Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

DOWER DE LA PLUIS BELLE

394

DRAM

DOZEN PEERS. Twelve peersas sembled at the instance of the barons, in the reign of Henry III., to be privy counselors, or rather conservators of the kingdom. DRACHMA. A term employed in old pleadings and records, to denote a groat. Townsh. PI. 180. An Athenian silver coin, of the value of about 7fd. sterling. DRACO REGIS. The standard, ensign, or military colors borne in war by the an cient kings of England, having the figure of a dragon painted thereon. DRACONIAN LAWS. A code of laws prepared by Draco, the celebrated lawgiver of Athens. These laws were exceedingly severe, and the term is now sometimes ap plied to any laws of unusual harshness. DRAFT. The common term for a bill of exchange; as being draion by one person on another. 2 Bl. Comm. 467. An order for the payment of money drawn by one person on another. It is said to be a nomen generalissimum, and to include all such orders. 1 Story, 30. Draft also signifies a tentative, provisional, or preparatory writing out of any document (as a will, contract, lease, etc.) for purposes of discussion and correction, and which is afterwards to be copied out in its final shape. DRAFTSMAN. Any one who draws or frames a legal document, e. g., a will, con veyance, pleading, etc. DRAGOMAN. An interpreter employed in the east, and particularly at the Turkish court. DRAIN, t>. To make dry; to draw off water; to rid land of its superfluous moisture by adapting or improving natural water courses and supplementing them, when nec essary, by artificial ditches. 58 Cal. 639. DRAIN, n. A trench or ditch to convey water from wet land; a channel through which water may flow off. The word has no technical legal meaning. Any hollow space in the ground, natural or artificial, where water is collected and passes off, is a ditch or drain. 5 Gray, 61. The word "drain" also sometimes denotes the easement or servitude (acquired by grant or prescription) which consists in the right to drain water through another's land. See 3 Kent, Comm. 436. DRAM. In common parlance, this term means a drink of some substance containing

some, only a quarter. 2 Bl. Comm. 132; Litt. § 37. DOWER DE LA PLUIS BELLE. L. Fr. Dower of the fairest [part.] A spe cies of ancient English dower, incident to the old tenures, where there was a guardian in chivalry, and the wife occupied lands of the heir as guardian in socage. If the wife brought a writ of dower against such guard ian in chivalry, he might show this matter, and pray that the wife might be endowed de la pluis belle of the tenement in socage. Litt. § 48. This kind of dower was abol ished with the military tenures. 2 Bl. €omm. 132. DOWER EXASSENSU PATRIS. Dower by the father's assent. A species of dower ad ostium ecclesice, made when the husband's father was alive, and the son, by liis consent expressly given, endowed his wife with parcel of his father's lands. Litt. § 40; 2 Bl. Comm. 133. DOWER UNDE NIHIL HABET. A writ of right which lay for a widow to whom no dower had been assigned. DOWLE STONES. Stones dividing lands, etc Cowell. DOWMENT. In old English law. En dowment; dower. DOWRESS. A woman entitled to dower; a tenant in dower. 2 P. Wms. 707. DOWRY. The property which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; now more commonly called a "portion." By dowry is meant the effects which the wife brings to the husband to support the expenses of marriage. Civil Code La. art. 2337. This word expresses the proper meaning of the "dos" of the Roman, the "dot" of the French, and the "dote" of the Spanish, law, but is a very different thing from "dower," with which it has sometimes been confounded. By dowry, in the Louisiana Civil Code, is meant the effects which the wife brings to the husband to support the expenses of marriage. It is given to the husband, to be enjoyed by him so long as the marriage shall last, and the income of it belongs to him. He alone has the administra tion of it during marriage, and his wife cannot de prive him of it. The real estate settled as dowry is inalienable during marriage, unless the mar riage contract contains a stipulation to the con trary. 6 La. Ann. 786. DOZEIN. L. Fr. Twelve; a person twelve years of age. St. 18 Edw. II.; Bar ring. Ob. St. 208.

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