LUCID INTERVALS utterly unreliable for any business purpose. Georget, Des Mal. Men. 46; Reid, Essays on Hypochondriacal Affections, 21 Essay; Combe, Men. Derang. 241; Ray, Med. Jur. 376. 131 Of late years-whatever may have been the earlier practice-courts have not required that proof of a lucid interval which consists of complete restoration of reason, as described above. They have been satisfied with such proof as was furnished by the transaction in question. They cared less to consider the general state of mind than its special manifestations on a particular occasion. In 1 Phill. Lect. 90, the court said, "I think the strongest and best proof that can arise as to a lucid interval is that which arises from the act itself;" if that "is a rational act, rationally done, the whole case is proved;" "if she could converse rationally, that is a lucid interval." 2 C. & P. 415. This is a mere begging of the question, which is whether the act so rational and so rationally done-and not for that reason necessarily incompatible with insanitywas or was not done in a lucid interval. Persons very insane, violent, and full of delusions frequently do and say things evincing no mark of disease, while no one supposes that there is any lucid interval in the case. Correcter views prevailed in 2 Hagg. 433, where the court pronounced against two wills which showed no trace of folly, because the testator had been confessedly so insane as to require an attendant from an asylum, until within a few months of the date of the last will, and had manifested delusions during the period that intervened between the two wills in question. "It is clear," said the court, "that persons essentially insane may be calm, may do acts, hold conversations, and even pass in general society as perfectly sane. It often requires close examination by persons skilled in the disorder, to discover and ascertain whether or not the mental derangement is removed and the mind become again perfectly sound. Where there is calmness, where there is rationality on ordinary subjects, those who see the party usually conclude that his recovery is perfect. When there is not actual recovery, and a return to the management of himself and his concerns by the unfortunate individual, the proof of a lucid interval is extremely difficult." the case. In criminal cases, the proof of a lucid interval must be still more difficult, in the very nature of For although the mental manifestations may be perfectly right, it cannot be supposed that the brain has resumed its normal condition. In its outward expression, insanity, like many other nervous diseases, is characterized by a certain periodicity, whereby the prominent symptoms disappear for a time, only to return within a very limited period. An epileptic, in the intervals between his fits, may evince to the closest observer not a single trace of mental or bodily disease; and yet, for all that, nobody supposes that he has recovered from his malady. No more does a lucid interval in a case of insanity imply that the disease has disappeared because its outward manifestations have ceased. There unquestionably remains an abnormal condition of the brain, by whatever name it may be called, whereby the power of the mind to sustain provocations, to resist temptations, or withstand any other causes of excitement, is greatly weakened. Lucid intervals, properly so called, should not be confounded with those periods of apparent recovery which occur between two successive attacks of mental disease, nor with those transitions from one phasis of insanity to another, in which the individual seems to be in his natural LUCRI CAUSA condition. They may not be essentially different, but the suddenness and brevity of the former would be likely to impart to an act a moral complexion very different from that which it would bear if performed in the larger and more indefinite intermissions of the latter. Still, great forbearance should be exercised towards persons committing criminal acts while in any of these equivocal conditions. Those who have suffered repeated attacks of mental disease habitually labor under a degree of nervous irritability, which renders them peculiarly susceptible to many of those incidents and influences which lead to crime. The law may make no distinction, but executive and judicial tribunals are generally intrusted with discretionary powers, whereby they are enabled to apportion the punishment according to the moral guilt of the party. Ray, Med. Jur. chap. Luc. Int. It is the duty of the party who contends for a lucid interval, to prove it; for a person once insane is presumed so, until it is shown that he had a lucid interval, or has recovered; Swinb. 77; Co. Litt. 185, n. ; 3 Bro. Ch. 443; 1 Const. 225; 1 Pet. 163; 1 Litt. 102; and yet, on the trial of Hadfield, whose insanity, both before and after the act, was admitted, the court, Lord Kenyon, said that, "were they to run into nicety, proof might be demanded of his insanity at the precise moment when the act was committed." See INSANITY. In LUCRATIVE SUCCESSION. Scotch Law. The passive title of præceptio hæreditatis, by which, if an heir apparent receive gratuitously a part, however small, of the heritage which would come to him as heir, he is liable for all the grantor's precontracted debts. Erskine, Inst. 3. 8. 87-89; Stair, Inst. 3. 7. LUCRI CAUSA (Lat. for the sake of gain). In Criminal Law. A term descriptive of the intent with which property is taken in cases of larceny. According to the tenor of the latest authorities, lucri causâ would appear to be immaterial; though, in recent cases, judges have sometimes thought it advisable not to deny, but rather to confess and avoid it, however sophistically. The prisoner, a servant of A, applied for, and received, at the post-office, all' A's letters, and delivered them to A, with the exception of one, which the prisoner destroyed in the hope of suppressing inquiries respecting her character. This was held to be a larceny; "for, supposing that it was a necessary ingredient in that crime that it should be done lucri causâ (which was not admitted), there were sufficient advantages to be obtained by the prisoner in making away with the written character." 1 Den. C. C. 180. In a case where some servants in husbandry had the care of their master's team, they entered his granary by means of a false key, and took out of it two bushels of beans, which they gave to his horses. Of eleven judges, three were of opinion that there was no felony. Of the eight judges who were for a conviction, some (it is not stated how many) alleged that by the better feeding of the horses the men's labor was lessened, so that they took the beans to give themselves ease,— which was, constructively at least, lucri causa; Russ. & R. 307. When a similar case afterwards came to be decided by the judges, it was said to be no longer res integra; 1 Den. C. C. 193. The rule with regard to the lucri causa is stated by the English criminal law commissioners in the following terms: "The ulterior motive by which the taker is influenced in depriving the owner of his property altogether, whether it is to benefit himself or another, or to injure any one by the taking, is immaterial." Co. 17. In this country, these cases have not been considered as authority; 18 Ala. 461. But the American courts have not discussed very much the question of lucri causa. "The rule is now well settled, that it is not necessary to constitute larceny that the taking should be in order to convert the thing stolen to the pecuniary gain of the taker; and that it is sufficient if the taking be fraudulent, and with an intent wholly to deprive the owner of the property." 35 Miss. 214; 14 Ind. 36; 52 Ala. 411. See 16 Miss. 401; 10 Ala. N. s. 814; 3 Strobh. 508; 1 C. & K. 532; C. & M. 547; Inst. lib. 4, t. 1, § 1; 2 Bish. C. L. §§ 842-848. LUCRUM CESSANS. In Scotch Law. A cessation of gain. Opposed to damnum emergens, an actual loss. LUGGAGE. Such articles of personal comfort and conveniences as travellers usually find it desirable to carry with them. This term is synonymous with baggage: the latter being in more common use in this country, while the former seems to be almost exclusively used in England. See BAGGAGE. LUNACY. See INSANITY. LUNAR. Belonging to or measured by the moon. LUNAR MONTH. See MONTH. LUNATIC. One who is insane. See INSANITY; DE LUNATICO INQUIRENDO. LUSHBOROW. A counterfeit coin, made abroad like English money, and brought in during Edward III.'s reign. To bring any of it into the realm was made treason. Cowel. LYEF-GELD. In Saxon Law. Leave money. A small sum paid by customary tenCowel; Somn. ant for leave to plough, etc. on Gavelk. p. 27. LYING IN GRANT. Incorporeal rights and things which cannot be transferred by livery of possession, but which exist only in idea, in contemplation of law, are said to lie in grant, and pass by the mere delivery of the deed. See GRANT; Livery of SEISIN ; SEISIN. LYING IN WAIT. Being in ambush for the purpose of murdering another. Lying in wait is evidence of deliberation and intention. Where murder is divided into degrees, as in Pennsylvania, lying in wait is such evidence of malice that it makes the killing, when it takes place, murder in the first degree. See Dane, Abr. Index. LYNCH-LAW. A common phrase used to express the vengeance of a mob inflicting an injury and committing an outrage upon a person suspected of some offence. In England this is called Lidford Law. All who consent to the infliction of capital punishment by lynch law are guilty of murder in the first degree when not executed in hot blood. The act strikingly combines the distinctive features of deliberation and intent to take life; 38 Conn. 126; 1 Whart. Cr. Law, § 399. Lynch law differs from mob law in disregarding the forms of ordinary law, while intending to maintain its substance; while mob law disregards both. M. MACE-PROOF. M. The thirteenth letter of the alphabet. Persons convicted of manslaughter, in Eng-Wharton. land, were formerly marked with is letter on the brawn of the thumb. This letter was sometimes put on the face of treasury notes of the United States, and signifies that the treasury note bears interest at the rate of one mill per centum, and not one per centum interest. MACE BEARER. In English Law. One who carries the mace, an ornamented staff, before certain functionaries. In Scotland an officer attending the court of session, and usually called a macer. MACE-GREFF. In old English law, one who willingly bought stolen goods, especially food. Brit. c. 29. Secure against arrest. MACEDONIAN DECREE. In Roman derived its name from that of a certain usurer, Law. A decree of the Roman sena e, which ho was the cause of its being made, in consequence of his exactions. It was intended to protect sons who lived under the paternal jurisdiction from the unconscionable contracts which they sometimes made on the expectations after their fathers' deaths; another, and perhaps the principal, object, was to cast odium on the rapacious creditors. It declared such contracts void. Dig. 14, 6, 1; Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 1, tit. 6, § 4; Fonbl. Eq. b. 1, c. 2, § 12, note. See CATCHING BARGAIN; POST OBIT. MACHINATION 133 MAGISTRATE MACHINATION. The act by which and literature is called a master; as, master some plot or conspiracy is set on foot. MACHINE. In Patent Law. Any contrivance which is used to regulate or modify the relations between force, motion, and weight. of arts. MAGISTER AD FACULTATES (Lat.). In English Ecclesiastical Law. The title of an officer who grants dispensations: as, to marry, to eat flesh on days proIn its broadest signification, this term is ap-hibited, and the like. Bacon, Abr. Eccles. plied to any contrivance which is used to regu- Courts (A 5.) late or modify the relations between force, motion, and weight. "The term machine includes every mechanical device or combination of mechanical powers and devices to perform some function and produce a certain effect or result;" 15 How. 267; but when the effect is produced by chemical action, or by the application of some element or power of nature, or of one substance to another, such methods or operations are called processes; 4 Fish. Pat. Cas. 175. What are sometimes called the simple machines are six in number: the lever, the pulley, the wheel and axle, the wedge, the screw, and the inclined plane. These are sometimes known as the mechanical powers, though neither these nor any other machinery can ever constitute or create power. They can only economize, control, direct, and ren der it useful. Machines, as generally seen and understood, are compounded of these simple machines in some of their shapes and modifications. Such a combination as, when in operation, will produce some specific final result, is regarded as an entire machine. It is so treated in the patent law; for, although a new machine, or a new improvement of a machine, is an invention, and although only one invention can be included in a single patent, still several different contrivances, each of which is in one sense a machine, may all be separately claimed in a single patent, provided they all contribute to improve or to constitute one machine and are intended to produce a single ultimate result; and a new combination of machines is patentable whether the machines themselves be new or old. 3 Wash. C. C. 69; 1 Stor. 273, 568; 2 id. 609; 1 Mas. 474; 1 Sumn. 482; 3 Wheat. 454; 2 Fish. Pat. Cas. 600. MACHINERY. A more comprehensive term than machine; including the appurtenances necessary to the working of a machine; 111 Mass. 540; 108 id. 78; as the mains of a gas company; 12 Allen, 75; or even a rolling-mill; 2 Sandf. 202. The question of what machinery will pass under a mortgage of realty has been variously decided and will be found discussed under FIXTURES. The are collected in 11 Am. Rep. 314, note, and 24 id. 726, note. cases MAGISTER NAVIS (Lat.). In Civil Law. Master of a ship; he to whom the whole care of a ship is given up, whether appointed by the owner, or charterer, or master. L. 1, ff. de exercit.; Idem, § 3; Calvinus, Lex.; Story, Ag. § 36. MAGISTER SOCIETATIS (Lat.). In Jur.; Calv. Lex. Civil Law. Managing partner. Vicat, Voc. Especially used of an officer employed in the business of collecting revenues, who had power to call together the tything-men (decumands), as it were a senate, and lay matters before them, and keep account of all receipts, etc. He had, generally, times called magister societatis. Id.; Story, an agent in the province, who was also somePartn. § 95. MAGISTRACY. In its most enlarged signification, this term includes all officers, legislative, executive, and judicial. For example, in some of the state constitutions will be found this provision; "the powers of the government are divided into three distinct departments, and each of these is confided to a separate magistracy, to wit: those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another." In a more confined sense, it signifies the body of officers whose duty it is to put the laws in force; as, judges, justices of the peace, and the like. In a still narrower sense, it is employed to designate the body of justices of the peace. It is also used for the office of a magistrate. MAGISTRALIA BREVIA (Lat.). Writs adapted to special cases, and so called because drawn by the masters in chancery. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 239. For the difference between these and judicial writs, see Bracton, 413 b. MAGISTRATE. A public civil officer, invested with some part of the legislative, executive, or judicial power given by the constitution. In a narrower sense this term includes only inferior judicial officers, as justices of the peace. The president of the United States is the chief magistrate of this nation; the governors return to a writ of scire facias when it has are the chief magistrates of their respective MADE KNOWN. Words used as a been served on the defendant. MAEGBOTE. A recompense for the slaying of a kinsman. Cowel. states. It is the duty of all magistrates to exercise the power, vested in them for the good of the people, according to law, and with zeal and MAGISTER (Lat.). A master; a ruler; fidelity. A neglect on the part of a magisone whose learning and position make him trate to exercise the functions of his office, superior to others; thus, one who has at- when required by law, is a misdemeanor tained to a high degree or eminence in science | See 15 Viner, Abr. 144; Ayliffe, Pand. tit. 22; Dig. 30. 16. 57; Merlin, Rep.; 13 Pick. 523. MAGISTRATE'S COURT. In American Law. Courts in the state of South Carolina, having exclusive jurisdiction in matters of contract of and under twenty dollars. The constitution of Pennsylvania of 1874, art. v. § 12, abolishes the office of alderman in the city of Philadelphia, and establishes in its place magistrates' courts, not of record, of police and civil causes, with jurisdiction not exceeding one hundred dollars. MAGNA ASSISA ELIGENDA. An ancient writ to summon four lawful knights before the justices of assize, there to choose twelve others, with themselves to constitute the grand assize or great jury, to try the matter of right. The trial by grand assize was instituted by Henry II. in parliament, as an alternative to the duel in a writ of right. Abolished by 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27. Whart. MAGNA CHARTA. The Great Charter of English liberties, so called (but which was really a compact between the king and his barons, and almost exclusively for the benefit of the latter, though confirming the ancient liberties of Englishmen in some few particulars), was wrung from king John by his barons assembled in arms, on the 19th of June, 1215, and was given by the king's hand, as a confirmation of his own act, on the little island in the Thames, within the county of Buckinghamshire, which is still called " Magna Charta Island." The preliminary interview was held in the mea of society, and as freemen included, almost without exception, the nobility alone, we can see somewhat how much this charter deserves its name. C. 5 relates to the land and other property of heirs, and the delivering them up when the heirs are of age. C. 6: the marriage of heirs. C. 7 provides that widow shall have quarantine of forty days in her husband's chief house, and shall have her dower set out to her at once, without paying anything for it, and in meanwhile to have reasonable estovers; the dower to be one-third of lands of husband, unless wife was endowed of less at the church-door; widow not to be compelled to marry, but to find surety that she will not marry without consent of the lord of whom she holds. C. 8: the goods and chattels of crown-debtor to be exhausted before his rents and lands are distrained; the surety not to be called upon if the principal can pay; if sureties pay the debt, they to have the rents and lands of debtor till the debt is satisfied. C. 9 secures to London and other cities and boroughs and town barons of the five ports, and all other ports, to have their ancient liberties. C. 10 prohibits excessive distress for more services or rent than was due. C. 11 provides that court of common pleas should not follow the court of the king, but should be held in a certain place. They have been, accordingly, located at Westminster. C. 12 declares the manner of taking assizes of novel desseisin and mort d'ancestor. These were actions to recover lost seisin (q. v.), now abolished. C. dow of Running Mede, or Runny Mede (fr. Sax. 13 relates to assizes darrein presentment rune, council), that is, council meadow, which brought by ecclesiastics to try right to present had been used constantly for national assemblies, to ecclesiastical benefice. Abolished. C. 14 and which was situated on the southwest side provides that amercement of a freeman for a of the Thames, between Staines and Windsor. fault shall be proportionate to his crime, and Though such formalities were observed, the pro- not excessive, and that the villein of any other visions of the charter were disregarded by John than the king shall be amerced in same manand succeeding kings, each of whom, when wishing to do a popular thing, confirmed this charter. ner, his farm, utensils, etc. being preserved There were thirty-two confirmations between 1215 to him (salvo wanagio suo). For otherwise and 1416, the most celebrated of which were he could not cultivate lord's land. C. 15 and those by Hen. III. (1225) and Edw. I., which c. 16 relate to making of bridges and keeping last confirmation was sealed with the great seal of England at Ghent, on the 5th November, 1297. Confirmatio Chartarum. The Magna Charta printed in all the books as of 9 Hen. III. is really a transcript of the roll of parliament of 25 Edw. I. There were many originals of Magna Charta made, two of which are preserved in the British Museum. Magna Charta consists of thirty-seven chapters, the subject-matter of which is very various. C. 1 provides that the Anglican church shall be free and possess its rights unimpaired, probably referring chiefly to immunity from papal jurisdiction. C. 2 fixes relief which shall be paid by king's tenant, of full age. C. 3 relates to heirs and their being in ward. C. 4 guardians of wards within age are by this chapter restrained from waste of ward's estate, "vasto hominum et rerum," waste of men and of things, which shows that serfs were regarded as slaves even by this much-boasted charter; and as serfs and freemen were at this time the divisions in repair of sewers and sea-walls. This is now regulated by local parochial law. C. 17 forbids sheriffs and coroners to hold pleas of the crown. Pleas of the crown are criminal cases which it is desirable should not be tried by an inferior and perhaps ignorant magistrate. C. 18 provides that if any one holding a lay fee from crown die, the king's bailiff, on showing letters patent of summons for debt from the king, may attach all his goods and chattels, so that nothing be moved away till the debt to crown be paid off clearly, the residue to go to executors to perform the testament of the dead; and if there be no debt owing to crown, all the chattels of the deceased to go to executors, reserving, however, to the wife and children their reasonable parts. C. 19 relates to purveyance of king's house; C. 20, to the castle-guard; C. 21, to taking horses, carts, and wood for use of royal castles. The last three chapters are now obsolete. C. 22 provides that the lands MAGNA CHARTA 135 In of felons shall go to king for a year and a have written before Magna Charta. The day, afterwards to the lord of the fee. So in Mirror of Justices, c. 315 et seq., has a chapFrance. The day is added to prevent dis-ter on its defects. See Co. 2d Inst.; Barpute as to whether the year is exclusive or rington, Stat.; 4 Bla. Com. 423. See a inclusive of its last day. C. 23 provides that copy of Magna Charta in 1 Laws of South the wears shall be pulled down in the Thames Carolina, edited by Judge Cooper, p. 78. and Medway, and throughout England, ex- the Penny Magazine for the year 1833, p. cept on the sea-coast. These wears destroyed 229, there is a copy of the original seal of fish, and interrupted the floating of wood and King John affixed to this instrument; a spethe like down stream. C. 24 relates to the cimen of a fac-simile of the writing of Magna writ of præcipe in capite for lords against Charta, beginning at the passage, Nullus their tenants offering wrong, etc. Now abol- liber homo capietur vel imprisonetur, etc. A ished. C. 25 provides a uniform measure. fac-simile has been published by Chatto & See 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 63. C. 26 relates to Windess, London. A copy of both may be inquisitions of life and member, which are to found in the Magasin Pittoresque for the year be granted freely. Now abolished. C. 27 1834, pp. 52, 53. See 8 Encyc. Brit. 722; relates to knight-service and other ancient 6 id. 332; Wharton, Lex.; Wells, Magna tenures, now abolished. Charta. MÄHL BRIEF. MAIDEN. An instrument formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals. MAIDEN ASSIZE. In English Law. Originally an assize at which no person was condemned to die. Now it is a session of a criminal court at which there are no prisoners to be tried. Wharton. C. 28 relates to accusations, which must be under oath. C. 29 provides that "no freeA term confined to the German law of shipman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dis- ping. It is a contract for building a ship, speciseised from his freehold, or liberties, or im-fying her description, quality of materials, the munities, nor outlawed, nor exiled, nor in denomination, and size, with reservation geneany manner destroyed, nor will we come rally that contractor or his agent (who is in most cases the master of a vessel) may reject upon him or send against him, except by such material as he deems uncontract-worthy, legal judgment of his peers or the law of the and oblige builder to supply other materials. land. We will sell or deny justice to none, Jacobsen, Sea Laws, 2, 3. nor put off right or justice." This clause is very much celebrated, as confirming the right to trial by jury. C. 30 relates to merchantstrangers, who are to be civilly treated, and, unless previously prohibited, are to have free passage through, and exit from, and dwelling in, England, without any manner of extortions, except in time of war. If they are of a country at war with England, and found in England at the beginning of the war, they are to be kept safely until it is found out how English merchants are treated in their country, and then are to be treated accordingly. C. 31 relates to escheats; C. 32, to the power of alienation in a freeman, which is limited. C. 33 relates to patrons of abbeys, etc. C. 34 provides that no appeal shall be brought by a woman except for death of her husband. This was because the defendant could not defend himself against a woman in single combat. The crime of murder or homicide is now inquired into by indictment. C. 35 relates to rights of holding county courts, etc. Obsolete. C. 36 provides that a gift of lands in mortmain shall be void, and lands so given go to lord of fee. C. 37 relates to escuage and subsidy. C. 38 confirms every article of the charter. The object of this statute was to declare and reaffirm such common law principles as, by reason of usurpation and force, had come to be of doubtful force, and needed therefore to be authoritatively announced, that king and subject might alike authoritatively observe them. Cooley, Const. Lim. 30. Magna Charta is said by some to have been so called because larger than the Charta de Foresta, which was given about the same time. Spelman, Gloss. But see Cowel. Magna Charta is mentioned casually by Bracton, Fleta, and Britton. Glanville is supposed to MAIDEN RENTS. In Old English Law. A fine paid to lords of some manors, on the marriage of tenants, originally given in consideration of the lord's relinquishing his customary right of lying the first night with the bride of a tenant. Cowel. MAIHEM. See MAYHEM; MAIM. MAIL (Fr. malle, a trunk). The bag, valise, or other contrivance used in conveying through the post-office letters, packets, newspapers, pamphlets, and the like, from place to place, under the authority of the United States. The things thus carried are also called the mail. By the act of March 3, 1879, ch. 180, mailable matter is divided into four classes. 1. Written matter, embracing letters, postal cards, and all matters wholly or partly in writing, with certain exceptions. 2. Periodical publications issued as often as four times a year. 3. Books, transient newspapers and periodicals, circulars, proof sheets, etc., wholly in print. 4. Merchandise, comprising all matter not embraced in the above classes, which is not liable to injure the contents of the mail bags, or harm the person of any one engaged in the postal service, and is not above the weight of four pounds, except in the case of single books. Obscene books, pictures, etc., scurrilous and disloyal letters, and lottery circulars are not mailable (8 June, 1872, Rev. Stat. § 3893), and all such matter reaching the office of delivery, shall be held by the postmaster, March 3, 1879, § 21; Supplement to Rev. Stat. subject to the order of the postmaster-general; p. 457. In an indictment under § 3893, of the act of 8 June, 1872, it is no defence that the non |