Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1847-11-06
New Law Dictionary.
ny AN ATTORNEY.


+ .4ction.--Actions are of two kinds, civil
and criminal. To +" lift " your neighbor's
note at the Bank is civil action---very; but
If you lift his shop, it is shop-lifting, (which
is n criminal action, and heavy offence
against the laws of decorum and gravity
1t is rule of the law, that "most personal
actionsdie with the person''--and rice cersa,
sometimes the person dies with the action,
as where one, by accident or design, blows
out his "briei candle" with pistol or other
summary extinguisher.
Ii was anciently held that ssall real ac-
tons survive the person." but this doctrine
was somewhat modified by Chief Baron
Shakespeare, (Jul. Gees, Act 8, Sec. ~
who distinctly aflirms that the rule is only
Applicable to actions of reprehensible char
acter--or " real bad actions.
1.-THE evil that men do, live after them
The good is Oft inferred with their bones.
" &c Obstructing ones ancient lights" is a
ground of action; but for &c distractions of
the liver no legal remedy has been devised,
which seems an unaccountable omission of
the law.
IL man sells a horse and warrant him to
be good Jun to CO." and IL turns out that
the beast has "no action y to support the
warranty, the warranty viii support an ac-
ton. lati
.4cts of .Agent.---It is maxim of the law
"qui facit per alum, facit per se," which
means that when one procurcs another to
do a certain act, he cannot shift the respon-
sibility upon the agent, but must face it
himself"
.assumpsit. from assumo--sign6es any
promise TO do or to pay; a Co. Lit. 90; and
the promise need not be express, but may
be intended or implied. Thus, if one wrong
fully take my horse, am at liberty to ,cafre
the tort, Ii. e. lay it aside by a graceful mo-
ton to the Court, and sue in assumpsit.--
For the law intends that the thief promised
to pay me for the horse, which in,cndment,
since the rogue never intended any such
thing, is very kind Of the law. This, how
ever, is a matter Of fiction--to which the
law is extremely partial. See Novels OF
Justinan.
Whenever Indebtedness is shown, the
law presurnes an assumpsit or promise to
pay. Indeed the presumption of the law
Gas well as that Of the lawycrs) is excessive,
and sometimes maDifestly absurd;-a where
the law presumcs that every man IS master
Of his own wife--for which violent pre-
sumption it has been recently held, an re
Bundle ct uxor--Oliv. TWIST #" that the law
is am ass
Where money is paid by mistake, (which
is pot common, the mistake generally con-
sisting in non-paymenD assumpsit lies; and,
providcd the adverse witnesses do not lie
also, the plaintiff will recover back his mon
ey. But it is now settled that where one
pays money TO public charity under the
mistaken notion that the donation would be
published in the Gazette, assumpsit VIII not
lie to recover back the money.
.attaehment.-" An attachment" saith
Lord Coke, " is compulsory process 20
bring man 90 Court and herein is mani-
fest the mercy of the law, which confines
the arbitrary power TO the discretion Of wise
and learned judges, who will not lightly Is
sue this process at the instance Of impatient
widows and desperate spinsters.
II Is noteworthy, that in the Court of Gu
MD the attachment should regularly preeede
The /" declaration,'' while in the Kings Bench
the contrary is the usual practice. As 10 the
ground Of attachment in the former Court,
the rule seems TO be very unequal and I'M
certain. A manor IN some cases has been
held " sufficient ground y for a ye,y strong
attachment, while in others, all the man
ners in the world have been displayed TO no
purpose. slsa 1ts