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Dictionary of Law Terms: Hereditaments

Guaranty. An engagement to be responsible for the debts or duties of a third person. Habeas Corpus. A Writ of Right for those who are grieved by illegal imprisonment. Habendum. One of the formal parts of a deed; its office is to limit or define the estate granted. It is so called because it begins with the words "to have." Hereditaments. All things which may be inherited, that is, which would descend to the heir, if not disposed of by deed or will. Hereditaments are of two kinds, corporeal and incorporeal.

Homicide. The crime of killing any human being; of which there are three kindsjustifiable, excusable and felonious. House bote. The necessary quantity of wood which a tenant may lawfully take for the reparation and support of the demised premises.

Hue and cry. The old common law process of pursuing felons "with horn and voice." Also the name of a paper now circulated amongst the London police containing the names and descriptions of felons.

Ignore. When the grand jury reject a bill of indictment, they are said to ignore it, from the Latin word ignoramus.

Illegal condition. A condition annexed to anything which is illegal, immoral, impossible, or otherwise contrary to law. Immoral contracts. Contracts infringing the rules of morality, which, for reasons of public policy, are void at law.

Impanelling. Writing in a parchment schedule the names of the jury by the sheriff. Incumbrance. A charge or lien upon property, as a mortgage. Indemnity. A written instrument whereby one undertakes to free another from responsibility.

Indenture. A deed, or writing, formerly cut or indented; now the name usually given to deeds, although indenting is no longer essential. Indictment. A written accusation, of one or more persons, of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to, and presented on oath, by a grand jury. In esse.

This term is used to express anything that has a real being, in contradistinction to the term in posse, which implies a thing that is not, but may be. Infant. Every person is by the law styled an infant till he has attained the age of twenty-one years. It is otherwise as to women in some of the United States. Inheritance. An estate in lands or tenements to a man and his heirs. Injunction. A prohibitory writ forbidding certain acts to be done under pain of contempt. It may be granted in urgent cases ex parte, but notice is sometimes required to be given.

Inquest. A meeting of jurors, who are summoned to take into consideration certain matters, which may appear in evidence before them, and to bring in their verdicts accordingly.

Inquiry, writ of. A writ directed to the Sheriff, commanding him to summon a jury and assess the damages in an action; as, for instance, when the defendant has suffered judgment by default.

Insurance. A security or indemnification against the risk of loss from the happening of certain events. The usual kinds are fire and marine. Interesse termini. The interest possessed by a lessee in a lease, after the granting thereof, but before he has entered upon the land demised. Interpleader. When two or more persons claim the same thing of a third, the latter may call upon them to interplead, i.e., to try the right to it between themselves; he, the third person, retaining possession of the thing in the meantime as a kind of stakeholder.

Interrogatories. Written questions, to which the parties interrogated are given to answer on oath.

Intestate. A person dying without a will, or having made a will which is defective. Inuendoe. That part of the declaration, in actions of libel and slander, which explains the meaning, or points the application, of the libellous or slanderous matter complained of.