The following definitions were extracted from the Noah Webster 1828 app so that people can emerge themselves into pre-civil war thinking. All of the words have strong similarities to their modern definitions, but each has differences. Most definitions include a word that needs to be looked up for completeness in the 1828 dictionary to confirm the definition is similar enough to the modern meaning.
DECREE, n. [L. decretum, from decerno, to judge, to divide; Fr. decret; It. and Sp. decreto.]
1. Judicial decision, or determination of a litigated cause; as a decree of the court of chancery. The decision of a court of equity is called a decree; that of a court of law, a judgment.
2. In the civil law, a determination or judgment of the emperor on a suit between parties.
3. An edict or law made by a council for regulating any business within their jurisdiction; as the decrees of ecclesiastical councils.
4. In general, an order, edict or law made by a superior as a rule to govern inferiors.
There went a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. Luke ii.
5. Established law, or rule.
He made a decree for the rain. Job xxviii.
6. In theology, predetermined purpose of God; the purpose or determination of an immutable Being, whose plan of operations is, like himself, unchangeable.
DECREE, v.t.
1. To determine judicially; to resolve by sentence; as, the court decreed that the property should be restored; or they decreed a restoration of the property.
2. To determine or resolve legislatively; to fix or appoint; to set or constitute by edict or in purpose.
Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established. Job xxii.
Let us not be solicitous to know what God has decreed concerning us.
SOVEREIGN, a. suv'eran. [We retain this babarous orthography from the Norman sovereign. The true spelling would be suveran from the L. supernes, superus.]
1. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe.
2. Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey him.
3. Supremely efficacious; superior to all others; predominant; effectual; as a sovereign remedy.
4. Supreme; pertaining to the first magistrate of a nation; as sovereign authority.
SOVEREIGN, n. suv'eran.
1. A supreme lord or ruler; one who possesses the highest authority without control. Some earthly princes, kings and emperors are sovereigns in their dominions.
2. A supreme magistrate; a king.
3. A gold coin of England, value 20s or $4.44
PEOPLE, n. [L. populus.]
1. The body of persons who compose a community, town, city or nation. We say, the people of a town; the people of London or Paris; the English people. In this sense, the word is not used in the plural, but it comprehends all classes of inhabitants, considered as a collective body, or any portion of the inhabitants of a city or country.
2. The vulgar; the mass of illiterate persons.
The knowing artist may judge better than the people.
3. The commonalty, as distinct from men of rank.
Myself shall mount the rostrum in his favor,
And strive to gain his pardon from the people.
4. Persons of a particular class; a part of a nation or community; as country people.
5. Persons in general; any persons indefinitely; like on in French, and man in Saxon.
People were tempted to lend by great premiums and large interest.
6. A collection or community of animals.
The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. Prov.30.
7. When people signified a separate nation or tribe, it has the plural number.
Thou must prophesy again before many peoples. Rev.10.
8. In Scripture, fathers or kindred. Gen.25.
9. The Gentiles.
--To him shall the gathering of the people be. Gen.49.
PEOPLE, v.t. To stock with inhabitants. Emigrants from Europe have peopled the United States.
CORPORATION, n. A body politic or corporate, formed and authorized by law to act as a single person; a society having the capacity of transacting business as an individual. Corporations are aggregate or sole. Corporations aggregate consist of two or more persons united in a society, which is preserved by a succession of members, either forever, or till the corporation is dissolved by the power that formed it, by the death of all its members, by surrender of its charter or franchises, or by forfeiture. Such corporations are the mayor and aldermen of cities, the head and fellows of a college, the dean and chapter of a cathedral church, the stockholders of a bank or insurance company, &c. A corporation sole consists of one person only and his successors, as a king or a bishop.
PER'FECT, a. [L. perfectus, perficio, to complete; per and facio, to do or make through, to carry to the end.]
1. Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as a perfect statue; a perfect likeness; a perfect work; a perfect system.
As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.
2. Fully informed; completely skilled; as men perfect in the use of arms; perfect in discipline.
3. Complete in moral excellencies.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matt.5.
4. Manifesting perfection.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor.12.
Perfect chord,in music, a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the fifth and the octave; a perfect consonance.
A perfect flower, in botany, has both stamen and pistil, or at least another and stigma.
Perfect tense, in grammar, the preterit tense; a tense which expresses an act completed.
PER'FECT, v.t. [L. perfectus, perficio.] To finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to any thing all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as, to perfect a picture or statue. 2 Chron.8.
-Inquire into the nature and properties of things, and thereby perfect our ideas of distinct species.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4.
1. To instruct fully; to make fully skillful; as, to perfect one's self in the rules of music or architecture; to perfect soldiers in discipline.
U'NION, n. [L. unio, to unite, from unus, one.]
1. The act of joining two or more things into one, and thus forming a compound body or a mixture; or the junction or coalition of things thus united. Union differs from connection, as it implies the bodies to be in contact, without an intervening body; whereas things may be connected by the intervention of a third body, as by a cord or chain.
One kingdom, joy and union without end.
2. Concord; agreement and conjunction of mind, will, affections or interest. Happy is the family where perfect union subsists between all its members.
3. The junction or united existence of spirit and matter; as the union of soul and body.
4. Among painters, a symmetry and agreement between the several parts of a painting.
5. In architecture, harmony between the colors in the materials of a building.
6. In ecclesiastical affairs, the combining or consolidating of two or more churches into one. This cannot be done without the consent of the bishop, the patron, and the incumbent. Union is by accession, when the united benefice becomes an accessory of the principal; by confusion, where the two titles are suppressed, and a new one created, including both; and by equality, where the two titles subsist, but are equal and independent.
7. States united. Thus the United States of America are sometimes call the Union.
8. A pearl. [L. unio. Not in use.]
Union, or Act of union, the act by which Scotland was united to England, or by which the two kingdoms were incorporated into one, in 1707.
Legislative union, the union of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1800.
Union by the first intention, in surgery, the process by which the opposite surfaces of recent wounds grow together and unite without suppuration, when they are kept in contact with each other; the result of a wonderful self-healing power in living bodies.
JUST'ICE, n. [L. justitia, from justus, just.]
1. The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men with each other; honesty; integrity in commerce or mutual intercourse. Justice is distributive or commutative. Distributive justice belongs to magistrates or rulers, and consists in distributing to every man that right or equity which the laws and the principles of equity require; or in deciding controversies according to the laws and to principles of equity. Commutative justice consists in fair dealing in trade and mutual intercourse between man and man.
2. Impartiality; equal distribution of right in expressing opinions; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit. In criticisms, narrations, history or discourse, it is a duty to do justice to every man, whether friend or foe.
3. Equity; agreeableness to right; as, he proved the justice of his claim. This should, in strictness, be justness.
4. Vindictive retribution; merited punishment. Sooner or later, justice overtakes the criminal.
5. Right; application of equity. His arm will do him justice.
6. [Low L. justiciarius.] A person commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice to individuals; as the Chief Justice of the king's bench, or of the common pleas, in England; the Chief Justice of the supreme court in the United States, &c. and justices of the peace.
JUST'ICE, v.t. To administer justice. [Little used.]
TRANQUIL'LITY, n. [L. tranquillitas.] Quietness; a calm state; freedom from disturbance or agitation. We speak of the tranquillity of public affairs, of the state, of the world, the tranquillity of a retired life, the tranquillity of mind proceeding from conscious rectitude.
LIB'ERTY, n. [L. libertas, from liber, free.]
1. Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty, when not confined; the will or mind is at liberty, when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty, when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions.
2. Natural liberty, consists in the power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature. It is a state of exemption from the control of others, and from positive laws and the institutions of social life. This liberty is abridged by the establishment of government.
3. Civil liberty, is the liberty of men in a state of society, or natural liberty, so far only abridged and restrained, as is necessary and expedient for the safety and interest of the society, state or nation. A restraint of natural liberty, not necessary or expedient for the public, is tyranny or oppression. civil liberty is an exemption from the arbitrary will of others, which exemption is secured by established laws, which restrain every man from injuring or controlling another. Hence the restraints of law are essential to civil liberty.
The liberty of one depends not so much on the removal of all restraint from him, as on the due restraint upon the liberty of others.
In this sentence, the latter word liberty denotes natural liberty.
4. Political liberty, is sometimes used as synonymous with civil liberty. But it more properly designates the liberty of a nation, the freedom of a nation or state from all unjust abridgment of its rights and independence by another nation. Hence we often speak of the political liberties of Europe, or the nations of Europe.
5. Religious liberty, is the free right of adopting and enjoying opinions on religious subjects, and of worshiping the Supreme Being according to the dictates of conscience, without external control.
6. Liberty, in metaphysics, as opposed to necessity, is the power of an agent to do or forbear any particular action, according to the determination or thought of the mind, by which either is preferred to the other.
Freedom of the will; exemption from compulsion or restraint in willing or volition.
7. Privilege; exemption; immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant; with a plural. Thus we speak of the liberties of the commercial cities of Europe.
8. Leave; permission granted. The witness obtained liberty to leave the court.
9. A space in which one is permitted to pass without restraint, and beyond which he may not lawfully pass; with a plural; as the liberties of a prison.
10. Freedom of action or speech beyond the ordinary bounds of civility or decorum. Females should repel all improper liberties.
To take the liberty to do or say any thing, to use freedom not specially granted.
To set at liberty, to deliver from confinement; to release from restraint.
To be at liberty, to be free from restraint.
Liberty of the press, is freedom from any restriction on the power to publish books; the free power of publishing what one pleases, subject only to punishment for abusing the privilege, or publishing what is mischievous to the public or injurious to individuals.
ESTAB'LISH, v.t. [L. stabilio; Heb. to set, fix, establish.]
1. To set and fix firmly or unalterably; to settle permanently.
I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant. Gen.17.
2. To found permanently; to erect and fix or settle; as, to establish a colony or an empire.
3. To enact or decree by authority and for permanence; to ordain; to appoint; as, to establish laws, regulations, institutions, rules, ordinances, &c.
4. To settle or fix; to confirm; as, to establish a person, society or corporation, in possessions or privileges.
5. To make firm; to confirm; to ratify what has been previously set or made.
Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid; yea, we establish the law. Rom.3.
6. To settle or fix what is wavering, doubtful or weak; to confirm.
So were the churches established in the faith. Acts.16.
To the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in
holiness. l Thess.3.
7. To confirm; to fulfill; to make good.
Establish thy word to thy servant. Ps.119.8. To set up in the place of another and confirm.
Who go about to establish their own righteousness. Rom.10.
COMMON, a.
1. Belonging equally to more than one, or to many indefinitely; as, life and sense are common to man and beast; the common privileges of citizens; the common wants of men.
2. Belonging to the public; having no separate owner. The right to a highway is common.
3. General; serving for the use of all; as the common prayer.
4. Universal; belonging to all; as, the earth is said to be the common mother of mankind.
5. Public; general; frequent; as common report.
6. Usual; ordinary; as the common operations of nature; the common forms of conveyance; the common rules of civility.
7. Of no rank or superior excellence; ordinary. Applied to men, it signifies, not noble, not distinguished by noble descent, or not distinguished by office, character or talents; as a common man; a common soldier. Applied to things, it signifies, not distinguished by excellence or superiority; as a common essay; a common exertion. It however is not generally equivalent to mean, which expresses something lower in rank or estimation.
8. Prostitute; lewd; as a common woman.
9. In grammar, such verbs as signify both action and passion, are called common; as aspernor, I despise or am despised; also, such nouns as are both masculine and feminine, as parens.
10. A common bud, in botany, is one that contains both leaves and flowers; a common peduncle, one that bears several flowers; a common perianth, one that incloses several distinct fructification; a common receptacle, one that connects several distinct fructification.
Common divisor, in mathematics, is a number or quantity that divides two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder.
Common Law, in Great Britain and the United States, the unwritten law, the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, in distinction from the written or statute law. That body of rules, principles and customs which have been received from our ancestors, and by which courts have been governed in their judicial decisions. The evidence of this law is to be found in the reports of those decisions, and the records of the courts. Some of these rules may have originated in edicts or statutes which are now lost, or in the terms and conditions of particular grants or charters; but it is most probable that many of them originated in judicial decisions founded on natural justice and equity, or on local customs.
Common pleas, in Great Britain, one of the kings courts, now held in Westminster-Hall. It consists of a chief justice and three other justices, and has cognizance of all civil causes, real, personal or mixed, as well by original writ, as by removal from the inferior courts. A writ of error, in the nature of an appeal, lies from this court to the court of kings bench.
In some of the American states, a court of common pleas is an inferior court, whose jurisdiction is limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a county court. This court is variously constituted in different states, and its powers are defined by statutes. It has jurisdiction of civil causes, and of minor offenses; but its final jurisdiction is very limited; all causes of magnitude being removable to a higher Court by appeal or by writ of error.prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England, which all the clergy of the Church are enjoined to use, under a penalty.
Common recovery, a legal process for recovering an estate or barring entails.
Common time, in music, duple or double time, when the semibreve is equal to two minims.
In common, equally with another, or with others; to be equally used or participated by two or more; as tenants in common; to provide for children in common; to assign lands to two persons in common, or to twenty in common; we enjoy the bounties of providence in common.
COMMON, n.
1. A tract of ground, the use of which is not appropriated to an individual, but belongs to the public or to a number. Thus we apply the word to an open ground or space in a highway, reserved for public use.
2. In law, an open ground, or that soil the use of which belongs equally to the inhabitants of a town or of a lordship, or to a certain number of proprietors; or the profit which a man has in the land of another; or a right which a person has to pasture has cattle on land of another, or to dig turf, or catch fish, or cut wood, or the like; called common of pasture, of turbary, of piscary, and of estovers.
Common, or right of common, is appendant, appurtenant, because of vicinage, or in gross.
Common appendant is a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the lords waste, and upon the lands of other persons within the same manor. This is a matter of most universal right.
Common appurtenant may be annexed to lands in other lordships, or extend to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable; this is not of common right, but can be claimed only b immemorial usage and prescription.
Common because of vicinage or neighborhood, is where the inhabitants of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, have usually intercommoned with one another, the beasts of the one straying into the others fields; this is a permissive right.
Common in gross or at large, is annexed to a mans person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole.
COMMON, v.i.
1. To have a joint right with others in common ground.
2. To board together; to eat at a table in common.
ESTAB'LISH, v.t. [L. stabilio; Heb. to set, fix, establish.]
1. To set and fix firmly or unalterably; to settle permanently.
I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant. Gen.17.
2. To found permanently; to erect and fix or settle; as, to establish a colony or an empire.
3. To enact or decree by authority and for permanence; to ordain; to appoint; as, to establish laws, regulations, institutions, rules, ordinances, &c.
4. To settle or fix; to confirm; as, to establish a person, society or corporation, in possessions or privileges.
5. To make firm; to confirm; to ratify what has been previously set or made.
Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid; yea, we establish the law. Rom.3.
6. To settle or fix what is wavering, doubtful or weak; to confirm.
So were the churches established in the faith. Acts.16.
To the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in
holiness. l Thess.3.
7. To confirm; to fulfill; to make good.
Establish thy word to thy servant. Ps.119.8. To set up in the place of another and confirm.
Who go about to establish their own righteousness. Rom.10.
INSU'RE, v.t. inshu're. [in and sure.] To make sure or secure; to
contract or covenant for a consideration to secure a person against loss; or to engage to indemnify another for the loss of any specified property, at a certain stipulated rate per cent, called a premium. The property usually insured is such as is exposed to extraordinary hazard. Thus the merchant insures his ship or its cargo, or both, against the dangers of the sea; houses are insured against fire; sometimes hazardous debts ar insured, and sometimes lives.
INSU'RE, v.i. To underwrite; to practice making insurance. This company insures at 3 per cent, or at a low premium.
PROMO'TE, v.t. [L. promotus, promoveo, to move forward; pro and moveo, to move.]
1. To forward; to advance; to contribute to the growth, enlargement or excellence of any thing valuable, or to the increase of any thing evil; as, to promote learning, knowledge, virtue or religion; to promote the interest of commerce or agriculture; to promote the arts; to promote civilization or refinement; to promote the propagation of the gospel; to promote vice and disorder.
2. To excite; as, to promote mutiny.
3. To exalt; to elevate; to raise; to prefer in rank or honor.
I will promote thee to very great honors. Num.22.
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee. Prov.4.
SECU'RE, a. [L. securus.]
1. Free from danger of being taken by an enemy; that may resist assault or attack. Teh place is well fortified and very secure. Gibraltar is a secure fortress. In this sense, secure is followed by against or from; as secure against attack, or from an enemy.
2. Free from danger; safe; applied to persons; with from.
3. Free from fear or apprehension of danger; not alarmed; not disturbed by fear; confident of safety; hence, careless of the means of defense. Men are often most in danger when they feel most secure.
Confidence then bore thee on, secure
ORDA'IN, v.t. [L. ordino, from ordo, order.]
1. Properly, to set; to establish in a particular office or order; hence, to invest with a ministerial function or sacerdotal power; to introduce and establish or settle in the pastoral office with the customary forms and solemnities; as, to ordain a minister of the gospel. In America, men are ordained over a particular church and congregation, or as evangelists without the charge of a particular church, or as deacons in the episcopal church.
2. To appoint; to decree.
Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. 1Kings 12.
As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed.
Acts 13.
3. To set; to establish; to institute; to constitute.
Mulmutius ordained our laws.
4. To set apart for an office; to appoint.
Jesus ordained twelve that they should be with him. Mark 3.
5. To appoint; to prepare.
For Tophet is ordained of old. Is. 30.
FREE'DOM, n.
1. A state of exemption from the power or control of another; liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement. Freedom is personal, civil, political, and religious. [See Liberty.]
2. Particular privileges; franchise; immunity; as the freedom of a city.
3. Power of enjoying franchises.
4. Exemption from fate, necessity, or any constraint in consequence of predetermination or otherwise; as the freedom of the will.
5. Any exemption from constraint or control.
6. Ease or facility of doing any thing. He speaks or acts with freedom.
7. Frankness; boldness. He addressed his audience with freedom.
8. License; improper familiarity; violation of the rules of decorum; with a plural. Beware of what are called innocent freedoms.
RIGHT, a. rite. [L. rectus, from the root of rego, properly to strain or stretch, whence straight.]
Properly; strained; stretched to straightness; hence,
1. Straight. A right line in geometry is the shortest line that can be drawn or imagined between two points. A right line may be horizontal, perpendicular, or inclined to the plane of the horizon.
2. In morals and religion, just; equitable; accordant to the standard of truth and justice or the will of God. That alone is right in the sight of God, which is consonant to his will or law; this being the only perfect standard of truth and justice. In social and political affairs, that is right which is consonant to the laws and customs of a country, provided these laws and customs are not repugnant to the laws of God. A man's intentions may be right, though his actions may be wrong in consequence of a defect in judgment.
3. Fit; suitable; proper; becoming. In things indifferent, or which are regulated by no positive law, that is right which is best suited to the character, occasion or purpose, or which is fitted to produce some good effect. It is right for a rich man to dress himself and his family in expensive clothing, which it would not be right for a poor man to purchase. It is right for every man to choose his own time for eating or exercise.
Right is a relative term; what may be right for one end, may be wrong for another.
4. Lawful; as the right heir of an estate.
5. True; not erroneous or wrong; according to fact.
If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is certainly right, 'let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'
6. Correct; passing a true judgment; not mistaken or wrong.
You are right, justice, and you weigh this well.
7. Not left; most convenient or dextrous; as the right hand, which is generally most strong or most convenient in use.
8. Most favorable or convenient.
The lady has been disappointed on the right side.
9. Properly placed, disposed or adjusted; orderly; well regulated.
10. Well performed, as an art or act.
11. Most direct; as the right way from London to Oxford.
12. Being on the same side as the right hand; as the right side.
13. Being on the right hand of a person whose face is towards the mouth of a river; as the right bank of the Hudson.
RIGHT, adv.
1. In a right or straight line; directly.
Let thine eyes look right on. Prov. 4.
2. According to the law or will of God, or to the standard of truth and justice; as, to judge right.
3. According to any rule of art.
You with strict discipline instructed right.
4. According to fact or truth; as, to tell a story right.
5. In a great degree; very; as right humble; right noble; right valiant. [Obsolescent or inelegant.]
6. It is prefixed to titles; as in right honorable; right reverend.
RIGHT, is used elliptically for it is right, what you say is right, it is true, &c.
Right, cries his lordship.
On the right, on the side with the right hand.
RIGHT, n.
1. Conformity to the will of God, or to his law, the perfect standard of truth and justice. In the literal sense, right is a straight line of conduct, and wrong a crooked one. Right therefore is rectitude or straightness, and perfect rectitude is found only in an infinite Being and his will.
2. Conformity to human laws, or to other human standard of truth, propriety or justice. When laws are definite, right and wrong are easily ascertained and understood. In arts, there are some principles and rules which determine what is right. In many things indifferent, or left without positive law, we are to judge what is right by fitness or propriety, by custom, civility or other circumstances.
3. Justice; that which is due or proper; as, to do right to every man.
Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, and well deserv'd had fortune done him right.
4. Freedom from error; conformity with truth or fact.
Seldom your opinions err, your eyes are always in the right.
5. Just claim; legal title; ownership; the legal power of exclusive possession and enjoyment. In hereditary monarchies, a right to the throne vests in the heir on the decease of the king. A deed vests the right of possession in the purchaser of land. Right and possession are very different things. We often have occasion to demand and sue for rights not in possession.
6. Just claim by courtesy, customs, or the principles of civility and decorum. Every man has a right to civil treatment. The magistrate has a right to respect.
7. Just claim by sovereignty; prerogative. God, as the author of all things, has a right to govern and dispose of them at his pleasure.
8. That which justly belongs to one.
Born free, he sought his right.
9. Property; interest.
A subject in his prince may claim a right.
10. Just claim; immunity; privilege. All men have a right to the secure enjoyment of life, personal safety, liberty and property. We deem the right of trial by jury invaluable, particularly in the case of crimes. Rights are natural, civil, political, religious, personal, and public.
11. Authority; legal power. We have no right to disturb others in the enjoyment of their religious opinions.
12. In the United States, a tract of land; or a share or proportion of property, as in a mine or manufactory.
13. The side opposite to the left; as on the right. Look to the right.
1. To rights, in a direct line; straight. [Unusual.]
2. Directly; soon.
To set to rights,
To put to rights, to put into good order; to adjust; to regulate what is out of order.
Bill of rights, a list of rights; a paper containing a declaration of rights, or the declaration itself.
Writ of right, a writ which lies to recover lands in fee simple, unjustly withheld from the true owner.
RIGHT, v.t.
1. To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; as, to right an injured person.
2. In seamen's language, to right a ship, is to restore her to an upright position from a careen.
To right the helm, to place it in the middle of the ship.
RIGHT, v.i. To rise with the masts erect, as a ship.
CONSTITUENT, a. [L., to set. See Statue, Statute.] Setting; constituting; applied to parts of a thing that are essential to it. Hence, necessary or essential; elemental; forming, composing or making as an essential part.
Body, soul, and reason, are the three constituent parts of a man.
Oxygen and hydrogen are the constituent parts of water.
CONSTITUENT, n.
1. He or that which sets, fixes or forms; he or that which constitutes or composes.
Their first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler constituent than chance.
2. That which constitutes or composes, as a part, or an essential part.
The lymph in those glands is a necessary constituent of the aliment.
3. One who appoints or elects another to an office or employment.
STATUTE, [L., to set.]
1. An act of the legislature of a state that extends its binding force to all the citizens or subjects of that state, as distinguished from an act which extends only to an individual or company; an act of the legislature commanding or prohibiting something; a positive law. Statutes are distinguished from common law. The latter owes its binding force to the principles of justice, to long use and the consent of a nation. The former owe their binding force to a positive command or declaration of the supreme power. Statute is commonly applied to the acts of a legislative body consisting of representatives. In monarchies, the laws of the sovereign are called edicts, decrees, ordinances, rescripts, &c.
2. A special act of the supreme power, of a private nature, or intended to operate only on an individual or company.
3. The act of a corporation or of its founder, intended as a permanent rule or law; as the statutes of a university.
GOV'ERNMENT, n. Direction; regulation. These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.
1. Control; restraint. Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.
2. The exercise of authority; direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies or states; the administration of public affairs, according to established constitution, laws and usages, or by arbitrary edicts. Prussia rose to importance under the government of Frederick II.
3. The exercise of authority by a parent or householder. Children are often ruined by a neglect of government in parents.
Let family government be like that of our heavenly Father, mild, gentle and affectionate.
4. The system of polity in a state; that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a nation or state is governed, or by which individual members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions; a constitution, either written or unwritten, by which the rights and duties of citizens and public officers are prescribed and defined; as a monarchial government, or a republican government.
Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without the pretence of miracle or mystery, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.
5. An empire, kingdom or state; any territory over which the right of sovereignty is extended.
6. The right of governing or administering the laws. The king of England vested the government of Ireland in the lord lieutenant.
7. The persons or council which administer the laws of a kingdom or state; executive power.
8. Manageableness; compliance; obsequiousness.
9. Regularity of behavior. [Not in use.]
10. Management of the limbs or body. [Not in use.]
11. In grammar, the influence of a word in regard to construction,as when established usage required that one word should cause another to be in a particular case or mode.
POL'ITY, n. [Gr.] The form or constitution of civil government of a nation or state; and in free states, the frame or fundamental system by which the several branches of government are established, and the powers and duties or each designated and defined.
Every branch of our civil polity supports and is supported, regulates and is regulated by the rest.
With respect to their interior polity, our colonies are properly of three sorts; provincial establishments, proprietary governments, and charter governments.
This word seems also to embrace legislation and administration of government.
1. The constitution or general fundamental principles of government of any class of citizens, considered in an appropriate character, or as a subordinate state.
Were the whole christian world to revert back to the original model, how far more simple, uniform and beautiful would the church appear,and how far more agreeable to the ecclesiastical polity instituted by the holy apostles.
CITIZEN, n.
1. The native of a city, or an inhabitant who enjoys the freedom and privileges of the city in which he resides; the freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises.
2. A townsman; a man of trade; not a gentleman.
3. An inhabitant; a dweller in any city, town or place.
4. In general sense, a native or permanent resident in a city or country; as the citizens of London or Philadelphia; the citizens of the United States.
5. In the United States, a person, native or naturalized, who has the privilege of exercising the elective franchise, or the qualifications which enable him to vote for rulers, and to purchase and hold real estate.
If the citizens of the United States should not be free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.
CITIZEN, a. Having the qualities of a citizen.
FRAN'CHISE, n. fran'chiz. [See Frank.] Properly, liberty, freedom. Hence,
1. A particular privilege or right granted by a prince or sovereign to an individual or to a number of persons; as the right to be a body corporate with perpetual succession; the right to hold a court leet or other court; to have waifs, wrecks, treasure-treve, or forfeitures. So the right to vote for governor, senators and representatives, is a franchise belonging to citizens, and not enjoyed by aliens. The right to establish a bank, is a franchise.
2. Exemption from a burden or duty to which others are subject.
3. The district or jurisdiction to which a particular privilege extends; the limits of an immunity.
4. An asylum or sanctuary, where persons are secure from arrest.
Churches and monasteries in Spain are franchises for criminals.
FRAN'CHISE, v.t. To make free; but enfranchise is more generally used.
LEET, n. In Great Britain, a court. The court-leet or view of frankpledge, is a court of record held once a year and not oftener, within a particular hundred, lordship or manor, before the steward of the leet. Its original intent was to view the frankpledges or freemen within the liberty, to preserve the peace, and punish certain minute offenses. All freeholders within the precinct are obliged to attend this court.
The court-leet is for the most part superseded by the county court.
FRANK'PLEDGE, n. A pledge or surety for the good behavior of freemen. Anciently in England, a number of neighbors who were bound for each other's good behavior.
COVERTURE, n.
1. Covering; shelter; defense.
2. In law, the state of a married woman, who is considered as under cover, or the power of her husband, and therefore called a feme-covert, or femme-couvert. The coverture of a woman disables her from making contracts to the prejudice of herself or husband, without his allowance or confirmation.
SOCI'ETY, n. [L. societas, from socius, a companion. See Sociable.]
1. The union of a number of rational beings; or a number of persons united, either for a temporary or permanent purpose. Thus the inhabitants of a state or of a city constitute a society, having common interests; and hence it is called a community. In a more enlarged sense, the whole race or family of man is a society, and called human society. The true and natural foundation of society, are the wants and fears of individuals.
2. Any number of persons associated for a particular purpose, whether incorporated by law, or only united by articles of agreement; a fraternity. Thus we have bible societies for various objects; societies for mechanics, and leaned societies; societies for encouraging arts, &c.
3. Company; a temporary association of persons for profit or pleasure. In this sense, company is more generally used.
4. Conpany; fellowship. We frequent the society of those we love and esteem.
5. Partnership; fellowship; union on equal terms. Among unequals what society can sort? Heav'n's greatness no society can bear.
6. Persons living in the same neighborhood, who frequently meet in company and have fellowship. Literary society renders a place interesting and agreeable.
7. In Connecticut, a number of families united and incorporated for the purpose of supporting public worship, is called an exxlesiastical society. This is a parish, except that it has not territorial limits. In Massachusetts, such as incorporated society is usually called a parish, though consisting of persons only, without regard to territory.
COUNTY, n. [L. See Count.]
1. Originally, an earldom; the district or territory of a count or earl. Now, a circuit or particular portion of a state or kingdom, separated from the rest of the territory, for certain purposes in the administration of justice. It is called also a shire. [See Shire.] Each county has its sheriff and its court, with other officers employed in the administration of justice and the execution of the laws. In England there are fifty two counties, and in each is a Lord Lieutenant, who has command of the militia. The several states of America are divided by law into counties, in each of which is a county court of inferior jurisdiction; and in each, the supreme court of the state holds stated sessions.
2. A count; an earl or lord.
County court, the court whose jurisdiction is limited to a county, whose powers, in America, depend on statutes. In England, it is incident to the jurisdiction of the sheriff.
County palatine, in England, is a county distinguished by particular privileges; so called a palatio, the palace, because the owner had originally royal powers, or the same powers in the administration of justice, as the king had in his palace; but their powers are not abridged. The counties palatine, in England, are Lancaster, Chester and Durham.
County corporate, is a county invested with particular privileges by charter or royal grant; as London, York, Bristol, &c.
COUNTY, a. Pertaining to a county; as county court.
COMMONWEAL,
COMMONWEALTH, n.
1. An established form of government, or civil polity; or more generally, a state; a body politic, consisting of a certain portion of men united by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. This term is applied to the government of Great Britain, which is of a mixed character, and to other governments which are considered as free or popular, but rarely or improperly, to an absolute government. A commonwealth is properly a free state; a popular or representative government; a republic; as the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The word signifies strictly, the common good or happiness; and hence, the form of government supposed best to secure the public good.
2. The whole body of people in a state the public.
3. The territory of a state; as, all the land within the limits of the commonwealth.
REPRESENT'ATIVE, a.
1. Exhibiting a similitude.
They own the legal sacrifices, though representative, to be proper and real.
2. Bearing the character or power of another; as a council representative of the people.
REPRESENT'ATIVE, n.
1. One that exhibits the likeness of another.
A statue of Rumor, whispering an idiot in the ear, who was the representative of credulity.
2. In legislative or other business, an agent, deputy or substitute who supplies the place of another or others, being invested with his or their authority. An attorney is the representative of his client or employer. A member of the house of commons is the representative of his constituents and of the nation. In matters concerning his constituents only, he is supposed to be bound by their instructions, but in the enacting of laws for the nation, he is supposed not to be bound by their instructions, as he acts for the whole nation.
3. In law, one that stands in the place of another as heir, or in the right of succeeding to an estate of inheritance, or to a crown.
4. That by which any thing is exhibited or shown.
This doctrine supposes the perfections of God to be the representatives to us of whatever we perceive in the creatures.
SEN'ATE, n. [L. senatus, from senex, old.]
1.An a assembly or council of senators; a body of the principal inhabitants of the city or state,
with a share in the government. The senate of ancient Rome was one of the most illustrious bodies of men that ever bore this name. Some of the Swiss cantons have a senate, either legislative or executive.
2. In the United States, senate denotes the higher branch or house of legislature. Such is the senate of the United States, or upper house of the congress; and in most of the states, the higher and least numerous branch of the legislature, is called the senate. In the U. States, the senate is an elective body.
3. In a looser sense, Any legislative or deliberative boky of men; as the eloquence of the senate.