Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

MORAVIANS

789

MORTGAGE

does not proceed in pleading, but rests or abides upon the judgment of the court on a certain point, as to the legal sufficiency of his opponent's pleading. The court deliber ate and determine thereupon. MORAVIANS. Othei wise called "Herrn hutters" or "United Brethren." A sect of Christians whose social polity is particular and conspicuous. It sprung up in Moravia and Bohemia, on the opening of that reforma tion which stripped the chair of St. Peter of so many votaries, and gave birth to so many denominations of Christians. They give ev idence on their solemn affirmation. 2Steph. Comm. 338/J. MORBUS SONTICUS. Lat. In the civil law. A sickness which rendered a man incapable of attending to business. MORE COLONICO. Lat. In old pleading. In husband-like manner. Townsh. PI. 198. MORE OR LESS. This phrase, insert ed in a conveyance of land immediately aft er the statement of the quantity of land con reyed, means that such statement is not to be taken as a warranty of the quantity, but only an approximate estimate, and that the tract or parcel described is to pass, without regard to an excess or deficiency in the quan tity it actually contains. MORGANATIC MARRIAGE. The lawful and inseparable conjunction of a man, of noble or illustrious birth, with a woman of inferior station, upon condition that neither the wife nor her children shall partake of the titles, arms, or dignity of the husband, or succeed to his inheritance, but be contented with a certain allowed rank assigned to them by the morganatic contract. But since these restrictions relate only to the rank of the parties and succession to property, without affecting the nature of a matrimonial en gagement, it must be considered as a just marriage. The marriage ceremony was reg ularly performed; the union was indissolu ble; the children legitimate. Wharton. MORGANGINA, or MORGANGIVA. A gift on the morning after the wedding; dowry; the husband's gift to his wife on the day after the wedding. Du Cange; Cowell. MORGEN. Anglo-Dutch. In old New York law. A measure of land, equal to about two acres. MORGUE. A place where the bodies of persons found dead are kept for a limited

time and exposed to view, to the end that their friends may identify them. MORMONISM. A social and religious system prevailing in the territory of Utah, a distinctive feature of which is thepractice of polygamy. These plural marriages are not recognized bylaw, but are indictable offenses under the statutes of the United States and of Utah. MORS. Lat. Death. Mors dicitur ultimum supplicium. Death is called the "last punishment," the "extremity of punishment." 3 Inst. 212. Mors omnia solvit. Death dissolves all things. Jenk. Cent. p. 160, case 2. Applied to the case of the death of a party to an ac tion. MORSELLUM, or MORSELLUS, TERR^I. In old English law. A small parcel or bit of land. MORT CIVILE. In French law. Civil death, as upon conviction for felony. It was nominally abolished by a law of the 31st of May, 1854, but something very similar to it, in effect at least, still remains. Thus, the property of the condemned, possessed by him at the date of his conviction, goes and be longs to his successors, (h6ritiers,) as incase of an intestacy; and his future acquired prop erty goes to the state by right of its preroga tive, (par droit de desMrence,) but the state may, as a matter of grace, make it over in whole or in part to the widow and children. Brown. MORT D'ANCESTOR. An ancient and now almost obsolete remedy in the En glish law. An assize of mort d 1 ancestor was a writ which lay for a person whose ances tor died seised of lands in fee-simple, and after his death a stranger abated; and this writ directed the sheriff to summon a jury or assize, who should view the land in question and recognize whether such ancestor were seised thereof on the day of his death, and whether the demandant were the next heir. MORTALITY. This word, in its ordi nary sense, never means violent death, but death arising from natural causes. 5 Barn. & Aid. 110; 3 Barn. & C. 793. MORTGAGE. An estate created by a conveyance absolute in its form, but intended to secure the performance of some act, such as the payment of money, and the like, by the grantor or some other person, and to become void if the act is performed agreeably to the

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