Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

960

PROVISIONS

PROXY

PROVISIONS. Food; victuals. Also the nominations to benefices by the pope were so called, and those who were so nominated were termed "provisors." PROVISIONS OF OXFORD. Certain provisions made in the Parliament of Ox ford, 1258, for the purpose of securing the execution of the provisions of Magna Charta, against the invasions thereof by Henry III. The government of the country was in effect committed by these provisions to a standing committee of twenty-four, whose chief merit consisted in their representative character, and their real desire to effect an improve ment in the king's government. Brown. PROVISO. A condition or provision which ia inserted in a deed, lease, mortgage,or contract, and on the perfoi mance or non-per formance of which the validity of the deed, etc., frequently depends; it usually begins with the word "provided." A proviso in deeds or laws is a limitation or ex ception to a grant made or authority conferred, the effect of which is to declare that the one shall not operate, or the other be exercised, unless in the case provided. 10 Pet. 449. The word "proviso " is generally taken for a con dition, but it differs from it in several respects; for a condition is usually created by the grantor or lessor, but a proviso by the grantee or lessee. Jacob. A proviso differs from an exception. 1 Barn. & Aid. 99. An exception exempts, absolutely, from the operation of an engagement or an enactment; a proviso defeats their operation, conditionally. An exception takes out of an engagement or en actment something which would otherwise be part of the subject-matter of it; a proviso avoids them by way of defeasance or excuse. 8 Amer. Jur. 242 A clause or part of a clause in a statute, the office of which is either to except some thing from the, enacting clause, or to qualify or restrain its generality, or to exclude some possible ground of misinterpretation of its extent. 15 Pet. 445. Proviso est providere prsesentia et fu tura, non prseterita. Coke, 72. A pro viso is to provide for the present or future, not the past. PROVISO, TRIAL BY. In English practice. A trial brought on by the defend ant, in cases where the plaintiff, after issue joined, neglects to proceed to trial; so called from a clause in the writ to the sheriff, which directs him, in case two writs come to his hands, to execute but one of them. 3 Bl. Oomm. 357. PROVISOR. In old English law. A provider, or purveyor. Spelman.

PROVOCATION. The act of Inciting another to do a particular deed. Such con duct or actions on the part of one person towards another as tend to arouse rage, re sentment, or fury in the latter against the former, and thereby cause him to do some illegal act against or in relation to the per son offering the provocation. PROVOST. The principal magistrate of a royal burgh in Scotland; also a governing officer of a university or college. PROVOST-MARSHAL. In English law. An officer of the royal navy who had the charge of prisoners taken at sea, and sometimes also on lind. PROXENETA. Lat. In the civil law. A broker; one who negotiated or arranged the terms of a contract between two parties, as between buyer and seller; one who negotiat ed a marriage; a match-maker. Calvin. PROXIMATE. Immediate; nearest; next in order. PROXIMATE CAUSE. The proximate cause is the efficient cause, the one that nec essarily sets the other causes in operation. The causes that are merely incidental or in struments of a superior or controlling agency are not the proximate causes and the respon sible ones, though they may be nearer in time to the result. It is only when the causes are independent of each other that the nearest is, of course, to be charged with the disaster. 95 U. S. 130. PROXIMITY. Kindred between two persons. Dig. 38, 16, 8. Proximus est cui nemo antecedit, supremus est quern nemo sequitur. He is next whom no one precedes; he is last whom no one follows. Dig. 50, 16, 92. PROXY. A person who is substituted or deputed by another to repiesent him and act for him, particularly in some meeting or pub lic body. Also the instrument containing the appointment of such person. The word is said to be contracted from "procuracy," (

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