portion reserved to them by law, are called inofficious. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 2522, No. 21. Such a disposition of property is void. Vide Dig. 5, 2, 5; Inst. 2, 18,1; Code, 3, 29; Nov. 115; Ayl. Pand. 405. INQUIRY, WRIT OF. Vide Writ of Inquiry. INQUISITION, practice, is an INQUISITOR. A designation of sheriffs, coroners, super visum corporis, and the like, who have power to inquire into certain matters. The name of an officer, among ecclesiastics, who is authorised to inquire into heresies, and the like, and to punish them; an ecclesiastical judge. dant's meaning by reference to ante-examination of certain facts by a cedent matter. Salk. 513; 1 Ld. jury impanelled by the sheriff for the Raym. 256; 12 Mod. 139; 1 Saund. purpose; the instrument of writing 243. The innuendo is mostly used on which their decision is made is in actions for slander. An innuendo, also called an inquisition. The as, "he (the said plaintiff meaning)" sheriff and the jury who make the is only explanatory of some matter inquisition, are called the inquest. expressed, it serves to apply the slander to the precedent matter, but cannot add or enlarge, extend, or change the sense of the previous words, and the matter to which it alludes must always appear from the antecedent parts of the declaration or indictment. 1 Chit. Pl. 383; 3 Caines's Rep. 76; 7 Johns. R. 271 ; 5 Johns. R. 211; 8 Johns. R. 109; 8 N. H. Rep. 256. It is necessary only when the intent may be mistaken, or when it cannot be collected from the libel or slander itself. Cowp. 679; 5 East, 463. If the innuendo materially enlarge the sense of the words it will vitiate the declaration or indictment. 6 T. R. 691; 5 Binn. 218; 5 Johns. R. 220; 6 Johns. R. 83; 7 Johns. Rep. 271. But when the new matter stated in an innuendo is not necessary to support the action, it may be rejected as surplusage. 9 East, R. 95; 7 Johns. R. 272. Vide generally, Stark. on Slan. 293; Chit. Pl. 383; 3 Chit. Cr. Law, 873; Bac. Ab. Slander, R; 1 Saund. 243, n. 4; 4 Com. Dig. 712; 14 Vin. Ab. 442; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; 4 Co. 17. 1 INOFFICIOUS, in civil law. Those dispositions, which fathers, mothers, and other ascendants make of their property to the prejudice of their descendants, beyond the pro INSANITY, med. jur., is a continued impetuosity of thought, which for the time being totally unfits a man for judging and acting in relation to the matter in question, with the composure requisite for the maintenance of the social relations of life. Various other definitions of this state have been given, but perhaps the subject is not susceptible of any satisfactory definition, which shall, with precision, include all cases of insanity, and exclude all others. Ray, Med. Jur. § 24, p. 50. It may be considered in a threefold point of view: 1, a chronic disease, manifested by de. viations from the healthy and natural state of the mind, such deviations consisting in a morbid perversion of the feelings, affections and habits; 2, disturbances of the intellectual faculties, under the influence of which the understanding becomes'susceptible of hallucinations or erroneous impres sions of a particular kind; 3, a state of mental incoherence or constant hurry and confusion of thought. Cyclop. Practical Medecine, h. t. ; Brewster's Encyclopædia, h. t. ; Observations on the Deranged Manifestations of the Mind, or Insanity, 71, 72; Merl. Répert. mots Démence, Folie, Imbécilité. The diseases included under the name of insanity have been arranged under two divisions, founded on two very different conditions of the brain. Ray, Med. Jur. ch. 1, § 33. had he been guilty. Code, 9, 1, 10; Id. 9, 2, 16 and 17. INSCRIPTION, evidence, some. thing written or engraved. Inscriptions upon tombstones and other proper places, as rings, and the like, are held to be evidence of pedigree, Bull. N. P. 233; Cowp. 591; 10 East, R. 120; 13 Ves. 145; Vin. Ab. Ev. T. b, 87; 3 Stark. Ev. 1116. INSCRIPTIONES. The name given by the old English law to any written instrument by which any thing was granted. Blount. INSIDIATORES VIARUM, are 1. The want of, or a defective developement of the faculties. 1st. Idiocy, resulting from, 1, congenital defect; 2, an obstacle to the developement of the faculties, supervening in infancy. 2d. Imbecility, result-persons who lie in wait, in order to ing from, 1, congenital defects; 2, commit some felony or other misdean obstacle to the developement of meanor. the faculties, supervening in infancy. 2. The lesion of the faculties subsequent to their developements. In this division may be classed, 1st. Mania, which is, 1, intellectual, and is general or partial; 2, affective, and is general or partial. 2d. Dementia, which is, 1, consecutive to mania, or injuries of the brain; 2, senile, or peculiar to old age. There is also a disease which has acquired the name of Moral insanity, (q. v.) Insanity is an excuse for the commission of those acts which in others would be crimes, because the insane man has no intention; it deprives a man also from entering into any valid contract. Vide Lunacy; Non compos mentis, and Stock on the Law of Non Compotes Mentis; 1 Hagg. Cons. R. 417; 3 Addams, R. 90, 91, 180, 181; 3 Hagg. Eccl. R. 545, 598-600. INSCRIPTION, civil law. It is an engagement which a person who makes a solemn accusation of a crime against another enters into, that he will suffer the same punishment, if he has accused the other falsely, which would have been inflicted upon him INSIMUL COMPUTASSENT, practice, actions, they accounted together. When an account has been stated, and a balance ascertained between the parties, they are said to have computed together, and the amount due may be recovered in an action of assumpsit, which could not have been done, if the defendant had been the mere bailiff or partner of the plaintiff, and there had been no settlement made, for in that case, the remedy would be an action of account render, or a bill in chancery. It is usual in actions of assumpsit, to add a count commonly called insi mul computassent, or an account stated, (q. v.) Lawes on Pl. in Ass. 488. INSINUATION, civil law, con. sisted in the transcription of an act on the public registers, like our recording of deeds. It was not necessary in any other alienation, but that appropriated to the purpose of dona. tion. Inst. 2, 7, 2; Poth. Traité des Donations, entre vifs, sect. 2. art. 3, § 3; Encyclopédie; 8 Toull. n. 198. INSOLVENCY, is the state or condition of a person who is insolvent, (q. v.) Insolvency may be simple following acts of congress, namely: Act of March 3, 1797, 1 Story, L. U. S. 465; Act of March 2, 1799, 1 Story, L. U. S. 630; Act of March. 2, 1831, 4 Sharsw. Cont. of Story, or notorious. Simple insolvency is the debtor's inability to pay his debts, and is attended by no legal badge of notoriety or promulgation. Notorious insolvency is that which is designated by some public act, by which | L. U. S. 2236; Act of June 7, 1834, it becomes notorious and irretrievable, as applying for the benefit of the insolvent laws, and being discharged under the same. Insolvency is a term of more extensive signification than bankruptcy, and includes all kinds of inability to pay a just debt. 2 Bell's Commentaries, 162, 5th ed. INSOLVENT. This word has several meanings. It signifies a person whose estate is not sufficient to pay his debts. Civ. Code of Louisiana, art. 1980. A person is also said to be insolvent, who is under a present inability to answer, in the ordinary course of business, the responsibility which his creditors may enforce, by recourse to legal measures, without reference to his estate proving sufficient to pay all his debts, when ultimately wound up. 3 Dowl. & Ryl. Rep. 218; 1 Maule & Selw. 338; 1 Campb. R. 492, n; Sugd. Vend. 487, 488. It signifies the situation of a person who has done some notorious act to divest himself of all his property, as a general assignment, or an application for relief, under bankrupt or insolvent laws. 1 Peters's R. 195; 2 Wheat. R. 396; 7 Toull. n. 45; Domat, liv. 4, t. 5, n. 1 et 2; 2 Bell's Com. 162, 5th ed. When an insolvent delivers or offers to deliver up all his property for the benefit of his creditors, he is entitled to be discharged under the laws of the several states from all liability to be arrested. Vide 2 Kent, Com. 321; Ingrah. on Insolv. 9; 9 Mass. R. 431; 16 Mass. R. 53. The reader will find the provisions made by the national legislature on this subject, by a reference to the 4 Sharsw. Cont. of Story, L. U. S. 2368; Act of March 2, 1837, 4 Sharsw. Cont. of Story, L. U. S. 2536. See Bankrupt. INSPECTION, comm. law. The examination of certain articles made by law subject to such examination, so that they may be declared fit for commerce. The decision of the inspectors is not final; the object of the law is to protect the community from fraud, and to preserve the character of the merchandize abroad. 8 Cowen, R. 45. See 1 John. R. 205; 13 John. R. 331; 2 Caines, R. 312; 3 Caines, R. 207. INSPECTION, practice. Examination. The inspection of all public records is free to all persons who have an interest in them, upon payment of the usual fees. 7 Mod. 129; 1 Str. 304; 2 Str. 260, 954, 1005. But it seems a mere stranger who has no such interest, has no right at common law. 8 T. R. 390. Vide Trial by inspection. INSPECTOR. The name given to certain officers whose duties are to examine and inspect into things over which they have jurisdiction; as, inspector of bark, one who is by law authorised to examine bark for exportation, and to approve or disapprove of its quality. Inspectors of customs are officers appointed by the general government: as to their duties, see Story's L. U. S. vol. i. 590, 605, 609, 610, 612, 619, 621, 623, 650; ii. 1490, 1516; iii. 1650, 1790. INSPEXIMUS, we have seen. A word sometimes used in letters-patent, reciting a grant, inspeximus such former grant, and so reciting it verbatim, it then grants such further INSTALMENT, contracts, is a part of a debt due by one contract, agreed to be paid at a time different from that fixed for the payment of the other part. For example, if I engage to pay you one thousand dollars, in two payments, one on the first day of January, and the other on the first day of July, each of these payments or obligations to pay will be an instalment. In such case each instalment is a separate debt so far that it may be tendered at any time, or the first may be sued for although the other shall not be due. Dane's Ab. vol. iii. ch. 93, art. 3, s. 11, page 493, 4; 1 Esp. R. 129; Ib. 226; 3 Salk. 6, 18; 2 Esp. R. 235; 1 Maule & Selw. 706. A debtor who by failing to pay three instalments of rent due on a lease would forfeit his estate, may, in order to save it, tender one instalment to prevent the forfeiture, although there may be two due at the time, and he is not bound to tender both. 6 Toull. n. 688. INSTANCE, civil and French law. It signifies generally all sorts of actions and judicial demands. Dig. 44, 7, 58. INSTANCE COURT, Eng. law. The English court of admiralty is divided into two distinct tribunals; the one having generally all the jurisdiction of the admiralty, except in prize cases, is called the instance court; the other, acting under a special commission, distinct from the usual commission given to judges of | the admiralty, to enable the judge in time of war, to assume the jurisdiction of prizes, and called prize court. In the United States the district courts of the U. S. possess all the powers of courts of admiralty, whether considered as instance or prize courts. 3 Dall. R. 6. Vide 1 Gall. R. 563; Bro. Civ. & Adm. Law, ch. 4 & 5; 1 Kent, Com. 355, 378. Vide Courts of the United States; Prize Court. INSTANT. An indivisible space of time. Although it cannot be actually divided, yet by intendment of law, it may, and be applied to several purposes; for example, he who lays violent hands upon himself commits no felony till he is dead, and when he is dead he is not in being so as to be termed a felon; but he is so adjudged in law, eo instante, at the very instant this fact is done. Vin. Ab. Instant, A, pl. 2; Plowd. 258; Co. Litt. 18; Show. 415. INSTANTER, immediately, presently. This term, it is said, means that the act to which it applies, shall be done within twenty-four hours; but a doubt has been suggested by whom is the account of the hours to be kept, and whether the term instanter as applied to the subjectmatter may not be more properly taken to mean "before the rising of the court," when the act is to be done in court; or, "before the shutting of the office the same night," when the act is to be done there. 1 Taunt. R. 343; 6 East, R. 587 n. (e); Tidd's Pr. (3d ed.) 508, n.; 3 Chit. Pr. 112. Vide, 3 Burr. 1809; Co. Litt. 157. INSTIGATION, is the act by which one incites another to do something, as to injure a third person, or to commit some crime or misdemeanor, to commence a suit or to prosecute a criminal. Vide Accomplice. INSTITOR, civ. law. A clerk in a store; an agent. He was so called because he watched over the business with which he was charged; and it is immaterial whether he was employed in making a sale in a store, or whether charged with any other business. Institor appellatus est ex eo, quòd negotio gerendo instet; nec multum facit tabernæ sit præpositus, an cuilibet alii negotiationi. Dig. lib. 14, tit. 3, 1. 3. Mr. Bell says that the charge given to a clerk to manage a store or shop is called institorial power. 1 Bell's, Com. 385; Esk. Inst. B. 3, t. 3, § 46; 1 Stair's Inst. by Brodie, B. 1, tit. 11, §§ 12, 18, 19; Story, Ag. § 8. INSTITUTE, in the Scotch law, is the person first called in the tailzie; the rest or the heirs of tailzie are called substitutes. Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 3, 8, 8. See Tailzie, Heir of; Substitutes. INSTITUTES. The principles or first elements of jurisprudence. Many books have borne the title of Institutes. Among the most celebrated in the common law, are the Institutes of Lord Coke, which, how ever, on account of the want of arrangement and the diffusion with which his books are written, bear but little the character of Institutes; in the civil law the most generally known are those of Caius, Justinian, and Theophilus. The Institutes of Caius are an abridgment of the Roman law, composed by the celebrated lawyer Caius or Gaius, who lived during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The Institutes of Justinian are an abridgment of the Code and of the Digest, composed by order of that emperor his intention in this composition was to give a summary knowledge of the law to those persons not versed in it, and particularly to merchants. The lawyers employed to make this book were Tribonian, Theophilus and Dorotheus. The work was first published in the year 533, and received the sanction of statute law by order of the emperor. The Institutes of Justinian are divided in four books: each book is divided into two titles, and each title into parts. The first part is called principium, because it is the commencement of the title; those which follow are numbered and called paragraphs. The work treats of the rights of persons, of things, and of actions. The first book treats of persons; the second, third, and the first five titles of the fourth book, of things; and the remainder of the fourth book, of actions. This work has been much admired on account of its order and scientific arrangement, which presents at a single glance the whole jurisprudence of the Romans. It is too little known and studied. Judge Cooper has published an edition with valuable notes. The Institutes of Theophilus are a paraphrase of those of Justinian, composed in Greek by a lawyer of that name, by order of the emperor Phocas. Vide 1 Kent, Com. 539; Profession d'Avocat, tom. ii. n. 536, page 95; Introd. à l'Etude du Droit Romain, p. 124; Dict. de Jurisp. h. t.; Merl. Répert. h. t.; Encyclopédie de d'Alembert, h. t. INSTITUTION, eccles. law; is the act by which the ordinary commits the cure of souls to a person presented to a benefice. INSTITUTION, political law, what has been established and settled by law for the public good; as, the American institutions guaranty to the citizens all the privileges essential to freedom. INSTITUTION, practice, is the commencement of an action; as, A B has instituted a suit against CD, to recover damages for a trespass. INSTITUTION OF HEIR, civil law, is the act by which a testator nominates one or more persons to |