Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

NANTES, EDICT OP

NA1I0NAL DOMICILE

799

respecting the rights and duties which attach to it as a constituent member of the family of nations. Such a society, says Vattel, has her affairs and her interests; she deliberates and takes resolutions in common; thus becoming a moral person, who pos sesses an understanding and will peculiar to her self, and is susceptible of obligations and rights. Vattel, §§ 1,2. The words "nation" and "people" are frequently used as synonyms, but there is a great difference between them. A nation is an aggregation of men speaking the same language, having the same cus toms, and endowed with certain moral qualities which distinguish them from other groups of a like nature. It would follow from this definition that a nation is destined to form only one state, and that it constitutes one indivisible whole. Never theless, the history of every age presents us with nations divided into several states. Thus, Italy was for centuries divided among several different governments. The people is the collection of all citizens without distinction of rank or order. All men living under the same government compose the people of the state. In relation to the state, the citizens constitute the people; in relation to the human race, they constitute the nation. A free nation is one not subject to a foreign govern ment, whatever be the constitution of the state; a people is free when all the citizens can participate in a certain measure in the direction and in the examination of public affairs. The people is the political body brought into existence by community of laws, and the people may perish with these laws. The nation is the moral body, independent of political revolutions, because it is constituted by inborn qualities which render it indissoluble. The state is the people organized into a political body. Lalor, Pol. Enc. s. v. In American constitutional law the word "state" is applied to the several members of the American Union, while the word "na tion " is applied to the whole body of the peo ple embraced within the jurisdiction of the federal government. Cooley, Const. Lim. 1. See 7 Wall. 720. NATIONAL BANK. A bank incorpo rated and doing business under the laws of the United States, as distinguished from a state bank, which derives its powers from the authority of a particular state. NATIONAL CURRENCY. Notes is sued by national banks, and by the United States government. NATIONAL DEBT. Themoneyowing by government to some of the public, the in terest of which is paid out of the taxes raised by the whole of the public. NATIONAL DOMAIN. A term some times applied to the aggregate of the property owned directly by a nation. NATIONAL DOMICILE. The domi cile of a person, considered as being within the territory of a particular nation, and not

NANTES, EDICT OF. A celebrated law for the security of Protestants, made by Henry IV. of France, and revoked by Louis XTV., October 2, 1685. NANTISSEMENT, in French law, is the contract of pledge; if of a movable, it is called "gage;" and if of an immovable, it is called "antichrese." Brown. NARR. A common abbrevation of u nar ratio," {q.v.) A declaration in an action. Jacob. NARRATIO. One of the common law names for a plaintiff's count or declaration, as being a narrative of the facts on which he relies. NARRATIVE. In Scotch conveyancing. That part of a deed which describes the gran tor, and person in whose favor the deed is granted, and states the cause (consideration) of granting. Bell. NARRATOR. A countor; a pleader who draws narn. Serviens narrator, a serjeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. NARROW SEAS. Those seas which run between two coasts not far apart. The term is sometimes applied to the English channel. Wharton. NASCITURXJS. Lat. That shall here after be born. A term used in marriage set tlements to designate the future issue of the marriage, as distinguished from "natus," a child already born. NATALE. The state and condition of a man acquired by birth. NATI ET NASCITURI. Born and to be born. All heirs, near and remote. NATIO. In old records. A native place. Cowell. NATION. A people, or aggregation of men, existing in the form of an organized jural society, inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth, speaking the same language, using the same customs, possessing historic contin uity, and distinguished from other like groups by their racial origin and characteristics, and generally, but not necessarily, living under the same government and sovereignty. Besides the element of autonomy or self-govern ment, that is, the independence of the community as a whole from the interference of any foreign power in its affairs or any subjection to such power, it is further necessary to the constitution of a na tiou that it should be an organized jural society, that is, both governing its own members by regular laws, and defining and protecting their rights, and

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