KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

383

DISTURBER

DIVIDEND

ground by grant or prescription is obstructed by inclosures or other obstacles, or by plowing across it, by which means he cannot enjoy his right of way, or at least in so commodious a manner as he might have done. 3 Bl. Comim. 241. DISTUBBEB. If a bishop refuse or neg lect to examine or admit a patron's clerk, without reason assigned or notice given, he is styled a "disturber" by the law, and shall not have any title to present by lapse; for no man shall take advantage of his own wrong. 2 Bl. Comm. 278. DITCH. The words "ditch" and "drain" have no technical or exact meaning. They both may mean a hollow space in the ground, natural or artificial, where water is collected or passes off. Goldthwait v. East Bridge water, 5 Gray (Mass.) 64; Wetmore v. Fiske, 15 R. I. 354, 5 Atl. 375. DITES OUSTEB. L. Fr. Say over. The form of awarding a respondeas ouster, in the Year Books, M. 6 Edw. III. 49. DITTAY. In Scotch law. A technical term in civil law, signifying the matter of charge or ground of indictment against a person accused of crime. Taking up dittay is obtaining informations and presentments of crime in order to trial. Skene, de Verb. Sign.; Bell. Various, several, sundry; a collective term grouping a number of un specified persons, objects, or acts. Com. v. Butts, 124 Mass. 452; State v. Hodgson, 66 Vt 134, 28 Atl. 1069; Munro v. Alaire, 2 Caines (N. Y.) 326. DIVERSION. A turning aside or alter ing the natural course of a thing. The term is chiefly applied to the unauthorized chang ing the course of a water-course to the prej udice of a lower proprietor. Merritt v. Park er, 1 N. J. Law, 460; Parker v. Griswold, 17 Conn. 299, 42 Am. Dec. 739. DIVEBSITE DES COUBTS. A treatise on courts and their jurisdiction, written to French in the reign of Edward III. as is supposed, and by some attributed to Fitzher bert It was first printed in 1525, and again in 1534. Crabb, Eng. Law, 330, 483. DIVEBSITY. In criminal pleading. A plea by the prisoner in bar of execution, al leging that he is not the same who was at tainted, upon which a jury is immediately Impaneled to try the collateral issue thus raised, viz., the identity of the person, and not whether he is guilty or innocent, for that has been already decided. 4 Bl. Comm. 396. DIVEBSO INTUITU. Lat. With a dif ferent vtew, purpose, or design; in a differ ent view or point of view; by a different DIVERS.

course or process. 1 W. Bl. 89; 4 Kent, Comm. 211, note. DIVEBSOBIUM. In old English law. A lodging or inn. Townsh. PI. 38. DIVERT. To turn aside; to turn out of the way; to alter the course of things. Usu ally applied to water-courses. Ang. Water Courses, § 97 et seq. Sometimes to roads. 8 East, 394. In the practice of the English chancery division, "dives costs" are costs on the ordinary scale, as opposed to the costs formerly allowed to a successful pauper su ing or defending %n formfr pauperis, and which consisted only of his costs out of pocket Daniell, Ch. Pr. 43. DIVEST. Equivalent to devest, (q. v.) DIVESTITIVE FACT. A fact by means of which a right is divested, terminated, or extinguished; as the right of a tenant ter minates with the expiration of his lease, and the right of a creditor is at an end when his debt has been paid. Holl. Jur. 132. Divide et impera, cum radix et vertex imperii in obedientinm consensu rata sunt. 4 Inst. 35. Divide and govern, since the foundation and crown of empire are es tablished in the consent of the obedient DIVIDEND. A fund to be divided. The share allotted to each of several persons en titled to share in a division of profits or property. Thus, dividend may denote a fund set apart by a corporation out of its profits, to be apportioned among the shareholders, or the proportional amount falling to each. In bankruptcy or insolvency practice, a divi dend is a proportional payment to the cred itors out of the insolvent estate. State v. Comptroller of State, 54 N. J. Law, 135, 23 Atl. 122; Trustees of University v. North Carolina R. Co., 76 N. O. 103, 22 Am. Rep. 671; De Koven v. Alsop, 205 111. 309, 68 N. E. 930, 63 L. R. A. 587; Hyatt v. Allen, 56 N. Y. 553, 15 Am. Rep. 449; Cary v. Savings Union, 22 Wall. 38, 22 L. Ed. 779; In re Ft. Wayne Electric Corp. (D. a) 94 Fed. 109; In re Fielding (D. C.) 96 Fed. 800. In old English law. The term denotes one part of an indenture, (q. v.) —Preferred dividend. One paid on the pre ferred stock of a corporation; a dividend paid to one class of shareholders in priority to that paid to another. Chaffee v. Railroad Co., 55 Vt 129; Taft T. Railroad Co., 8 R. I. 310, 5 Am. Rep. 575.—Scrip dividend. One paid in scrip, or in certificates of the ownership of a corresponding amount of capital stock of the company thereafter to be issued. Bailey v. Railroad Co., 22 Wall. 604, 22 L. Ed. 840.— Stock dividend. One paid in stock, that is, not in money, but in a proportional number of shares of the capital stock of the company, which is ordinarily increased for this purpose to a corresponding extent Kaufman v. Char- DIVES.