Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

INFORMATION, ETC.

620

INFERIOR COURT

bound to obey it, the inferior. 1 Bouv. Inst. no. 8. INFERIOR COURT. This term may denote any court subordinate to the chief ap pellate tribunal in the particular judicial sys tem; but it is commonly used as the designa tion of a court of special, limited, or statuto ry jurisdiction, whose record must show the existence and attaching of jurisdiction in any given case, in order to give presumptive va lidity to its judgment. See Cooley, Const. Lira. 508. The English courts of judicature are classed generally under two heads,—the su perior courts and the inferior courts; the former division comprising the courts at Westminster, the latter comprising all the other courts in general, many of which, how ever, are far from being of inferior impor tance in the common acceptation of the word. Brown. INFEUDATION. The placing in pos session of a freehold estate; also the granting of tithes to laymen. INFICIARI. Lat. In the civil law. To deny; to deny one's liability; to refuse to pay a debt or restore a pledge; to deny the allega tion of a plaintiff; to deny the charge of an accuser. Calvin. INFICIATIO. Lat. In the civil law. Denial; the denial of a debt or liability; the denial of the claim or allegation of a party plaintiff. Calvin. INFIDEL. One who does not believe in the existence of a God who will reward or punish in this world or that which is to come. Willes, 550. One who professes no religion that can bind his conscience to speak the truth. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 368. IN FID E LIS. In old English law. An infidel or heathen. In feudal law. One who violated fealty. INFIDELITAS. In feudal law. Infi delity; faithlessness to one's feudal oath. Spelman. INFIDUCIARE. In old European law. To pledge property. Spelman. INFIHT. Sax. An assault made on a person inhabiting the same dwelling. Inflnitum in jure reprobatur. That which is endless is reprobated in law. 12 Ooke, 24. Applied to litigation.

INFIRM. Weak, feeble. The testimony of an "infirm" witness may be taken de bene esse in some circumstances. See 1 P. Wms. 117. INFIRMATIVE. In the law of evidence. Having the quality of diminishing force; having a tendency to weaken or render in firm. 3Benth. Jud.Ev. 14; Best, Pres. § 217. INFIRMATIVE CONSIDERATION. In the law of evidence. A consideration, supposition, or hypothesis of which the crim inative facts of a case admit, and which tends to weaken the inference or presumption of guilt deducible from them. Burrill, Circ. Ev. 153-155. INFIRMATIVE FACT. In the law of evidence. A fact set up, proved, or even supposed, in opposition to the criminative facts of a case, the tendency of which is to weaken the force of the inference of guilt deducible from them. 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 14; Best, Pres. § 217, et seq. INFIRMATIVE HYPOTHESIS. A term sometimes used in criminal evidence to denote an hypothesis or theory of the case which assumes the defendant's innocence, and explains the criminative evidence in a man ner consistent with that assumption. INFORMAL. Deficient in legal form; inartificially drawn up. INFORMALITY. Want of legal form. INFORMATION. In practice. An accusation exhibited against a person for some criminal offense, without an indict ment. 4 Bl. Comin. o08. An accusation in the nature of an indict ment, from which it differs only in being pre sented by a competent public officer on his oath of office, instead of a grand jury on their oath. 1 Bish. Crim. Proc. § 141. The word is also frequently used in the law in its sense of communicated knowledge, and affidavits are frequently made, and pleadings and other documents verih'ed, on "informa tion and belief." In French law. The act or instrument which contains the depositions of witnesses against the accused. Poth. Proc. Civil, § 2, art. 5. INFORMATION IN THE NATURE OF A QUO WARRANTO. A proceeding against the usurper of a franchise or office. See Quo WARKANTO.

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