Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

209

CLAMEA ADMITTENDA, ETC.

CIVIS

in a libel suit to furnish particulars of the facts relied upon in justification. 6 Daly, 446. 2. Under the mechanic's lien law of Penn sylvania, a demand put on record by a me chanic or material-man against a building for work or material contributed to its erec tion is called a "claim." 3. Under the land laws of the United States, the tract of land taken up by a pre emptioner or other settler (and also his pos session of the same) is called a "claim." CLAIM IN EQUITY. In English prac tice. In simple cases, where there was not any great conflict as to facts, and a discovery from a defendant was not sought, but a reference to chambers was nevertheless nec essary before final decree, which would be as of course, all parties being before the court, the summary pioceeding by claim was sometimes adopted, thus obviating the re course to plenary and protracted pleadings. This summary practice was created by orders 22d April, 1850, which came into operation on the 22d May following. See Smith, Ch. Pr. 664. By Consolid. Ord. 1860, viii. r. 4, claims were abolished. Wharton. CLAIM OP CONUSANCE. In prac tice. An intervention by a third person in a suit, claiming that he has rightful juris diction of the cause which the plaintiff has commenced out of the claimant's court. Now obsolete. 2 Wils. 409; 3 Bl. Comm. 298. CLAIM OP LIBERTY. In English practice. A suit or petition to the queen, in the court of exchequer, to have liberties and franchises confirmed there by the attorney general. CLAIMANT. In admiralty practice. The name given to a person who lays cla;m to property seized on a libel in rem, and who is authorized and admitted to defend the action. CLAM. In the civil law. Covertly; se cretly. Clam delinquentes magis puniuntur quam palam. 8 Coke, 127. Those sinning secretly are punished more severely than those sinning openly. CLAM, VI, AUT PRECARIO. A tech nical phrase of the Roman law, meaning by force, stealth, or importunity. CLAMEA ADMITTENDA IN ITIN ERE PER ATTORNATUM. An ancient writ by which the king commanded the jus tices in eyre to admit the claim by atlornej

CIVIS. Lat. In the Roman law. A citizen; as distinguished from incola, (an in habitant;) origin or birth constituting the former, domicile the latter. Code, 10,40, 7. CIVITAS. Lat. In the Roman law. Any body of people living under the same laws; a state. Jus civitatis, the law of a state; civil law. Inst. 1, 2, 1, 2. Cioitates foederatce, towns in alliance with Rome, and considered to be free. Butl. Hor. Jur. 29. Citizenship; one of the three status, con ditions, or qualifications of persons. Mac keld. Eom. Law, § 131. Civitas et urbs in hoc differunt, quod incolse dicuntur civitas, urbs vero com pleetitur sedificia. Co. Litt. 409. A city and a town differ, in this: that the inhabit ants are called the "city," but town includes the buildings. CLAIM, v. To demand as one's own; to assert a personal right to any property or any right; to demand the possession or en joyment of something rightfully one's own, and wrongfully withheld. CLAIM, n. 1. A challenge of the property or ownership of a thing which is wrongfully withheld from the possession of the claim ant. Plowd. 359. A olaim is a right or title, actual or supposed, to a debt, privilege, or other thing in the possession of another; not the possession, but the means by or through which the claimant obtains the posses sion or enjoyment. 2 N. Y. 245, 254. A claim is, in a just, juridical sense, a demand of some matter as of right made by one person upon another, to do or to forbear to do some act or thing as a matter of duty. A more limited, but at the same time an equally expressive, definition was given by Lord Dyer, that "a claim is a chal lenge by a man of the propriety or ownership of a thing, which he has not in possession, but which is wrongfully detained from him." 16 Pet. 615. "Claim" has generally been defined as a demand for a thing, the ownership of which, or an inter est in which, is in the claimant, but the possession of which is wrongfully withheld by another. But a broader meaning must be accorded to it. A de mand for damages for criminal conversation with plaintiff's wife is a claim; but it would be doing violence to language to say that such damages are property of plaintiff which defendant withholds. In common parlance the noun "claim" means an assertion, a pretension; and the verb is often used (not quite correctly) as a synonym for "state," "urge," "insist," or "assert." In a statute au thorizing the courts to order a bill of particulars of the "claim "of either party, "claim "is co-extensive with "case," and embraces all causes of action and all grounds of defense, the pleas of both parties, and pleas in confession and avoidance, no less than complaints and counter-claims. It warrants the court in requiring a defendant who justifies AM. PICT. LAW—14

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