Some of these terms will be very familiar; some you might want to print off for the next time you run into them in the old documents. Change of Venue: This was the same as it is today, asking for another place for a court trial to be held because of the inability to get a fair trial in the location where the event occurred. Chattels: Articles of personal property. Collateral heir: One who receives property from a relative other than a direct relative. Such as a niece from her uncle, etc. Direct heirs would be cousins, brothers, aunts, uncles, etc. Consort: Spoken of women primarily; husband is still living at the time of the woman's death. Common law: General and ordinary law of a country or community. Not as common law marriage. Corporeal: Tangible. DeBene Esse: Done conditionally. Defendant: The one being sued in a legal action. Demise: To convey an estate for years of life not meaning the death of a person. Demurer: A denial by the defendant that the allegations of the declaration, even if true, would legally constitute a cause of action. Deposition: An affidavit. In many of the cases I've shown, the witnesses did not physically appear in court before a Judge. They gave their testimony or depositions before someone appointed by the Court in another location. These depositions were then written out, testified to by the individual appointed and presented to the Judge. Detinue: A common law action used to recover personal items wrongfully held by a person whose original holding was unlawful. Again, thinking of some of the cases I've shown, the defendant was charged with defrauding a spouse or someone and was supposedly going to leave the territory and take things with him that either didn't belong to him or would cause great hardship on the other party. This law of Detinue was issued to prevent the person from doing this. Distribution: Spoken of estates. Debts & costs have been settled after the death of an individual and the remainder could then be distributed to the legal heirs named. To be continued next week. Sandi Colonel Sandi Gorin President, South Central KY Historical & Genealogical Society Sandi's website: http://www.gensoup.org/gorin/index.html Sandi's puzzlers: http://www.gensoup.org/gorinpuzzles/index.php --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com