Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

PROVABLE

958

PROTEST

der a fair copy of the bill, stating that the pay ment or acceptance has been demanded and re fused, the reason, if any, assigned, and that the bill is therefore protested. 17 How. 607. "Protest," in a technical sense, means only the formal declaration drawn up and signed by the no tary; yet, as used by commercial men, the word includes all the steps necessary to charge an in dorser. 2 Ohio St. 845. 3. A formal declaration made by a minor ity (or by certain individuals) in a legislative body that they dissent from some act or reso lution of the body, usually adding the grounds of their dissent. The term, in this sense, seems to be particularly appropriate to such a proceeding in the English house of lords. 4. The name "protest" is also given to the formal statement, usually in writing, made by a person who is called upon by pub lic authority to pay a sum of money, in which he declares that he does not concede the le gality or justice of the claim or his duty to pay it, or that he disputes the amount de manded; the object being to save his right to recover or reclaim the amount, which right would be lost by his acquiescence. Thus, taxes maybe paid under "protest." 5. "Protest" is also the name of a paper served on a collector of customs by an im porter of merchandise, stating that he be lieves the sum charged as duty to be excess ive, and that, although he pays such sum for the purpose of getting his goods out of the custom-house, he reserves the right to bring an action against the collector to re cover the excess. 6. In maritime law, a protest is a written statement by the master of a vessel, attested by a proper judicial officer or a notary, to the effect that damage suffered by the ship on her voyage was caused by storms or other perils of the sea, without any negligence or misconduct on his own part. Marsh. Ins. 715. PROTESTANDO. L. Lat. Protesting. The emphatic word formerly used in plead ing by way of protestation. 3 Bl. Comm. 811. See PROTESTATION. PROTESTANTS. Those who adhered to the doctrine of Luther; so called because, in 1529, they protested against a decree of the emperor Charles Y. and of the diet of Spires, and declared that they appealed to a general council. The name is now applied indiscriminately to all the sects, of whatever denomination, who have seceded from the Church of Rome. Enc. Lond. PROTESTATION. In pleading. The indirect affirmation or denial of the truth of

some matter which cannot with propriety or safety be positively affirmed, denied, or en tirely passed over. See 3 Bl. Comm. 311. The exclusion of a conclusion. Co. LitL 124. In practice. An asseveration made by taking God to witness. A protestation is a form of asseveration which approaches very nearly to an oath. Wolff. Inst. Nat. § 375. PROTHONOTARY. The title given to an officer who officiates as principal clerk of some courts. Vin. Abr. PROTOCOL. The first draft or rough minutes of an instrument or transaction; the original copy of a dispatch, treaty, or other document. Brande. A document serving as the preliminary to, or opening of, any diplomatic transaction. In old Scotch practice. A book, marked by the clerk-register, and delivered to a no tary on his admission, in which he was di rected to insert all the instruments he had occasion to execute; to be preserved as a rec ord. Bell. In France, the minutes of notarial acts were formerly transcribed on registers, which were called " protocols." Toullier, Droit Civil Fr. liv. 3, t. 3, c. 6, s. 1, no. 413. PROTOCOLO. In Spanish law. The original draft or writing of an instrument which remains in the possession of the es cribano, or notary. White, New Recop. lib. 3, tit. 7, c. 5, § 2. The term "protocolo, " when applied to a single paper, means the first draft of an in strument duly executed before a notary,— the matrix,—because it is the source from which must be taken copies to be delivered to interested parties as their evidence of right; and it also means a bound book in which the notary places and keeps in their order instruments executed before him, from which copies are taken for the use of parties interested. (Tex.) 16 S. W. Rep. 53. PROTUTOR. In the civil law. He who, not being the tutor of a minor, has administered his property or affairs as if he had been, whether he thought himself Legal ly invested with the authority of a tutor or not. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 630. PROUT PATET PER RECORDUM. As appears by the record. In the Latin phraseology of pleading, this was the proper formula for making reference to a record. PROVABLE. L. Fr. Provable; justi fiable; manifest. Kelham.

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