Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

PRISAGE

938

PRINCIPAL

fides it to another person to do for him. 1 Domat, b. 1., tit. 15. The term also denotes the capital sum of a debt or obligation, as distinguished from in terest or other additions to it. An heir-loom, mortuary, or corse-present. Wharton. PRINCIPAL CHALLENGE. In prac tice. A challenge of a juror for a cause which carries with it, prima facie, evident marks of suspicion either of malice or favor; as that a juror is of kin to either party within the ninth degree; that he has an interest in the cause, etc. 3 Bl. Comm. 363. A species of challenge to the array made on account of partiality or some default in the sheriff or his under-offlcer who arrayed the panel. PRINCIPAL CONTRACT. One which contains the principal subject-matter of an agreement; one to which another engagement is accessory. PRINCIPAL PACT. In the law of evi dence. A fact sought and proposed to be proved by evidence of other facts (termed "evidentiary facts") from which it is to be deduced by inference. A fact which is the principal and ultimate object of an inquiry, and respecting the existence of which a defi nite belief is required to be formed. 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 3; Burrill, Circ. Ev. 3, 119. PRINCIPAL OBLIGATION. That obligation which arises from the principal object of the engagement which has been contracted between the parties. Poth. Obi. no. 182. One to which is appended an acces sory or subsidiary obligation. PRINCIPALIS. Lat. Principal; a prin cipal debtor; a principal in a crime. Principalis debet semper exouti ante quam perveniatur ad fideijussores. The principal should always be exhausted before coming upon the sureties. 2 Inst. 19. Principia data sequuntur concomi tantia. Given principles are followed by their concomitants. Principia probant, non probantur. Principles prove; they are not proved. 8 Coke, 50a. Fundamental principles require no proof; or, in Lord Coke's words, "they ought to be approved, because they cannot be proved." Id. Principiis obsta. Withstand beginnings; oppose a thing in its early stages, if you would do so with success.

Prineipiorum non est ratio. There is no reasoning of principles; no argument is required to prove fundamental rules. 2 Bulst. 239. Principium est potissima pars cujus que rei. 10 Coke, 49. The principle of anything is its most powerful part. PRINCIPLE. In patent law, the prin ciple of a machine is the particular means of producing a given result by a mechanical contrivance. 5 McLean, 44, 63. The principle of a machine means the mo dus operandi, or that which applies, modifies, or combines mechanical powers to produce a certain result; and, so far, a principle, if new in its application to a useful purpose, may be patentable. See 1 Mason, 470. PRINCIPLES. Fundamental truths or doctrines of law; comprehensive rules or doctrines which furnish a basis or origin for others; settled rules of action, procedure, or legal determination. PRINTING. The art of impressing let ters; the art of making books or papers by impressing legible characters. PRIOR. The chief of a convent; next in dignity to an abbot. PRIOR PETENS. The person first applying. Prior tempore potior jure. He who is first in time is preferred in right. Co. Litt. 14a; Broom, Max. 354, 358. PRIORI PETENTI. To the person first applying. In probate practice, where there are several persons equally entitled to a grant of administration, (e. g., next of km of the same degree,) the rule of the court is to make the grant prioripetenti, to the first applicant. Browne, Prob. Pr. 174; Coote, Prob. Pr. 173, 180. PRIORITY. A legal preference or pre cedence. When two persons have similar rights in respect of the same subject-matter, but one is entitled to exercise his right to the exclusion of the other, he is said to have pri ority. In old English law. An antiquity of tenure, in comparison with one not so an cient. Cowell. PRISAGE. An ancient hereditary reve nue of the crown, consisting in the right to take a certain quantity from cargoes of wine imported into England. In Edward I.'s

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