CHEMISTRY med. jur. The science which teaches the nature and property
of all bodies by their analysis and combination. In considering cases of poison,
the lawyer will find a knowledge of chemistry, even very limited in de ree, to
be greatly useful. 2 Cbit. Pr. 42, n.
CHEVISANCE, contracts, torts. This is a French word, which signifies
in that language, accord, agreement, compact. In the English statutes it is used
to denote a bargain or contract in general. In a legal sense it is taken for an
unlawful bargain or contract.
CHIEF, principal. One who is put above the rest; as, chief magistrate
chief justice : it also signifies the best of a number of things. It is
frequently used in composition.
CHIEF CLERK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. This officer is appointed by
the secretary of state; his duties are to attend to the business of the ofFice
under the superintendence of the secretary; and when the secretary shall be
removed from office, by the president, or in any other case of vacancy, shall,
during such vacancy, have the charge and custody of all records, books and
papers appertaining to such department,
CHIEF JUSTICE, officer. The president of a supreme court; as the chief
justice of the United States, the chief justice of Pennsylvania, and the -like.
Vide 15 Vin. Ab. 3.
CHIEF JUSTICIARY. An officer among the English, established soon after
the conquest.
2. He had judicial power, and sat as a judge in the Curia Regis. (q. v.) In
the absence of the king, he governed the kingdom. In the course of time, the
power and distinction of this officer gradually diminished, until the reign of
Henry III, when the office was abolished.
CHILD, CHILDREN, domestic relations. A child is the son or daughter in
relation to the father or mother.
2. We will here consider the law, in general terms, as it relates to the
condition, duties, and rights of children; and, afterwards, the extent which has
been given to the word child or children by dispositions in wills and
testaments.
3. - 1. Children born in lawful wedlock, or within a competent time
afterwards, are presumed to be the issue of the father, and follow his
condition; thoseborn out of lawful wedlock, follow the condition of the mother.
The father is bound to maintain his children and to educate them, and to protect
them from injuries. Childrenare, on their part, bound to maintain their fathers
and mothers, when in need, and they are of ability so to do. Poth. Du Marriage,
n. 384, 389. The father in general is entitled to the custody of minor children,
but, under certain circumstances, the mother will be entitled to them, when the
father and mother have separated. 5 Binn. 520. Children are liable to the
reasonable correction of their parents. Vide Correction
4. - 2 The term children does not ordinarily and properly speaking comprehend
grandchildren, or issue generally; yet sometimes that meaning is, affixed to it,
in cases of necessity; 6 Co. 16; and it has been held to signify the same as
issue, in cases where the testator, by using the terms children and issue
indiscriminately, showed his intention to use the former term in the sense of
issue, so as to entitle grandchildren, & c., to take under it. 1 Ves. sen.
196; Ambl. 555; 3 Ves. 258; Ambl. 661; 3 Ves. & Bea. 69. When legally
construed, the term children is confined to legitimate children. 7 Ves. 458. The
civil code of Louisiana, art. 2522, n. 14, enacts, that "under the, name of
children are comprehended, not only children of the first degree, but the
grandchildren, great-grand-children, and all other descendants in the direct
line."
5. Children are divided into legitimate children, or those born in lawful
wedlock; and natural or illegitimate children, who are born bastards. (q. v.)
Vide Natural Children. Illegitimate children are incestuous bastards, or those
which are not incestuous.
6. Posthumous children are those who are born after the death of their
fathers. Domat, Lois Civ. liv. prel. t. 2, s. 1, 7 L. 3, 1, ff de inj. rupt.
7. In Pennsylvania, the will of their fathers, in, which no provision is made
for them, is revoked, as far as regards them, by operation of law. 3 Binn. R.
498. See, as to the law of Virginia on this subject, 3 Munf. 20, and article In
ventre sa mere. Vide, generally, 8 Vin. Ab. 318; 8 Com. Dig. 470; Bouv. Inst.
Index, h. t.; 2 Kent, Com. 172; 4 Kent, Com. 408, 9; 1 Rop. on Leg. 45 to 76; 1
Supp. to Ves. jr. 442 Id. 158; Natural children.
CHILDISHNESS. Weakness of intellect, such as that of a child.
2. When the childishness is so great that a man has lost his memory, or is
incapable to plan a proper disposition of his property, he is unable to make a
will. Swinb. part. 11, 1; 6 Co. 23. See 9 Conn. 102; 9 Phil. R. 57.
CHIMIN. This is a corruption of the French word chemin, a highway. It
is used by old writers. Com. Dig. Chimin.
CHINESE INTEREST. Interest for money charged in China. In a case where
a note was given in China, payable eighteen months after date, without, any
stipulation respecting interest, the court allowed the Chinese interest of one
per cent. per month, from the expiration of the eighteen months. 2 Watts &
Serg. 227, 264.
CHIROGRAPH, conveyancing. Signifies a deed or public instrument in
writing. Chirographs were anciently attested by the subscription and crosses of
witnesses; afterwards, to prevent frauds and concealments, deeds of mutual
covenant were made in a script and rescript, or in a part and counterpart; and
in the middle, between the two copies, they drew the capital letters of the
alphabet, and then tallied, or cut asunder in an indented manner, the sheet or
skin of parchment, oneof which parts being delivered to each of the parties,
were proved authentic by matching with and answering to one another. Deeds thus
made were denominated syngrapha, by the canonists, because that word, instead of
the letters of the alphabet, or the word chirographum, was used. 2 Bl. Com. 296.
This method of preventing counterfeiting, or of detecting counterfeits, is now
used by having some ornament or some word engraved or printed at one end of
certificates of stocks, checks, and a variety of other instruments, which are
bound up in a book, and after they are executed, are cut asunder through such
ornament or word.
2. Chirograph is also the last part of, a fine of land, commonly called the
foot of the fine. It is an instrument of writing beginning with these. words: "
This is the final agreement," &c. It includes the whole matter, reciting the
parties, day, year and place, and before Whom the fine was acknowledged and
levied. Cruise, Dig. tit. 35, c. 2, s. 52. Vide Chambers' Diet. h. t.;
Encyclopaedia Americana, Charter; Encyclopedie de D'Alembert, h. t.; Pothier,
Pand. tom. xxii. p. 73.
CHIROGRAPHER. A word derived from the Greek, which signifies "a
writing with a man's hand." A chirographer is an officer of the English court of
C. P.who engrosses the fines, and delivers the indentures of them to the
parties, &c.
CHIVALRY, ancient Eng. law. This word is derived from the French
chevelier, a horseman. It is. the name of a tenure of land by knight's service.
Chivalry was of two kinds: the first; which was regal, or held only of the king;
or common, which was held of a common person. Co. Litt. h. t.
CHOICE. Preference either of a person or thing, to one of several
other persons or things. Election. (q. v.)
CHOSE, property. This is a French word, signifying thing. In law, it
is applied to personal property; as choses in possession, are such personal
things of which one has possession; choses in action, are such as the owner has
not the possession, but merely a right of action for their possession. 2 Bl.
Com. 889, 397; 1 Chit. Pract. 99; 1 Supp. to Ves. Jr. 26, 59. Chitty defines
choses in actions to be rights to receive or recover a debt, or money, or
damages for breach of contract, or for a tort connected with contract, but which
cannot be enforced without action, and therefore termed choses, or things in
action. Com. Dig. Biens; Harr. Dig. Chose in ActionChitty's Eq. Dig. b. t. Vide
1 Ch. Pr. 140.
2. It is one of the qualities of a chose in action, that, at common law, it
is not assignable. 2 John. 1; 15 Mass. 388; 1 Crancb, 367. But bills of exchange
and promissory notes, though choses in action, may be assigned by indorsement,
when payable to order, or by delivery when payable to bearer. See Bills of
Exchange.
3. Bonds are assignable in Pennsylvania, and perhaps some other states, by
virtue of statutory provisions.Inequity, however, all choses in action are
assignable and the assignee has an equitable right to enforce the fulfilment of
the obligation in the name of the assignor. 4 Mass. 511; 3 Day. 364; 1 Wheat.
236; 6 Pick. 316 9 ow. 34; 10 Mass. 316; 11 Mass. 157, n. 9 S. & R. 2441; 3
Yeates, 327; 1 Binn. 429; 5 Stew. & Port. 60; 4 Rand. 266; 7 Conn. 399; 2
Green, 510; Harp. 17; Vide, generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
4. Rights arising ex delicto are not assignable either at law or in
equity.
CHRISTIANITY. The religion established by Jesus Christ.
2. Christianity has been judicially declared to be a part of the common law
of Pennsylvania; 11 Serg. & Rawle, 394; 5 Binn. R.555; of New York, 8 Johns.
R. 291; of Connecticut, 2 Swift's System, 321; of Massachusetts, Dane's Ab. vol.
7, c. 219, a. 2, 19. To write or speak contemptuously and maliciously against
it, is an indictable offence. Vide Cooper on the Law of Libel, 59 and 114, et
seq.; and generally, 1 Russ. on Cr. 217; 1 Hawk, c. 5; 1 Vent. 293; 3 Keb. 607;
1 Barn. & Cress. 26. S. C. 8 Eng. Com. Law R. 14; Barnard. 162; Fitzgib. 66;
Roscoe, Cr. Ev. 524; 2 Str. 834; 3 Barn. & Ald. 161; S. C. 5 Eng. Com. Law
R. 249 Jeff. Rep. Appx. See 1 Cro. Jac. 421 Vent. 293; 3 Keb. 607; Cooke on Def.
74; 2 How. S. C. 11-ep. 127, 197 to 201.
CHURCH. In a moral or spiritual sense this word signifies a society of
persons who profess the Christian religion; and in a physical or material sense,
the place where such. persons assemble. The term church is nomen collectivum; it
comprehends the chancel, aisles, and body of the churcb. Ham. N. P. 204.
2. By the English law, the terms church or chapel, and church-yard, are
expressly recognized as in themselves correct and technical descriptions of the
building and place, even in criminal proceedings. 8 B. & C. *25; 1 Salk.
256; 11 Co. 25 b; 2 Esp. 5, 28.
3. It is not within the plan of this work to give an account of the different
local regulations in the United States respecting churches. References are here
given to enable the inquirer to ascertain what they are, where such regulations
are known to exist. 2 Mass. 500; 3 Mass. 166; 8 Mass. 96; 9 Mass. 277; Id. 254;
10 Mass. 323; 15 Mass. 296 16 Mass. 488; 6 Mass. 401; 10 Pick. 172 4 Day, C.
361; 1 Root 3, 440; Kirby, 45; 2 Caines' Cas. 336; 10 John. 217; 6 John. 85; 7
John. 112; 8 John. 464; 9 John. 147; 4 Desaus. 578; 5 Serg. & Rawle, 510; 11
Serg. & Rawle, 35; Metc. & Perk. Dig. h. t.; 4 Whart. 531.
CHURCH-WARDEN. An officer whose duties are, as the name implies, to
take care of, or guard the church.
2. These officers are created in some ecclesiastical corporations by the
charter, and their rights and duties are definitely explained.In England, it is
said, their principal duties are to take care of, 1. the church or building; 2.
the utensils and furniture; 3. the church-yard; 4. - matters of good order
concerning the church and church-yard; 5. the endowments of the church. Bac. Ab.
h. t. By the common law, the capacity of church-wardens to hold property for the
church, is limited to personal property. 9 Cranch, 43.
CINQUE PORTS, Eng. law. Literally, five ports. The name by which tho
five ports of Hastings, Ramenhale, Hetha or Hethe, Dover, and Sandwich, are
known. 2. These ports have peculiar charges and services imposed upon them, and
were entitled to certain privileges and liberties. See Harg. L. Tr. 106-113.
CIPHER. An arithmetical character, used for numerical notation. Vide
Figures, and 13 Vin. Ab. 210; 18 Eng. C. L. R. 95; 1 Ch. Cr. Law, 176.
2. By cipher is also understood a mode of secret writing. Public ministers
and other public agents frequently use ciphers in their correspondence, and it
is sometimes very useful so to correspond in times of war. A key is given to
each minister before his departure, namely, the cipher for writing ciphers,
(chiffre chiffrant,) and the cipher for deciphering (chiffre dechiffrant.)
Besides these, it is usual to give him a common cipher, (chiffre banal,) -which
is known to all the ministers of the same power, who occasionally use it in
their correspondence with each other.
3. When it is suspected that, a cipher becomes known to the cabinet where the
minister is residing, recourse is had to a preconcerted sign in order to annul,
entirely or in part, what has been written in cipher, or rather to indicate that
the contents are to be understood in an inverted or contrary sense. A cipher of
reserve is also employed in extraordinary cases.
CIRCUIT COURT. The name of a court of the United States, which has
both civil and criminal jurisdiction. In several of the states there are courts
which bear this name. Vide Courts of the United States.
CIRCUITY OFACTION, practice, remedies. It is where a party, by
bringing an action, gives an action to the defendant against him.
2. As, supposing the obligee of a bond covenanted that he would not sue on
it; if he were to sue he would give an. action against himself to the defendant
for a breach of his covenant. The courts prevent such circuitous actions, for it
is a maxim of law, so to judge of contracts as to prevent a multiplicity of
actions; and in the case just put, they would hold that the covenant not to sue
operated as a release. 1 T. R. 441. It is a favorite object of courts of equity
to prevent a multiplicity of actions. 4 Cowen, 682.
CIRCUITS. Certain divisions of the country, appointed for particular
judges to visit for the trial of causes, or for the administration of justice.
See 3 Bl. Com. 58; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2532.
CIRCULATING MEDIUM. By this term is understood whatever is used in
making payments, as money, bank notes, or paper which passes from hand to hand
in payment of goods, or debts.
CIRCUMDUCTION, Scotch law. A term applied to the time allowed for
bringing proof of allegiance, which being elapsed, if either party sue for
circumduction of the time of proving, it has the effect that no proof can
afterwards be brought; and the cause must be determined as it stood when
circumduction was obtained. Tech. Dict.
CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact.
2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable,
or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near
us, or afar off; they are public or private, permanent or transitory, clear and
simple, or complicated; they are always accompanied by circumstances which more
or less influence the mind in forming a judgment. And in some instances these
circumstances assume the character of irresistible evidence; where, for example,
a woman was found dead in a room, with every mark of having met with a violent
death, the presence of another person at thescene of action was made manifest by
the bloody mark of a left hand visible on her left arm. 14 How. St. Tr. 1324.
These points ought to be carefully examined, in order to form a correct opinion.
The first question ought to be, is the fact possible ? If so, are there any
circumstances which render it impossible ? If the facts are impossible, the
witness ought not to be credited. If, for example, a man should swear that he
saw the deceased shoot himself with his own pistol, and upon an examination of
the ball which killed him, it should be found too large to enter into the
pistol, the witness ought not to be credited. 1 Stark. Ev. 505; or if one should
swear that another had been guilty of an impossible crime.
3. Toullier mentions a case, which, were it not for the ingenuity of the
counsel, would require an apology for its introducion here, on account of its
length. The case was this: La Veuve Veron brought an action against M. de
Morangies on some notes, which the defendant alleged were fraudulently obtained,
for the purpose of recovering 300,000 francs, and the question was, whether the
defendant had received the money. Dujonquai, the grandson of the plaintiff,
pretended he had himself, alone and on foot, carried this sum in gold to the
defendant, at his hotel at the upper end of the rue Saint Jacques, in thirteen
trips, between half-past seven and about one o'clock, that is, in about five
hours and a half, or, at most, six hours. The fact was improbable; Linquet, the
counsel of the defendant, proved it was impossible; and this is his
argument:
4. Dujonquai said that he had divided the sum in thirteen bags, each
containing six hundred louis d'ors, and in twenty-three other bags, each
containing two hundred. There remained twenty-five louis to complete the whole
sum, which, Dujonquai said, he received from the defendant as a gratuity. At
each of 'these trips, he says, he put a bag, containing two hundred louis, that
is, about three pounds four ounces, in each of his coat pockets, which, being
made in the fashion of those times, hung about the thighs, and in walking must
have incommoded him and obstructed his speed; he took, besides, a bag containing
six hundred louis in his arms; by this means his movements were impeded by a
weight of near ten pounds.
5. The measured distance between the house where Dujonquai took the bags to
the foot of the stairs of the defendant, "as five hundred and sixteen toises,
which, multiplied by twenty-six, the thirteen trips going and returning, make
thirteen thousand four hundred and sixteen toises, that is, more than five
leagues and a half (near seventeen miles), of two thousand four hundred toises,
which latter distance is considered sufficient for an hour's walk, of a good
walker. Thus, if Dujonquai had been unimpeded by any obstacle, he would barely
have had time to perform the task in five or six hours, even without taking any
rest orrefreshment. However strikingly improbable this may have been, it was not
physically impossible. But
6.- 1. Dujonquai, in going to the defendant's, had to descend sixty-three
steps from his grandmother's, the plaintiff's chamber, and to ascend
twenty-seven to that of the defendant, in the whole, ninety steps. In return
ing, the ascent and descent were changed, but the steps were the same; so that
by multiplying, by twenty-six, the number of trips going and returning, it would
be seen tbere were two thousand three hundred and forty steps. Experience had
proved that in ascending to the top of the tower of Notre Dame (a church in
Paris), where there are three hundred and eighty-nine steps, it occupied from
eight to nine minutes of time. It must then have taken an hour out of the five
or six which had been employed in making the thirteen trips.
7.-2. Dujonquai had to go up the rue Saint Jacques, which is very steep; its
ascent would necessarily decrease the speed of a man, burdened and
encumberedwith the bags which he carried in his pockets and in his arms.
8.-3. This street, which is very public, is usually, particularly in the
morning, encumbered by a multitude of persons going in every direction, so that
a person going along must make an infinite number of deviations from a direct
line; each by itself, is almost imperceptible, but at the end of five or six
hours, they make a considerable sum, which may be estimated at a tenth part of
the whole course in a straight line; this would make about half a league, to be
added to the five and a half leagues, which is the distance in a direct
line.
9. - 4. On the morning that Dujonquai made these trips, the daily and usual
incumbrances of this street were increased by sixty or eighty workmen, who were
employed in removing by hand and with machine, an enormous stone, intended for
the church of Saint Genevieve, now the pantheon, and by the immense crowd which
this attracted; this was a remarkable eircumstance, which, supposing that
Dujonquai had not yielded to the temptation of stopping a few moments to see
what was doing, must necessarily have impeded his way, and made him lose seven
or eight minutes each trip, which, multiplied by twenty-six would make about two
hours and a half.
10. - 5. The, witness was obliged to open and shut the doors at the
defendant's house; it required time to take up the bags and place them in his
pockets, to take them out and put them on the defendant's table, who, by an
improbable supposition, counted the money in the intervals between the trips,
and not in the presence of the witness. Dujonquai, too, must have taken receipts
or acknowledgments at each trip, he must read them, and on arriving at home,
deposited them in some place of safety all these distractions would necessarily
occasion the loss of a few minutes. By adding these with scrupulous nicety, and
by further adding the time employed in taking and depositing the bags, the
opening and shutting of the doors, the reception of the receipts, the time
occupied in reading and putting them away, the time consumed in several
conversations, which he admitted he had with persons in the street; all these
joined to the obstacles above mentioned, made it evident that it was physically
impossible that Dujonquai should have carried the 300,000 francs to the house of
the defendant, as he affirmed he had done. Toull. tom. 9, n. 241, p. 384. Vide,
gencrally, 1 Stark. Ev. 502; 1 Phil. Ev. 116. See some curious cases of
circumstantial evidence in Alis. Pr. Cr. Law, 313, 314; and 2 Theorie des Lois
Criminelles, 147, n.; 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 94, 223; Harvey's Meditations on the
Night, note 35; 1 Taylor's Med. Jur. 372; 14 How. St. Tr. 1324; Theory of
Presumptive Proof, passim; Best on Pres. SSSS 187, 188, 197. See Death;
Presumption; Sonnambulism.
CIRCUMSTANDIBUS, persons, practice. Bystanders from whom jurors are to
be selected when the panel has been exhausted. Vide Tales de
circumstandibus.
CIRCUMVENTION, torts, Scotch law. Any act of fraud whereby a person is
reduced to a deed by decreet. Tech. Dict. It has the same sense in the civil
law. Dig. 50, 17, 49 et 155; Id. 12, 6, 6, 2; Id. 41, 2, 34. Vide
Parphrasis.
CITATIO AD REASSUMENDAM CAUSAM, civil law. The name of a citation,
which issued when a party died pending a suit, against the heir of the
defendant, or when the plaintiff died, for the heir of the plaintiff. Our bill
of revivor is probably borrowed from this proceeding.
CITATION, practice. A writ issued out of a court of competent,
jurisdiction, commanding a person therein named to appear and do something
therein mentioned, or to show cause why he should not, on a day named. Proct.
Pr. h. t. In the ecclesiastical law, the citation is the beginning and
foundation of the whole cause; it is said to have six requisites, namely.: the
insertion of the name of the judge; of the promovert; of the impugnant; of the
cause of suit; of the place; and of the time of appearance; to which may be
added the affixing the seal of the court, and the name of the register or his
deputy. 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 453-4; Ayl. Parer. xliii. 175; Hall's Adm. Pr. 5; Merl.
Rep. h. t. By, citation is also understood the act by which a person is
summoned, or cited.
CITATION OF AUTHORITIES. The production or reference to the text of
acts of legislatures and of treatises, and decided cases, in order to support
what is advanced.
2. Works are sometimes surcharged with useless and misplaced citations; when
they are judiciously made, they assist the reader in his researches. Citations
ought not to be made to prove what is not doubted; but when a controverted point
is mooted, it is highly proper to cite the laws and cases, or other authorities
in support of the controverted proposition.
3. The mode of citing statutes varies in the United States; the laws of the
United States are generally cited by their date, as the act of Sept. 24, 1789,
s. 35; or act of 1819, eh. 170, 3 Story's U. S. Laws, 1722. In Pennsylvania,
acts of assembly are cited as follows: act of 14th of April, 1834; in
Massachusetts, stat. of 1808, c. 92. Treatises and books of reports, are
generally cited by the volume and page, as, 2 Powell on Morts. 600; 3 Binn. R.
60. Judge Story and some others, following the examples of the civilians, have
written their works and numbered the paragraphs; these are cited as follows:
Story's Bailm. 494; Gould on Pl. c. 5, 30. For other citaions the reader is
referred to the article Abbreviations.
4. It is usual among the civilians on the continent of Europe, in imitation
of those in the darker ages, in their references to the Institutes, the Code and
the Pandects or Digest, to mention the number, not of the book, but of the law,
and the first word of the title to which it belongs; and as there are more than
a thousand of these, it is no easy task for one not thoroughly acquainted with
those collections, to find the place to which reference is made. The American
writers generally follow the natural mode of reference, by putting down the name
of the collection, and then the number of the book, title, law, and section. For
example, Inst. 4, 15, 2, signifies Institutes, book four, title fifteen, and
section two; Dig. 41, 9, 1, 3, means Digest, book 41, title 9, law 1, section 3;
Dig. pro dote, or ff pro dote, that is, section 3, law 1, of the book and title
of the Digest or Pandects, entitled pro dote. It is proper to remark, that Dig.
and ff are equivalent; the former signifies Digest, and the latter, which is a
careless mode of writing the Greek letter it, the first letter of the word
pavdectai, Pandects, and the Digest and Pandects are different names for one and
the same thing. The Code is cited in the same way. The Novels are cited by their
number, with tbat of the chapter and paragraph; for example, Nov. 185, 2, 4; for
Novella Justiniani 185, capite 2, paragrapho 4. Novels are also quoted by the
Collation, the title, chapter, and paragraph as follows: in Authentics,
Collatione 1 titulo 1, cap. 281. The Authentics are quoted by their first words,
after which is set down the title of the Code under which they are placed for
example, Authentica cum testator, Codice ad legem fascidiam Sele Mackel. Man.
Intro. 66. Modus Legendi Abbreviaturas passim in jure tam civili quam pontificii
occurrentes, 1577.
CITIZEN, persons. One who, under the constitution and laws of the
United States, has a right to vote for representatives in congress, and other
public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people.
In a more extended sense, under the word citizen, are included all white persons
born in the United States, and naturalized persons born out of the same, who
have not lost their right as such. This includes men, women, and children.
2. Citizens are either native born or naturalized. Native citizens may fill
any office; naturalized citizens may be elected or appointed to any office under
the constitution of the United States, except the office of president and
vice-president. The constitution provides, that " the citizens of each state
shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several states." Art. 4, s. 2.
3. All natives are not citizens of the United States; the descendants of the
aborigines, and those of African origin, are not entitled to the rights of
citizens. Anterior to the adoption of the constitution of the United States,
each state had the right to make citizens of such persons as it pleased. That
constitution does not authorize any but white persons to become citizens of the
United States; and it must therefore be presumed that no one is a citizen who is
not white. 1 Litt. R. 334; 10 Conn. R. 340; 1 Meigs, R. 331.
4. A citizen of the United States, residing in any state of the Union, is a
citizen of that state. 6 Pet. 761 Paine, 594;1 Brock. 391; 1 Paige, 183 Metc.
& Perk. Dig. h. t.; vide 3 Story's Const. 1687 Bouv. Inst. Index, b. t.; 2
Kent, Com. 258; 4 Johns. Ch. R. 430; Vatt. B. 1, c. Id, 212; Poth. Des
Personnes, tit. 2, s. 1. Vide Body Politic; Inhabitant.
CITY, government. A town incorporated by that name. Originally, this
word did not signify a town, but a portion of mankind who lived under the same
government: what the Romans called civitas, and, the Greeks polis; whence the
word politeia, civitas seu reipublicae status et administratio. Toull. Dr. Civ.
Fr. 1. 1, t. 1, n. 202; Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir Municipal, pp. 36, 37.
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