A grain of allowance at English => English (Websters 1913) Of Explained:
Inst. 3, 6, 3.AMNESTY, government. An act of oblivion of past offences, granted by the
government to those who have been guilty of any neglect or crime, usually
upon condition that they return to their duty within a certain period.
2. An amnesty is either express or implied; it is express, when so
declared in direct terms; and it is implied, when a treaty of peace is made
between contending parties. Vide Vattel, liv. 4, c. 2, Sec. 20, 21, 22;
Encycl. Amer. h.t.
3. Amnesty and pardon, are very different. The former is an act of the
sovereign power, the object of which is to efface and to cause to be
forgotten, a crime or misdemeanor; the latter, is an act of the same
authority, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the
punishment the law inflicts for the crime he has committed. 7 Pet. 160.
Amnesty is the abolition and forgetfulness of the offence; pardon is
forgiveness. A pardon is given to one who is certainly guilty, or has been
convicted; amnesty, to those who may have been so.
4. Their effects are also different. That of pardon, is the remission
of the whole or a part of the punishment awarded by the law; the conviction
remaining unaffected when only a partial pardon is granted: an amnesty on
the contrary, has the effect of destroying the criminal act, so that it is
as if it had not been committed, as far as the public interests are
concerned.
5. Their application also differs. Pardon is always given to
individuals, and properly only after judgment or conviction: amnesty may be
granted either before judgment or afterwards, and it is in general given to
whole classes of criminals or supposed criminals, for the purpose of
restoring tranquillity in the state. But sometimes amnesties are limited,
and certain classes are excluded from their operation.AMORTISE, contracts. To alien lands in mortmain.AMORTIZATION, contracts, English law. An alienation of lands or tenements in
mortmain. 2 Stat. Ed. I.
2. The reduction of the property of lands or tenements to mortmain.AMOTION. In corporations and companies, is the act of removing an officer
from his office; it differs from disfranchisement, which is applicable to
members, as such. Wille. on Corp. n. 708. The power of amotion is incident
to a corporation. 2 Str. 819; 1 Burr. 639.
2. In Rex v. Richardson, Lord Mansfield specified three sorts of
offences for which an officer might be discharged; first, such as have no
immediate relation to the office, but are in themselves of so infamous a
nature, as to render the offender unfit to execute any public franchise;
secondly, such as are only against his oath, and the duty of his office as a
corporator, and amount to breaches of the tacit condition annexed to his
office; thirdly, the third offence is of a mixed nature; as being an offence
not only against the duty of his officer but also a matter indictable at
common law. 2 Binn. R. 448. And Lord Mansfield considered the law as
settled, that though a corporation has express power of amotion, yet for the
first sort of offences there must be a previous indictment and conviction;
and that there was no authority since Bagg's Case, 11 Rep. 99, which says;
that the power of trial as well as of amotion, for the second offense, is
not incident to every corporation. He also observed: "We think that from the
reason of the thing, from the nature of the corporation, and for the sake of
order and good government, this power is incident as much as the power of
making bylaws." Doug. 149.
See generally, Wilcock on Mun. Corp. 268; 6 Conn. Rep. 632; 6 Mass. R.
462; Ang. & Am. on Corpor. 236.
AMOTION, tort. An amotion of possession from an estate, is an ouster which
happens by a species of disseisin or turning out of the legal proprietor
before his estate is determined. 3 Bl. Com. 198, 199. Amotion is also
applied to personal chattels when they are taken unlawfully out of the
possession of the owner, or of one who has a special property in them.AMPLIATION, civil law. A deferring of judgment until the cause is further
examined. In this case, the judges pronounced the word amplius, or by
writing the letters N.L. for non liquet, signifying that the cause was not
clear. In practice, it is usual in the courts when time is taken to form a
judgment, to enter a curia advisare vult; cur. adv. vult. (q.v.)
AMPLIATION, French law. Signifies the giving a duplicate of an acquittance
or other instrument, in order that it may be produced in different places.
The copies which notaries make out of acts passed before them, and which are
delivered to the parties, are also called ampliations. Dict. de Jur. h.t.AMY or ami, a French word, signifying, friend. Prochein amy, (q.v.) the
next friend. Alien amy, a foreigner, the citizen or subject of some friendly
power or prince.AN, JOUR, ET WASTE. See Year, day, and waste.AN ABRIDGMENT. An epitome or compendium of another and larger work, wherein
the principal ideas of the larger work are summarily contained. W