CORN. In its most comprehensive sense, this term signifies every sort of grain, as well as peas and beans, this is its meaning in the memorandum usually contained in policies of insurance. But it does not include rice. 1 Park. Ins. 112; Marsh. Ins. 223, note; Stev. on Av. part 4, art. 2; Ben. on Av. eh. 10; 1 Marsh. Ins. 223; Park on Ins. 112; Wesk. Ins. 145. Vide Com. Dig. Biens, G 1.
CORNAGE. The name of a species of tenure in England. The tenant by cornage was bound to blow a horn for the sake of alarming the country on the approach of an enemy. Bac. Ab. Tenure, N.
CORNET. A commissioned officer in a regiment of cavalry.
CORODY, incorporeal hereditaments. An allowance of meat, drink, money, clothing, lodging, and such like necessaries for sustenance. 1 Bl. Com. 282; 1 Ch. Pr. 225.
CORONER. An officer whose principal duty it is to hold an inquisition, with the assistance of a jury, over the body of any person who may have come to a violent death, or who has died in prison. It is his duty also, in case of the death of the sheriff, or when a vacancy happens in that office, to serve all the writs and process which the sheriff is usually bound to serve. The chief justice of the King's Bench is the sovereign or chief coroner of all England, although it is not to be understood that he performs the active duties of that office in any one count. 4 Rep. 57, b. Vide Bac. Ab. h. t.; 6 Vin. Ab.242; 3 Com. Dig. 242; 5 Com. Dig. 212; and the articles Death; Inquisition.
2. The duties of the coroner are of the greatest consequence to society, both for the purpose of bringing to punishment murderers and other offenders against the lives of the citizens, and of protecting innocent persons from criminal accusations. His office, it is to be regretted, is regarded with too much indifference. This officer should be properly acquainted with the medical and legal knowledge so absolutely indispensable in the faithful discharge of his office. It not unfrequently happens that the public mind is deeply impressed with the guilt of the accused, and when probably he is guilty, and yet the imperfections of the early examinations leave no alternative to the jury but to acquit. It is proper in most cases to procure the examination to be made by a physician, and in some cases, it is his duty. 4 Car. & P. 571.
CORPORAL. An epithet for anything belonging to the body, as, corporal punishment, for punishment inflictedon the person of the criminal; corporal oath, which is an oath by the party who takes it being obliged to lay his hand on the Bible.
CORPORAL, in the army. A non-commissioned officer in a battalion of infantry.
CORPORAL TOUCH. It was once decided that before a seller of personal property could be said to have stopped it in transitu, so as to regain the possession of it, it was necessary that it should come to his corporal touch. 3 T. R. 466 5 East, 184. But the contrary is now settled. These words were used merely as a figurative expression. 3 T. R. 464 5 East, 184.
CORPORATION. An aggregate corporation is an ideal body, created by law, composed of individuals united under a common name, the members of which succeed each other, so that the body continues the same, notwithstanding the changes of the individuals who compose it, and which for certain purposes is considered as a natural person. Browne's Civ. Law, 99; Civ. Code of Lo. art. 418; 2 Kent's Com. 215. Mr. Kyd, (Corpor. vol. 1, p. 13,) defines a corporation as follows: " A corporation, or body politic, or body incorporate, is a collection of many; individuals united in one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested by the policy of the law, with a capacity of acting in several respects as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, contracting obligations, and of suing and being sued; of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of its institution, or the powers conferred upon it, either at the time of its creation, or at any subsequent period of its existence." In the case of Dartmouth College against Woodward, 4 Wheat. Rep. 626, Chief Justice Marshall describes a corporation to be "an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law. Being the mere creature of law," continues the judge, "it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it, either expressly or as incidental to its very existence. These are such as are supposed best calculated to effect the object for which it was created. Among the most important are immortality, and if the expression may be allowed, individuality properties by which a perpetual succession of many persons are considered, as the same, and may act as the single individual, They enable a corporation to manage its own affairs, and to hold property without the perplexing intricacies, the hazardous and endless necessity of perpetual conveyance for the purpose of transmitting it from hand to hand. It is chiefly for the purpose of clothing bodies of men, in succession, with these qualities and capacities, that corporations were invented, and are in use." See 2 Bl. Corn. 37.
2. The words corporation and incorporation are frequently confounded, particularly in the old books. The distinction between them is, however, obvious; the one is the institution itself, the other the act by which the institution is created.
3. Corporations are divided into public and private.
4. Public corporations, which are also called political, and sometimes municipal corporations, are those which have for their object the government of 'a portion of the state; Civil Code of Lo. art. 420 and although in such case it involves some private interests, yet, as it is endowed with a portion of political power, the term public has been deemed appropriate.
5. Another class of public corporations are those which are founded for public, though not for political or municipal purposes, and the, whole interest in which belongs to the government. The Bank of Philadelphia, for example, if the whole stock belonged exclusively to the government, would be a public corporation; but inasmuch as there are other owners of the stock, it is a private corporation. Domat's Civil Law,- 452 4 Wheat. R. 668; 9 Wheat. R. 907 8 M'Cord's R. 377 1 Hawk's R. 36; 2 Kent's Corn. 222.
6. Nations or states, are denominated by publicists, bodies politic, and are said to have their affairs and interests, and to deliberate and resolve, in common. They thus become as moral persons, having an understanding and will peculiar to themselves, and are susceptible of obligations and laws. Vattel, 49. In this extensive sense the United States may be termed a corporation; and so may each state singly. Per Iredell, J. 3 Dall. 447.
7. Private corporations. In the popular meaning of the term, nearly every corporation is public, inasmuch as they are created for the public benefit; but if the whole interest does not belong to the government, or if the corporation is not created for the administration of political or municipal power, the corporation is private. A bank, for instance, may be created by the government for its own uses; but if the stock is owned by private persons, it is a private corporation, although it is created by the government, and its operations partake of a private nature. 9 Wheat. R. 907. The rule is the same in the case of canal, bridge, turnpike, insurance companies, and the like. Charitable or literary corporations, founded by private benefaction, are in point of law private corporations, though dedicated to public charity, or for the general promotion of learning. Ang. & Ames on Corp. 22.
8. Private corporations are divided into ecclesiastical and lay.
9. Ecclesiastical corporations, in the United States, are commonly called religious corporations they are created to enable religious societies to manage with more facility and advantage, the temporalities belonging to the church or congregation.
10. Lay corporations are divided into civil and eleemosynary. Civil corporations are created for an infinite variety of temporal purposes, such as affording facilities for obtaining loans of money; the making of canals, turnpike roads, and the like. And also such as are established for the advancement of learning. 1 Bl. Com. 471.
11. Eleemosynary corporations are such as are instituted upon a principle of charity, their object being the perpetual distribution of the bounty of the founder of them, to such persons as he has directed. Of this kind are hospitals for the relief of the impotent, indigent and sick, or deaf and dumb. 1 Kyd on Corp. 26; 4 Conn. R. 272; Angell & A. on Corp. 26.
12. Corporations, considered in another point of view, are either sole or agregate.
13. A sole corporation, as its name implies, consists of only one person, to whom and his successors belongs that legal perpetuity, the enjoyment of which is denied to all natural persons. 1 Black Com. 469. Those corporations are not common in the United States. In those states, however, where the religious establishment of the church of England was adopted, when they were colonies, together with the common law on that subject, the minister of the parish was seised of the freehold, as persona ecclesiae, in the same manner as in England; and the right of his successors to the freehold being thus established was not destroyed by the abolition of the regal government, nor can it be divested even by an act of the state legislature. 9 Cranch, 828.
14. A sole corporation cannot take personal property in succession; its corporate capacity of taking property is confined altogether to real estate. 9 Crancb, 43.
15. An aggregate corporation cousists of several persons, who are' united in one society, which is continued by a succession of members. Of this kind are the mayor or commonalty of a city; the heads and fellows of a college; the members of trading companies, and the like. 1 Kyd on Corp. 76; 2 Kent's Com. 221 Ang. & A. on Corp. 20. See, generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
CORPORATOR. One who is a member of a corporation.
2. In general, a corporator is entitled to enjoy all the benefits and rights which belong to any other member of the corporation as such. But in some corporations, where the rights are of a pecuniary nature, each corporator is entitles to those rights in proportion to his interest; he will therefore be entitled to vote only in proportion to the amount of his stock, and be entitled to dividends in the same proportion.
3. A corporator is not in general liable personally for any act of the corporation, unless he has been made so by the charter creating the corporation.
CORPOREAL PROPERTY, civil law. That which consists of such subjects as are palpable. In the common law, the term to signify the same thing is properly in possession. It differs from incorporeal property, (q. v.) which consists of choses in action and easements, as a right of way, and the like.
CORPSE. The dead body (q. v.) of a human being. Russ. & Ry. 366, n.; 2 T. R. 733; 1 Leach, 497; 16 Eng. Com. L. Rep. 413; 8 Pick. 370; Dig. 47, 12, 3, 7 Id. 11, 7, 38; Code, 3, 441.
2. As a corpse is considered as nullius bonis, or the property of no one, it follows that stealing it, is not, at common law, a larceny. 3 Inst. 203.
CORPUS. A Latin word, which signifies body; as, corpus delicti, the body of the offence, the essence of the crime; corpus juris canonis, the body of the canon law; corpus juris civilis, the body of the Civil law.
CORPUS COMITATUS. The body of the county; the inhabitants or citizens of a whole county, used in contradistinction to a part of a county, or a part of its citizens. See 5 Mason, R. 290.
CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. The body of the civil law. This, is the name given to a collection of the civil law, consisting of Justinian's Institutes, the Pandects or Digest, the Code, and the Novels.
CORPUS CUM CAUSA, practice. The writ of habeas corpus cum causa (q. v.) is a writ commanding -the person to whom it is directed, to have the body, together with the cause for which he is committed, before the court or judge issuing the same.
CORPUS DELICTI. The body of the offence; the essence of the crime
2. It is a general rule not to convict unless the corpus delicti can be established, that is, until the dead body has been found. Best on Pres. 201; 1 Stark. Ev. 575, See 6 C. & P. 176; 2 Hale, P. C. 290. Instances have occurred of a person being convicted of having killed another, who, after the supposed criminal has been put to death for the supposed offence, has made his appearance - alive. The wisdom of the rule is apparent; but it has been questioned whether, in extreme cases, it may not be competent to prove the basis of the corpus delicti by presumptive evidence. 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 234; Wills on Circum. Ev. 105; Best on Pres. 204. See Death.
CORPUS JURIS CANONICI. The body of the canon law. A compilation of the canon law bears this name. See Law, canon.
CORRECTION,punishment. Chastisement by one having authority of a person who has committed some offence, for the purpose of bringing him to legal subjection.
2. It is chiefly exercised in a parental manner, by parents, or those who are placed in loco parentis. A parent may therefore justify the correction of the child either corporally or by confinement; and a schoolmaster, under whose care and instruction a parent has placed his child, may equally justify similar correction; but the correction in both, cases must be moderate, and in proper manner. Com. Dig. Pleader, 3 M. 19; Hawk. c. 60, s. 23, and c. 62, s. 2 c. 29, s. 5.
3. The master of an apprentice, for disobedience, may correct him moderately 1 Barn. & Cres. 469 Cro. Car. 179 2 Show. 289; 10 Mart. Lo. It. 38; but he cannot delegate the authority to another. 9 Co. 96.
4. A master has no riglit to correct his servants who are not apprentices.
5. Soldiers are liable to moderate correction from their superiors. For the sake of maintaining their discipline on board of the navy, the captain of a vessel, either belonging to the United States, or to private individuals, may inflict moderate correction on a sailor for disobedience or disorderly conduct. Abbott on Shipp. 160; 1 Ch . Pr. 73; 14 John. R. 119; 15 )lass. 365; 1 Bay, 3; Bee, 161; 1 Pet. Adm. Dec. 168; Molloy, 209; 1 Ware's R. 83. Such has been the general rule. But by a proviso to an act of congress, approved the 28th of September, l850, flogging in the navy and on board vessels of commerce was abolished.
6. Any excess of correction by the parent, master, officer, or captain, may render the party guilty of an assault and battery, and liable to all its consequences. In some prisons, the keepers have the right to correct the prisoners.
CORREGIDOR, Spanish law. A magistrate who took cognizance of 'various misdemeanors, and of civil matters. 2 White's Coll. 53.
CORRELATIVE. This term is used to designate those things, one of which cannot exist without another; for example, father and child; mountain and valley, &c. Law, obligation, right, and duty, are therefore correlative to each other.
CORRESPONDENCE. The letters written by one to another, and the answers thereto, make wbat is called the correspondence of the partie's.
2. In general, the correspondence of the parties contains the best evidence of the facts to which it relates. See Letter, contracts; Proposal.
3. When an offer to contract is made by letter, it must be accepted unconditionally for if the precise terms are changed, even in the slightest degree, there is no contract. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 904. See, as to the power of revoking an offer made by letter, 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 933.
CORRUPTION. An act done with an intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. It includes bribery, but is more comprehensive; because an act may be corruptly done, though the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by another. Merl. Rep. h. t.
2. By corruption, sometimes, is understood something against law; as, a contract by which the borrower agreed to pay the lender usurious interest. It is said, in such case, that it was corruptly agreed, &c.
CORRUPTION OF BLOOD,, English crim. law. The incapacity to inherit, or pass an inheritance, in consequence of an attainder to which the party has been subject
2. When this consequence flows from an attainder, the party is stripped of all honors and dignities he possessed, and becomes ignoble.
3. The Constitution of the United States, Amendm. art. 5, provides, that no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval, forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger" and by art. 3, s. 3, n. 2, it is declared tbat " no attainder of treason shall work. corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted."
4. The Constitution of Pennsylvania, art. 9, s. 19, directs that " no attainder shall work corruption of blood." 3 Cruise, 240, 378 to 381, 473 1 Cruise, 52 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 740; 4 Bl. Com. 388.
CORSNED, ancient Eng. law. This was a piece of accursed bread, which a person accused of a crime swallowed to test his innocence. It was supposed that, if he was guilty, it would choke him.
CORTES. The name of the legislative assemblies of Spain and Portugal.
COSENAGE, torts. Deceit, fraud: that kind of circumvention and wrong, which has no other specific name. Vide Ayl. Pand. 103 Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.
COSMOPOLITE. A citizen of the world; one who has no fixed. residence. Vide Citizen.
COSTS, practice. The expenses of a suit or action which may be recovered by law from the losing party.
2. At common law, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant could recover costs eonomine; but in all actions in which damages were recoverable, the plaintiff, in effect, recovered his costs when he obtained a verdict, for the jury always computed them in the damages. When the defendant obtained a verdict, or the plaintiff became non-suit, the former was wholly without remedy for any expenses he had incurred. It is true, the plaintiff was amerced pro falso clamore suo, but the amercement was given to the king. Hull on Costs, 2 2 Arch. Pr. 281.
3. This defect was afterwards corrected by the statute of Gloucester, 6 Ed. I, c. 1, by which it is enacted that "the demandant in assise of novel disseisin, in writs of mort d'ancestor, cosinage, aiel and be sail, shall have damages. And the demandant shall have the costs of the writ purchased, together with damages, and this act shall hold place in all cases where the parly recovers damages, and every person shall render damages where land is recovered against him upon his own intrusion, or his own act." About forty-six years after the passing of this statute, costs were for the first time allowed in France, by an ordinance of Charles le Bel, (January, 1324.) See Hardw. Cas. 356; 2 Inst. 283, 288 2 Loisel, Coutumes, 328-9.
4. The statute of Gloucester has been adopted, substantially, in all the United States. Though it speaks of the costs of the writ only, it bas, by construction, been extended to the costs of the suit generally. The costs which are recovered under it are such as shall be allowed by the master or prothonotary upon taxation, and not those expenses which the. plaintiff may have. incurred for himself, or the extraordinary fees he may have paid counsel, or for the loss of his time. 2 Sell. Pr. 429.
5. Costs are single, when the party receives the same amount he has expended, to be ascertained by taxation; double, vide Double costs. and treble, vide Treble costs. Vide, generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.; Hullock on Costs; Sayer's Law of Costs; Tidd's Pr. c. 40; 2 Sell. Pr. c. 19; Archb. Pr. Index, h. t.; Bac. Ab. h. t.; Com. Dig. h. t.; 6 Vin. Ab. 321; Grah. Pr. c. 23 Chit. Pr. h. t. 1 Salk. 207 1 Supp. to Ves. jr. 109; Amer. Dig. h. t.; Dane's Ab. h. t.; Harr. Dig. h. t. As to the liability of executors and administrators for costs, see 1, Chit. R. 628, note; 18 E. C. L. R. 185; 2 Bay's R. 166, 399; 1 Wash. R. 138; 2 Hen. & Munf. 361, 369; 4 John. R. 190; 8 John. R. 389; 2 John. Ca. 209. As to costs in actions qui tam, see Esp. on Pen. Act. 154 to 165.
COTTAGE, estates. A small dwelling house. See 1 Tho. Co. Litt. 216; Sheph. Touchst. 94; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1571, note.
2. The grant of a cottage, it is said, passes a small dwelling-house, which has no land belonging to it. Shep. To. 94.
COUCHANT. Lying down. Animals are said to have been levant and couchant, when they have been upon another person's land, damage feasant, one night at least. 3 Bl. Com. 9.
COUNCIL, legislation. This word signifies an assembly.
2. It was used among the Romans to express the meeting of only a part of the people, and that the most respectable, in opposition to the assemblies of the whole people.
3. It is now usually applied to the legislative bodies of cities and boroughs.
4. In some states, as in Massacbusetts, a body of men called the council, are elected, whose duties are to advise the governor in the executive part of the government. Const. of Mass. part 2, c. 2, s. 3, art. 1 and 2. See 14 Mass. 470; 3 Pick. 517; 4 Pick. 25 19 John. R. 58. In England, the king's council are the king's judges of his courts of justice. 3 Inst. 125; 1 Bl. Com. 229.
COUNSEL. Advice given to another as to what he ought to do or not to do.
2. To counsel another to do an unlawful act, is to become accessory to it, if it be a felony, or principal, if it be treason, or a misdemeanor. By the term counsel is also understood counsellor at law. Vide To open; Opening.
COUNSEL, an officer of court. One who undertakes to conduct suits and actions in court. The same as counsellor.
COUNSEL, practice, crim. law. In the oath of the grand jurors, there is a provision requiring them to keep secret " the commonwealth's counsel, their fellows, and their own." In this sense this word is synonymous with knowledge; therefore, all the knowledge acquired by grand jurors, in consequence of their office, either from the officers of the commonwealth, from their fellow-jurors, or which they have obtained in any manner, in relation to cases which come officially before them, must be kept secret. See Grand Jury.
COUNSELLOR, government. A counsellor is a member of a council. In some of the states the executive power is vested in a governor, or a governor and lieutenant governor, and council. The members of such council are called counsellors. See the names of the several states.
COUNSELLOR AT LAW, offices. An officer in the supreme court of the United States, and in some other courts, who is employed by a party in a cause, to conduct the same on its trial on his behalf. He differs from an attorney at law. (q. v.)
2. In the supreme court of the United States, the two degrees of attorney and counsel are kept separate, and no person is permitted to practise both. It is the duty of the counsel to draft or review and correct the special pleadings, to manage the cause on trial, and, during the whole course of the suit, to apply established principles of law to the exigencies of the case. 1 Kent, Com. 307.
3. Generally in the other courts of the United States, as well as in the courts of Pennsylvania, the same person perform's the duty of counsellor and attorney at law.
4. In giving their advice to their clients, counsel and others, professional men have duties to perform to their clients, to the public, and to themselves. In such cases they have thrown upon them something which they owe to the fair administration of justice, as well as to the private interests of their employers. The interests propounded for them ought, in their own apprehension, to be just, or at least fairly disputable; and when such interests are propounded, they ought not to be pursued per fas et nefas . Hag. R. 22.
5. A counsellor is not a hired person, but a mandatory; he does not render his services for a price, but an honorarium, which may in some degree recompense his care, is his reward. Doubtless, he is not indifferent to this remuneration, but nobler motives influence his conduct. Follow him in his study when he examines his cause, and in court on the trial; see him identify himself with the idea of his client, and observe the excitement he feels on his account; proud when he is, conqueror, discouraged, sorrowful, if vanquished; see his whole soul devoted to the cause he has undertaken, and which he believes to be just, then you perceive the elevated man, ennobled by the spirit of his profession, full of sympathy for his cause and his client. He may receive a reward for his services, but such things cannot be paid for with money. No treasures can purcbase the sympathy and devotedness of a noble mind to benefit humanity; these things are given, not sold. See Honorarium. 6. Ridley says, that the law has appointed no stipend to philosophers and lawyers not because they are not reverend services and worthy of reward or stipend, but because either of them are most honorable professions, whose worthiness is not to be valued or dishonored by money. Yet, in these cases many things are honestly taken, whi ch are not bonestly asked, and the judge may, according to the quality of the cause, and the still of the advocate, and the custom of the court, and, the worth of the matter that is in hand, appoint them a fee answerable to their place. View of the Civil and Eccles. Law, 38, 39.