Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

1068

SEAL

SCBUTATOB

SEA-BATTERIES. Assaults by masters in the merchant service upon seamen at sea. SEA-BED. All that portion of land un der the sea that lies beyond the sea-shore. SEA-BRIEF. See SKA-LETTER. SEA-GREENS. In the Scotch law. Grounds overflowed by the sea in spring tides. Bell. SEA-LAWS. Laws relating to the sea, as the laws of Oleron, etc. SEA-LETTER. A species of manifest, containing a description of the ship's cargo, with the port from which it comes and the port of destination. This is one of the docu ments necessary to be carried by all neutral vessels, in the merchant service, in time of war, as an evidence of their nationality. 4 Kent, Comm. 157. SEA-REEVE. An officer in maritime towns and places who took care of the mari time rights of the lord of the manor, and watched the shore, and collected wrecks for the lord. Tomlins. SEA ROVERS. Pirates and robbers at sea. SEA-SHORE. The margin of the sea in its usual and ordinary state. When the tide is out, low-water mark is the margin of the sea; and, when the sea is full, the margin is high-water mark. The sea-shore is therefore all the ground between the ordinary high water mark and low-water mark. It cannot be considered as including any ground al ways covered by the sea, for then it would have no definite limit on the sea-boaid. Neither can it include any part of the upland, for the same reason. 6 Mass. 439; 15 Me. 237. That space of land over which the waters of the sea are spread in the highest water during the winter season. Civil Code La. art. 442. SEAL. An impression upon wax, wafer, or some other tenacious substance capable of being impressed. 5 Johns. 239; 4 Kent, Comm. 452. A seal is a particular sign, made to attest, in the most formal manner, the execution of an instrument. Code Civil Proc. Cal. § 1930. Merlin defines a seal to be a plate of metal with a fiat surface, on which is engraved the arms of a prince or nation, or private individual, or other device, with which an impression may be made on wax or other substance on paper or parchment

SCRUTATOR. Lat. In old English law. A searcher or bailiff of a river; a water-bailiff, whose business was to look to the king's rights, as his wrecks, his flotsam, jetsam, water-strays, royal fishes. Hale, de Jure Mar. pars 1, c. 5. SCUSSUS. In old European law. Shaken or beaten out; threshed, as grain. Spelman. SCUTAG-E. In feudal law. A tax or contribution raised by those that held lands by knight's service, towards furnishing the king's army, at the rate of one, two, or three marks for every knight's fee. A pecuniary composition or commutation made by a tenant by knight-service in lieu of actual service. 2 Bl. Comm. 74. A pecuniary aid or tribute originally re served by particular lords, instead or in lieu of personal service, varying in amount ac cording to the expenditure which the lord had to incur in his personal attendance upon the king in his wars. Wright, Ten. 121 134. SCUTAGIO HABENDO. A writ that anciently lay against tenants by knight's service to serve in the wars, or send suffi cient persons, or pay a certain sum. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 83. SCUTE. A French coin of gold, coined A. D. 1427, of the value of 3s. 4d. SCUTELLA. A scuttle; anything of a flat or broad shape like a shield. Cowell. SCUTELLA ELEEMOSYNARIA. An alms-basket. SCUTIFER. In old records. Esquire; the same as "armiger." Spelman. SCUTUM ARMORUM. A shield or coat of arms. Cowell. SCYRA. In old English law. Shire; county; the inhabitants of a county. SCYREGEMOTE. In Saxon law. The meeting or court of the shire. This was the most important court in the Saxon polity, having jurisdiction of both ecclesiastical and secular causes. Its meetings were held twice in the year. Its Latin name was "curia eomitatit." SE DEFENDENDO. Lat. In defend ing himself; in self-defense. Homicide com mitted se dsfmdendo is excusable. SEA. The ocean; the great mass of water which surrounds the land.

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