Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

ABILITY

ABETTOR

another to commit a crime; a person who, be ing present or in the neighborhood, incites another to commit a crime, and thus becomes a principal. The distinction between abettors and ac cessaries is the presence or absence at the commission of the crime. Cowell; Fleta, lib. 1, c. 34. Presence and participation are nec essary to constitute a person an abettor. 4 Shars. Bl. Comin. 33; Russ. & R. 99; 9 Bing. N. C. 440; 13 Mo. 382; 1 Wis. 159; 10 Pick. 477. ABEYANCE. In the law of estates. Ex pectation; waiting; suspense; remembrance and contemplation in law. Where there is no person in existence in whom an inherit ance can vest, it is said to be in abeyance, that is, in expectation; the law considering it as always potentially existing, and ready to vest whenever a proper owner appears. 2 Bl. Comm. 107. Or, in other words, it is said to be in the remembrance, consideration, and intendment of the law. Co. Litt. §§ 646, 650. The term "abeyance" is also sometimes applied to personal property. Thus, in the case of maritime captures during war, it is said that, until the capture becomes invested with the character of prize by a sentence of condemnation, the right of property is in abeyance, or in a state of legal sequestration. 1 Kent, Comm. 102. It has also been applied to the franchises of a corporation. "When a corporation is to be brought into existence by some future acts of the corporators, the fran chises remain in abeyance, until such acts are done; and, when the corporation is brought into life, the franchises instantaneously at tach to it." Story, J., 4 Wheat. 691. ABIATICUS, or Aviatious. L. Lat. In feudal law. A grandson; the son of a son. Spelman; Lib. Feud., Baraterii, tit. 8, cited Id. ABIDE. To "abide the order of the court" means to perform, execute, or conform to such order. 8 Cush. 297; 7 Tex. App. 38; 108 Mass. 585. A stipulation in an arbitration bond that the parties shall "abide by" the award of the arbitrators means only that they shall await the award of the arbitrators, without revok ing the submission, and not that they shall acquiesce in the award when made. 6 N. H. 162; 48 N. H. 40. ABIDING BY. In Scotch law. A ju dicial declaration that the party abides by the deed on which he founds, in an action where the deed or writing is attacked as forged.

Unless this be done, a decree that the deed is false will be pronounced. Pat. Comp. It has the effect of pledging the party to stand the consequences of founding on a forged deed. Bell. ABIGEATOBES. In the civillaw. Cat tle stealers; those who drove away cattle or other animals, with the intention of stealing them. A rarer form of abigei, (q. v.) Cal vin. ABIGEATUS. Lat. (From abigere, to drive away.) In the civil law. The offense of stealing or driving away cattle. Dig. 47, 14,2. ABIGEI. Lat. In the civil law. Cattle stealers. Dig. 47, 14, 1, 1. Calvin.; Bris sonius; 4 Bl. Comm. 239. See ABIGEUS. ABIGERE. Lat. (From ab, from; and agere, to drive.) In the civil law. To drive away. Applied to those who drove away ani mals with the intention of stealing them. Dig. 47, 14, "De abigeis." Applied, also, to the similar offense of cattle stealing on the borders between England and Scotland. Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, In trod. Append. No. vii. ABIGERE. To drive out; to expel by force; to produce abortion. Dig. 47,11, 4. ABIGEUS. Lat. (From abigere, to drive away.) In the civil law. A stealer of cat tle; one who drove or drew away (subtraxit) cattle from their pastures, as horses or oxen from the herds, and made booty of them, and who followed this as a business or trade. Dig. 47, 14, 1, 1. The term was applied also to those who drove away the smaller animals, as swine, sheep, and goats. Id. 47, 14, 1, 2. In the latter case, it depended on the number taken, whether the offender was fur (a com mon thief) or abigeus. Id. 47, 14, 3. But the taking of a single horse or ox seems to have constituted the crime of abigeatus. Dig. 47,14,3. And those who frequently did this were clearly abigei, though they took but an animal or two at a time. Id. 47,14,3,2. See Cod. 9, 37; Nov. 22, c. 15, § 1. ABILITY. When a statute makes it a ground of divorce that the husband has neg lected to provide for his wife the common necessaries of life, having the ability to pro vide the same, the word "ability" has refer ence to the possession by the husband of th« means in property to provide such necessa ries, not to his capacity of acquiring such means by labor. 9 Cal. 476.

Archive CD Books USA