HOSTAGE. A person delivered into the possession of a public enemy in the time of war, as a security for the performance of a contract entered into between the belligerents.

2. Hostages are frequently given as a security for the payment of a ransom bill, and if they should die, their death would not discharge the contract. 3 Burr. 1734; 1 Kent, Com. 106; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.

HOSTELLAGIUM, Engl. law. A right reserved to the lords to be lodged and entertained in the houses of their tenants.

HOSTILITY. A state of open enmity; open war. Wolff, Dr. de la Rat. §1191. Hostility, as it regards individuals, may be permanent or temporary; it is permanent when the individual is a citizen or subject of the government at war, and temporary when he happens to be domiciliated or resident in the country of one of the belligerents; in this latter case the individual may throw off the national character he has thus acquired by residence, when he puts himself in motion, bona fide, to quit the country sine animo revertendi. 3 Rob. Adm. Rep. 12; 3 Wheat. R. 14.

2. There may be a hostile character merely as to commercial purposes, and hostility may attach only to the person as a temporary enemy, or it may attach only to the property of a particular description. This hostile character in a commercial view, or one limited to certain intents and purposes only, will attach in, consequence of having possessions in the territory of the enemy, or by maintaining a commercial establishment there, or by a personal residence, or, by particular modes of traffic, as by sailing under the enemy's flag of passport. 9 Cranch, 191 5 Rob. Adm. Rep.21, 161; 1 Kent Com. 73; Wesk. on Ins. h. t.; Chit. Law of Nat. Index, h. t.

HOTCHPOT, estates. This homely term is used figuratively to signify the blending and mixing property belonging to different persons, in order to divide it equally among those entitled to it. For example, if a man seised of thirty acres of land, and having two children, should, on the marriage of one of them, give him ten acres of it, and then die intestate seised of the remaining twenty; now, in order to obtain his portion of the latter, the married child, must bring back the ten acres he received, and add it to his father's estate, when an equal division of the whole will take place, and each be entitled to fifteen acres. 2 Bl. Com. 190. The term hotchpot is also applied to bringing together all the personal estate of the deceased, with the advancements he has made to his children, in order that the same may be divided agreeably to the provisions of the statute for the distribution of intestate's estates. In bringing an advancement into hotchpot, the donee is not required to account for the profits of the thing given; for example, he is not required to bring into hotchpot the produce of negroes, nor the interest of money. The property must be accounted for at its value when given. 1 Wash. R. 224; 17 Mass. 358; 2 Desaus. 127.; 3 Rand. R. 117; 3 Pick. R. 450; 3 Rand. 559; Coop. Justin. 575.

2. In Louisiana the term collation is used instead of hotchpot. The collation of goods is the supposed or real return to the mass of the succession, which an heir makes of property which he received in advance of his share or otherwise, in order that such property maybe divided, together with the other effects of the succession. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1305; and vide from that article to article 1367. Vide, generally, Bac. Ab. Coparceners, E; Bac. Ab. Executors, &c., K; Com. Dig. Guardian, G 2, Parcener, C 4; 8 Com. Dig. App. tit. Distribution, Statute of, III. For the French law, see Merl. Rep´rt. mots Rapport a succession.

HOUR measure of time. The space of sixty minutes, or the twenty-fourth part of a natural day. Vide Date; Fraction; and Co. Litt. 135; 3 Chit. Pr.110.

HOUSE, estates. A place for the habitation and dwelling of man. This word has several significations, as it is applied to different things. In a grant or demise of a house, the curtilage and garden will pass, even without the words "with the appurtenances," being added. Cro. Eliz. 89; S. C.; 3 Leon. 214; 1 Plowd. 171; 2 Saund. 401 note 2; 4 Penn. St. R; 93.

2. In a grant or demise of a house with the appurtenaces, no more, will pass, although other lands have been occupied with the house. 1 P. Wms.603; Cro. Jac. 526; 2 Co. 32; Co. Litt. 5 d.; Id. 36 a. b.; 2 Saund. 401, note 2.

3. If a house, originally entire, be divided into several apartments, with an outer door to each apartment and no communication with each other subsists, in such case the several apartments are considered as distinct houses. 6 Mod. 214; Woodf. Land. & Ten. 178.

4. In cases of burglary, the mansion or dwelling-house in which the burglary might be committed, at common law includes the outhouses, though not under the same roof or adjoining to the dwelling-house provided they were within the curtilage, or common fence, as the dwelling or mansion house. 3 Inst. 64;1 Hale, 558; 4 Bl. Com. 225; 2 East, P. C. 493; 1 Hayw. N. C. Rep. 102, 142; 2 Russ. on Cr. 14.

5. The term house, in case of arson, includes not only the dwelling but all the outhouses, as in the case of burglary. It is a maxim in law that every man's house is his castle, and there he is entitled to perfect security; this asylum cannot therefore be legally invaded, unless by an officer duly authorized by legal process; and this process must be of a criminal nature to authorize the breaking of an outer door; and even with it, this cannot be done, until after demand of admittance and refusal. 5 Co. 93; 4 Leon. 41; T. Jones, 234. The house may be also broken for the purpose of executing a writ of habere facias. 5 Co. 93; Bac. Ab. Sheriff, N3.

6. The house protects the owner from the service of all civil process in the first instance, but not if he is once lawfully arrested and he takes refuge in his own house; in that case, the officer may pursue him and break open any door for the purpose. Foster, 320; 1 Rolle, R. 138; Cro. Jac. 555; Bac. Ab. ubi sup. In the civil law the rule was nemo de domo sua extrahi debet. Dig. 50, 17, 103. Vide, generally, 14 Vin. Ab. 315; Yelv. 29 a, n.1; 4 Rawle, R. 342; Arch. Cr. Pl. 251; and Burglary.

7. House is used figuratively to signify a collection of persons, as the house of representatives; or an institution, as the house of refuge; or a commercial firm, as the house of A B & Co. of New Orleans; or a family, as, the house of Lancaster, the house of York.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Eng. law. The representatives of the people, in contradistinction to the nobles, taken collectively are called the house of commons.

2. This house must give its consent to all bills before they acquire the authority of law, and all laws for raising revenue must originate there.

HOUSE OF CORRECTIONS. A prison where offenders of a particular class are confined. The term is more common in England than in the United States.

HOUSE OF LORDS. Eng. law. The English lords, temporal and spiritual, when taken collectively and forming a branch of the parliament, are called the House of Lords.

2. Its assent is required to all laws. As a court of justice, it tries all impeachments.

HOUSE OF REFUGE, punishment. The name given to a prison for juvenile delinquents. These houses are regulated in the United Statees on the most humane principles, by special local laws.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, government. The popular branch of the legislature.

2. The Constitution of the United States, art. 1, s. 2, 1, provides, that "the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of, the several states; and the electors of each state, shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature."

3. The general qualifications of electors of the assembly, or most numerous branch of the legislature, in the several state governments, are, that they be of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and free resident citizens of the state in which they vote, and have paid taxes: several of the state constitutions have prescribed the same or higher qualifications, as to property, in the elected, than in the electors.

4. The constitution of the United States, however, requires no evidence of property in the representatives, nor any declarations as to his religious belief. He must be free from undue bias or dependence, by not holding any office under the United States. Art. 1, s. 6, 2.

5. By the constitutions of the several states, the most numerous branch of the legislature generally bears the name of the house of representatives. Vide Story on Constitution of the United States, chap. 9 1 Kent's Com. 228.

6. By the Act of June 22, 1842, c. 47, it is provided, §1. That from and after the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, the house of representatives shall be composed of members elected agreeably to a ratio of one representative for every seventy thousand six hundred and eighty persons in each state, and ofone additional representative for each state having a fraction greater than one moiety of the said ratio, computed according to the rule prescribed by the constitution of the United States; that is to say: within the state of Maine, seven; within the state of New Hampshire, four; within the state of Massachusetts, ten; within the state of Rhode Island, two within the state of Connecticut, four; within the state of Vermont, four; within the state of New York, thirty-four; within the state of New Jersey, five; within the state of Pennsylvania, twenty-four; within the state of Delaware, one; within the state of Maryland, six; within the state of Virginia, fifteen; within the state of North Carolina, nine; within the state of South Carolina, seven; within the state of Georgia, eight; within the state of Alabama, seven; within state of Louisiana, four; within the state of Mississippi, four; within the state of Tennessee, eleven; within the state of Kentucky, ten; within the state of Ohio, twenty-one; within the state of Indiana, ten; within the state of Illinois, seven; within the state of Missouri, five; within the state of Arkansas, one; within the State of Michigan, three.

7.- §2. That in every case where a state is entitled to more than one representative, the number to which each state shall be entitled under this apportionment shall be elected by districts. composed of contiguous territory, equal in number to the number of representatives to which said state may be entitled, no one district electing more than one representative.

8. For the constitutions of the houses of representatives in the several states, the reader is referred to the names of the states in this work. Vide Congress.

HOUSE-BOTE. An allowance of necessary timber out of the landlord's woods, for the repairing and support of a house or tenement. This belongs of common-right to any lessee for years or for life. House-bote is said to be of two kinds, estoveriam aedificandi et ardendi. Co. Litt. 41.

HOUSEKEEPER. One who occupies a house.

2. A person who occupies every room in the house, under a lease, except one, which is reserved for his landlord, who pays all the taxes, is not a housekeeper. 1 Chit. Rep. 502. Nor is a person a housekeeper, who takes a house, which be afterwards underlets to another, whom the landlord refuses to accept as his tenant; in this case, the under-tenant aid the, taxes and let to the tenant the, first floor of the house, and the rent was paid for the whole house to the tenant, who paid it to the landlord. Id. note.

3. In order to make the party a house-keeper, he must be in actual possession of the house; 1 Chit. Rep. 288 and must occupy a whole house. 1 Chit. Rep. 316. See 1 Barn. & Cresw. 178; 2 T. R. 406; 1 Bott, 5; 3 Petersd, Ab. 103, note; 2 Mart. Lo. R. 313.

HOVEL. A place used by hushandmen to set their ploughs, carts, and other farming utensils, out of the rain and sun. Law Latin Dict. A shed; a cottage; a mean house.

HOYMAN. The master or captain of a hoy.

2. Hoymen are liable as common carriers. Story, Bailm. §496.

HUE AND CRY, Eng. law. A mode of pursuing felons, or such as have dangerously wounded any person, or assaulted any one with intent to rob him, by the constable, for the purpose of arresting the offender. 2 Hale, P. C. 100.

HUEBRA, Spanish law. An acre of land or as much as can be ploughed in a day by two oxen. Sp. Dict.; 2 White's Coll. 49.

HUISSIER. An usher of a court. In France, an officer of this name performs many of the duties which in this country devolve on the sheriff or constable. Dalloz, Dict. h. t. See 3 Wend. 173.

HUNDRED, Eng. law. A district of country originally comprehending one hundred families. In many cases, when an offence is committed within the -hundred, the inhabitants tire civilly responsible to the party injured.

2. This rule was probably borrowed from the nations of German origin, where it was known. Montesq. Esp. des Lois, ]iv. 30, c. 17. It was established by Clotaire, among the Franks. 11 Toull. n. 237.

3. To make the innocent pay for the guilty, seems to be contrary to the first principles of justice, and can be justified only by necessity. In some of the United States laws have been passed making cities or counties responsible for, the destruction of property by a mob. This can be justified only on the ground that it is the interest of every one that property should be protected, and that it is for the general good such laws should exist.

HUNDRED GEMOTE. The name of a court among the Saxons. It was holden every month, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the hundred.

HUNDREDORS. In England they are inhabitants of a local division of a county, who, by several statutes, are held to be liable in the cases therein specified, to make good the loss sustained by persons within the hundred, by robbery or other violence, therein also specified. The principal of these statutes are, 13 Edw. I. st. 2, c. 1, s. 4; 28 Edw. III. c. 11; 27 Eliz. c. 13; 29 Car. II. c. 7; 8 Geo. II. c. 16; 22 Geo. II. c.24.

HUNGER. The desire for taking food. Hunger is no excuse for larceny. 1 Hale, P. C. 54; 4 Bl. Com. 31. But it is a matter which applies itself strongly to the consciences of the judges in mitigation of the punishment.

2. When a person has died, and it is suspected he has been starved to death, an examination of his body ought to be made, to ascertain whether or not he died of hunger. The signs which usually attend death from hunger are the following: The body is much emaciated, and a foetid, acrid odor exhales from it, although death may have been very recent. The eyes are red and open, which is not usual in other causes of death. The tongue and throat are dry, even to aridity, and the stomach and intestines are contracted and empty. The gall bladder is pressed with bile, and this fluid is found scattered over the stomach and intestines, so as to tinge them very extensively. The lungs are withered, but all the other organs are generally in a healthy state. The blood vessels are usually empty. Foder´, tom. ii. p. 276, tom. iii. p. 231; 2 Beck's Med. Jur. 52; see Eunom. Dial. 2, §47, p. 142, and the note at p. 384.

HUNTING. The act of pursuing and taking wild animals; the chase.

2. The chase gives a kind of title by occupancy, by which the hunter acquires a right or property in the game which he captures. In the United States, the right of hunting is universal, and limited only so far as to exclude hunters from committing injuries to private property or to the public; as, by shooting on public roads. Vide Feroe naturae; Occupancy.

HURDLE, Eng. law. A species of sledge, used to draw traitors to execution.

HUshAND, domestic relations. A man who has a wife.

2. The hushand, as such, is liable to certain obligations, and entitled to certain rights, which will be here briefly considered.

3. First, of his obligations. He is bound to receive his wife at his home, and should furnish her with all the necessaries and conveniences which his fortune enables him to do, and which her situation requires; but this does not include such luxuries as, according to her fancy, she deems necessaries; vide article Cruelty, where this matter is considered. He is bound to love his wife, and to bear with her faults, and, if possible, by mild means to correct them and he is required to fulfil towards her his marital promise of fidelity, and can, therefore, have no carnal connexion with any other woman, without a violation of his obligations. As he is bound to govern his house properly, he is liable for its misgovernment, and he may be punished for keeping a disorderly house, even where his wife had the principal agency, and he is liable for her torts, as for her slander or trespass. He is also liable for the wife's debts, incurred before coverture, provided they are recovered from him during their joint lives; and generally for such as are contracted by her after coverture, for necessaries, or by his authority, express or implied. See 5 Whart. 395; 5 Binn. 235; 1 Mod. 138; 5 Taunt. 356; 7 T. R. 166; 3 Camp. 27; 3 B. & Cr. 631; 5 W. & S. 164.

4. Secondly, of his rights. Being the head of the family, the hushand has a right to establish himself wherever he may please, and in this he cannot be controlled by his wife; he may manage his affairs his own way; buy and sell all kinds of personal property, without any control, and he may buy any real estate he may deem proper, but, as the wife acquires a right in the latter, he cannot sell it, discharged of her dower, except by her consent, expressed in the manner prescribed by the laws of the state where such lands lie. At common law, all her personal property, in possession, is vested in him, and he may dispose of it as if he had acquired it by his own contract this arises from the principle that they are considered one person in law; 2 Bl. Com. 433 and he is entitled to all her property in action, provided he reduces it to possession during her life. Id. 484. He is also entitled to her chattels real, but these vest in him not absolutely, but sub modo; as, in the case of a lease for years, the hushand is entitled to receive the rents and profits of it, and may, if he pleases, sell, surrender, or dispose of it during the coverture, and it is liable to be taken in execution for his debts and, if he survives her, it is, to all intents and purposes, his own. In case his wife survives him, it is considered as if it had never been transferred from her, and it belongs to her alone. In his wife's freehold estate, he has a life estate, during the joint lives of himself and wife; and, at common law, when he has a child by her who could inherit, he has an estate by the curtesy. But the rights of a hushand over the wife's property, are very much abridged in some of the United States, by statutes. See Act of Pennsylvania, passed April 11, 1848.

5. The laws of Louisiana differ essentially from those of the other states, as to the rights and duties of hushand and wife, particularly as it regards their property. Those readers, desirous of knowing, the legislative regulations on this subject, in that state, are referred to the Civil Code of Louis. B. 1, tit. 4; B. 3, tit. 6. Vide, generally, articles Divorce; Marrriage; Wife; and Bac. Ab. Baron and Feme; Rop. H. & W.; Prater ou H. & W.; Clancy on the Rights, Duties and Liabilities of Hushand and Wife Canning on the Interest of Hushand and Wife, &c.; 1 Phil. Ev. 63; Woodf. L. & T. 75; 2 Kent, Com. 109; 1 Salk. 113 to 119ù; Yelv. 106a, 156a, 166a; Vern. by Raithby, 7, 17, 48, 261; Chit. Pr. Index, h. t. Poth. du Contr. de Mar. n. 379; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

HUshAND, mar. law. The name of an agent who is authorized to make the necessary repairs to a ship, and to act in relation to the ship, generally, for the owner. He is usually called ship's hushand. Vide Ship's Hushand.

HUshRECE, old Eng. law. The, ancient name of the offence now called burglary.

HUSTINGS, Engl. law. The name of a court held before the lord mayor and aldermen of London; it is the principal and supreme court of the city., See 2 Inst. 327; St. Armand, Hist. Essay on the Legisl. Power of England, 75.

HYDROMETER. An instrument for measuring the density of fluids; being immersed in fluids, as in water, brine, beer, brandy, &c., it determines the proportion of their densities, or their specific gravities, and thence their qualities.

2. By, the Act of Congress of January 12, 1825, 3 Story's' Laws U. S. 1976, the secretary of the treasury is authorized, under the direction of the president of the United States, to adopt and substitute such hydrometer as he may deem best calculated to promote the public interest, in lieu of that now prescribed by law, for the purpose of ascertaining the proof of liquors; and that after such adoption and substitution, the duties imposed by law upon distilled spirits shall be levied, collected and paid, according to the proof ascertained by any hydrometer so substituted and adopted.

HYPOBOLUM, civ. law. The name of the bequest or legacy given by the hushand to his wife, at his death, above her dowry. Techn. Dict. h. t.

HYPOTHECATION, civil law. This term is used principally in the civil law; it is defined to be a right which a creditor has over a thing belonging to another, and which consists in the power to cause it to be sold, in order to be paid his claim out of the proceeds.

2. There are two species of hypothecation, one called pledge, pignus, and, the other properly denominated hypothecation. Pledge is that species , of hypothecation which is contracted by the delivery of the debtor to the creditor, of the thing hypothecated. Hypothecation, properly so called, is that which is contracted without delivery of the thing hypothecated. 2 Bell's Com. 25, 5th ed.

3. Hypothecation is further divided into general and special when the debtor hypothecates to his creditor all his estate and property, which he has, or may have, the hypothecation is general; when the hypothecation is confined to a particular estate, it is special.

4. Hypothecations are also distinguished into conventional, legal, and tacit. 1. Conventional hypothecations are those which arise by the agreement of the parties. Dig. 20, 1, 5.

5. - 2. Legal hypothecation is that which has not been agreed upon by any contract, express or implied; such as arises from the effect of judgments and executions.

6. - 3. A tacit, which is also a legal hypothecation, is that which the law gives in certain cases, without the consent of the parties, to secure the creditor; such as, 1st. The lien which the public treasury has over the property of public debtors. Code, 8, 15, 1. 2d. The landlord has a lien on the goods in the house leased, for the payment of his rent. Dig. 20, 2, 2; Code, 8, 15, 7, 3d. The builder has a lien, for his bill, on the house he has built. Dig. 20, 1. 4th, The pupil has a lien on the property of the guardian for the balance of his account. Dig. 46, 6, 22; Code, 6, 37, 20. 5th. There is hypothecation of the goods of a testator for the security of a legacy he has given. Code, 6, 43, 1.

7. In the common law, cases of hypothecation, in the strict sense of the civil law, that is, of a pledge of a chattel, without possession by the pledgee, are scarcely to be found; cases of bottomry bonds and claims for seamen's wages, against ships are the nearest approach to it; but these are liens and privileges rather than hypothecations. Story, Bailm. §288. It seems that chattels not in existence, though they cannot be pledged, can be hypothecated, so that the lien will attach, as soon as the chattel has been prodced. 14 Pick. R. 497. Vide, generally, Poth. de l'Hypoth´que; Poth. Mar. Contr. translated by Cushing, note. 26, p. 145; Commercial Code of France, translated by Rodman, note 52, p. 351; Merl. R´pertoire, mot Hypoth´que, where the subject is fully considered; 2 Bro. Civ. Law, 195; Ayl. Pand. 524; 1 Law Tracts, 224; Dane's Ab. h. t.; Abbott on Ship. Index, h. t.; 13 Ves. 599; Bac. Ab. Merchant, &c. G; Civil Code of Louis. tit. 22, where this sort of security bears the name of mortgage. (q. v.)

HYPOTHEQUE, French law. Properly, the right acquired by the creditor over the immovable property which has been assigned to him by his debtor, as security for his debt, although he be not placed in possession of it. The hypotheque might arise in two was. 1. By the express agreement of the debtor, which was the conventional hypotheque. 2. By disposition of law, which was the implied or Iegal hypotheque. This was nothing but a lien or privilege which the creditor enjoyed of being first paid out of the land subjected to this incumbrance. For example, the landlord had hypotheque on the goods of his tenant or others, while on the premises let. A mason had the same on the house he built. A pupil or a minor on the land of his tutor or curator, who had received his money. Domat, Loix Civiles, 1. 3, & 1; 2 Bouv. Inst. 1817.