HEDGE-BOTE. Wood used for repairing hedges or fences. 2 Bl. Com. 35; 16 John. 15.
HEIFER. A young cow, which has not had a calf. A beast of this kind two years and a half old, was held to be improperly described in the indictment as a cow. 2 East, P. C. 616; 1 Leach, 105.
HEIR. One born in lawful matrimony, who succeeds by descent, and right of blood, to lands, tenements or hereditaments, being an estate of inheritance. It is an established rule oflaw, that God alone can make an heir. Beame's Glanville, 143; 1 Thomas, Co. Lit. 931; and Butler's note, p. 938. Under the word heirs are comprehended the heirs of heirs in infinitum. 1 Co. Litt. 7 b, 9 a, 237 b; Wood's Inst. 69. According to many authorities, heir may be nomen collectivuum, as well in a deed as in a will, and operate in both in the same mannar, as heirs in the plural number. 1 Roll. Abr. 253; Ambl. 453; Godb. 155; T. Jones, 111; Cro, Eliz. 313; 1 Burr. 38; 10 Vin. Abr. 233, pl. 1; 8 Vin. Abr. 233; sed vide 2 Prest. on, Est. 9, 10. In wills, in order to effectuate the intention of the testator, the word heirs is sometimes construed to mean next of kin; 1 Jac. & Walk. 388; and children, Ambl. 273. See further, as to the force and import of this word, 2 Vent. 311; 1 P. Wms. 229; 3 Bro. P. C. 60, 454; 2 P. Wms. 1, 369; 2 Black. R. 1010; 4 Ves. 26, 766, 794; 2 Atk. 89, 580; 5 East Rep. 533; 5 Burr. 2615; 11 Mod. 189; 8 Vin. Abr. 317; 1 T. R. 630; Bac. Abr. Estates in fee simple, B.
2. There are several kinds of heirs specified below.
3. By the civil law, heirs are divided into testamentary or instituted heirs legal heirs, or heirs of the blood; to which the Civil Code of Louisiana has added irregular heirs. They are also divided into unconditional and beneficiary heirs.
4. It is proper here to notice a difference in the meaning of the word heir, as it is understood by the common and by, the civil law. By the civil law, the term heirs was applied to all persons who were called to the succession, whether by the act of the party or by operation of law. The person who was created universal successor by a will, was called the testamentary heir; and the next of kin by blood was, in cases of intestaby, called the heir at law, or heir by intestacy. The executor of the common law is, in many respects, not unlike the testamentary heir of the civil law. Again, the administrator ln many respects corresponds with the heir by intestacy. By the common law, executors unless expressly authorized by the will and administrators, have no right, except to the personal estate of the deceased; whereas, the heir by the civil law was authorized to administer both the personal and real estate. 1 Brown's Civ. Law, 344; Story, Confl. of Laws, 508.
5. All free persons, even minors, lunatics, persons of insane mind or the like, may transmit their estates as intestate ab intestato, and inherit from others. Civ. Code of Lo., 945; Accord, Co. Lit. 8 a.
6. The child in its mother's womb, is considered as born for all purposes of its own interest; it takes all successions opened in its favor, after its conception, provided it be capable of succeeding at the moment of its birth. Civ. Code of Lo. 948. Nevertheless, if the child conceived is reputed born, it is only in the hope of its birth; it is necessary then that the child be born alive, for it cannot be said that those who are born dead ever inherited. Id. 949. See In ventre sa mere.
HEIR. APPARENT. One who has an indefeasible right to the inheritance, provided he outlive the ancestor. 2 Bl. Com. 208.
HEIR, BENEFICIARY. A term used in the civil law. Beneficiary heirs are those who have accepted the succession under the benefit of an inventory regularly made. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 879. If the heir apprehend that the succession-will be burdened with debts beyond its value, he accepts with benefit of inventory, and in that case he is responsible only for the value of the succession. See inventory, benefit of.
HEIR, COLLATERAL. A collateral heir is one who is not of the direct line of the deceased, but comes from a collateral line; as, a brother, sister, an uncle and aunt, a nephew, niece, or cousin of the deceased.
HEIR, CONVENTIONAL, civil law. A conventional heir is one who takes a succession by virtue of a contract; for example, a marriage contract, which entitles the heir to the succession.
HEIR, FORCED. Forced heirs are those who cannot be disinherited. This term is used among the civilians. Vide Forced heirs
HEIR, GENERAL. Heir at common in the English law. The heir at common law is he who, after his father or ancestor's death has a right to, and is introduced into all his lands, tenements and hereditaments. He must be of the whole blood, not a bastard, alien, &c. Bac. Abr. Heir, B 2; Coparceners; Descent.
HEIR, IRREGULAR. In Louisiana, irregular heirs are those who are neither testamentary nor legal, and who have been established by law to take the succession. See Civ. Code of Lo. art. 874. When the deceased has left neither lawful descendants nor ascendants, nor collateral relations, the law calls to his inheritance either the surviving hushand or wife, or his or her natural children, or the state. Id. art., 911. This is called an irregular succession.
HEIR AT LAW. He who, after his ancestor's death intestate, has a right to all lands, tenements, and hereditaments, which belonged to him, or of which he was seised. The same as heir general. (q. v.)
HEIR, LEGAL, civil law. A legal heir is one who is of the same blood of the deceased, and who takes the succession by force of law; this is different from a testamentary or conventional heir, who takes the succession in virtue of the disposition of man. See Civil, Code of Louis. art. 873, 875; Dict. de Jurisp., Heritier legitime. There are three classes of legal heirs, to wit; the children and other lawful descendants; the fathers and mothers and other lawful ascendants; and the collateral kindred. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 883.
HEIR LOOM, estates. This word seems to be compounded of heir and loom, that is, a frame, viz. to weave in. Some derive the word loom from the Saxon loma, or geloma, which signifies utensils or vessels generally. However this may be, the word loom, by time, is drawn to a more general signification, than it, at the first, did bear, comprehending all implements of household; as, tables, presses, cupboards, bedsteads, wainscots, and which, by the custom of some countries, having belonged to a house, are never inventoried after the decease of the owner, as chattels, but accrue to the heir, with the house itself minsheu. The term heir looms is applied to those chattels which are considered as annexed and necessary to the enjoyment of an inheritance.
2. They are chattels which, contrary to the nature of chattels, descend to the heir, along with the inheritance, and do not pass to the executor of the last proprietor. Charters, deeds, and other evidences of the title of the land, together with the box or chest in which they are contained; the keys of a house, and fish in a fish pond, are all heir looms. 1 Inst. 3 a; Id. 185 b; 7 Rep. 17 b; Cro. Eliz. 372; Bro. Ab. Charters, pl. 13; 2 Bl. Com. 28; 14 Vin. Ab. 291.
HEIR PRESUMPTIVE. A presumptive heir is one who, in the present circumstances, would be entitled to the inheritance, but whose rights may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born. 2 B1 Com.208. In Louisiana, the presumptive heir is he who is the nearest relation of the deceased, capable of inheriting. This quality is given to him before the decease of the person from whom he is to inherit, as well as after the opening of the succession, until he has accepted or renounced it. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 876.
HEIR, TESTAMENTARY, civil law. A testamentary heir is one who is constituted heir by testament executed in the form prescribed by law. He is so called to distinguish him from the legal heirs, who are called to the succession by the law; and from conventional heirs, who are so constituted by a contract inter vivos. See Haeres factus; Devisee.
HEIR, UNCONDITIONAL. A term used in the civil law, adopted by the Civil Code of Louisiana. Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without any reservation, or without making an inventory, whether their acceptance be express or tacit. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 878.
HEIRESS. A female heir to a person having an estate of inheritance. When there is more than one, they are called co-heiresses, or co-heirs. HEPTARCHY, Eng. law. The name of the kingdom or government established by the Saxons, on their establishment in Britain so called because it was composed of seven kingdoms, namely, Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumberland.
HERALDRY, civil and canon law. The art or office of a herald. It is the art, practice, or science of recording genealogies, and blazoning arms or ensigns armorial. It also teaches whatever relates to the marshaling of cavalcades, processions, and other public ceremonies. Encyc.; Ridley's View of the Civil and Canon Law, pt. 2, c. 1, 6.
HERBAGE, English Law, A species of easement, which consists in the right to feed one's cattle on another man's ground.
HEREDITAMENTS, estates. Anything capable of being inherited, be it corporeal or incorporeal, real, personal, or mixed and including not only lands and everything thereon, but also heir looms, and certain furniture which, by custom, may descend to the heir, together with the land. Co. Litt. 5 b; 1 Tho. Co. Litt. 219; 2 Bl. Com. 17. By this term such things are denoted, as may be the subject-matter of inheritance, but not the inheritance itself; it cannot therefore, by its own intrinsic force, enlarge an estate, prima facie a life estate, into a fee. 2 B. & P. 251; 8 T. R. 503; 1 Tho. Co. Litt. 219, note T.
2. Hereditaments are divided into corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal hereditaments are confined to lands. (q. v.) Vide Incorporeal hereditaments, and Shep. To. 91; Cruise's Dig. tit. 1, s. 1; Wood's Inst.221; 3 Kent, Com. 321; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; 1 Chit. Pr. 203-229; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1595, et seq.
HEREDITARY. That which is inherited.
HERESY, Eng. law. The adoption of any erroneous religious tenet, not warranted by the established church.
2. This is punished by the deprivation of certain civil rights, and by fine and imprisonment. 1 East, P. C. 4.
3. In other countries than England, by heresy is meant the profession, by Christians, of religious opinions contrary to the dogmas approved by the established church of the respective countries. For an account of the origin and progress of the laws against heresy, see Giannoni's Istoria di Napoli, vol. 3, pp, 250, 251, &c.
4. in the United State, happily, we have no established religion; there can, therefore, be no legal heresy. Vide Apostacy; Christianity.
HERISCHILD. A species of English military service, or knight's fee.
HERIOTS, Eng. law. A render of the best beast or other goods, as the custom may be, to the lord, on the death of the tenant. 2 Bl. Com. 97.
2. They are usually divided into two sorts, heriot service, and heriot custom; the former are such as are due upon a special reservation in the grant or lease of lands, and therefore amount to little more than a mere rent; the latter arise upon no special reservation whatsoever, but depend merely upon immemorial usage and custom. These are defined to be a customary tribute of goods and chattels, payable to the lord of the fee, on the decease of the owner of the land. 2 Bl. Com. 422. Vide Com. Dig. Copyhold, K 18; Bac. Ab. h. t.; 2 Saund. lndex, h. t.; 1 Vern. 441.
HERITAGE. By this word is understood, among the civilians, every species of immovable which can be the subject of property, such as lands, houses, orchards, woods, marshes, ponds, &c., in whatever mode they may have been acquired, either by descent or purchase. 3 Toull. 472. It is something that can be inherited. Co. Litt. s. 731.
HERMAPHRODITES. Persons who have in the sexual organs the appearance of both sexes. They are adjudged to belong to that which prevails in them. Co. Litt. 2, 7; Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 1, t. 2, s. 1, n.. 9.
2. The sexual characteristics in the human species are widely separated, and the two sexes are never, perhaps, united in the same individual. 2 Dunglison's Hum. Physiol. 304; 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 94 to 110.
3. Dr. William Harris, in a lecture delivered to the Philadelphia Medical Institute, gives an interesting account of a supposed hermaphrodite who came under his own observation in Chester county, Pennsylvania. The individual was called Elizabeth, and till the age of eighteen, wore the female dress, when she threw it off, and assumed the name of Rees, with the dress and habits of a man; at twenty-five, she married a woman, but had no children. Her clitoris was five or six inches long, and in coition, which she greatly enjoyed, she used this instead of the male organ. She lived till she was sixty years of age, and died in possession of a large estate, which she had acquired by her industry and enterprise. Medical Examiner, vol. ii. p, 314. Vide 1 Briand, Mīd. Līg. c. 2, art. 2 , 2, n. 2; Dict. des Sciences Mīd. art. Hypospadias, et art. Impuissance; Guy, Med. Jur. 42,47.
HIDE, measures. In England, a hide of land, according to some ancient-manuscripts, contained one hundred and twenty acres. Co. Litt. 5; Plowd. 167; Touchst. 93.
HIERARCHY, eccl. law. A hierarchy signified, originally, power of the priest; for in the beginning of societies, the priests were entrusted with all the power but, among the priests themselves, there were different degrees of power and authority, at the summit of which was the sovereign pontiff, and this was called the hierarchy. Now it signifies, not so much the power of the priests as the border of power.
HIGH. This word has various signifcations: 1. Principal or chief, as high constable, high sheriff. 2. Prominent, in a bad sense, as high treason. 3. Open, not confined, as high seas.
HIGH CONSTABLE. An officer appointed in some cities bears this name. His powers are generally Iimited to matters of police, and are not more extensive in these respects than those of constables. (q. v.)
HIGH COURT OF DELEGATES, English law. The name of a court esthlished by stat. 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19, s. 4. No permanent judges are appointed, but in every case of appeal to this court, there issues a special commission, under the great seal of Great Britain, directed to such persons as the lord chancellor, lord keeper, or lords commissioners of the great seal, for the time being, shall think fit to appoint to bear and determine the same. The persons usually appointed, are three puisne judges, one from each court of common law, and three or more civilians; but in special cases, a fuller commission is sometimes issued, consisting of spiritual and temporal peers, judges of the common law, and civilians, three of each description. In case of the court being equally divided, or no common law judge forming part of the majority, a commission of adjuncts issues, appointing additional judges of the same description. 1 Hagg. Eccl. R. 384; 2 Hagg. Eccl. R. 84; 3 Hagg. Ecel. R. 471; 4 Burr. 2251.
HIGH SEAS. This term, which is frequently used in the laws of the United States signifies the unenclosed waters of the ocean, and also those waters on the sea coast which are without the boundaries of low water mark. 1 Gall. R. 624; 5 Mason's R. 290; 1 Bl. Com. 110; 2 Haze. Adm. R. 398; Dunl. Adm. Pr. 32, 33.
2. The Act of Congress of April 30 1790, s. 8, 1 Story'S L. U. S. 84, enacts, that if any person shall commit upon the high seas, or in any river, haven, basin, or bay, out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, murder, &c., which, if committed within the body of a county, would, by the laws of the United States, be punishable with death, every such offender, being thereof convicted, shall suffer death and the trial of crimes committed on the high seas, or in any place out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, shall be in the district where the offender is apprehended, or into which he may first be brought. See 4 Dall. R. 426; 3 Wheat. R. 336; 5 Wheat 184, 412; 3 W. C. C. R. 515; Serg. Const. Law, 334;13 Am. Jur. 279 1 Mason, 147, 152; 1 Gallis. 624.
HIGH TREASON, English law. Treason against the king, in contradistinction with petit treason, which is the treason of a servant towards his master; a wife towards her hushand; a secular or religious man against his prelate. See Petit treason; Treason.
HIGH WATER MARK. That part of the shore of the sea to which the waves ordinarily reach when he tide is at its highest. 6 Mass. R. 435; 1 Pick. R.180; 1 Halst. R. 1; 1 Russ. on Cr. 107; 2 East, P. C. 803. Vide Sea shore; Tide.
HIGHEST BIDDER, contracts. He who, at an auction, offers the greatest price for the property sold.
2. The highest bidder is entitled to have the article sold at his bid, provided there has been no unfairness on his part. A distinction has been made between the highest and the best bidder. In judicial sales, where the highest bidder is unable to pay, it is said the sheriff may offer the property to the next highest, who will pay, and he is considered the highest best bidder. 1 Dall. R. 419.
HIGHWAY. A passage or road through the country, or some parts of it, for the use of the people. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 442. The term highway is said to be a generic name for all kinds of public ways. 6 Mod R, 255.
2. Highways are universally laid out by public authority and repaired at the public expense, by direction of law. 4 Burr. Rep. 2511.
3. The public have an easement over a highway, of which the owner of the land cannot deprive them; but the soil and freehold still remain in the owner, and he may use the land above and below consistently with the easement. He may, therefore, work a mine, sink a drain or water course, under the highway, if the easement remains unimpaired. Vide Road; Street; Way; and 4 Vin. Ab. 502; Bac. Ab. h. t.; Com. Dig. Chemin; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Egremont on Highways; Wellbeloved on Highways; Woolrych on Ways; 1 N. H. Rep. 16; 1 Conn. R. 103; 1 Pick. R. 122; 1 M'Cord's R. 67; 2 Mass. R. 127; 1 Pick. R. 122; 3 Rawle, R. 495; 15 John. R. 483; 16 Mass. R.33; 1 Shepl. R. 250; 4 Day, R. 330; 2 Bail. R. 271; 1 Yeates, Rep. 167.
4. The owners of lots on opposite sides of a highway, are prima facie owners, each of one half of the highway,, 9 Serg. & Rawle, 33; Ham. Parties, 275; Bro. Abr. Nuisance, pl. 18 and the owner may recover the possession in ejectment, and have it delivered to him, subject to the public easement. Adams on Eject. 19, 18; 2 Johns. Rep. 357; 15 Johns. Rep.447; 6 Mass. 454; 2 Mass. 125.
5. If the highway is impassable, the public have the right to pass over the adjacent soil; but this rule does not extend to private ways, without an express grant. Morg. Vad. Mec. 456-7; 1 Tho. Co. Lit. 275; note 1 Barton, Elem. Conv. 271; Yelv. 142, note 1.
HIGHWAYMAN. A robber on the highway.