Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

NOT GUILTY BY STATUTE

827

NONAGIUM

NONAGIUM, or NONAGE. A ninth £art of movables which was paid to the clergy on the death of persons in their parish, and claimed on pretense of being distributed to pious uses. Blount. NONES. In the Roman calendar. The fifth and, in March, May, July, and October, the seventh day of the month. So called be cause, counting inclusively, they were nine days from the ides. Adams, Roin. Ant. 355, 857. NONFEASANCE. The neglect or fail ure of a person to do some act which he ought to do. The term is not generally used to de note a breach of contract, but rather the fail ure to perform a duty towards the public whereby some individual sustains special damage, as where a sheriff fails to execute a writ. Sweet. NONNA. In old ecclesiastical law. A nun. Nonnus, a monk. Spelman. NONSENSE. Unintelligible matter in « written agreement or will. NONSUIT. Not following up the cause; failure on the part of a plaintiff to continue the prosecution of his suit. An abandon ment or renunciation of his suit, by a plain tiff, either by omitting to take the next nec essary steps, or voluntarily relinquishing the action, or pursuant to an order of the court. An order or judgment, granted upon the trial of a cause, that the plaintiff has abandoned, or shall abandon, the further prosecution of his suit. A voluntary nonsuit is one incurred by the plaintiff's own act or omission, and is a judgment entered against him as a conse quence of his abandoning or not following up his cause, or being absent when his pres ence is required. An involuntary nonsuit is a judgment en tered against the plaintiff by direction of the court when, upon trial, he has not adduced any evidence on which the jury could find a verdict under the rules of law. NOOK OF LAND. Half. Twelve acres and a NORMAL. Opposed to exceptional; that state wherein any body most exactly comports in all its parts with the abstract idea thereof, and is most exactly fitted to perform its proper functions, is entitled "normal." NORMAL LAW. A term employed by modern writers on jurisprudence to denote the law as it affects persons who are in a nor

mal condition; L «., sui juris and sound in mind. NORMAN FRENCH. The tongue in which several formal proceedings of state are still carried on. The language, having remained the same since the date of the Conquest, at which it was introduced into England, is very different from the French of this day, retaining all the peculiarities which at that time distinguished every prov ince from the rest. A peculiar mode of pro nunciation (considered authentic) is handed down and preserved by the officials who have, on particular occasions, to speak the tongue. Norman French was the language of our legal procedure till the 36 Edw. III. Wharton. FORROY. In English law. The title of the third of the three kings-at-arms, or pro vincial heralds. NORTHAMPTON TABLES. Longev ity and annuity tables compiled from bills of mortality kept in All Saints parish, Eng land, in 1735-1780. Noscitur a sociis. It is known from its associates. 1 Yent. 225. The meaning of a word is or may be known from the accom panying words. 3 Terra B. 87; Broom, Max. 588. Noscitur ex socio, qul non cognos oitur ex se. Moore, 817. He who cannot be known from himself may be known from his associate. NOSOCOMI. In the civil law. Persons who have the management and care of hos pitals for paupers. NOT FOUND. These words, indorsed on a bill of indictment by a grand jury, have the same effect as the indorsement "Not a true bill" or "Ignoramus." NOT GUILTY. A plea of the general issue in the actions of trespass and case and in criminal prosecutions. The form of the verdict in criminal cases, where the jury acquit the prisoner. 4 Bl. Comm. 351. NOT GUILTY BY STATUTE. In English practice. A plea of the general is sue by a defendant in a civil action, when he intends to give special matter in evidence by virtue of some act or acts of parliament, in which case he must add the reference to such act or acts, and state wnether such acts are public or otherwise. But, if a defendant so plead, he will not be allowed to plead any

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