Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

FORTUITOUS EVENT

512

FORT

FORT. This term means "something more than a mere military camp, post, or station. The term implies a fortification, or a place protected from attack by some such means as a moat, wall, or parapet." 12 Fed. Rep. 424. FOBTALICE. A fortress or place of strength, which anciently did not pass with out a special grant. 11 Hen. Vll. c. 18. FORTALITIUM. In old Scotch law. A fortalice; a castle. Properly a house or tower which lias a battlement or a ditch or moat about it. FORTHCOMING. In Scotch law. The action by which an arrestment (garnish ment) is made effectual. It is a decree or process by which the creditor is given the right to demand that the sum arrested be applied for payment of his claim. 2 Kames, Eq. 288, 289; Bell. FORTHCOMING BOND. A bond given to a sheriff who has levied on proper ty, conditioned that the property shall be forthcoming, i. e., produced, when required. On the giving of such bond, the goods are allowed to remain in the possession of the debtor. 2 Wash. (Va.) 189; 11 Grat. 522; 61 Ga. 520. The sheriff or other officer levying a writ of fieri facias, or distress warrant, may take from the debtor a bond, with sufficient surety, payable to the creditor, reciting the service of such writ or warrant, and the amount due thereon, (including his fee for taking the bond, commissions, and other lawful charges, if any,) with condition that the property shall be forthcoming at the day and place of sale; whereupon such property may be per mitted to remain in the possession and at the risk of the debtor. Code Va. 1887, § 3617. FORTHWITH. As soon as, by reason able exertion, confined to the object, a thing may be done. Thus, when a defendant is ordered to plead forthwith, he must plead within twenty-four hours. When a statute enacts that an act is to be done "forthwith," it means that the act is to be done within a reasonable time. 1 Chit. Archb. Pr. (12th Ed.) 164. FORTIA. Force. In old English law. Force used by an accessary, to enable the principal to commit a crime, as by binding or holding a person while another killed him, or by aiding or counseling in any way, or commanding the act to be done. Bract, fols. 138, 1386. According to Lord Coke, fortia was a word of art, and properly signified the furnishing of a weapon of force to do the •act, and by force whereof the fact was com

mitted, and he that furnished it was not pres ent when the fact was done. 2 Inst. 182. FORTIA FRISCA. Fresh force, {q. v.) FORTILITY. In old English law. A fortified place; a castle; a bulwark. Cowell; 11 Hen. VII. c 18. FORTIOR. Lat. Stronger. A term ap plied, in the law of evidence, to that species of presumption, arising from facts shown in evidence, which is strong enough to shift the burden of proof to the opposite party. Bur* rill, Circ. Ev. 64, 66. Fortior est custodia legis quam hom inis. 2 liolle, 325. The custody of the law is stronger than that of man. Fortior et potentior est dispositio legis quam hominis. The disposition of the law is of greater force and effect than that of man. Co. Litt. 234a; Shep. Touch. 302; 15 East, 178. The law in some cases overrides the will of the individual, and ren ders ineffective or futile his expressed inten tion or contract. Broom, Max. 697. FORTIORI. See A FORTIORI. FORTIS. Strong. Fortts et sana, strong and sound; staunch and strong; as a vessel. Townsh. PI. 227. FORTLETT. A place or port of some strength; a little fort. Old Nat. Brev. 45. FORTUIT. In French law. Accidental; fortuitous. Cas fortuit, a fortuitous event. Fortuitment, accidentally; by chance. FORTUITOUS. Accidental; undesigned; adventitious. Resulting from unavoidable physical causes. FORTUITOUS COLLISION. In mari time law. The accidental running foul of vessels. 14 Pet. 112. FORTUITOUS EVENT. In the civil law. That which happens by a cause which cannot be resisted. An unforseen occurrence, not caused by either of the parties, nor such as they could prevent. In French it is called "cos fortuit." Civil Code La. art. 3556, no. 15. There is a difference between a fortuitous event, or inevitable accident, and irresistible force. By the former, commonly called the "act of God," it meant any accident produced by physical causes which are irresistible; such as a loss by lightning or storms, by the perils of the seas, by inundations and earthquakes, or by sudden death or illness. By the latter is meant such an interposition of human agency as is, from its nature and power, absolutely uncontrollable. Of this nature are losses

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