QUASI-CORPORATIONS Quasi-contracts are usually identified with implied contracts, but this is an error, for implied contracts are true contracts which quasicontracts are not, inasmuch as the convention, the essential part of a contract, was wanting: Maine, Anc. Law, 332. See, generally, Justinian, Inst. 3. 28; Dig. 3. 5; Ayl. Pand. b. 4, tit. 31; 1 Brown, Civil Law, 386; Erskine, Inst. 3. 3. 16; Pardessus, Dr. Com. n. 192 et seq.; Pothier, Obl. n. 113 et seq.; Merlin, Répert. QuasiContract. QUASI-CORPORATIONS. A term applied to those bodies or municipal societies which, though not vested with the general powers of corporations, are yet recognized, by statutes or immemorial usage, as persons or aggregate corporations, with precise duties which may be enforced, and privileges which may be maintained, by suits at law. They may be considered quasi-corporations, with limited powers, coextensive with the duties imposed upon them by statute or usage, but restrained from a general use of the authority which belongs to those metaphysical persons by the common law. See 13 Mass. 192; L. R. 1 H. L. 293; Boone, Corp. § 10. 495 Among quasi-corporations may be ranked counties, and also towns, townships, parishes, hundreds, and other political divisions of counties, which are established without an express charter of incorporation; commissioners of a county, most of the commissions instituted for public use, supervisors of highways, overseers or guardians of the poor, loan officers of a county, trustees of a school fund, trustees of the poor, school districts, trustees of schools, judges of a court authorized to take bonds to themselves in their official capacity, and the like, who are invested with corporate powers sub modo and for a few specified purposes only. The governor of a state has been held a quasi-corporation sole; Humph. 176; so has a trustee of a friendly society in whom, by statute, property is vested, and by and against whom suits may be brought; see 1 B. & Ald. 157; so if a levee district organized by statute to reclaim land from overflow; 51 Cal: 406; and fire departments having by statute certain powers and duties which necessarily invest them with a limited capacity to sue and be sued; 1 Sweeny, 224. It may be laid down as a general rule that where a body is created by statute possessing powers and duties which involve incidentally a qualified capacity to sue and be sued, such body is to be considered a quasi-corporation; id.; 51 Cal. 406. See, generally, Ang. & A. Corp. § 24; 13 Am. Dec. 524; but not such a body as the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, which has not the capacity to sue and be sued ; 4 Whart. 531; Ang. & A. Corp. § 24. QUASI-DELICT. In Civil Law. An act whereby a person, without malice, but by fault, negligence, or imprudence not legally excusable, causes injury to another. A quasi-delict may be public or private: QUE ESTATE the neglect of the affairs of a community, when it is our duty to attend to them, may be a crime; the neglect of a private matter, under similar circumstances, may be the ground of a civil action. Bowyer, Mod. Civ. Law, c. 43, p. 265. QUASI-DEPOSIT. A kind of involuntary bailment, which takes place where a person acquires possession of property lawfully, by finding. Story, Bailm. § 85. QUASI-OFFENCES. Offences for which some person other than the actual perpetrator is responsible, the perpetrator being presumed to act by command of the responsible party. Injuries which have been unintentionally caused. See MASTER AND SERVANT. QUASI-PARTNERS. Partners of lands, goods, or chattels, who are not actual partners, are sometimes so called. Pothier, de Société, App. n. 184. See PART-OWNERS. In QUASI-POSTHUMOUS CHILD. Civil Law. One who, born during the life of his grandfather or other male ascendant, was not his heir at the time he made his testa ment, but who by the death of his father became his heir in his lifetime. Inst. 2. 13. 2; Dig. 28. 3. 13. QUASI-PURCHASE. This term is used in the civil law to denote that a thing is to be considered as purchased from the presumed consent of the owner of a thing: as, if a man should consume a cheese, which is in his possession and belonging to another, with an intent to pay the price of it to the owner, the consent of the latter will be presumed, as the cheese would have been spoiled by keeping it longer. Wolff, Dr. de la Nat. § 691. QUASI-TRADITIO (Lat.). In Civil Law. A term used to designate that a person is in the use of the property of another, which the latter suffers and does not oppose. Leç. Elem. § 396. It also signifies the act by which the right of property is ceded in a thing to a person who is in possession of it; as, if I loan a boat to Paul, and deliver it to him, and afterwards I sell him the boat, it is not requisite that he should deliver the boat to me to be again delivered to him: there is a quasi tradition or delivery. QUATUORVIRI (Lat. four men). In Roman Law. Magistrates who had the care and inspection of roads. Dig. 1. 2. 3. 30. QUAY. A wharf at which to load or land goods. (Sometimes spelled key.) In its enlarged sense the word quay means the whole space between the first row of houses of a city, and the sea or river; 5 La. 152, 215. So much of the quay as is requisite for the public use of loading and unloading vessels is public property, and cannot be appropriated to private use, but the rest may be private property. QUE EST MESME (L. Fr.). Which is the same. See QUE EST EADEM. QUE ESTATE (quem statum, or which estate). A plea by which a man prescribes in himself and those whose estate he holds. 2 Bla. Com. 270; 18 Viner, Abr. 133-140; Co. Litt. 121 a. QUEAN. A worthless woman; a strumpet. The meaning of this word, which is now seldom used, is said not to be well ascertained. 2 Rolle, Abr. 296; Bacon, Abr. Slander (U 3). QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY. By stat. 2 Anne, c. 11, all the revenue of first-fruits and tenths was vested in trustees forever, to form a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings. 1 Bla. Com. 286; 2 Burn, Eccl. Law, 260-268. QUEEN CONSORT. The wife of a reigning king. 1 Bla. Com. 218. She is looked upon by the law as a feme sole, as to her power of contracting, suing, etc. Id. QUEEN DOWAGER. The widow of the king. She has most of the privileges belonging to a queen consort. 1 Bla. Com. 229. Questions are either general or leading. By a general question is meant such a one as requires the witness to state all he knows, without any suggestion being made to him: as, Who gave the blow? A leading question is one which leads the mind of the witness to the answer, or suggests it to him: as, Did A B give the blow? The Romans called a question by which the ties are not agreed, and which is submitted to When the doubt or difference arises as to what the law is on a certain state of facts, this is said jury. QUÆSTORES CLASSICI (Lat.). In Roman Law. Officers intrusted with the care of the public money. QUEEN-GOLD. A royal revenue belonging to every queen consort during her Their duties consisted in making the necesmarriage with the king, and due from every sary payments from the ærarium, and receivperson who has made a voluntary fine or of-ing the public revenues. Of both they had fer to the king of ten marks or upwards, in consideration of any grant or privilege conferred by the crown. It is due of record on the recording of the fine. It was last exacted in the reign of Charles I. It is now quite obsolete. 1 Bla. Com. 220-222; Fortescue, de Laud. 398. QUEEN REGNANT. She who holds the crown in her own right. She has the same duties and prerogatives, etc. as a king. Stat. 1 Mar. I. st. 3, č. 1; 1 Bla. Com. 218; 1 Woodd. Lect. 94. QUERELA (Lat.). An action preferred in any court of justice. The plaintiff was called querens, or complainant, and his brief, complaint, or declaration was called querela. Jacob, Law Dict. QUERELA INOFFICIOSI TESTAMENTI (Lat. complaint of an undutiful or unkind will). In Civil Law. A species of action allowed to a child who had been unjustly disinherited, to set aside the will, founded on the presumption of law, in such cases, that the parent was not in his right mind. Calvinus, Lex.; 2 Kent, 327; Bell, Dict. QUESTION. In Criminal Law. A means sometimes employed, in some countries, by torture, to compel supposed great criminals to disclose their accomplices or to acknowledge their crimes. This torture is called question because, as the unfortunate person accused is made to suffer pain, he is asked questions as to his supposed crime or accomplices. This is unknown in the United States. See Pothier, Procédure Criminelle, sect. 5, art. 2, § 3. In Evidence. An interrogation put to a witness, requesting him to declare the truth of certain facts as far as he knows them. to keep correct accounts in their tabulæ pub- masters. QUESTORES PARRICIDII (Lat.). In Roman Law. Public accusers, two in number, who conducted the accusation of persons guilty of murder or any other capital offence, and carried the sentence into execution. They ceased to be appointed at an early period. Smith, Dict. Gr. & Rom. Antiq. QUI TAM (Lat. who as well). An ac- QUIA (Lat.). In Pleading. Because. QUIA EMPTORES It is sufficiently direct and positive for introducing a material averment. 1 Saund. 117, n. 4; Comyns, Dig. Pleader (C 77). QUIA EMPTORES (Lat.). A name sometimes given to the English Statute of Westminster 3, 13 Edw. I. c. 1, from its initial words. 2 Bla. Com. 91. of these different parts, but not from any inherent vitality for the first time manifested by the fœtus. As life, by law, is said to commence when a woman first becomes quick with child, so procuring an abortion after that period is a misdemeanor. Before this time, formerly the law did not interfere to prevent a pregfrom being executed; 2 Hale, Pl. Cr. 413. nant woman convicted of a capital offence If, however, the humanity of the law of the present day would not allow a woman to be executed who is, as Blackstone terms it, QUIA TIMET (Lat. because he fears). A term applied to preventive or anticipatory remedies. According to Lord Coke, "there be six writs of law that may be maintained quia timet, before any molestation, distress, or impleading: as, First, a man may have his writ or mesne before he be distrained. Se-privément enceinte, Com. 129, i. e. pregnant, cond, a warrantia charta, before he be im- although not quick, it would be but carrying pleaded. Third, a monstraverunt, before out the same desire to interfere with longestablished rules, to hold that the penalty for any distress or vexation. Fourth, an audita querela, before any execution sued. Fifth, Procuring abortion should also extend to the whole period of pregnancy. a curia claudenda, before any default of enclosure. Sixth, a ne injuste vexes, before any distress or molestation. And these are called brevia anticipantia, writs of prevention." Co. Litt. 100. And see 7 Bro. P. C. 125. These writs are generally obsolete. In chancery, when it is contemplated to prevent an expected injury, a bill quia timet is filed. See BILL QUIA TIMET. QUIBBLE. A slight difficulty raised without necessity or propriety; a cavil. ened." with quick child is where the child has quick"Quick with child is having conceived; 8 C. & P. 265; approved in 1 Leg. Gaz. Rep. (Pa.) 183; 2 Whar. & St. Med. Jur. 1230. See 26 Am. Dec. 60, n. QUID PRO QUO (Lat. what for what). A term denoting the consideration of a contract. See Co. Litt. 47 b; 7 M. & G. 998. QUIDAM (Lat. some one; somebody). In French Law. A term used to express re-named. an unknown person, or one who cannot be No justly eminent member of the bar will sort to a quibble in his argument. It is contrary to his oath, which is to be true to the court as well as to the client; and bad policy, because by resorting to it he will lose his character as a man of probity. QUICK WITH CHILD. See QUICKEN ING. QUICKENING. In Medical Jurisprudence. The sensation a mother has of the motion of the child she has conceived. The period when quickening is first experienced varies from the tenth to the twentyfifth, but is usually about the sixteenth week from conception; Denman, Midw. p. 129. It was formerly supposed that either the child was not alive until the time of quickening, or that it had acquired some new kind of existence that it did not possess before: hence the presumption of law that dates the life of the child from that time. The child is, in truth, alive from the first moment of conception, and, according to its age and state of development, has different modes of manifesting its life, and, during a portion of the period of gestation, by its motion. By the growth of the embryo, the womb is enlarged until it becomes of too great a size to be contained in the pelvis, it then rises to the abdomen, when the motion of the foetus is for the first time felt. See 1 Leg. Gaz. Rep. (Pa.) 183. Quickening as indicating a distinct point in the existence of the foetus, has no foundation in physiology; for it arises merely from the relation which the organs of gestation bear to the parts that surround them: it may take place early or late, according to the condition VOL. II.-32 A quidam is usually described by the features of his face, the color of his hair, his height, his clothing, and the like, in any process which may be issued against him. Merlin, Répert.; Encyclopédie. QUIET ENJOYMENT. The name of a covenant in a lease, by which the lessor agrees that the lessee shall peaceably enjoy the premises leased. This covenant goes to the possession, and not to the title; 3 Johns. 471; 5 id. 120; 2 Dev. 388; 3 id. 200. covenant for quiet enjoyment does not extend as far as a covenant of warranty; 1 Aik. 233. Α The covenant for quiet enjoyment is broken only by an entry, or lawful expulsion from, or some actual disturbance in, the possession; 3 Johns. 471; 8 id. 198; 15 id. 483; 7 Wend. 281; 2 Hill, N. Y. 105; 9 Metc. 63; 4 Whart. 86; 4 Cow. 340. But the tortious entry of the covenantor, without title, is a breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment; 7 Johns. 376. QUIETUS (Lat. freed or acquitted). In English Law. A discharge; an acquittance. An instrument by the clerk of the pipe and auditors in the exchequer, as proof of their acquittance or discharge of accountants. Cowel. Discharge of a judge or attorney-general. 3 Mod. 99*. In American Law. The discharge of an executor by the probate court. 4 Mas. 131. QUINTO EXACTUS (Lat.). In Old English Law. The fifth call or last requisition of a defendant sued to outlawry. QUIT-CLAIM. In Conveyancing. A form of deed of the nature of a release containing words of grant as well as release. 2 Washb. R. P. 606. The writ commands the sheriff to summon the defendant to appear before the court to which it is returnable, to show (quo warranto) by what authority he claims the office or franchise. It is a writ of right, a civil remedy to try the mere right to the franchise or office, where the person in possession never had a right to it or has forfeited it by neglect or abuse; 3 Bla. Com. 262, 263. The term is in constant and general use in American law to denote a deed substantially the same as a release in English law. It presupposes a previous or precedent conveyance The action of quo warranto was prescribed by or a subsisting estate and possession; Thornt. the Statute of Gloster, 6 Edw. I., and is a limitaConv. 44. It is a conveyance at common law, tion upon the royal prerogative. Before this statbut differs from a release in that it is regarded ute, the king, by virtue of his prerogative, sent as an original conveyance in American law, commissions over the kingdom to inquire into the at least in some states; 6 Pick. 499; 3 Conn. right to all franchises, quo jure et quore nomine 398; 9 Ohio, 96; 5 Ill. 117; Me. Rev. Stat. illi retinent, etc.; and, as they were grants from c. 73, § 14; Miss. Code 1857, p. 309, art. 17. the crown, if those in possession of them could not show a charter, the franchises were seized The operative words are remise, release, and into the king's hands without any judicial proforever quit-claim; Thornt. Conv. 44. Cove-ceeding. Like all other original civil writs, the nants of warranty against incumbrances by the grantor are usually added. See a full article in 12 Cent. L. J. 127. QUIT-RENT. A rent paid by the tenant of the freehold, by which he goes quit and free, that is, discharged from any other rent. 2 Bla. Com. 42. writ of quo warranto issued out of chancery, and was returnable alternatively before the king's bench or justices in eyre; Co. 2d Inst. 277, 494; 2 Term, 549. The writ of quo warranto has given place to an information in the nature of quo warranto. This, though in form a criminal; see 14 Fla. 256; is in substance a civil, proceeding, to try the mere right to the franchise or office; 3 Bla. Com. 263; 18. & R. 382; Ang. & A. Corp. 469; 2 Kent, 312; 3 Term, 199; 23 Wend. 537, 591; but see 13 Ill. 66. In England, quit-rents were rents reserved to the king or a proprietor, on an absolute grant of waste land, for which a price in gross was at first paid, and a mere nominal rent reserved as a feudal acknowledgment of tenure. If the proceedings refer to the usurpation Inasmuch as no rent of this description can of the franchises of a municipal corporation, exist in the United States, when a quit-rent the right to file the information is in the state, is spoken of some other interest must be in- at the discretion of the attorney-general; 14 tended. 5 Call. 364. Fla. 256; not of citizens; id. see 20 Penn. A perpetual rent re518. Individuals cannot take proceedings to served on a conveyance in fee-simple is sometimes known by the name of quit-rent in dissolve a corporation; 16 S. & R. 144; but Massachusetts. See GROUND-RENT; RENT. in regard to the election of a corporate officer, the writ may issue at the suit of the attorneyQUO ANIMO (Lat. with what intention).general or of any person interested; 1 Zab. 9; The intent; the mind with which a thing has 20 Penn. 415; but a private citizen must been done: as, the quo animo with which the have some interest; 50 Mo. 97. The attorwords were spoken may be shown by the ney-general may act without leave of court; proof of conversations of the defendant re- 83 Penn. 105; 38 N. J. L. 282; 12 Fla. lating to the original defamation. 19 Wend. 190; but a private relator may not; 15 S. & R. 127; s. c. 16 Am. Dec. 531; and the court will use its discretion in granting the writ; 70 Ill. 25; 2 Johns. 184. Leave is granted on a petition or motion with affidavits, upon which a rule to show cause is granted; 70 Ill. 25. The writ lies against the corporate body, if it is to restrain a usurpation; 50 Mo. 56; or enforce a forfeiture; 57 N. H. 498; but if it is to inquire whether a corporation has been legally organized, the writ lies against the individuals; 15 Wend. 113; s. c. 30 Am. Dec. 34. 296. QUO JURE, WRIT OF. In English Law. The name of writ commanding the defendant to show by what right he demands common of pasture in the land of the complainant who claims to have a fee in the same. Fitzh. N. B. 299. QUO MINUS (Lat.). The name of a writ. In England, when the king's debtor is sued in the court of the exchequer, he may sue out a writ of quo minus, in which he suggests that he is the king's debtor, and that the defendant has done him the injury or damage complained of, quo minus sufficiens existit, by which he is less able to pay the king's debt. This was originally requisite in order to give jurisdiction to the court of exchequer; but now this suggestion is a mere form. 3 Bla. Com. 46. QUO WARRANTO (Lat. by what authority). In Practice. The name of a writ (and also of the whole pleading) by which the government commences an action to recover an office or franchise from the person or corporation in possession of it. So in In New York a statutory action in the nature of a quo warranto, has been substituted. Code Civ. Proc. § 1983. This is a civil writ of legal, not equitable cognizance; 52 N. Y. 576. other states it is subject to the rules strictly ap plicable to civil proceedings; 50 Ala. 568; 44 Mo. 154; Boone, Corp. § 161. The terms "quo warranto" and "information in the nature of a quo warranto" are synonymous; 34 Wisc. 197; contra, 25 Mo. 555; 26 Ark. 281. Although quo warranto proceedings will lie against a municipal corporation in this country, yet they are seldom employed. See a case in 32 Vt. 50; and see 66 Mo. 328. They will lie against members of a city council 70 Penn. 465; 80 N. Y. 117; contra, 47 Cal. 624; 20 Kans. 692; a county treasurer, 15 Ill. 517; a sheriff; 5 Mich. 146; 83 Penn. 105; a lieutenant-governor; 12 Fla. 265; a governor; 4 Wisc. 567; a judge of probate; 77 N. C. 18; a mayor; 55 N. Y. 525; an elector of president of the United States, proceedings being taken in the name of the United States; 8 S. C. 400; a major-general of militia; 5 R. I. 1; so of other militia officers; 26 Penn. 31; 2 Green, Law, 84. There must first be a user of the office; 83 Ill. 128; but taking the oath; id.; or exercising its functions without taking the oath; 52 Miss. 665; is enough. QUO WARRANTO formation of quo warranto to forfeit an office or franchise; 1 P. Wms. 220; 4 Burr. 2146, n.; 1 Chitty, Pl. 479; 5 Bacon, Abr. 449; 4 Cow. 113, n. ; 2 Dutch. 215. In information of quo warranto there are two forms of judgment. When it is against an officer or against individuals, the judgment is ouster; but when it is against a corporation by its corporate name, the judgment was ouster and seizure. In the first case, there being no franchise forfeited, there is none to seize; in the last case, there is; consequently the franchise is seized; 2 Kent, 312, and note; 2 Term, 521, 550. Now, judgment is ouster and dissolution; 15 Wend. 113; s. c. 30 Am. Dec. 34; but there may be a judg ment of ouster of a particular franchise, and not of the whole charter; 15 Wend. 113. See, as to the judgment, 32 Vt. 50; 4 Cow. 120. By such judgment of ouster and seizure the franchises are not destroyed, but exist in the hands of the state; but the corporation was destroyed, and ceased to be the owner or possessor of lands or goods, or rights or credits. The lands reverted to the grantor and his heirs, and the goods escheated to the state. But, later, it has been held that the judgment must be confined to seizure of the franchises: if it be extended to seizure of the property, so far it is erroneous; 1 Blackf. 267. See SCIRE FACIAS; 30 Barb. 588. strictly, and must be exercised in the manner and in the forms and by the agents prescribed in the charter; 2 Kent, 298, 299; 1 Bla. Com. 485; 13 Viner, Abr. 511; 13 Pet. 587; 5 Wend. 211; 2 Term, 546; 4 Gill & J. 121. Pleadings in quo warranto are anomalous. In ordinary legal proceedings, the plaintiff, whether he be the state or a person, is bound to show a case against the defendant. But in an information of quo warranto, as well as in the writ for which it is substituted, the order is reversed. The state is not bound to show any thing, but the defendant is bound to show that he has a right to the franchise or office in question; and if he fail to show authority, judgment must be given against him; 4 Burr. 2146, 2127; Ang. & A. Corp. 636. To the writ of quo warranto the defendant simply pleaded his charter, which was a full answer to the writ; just as before the statute of Edward I. the production of the The principle of forfeiture is that the francharter to the king's commissioners was full chise is a trust; and all the terms of the charauthority for the possession of the franchise ter are conditions of the trust; and if any or office. But to an information of quo one of the conditions of the trust be violated, warranto the plea of the defendant consists it will work a forfeiture of the charter. And of his charter, with an absque hoc denying the corporate powers must be construed that he usurped the franchise, and concludes with a verification. The plea is in form a special traverse, but in substance it is not such. The information was originally a criminal proceeding, to punish the usurpation of the franchise by a fine, as well as to seize the franchise; therefore the information charged usurpation, and the defendant was compelled to deny the usurpation, as well as to show his charter, which he did in the form of an absque hoc to his plea. But when the proceeding ceased to be criminal, and, like the writ of quo warranto, was applied to the mere purpose of trying the civil right to the franchise, the absque hoc denying the usurpation became immaterial, though it is still retained in the forms; 5 Jacob, Law Dict. 374; 4 Cow. 106, note. In Coke's Entries, 351; there is a plea to an information of quo warranto without the absque hoc. The absque hoc, being immaterial, should not be answered by the replication, as it must always be in a special traverse; but the charter, in the first part of the plea, though occupying the place of an inducement, must be denied by the replication, its existence and character being the sole question in controversy upon In England, corporations are the creatures which the legality of the acts of the corporation of the crown, and on dissolution their franturns; Gilb. Ev. 6-8, 145; 10 Mod. 111, 296.chises revert to the crown; and they may be Until the statute 32 Geo. III. c. 58, the re-granted by the crown either to the old, or to defendant could not plead double in an in- the new, or to the old and new, corporators; Cases of forfeiture may be divided into two great classes. Cases of perversion: as, where a corporation does an act inconsistent with the nature and destructive of the ends and purposes of the grant. In such cases, unless the perversion is such as to amount to an injury to the public who are interested in the franchise; 34 Penn. 283; it will not work a forfeiture. Cases of usurpation: as, where a corporation exercises a power which it has no right to exercise. In such cases the cause of forfeiture is not determined by any question of injury to the public, but the abuse which will work a forfeiture need not be of any particular measure or extent; 3 Term, 216, 246; 23 Wend. 242; 34 Miss. 688; 21 Ill. 65. See 30 Ala. N. s. 66. In case of usurpation of an office or franchise by an individual, it must be of a public nature to be reached by this writ; 21 Ill. 65; 28 Vt. 594, 714; 9 Cush. 596. |