democracy
Demurrage
Demurrer
Denizen
Deodand
Department
Deportation or Transportation
Deposit
Deputy
Derelict
Desertion
Detainer
Detinue
Digest
Dilapidation
Diligence
Diplomacy
Directors
Disability
Discharge
Disclaimer
Discovery
Disorderly House
Dissolution
Distress
District
Divorce
Doctors’ Commons
Document
Domestic Relations
Domicile
Donatio Mortis Causa
Dower
Dowry
Dragoman
Drawing and Quartering
Droit
Duke of Exeter’s Daughter
Durbar
Duress
Earl Marshal
Earnest
Easement
Eavesdrip
Ecclesiastical Commissioners
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction
Ecclesiastical Law
Edict
Ejectment
Election
Elections
Electrocution
Elegit
Embargo
Embassy
Embezzlement
Emblements
Embracery
Eminent Domain
Emperor
Enclave
English Law
Englishry
Entail
Envoy
Equity
Error
Escheat
Estate
Estate and House Agents
Estate Duty
Estoppel
Estovers
Estreat
Evidence
Execution
Executors and Administrators
Exequatur
Exhumation
Exile
Expatriation
Expert
Express
Expropriation
Expulsion
Extenuating Circumstances
Exterritoriality
Extortion
Extradition
Factor
Faculty
False Pretences
Faubourg
Federal Government
Fee
Felo De Se
Felony
Feoffment
Ferry
Fetters and Handcuffs
Feu
Fictions
Fiduciary
Fieri Facias
Fine
Finger Prints
Fishery, Law of
Fixtures
Fiat
Fleet Prison
Fleta
Flotsam, Jetsam and Ligan
Foreclosure
Foreign Office
Foreshore
Forest Laws
Forfeiture
Forgery
Franchise
Frank-almoign
Frank-marriage
Fraud
Freebench
Freehold
Freeman
Freight
Fuero
Gallows, or Gibbet
Game Laws
Gaming and Wagering
Garnish
Garrote
Gavelkind
Geneva Convention
Germanic Laws, Early
Gift
Glebe
Goodwill
Government
Grant
Gravamen
Greek Law
Gross
Ground Rent
Guarantee
Guardian
Guerrilla
Guillotine
Habeas Corpus
Hanging
Hanaper
Handwriting
Haro, Clameur de
Hegemony
Heir
Heirloom
Hereditament
Heriot
Heritable Jurisdictions
High Seas
Highway
Hinterland
Hire-Purchase Agreement
Hiring
Holiday
Homage
Home Office
Homicide
Horning, Letters of
Hotch-pot
Household, Royal
Hue and Cry
Hundred
Husband and Wife
Hypothec
Identification
Ignoramus
Ignorance
Immunity
Impeachment
Impotence
Impressment
Incendiarism
Incest
Inclosure
Incorporation
Indemnity
Indenture
Indian Law
Indictment
Indorsement
Inebriety, Law of
Infamy
Infant
Infanticide
In Forma Pauperis
Information
Informer
Inheritance
Inhibition
Initials
Injunction
Inn and Innkeeper
Inns of Court
Innuendo
Inquest
Insanity
Instalment
Instrument
Intent
Interdiction
Interesse Termini
Interest
International Law
Interpellation
Interpleader
Interpretation
Interstate Commerce
Intestacy
Intransigent
Inventory
I. O. U.
Jactitation
Joinder
Joint
Jointure
Jougs, Juggs, or Joggs
Judge
Judge-Advocate-General
Judgment
Judgment Debtor
Judgment Summons
Judicature Acts
Jurat
Jurisdiction
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, Comparative
Jury
Jus primae noctis
Jus Relictae
Justice
Justice of the Peace
Justiciary, High Court
Justification
Juvenile Offenders
Ketch, John
Kidnapping
King’s Bench, Court of
Knight-Service
Knout
Kurbash
Laches
Lading, Bill of
Landlord and Tenant
Land Registration
Lapse
Larceny
Law
Law Merchant
Lease
Legacy
Legation
Legitim
Legitimacy and Legitimation
Lesion
Letters Patent
Libel and Slander
Liberty
Licence
Lien
Limitation, Statutes of
Liquidation
Liquor Laws
Local Government
Local Government Board
Lodger and Lodgings
Lord Advocate
Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chief Justice
Lord Great Chamberlain
Lord High Chancellor
Lord High Constable
Lord High Steward
Lord High Treasurer
Lord Justice Clerk
Lord Justice-General
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
Lord President of the Council
Lords Justices of Appeal
Lords of Appeal
Lord Steward
Lost Property
Lotteries
Lynch Law
Magistrate
Mahommedan Law
Maiden
Maiming
Maintenance
Majority
Mandamus, Writ of
Mandarin
Mandate
Manifest
Manor
Mansion
Manslaughter
Man-traps
Mare Clausum and Mare Liberum
Maritime Territory
Marriage
Marshalsea
Martial Law
Master and Servant
Master of the Horse
Master of the Rolls
Maxims, Legal
Mayhem
Mayor
Mediation
Medical Jurisprudence
Meeting
Memorandum of Association
Merger
Mesne
Messuage
Military Law
Ministry
Miscarriage
Misdemeanour
Misprision
Mistake
Monarchy
Monition
Mortgage
Mortmain
Motion
Multiplepoinding
Municipality
Muniment
Murder
Mutiny
Nationality
Naturalization
Navigation Laws
Negligence
Negotiable Instrument
Neutrality
Next Friend
Nisi Prius
Noise
Nolle Prosequi
Nonconformity, Law relating to
Nonfeasance, Misfeasance, Malfeasance
Nonsuit
North Sea Fisheries Convention
Notary or Notary Public
Notice
Novation
Nuisance
Nullification
Oath
Obiter Dictum
Obligation
Obscenity
Office
Oligarchy
Ordeal
Order in Council
Ordinance
Ordinary
Original Package
Ouster
Outlawry
Overt Act
Oyer and Terminer
Pacific Blockade
Pandects
Paraphernalia
Pardon
Parish
Parlement
Parliament
Parricide
Parson
Partition
Partnership
Party Wall
Passport
Patents
Patents of Precedence
Patron and Client
Paymaster-General
Payment
Payment of Members
Peace
Peace, Breach of
Peace Conferences
Peine forte et dure
Peerage
Penalty
Penology
Pension
Perjury
Perpetuity
Person, Offences against the
Personal Property
Personation
Petition
Picketing
Pillory
Pirate and Piracy
Plaintiff
Pleading
Plebiscite
Pledge
Plurality
Plutocracy
Police
Police Courts
Posse Comitatus
Possession
Post & Postal Service
Potwalloper
Power of Attorney
Praemunire
Preamble
Prerogative
Prerogative Courts
Prescription
Press Laws
Prime Minister
Primogeniture
Principal and Agent
Prison
Privateer
Privilege
Privy Council
Privy Purse
Privy Seal
Prize or Prize of War
Probate
Probation
Procedure
Process
Procès-verbal
Proclamation
Proctor
Procuration
Procurator
Profanity
Prohibition
Promoter
Property
Prorogation
Prosecution
Prospectus
Protectorate
Provisional Order
Provost
Proxy
Public House
Puisne
Purchase
Quantum Meruit
Quarantine
Quare Impedit
Quarter Sessions
Queen Anne’s Bounty
Quorum
Quo Warranto
Rack
Ragman Rolls
Raid
Rape
Rate
Real Property
Rebellion
Receipt
Receiver
Recess
Recidivism
Recognizance
Record
Recorder
Reeve
Referee
Referendum and Initiative
Refresher
Regent
Register
Registration
Release
Remainder, Reversion
Remand
Remembrancer
Rent
Repairs
Repeal
Replevin
Representation
Reprieve
Reprisals
Request, Letters of
Requests, Court of
Rescue
Reservation
Residence
Resident
Residue
Respite
Respondent
Restraint
Retainer
Reward
Ridings
Riot
Robbery
Roman Law
Rundale
Sacrilege
Salary
Sale of Goods
Salic Law and other Frankish Laws
Salvage
Sanction
Satisfaction
Scandal
Scavenger’s Daughter
Schedule
Scire Facias
Scot and Lot
Scrip
Scrutiny
Sea Laws
Seamen, Laws relating to
Search or Visit and Search
Secession
Secret
Secretary of State
Security
Sederunt, Act of
Sedition
Seduction
Seignory or Seigniory
Seisin
Senate
Sentence
Sequestration
Sergeant-at-Law
Serjeanty
Servitude
Session
Set-off
Settlement
Sexton
Share
Shelley’s Case, Rule in
Sheppard, John (Jack)
Sheriff
Shire
Sign Manual, Royal
Simony
Slander
Socage
Soke
Solicitor
Solicitor-General
Sovereignty
Speaker
Specification
Specific Performance
Spheres of Influence
Spring-gun
Spy
State
State, Great Officers of
State Rights
State Trials
Statute
Stipend
Stocks
Stocks and Shares
Stolen Goods
Subinfeudation
Succession
Succession Duty
Suffrage
Summary Jurisdiction
Summons
Sunday
Superannuation
Supercargo
Supply
Supreme Court of Judicature
Surety
Surrender
Surrogate
Suzerainty
Swearing
Syndic
Syndicate
Taille
Tally
Tanistry
Tenant
Tenant-right
Tenement
Tenure
Term
Theatre
Theft
Thegn
Threat
Tichborne Claimant
Ticket-of-leave
Time
Tipstaff
Tithes
Tithing
Toleration
Toll
Tort
Torture
Town
Trade, Board of
Transfer
Tread-mill
Treason
Treasure Trove
Treasury
Treaties
Trespass
Trial
Tribute
Trover
Truck
Trust and Trustees
Turpin, Richard
Twelve Tables
Udal
Ukaz or Ukase
Ultimatum
Underwriter
University Courts
Uses
Valuation and Valuers
Venue
Verdict
Vestry
Veto
Vicar
Vice-Chancellor
Viceroy
Vidocq, F. E.
Vigilance Committee
Vizier
Vote and Voting
Voucher
Wager
Wainewright, T. G.
War, Laws of
Warden
Warrant
Warrant of Attorney
Warranty
Warren
Waste
Water Rights
Waters, Territorial
Welsh Laws
Wergild
Westminster Statutes
Wheel, Breaking on the
Whig and Tory
Whip
Whipping or Flogging
Wild, Jonathan
Will or Testament
Witness
Woolsack
Works and Public Buildings, Board of
Wreck
Writ
Writers to the Signet