Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATRICULA, civil law. A register in which are inscribed the names of persons who become members of an association or society.... In the ancient church there was matricula clericorum, which was a catalogue of the officiating clergy; and matricula pauperum, a list of the poor to be relieved; hence to be entered in the university is to be matriculated.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATERTERA. Maternal aunt; the sister of one's mother.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATERNAL. That which belongs to, or comes from the mother: as, maternal authority, maternal relation, maternal estate, maternal line....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATERNA MATERNIS. This expression is used in the French law to signify that in a succession the property coming from the mother of a deceased person, descends to his maternal relations.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATERIAL MEN. This name is given to persons who furnish materials for the purpose of constructing or erecting ships, houses, and other buildings. By the common law material men have a lien on a foreign ship for supplies of materials furnished for such ship, which may be recovered in the admiralty.... But they have no lien for furnishing materials for repairs of domestic ships.... In several of the states, laws have been enacted giving material men a lien on houses and other buildings when they have furnished materials for constructing the same.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MATER FAMILIAS, civil law. The mother of a family, and, by extension, the mistress of a family.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MASTER OF THE ROLLS. Eng. law. An officer who bears this title, and who acts as an assistant to the lord chancellor, in the court of chancery. This officer was formerly one of the clerks in chancery whose duty was principally confined to keeping the rolls; and when the clerks in chancery became masters, then this officer became distinguished as master of the rolls.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MASTER AT COMMON LAW, Eng. law. An officer of the superior courts of law, who has authority for taking affidavits sworn in court, and administering a variety of oaths; and also empowered to compute principal and interest on bills of exchange and other engagements, on which suit has been brought; he has also the power of an examiner of witnesses going abroad, and the like.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MASTER IN CHANCERY. An officer of the court of chancery. The origin of these officers is thus accounted for. The chancellor from the first found it necessary to have a number of clerks, were it for no other purpose, than to perform the mechanical part of the business, the writing; these soon rose to the number of twelve. In process of time this number being found insufficient, these clerks contrived to have other clerks under them, and then, the original clerks became distinguished by the name of masters in chancery. He is an assistant to the chancellor, who refers to him interlocutory orders for stating accounts, computing damages, and the like. Masters in chancery are also invested with other powers, by local regulations.... In England there are two kinds of masters in chancery, the ordinary, and the extraordinary.. a. The masters in ordinary execute the orders of the court, upon references made to them, and certify in writing in what manner they have executed such orders.... b. The masters extraordinary perform the duty of taking affidavits touching any matter in or relating to the court of chancery, taking the acknowledgment of deeds to be enrolled in the said court, and taking such recognizances, as may by the tenor of the order for entering them, be taken before a master extraordinary....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MASTER. This word has several meanings. 1. Master is one who has control over a servant or apprentice. A master stands in relation to his apprentices, in loco parentis, and is bound to fulfill that relation, which the law generally enforces. He is also entitled to be obeyed by his apprentices, as if they were his children.... 2. Master is one who is employed in teaching children, known generally as a schoolmaster; as to his powers, see Correction. 3. Master is the name of an officer: as, the ship Benjamin Franklin, whereof A B is master; the master of the rolls; master in chancery, &c. 4. By master is also understood a principal who employs another to perform some act or do something for him. The law having adopted the maxim of the civil law, qui facit per alium facit per se; the agent is but an instrument, and the master is civilly responsible for the act of his agent, as if it were his own, when he either commands him to do an act, or puts him in a condition, of which such act is a result, or by the absence of due care and control, either previously in the choice of his agent, or immediately in the act itself, negligently suffers him to do an injury....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT. An agreement made by the parties in contemplation of marriage by which the title to certain property is changed, and the property to some extent becomes tied up, and is rendered inalienable.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARRIAGE. A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint lives, in the union which ought to exist between husband and wife. By the terms freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful marriage.... 1. To make a valid marriage, the parties must be willing to contract, Able to contract, and have actually contracted. a. They must be willing to contract. Those persons, therefore, who have no legal capacity in point of intellect, to make a contract, cannot legally marry, as idiots, lunatics, and infant; males under the age of fourteen, and females under the age of twelve, and when minors over those ages marry, they must have the consent of their parents or guardians. There is no will when the person is mistaken in the party whom he intended to marry; as, if Peter intending to marry Maria, through error or mistake of person, in fact marries Eliza; but an error in the fortune, as if a man marries a woman whom he believes to be rich, and he finds her to be poor; or in the quality, as if he marry a woman whom he took to be chaste, and whom he finds of an opposite character, this does not invalidate the marriage, because in these cases the error is only of some quality or accident, and not in the person.... When the marriage is obtained by force or fraud, it is clear that there is no consent; it is, therefore, void ab initio, and may be treated as null by every court in which its validity may incidentally be called in question.... b. Generally, all persons who are of sound mind, and have arrived to years of maturity, are able to contract marriage. To this general rule, however, there are many exceptions, among which the following may be enumerated. (1) The previous marriage of the party to another person who is still living. (2) Consanguinity, or affinity between the parties within the prohibited degree. It seems that persons in the descending or ascending line, however remote from each other, cannot lawfully marry; such marriages are against nature; but when we come to consider collaterals, it is not so easy to fix the forbidden degrees, by clear and established principles.... In several of the United States, marriages within the limited degrees are made void by statute.... (3) Impotency, (q.v.) which must have existed at the time of the marriage, and be incurable.... (4) Adultery. By statutory provision in Pennsylvania, when a person is convicted of adultery with another person, or is divorced from her husband, or his wife, he or she cannot afterwards marry the partner of his or her guilt. This provision is copied from the civil law.... And the same provision exists in the French code civil.... c. The parties must not only be willing and able, but must have actually contracted in due form of law. 2. The common law requires no particular ceremony to the valid celebration of marriage. The consent of the parties is all that is necessary, and as marriage is said to be a contract jure gentium, that consent is all that is needful by natural or public law. If the contract be made per verba de presenti, or if made per verba de futuro, and followed by consummation, it amounts to a valid marriage, and which the parties cannot dissolve, if otherwise competent; it is not necessary that a clergyman should be present to give validity to the marriage; the consent of the parties may be declared before a magistrate, or simply before witnesses; or subsequently confessed or acknowledged, or the marriage may even be inferred from continual cohabitation, and reputation as husband and wife, except in cases of civil actions for adultery, or public prosecutions for bigamy.... But a promise to marry at a future time, cannot, by any process of law, be converted into a marriage, though the breach of such promise will be the foundation of an action for damages. 3. In some of the states, statutory regulations have been made on this subject. In Maine and Massachusetts, the marriage must be made in the presence, and with the assent of a magistrate, or a stated or ordained minister of the gospel.... The statute of Connecticut on this subject, requires the marriage to be celebrated by a clergyman or magistrate, and requires the previous publication of the intention of marriage, and the consent of parents; it inflicts a penalty on those who disobey its regulations. The marriage, however, would probably be considered valid, although the regulations of the statutes had not been observed.... The rule in Pennsylvania is, that the marriage is valid, although the directions of the statute have not been observed.... The same rule probably obtains in New Jersey ... and Kentucky.... In Louisiana, a license must be obtained from the parish judge of the parish in which at least one of the parties is domiciliated, and the marriage must be celebrated before a priest or minister of a religious sect, or an authorized justice of the peace; it must be celebrated in the presence of three witnesses of full age, and an act must be made of the celebration, signed by the person who celebrated the marriage, by the parties and the witnesses.... The 89th article of the Code declares, that such marriages only are recognized by law, as are contracted and solemnized according to the rules which it prescribes. But the Code does not declare null a marriage not preceded by a license, and not evidenced by an act signed by a certain number of witnesses and the parties, nor does it make such an act exclusive evidence of the marriage. The laws relating to forms and ceremonies are directory to those who are authorized to celebrate marriage.... 4. A marriage made in a foreign country, if good there, would, in general, be held good in this country, unless when it would work injustice, or be contra bonos mores, or be repugnant to the settled principles and policy of our laws.... 5. Marriage is a contract intended in its origin to endure till the death of one of the contracting parties. It is dissolved by death or divorce. 6. In some cases, as in prosecutions for bigamy, by the common law, an actual marriage must be proved in order to convict the accused.... This rule is much qualified. 7. But for many purposes it may be proved by circumstances; for example, cohabitation; acknowledgment by the parties themselves that they were married; their reception as such by their friends and relations; their correspondence, on being casually separated, addressing each other as man and wife ... declaring, deliberately, that the marriage took place in a foreign country ... describing their children, in parish registers of baptism, as their legitimate offspring ... or when the parties pass for husband and wife by common reputation ... After their death, the presumption is generally conclusive.... 8. The civil effects of marriage are the following: a. It confirms all matrimonial agreements between the parties. b. It vests in the husband all the personal property of the wife, that which is in possession absolutely, and choses in action, upon the condition that he shall reduce them to possession; it also vests in the husband right to manage the real estate of the wife, and enjoy the profits arising from it during their joint lives, and after her death, an estate by the curtesy when a child has been born. It vests in the wife after the husband's death, an estate in dower in the husband's lands, and a right to a certain part of his personal estate, when he dies intestate. In some states, the wife now retains her separate property by statute. c. It creates the civil affinity which each contracts towards the relations of the other. d. It gives the husband marital authority over the person of his wife. e. The wife acquires thereby the name of her husband, as they are considered as but one, of which he is the head: erunt duo in carne una. f. In general, the wife follows the condition of her husband. g. The wife, on her marriage, loses her domicil and gains that of her husband. h. One of the effects of marriage is to give paternal power over the issue. i. The children acquire the domicil of their father. j. It gives to the children who are the fruits of the marriage, the rights of kindred not only with the father and mother, but all their kin. k. It makes all the issue legitimate.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARQUE AND REPRISAL. The name given to a commission granted by the supreme power of a state to a private person for the purpose of seizing the property of a foreign state or its subjects....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARK. This term has several acceptations. 1. It is a sign traced on paper or parchment, which stands in the place of a signature, usually made by persons who cannot write.... A mark is now held to be a good signature, though the party was able to write.... 2. It is the sign, writing or ticket put upon manufactured goods to distinguish them from others.... 3. Mark or marc, denotes a weight used in several parts of Europe, and for several commodities, especially gold and silver. When gold and silver are sold by the mark, it is divided into twenty-four carats. 4. Mark is also in England a money of accounts, and in some other countries a coin. The English marc is two-thirds of a pound sterling, ... and the Scotch mark is of equal value in Scotch money of account....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARITIME LOAN. A contract or agreement by which one, who is the lender, lends to another, who is the borrower, a certain sum of money, upon condition that if the thing upon which the loan has been made, should be lost by any peril of the sea, or vis major, the lender shall not be repaid, unless what remains shall be equal to the sum borrowed; and if the thing arrive in safety, or in case it shall not have been injured, but by its own defects or the fault of the master or mariners, the borrower shall be bound to return the sum borrowed, together with a certain sum agreed upon as the price of the hazard incurred....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARITAL PORTION. In Louisiana, this name is given to that part of a deceased husband's estate, to which the widow is entitled....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARITAL. That which belongs to marriage; as marital rights, marital duties. 2. Contracts made by a feme sole with a view to deprive her intended husband of his marital rights, with respect to her property, are a fraud upon him, and may be set aside in equity. By the marriage, the husband assumes the duty of paying her debts, contracted previous to the coverture, and of supporting her during its existence; and he cannot, therefore, be fraudulently deprived, by the intended wife, of those rights which enable him to perform the duties which attach to him....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARITAGIUM. Anciently that portion which was given with a daughter in marriage. 2. During the existence of the feudal law, it was the right which the lord of the fee had, under certain tenures, to dispose of the daughters of his vassal in marriage. By this word was also understood marriage....

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARINARIUS. An ancient word which signified a mariner or seaman; in England marinarius capitaneus, was the admiral or warden of the ports.

Extracted From: A LAW DICTIONARY ..., SIXTH EDITION, 1856 by John Bouvier, CHILDS & PETERSON, PHILADELPHIA MARETUM. Marshy ground overflowed by the sea or great rivers....