A LAW DICTIONARY OF WORDS, TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND PHRASES WHICH ARE A PECULIAR MEANING IN THE LAW CONTAINING LATIN PHRASES AND MAXIMS WITH THEIR TRANSLATIONS AND A TABLE OF THE NAMES OF THE REPORTS AND THEIR ABBREVIATIONS BY JAMES A. BALLENTINE, Assistant Professor of Law in the University of California, INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS TO AN HONORED FRIEND, DR. EDWARD ROBESON TAYLOR, WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT HAS BEEN A CONSTANT INCENTIVE, THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. Of the law dictionaries in current use, some are combinations of the dictionary and of the encyclopedia. That is, they contain much historical and explanatory matter which is outside of the proper sphere of a dictionary and at the same time they are too brief in respect to their historical and explanatory data to be relied upon as exhaustive. Others of these dictionaries, while confined within proper dictionary limits, do not define a sufficient number of terms to be of practical use, the result being that one must often consult two or more of them in order to find any definition for an ordinary word or term. The main effort in this work has been directed at the omission of whatever belongs exclusively in an encyclopedia and the inclusion of as many words, terms and phrases as possible which are peculiar to the law or which have meanings which are peculiar to the law. It is the hope of the writer that the profession will find in the book an accessible, convenient and helpfui desk companion. San Francisco, January 1, 1916. JAMES A. BALLENTINE. |