Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

CAMPERS

CANDLEMAS-DAY

166

ing been killed through negligence; also 20 & 21 Yict. c. 83, in regard to the sale of ob scene books, etc. CAMPERS. A share; a champertor's share; a champertous division or sharing of land. CAMPERTUM. A corn-field; a field of grain. Blount; Cowell; Jacob. CAMPFIGHT. In old English law. The fighting of two champions or combatants in the field; the judicial combat, or duellum. 0 Inst. 221. CAMPUS. In old European law. An assembly of the people; so called from be ing anciently held in the open air, in some plain capable of containing a large number of persons. In feudal and old English law. A field, or plain. The field, ground, or lists marked out for the combatants in the duellum, or trial by battle. CAMPUS MAIL L. Lat. The field of May. An anniversary assembly of the Sax ons, held on May-day, when they confederat ed for the defense of the kingdom against all its enemies. CAMPUS MARTII. Thefieldof March. See CHAMP DE MARS. CAN. A promise to pay as soon as the debtor possibly can is in contemplation of law a promise to pay piesently; the law sup poses every man able to pay his debts. 1 Bibb, 396. CANA. A distance in the measure of ground. CANAL. An artificial ditch or trench in the earth, for confining water to a de fined channel, to be used for purposes of transportation. The meaning of this word, when applied to artificial passages for water, is a trench or excavation in the earth, for conducting water and confining it to nanow limits. It is unlike the words "river," "pond," "lake," and other words used to designate natural bodies of water, the ordinary meaning of which is confined to the water itself; but it includes also the banks, and has reference rather to the excavation or channel us a re ceptacle for the water; it is an artificial thing. 18 Conn. 394. See, also, 103 U. S. 604. CANCEL. To obliterate, strike, or cross out; to destroy the effect of an instrument

by defacing, obliterating, expunging, or eras ing it. See 18 Cal. 451. In equity. Courts of equity frequently cancel instruments which have answered the end for which they were created, or instru ments which are void or voidable, in order to prevent them from being vexatiously used against the person apparently bound by them. Snell, Eq. 498. CANCELLARIA. Chancery; the court of chancery. Curia cancellaria is also used in the same sense. See 4 Bl. Comm. 46; Cowell. Cancellarii Anglise dignitas est, ut se cundus a rege in regno habetur. The dignity of the chancellor of England is that he is deemed the second from the sovereign in the kingdom. 4 Inst. 78. CANCELLAHIUS. A chancellor; a scrivener, or notary. A janitor, or one who stood at the door of the court and was ac customed to carry out the commands of the judges. CANCELLATION. The act of crossing out a writing. The manual operation of tearing or destroying a wiitten instrument. 1 Eq. Cas. Abr. 409; Rob. Wills, 367, n. According to Bartolus, an expunging or wiping out of the contents of an instrument by two lines drawn in the manner of a cross; also used to signify any manner of oblitera tion and defacement. CANCELLATURA. In old English law. A cancelling. Bract. 3986. CANCELLI. The rails or lattice work or balusters inclosing the bar of a court of jus tice or the communion table. Also the lines drawn on the face of a will or other writ ing, with the intention of revoking or an nulling it. CANDIDATE. A person who offers him self, or is presented by others, to be elected to an office. Derived from the Latin candi dus, (white,) because in Rome it was the custom for those who sought office to clothe themselves in white garments. One who seeks or aspires to some office or privilege, or who offers himself for the same. A man is a candidate for an office when he is seeking such office. It is not necessary that he should have been nominated for the office. 112 Pa. St. 624, 4 Atl. Sep. 607. CANDLEMAS-DAY. A festival ap pointed by the church to be observed on th« second day of February in every year, in

Archive CD Books USA