LAW ENCYCLOPEDIA, A COMPLETE HAND BOOK OF ALL MATTERS ORDINARILY COMING BEFORE JUDGES, ATTORNEYS, JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, SHERIFFS, COUNTY OF EDUCATION, TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, IN- SURANCE OFFICERS, FARMERS, MER- CHANTS AND BUSINESS MEN, SUCH AS LAWS OF BUSINESS, BANKRUPTCY, MINES, ATTACHMENTS, HOMESTEADS, MILLS, WITH FORMS, In conformity with the Codes and Statutes of, and designed for use in, the States and BY JABEZ F. COWDERY, Of the San Francisco Bar. THIRD REVISED EDITION. San Francisco: A. L. BANCROFT AND COMPANY, 1878. ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord 1875, By A. L. BANCROFT AND COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, District of Columbia. PREFACE. THIS book, as its name indicates, is an Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Law, intended for general use, and especially for the guidance of business men. It covers a wide range-stating the law and giving the forms applicable to more than five times as many subjects as any work of the kind ever published and put into general circulation among the people at large. It is intended for circulation among state, territorial, city, town and corporation officers, merchants, mechanics, miners, laborers, farmers, and, in short, all that desire information and advice on any point of law; and for the use of all who have neither time, inclination nor opportunity to consult an attorney on every occasion when legal advice is wanted. The man of action, of business-whatever may be the nature of that business-constantly needs, not only the forms—the old, approved and well-tested forms-necessary in the execution of his purposes, but also the legal principles and rules applicable thereto. It is important that his written instruments should be not only full and legal in form, but also appropriate in all other respects. To supply this need is the purpose of this book, and the author has labored to make it a sure and complete guide. All the more important classes of transactions between men of business, and especially such as require to be performed with legal precision and involve instruments in writing, have been considered, and all the essential definitions, maxims, rules, principles and laws relating to the same are given, and also the forms, accompanied with such cautions and directions as the nature of the several subjects seem to demand. To those who are so fortunate as to have always at hand a good lawyer, who never charges for his services, this 92022 |