Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

631

INSTITUTES OF LORD COKE

INSTRUMENT

visions of the Corpus Juris Civilis, being an elementary treatise on the Roman law, in four books. This work was compiled from earlier sources, (resting principally on the In stitutes of Gaius,) by a commission composed of Tribonian and two others, by command and under direction of the emperor Justinian, and was first published November 21, A. D. 533. INSTITUTES OF LORD COKE. The name of four volumes by Lord Coke, pub lished A. D. 1628. The first is an extensive comment upon a treatise on tenures, com piled by Littleton, a judge of the common pleas, temp. Edward IV. This comment is a rich mine of valuable common-law learn ing, collected and heaped together from the ancient reports and Year Books, but greatly defective in method. It is usually cited by the name of "Co. Litt.," or as "1 Inst." The second volume is a comment upon old acts of parliament, without systematic order; the third a more methodical treatise on the pleas of the crown; and the fourth an account of the several species of courts. These are cited as 2, 3, or 4 "Inst.," without any au thor's name. Wharton. INSTITUTIO H^REDIS. Lat. In Ro man law. The appointment of the hares in the will. It corresponds very nearly to the nom ination of an executor in English law. With out such an appointment the will was void at law, but the prcetor {i. e., equity) would, under certain circumstances, carry out the intentions of the testator. Brown. INSTITUTION. The commencement or inauguration of anything. The first estab lishment of a law, rule, rite, etc. Any cus tom, system, organization, etc., firmly estab lished An elementary rule or principle. In practice. The commencement of an action or prosecution; as, A. B. has institut ed a suit against C. D. to recover damages for trespass. In political law. A law, rite, or cere mony enjoined by authority as a permanent rule of conduct or of government. Webster. A system or body of usages, laws, or regu lations, of extensive and recurring operation, containing within itself an organism by which it effects its own independent action, contin uance, and generally, its own further devel opment. Its object is to generate, effect, regulate, or sanction a succession of acts, transactions, or productions of a peculiar kind or class. We are likewise in the habit «f calling single laws or usages "institu

tions," if their operation is of vital impor tance and vast scope, and if their continuance is in a high degree independent of any inter fering power. Lieb. Civil Lib. 300. In corporation law. An organization or foundation, for the exercise of some public purpose or function; as an asylum or a uni versity. By the term "institution" in this sense is to be understood an establishment or organization which is permanent in its nat ure, as distinguished from an enterprise or undertaking which is transient and tempo rary. 29 Ohio St. 206; 24 Ind. 391. In ecclesiastical law. A kind of invest iture of the spiritual part of the benefice, as induction is of the temporal; for by institu tion the care of the souls of the parish is committed to the charge of the clerk. Brown. In the civil law. The designation by a testator of a person to be his heir. In jurisprudence. The plural form of this word ("institutions") is sometimes used as the equivalent of "institutes," to denote an elementary text-book of the law. INSTITUTIONES. Works containing the elements of any science; institutions or institutes. One of Justinian's principal law collections, and a similar work of the Roman jurist Gaius, are so entitled. See INSTI TUTES • INSTRUCT. To convey information as a client to an attorney, or as an attorney to a counsel; to authorize one to appear as ad vocate; to give a case in charge to the jury. INSTRUCTION. In French criminal law. The first process of a criminal prosecu tion. It includes the examination of the ac cused, the preliminary interrogation or wit nesses, collateral investigations, the gather ing of evidence, the reduction of the whole to order, and the preparation ot a document con taining a detailed statement of the case, to serve as a brief for the prosecuting officers, and to furnish material for the indictment. INSTRUCTIONS. In common law. Orders given by a principal to his agent in relation to the business of his agency. In practice. A detailed statement of the facts and circumstances constituting a cause of action made by a client to his attorney for the purpose of enabling the latter to draw a proper declaration or procure it to be done by a pleader. INSTRUMENT. A written document; a formal or legal document in writing, such as a contract, deed, will, bond, or lease.

Archive CD Books USA