Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

MEMORY

MERA NOCTIS

767

states of consciousness in their consecutive order. This word, as used in jurisprudence to denote one of the psychological elements necessary in the making of a valid will or con tract or the commission of a crime, implies the mental power to conduct a consecutive train of thought, or an orderly planning of affairs, by recalling correctly the past states of the mind and past events, and arranging them in their due order of sequence and in their logical relations with the events and mental states of the present. The phrase "sound and disposing mind and mem ory" means not merely distinct recollection of the items of one's property and the persons among whom it may be given, but entire power of mind to dispose of property by wilL Abbott. Also the reputation and name, good or bad* which a man leaves at his death. MEMORY, TIME OP. According to the English common law, which has been altered by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 71, the time of memory commenced from the reign of Rich ard I., A. D. 1189. 2 Bl. Comm. 31. MEN OF STRAW. Men who used in former days to ply about courts of law, so called from their manner of making known their occupation, (i. e., by a straw in one of their shoes,) recognized by the name of "straw-shoes." An advocate or lawyer who wanted a convenient witness knew by these signs where to meet with one, and the colloquy between the parties was brief. "Don't you remember?" said the advocate; to which the ready answer was, "To be sure I do." "Then come into court and swear it." And straw-shoes went into court and swore it. Athens abounded in straw-shoes. Quart. Rev. vol. 33, p. 344. MENACE. A threat; the declaration or show of a disposition or determination to in flict an evil or injury upon another. MENETXJM. In old Scotch law. A stock-horn; a horn made of wood, "with circles and girds of the same." Skene. MENIAL. A servant of the lowest or der; more strictly, a domestic servant living under his master's roof. MENS. Lat. Mind; intention; mean ing; understanding; wilL MENS LEGISLATORS. The inten tion of the law-maker. M E N S R E A. Lat. A guilty mind; a guilty or wrongful purpose; a criminal in tent.

Mens testatoris in testamentis speo tanda est. Jenk. Cent. 277. The inten tion of the testator is to be regarded in wills. MENSA. Patrimony or goods and nec essary things for livelihood. Jacob. A ta ble; the table of a money-changer. Dig. 2, 14, 47. MENSA ET THORO. From bed and board. See DIVORCE. MENSAIIIA. Parsonages or spiritual livings united to the tables of religious houses, and called "mensal benefices" amongst the canonists. Cowell. MENSIS. Lat. In the civil and old English law. A month. Mensis vetitus, the prohibited month; fence-month, (q. v.) MENSOR. In the civil law. A measurer of land; a surveyor. Dig. 11, 6; Id. 50, 6» 6; Cod. 12, 28. MENSULARIUS. la the civil law. A money-changer or dealer in money. Dig. 2» 14, 47, 1. MENSURA. In old English law. A measure. MENSURA DOMINI REGIS. "The measure of our lord the king," being the weights and measures established under King Richard I. in his parliament at West minster, 1197. 1 BL Comm. 275; Mozley & Whitley. MENTAL ALIENATION. A phrase sometimes used to describe insanity, (q. v.) MENTAL RESERVATION. A silent exception to the general words of a promise or agreement not expressed, on account of a general understanding on the subject. But the word has been applied to an exception existing in the mind of the one party only, and has been degraded to signify a dishonest excuse for evading or infringing a prom ise. Wharton. MENTIRI. Lat. To lie; to assert a falsehood. Calvin.; 3 Bulst. 260. MENTITION. The act of lying; a false hood. MENU, LAWS OF. A collection or institute of the earliest laws of ancient In dia. The work is of very remote antiquity. MER, or MERE. A fenny place. Cow* elL MERA NOCTIS. Midnight. Cowelk

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