Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT

413

ELISORS

for the public advantage, and subject to govern mental control and visitation; whereas a private corporation, especially one organized for charita ble purposes, is the creature of private benefac tion, endowed and founded by private individuals, and subject to their control, laws, and visitation, and not to those of the government. 4 Wheat. 518, 660. ELEGANTER. In the civil law. Ac curately; with discrimination. 3 Story, 611, 636. ELEGIT. (Lat. He has chosen.) This is the name, in English practice, of a writ of execution first given by the statute of Westm. 2 (13 Edw. I. c. 18) either upon a judgment for a debt or damages or upon the forfeiture of a recognizance taken in the king's court. It is so called because it is in the choice or election of the plaintiff whether he will sue out this writ or a fl. fa. By it the defendant's goods and chattels are ap praised, and all of them (except oxen and beasts of the plow) are delivered to the plaintiff, at such reasonable appraisement and price, in part satisfaction of his debt. If the goods are not sufficient, then the moie ty of his freehold lands, which he had at the time of the judgment given, are also to be deliveied to the plaintiff, to hold till out of the rents and profits thereof the debt be lev ied, or till the defendant's interest be expired. During this period the plaintiff is called "tenant by elegit," and his estate, an "es tate by elegit." This writ, or its analogue, is in use in some of the United States, as Vir ginia and Kentucky. See 3 Bl. Comm. 418; 4 Kent, Comm. 431, 436, and notes; 10 Grat. 580. ELEMENTS. The forces of nature. The elements are the means through which God acts, and "damages by the elements" means the same thing as "damages by the act of God." 35Cal. 416. ELIGIBLE. As applied to a candidate for an elective office, this term means capa ble of being chosen; the subject of selection or choice; and also implies competency to hold the office if chosen. 15 Ind. 331; 15 Cal. 121; 14 Wis. 497. ELIMINATION. In old English law. The act of banishing or turning out of doors; rejection. ELINGUATION. The punishment of cutting out the tongue. ELISORS. In practice. Electors or choosers. Persons appointed by the court to execute writs of venire, in cases where both

in the United States, to the body of electors chosen by the people to elect the president and vice-president. Webster. ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT. Per sons chosen by the people at a so-called "presi dential election," to elect a president and vice-president of the United States. ELEEMOSYNA REGIS, and IJLEE MOSYNA ARATRI, or CARUCARUM. A penny which King Ethelred ordered to be paid for every plow in England towards the support of the poor. Leg. Ethel, c. 1. ELEEMOSYNA. Possessions belong ing to the church. Blount. ELEEMOSYNARIA. The place in a religious house where the common alms were deposited, and thence by the almoner dis tributed to the poor. In old English, law. The aumeiie, aum bry, or ambry; words still used in common speech in the north of England, to denote ELEEMOSYNARIUS. In old English law. An almoner, or chief officer, who re ceived the eleemosynary rents and gifts, and in due method distributed them to pious and charitable uses. Cowell; Wharton. The name of an officer (lord almoner) of the English kings, in former times, who dis tributed the royal alms or bounty. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 23. ELEEMOSYNARY. Relating to the distribution of alms, bounty, or charity; charitable. ELEEMOSYNARY CORPORA TIONS. Such as are constituted for the perpetual distribution of the free alms and bounty of the founder, in such manner as he has directed; and in this class are ranked hospitals for the relief of poor and impo tent persons, and colleges for the promotion of learning and piety, and the support of persons engaged in literary pursuits. These coipoiations are lay, and not ecclesiastical, even though composed of ecclesiastical per sons, and although they in some things par take of the nature, privileges, and restric tions of ecclesiastical bodies. 1 £1. Comm. 471. Eleemosynary corporations are for the manage ment of private property according to the will of the donors. They are private lay corporations, «uch as colleges, hospitals, etc. They differ from civil corporations in that the former are the mere •creatures of public institution, created exclusively a pantry or cupboard. Cowell. The office of almoner. Cowell.

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