ILLUSION. A species of mania in which the sensibility of the nervous system is altered, excited, weakened or perverted. The patient is deceived by the false appearance of things, and his reason is not sufficiently active and powerful to correct the error, and this last particular is what distinguishes the sane from the insane. Illusions are not unfrequent in a state of health, but reason corrects the errors and dissipates them. A square tower seen from a distance may appear round, but on approaching it, the error is corrected. A distant mountain may be taken for a cloud, but as we approach, we discover the truth. To a person in the cabin of a vessel under sail, the shore appears to move; but reflection and a closer examination soon destroy this illusion. An insane individual is mistaken on the qualities, connexions, and causes of the impressions he actually receives, and he forms wrong judgments as to his internal and external sensations; and his reason does not correct the error. 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 538; Esquirol, Maladies Mentales, pr«m. partie, III., tome 1, p. 202. Dict. des Sciences M«dicales, Hallucination, tome 20, p. 64. See Hallucination.
ILLUSORY APPOINTMENT, chancery practice. Such an appointment or disposition of property under a power as is merely nominal and not substantial.
2. Illusory appointments are void in equity. Sugd. Pow. 489; 1 Vern. 67; 1 T. R. 438, note; 4 Ves. 785; 16 Ves. 26; 1 Taunt. 289; and the article Appointment.
TO IMAGINE, Eng. law. In cases of treason the law makes it a crime to imagine the death of the king. In order to complete the offence there must, however, be an overt act the terms compassing and imagining being synonymous. It. has been justly remarked that the words to compass and imagine are too vague for a statute whose penalty affects the life of a subject. Barr. on the Stat. 243, 4. Vide Fiction.
IMBECILITY, med. jur. A weakness of the mind, caused by the absence or obliteration of natural or acquired ideas; or it is described to be an abnormal deficiency either in those faculties which acquaint us with the qualities and ordinary relations of things, or in those which furnish us with the moral motives that regulate our relations and conduct towards our fellow men. It is frequently attended with excessive activity. of one or more of the animal propensities.
2. Imbecility differs from idiocy in this, that the subjects of the former possess some intellectual capacity, though inferior in degree to that possessed by the great mass of mankind; while those of the latter are utterly destitute of reason. Imbecility differs also from stupidity. (q. v.) The former consists in a defect of the mind, which renders it unable to examine the data presented to it by the senses, and therefrom to deduce the correct judgment; that is, a defect of intensity, or reflective power. The latter is occasioned by a want of intensity, or perceptive power.
3. There are various degrees of this disease. It has been attempted to classify the degrees of imbecility, but the careful observer of nature will perhaps be soon satisfied that the shades of difference between one species and another, are almost imperceptible. Ray, Med. Jur. ch. 3; 2 Beck, Med. Jur. 550, 542; 1 Hagg. Ecc. R. 384; 2 Philm. R. 449; 1 Litt. R. 252, 5 John. Ch. R. 161; 1 Litt. R. 101; Des Maladies mentales, consider«es dans leurs rapports avec la legislation civille et criminelle, 8; Georget, Discussion medico-l«gale sur la folie, 140.
IMMATERIAL. What is not essential; unimportant what is not requisite; what is informal; as, an immaterial averment, an immaterial issue.
2. When a witness deposes to something immaterial, which is false, although he is guilty of perjury in foro conscientiae, he cannot be punished for perjury. 2 Russ. on Cr. 521; 1 Hawk. b. 1, c. 69, s. 8; Bac. Ab. Perjury, A.
IMMATERIAL AVERMENT. One alleging with needless particularity or unnecessary circumstances, what is material and requisite, and which, properly, might have been stated more generally, or without such circumstances or particulars; or, in other words, it, is a statement of unnecessary particulars, in connexion with, and as descriptive of, what is material. Gould on Pl. c. 3, 186.
2. It is highly improper to introduce immaterial averments, because, when they are made, they must be proved; as, if, a plaintiff declare for rent on a demise which is described as reserving a certain annual rent, payable "by four even and equal quarterly payments," &c.; and on the trial it appears that there was no stipulation with regard to the time or times of payment of the rents, the plaintiff cannot recover. The averment as to the time, though it need not have been made, yet it must be proved, and the plaintiff having failed in this, he cannot recover; as there is a variance between the contract declared upon and the contract proved. Dougl. 665.
3. But when the immaterial averment is such that it may be struck out of the declaration, without striking out at the same time the cause of action, and when there is no variance between the contract as, laid in the declaration and that proved, immaterial averments then need not be proved. Gould on Pl. C. 3, 188.
lMMATERIAL ISSUE. One taken on a point not proper to decide the action; for example, if in an action of debt on bond, conditioned for the payment of ten dollars and fifty cents at a certain day, the defend ant pleads the payment of ten dollars according to the form of the condition, and the plaintiff, instead of demurring, tenders issue upon the payment, it is manifest that, whether this issue be found for the plaintiff or the defendant, it will remain equally uncertain whether the plaintiff is entitled to maintain his action, or not; for, in an action for the penalty of a bond, conditioned to pay a certain sum, the only material question is, whether the exact sum were paid or not, and the question of payment of a part is a question quite beside the legal merits. Hob. 113; 5 Taunt. 386.
IMMEDIATE. That which is produced directly by the act to which it is ascribed, without the intervention or agency of any distinct intermediate cause.
2. For immediate injuries the remedy is trespass; for those which are consequential, an action on the case. 11 Mass. R. 59, 137, 525; 1 & 2 Ohio R. 342; 6 S. & R. 348; 18 John. 257; 19 John. 381; 2 H. & M. 423; 1 Yeates, R. 586; 12 S & R. 210; Coxe, R. 339; Harper's R. 113; 6 Call's R . 44; 1 Marsh. R. 194.
3. When an immediate injury is caused by negligence, the injured party may elect to regard the negligence as the immediate cause of action, and declare in case; or to consider the act itself as the immediate injury, and sue in trespass. 14 John. 432; 6 Cowen, 342; 3 N. H. Rep. 465; sed vide 3 Conn. 64; 2 Bos. & Pull. New Rep. by Day, 448, note. See Cause.
IMMEMORIAL. That which commences beyond the time of memory. Vide Memory, time of. IMMEMORIAL POSSESSION. In Louisiana, by this term is understood that of which no man living has seen the beginning, and the existence of which he has learned from his elders. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 762; 2 M. R. 214; 7 L. R. 46; 3 Toull. p. 410; Poth. Contr. de Societ«, n. 244; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3069, note.
IMMIGRATION. The removing into one place from another. It differs from emigration, which is the moving from one place into another. Vide Emigration.
IMMORAL CONSIDERATION. One contrary to good morals, and therefore invalid. See Moral obligation.
IMMORALITY. that which is contra bonos mores. In England, it is not punishable in some cases, at the common law, on, account of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions: e. g. adultery. But except in cases belonging to the ecclesiastical courts, the court of king's bench is the custom morum, and may punish delicto contra bonos mores. 3 Burr. Rep. 1438; 1 Bl. Rep. 94; 2 Strange, 788. In Pennsylvania, and most, if not all the United States, all such cases come under one and the same jurisdiction.
2. Immoral contracts are generally void; an agreement in consideration of future illicit cohabitation between the parties; 3 Burr. 1568; S. C. 1 Bl. Rep. 517; 1 Esp. R. 13; 1 B. & P. 340, 341; an agreement for the value of libelous and immoral pictures, 4 Esp. R. 97; or for printing a libel, 2 Stark. R. 107; or for an immoral wager, Chit. Contr. 156, cannot, therefore, be enforced. For whatever arises from an immoral or illegal consideration, is void: quid turpi ex causa promissum est non valet. Inst. 3, 20, 24.
3. It is a general rule, that whenever an agreement appears to be illegal, immoral, or against public policy, a court of justice leaves the parties where it finds them; when the agreement has been executed, the court will not rescind it; when executory, the count will not help the execution. 4 Ohio R. 419; 4 John. R. 419; 11 John. R. 388; 12 John. R. 306; 19 John. R. 341; 3 Cowen's R. 213; 2 Wils. R. 341.
IMMOVABLES, civil law. Things are movable or immovable. Immovables, res immobiles, are things in general, such as cannot move themselves or be removed from one place to another. But this definition, strictly speaking, is applicable only to such things as are immovable by their own nature, and not to such as are so only by the destination of the law.
>2. There are things immovable by their nature, others by their destination, and others by the objects to which they are applied.
3. - 1. Lands and buildings or other constructions, whether they have their foundations in the soil or not, are immovable by their nature. By the common law, buildings erected on the land are not considered real estate, unless they have been let into, or united to the land, or to substances previously connected therewith. Ferard on Fixt. 2.
4. - 2. Things, which the owner of the land has placed upon it for its service and improvement, are immovables by destination, as seeds, plants, fodder, manure, pigeons in a pigeon-house, bee-hives, and the like. By the common. law, erections with or without a foundation, when made for the purpose of trade, are considered personal estate. 2 Pet. S. C. Rep. 137; 3 Atk. 13; Ambl. 113
5. - 3. A servitude established on real estate, is an instance of an immovable, which is so considered in consequence of the object to which it is applied. Vide Civil Code of Louis. B. 2, t. 1, c. 2, art. 453-463; Poth. Des Choses, 1; Poth. de la Communante, n. 25, et seq; Clef des Lois Romaines, mot Immeubles.
IMMUNITY. An exemption from serving in an office, or performing duties which the law generally requires other citizens to perform. Vide Dig. lib. 50, t. 6; 1 Chit. Cr. L. 821; 4 Har. & M'Hen. 341.
IMMUTABLE. What cannot be removed, what is unchangeable. The laws of God being perfect, are immutable, but no human law can be so considered.
IMPAIRING THE OBLIGATION OF CONTRACTS. The Constitution of the United States, art. 1, s. 9, cl. 1, declares that no state shall "pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts."
2. Contracts, when considered in relation to their effects, are executed, that is, by transfer of the possession of the thing contracted for; or they are executory, which gives only a right of action for the subject of the contract. Contracts are also express or implied. The constitution makes no distinction between one class of contracts and the other. 6 Cranch, 135; 7 Cranch, 164. 3. The obligation of a contract here spoken of is a legal, not a mere moral obligation; it is the law which binds the party to perform his undertaking. The obligation does not inhere or subsist in the contract itself, proprio vigore, but in the law appli- cable to the contract. 4 Wheat. R. 197; 12 Wheat. R. 318; and. this law is not the universal law of nations, but it is the law of the state where the contract is made. 12 Wheat. R. 213. Any law which enlarges, abridges, or in any manner changes the intention of the parties, resulting from the stipulations in the contract, necessarily impairs it. 12 Wheat. 256; Id. 327; 3 Wash. C. C. Rep. 319; 8 Wheat. 84; 4 Wheat. 197.
4. The constitution forbids the states to pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts, but there is nothing in that instrument which prohibits Congress from passing such a law. Pet. C. C. R. 322. Vide, generally, Story on the Const. 1368 to 1891 Serg. Const. Law, 356; Rawle on the Const. h. t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; 10 Am. Jur. 273-297.
TO IMPANEL, practice. The writing the names of a jury on a schedule, by the sheriff or other officer lawfully authorized.
IMPARLANCE, pleading and practice. Imparlance, from the French, parler, to speak, or licentia loquendi, in its most general signification, means time given by the court to either party to answer the pleading of his opponent, as either, to plead, reply, rejoin, &c., and is said to be nothing else but the continuance of the cause till a further day. Bac. Abr. Pleas, C. But the more common signification of the term is time to plead. 2 Saund. 1, n. 2; 2 Show. 3 10; Barnes, 346; Lawes, Civ. Pl. 93, 94.
2. Imparlances are of three descriptions: First. A common or general imparlance. Secondly. A special imparlance. Thirdly. A general special imparlance.
3. - 1. A general imparlance is the entry of a general prayer. and allowance of time to plead till the next term, without reserving to the defendant the benefit of any exception; so that, after such an imparlance, the defendant cannot object to the jurisdiction of the court, or plead any matter in abatement. This kind of imparlance is always from one term to another.
4.-2. A special imparlance reserves to the defendant all exception to the writ, bill, or count; and, therefore, after it, the defendant may plead in abatement, though not to the jurisdiction of the court.
5. - 3. A general special imparlance contains a saving of all exceptions whatsoever, so that the defendant, after this, may plead, not only in abatement, but he may also plead a plea which affects the jurisdiction of the court, as privilege. He cannot, however, plead a tender, and that he was always ready to pay, because, by craving time, he admits he is not ready, and so falsifies his plea. Tidd's Pr. 418, 419. The last two kinds of imparlances are, it seems, sometimes from one day to another in the same term. See, in general, Com. Dig Abatement, I 19, 20, 21; 1 Chit. Pl. 420; Bac. Abr. Pleas, C; 14 Vin. Abr. 335; Com. Dig. Pleader, D; 1 Sell. Pr. 265; Doct. Pl. 291; Encycl. de M. D'Alembert, art. Delai (Jurisp.)
IMPEACHMENT, const. law, punishments. Under the constitution and laws of the United States, an impeachment may be described to be a written accusation, by the house of representatives of the United States, to the senate of the United States, against an officer. The presentment, written accusation, is called articles of impeachment.
2. The constitution declares that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment art. 1, s. 2, cl. 5 and that the senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. Art. 1, s. 3, cl. 6.
3. The persons liable to impeachment are the president, vice-president, and all civil officers of the United States. Art. 2, s. 4. A question arose upon an impeachment before the senate, in 1799, whether a senator was a civil officer of the United States, within the purview of this section of the constitution, and it was decided by the senate, by a vote of fourteen against eleven, that he was not. Senate Journ., January 10th, 1799; Story on Const. 791; Rawle on Const. 213, 214 Serg. Const. Law, 376.
4. The offences for which a guilty officer may be impeached are, treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Art. 2, s. 4. The constitution defines the crime of treason. Art. 3, s. 3. Recourse must be had to the common law for a definition of bribery. Not having particularly mentioned what is to be understood by "other high crimes and misdemeanors," resort, it is presumed, must be had to parliamentary practice, and the common law, in order to ascertain what they are. Story, 795.
5. The mode of proceeding, in the institution and trial of impeachments, is as follows: When a person who may be legally impeached has been guilty, or is supposed to have been guilty, of some malversation in office, a resolution is generally brought forward by a member of the house of representatives, either to accuse the party, or for a committee of inquiry. If the committee report adversely to the party accused, they give a statement of the charges, and recommend that he be impeached; when the resolution is adopted by the house, a committee is appointed to impeach the party at the bar of the senate, and to state that the articles of impeachment against him will be exhibited in due time, and made good before the senate, and to demand that the senate take order for the appearance of the party to answer to the impeachment. The house then agree upon the articles of impeachment, and they are presented to the senate by a committee appointed by the house to prosecute the impeachment; the senate then issues process, summoning the party to appear at a given day before them, to answer to the articles. The process is served by the sergeant-at-arms of the senate, and a return is made of it to the senate, under oath. On the return-day of the process, the senate resolves itself into a court of impeacmment, and the senators are sworn to do justice, according to the constitution and laws. The person impeached is called to answer, and either appears or does not appear. If he does not appear, his default is recorded, and the senate may proceed ex parte. If he does appear, either by himself or attorney, the parties are required to form an issue, and a time is then assigned for the trial. The proceedings on the trial are conducted substantially as they are upon common judicial trials. If any debates arise among the senators, they are conducted in secret, and the final decision is given by yeas and nays; but no person can be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. Const. art. 1, s. 2, cl. 6.
6. When the president is tried, the chief justice shall preside. The judgment, in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. Proceedings on impeachments under the state constitutions are somewhat similar. Vide Courts of the United States.