Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

PLAIN STATEMENT

900

PLACITA

In the civil law. The decrees or consti tutions of the emperor; being the expressions of his will and pleasure. Calvin. PLACITA COMMUNIA. Common pleas. All civil actions between subject and subject. 3 BL Comm. 38, 40. PLACITA CORONA. Pleas of the crown. All trials for crimes and misdemean ors, wherein the king is plaintiff, on behalf of the people. 3 Bl. Comm. 40. Placita de transgressione contra pa cem regis, in regno Anglise vi et armis facta, secundum legem et consuetudi nem Anglise sine brevi regis placitari non debent. 2 Inst. 811. Pleas of tres pass against the peace of the king in the kingdom of England, made with force and arms, ought not, by the law and custom of England, to be pleaded without the king's writ. PLACITA JURIS. Pleas or rules of law; "particular and positive learnings of laws;" "grounds and positive learnings received with the law and set down;" as distinguished from maxims or the formulated conclusions of legal reason. Bac. Max, pref., and reg. 12. Placita negativa duo exitum non faci unt. Two negative pleas do not form an is sue. Lofft, 415. PLACITABILE. In old English law. Pleadable. Spelman. PLACITAMENTUM. In old records. The pleading of a cause. Spelman. PLACITARE. To plead. P L A C I T A T O R. In old records. A pleader. Cowell; Spelman. PLACITORY. Kelating to pleas or pleading. PLACITUM. In old English law. A public assembly at which the king presided, and which comprised men of all degrees, met for consultation about the great affairs of the kingdom. Cowell. A court; a judicial tribunal; a lord's court. Placita was the style or title of the courts at the beginning of the old nisi prius record. A suit or cause in court; a judicial pro ceeding; a trial. Placita were divided into placita corona (crown cases or pleas of the crown, i. e., criminal actions) and placita communia, (common cases or common pleas, i. e. t private civil actions.)

A fine, mulct, or pecuniary punishment. A pleading or plea. In this sense, the term was not confined to the defendant's answer to the declaration, but included all the pleadings in the cause, being nomen gen eralissimum. 1 Saund. 388, n. 6. In the old reports and abridgments, "placi tum* was the name of a paragraph or sub division of a title or page where the point decided in a cause was set out separately. It is commonly abbreviated "pi." In the civil law. An agreement of parties; that which is their pleasure to ar range between them. An imperial ordinance or constitution; literally, the prince's pleasure. Inst. 1, 2, 6. A judicial decision; the judgment, decree, or sentence of a court. Calvin. Placitum aliud personale, aliud reale, aliud mixtum. Co. Litt. 284. Pleas [i.e., actions] are personal, real, and mixed. PLACITUM FRACTUM. A day past or lost to the defendant. 1 Hen. I. c. 59. PLACITUM NOMINATUM. Theday appointed for a criminal to appear and plead and make his defense. Cowell. PLAGIARISM. The act of appropriat ing the literary composition of another, oi parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one's own mind. PLAGIARIST, or PLAGIARY. One who publishes the thoughts and writings ol another as his own. PLAGIARIUS. Lat. In the civil law. A man-stealer; a kidnapper. Dig. 48,15,1, 4 Bl. Comm. 219. PLAGIUM. Lat. In the civil law. Man-stealing; kidnapping. The offense of enticing away and stealing men, children, and slaves. Calvin. The persuading a slave to escape from his master, or the concealing or harboring him without the knowledge oi his master. Dig. 48, 15, 6. PLAGUE. Pestilence; a contagious and malignant fever. PLAIDEUR. Pr. An obsolete term foi an attorney who pleaded the cause of his cli ent; an advocate. PLAIN STATEMENT is one that may be readily understood, not merely by lawyers, but by all who are sufficiently acquainted witb the language in which it is written. 5 Sandf. 557, 5(34.

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