KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

PR2SSUMPTIO VIOLENTA

927

PREAUDIENCE

ereign, and differing from a cedula only ID form and in the mode of promulgation. Schm. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note. PRAIRIE. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. Webster. See Buxton v. Railroad Co., 58 Mo. 45; Brunell v. Hop kins, 42 Iowa, 429. PRATIQUE. A license for the master of a ship to traffic in the ports of a given country, or with the inhabitants of a given port, upon the lifting of quarantine or pro Praxis, jndicum est interpTes legnm. Hob. 96. The practice of the judges is the interpreter of the laws. PRAY IN AID. In old English practice. To call upon for assistance. In real actions, the tenant might pray in aid or call for assistance of another, to help him to plead, because of the feebleness or imbecility of his own estate. 3 Bl. Comm. 300. PRAYER. The request contained in a bill in equity that the court will grant the process, aid, or relief which the complainant desires. Also, by extension, the term is ap plied to that part of the bill which contains this request PRAYER OF PROCESS is a petition with which a bill in equity used to conclude, to the effect that a writ of subpoena might issue against the defendant to compel him to answer upon oath all the matters charged against him in the bill. PREAMBLE. A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the ob jects sought to be accomplished. See Town send v. State, 147 Ind. 624, 47 N. E. 19, 37 L. R. A. 294, 62 Am. St Rep. 477; Fenner v. Luzerne County, 167 Pa. 632, 31 Atl. 862; Lloyd v. Urison, 2 N. J. Law, 224; Cover dale v. Edwards, 155 Ind. 374, 58 N. E. 495. The kind and degree of evidence prescribed in advance (as, by statute) as requisite for the proof of certain facts or the establishment of certain instruments. It is opposed to casual evidence, which is left to grow nat urally out of the surrounding circumstances. PREAUDIENCE. The right of being heard before another. A privilege belonging to the English bar, the members of which are entitled to be heard in their order, ac cording to rank, beginning with the king's attorney general, and ending with barristers at large. 3 Steph. Comm. 387, note. PREAPPOINTED EVIDENCE. duction of a clean bill of health. PRAXIS. Lat. Use; practice.

ly happens. Post y. Pearsall, 22 Wend. (N. Y.) 425, 475. Prsesumptio violenta plena probatio. Co. Litt 66. Strong presumption is full proof. Prsesumptio violenta valet in lege. Strong presumption is of weight in law. Jenk. Cent p. 56, case 3. Praesumptiones sunt conjecturae ex signo verisimili ad probandum assumptse. Presumptions are conjectures from probable proof, assumed for purposes of evidence. J. Voet, Com. ad Pand. 1. 22, tit 3, n. 14. PR.32TERITIO. Lat A passing over or omission. Used in the Roman law to de scribe the act of a testator in excluding a given heir from the inheritance by silently passing him by, that is, neither instituting nor formally disinheriting him. See Mack eld. Rom. Law, { 711. Prsetextn licit! non debet admitti illi citnm. Under pretext of legality, what is illegal ought not to be admitted. Wing. Max. p. 728, max. 196. PR.2ETEXTUS. Lat. A pretext; a pre tense or color. Prcetextu cujus, by pretense, or under pretext whereof. 1 Ld. Raym. 412. PR.S2TOR. Lat In Roman law. A municipal officer of the city of Rome, being the chief judicial magistrate, and possessing an extensive equitable jurisdiction. -^Praetor fidei-commissaring. In the civil law. A special praetor created to pronounce i 'udgment in cases of trusts or fidei-commissa. nst. 2, 23, 1. PREVARICATOR. Lat. In the civil law. One who betrays his trust, or is un faithful to his trust Ah advocate who aids the opposite party by betraying his client's cause. Dig. 47, 15, 1. PRiEVENTO TERMINO. In old Scotch practice. A form of action known in the forms of the court of session, by which a delay to discuss a suspension or advocation was got the better of. Bell. PRAGMATIC SANCTION. In French law. An expression used to designate those ordinances which concern the most impor tant objects of the civil or ecclesiastical ad ministration. Merl. Repert In the civil law. The answer given by the emperors on questions of law, when con sulted by a corporation or the citizens of a province or of a municipality, was called a "pragmatic sanction." Lee EL Dr. Rom. i 53. PRAGMATICA. In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from the sov