KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

900

PIX

PINCERNA

sovereign and no law, and support themselves by pillage and depredations at sea; but there are instances wherein the word "ptrata" has been formerly taken for a sea-captain. Spel man. PIRATICAIi. "Where the act uses the word 'piratical,' it does so in a general sense; importing that the aggression is un authorized by the law of nations, hostile in its character, wanton and criminal in its commission, and utterly without any sanc tion from any public authority or sovereign power. In short, it means that the act be longs to the class of offenses which pirates are in the habit of perpetrating, whether they do it for purposes of plunder, or for purposes of hatred, revenge, or wanton abuse of power." U. S. v. The Malek Adhel, 2 How. 232, 11 L. Ed. 239. PIRATICALLY. A technical word which must always be used in an indictment for piracy. 3 Inst. 112. PISCARY. The right or privilege of fishing. Thus, common of piscary is the right of fishing in waters belonging to an other person. FISTAREEN. A small Spanish coin. It is not made current by the laws of the United States. United States v. Gardner, 10 Pet. 618, 9 L. Ed. 556. PIT. In old Scotch law. An excavation or cavity in the earth in which women who were under sentence of death were drowned. PIT AND GALLOWS. In Scotch law. A privilege of inflicting capital punishment for theft, given by King Malcolm, by which a woman could be drowned in a pit, (fossa,) or a man hanged on a gallows, (furca.) Bell. In old English law. Money, commonly a penny, paid for pitching or setting down every bag of corn or pack of goods in a fair or market. Cowell. PITHATISM. In medical jurisprudence. A term of recent introduction to medical science, signifying curability by means of persuasion, and used as synonymous with "hysteria," in effect limiting the scope of the latter term to the description of psychic or nervous disorders which may be cured uniquely by psychotherapy or persuasion. Babinski. PITTANCE. A slight repast or refec tion of fish or flesh more than the common allowance; and the pittancer was the officer who distributed this at certain appointed festivals. Cowell. PIX. A mode of testing coin. The as certaining whether coin is of the proper standard is in England called "pixing" it; PITCHING-PENCE.

PINCERNA. In old English law. But ler ; the king's butler, whose office it was to select out of the cargo of every vessel laden with wine, one cask at the prow and another at the stern, for the king's use. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 22. PINNAGE. Poundage of cattle. PINNER. A pounder of cattle; a pound keeper. PINT. A liquid measure of half a quart, or the eighth part of a gallon. PIPE. A roll in the exchequer; otherwise called the "great roll." A liquid measure containing two hogsheads. PIRACY. In criminal law. A robbery or forcible depredation on the high seas, without lawful authority, done animo fur andi, in the spirit and intention of universal hostility. United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheat. 610, 4 L. Ed. 471. This is the definition of this offense by the law of nations. 1 Kent, Comm. 183. And see Talbot v. Janson, 3 Dall. 152, 1 L. Ed. 540; Dole v. Insurance Co., 51 Me. 467; U. S. v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 161, 5 L. Ed. 57; U. S. v. The Ambrose Light (D. C.) 25 Fed. 408; Davison v. Seal-skins, 7 Fed. Cas. 192. There is a distinction between the offense of piracy, as known to the law of nations, which is justiciable everywhere, and offenses created by statutes of particular nations, cognizable only before the municipal tribunals of such nations. Dole v. Insurance Co., 2 Cliff. 394, 418, Fed. Cas. No. 3,966. The term is also applied to the illicit re printing or reproduction of a copyrighted book or print or to unlawful plagiarism from it. Pirata est hostis humani generis. 3 Inst. 113. A pirate is an enemy of the hu man race. PIRATE. A person who lives by piracy; one guilty of the crime of piracy. A sea-rob ber, who, to enrich himself, by subtlety or open force, setteth upon merchants and oth ers trading by sea, despoiling them of their loading, and sometimes bereaving them of life and sinking their ships. Ridley, Civil & Ecc. Law, pt. 2, c. 1, § 3. A pirate is one who acts solely on his own authority, without any commission or authori ty from a sovereign state, seizing by force, and appropriating to himself without discrimination, every vessel he meets with. Robbery on the high seas is piracy; but to constitute the of fense the taking must be felonious. Consequent ly the quo animo may be inquired into. Davi son v. Seal-skins, 2 Paine, 324, Fed. Cas. No. 3,661. Pirates are common sea-rovers, without any fixed place of residence, who acknowledge no PIONEER PATENT. See PATENT. PIOUS USES. See CHAEITABLE USES.