KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

1109

STET PROCESSUS

STAY

STELLIONATUS. Lat. In the civil law. A general name for any kind of fraud not falling under any specific class. But the term is chiefly applied to fraud practiced in the sale or pledging of property; as, selling the same property to two different persons, selling another's property as one's own, plac ing a second mortgage on property without disclosing the existence of the first, etc. STENOGRAPHER. One who is skilled in the art of short-hand writing; one whose business is to write in short-hand. See Ry nerson v. Allison, 30 S. C. 534, 9 S. E. 656; In re Appropriations for Deputy State Of ficers, 25 Neb. 662, 41 N. W. 643; Chase v. Vandergrift, 88 Pa. 217. STEP-DAUGHTER. The daughter of one's wife by a former husband, or of one's husband by a former wife. STEP-FATHER. The man who mar ries a widow, she having a child by her former marriage, is step-father to such child. STEP-MOTHER. The woman who mar ries a widower, he having a child by his former wife, becomes step-mother to such child. STEP-SON. The son of one's wife by a former husband, or of one's husband by a former wife. STERBRECHE, or STREBRICH. The breaking, obstructing, or straitening of a way. Termes de la Ley. STERE. A French measure of solidity, used in measuring wood. It is a cubic meter. STERILITY. Barrenness; incapacity to produce a child. STERLING. In English law. Current or standard coin, especially silver coin; a standard of coinage. STET BILLA. If the plaintiff in a plaint in the mayor's court of London has attached property belonging to the defendant and ob tained execution against the garnishee, the defendant, if he wishes to contest the plain tiff's claim, and obtain restoration of his property, must issue a scire facias ad dis probandum deMtum; if the only question to be tried is the plaintiff's debt, the plaintiff in appearing to the scire facias prays stet billa "that his bill original," i. e., his orig inal plaint, "may stand, and that the defend ant may plead thereto." The action then pro ceeds in the usual way as if the proceedings in attachment (which are founded on a ficti tious default of the defendant in appearing to the plaint) had not taken place. Brand, F. Attachm. 115; Sweet STET PROCESSUS. Stet processus is an entry on the roll in the nature of a judg-

rence in the accounts of monastic establish ments. Spelman; Cowell. STAY. In practice. A stopping; the act of arresting a judicial proceeding, by the or der of a court. See In re Schwarz (D. C.) 14 Fed. 788. —Stay laws. Acts of the legislature prescrib ing a stay of execution in certain cases, or a stay of foreclosure of mortgages, or closing the courts for a limited period, or providing that suits shall not be instituted until a certain time after the cause of action arose, or otherwise suspending legal remedies; designed for the re lief of debtors, in times of general distress or financial trouble.—Stay of execution. The stopping or arresting of execution on a judg ment, that is, of the judgment-creditor's right to issue execution, for a limited period. This is given by statute in many jurisdictions, as a privilege to the debtor, usually on his furnish ing bail for the debt, costs, and interest. Or it may take place* by agreement of the parties. See National Docks, etc., Co. v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 54 N. J. Eq. 167, 33 Atl. 936.—Stay of proceedings. The temporary suspension of the regular order of proceedings in a cause, by direction or order of the court, usually to await the action of one of the parties in regard to some omitted step or some act which the court has required him to perform as incidental to the suit; as where a non-resident plaintiff has been ruled to give security for costs. See Wallace v. Wallace, 13 Wis. 226; Lewton v. Hower, 18 Fla. 876; Rossiter v. iEtna L. Ins. Co., 96 Wis. 466, 71 N. W. 898. STEAL. This term is commonly used in indictments for larceny, ("take, steal, and carry away,") and denotes the commission of theft. But, in popular usage, "stealing" seems to be a wider term than "larceny," in asmuch as it may include the unlawful ap propriation of things which are not technic ally the subject of larceny, e. g., immova bles. See Randall v. Evening News Ass'n, 101 Mich. 561, 60 N. W. 301; People v. Du mar, 42 Hun (N. Y.) 85; Com. v. Kelley, 184 Mass. 320, 68 N. E. 346; Holmes v. Gil man, 64 Hun, 227, 19 N. Y. Supp. 151; Dun nell v. Fiske, 11 Mete. (Mass.) 554; Barnhart v State, 154 Ind. 177, 56 N. E. 212. —Stealing children. See KIDNAPPING. STEALTH. Theft is so called by some ancient writers. "Stealth is the wrongful taking of goods without pretense of title." Finch, Law, b. 3, c. 17. STEELBOW GOODS. In Scotch law. Corns, cattle, straw, and implements of hus bandry delivered by a landlord to his tenant, by which the tenant is enabled to stock and labor the farm; in consideration of which he becomes bound to return articles equal in quantity and quality, at the expiry of the lease. Bell. STELLIONATAIRE. Fr. In French law. A party who fraudulently mortgages property to which he has no title. STELLIONATE. In Scotch law. The crime of aliening the same subject to differ ent persons. 2 Karnes, Eq. 40.