KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

772

MEN OP STRAW

MERCANTILE

was reduced to 60 years, and again by that of 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 71, to 20 years. In the American states, by statute, the time of legal memory is generally fixed at a period corre sponding to that prescribed for actions for the recovery of real property, usually about 20 years. See 2 Bl. Comm. 31; Miller v. Gar lock, 8 Barb. (N. Y.) 153. Men who used in former days to ply about courts of law, so called from their manner of making known their occupation, (i. e., by a straw in one of their shoes,) recognized by the name of "straw-shoes." An advocate or lawyer who wanted a convenient witness knew by these signs where to meet with one, and the col loquy between the parties was brief. "Don't you remember?" said the advocate; to which the ready answer was, "To be sure I do." "Then come into court and swear it." And straw-shoes went into court and swore. Ath ens abounded in straw-shoes. Quart Rev. vol. 33, p. 344. MENACE. A threat; the declaration or show of a disposition or determination to in flict an evil or injury upon another. Cum ming v. State, 99 Ga. 662, 27 S. E. 177; Mor rill y. Nightingale, 93 Cal. 452, 28 Pac. 1068, 27 Am. St. Rep. 207. MENETUM. In old Scotch law. A stock horn; a horn made of wood, "with circles and girds of the same." Skene. MENIAL. A servant of the lowest or der; more strictly, a domestic servant liv ing under his master's roof. Boniface T. Scott, 3 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 354. MENS. Lat Mind; Intention; meaning; understanding; will. —Mens legis. The mind of the law; that is, the purpose, spirit, or intention of a law or the law generally.— Mens legislatoris. The intention of the law-maker.— Mens rea. A guilty mind; a guilty or wrongful purpose; a criminal intent. Mens testatoris in testamentis spec tanda est. Jenk. Cent. 277. The intention of the testator is to be regarded in wills. MENSA. Lat Patrimony or goods and necessary things for livelihood. Jacob. A table; the table of a money-changer. Dig. 2, 14, 47. — Mensa et tnoro. From bed and board. See DIVOBCE. Parsonages or spiritual liv ings united to the tables of religious houses, and called "mensal benefices" amongst the canonists. Cowell. MENSIS. Lat In the civil and old Eng lish law. A month. Mensis vetitus, the pro hibited month; fence-month, (q. v.) MENSOR. In the civil law. A measurer of land; a surveyor. Dig. 11, 6; Id. 50, 6, 6; Cod. 12, 28. MEN" OF STRAW. MENSALIA.

MENSULARTUS. A money-changer or dealer in money. Dig. 2, 14, 47, 1. In the civil law.

MENSURA.

In

law.

old English

A

measure. — Mensura domini regis. "The measure of our lord the king," being the weights and meas ures established under King Richard I. in his parliament at Westminster, 1197. 1 Bl. Comm. 275; Mozley & Whitley. Relating to or existing in the mind; intellectual, emotional, or psychic, as distinguished from bodily or physical. —Mental alienation. A phrase sometimes used to describe insanity, (g. v.) — Mental an guish. When connected with a physical in jury, this term includes both the resultant men tal sensation of pain and also the accompanying feelings of distress, fright, and anxiety. See Railway Co. v. Corley (Tex.) 26 S. W. 904; Railway Co. v. Miller, 25 Tex. Civ. App. 460, 61 S. W. 978; Keyes v. Railway Co., 36 Minn. 290, 30 N. W. 888. In other connections, and as a ground for damages or an element of dam ages, it includes the mental suffering resulting from the excitation of the more poignant and painful emotions, such as grief, severe disap pointment, indignation, wounded pride, shame, public humiliation, despair, etc.*— Mental ca pacity or competence. Such a measure of intelligence understanding, memory, and judg ment (relative to the particular transaction) as will enable the person to understand the nature and effects of his act. Eaton v. Eaton, 37 N. J. Law, 113, 18 Am. Rep. 716; Davren v. White, 42 N. J. Eq. 569, 7 *Atl. 682; Conley v. Nailor, 118 U. S. 127, 6 Sup. Ct. 1001. 30 L. Ed. 112.— Mental defect. As applied to the qualification of a juror, this term must be understood to embrace either such gross ig norance or imbecility as practically disquali fies any person from performing the duties of a juror. Caldwell v. State, 41 Tex. 94.— Mental reservation. A silent exception to the general words of a promise or agreement not expressed, on account of a general understand ing on the subject. But the word has been applied to an exception existing in the mind of the one party only, and has been degraded to signify a dishonest excuse for evading or in fringing a promise. Wharton. MENTAL.

MENTIM.

To lie; to assert a

La t

falsehood. Calvin.; 3 Bulst. 260.

MENTTTION.

The act of lying; a false

hood.

MENU, LAWS OP. A collection or in stitute of the earliest laws of ancient India. The work is of very remote antiquity. MER, or MERE. A fenny place. Cowell.

MERA NOCTIS.

Midnight Cowell.

MERANNTTM.

In old records. Timbers;

wood for building.

MERC ABLE.

Merchantable; to be sold

or bought

MERCANTANT. A foreign trader.

MERCANTILE. Pertaining to merchants or their business; having to do with trade