Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

PRAGMATIC SANCTION

PREBEND

925

to rank, beginning with the queen's attorney general, and ending with barristers at large 3 Steph. Comm. 387, note. PRE - EMPTION. In international law. The right of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase. 1 Chit. Com. Law, 103. In English law. The first buying of a thing. A privilege formerly enjoyed by the crown, of buying up provisions and other necessaries, by the intervention of the king's purveyors, for the use of his I oyal household, at an appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even without consent of the owner. 1 Bl. Comm. 287. In the United States, the right of pre-emp tion is a privilege accorded by the government to the actual settler upon a certain limited portion of the public domain, to purchase such tract at a fixed price to the exclusion of all other applicants. PRE-EMPTION CLAIMANT. One who has settled upon land subject to pre emption, with the intention to acquire title to it, and has complied, or is proceeding to comply, in good faith, with the requirements of the law to perfect his right to it. 97 U. S. 575, 581. PRE-EMPTION RIGHT. The right given to settlers upon the public lands of the United States to purchase them at a limited price in preference to others. PRE-EMPTIONER. One who, by set tlement upon the public land, or by cultiva tion of a portion of it, has obtained the right to purchase a portion of the land thus set tled upon or cultivated, to the exclusion of all other persons. 5 "Wis. 480. PREAMBLE. The introductory clause or section of a statute is so termed. It us ually recites the objects and intentions of the legislature in passing the statute, and frequently points out the evils or grievances intended to be remedied. PREBEND. In English ecclesiastical law. A stipend granted in cathedral churches; also, but improperly, a prebend ary. A simple prebend is merely a revenue; a prebend with dignity has some jurisdic tion attached to it. The term "prebend" is generally confounded with "canonicate;" but there is a difference between them. The former is the stipend granted to an ecclesias

In the civil law. The answer given by the emperors on questions of law, when con sulted by a corporation or the citizens of a province or of a municipality, was called a "pragmatic sanction." Lee. El. Dr. Rom. §53. PRAGMATICA. In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from the sov- «reign, and differing from a cedula only in form and 1 n the mode of promulgation. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note. PRAIRIE. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. Webster. See 58 Mo. 45; 42 Iowa, 429. PRATIQUE. A license for the master of a ship to truffle in the ports of Italy upon a certificate that the place whence he came is not annoyed with any infectious disease. Enc. Lond. PRAXIS. Lat. Use; practice. Praxis judicum est interpres legum. Hob. 96. The practice of the judges is the interpreter of the laws. PRAY IN AID. In old English practice. To call upon for assistance. In real actions, the tenant might pray in aid or call for assist ance of another, to help him to plead, because of the feebleness or imbecility of his own es tate. 3 Bl. Comm. 300. PRAYER. The request contained in a bill in equity that the court will grant the process, aid, or relief which the complainant desires. Also, by extension, the term is applied to that part of the bill which contains this request. PRAYER OP PROCESS is a petition with which a bill in equity used to conclude, to the effect that a writ of subpoena might is sue against the defendant to compel him to answer upon oath all the matters charged against him in the bill. PREAPPOINTED EVIDENCE. The kind and degree of evidence prescribed in ad vance (as, by statute) as requisite for the proof of certain facts or the establishment of certain instruments. It is opposed to casual evidence, which is left to grow naturally out of the surrounding circumstances. PREAUDIENCE. The right of being heard before another. A privilege belonging to the English bar, the members of which are entitled to be heard in their order, according

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