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Dictionary of Law Terms: Personal

Chose. Personal property.

Chose-in-Action. Personal property of which a man has not the possession, and which he can only claim by action, as, for instance, a debt owing to him by another. Circuits. Seven certain divisions of territory appointed for the judges to go at stated times in the year to administer justice.

Citation. The first step in an ecclesiastical cause, analogous to the writ of summons in an action under English law.

Client. Anciently, a Roman citizen, taken under the protection of some great man, who was styled his patron. The term is now applied to a party who employs a solicitor or counsel in any legal proceeding.