KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

519

FRAOTIO

FRANCHISE

Digest or Pandects in the Corpus Juris Ci vilis of Justinian, the several extracts from juristic writings of which it is composed be ing so called. FRACTIO. Lat. A breaking; division; fraction; a portion of a thing less than the whole. A breaking, or breaking up; a fragment or broken part; a portion of a thing, less than the whole. Jory v. Pal ace Dry Goods Co., 30 Or. 196, 46 Pac. 786. —Fraction of a day. A portion of a day. The dividing a day. Generally, the law does not allow the fraction of a day. 2 Bl. Comm. 141. FRACTIONAL. As applied to tracts of land, particularly townships, sections, quar ter sections, and other divisions according to the government survey, and also mining claims, this term means that the exterior boundary lines are laid down to include the whole of such a division or such a claim, but that the tract in question does not measure up to the full extent or include the whole acreage, because a portion of it is cut off by an overlapping survey, a river or lake, or some other external interference. See Tolles ton Club v. State, 141 Ind. 197, 38 N. E. 214; Parke v. Meyer, 28 Ark. 287 ;• Goltermann v. Schiermeyer, 111 Mo. 404, 19 S. W. 487. Fractionem diei non recipit lex. Lofft, 572. The law does not take notice of a por tion of a day. FRACTITIUM. Arable land. Mon. Angl. The breaking or wreck of ships; the same as naufragium, (q. v.) A name sometimes applied (especially in cita tions) to the Digest or Pandects in the Cor pus Juris Civilis of Justinian, as being made up of numerous extracts or "fragments" from the writings of various jurists. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 74. FRACTION. FRACTURA NAVIUM. Lat FRAGMENTA. Lat Fragments. FRAIS. Fr. Expense; charges; costs. Frais (Pun prods, costs of a suit. —Frais de Justice. In French and Canadian law. Costs incurred incidentally to the action. —Frais jusqn'a bond. Fr. In French com mercial law. Expenses to the board; expenses incurred on a shipment of goods, in packing, cartage, commissions, etc., up to the point where they are actually put on board the vessel. Bar tels v. Redfield (C. C.) 16 Fed. 336. FRANC. A French coin of the value of a little over eighteen cents. FRANC ALEU. In French feudal law. An allod; a free inheritance; or an estate held free of any services except such as were tee to the sovereign.

FRANCHILANUS. A freeman.

Chart

Hen. IV. A free tenant Spelman. FRANCHISE. A special privilege con ferred by government upon an individual or corporation, and which does not belong to the citizens of the country generally, of common right. It is essential to the character of a franchise that It should be a grant from the sovereign authority, and in this country no franchise can be held which is not derived from a law of the state. In England, a fran chise is defined to be a royal privilege in the hands of a subject. In this country, it is a privilege of a public nature, which cannot 'be exercised without a legislative grant. See Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 13 Pet. 595, 10 L. Ed. 274; Dike v. State, 38 Minn. 366, 38 N. W. 95; Chicago Board of Trade v. People, 91 111. 82; Lasher v. People, 183 111. 226, 55 N. E. 663, 47 L. R. A. 802, 75 Am. St. Rep. 103; Southampton v. Jessup, 162 N. Y. 122, 56 N. B. 538; Thompson v. People, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 578; Black River Imp. Co. v. Hol way, 87 Wis. 584, 59 N. W. 126; Central Pac R. Co. v. California, 162 U. S. 91, 16 Sup. Ct 766, 40 L. Ed. 903; Chicago & W. I. R. Co. v. Dunbar, 95 111. 575; State v. Weather by, 45 Mo. 20; Morgan v. Louisiana, 93 U. S. 223, 23 L. Ed. 860. A franchise is a privilege or immunity of a public nature, which cannot be legally exercised without legislative grant. To be a corporation is a franchise. The various powers conferred on corporations are franchises. The execution of a policy of insurance by an insurance com pany, and the issuing a bank-note by an incor porated bank, are franchises. People v. Utica Ins. Co., 15 Johns. (N. Y.) 387, 8 Am. Dec. 243. The word "franchise" has various significa tions, both in a legal and popular sense. A corporation is itself a franchise belonging to the members of the corporation, and the cor poration, itself a franchise, may hold other fran chises. So, also, the different powers of a corporation, such as the right to hold and dis pose of property, are its franchises. In a popu lar sense, the political rights of subjects and citizens are franchises, such as the right of suffrage, etc. Pierce y. Emery, 32 N. H. 484. The term "franchise" has several significa tions, and there is some confusion in its use. When used with reference to corporations, the better opinion, deduced from the authorities, seems to be that it consists of the entire privi leges embraced in and constituting the grant. It does not embrace the property acquired by the exercise of the franchise. Bridgeport v. New York & N. H. B, Co., 36 Conn. 255, 4 Am. Rep. 63. —General and special. The charter of a corporation is its general" franchise, while a "special" franchise consists in any rights grant ed by the public to use property for a public use but with private profit. Lord v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc. 194 N. Y. 212, 87 N. E. 443, 22 L. R. A. (N. S.) 420.—Elective franchise. The right of suffrage; the right or privilege of voting in public elections.—Franchise tax. A tax on the franchise of a corporation, that is, on the right and privilege of carrying on busi ness in the character of a corporation, for the purposes for which it was created, and in the conditions which surround it. Though the value of the franchise, for purposes of taxation, may be measured by the amount of business done, or the amount of earnings or dividends, or by the total value of the capital or stock of the cor-