Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1847-07-23
For the Free Press
a NEW LAW DICTIONA
or Jacobs Illustrated.
BY GODFREY GRANT, ATTORNEY.

by GODFREY GRANT, ATTORNEY.
DESCENT hereditary succession. Although the
laws regulating the descent of property very strong
and numerous, they are yet, in several respects, la
mentally deficient Where estates very heavy at
the start, they to have a strange alocrty in
sinking" and run down" so very fast that they are
quite ruined in the descent But the greater evil is
that most estates light that in spite oil all legal
enactnents they never descend at all within reach OF
the heirs; and even where the estate comes down
handsomely" it may sometimes hnppen,-thc prop
ery being split, in this country, INFO as many pieces
as there are noses in the family the portion of each
amounts to a vulgar fraction so very inconsderabe
that it is hardly worth reckoning i'll the problem of the
descendants livelihood.
1t was ancicntly of the canons of descent in
England that nea ancestor should be incapable of
being heir to any OF his issue Sec Watkins on De-
scents) For this rule many reasons were assigned
the best of which was founded on the grammatical dit
fculty Of having estates " descend upwards This
was such poser that for several ages the rule contn-
ued in force, and many estates, by avorte cheat of
ROYALTY called escheat went into the Golfers of the
king But the law, ut last, by the happy discovery of
the word ascent managed to avoid the obstacle,
and point the cannon the other way
In the law relating dcscents good deal is said
about the rule IN Shcy's case but that is
OF no importance, and is suspected to have been rather
scaly" one we shall not take the trouble to open
DisrREss-,hc taking of personal chatte out Of the
possession OF the debtor in satisfaction OF the debt
3 Comm. 6, 1t is called distress, by an obvious
metonyny, on of the suffering which is usually
inflicted on the defendant in the execution of this pro-
cess. Accordingly, though the distress is said to be
nf !, Ia,
satisfaction of the debtor The law, which, by the
way is as fond of distinction" as a mlitia-captain
take. in regard disress-which ii divides into
real and personal. But, as a personal distress, for
ought that appears to the contrary, may be quite as
real as any other, the distinction is worth mind
ing.
EARI-trom the Saxon e0rle. This is said to be
one Of the mos, ancient titles of the English peerage
Indeed no dignity is mentioned earlier than earl
Ierscgan derives this title from the Dutch ear
which, Ir says, is Synonymous with the English word
honor. But the etymology assigned by NeTstegan,
who very funny old Duchman, is probably one
Of those sly Jokes for which his nation is famous,
.nce il earl comes from ear, and signifies honor
It seems to follow that his Lord,hip, in respect to
honor Is no better than The true rank of an
earl Is more satisfactorily fixed by Camden From
this writer learn that earl, although person of
mark, Is below inarquis-but is OF more account than
vlscouut
ESGLisn. BY stat. t. G. ., 90, it was enacted that
all pleas, bonds records and proceedings in courts of
justice, should be in English and the same statute
has been re-enncted in all the States of the American
Union But the law, having neglected to prescribe
the quality OF the English be used gets nothing but
bad language for It's pains Notwithstanding the
stringent statute of Charles IL, t22 and %, l. called
the coventry act, which threatens the severest punish
ment for the barharous offence of mutlotinr the
tongue the vernncular is daily manned by the law
yers in the most shocking manner, and not untic
quen,iy in the ucy fares OF the Judges themselves :
1t certainly seems rather unaccounabe that while
courts enforce all other taxes with extreme rgor they
pay no attention whatever to svniax; and that law
yers who appear to he profoundly veiscd in the Eng
lish laws, know little or nothing of the laws of Enq-
iish
EQuIrY-Sce Chancery. "The distinction between
law and equity says an old English jurst, is not a
present known, nor seems to have been known i,
any other country than England at any time" Spell
man (who by the way, spells no better than the othc
writers Of his time, says the distinction was not estab
ilshed even III that country prior TO the reign of KIM
Edward the Third and speaks of Fleta as hnyin
been lille too fast in supposng that the Roman
knew any thing about equity as distinguished from
strict law. Whatever may have been the ignoranc,
OF other countries on this subject or of our own at a,
early day, there be no doubt that the diilerenc,
between law and equity is sufficiently understood il
the United States at the present time even by non
professional persons, many of whom after protraced
litigation OF heirrghts had occasion to complain tina
they got plenty OF law, but very little equity