INSOLVENCY-continued. made a bona fide surrender of all his property to his creditors.

See also titles BANKRUPTCY and IMPRI-
SONMENT FOR DEBT.

INSPECTION, or EXAMINATION. Trial by inspection or examination is such, that when the point or question in dispute is evidently an object of sense, the judges of the Court take upon themselves to decide the question upon the testimony of their own senses; for where the affirmative or negative of a question is matter of such obvious determination, it is not thought necessary to summon a jury to decide it, that being called to inform the conscience of the Court in respect only of dubious facts. 9 Rep. 31.

INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS: See title DISCOVERY.

INSPEXIMUS (we have inspected). Letters patent are so called from the circumstance of this being the first word with which they begin (after the title of the king), thus, "Rex omnibus, &c., Inspeximus, &c." It is the same thing with an exemplification: see that title. Les Termes de la Ley.

INSTALMENTS. Are different portions of a debt payable at different successive periods as agreed.

INSTANTER.

Immediate, without loss of time. In this sense it is used when applied to the word trial; thus, a trial instanter, means an immediate trial, a trial that is to take place forthwith.

INSTITUTION. A kind of investiture of the spiritual part of the benefice, as induction is of the temporal; for by institution the care of the souls of the parish is committed to the charge of the clerk. By institution, the church is full, so that there can be no fresh presentation till another vacancy, in the case of a common patron; and the clerk may enter upon the parsonage house and glebe, and take the tithes; but he cannot till induction grant or let them, or bring an action for them.

INSURANCE, or ASSURANCE-contd. if one pay a sum of money (or premium), estimated to be an equivalent to the hazard run, the other will indemnify (or insure) him against the consequences which may ensue from the happening of any particu lar event. Thus, if I pay an insurance company 108. a year to indemnify me against the loss which I might sustain by my house being burnt down, this is termed insuring my house, the company undertaking, in consideration of the money which I pay, to give me a certain sum to rebuild it in case of fire. The same system is pursued in the insurance of ships (commonly called marine insurance), and in the insurance of the lives of individuals, commonly called life insurance.

There is this difference between life insurance policies and all other kinds, that the latter are contracts of indemnity merely, and the moneys secured thereby cease to be payable if no damage arises; but the former if duly kept up until the death of the party assured, are payable at all events. Dalby v. India and London Life Assurance Co. (15 C. B. 365).

For the validity of a life-assurance policy, it is, however, necessary that the person who takes it out should have some interest in the life assured at the time of his so taking it out (14 Geo. 3, c. 48); but the subsequent cessation of such interest does not vitiate the policy. Wms. P. P. 177. INTENDMENT. Understanding, meaning, or construction, is so called.

See also title COMMON INTENDMENT.
When the com-

INTERCOMMONING.

mons of two adjacent manors join, and the inhabitants of both have immemorially fed their cattle promiscuously on each other's common, this is called intercommouing. Les Termes de la Ley.

INTERDICT (interdictio). An ecclesiastical censure, prohibiting the administration of divine service in particular places, or to particular persons. 22 Hen. 8, c. 12.

As used in Roman Law, an interdict was equivalent to the injunction in equity, and see next title.

INTERDICTION. In French Law, a person over twenty one years of age, if he is in an habitual state of imbecility or insanity, may be excluded the management of his goods, upon the application of any of the relatives, whom failing, upon the application of the Attorney-General (procureur du Roi), to the Court of first instance, who will thereupon direct an inquiry before the conseil de famille. The interdiction may be either absolute or limited; in the case of a limited interdiction, the

INTERDICTION-continued. party is able to act with the approval of a conseil judiciaire, see that title.

INTERESSE TERMINI (An interest in the term). That species of property or interest which a lessee for years acquires in the lands demised to him, before he has actually become possessed of those lands; as distinguished from that property or interest vested in him by the demise, and also reduced into possession by an actual entry upon the lands and the assumption of ownership therein, and which is then termed "an estate for years." Thus, where an estate for years in lands is granted to commence at a future period, the grantee, of course, cannot enter until that period has arrived; but still he has acquired a kind of estate or at least interest in the lands; and the estate or interest so acquired, and which he would continue to have until the period at which the term was to commence, had arrived, and he had entered upon the possession of the lands, would be simply an interesse termini. 1 Cru. Dig. 239.

INTEREST. In its legal signification, means the estate or property which a man possesses either in land or chattels, the quantum of which, of course, depends upon the title under which he holds, and which, therefore, varies in exact proportion to the different titles under which property can be held. Thus, in land a man may be possessed of a freehold interest, or of an interest less than freehold; which main classification may again be divided into his interest in fee-simple, fee-tail, or for life, or his interest for a term of years, or at will. So also with regard to the interest or property in goods and chattels, it may be either joint or several; joint, if shared with others (as with the part owners of a ship), several, if possessed by one person exclusively or by more than one, their interests however, not being in common.

See title ESTATE; also title INTERESSE
TERMINI, and next title.

INTEREST OF MONEY. Called also Usury, was not favoured by the English Common Law, being apparently thought unchristian. However, the custom of merchants gradually introduced it in the following cases, in all of which it is therefore payable without any express agreement for that purpose:—

(1.) On bills of exchange; (2.) On promissory notes; (3.) On bonds; and

(4.) On mortgages.

Interest is also payable, even by the Common Law, in the following cases :

(5.) Under an express contract to pay it;

INTEREST OF MONEY-continued.
(6.) Under a contract to pay it, which is
implied from previous dealings
between the parties.

Equity always favoured the allowance of interest upon money lent or owing, when the amount was either certain or ascertainable, and invariably in such cases from a demand made for payment followed by a refusal to pay; and now under the stat. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42, s. 28, " Upon all debts or sums certain payable at a certain time or otherwise, the jury on the trial of any issue, or on any inquisition of damages, may, if they shall think fit, allow interest to the creditor at a rate not exceeding the current rate of interest, from the time when such debts or sums certain were payable: (a) if such debts or sums be payable by virtue of some written instrument at a certain time; or (b), if payable otherwise, then from the time when demand of payment shall have been made in writing, so as such demand shall give notice to the debtor that interest will be claimed from the date of such demand until the term of payment."

INTERLOCUTORY (from Latin interloquor). Something intervening or happening between the commencement of law proceedings and their termination, i.e., during the progress of an action at Law or a suit in Equity; thus, an interlocutory decree in a suit in Equity signifies a decree that is not final and does not conclude the suit, for it seldom happens that the first decree can be final; for if any matter of fact is strongly controverted, the Court usually directs an inquiry in Chambers to be made, after which the matter is to come on again for further consideration, and the final decree is therefore suspended until the result of such inquiry is made known. An interlocutory judgment in an action at law signifies a judgment that is not final, but which is given upon some plea, proceeding, or default, occurring in the course of the action, and which does not terminate the suit such are judgments on demurrer, or verdict for the defendant on certain dilatory pleas called pleas in abatement, or those which are given when, although the right of the plaintiff in the action is established, yet the amount of damages he has sustained is not ascertained, which cannot be done without the intervention of the jury. This happens when the defendant in an action suffers judgment by default, or confession, or upon a demurrer, in any of which cases, if the demand sued for be damages and not a specific sum, then a jury must be called to assess them; therefore the judgment given by the Court previous to such assessment by the jury is interlocutory

INTERLOCUTORY-continued.

and not final, because the Court knows not what damages the plaintiff has sustained. An interlocutory order is an order made during the progress of a suit upon some incidental matter which arises out of the proceedings, as an order for an injunction, for instance. Smith's Action at Law, 179.

INTERNATIONAL LAW. As opposed to Municipal, i.e., Civil, Law, is the law common to nations generally. It is either public or private, as to which generally see Woolsey on International Law, and see also particular titles throughout.

INTERPLEADER. When two or more persons claim the same thing of a third, and he, laying no claim to it himself, is ignorant which of them has a right to it, and fears he may be prejudiced by their proceeding against him to recover it, he may file a bill in equity against them, the object of which is to make them litigate their title between themselves instead of litigating it with him, and such a bill is called a bill of interpleader. Or he may, in certain cases, resort to a Court of Law for the same purpose.

The jurisdiction at Law in interpleader was originally confined to the single case of joint bailment (Crawshay v. Thornton, 2 My. & Cr. 21), i.e., to cases in which the titles of the claimants to the money, goods, or chattels in question, or to the proceeds or value thereof, had a common origin; but now under the C. L. P. Act, 1860, s. 12, this community of origin in the titles of the interpleading parties is no longer necessary. But the titles must at Law still be legal in their character, and not equitable. Whence the remedy in Equity is still more extensive than that at Law. The grounds of an interpleader suit in Equity are the following:

(1.) That the plaintiff has no personal interest, either in respect of rights (Mitchell v. Hayne, 2 S. & S. 63), or in respect of liabilities (Crawshay v. Thornton, supra) in the subject matter;

(2.) That the adverse rights of the defendants are such as can be finally determined in the interpleader suit; but

(3.) These rights may be legal or equitable, either all or some of them indifferently, unless the jurisdiction should be exclusively at Law.

The interpleader statute at Law is 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 58, and see Day's C. L. Prac. pp. 353-364, and notes.

INTERPRETATION-continued. lowing six rules of interpretation are generally recognised :—

(1.) A testator is always presumed to use words according to their strict and primary acceptation, until from the context of the will it appears that he has used them in a different sense.

(2.) Where there is nothing in the context of a will shewing that the testator has used words in other than their strict and primary acceptation, and his words when so interpreted are sensible with reference to extrinsic circumstances, then the words are to be interpreted in their strict and primary sense and in no other, notwithstanding the strongest presumption to the contrary.

(3.) But where the testator's words when so interpreted are insensible with reference to extrinsic circumstances, then the extrinsic circumstances may be looked into for the purpose of arriving at some secondary or popular sense which shall be sensible with reference to these circumstances.

(4.) Where the written characters of the will are difficult to decipher, or the words of the will are in an unknown or unusual language, the evidence of persons experienced in deciphering written characters or acquainted with the language, is admissible for the purpose of informing the Court or judge.

(5.) Extrinsic evidence is also admissible for the purpose of identifying the object of the testator's bounty (whether devisee or legatee), and for the purpose also of identifying the subject of disposition.

(6.) Where the words of a will remain unintelligible after the application of the five preceding rules, the will is void for uncertainty.

Secondly, with reference to other instruments. The principal rules regarding the interpretation of these are the following :

(1.) The agreement shall have a reasonable construction according to the intent of the parties;

(2.) The construction shall be liberal and favourable, ut res magis valeat quam pereat;

(3.) The popular meaning of the word is to be adopted until proof of a preciser technical or acquired meaning;

(4.) Every word is to be regarded in the light of its context, ex antecedentibus et consequentibus optima fit interpretatio;

(5.) An erroneous particularisation does not affect a precedent generality that is true (falsa demonstratio non nocet, cum de corpore constat); and vice versa, a subsequent generality shall be confined by the precedent particularisation (this is called the construction ejusdem generis);

(6.) Custom shall control a contract, unless the contract exclude the custom (this

INTERPRETATION-continued.

is an application of the rule Lex loci actus; see that title);

(7.) The words of a deed are to be construed most strongly against the grantor (verba cartarum fortius accipiuntur contra proferentem); but this rule is only to be relied upon when other rules of construction fail (Lindus v. Melrose, 3 H. & N. 177);

(8.) Every contract binds the executor or administrator of the party, although he be not named; but to bind the heir, he must be particularly mentioned; and

(9.) Parol evidence may in certain cases be admitted in connection with written agreements.

See title EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE.

INTERROGATORIES. The examination of the parties to a Chancery suit is not ordinarily conducted viva voce in open Court (as is the case in Common Law Courts), but upon written questions previously prepared by counsel, which are called interrogatories; hence the phrase examining a witness upon interrogatories. And since the Act, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 125, ss. 51-57, interrogatories may, subject to certain restrictions, be also exhibited at Law by either party to the action. But whereas in Equity there is almost no question which the plaintiff may not extract from the defendant by means of interrogatories, the practice at Law is subject to the following restrictions:

(1.) Interrogatories must not be made the means of evading the rule which requires the production of primary evidence (Herschfield v. Clark, 11 Exch. 712);

(2.) Interrogatories do not deprive a witness of his privilege; consequently, he will not be compelled to state the contents of, or to describe documents which are lis muniments of title, nor (except under very special circumstances) to answer questions tending to criminate him, or to expose him to penalties or forfeitures; and

(3.) Fishing interrogatories will not be encouraged, either at Law or in Equity.

INTERVENER. The interposition or interference of a person in a suit in the Court of Probate and Divorce in defence of his own interests is so termed, and a person is at liberty to do this in every case in which his interest is affected either in regard of his property or his person. Thus, in a matrimonial cause, if proceedings be taken against a party who has either solemnised or contracted marriage with another, such other or third party may, if he or she pleases, interpose in such suit to protect his or her own rights in any part or stage of the proceedings, even after the conclusion of the cause. The Queen's Proctor may also in a proper case inter

INTERVENER-continued.

vene under the stat. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 144, as in case of suspected collusion between the parties. Dering v. Dering, L. R. 1 P. & M. 531.

INTESTATE.

Without making a will. Thus a person is said to die intestate when he dies without making a will, or dies without leaving anything to testify what his wishes were with respect to the disposal of his property after his death. This word is not only applied to the above-mentioned condition in which a person dies, but is often used to signify the person himself. Thus, in speaking of the property of a person who died intestate, it is common to say the intestate's property, i.e., the property of the person dying in an intestate condition. An intestate is the opposite to a testator, the latter word signifying a man who dies having made a will. It was a rule of the Roman Law that no one could die partly testate and partly intestate (neque enim idem ex parte testatus et ex parte intestatus decedere potest, Just. ii. 14. 5); but nothing is more common in English Law than that the same man should die testate as to part, and intestate as to the rest of his property, unless indeed he has made a residuary bequest or devise, and even in that case a partial intestacy is not infrequent.

INTRUSION (intrusio.) A species of injury by ouster, or amotion of possession from the freehold, being an entry of a stranger, after a particular estate of freehold is determined before him in remainder or reversion, as when a tenant for life dies seised of certain lands and tenements, and a stranger enters thereon after such death, and before any entry made by him in remainder or reversion (F. N. B. 203, 204; 1 Cruise, 161, 316). The word is also applied to copyholds, when a stranger enters or intrudes before the reversioner or remainderman, after the determination of the particular copyhold estate. The writ which lay against such intruders was also called a writ of intrusion. Les Termes de la Ley; Old Nat. Brev. 203.

IN VENTRE SA MÈRE (in its mother's womb.) Every legitimate enfant in ventre sa mère, or in its mother's womb, is supposed in law to be born for many purposes. It is capable of having a legacy, or of receiving a surrender of copyhold lands; so if lands be devised to B. for life, remainder to such child or children as shall be living at the time of his decease, a posthumous child will take equally with those who were born before B.'s death (Doe v. Clark, 2 Hen. Bl. 399; Pearce v. Carrington, L. R. 8 Ch. App. 969). But in the case of

IN VENTRE SA MÈRE—continuel. lands, the produce or profits go in the interim to the heir-at-law, or residuary devisee (if there be any such). Hopkins v. Hopkins, Ca. t. Talb. 44, and Tud. Convey. L. C. p. 711.

INVESTITURE (from the Fr. investir). A ceremony which accompanied the grant of lands in the feudal ages, and consisted in the open and notorious delivery of possession in the presence of the other vassals, which perpetuated among them the era of their new acquisition at the time when the art of writing was very little known, and thus the evidence of the property was reposed in the memory of the neighbourhood, who in case of disputed title were afterwards called upon to decide upon it.

IRELAND. By the stat. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42, s. 7, no part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall be deemed to be beyond the seas, within the meaning of the Statutes of Limitation, as to personal actions, nor is it beyond seas within the meaning of the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 97). By s. 7 of the last-mentioned Act, every bill of exchange or promissory note drawn or made in any part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and made payable in or drawn upon any person resident in any part of the said United Kingdom, shall be deemed to be an inland bill, excepting (if at all) as to the stamp duty. Nevertheless, under the C. L. P. Act, 1852, s. 18, a writ of summons cannot be issued against or served upon a British subject residing in Ireland, in respect of a cause of action accruing in England. It is a rule of law, that every Act of Parliament since the Union (1801) embraces Ireland, unless that country is expressly excluded. Reg. v. Mallow Union, 12 Ir. L. R., Q. B., 35.

IRREPLEVIABLE or IRREPLEVISABLE. Not to be replevied, or set at large on sureties (Cowel). It is contrary to the nature of a distress for rent to be irrepleviable. Tomlins.

ISSUABLE PLEA. An issuable plea is that which puts the merits of the cause, either on the facts or law, in issue; in other words, which will decide the action (Steele v. Harmer, 14 M. & W. 139). It seems, however, to be by no means clear that a plea to be "issuable" must put the substantial or moral merits of the cause at issue. Thus, a plea which goes simply to shew that the plaintiff had no present cause of action, as in an action by an attorney for work and labour, that the plaintiff had not delivered a signed bill a month before

ISSUABLE PLEA-continued.

action brought, has been held an issuable plea (Wilkinson v. Page, 1 Dowl. & L. 913); see also Staples v. Holdsworth, 4 Bing. N. C. 144). Where the Court grants an extension of time, or other like indulgence to a defendant, it is generally upon this condition (among others) that within that extended time he shall "plead issuably." See Smith's Action at Law.

ISSUE (exitus). Is the disputed point or question to which the parties in an action have narrowed their several allegations, and upon which they are desirous of obtaining the decision of the proper tribunal. When the plaintiff and defendant have arrived at some specific point or matter affirmed on the one side and denied on the other, they are said to be at issue (ad exitum, i.e., at the end or result of their pleading); the question so set apart is called the issue, and is designated, according to its nature, as an issue in fact, or an issue in law. If it is an issue in fact, it is almost universally tried by the country (i.e., a jury of twelve men); if an issue in law, by the judges of the land constituting the Court in which the action has been brought. Steph. on Pleading, 25, 4th edit.

ISSUE ROLL. In ancient times it was the practice of the Courts, when the pleadings were carried on orally, to have a contemporaneous record of the proceedings made out upon a parchment roll called the "Issue Roll." This practice, although long grown into disuse, was until recently still supposed in contemplation of law to exist; and the Courts still required that it should be made up, or at all events commenced, or an incipitur, as it was called, was entered upon the roll, and certain fees were paid to the officers for the making it up. Practically, however, this roll was of no use, and in consequence it was by a late rule of Court abolished; and the only entry of the proceedings upon record, in the present day, is that made upon the Nisi Prius Record, or upon the Judgment Roll, according to the nature of the case, and no fees are allowed to be paid in respect of any other entry made or supposed to be made upon any roll or other record whatever. 1 Pl. R. H. T. 4 Will. 4.

ITINERANT. Travelling or moving about; thus the judges who are now called justices of assize, were formerly called justices itinerant, from the circumstance of their travelling into several counties to hear causes ready for trial (3 Bl. 59). These judges were appointed for the first time by King Henry II., at the Parliament of Northampton, in 1187.