Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

763

MEAN

MEDIATE POWERS

MEASURER, or METER. An officer in the city of London, who measured woolen clothes, coals, etc MEASURING MONET. In old En glish law. A duty which some persons ex acted, by letters patent, for every piece of cloth made, besides alnage. Now abolished. MECHANIC. A workman employed in shaping and uniting materials, such as wood, metal, etc., into some kind of structure, ma chine, or other object, requiring the use of tools. 11 Lea, 517; 13 Pa. St. 525. MECHANIC'S LIEN. A species of lien created by statute in most of the states, which exists in favor of persons who have performed work or furnished material in and for the erection of a building. Their lien at taches to the land as well as the building, and is intended to secure for them a priority of payment. The lien of a mechanic is created by law, and is intended to be a security for the price and value of work performed and materials furnished, and as such it attaches to and ex ists on the land and the building erected thereon, from the commencement of the time that the labor is being performed and the mate rials furnished; and the mechanic has an act ual and positive interest in the building ante rior to the time of its recognition by the court, or the reducing of the amount due to a judg ment. 12 Iowa, 292. MEDERIA. In old records. A house or place where metheglin, or mead, was made. MEDFEE. In old English law. A bribe or reward; a compensation given in exchange, where the things exchanged were not of equal value. Cowell. MEDIA ANNATA. In Spanish law. Half-yearly profits of land. 5 Tex. 34, 79. MEDIA NOX. In old English law. Midnight. Ad medium noctem, at midnight. Fleta, lib. 5, c. 5, § 31. MEDI^J ET INFIRM^I MANUS HOMINES. Men of a middle and base con dition. Blount. MEDIANUS HOMO. A man of middle fortune. MEDIATE POWERS. Those incident to primary powers given by a principal to his agent. For example, the general au thority given to collect, receive, and pay debts due by or to the principal is a primary pow er. In order to accomplish this, it is fre

MEAN, or MESNE. A middle between two extremes, whether applied to persons, things, or time. MEANDER. To meander means to fol low a winding or flexuous course; and when it is said, in a description of land, "thence with the meander of the river," it must mean a meandered line,—a line which follows the sinuosities of the river,—or, in other words, that the river is the boundary between the points indicated. 14 Or. 341, 12 Fac. Rep. 495; 10 Minn. 100, (Gil. 75.) This term is used in some jurisdictions with the meaning of surveying and mapping a stream according to its meanderings, or wind ings and turnings. See 2 Wis. 317. MEANS. 1. The instrument or agency through which an end or purpose is accom plished. 2. Resources; available property; money or property, as an available instrumentality for effecting a purpose, furnishing a livelihood, paying a debt, or the like. MEANS OP SUPPORT. Thisterm em braces all those resources from which the necessaries and comforts of life are or may be supplied, such as lands, goods, salaries, wages, or other sources of income. 71 111. 241. MEASE, or MESE. Norman-French for a house. Litt. §§ 74, 251. MEASON-DUE. (Corruption of maison de Dieu.) A house of God; a monastery; religious house or hospital. See 39 Eliz. c. 5. MEASURE. That by which extent or dimension is ascertained, either length, breadth, thickness, capacity, or amount. Webster. The rule by which anything is ad justed or proportioned. MEASURE OF DAMAGES. The rule, or rather the system of rules, governing the adjustment or apportionment of damages as a compensation for injuries in actions at law. MEASURE OF VALUE. In the ordi nary sense of the word, "measure" would mean something by comparison with which we may ascertain what is the value of any thing. When we consider, further, that value itself is relative, and that two things are nec essary to constitute it, independently of the third thing, which is to measure it, we may define a "measure of value" to be something by comparing with which any two other things we may infer their value in relation to one another. 2 Mill, Pol. Econ. 101.

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