Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

CIVIL LIBERTY

CIVILIZATION

208

rnent of civil rights, as distinguished from criminal law. CIVIL LIBERTY. The liberty of a member of society, being a man's natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no further) as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public. 1 Bl. Comm. 125; 2 Steph. Comm. 487. The power of doing whatever the laws permit. 1 Bl. Comm. 6; Inst. 1, 3,1. See LIBERTY. CIVIL LIST. In English public law. An annual sum granted by parliament, at the commencement of each reign, for the expense of the royal household and establishment, as distinguished from the general exigencies of the state, being a provision made for the crown out of the taxes in lieu of its pioper patrimony, and in consideration of the as signment of that patrimony to the public use. 2 Steph. Comm. 591; 1 Bl. Comm. 332. CIVIL OBLIGATION. An obligation binding in law, and enforceable in a court of justice. Poth. Obi. 173, 191. CIVIL OFFICER. Any officer of the United States who holds his appointment under the national government, whether his duties are executive or judicial, in the high est or the lowest departments of the govern ment, with the exception of officers of the army and navy. 1 Story, Const. § 792. CIVIL REMEDY. The remedy afforded by law to a private person in the civil courts in so far as his private and individual rights have been injured by a delict or crime; as distinguished from the remedy by criminal prosecution for the injury to the rights of the public. CIVIL RESPONSIBILITY. The lia bility to be called upon to respond to an ac tion at law for an injury caused by a delict or crime, as opposed to criminal responsibili ty, or liability to be proceeded against in a criminal tribunal. CIVIL RIGHTS. Rights appertaining to a person in virtue of his citizenship in a state or community. Rights capable of be ing enforced or redressed in a civil action. Also a term applied to certain rights secured to citizens of the United States by the thir teenth and fourteenth amendments to the constitution, and by various acts of congress made in pursuance thereof. CIVIL SERVICE. This term properly includes all functions under the government, except military functions. Ti a general it is

confined to functions in the great adminis trative departments of state. Wharton. CIVIL SIDE. When the same court has jurisdiction of both civil and criminal mat ters, proceedings of the first class are often said to be on the civil side; those of the sec ond, on the criminal side. CIVIL WAR. An internecine war. A war carried on between opposing masses of citizens of the same country or nation. Before the declaration of independence, the war between Great Britain and the United Colonies was a civil war; but instantly on that event the war changed its nature, and became a public war between independent governments. 3 Dall. 199, 224. CIVILIAN. One who is skilled or versed in the civil law. A doctor, professor, or stu dent of the civil law. Also a private citizen, as distinguished from such as belong to the army and navy or (in England) the church. CIVILIS. Civil, as distinguished from criminal. Civilis actio, a civil action. Bract, fol. 1016. CIVILISTA. In old English law. A civil lawyer, or civilian. Dyer, 267. CIVILITER. Civilly. In a person's civil character or position, or by civil (not criminal) process or procedure. This term is used in distinction or opposition to the word "criminaliter," —criminally,—to dis tinguish civil actions from criminal prosecu tions. CIVILITER MORTUUS. Civilly dead; dead in the view of the law. The condition of one who has lost his civil rights and ca pacities, and is accounted dead in law. CIVILIZATION. In practice. A law; an act of justice, or judgment which renders a criminal process civil; performed by turn ing an information into an inquest, or the contrary. Wharton. In public law. This is a term which covers several states of society; it is relative, and has not a fixed sense, but it implies an improved and progressive condition of the people, living under an organized govern ment, with systematized labor, individual ownership of the soil, individual accumula tions of property, humane and somewhat cultivated manners and customs, the institu tion of the family, with well-defined and re spected domestic and social relations, insti tutions of learning, intellectual activity, etc 19 Ind. 56.

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