rity have been allowed as evidence in such cases. 3 Hagg. Eccl. R. 767, 769. The public seal of a foreign sovereign or state affixed to a writing purporting to be a written edict, or law, or judgment, is, of itself, the highest evidence, and no further proof is required of such public seal. 2 Cranch, 238; 2 Conn. R. 85; 1 Wash. C. C. R. 363; 4 Dall. 413, 416; 6 Wend. 475; 9 Mod. 66. But the seal of a foreign court is not in general evidence without further proof, and it must therefore be established by competent testimony. 3 John. R. 310; 2 Harr. & John. 193; 4 Cowen, 526, n.; 3 East, 221. As courts of admiralty are courts under the laws of nations, their seals will be admitted as evidence without further proofs. 5 Cranch, 335; 3 Conn. ,171. This is an exception to the general rule. The mode of authenticating the laws and records of the several states of the American union, is peculiar, and will be found under the article Authentication. 2. The effect of such foreign laws, when proved, is properly referable to the court; the object of the proof of foreign laws, is to enable the court to instruct the jury what is, in point of law, the result from foreign laws, to be applied to the matters in controversy before them. The court are therefore to decide what is the proper evidence of the laws of a foreign country; and when evidence is given of those laws, the court are to judge of their applicability to the matter in issue. Story, Conf. of L. § 638; 2 Harr. & John. 193, 219; 4 Conn. R. 517; 3 Harr. & John. 234, 242; Cowp. 174. Vide Opin ion. nations." This phrase does not include an Indian tribe, situated within the boundaries of a state, and exercising the powers of government and sovereignty. 5 Pet. R. 1. Vide Nation. FOREIGN PLEA, is one which, if true, carries the cause out of court where it is brought, by showing that the matter alleged is not within its jurisdiction. 2 Lill. Pr. Reg. 374; Carth. 402; Lill. Ent. 475. It must be on oath and before imparlance. Bac. Ab. Abatement, R. FOREIGNERS. Aliens; persons born in another country than the United States, who have not been naturalized. 1 Pet. R. 349. Vide 8 Com. Dig. 615, and the articles Alien; Citizens. FOREJUDGED THE COURT. An officer of the court who is expelled the same, is, in the English law, said to be forejudged the court. Cunn. Dict. h. t. FOREMAN. The title of the presiding officer of a grand jury. FORESTALLING, crim. law. Every practice or device, by act, conspiracy, words, or news, to enhance the price of victuals or other provisions. 3 Inst. 196; Bac. Ab. h. t.; 1 Russ. Cr. 169; 4 Bl. Com. 158. All endeavours whatever to enhance the common price of any merchandize, and all kinds of practices which have that tendency, whether by spreading false rumours, or by buying things in a market before the accustomed hour, are offences at common law, and come under the notion of forestalling, which includes all kinds of offences of this nature. Hawk. P. C. b. 1, c. 80, s. 1; vide 13 Vin. Ab. 430; Dane's Ab, Index, h. t. ; 4 Com. Dig. 391; 1 East, Rep. 143. punishments, FOREIGN NATION or STATE. Is a nation totally independent of the FORFEITURE, United States of America. The torts. Forfeiture is a punishment constitution authorises congress to annexed by law to some illegal act, regulate commerce with foreign or negligence, in the owner of lands, 66 tenements or hereditaments; whereby he loses all his interest therein, and they become vested in the party injured, as a recompense for the wrong which he alone, or the public together with himself, hath sustained. 2 Bl. Com. 267. Lands, tenements, and hereditaments may be forfeited by various means: 1. By the commission of crimes and misdemeanors; 2. By alienation contrary to law; 3. By the non-performance of conditions; 4. By waste. 1. Forfeiture for crimes. By the constitution of the United States, art. 3, s. 3, it is declared, that no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. And by the act of April 30, 1790, s. 24, 1 Story's Laws U. S. 88, it is enacted, that no conviction or judgment for any of the offences aforesaid, shall work corruption of blood, or any forfeiture of estate. As the offences punished by this act are of the blackest dye, including cases of treason, the punishment of forfeiture may be considered as being abolished. The forfeiture of the estate for crimes is very much reduced in practice in this country, and when it occurs, the state takes the title the party had, and no more. 4 Mason's R. 174; Dalrymple on Feudal Property, c. 4, p. 145-154; Fost. C. L. 95. ance by the tenant operates only on the interest which he possessed, and does not affect the remainder-man or reversioner. 4 Kent, Com. 81, 82, 424; 1 Hill. Ab. c. 4, s. 25 to 34; 3 Dall. Rep. 486; 5 Ohio, R. 30. 3. Forfeiture by non-performance of conditions. An estate may be forfeited by a breach or non-perfor mance of a condition annexed to the estate, either expressed in the deed at its original creation, or impliedly by law, from a principle of natural reason. 2 Bl. Com. 281; and see Ad. Eject. 140 to 173. Vide article Re-entry; 12 Serg. & Rawle, 190. Waste 4. Forfeiture by waste. is also a cause of forfeiture. 2 Bl. Com. 283. Vide article Waste. Vide, generally, 2 Bl. Com. ch. 18; 2 Kent's Com. 318; 4 Ib. 422; 10 Vin. Ab. 371, 394; 13 Vin. Ab. 436; Bac. Ab. Forfeiture; Com. Dig. h. t.; Dane's Ab. h. t. ; 1 Bro. Civ. L. 252; 4 Bl. Com. 382; and Considerations on the law of forfeiture for High Treason, London ed. 1746. FORGERY, crim. law Forgery at common law has been held to be "the fraudulent making and alteration of a writing to the prejudice of another man's right." 4 Bl. Com. 247. By a more modern writer, it is defined, as "a false making; a making malo animo, of any written instrument, for the purpose of fraud and deceit." 2 East, P. C. 852. This offence at common law is of the degree of a misdemeanor. There are many kind of forgery, especially subjected to punishment by statutes enacted by the national and state legislatures. The subject will be considered, with reference, 1, to the making or alteration requisite to constitute forgery; 2, the written instruments in respect of which forgery may be committed; 3, the fraud and deceit to the prejudice of another 2. Forfeiture by alienation. By the English law, estates less than a fee may be forfeited to the party entitled to the residuary interest by a breach of duty in the owner of the particular estate. When a tenant for life or years, therefore, by feoffment, fine, or recovery, conveys a greater estate than he is by law entitled to do, he forfeits his estate to the person next entitled in remain der or reversion. 2 Bl. Com. 274. In this country such forfeitures are almost unknown, and the more just principle prevails, that the convey-man's right; 4, the statutory prov: sions under the laws of the United | although a man may make the inStates, on the subject of forgery. 1. The making of a whole written instrument in the name of another with a fraudulent intent is undoubtedly a sufficient making; but a fraudulent insertion, alteration or erasure, even of a letter, in any material part of the instrument, whereby a new operation is given to it, will amount| to a forgery; and this, although it be afterwards executed by a person ignorant of the deceit. 2 East, P. C. 855. The fraudulent application of a true signature to a false instrument for which it was not intended, or vice versa, will also be a forgery. For example, it is forgery in an individual who is requested to draw a will for a sick person in a particular way, instead of doing so, to insert legacies of his own head, and then procuring the signature of such sick person to be affixed to the paper without revealing to him the legacies thus fraudulently inserted. Noy, 101; Moor, 759, 760; 3 Inst. 170; 1 Hawk. c. 70, s. 2; 2 Russ. on Cr. 318; Bac. Ab. h. t. (A). It has even been intimated by Lord Ellenborough, that a party who makes a copy of a receipt, and adds to such copy material words not in the original, and then offers it in evidence on the ground that the original has been lost, may be prosecuted for forgery. 5 Esp. R. 100. It is a sufficient making where in the writing the party assumes the name and character of a person in existence. 2 Russ. 327. But the adoption of a false description and addition, where a false name is not assumed, and there is no person answering the description, it is not a forgery. Russ. & Ry. 405. Making an instrument in a fictitious name, or the name of a non-existing person, is equally a forgery, as making it in the name of an existing person, 2 East, P. C. 957; 2 Russ. on Cr. 328; and strument in his own name, if he represent it as the instrument of another of the same name, when in fact there is no such person, it will be a forgery in the name of a non-existing person, 2 Leach, 775; 2 East, P. C. 963; but the correctness of this decision has been doubted. Rosc. Cr. Ev. 384. Though in general a party cannot be guilty of forgery by a mere non-feasance, yet if in drawing a will he should fraudulently omit a legacy which he had been directed to insert, and by the omission of such bequest, it would cause a material alteration in the limitation of a bequest to another, as where the omission of a devise of an estate for life to one, causes a devise of the same lands to another to pass a present estate, which would otherwise have passed a remainder only, it would be a forgery. Moor, 760; Noy, 101; 1 Hawk. c. 70, s. 6; 2 East, P. C. 856; 2 Russ. on Cr. 320. It may be observed that the offence of forgery may be complete without a publication of the forged instrument. 2 East, P. C. 855; 3 Chit. Cr. L. 1038. 2. With regard to the thing forged, it may be observed that it has been holden to be forgery at common law fraudulently to falsify, or falsely make records and other matters of a public nature, 1 Rolle's Ab. 65, 68 ; a parish register, 1 Hawk. c. 70; a letter in the name of a magistrate, the governor of a gaol, directing the discharge of a prisoner, 6 Car. & P. 129; S. C. 25 Eng. C. L. R. 315. With regard to private writings, it is forgery fraudulently to falsify or falsely make a deed or will, 1 Hawk. b. 1, c. 70, s. 10; or any private document, whereby another person may be prejudiced. 2 Greenl. Rep. 365; Addis. R. 33; 2 Binn. R. 322; 2 Russ. on Cr. b. 4, c. 32, s. 2; 2 East, P. C. 861; 3 Chit. Cr. Law, 1022 to 1038. 3. The intent must be to defraud another, but it is not requisite that any one should have been injured; it is sufficient that the instrument forged might have proved prejudicial. 3 Gill & John. 220; 4 W. C. C. R. 726. It has been holden that the jury ought to infer an intent to defraud the person who would have to pay the instrument, if it were genuine, although from the manner of executing the forgery, or from the person's ordinary caution, it would not be likely to impose upon him, and although the object was general to defraud whoever might take the instrument, and the intention of defrauding in particular, the person who would have to pay the instrument, if genuine, did not enter into the contemplation of the prisoner. Russ. & Ry. 291; vide Russ. on Cr. b. 4, c. 32, s. 3; 2 East, P. C. 853; 1 Leach, 367; 2 Leach, 775; Rosc. Cr. Ev. 400. Com. Dig. h. t.; Dane's Ab. h. t. ; 66 FORM, practice, is the model of an instrument or legal proceeding, containing the substance and the principal terms, to be used in accordance with the laws; or, it is the act of pursuing, in legal proceedings, and in the construction of legal instruments, the order required by law. Form is usually put in contradistinction to substance. For example, by the operation of the statute of 27 Eliz. c. 5, s. 1, all merely formal defects in pleading, except in dilatory pleas, are aided on general demurrer. The difference between matter of form, and matter of substance, in general, under this statute, as laid down by Lord Hobart, is that “that without which the right doth sufficiently appear to the court, is form;" but that any defect, by reason whereof the right appears not," is a defect in substance. Hob. 233. A distinction somewhat more definite, is, that if the matter pleaded be in itself insufficient, without reference to the manner of pleading it, the defect is substantial; but that if the fault is in the manner of alleging it, the defect is formal. Dougl. 683. For example, the omission of a consideration in a declaration in assumpsit; or of the performance of a condition precedent, when such condition exists; The term forgery, is also applied of a conversion of property of the to the making of false or counterfeit plaintiff, in trover; of science in the coin. For the law respecting the defendant, in an action for mischief forgery of coin, see article Money. done by his dog; of malice, in action And for the act of congress punish- for malicious prosecution, and the ing forgery in the District of Colum-like, are all defects in substance. On bia, see 4 Sharsw. cont. of Story's the other hand duplicity; a negative Laws U. S. 2234.. pregnant; argumentative pleading; a special plea, amounting to the general issue; omission of a day, when time is immaterial; of a place, in transitory actions, and the like, are only faults in form. Bac. Ab. Pleas, 4. Perhaps each of the states in the union has passed laws making certain acts to be forgery, and the national legislature has also enacted several on this subject, which are here referred to. Act of March 2, 1803, 2 Story's L. U. S. 888; Act of March 3, 1813, 2 Story's L. U. S. 1304; Act of March 1, 1823, 3 Story's L. U. S. 1889; Act of March 3, 1825, 3 Story's L. U. S. 2003; Act of October 12, 1837, 9 Laws U. S. 696. Vide, generally, Hawk, b. 1, c. 51 and 70; 3 Chit. Cr. Law, 1022 to 1048; 4 Bl. Com. 247 to 250; 2 East, P. C. 840 to 1003; 2 Russ. on Cr. b. 4, c. 32; 13 Vin. Ab. 459; 7; &c. N. 5, 6; Com. Dig. Pleader, Q | the reverter. FORMA PAUPERIS, English law; when a person is so poor that he cannot bear the charges of suing at law or in equity, upon making oath that he is not worth five pounds, and bringing a certificate from a counsellor at law, that he believes him to have a just cause, he is permitted to sue in forma pauperis, in the manner of a pauper; that is, he is allowed to have original writs and subpoenas gratis, and counsel assigned him without fee. 3 Bl. Com. 400. See 3 John. Ch. R. 65; 1 Paige, R. 588; 3 Paige, R. 273; 5 Paige, R. 58; 2 Moll. R. 475; 1 Beat. R. 54. FORMEDON, old Eng. law. The writ of formedon is nearly obsolete, it having been superseded by the writ of ejectment. Upon an alienation of the tenant in tail, by which the estate in tail is discontinued, and the remainder or reversion is by the failure of the particular estate displaced, and turned into a mere right, the remedy is by action of formedon, (secundum formam doni,) because the writ comprehends the form of the gift. This writ is in the nature of a writ of right, and the action of formedon is the highest a tenant in tail can have. This writ is distinguished into three species; a formedon in the descender, in the remainder, and in 3 Bl. Com. 191; Bac. FORMER RECOVERY. A recovery in a former action. It is a general rule, that in a real or personal action a judgment, unreversed, whether it be by confession, verdict, or demurrer is a perpetual bar, and may be pleaded to any new action of the same or a like nature. Bac. Ab. Pleas, I 12, n. 2; 6 Co. 7; Hob. 4, 5; Ventr. 170. There are two exceptions to this general rule, 1. The case of mutual dealings between the parties, when the defendant omits to set off his counter demand, in that case he may recover in a cross action; 2. When the defendant in ejectment neglects to bring forward his title, he may avail himself of a new suit. 1 John. Cas. 492, 502, 510. It is evident that in these cases the cause of the second action is not the same as that of the first, and, therefore, a former recovery cannot be pleaded. In real actions, one is not a bar to an action of a higher nature. 6 Co. 7. Vide 12 Mass. 338; Res Judicata; Thing Adjudged. FORMULARY, a book of forms or precedents for matters of law; the form. FORNICATION, crim. law, is the unlawful carnal knowledge of an unmarried person with another, whether the latter be married or unmar. ried; when the party is married, the offence as to him or her, is known by the name of adultery, (q. v.) Fornication is however included in every case of adultery, as a larceny is included in robbery. 2 Hale's P. C. 302. FORPRISE, taken before hand. This word is sometimes, though but seldom, used in leases and conveyances, implying an exception or reservation. Forprise, in another sense, is taken for any exaction. Cunn. Dict. h. t. TO FORSWEAR, crim. law, |