SOUTH CAROLINA. The name of one of the original states of the United States of America. For an account of its colonial history, see article North Carolina.

2. The constitution of this state was adopted the third day of June, 1790, to which two amendments have been made, one, ratified December 17, 1808, and the other, December 19, 1816. The powers of the government are distributed into three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.

3. - 1st. The legislative authority is vested in a general assembly, which consists of a senate and house of representatives.

4. - 1. The senate will be considered with reference to the qualifications of the electors; the qualifications of the members; the number of members; the duration of their office, and the time of their election. 1. Every free white man, of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of this state, and having resided therein two years previous to the day of election, and who hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot, of which he hath been legally seised and possessed, at least six months before such election, or, not having such freehold or town lot, hath been a resident in the election district, in which he offers to give his vote, six mouths before the said election, and hath paid a tax the preceeding year of three shillings sterling towards the support of this government, shall have a right to vote for a member or members, to serve in either branch of the legislature, for the election district in which he holds such property, or is so resident. 2. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the senate, unless he is a free white man, of the age of thirty years and hath been a citizen and resident in this state five years previous to his election. If a resident in the election district, he shall not be eligible unless he be legally seised and possessed in his own right, of a settled freehold estate of the value of three hundred pounds sterling, clear of debt. If a non-resident in the election district, he shall not be eligible unless he be legally seised and possessed in his own right, of a settled freehold estate in the said district, of the value of one thousand pounds sterling, clear of debt. 3. The senate is composed of one member from each district as now established for the election of the house of representatives, except the district formed by the districts of the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael, to which shall be allowed two senators as heretofore. Amend. of Dec. 17, 1808. 4. They are elected for four years. Ibid. 5. The election takes place on the second Monday in October. Art. 1, s. 10.

5. - 2. The house of representatives will be considered in the same order which has been observed in considering the senate. 1. The qualification of electors are the same as those of electors of senators. 2. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the house of representatives, unless he is a free white man, of the age of twenty-one years, and hath been a citizen and resident in this state three years previous to his election. If a resident in the election district, he shall not be eligible to a seat in the house of representatives, unless he be legally seised and possessed in his own right, of a settled free-hold estate of five hundred acres of land, and ten negroes; or of a real es-tate, of the value of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, clear of debt. If a non-resident, he shall be legally seised and possessed of a settled freehold estate therein, of the value of five hundred pounds sterling, clear of debt. 3. The house consists of one hundred and twenty-four members. Amend. of Dee. 17, 1808. 4. The members are elected for two years. Art. l, s. 2 . 5. The election is at the same time that the election of senators is held.

6. - 2. The executive authority is vested in a governor, and in certain cases, a lieutenant-governor.

7. - 1. Of the governor. It will be proper to consider his qualifications; by whom he is to be elected; when to be elected; duration of office; and his powers and duties. 1. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor, unless he bath attained the age of thirty years, and hath resided within this state, and been a citizen thereof, ten years, and unless he be seised and possessed of a settled estate within the same, in his own right, of the value of fifteen hundred pounds sterling, clear of debt. Art. 2, s. 2. 2. He is elected by the senate and house of representatives jointly, in the house of representatives. Art. 2, sect. 1. 3. He is to be elected whenever a majority of both houses shall be present. lb. 4. He is elected for two years, and until a new election shall be made. Ibid. 5. The governor is commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the state, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into the actual Service of the United States. He may grant reprieves and pardons, after conviction, except in cases of impeachment, and remit fines and forfeitures, unless otherwise directed by law shall cause the laws to be faithfully executed in mercy - may prohibit the exportation of provisions, for any time not exceeding thirty days-may require information from the executive departments - shall recommend such measures as he may deem necessary, and give the assembly information as to the condition of the state-may on extraordinary occasions convene the assembly, and in case of disagreement between the two houses with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not beyond the fourth Monday in the mouth of November then next ensuing.

8. - 2. A lieutenant-governor is to be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, continue in office for the same period, and be possessed of the same qualifications as the governor. Art. 2, sect. 3. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the state, the lieutenant-governor shall succeed to his office. And in case of the impeachment of the lieutenant-governor, or his removal from office, death, resignation, or absence from the state, the president of the senate shall succeed to his office, till a nomination to those offices respectively shall be made by the senate and house of representatives, for the remainder of the time for which the officer so impeached, removed from office, dying, resigning, or being absent, was elected. Art. 2, s. 5.

9. - 3. The judicial power shall be vested in such superior and inferior courts of law and equity, as the legislature shall, from time to time, direct and establish. The judges of each shall hold their commissions during good behaviour; and judges of the superior courts shall, at stated times, receive a compensation for their services, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during their continuance in office: but they shall receive no fees or perquisites of office, nor, hold any other office of profit or trust, under this state, the United States, or any other power. Art. 3, sect. 1. The judges are required to meet at such times, and places, as shall be prescribed by the act of the legislature, and sit for the purpose of hearing and determining all motions which may be made for new trials, and in arrest of judgment, and such points of law as may be submitted to them. Amend. of Dec. 19, 1816.

SOVEREIGN. A chief ruler with supreme power; one possessing sovereignty. (q. v.) It is also applied to a king or other magistrate with limited powers.

2. In the United States the sovereignty resides in the body of the people. Vide Rutherf. Inst. 282.

SOVEREIGN, Eng. law. The name of a gold coin of Great Britain of the value of one pound sterling.

SOVEREIGN STATE. One which governs itself independently of any foreign power.

SOVEREIGNTY. The union and exercise of all human power possessed in a state; it is a combination of all power; it is the power to do everything in a state without accountability; to make laws, to execute and to apply them: to impose and collect taxes, and, levy, contributions; to make war or peace; to form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like. Story on the Const. §207.

2. Abstractedly, sovereignty resides in the body of the nation and belongs to the people. But these powers are generally exercised by delegation.

3. When analysed, sovereignty is naturally divided into three great powers; namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary; the first is the power to make new laws, and to correct and repeal the old; the second is the power to execute the laws both at home and abroad; and the last is the power to apply the laws to particular facts; to judge the disputes which arise among the citizens, and to punish crimes.

4. Strictly speaking, in our republican forms of government, the absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation; (q. v.) and the residuary sovereignty of each state, not granted to any of its public functionaries, is in the people of the state. (q. v.) 2 Dall. 471; and vide, generally, 2 Dall. 433, 455; 3 Dall. 93; 1 Story, Const. §208; 1 Toull. n. 20 Merl. Reper. h. t.

SPADONES, civil law. Those who, on account of their temperament, or some accident they have suffered, are unable to procreate. Inst. 1, 11, 9; Dig. 1, 7, 2, 1; and vide Impotence.

SPARSIM. This Latin adverb signifies scatteredly, here and there, in a scattered manner, sparsedly, dispersedly. It is sometimes used in law; for example, the plaintiff may recover the place wasted, not only where the injury has been total, but where trees, growing sparsim in a close, are cut. Bac. Ab. Waste, M; Brownl. 240; Co. Litt. 54, a; 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 3690.

TO SPEAK. This term is used in the English law, to signify the permission given by a court to the prosecutor and defendant in some cases of misdemeanor, to agree together, after which the prosecutor comes into court and declares himself to be satisfied; when the court pass a nominal sentence. 1 Chit. Pr. 17.

SPEAKER. The presiding officer of the house of representatives of the United States is so called. The presiding officer of either branch of the state legislatures generally bears this name.

SPEAKING DEMURRER, equity pleading. One which contains an argument in the body of it; as, for instance, when a demurrer says, "in or about the year 1770," which is upwards of twenty years before the bill filed. 2 Ves. jr. 83; S. C. 4 Bro. C. C. 254.

SPECIAL. That which relates to a particular species or kind, opposed to general; as special verdict and general verdict; special imparlance and general imparlance; special jury, or one selected for a particular case, and general jury; special issue and general issue, &c.

SPECIAL AGENT. A special agent is one whose authority is confined to a particular, or an individual instance. It is a general rule, that he who is invested with a special authority, must act within the bounds of his authority, and he cannot bind his principal beyond what he is authorized to do. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1299; 2 John. 48; 1 Wash. C. C. lT4; 5 John. 48; 15 John. 44; 8 Wend. 494.

SPECIAL ASSUMPSIT, practice. Where an action of assumpsit (q. v.) has been brought on a special contract, and the plaintiff declares upon it, setting out its particular language, or its legal effect. It is distinguished from a general assumpsit, where the plaintiff, instead of setting out the particular language, or effect of the original contract, declares as for a debt, arising out of the execution of the contract, where that constitutes the debt. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3426.

SPECIAL BAIL. A person who becomes specially bound to answer for the appearance of another; the recoguizance or act by which such person thus becomes bound, is also called special bail. Vide Bail.

SPECIAL CONSTABLE. One who has been appointed a constable for a particular occasion, as in the case of an actual tumult or a riot, or for the purpose of serving a particular process.

SPECIAL DAMAGES. Such as actually have been suffered, and are not implied by law. Vide Damages, Special; and 1 Chit. Pl. 385; Com. Dig. Action on the case for Defamation, D 30, G 11.

SPECIAL DEMURRER, pleading. One which excepts to the sufficiency of the pleadings on the opposite side, and shows specifically the nature of the objection, and the particular ground of the exception. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3022. See Demurrer.

SPECIAL DEPOSIT. A deposit made of a particular thing with the depositary: it is distinguished from an irregular deposit.

2. When a thing has been specially deposited with a depositary, the title to it remains with the depositor, and if it should be lost, the loss will fall upon him. When, on the contrary, the deposit is irregular, as where money is deposited in a bank, the title to which is transferred to the bank, if it be, lost, the loss will be borne by the bank. This will result from the same principle; the loss will fall, in both instances, on the owner of the thing, according to the rule res perit domino. See 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1 054.

SPECIAL ERRORS. Special pleas in error are those which assign for error matters in confession and avoidance, as a release of errors, the act of limitations, and the like, to which the plaintiff in error may reply or demur.

SPECIAL IMPARLANCE, pleading. One which contains the clause, "saving to himself all advantages and exceptions, as well to the writ, as to the declaration aforesaid." 2 Chit. Pl. 407, 8.

2. This imparlance admits the jurisdiction of the court, but the defendant may plead in abatement or to the action; that is, to the writ or the count. Gould. on Pl. c. 2, §18; Lawes on Pl. 84. See imparlance.

SPECIAL INJUNCTION. One obtained only on motion and petition, with notice to the other party, and is applied for, sometimes on affidavit before answer, but more frequently upon merits disclosed in the defendant's answer. 4 Bouv. lust. n. 3756. See Injunction.

SPECIAL ISSUE, pleading. A plea to the action which denies some particular material allegation, which is in effect a denial of the entire right of action. It differs from the general issue whicli traverses or denies the whole declaration or indictment. Gould. on Pl. c. 2, §38. See General Issue; Issue.

SPECIAL JURY. One selected in a particular way by the parties. A pannel is made out, and each party is entitled to strike from it the names of a certain number of jurors, as provided for by the local statutes, and from those who remain, the jury in that case must be selected. This is also called a struck jury.

SPECIAL NON EST FACTUM. The name of a plea by which the defendant says that the deed which he has executed is not his own or binding upon him, because of some circumstance which shows that it was not intended to be his deed, or because it was not binding upon him for some lawful reason; as, when the defendant delivered the deed to a third person as an escrow to be delivered upon a condition, and it has been delivered without the performance of the condition, he may plead non est factum, state the fact, of the conditional delivery, the non-performance of the condition, and add, "and so it is not his deed;" or if the defendant be a feme covert, she may plead non est factum, that she was a feme covert at the time the deed was made, "and so it is not her deed." Bac. Ab. Pleas, &c. H 3, 1 2; Gould. on Pl. c. 6, part 1, §64. See Issint.

SPECIAL OCCUPANT, estates. When an estate is granted to a man and his heirs during the life, of cestui que vie, and the grantee die without alienation, and while the life for which he held continues, the heir will succeed, and is called a special occupant. 2 Bl. Com. 259. In the United States the statute provisions of the different states vary considerably upon this subject. In New York and New Jersey, special occupancy is abolished. Virginia, and probably Maryland, follow the English statutes; in Massachusetts and other states, where the real and personal estates of intestates are distributed in the same way and manner, the question does not seem to be material. 4 Kent, Com. 27.

SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP. Special or limited partnerships are of two kinds; 1. Those at common law. 2. Limited partnerships, or those in commendam.

2. Special partnerships at common law, are those formed for a particular or special branch of business, as contradistinguished from the general business of the parties, or of one of them.

3. A limited or special partnership, under special acts of assembly, may be found in several states. In such partnerships some of the partners are liable as general partners, while others are responsible only to the extent of the capital they have furnished. See 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1472, 1473, and In Commendam; Partnership.

SPECIAL PLEA IN BAR. One which advances new matter. It differs from the general in this, that the latter denies some material allegation, but never advances new matter. Gould on Pl. c. 2, §38.

SPECIAL PLEADER, Engl. practice. A special pleader is a lawyer whose professional occupation is to give verbal or written opinions upon statements submitted to him, either in writing or verbally, and to draw pleadings, civil or criminal, and such practical proceedings as may be out of the general course. 2 Chit. Pr. 42.

SPECIAL PLEADING. The allegartion of special or new matter, as distinguished from a direct denial of matter previously alleged on the opposite side. Gould on Pl. c. 1, s. 18; Co. Litt. 282; 3 Wheat. R. 246 Com. Dig. Pleader, E 15.

SPECIAL PROPERTY. This term is used as synonymous with qualified or limited property. It is that property which is not perfect in the hands of the possessor, but his right is qualified or limited; as, where a person is possessed of an animal ferae naturae, he has a property in such animal, but this is not a general right, for if the animal should escape, and be taken by another person, the latter only would have a special property in it.

2. Again, a person may have a special property in a chattel in consequence of the peculiar circumstances of the owner; a bailee, for example, has a special property in the thing bailed. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 475 to 477.

SPECIAL REQUEST. One actually made, at a particular time and place; this term is used in contradistinction to a general request, which need not state. the time when, nor place where made. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2843.

SPECIAL RULE. A rule or order of court made in a particular case, for a particular purpose; it is distinguished from a general rule, which applies to a class of cases. It differs also from a common rule, or rule of course.

SPECIAL TRAVERSE, pleading. A technical special traverse begins in most cases, with the words absque hoc, (without this,) which words in pleading form a technical form of negation. Lawes' Pl. 116 to 120.

2. A traverse commencing with these words is special, because, when it thus commences, the inducement and the negation are regularly both special; the former consisting of new matter, and the latter pursuing, in general, the words of the allegation traversed, or at least those of them which are material. For example, if the defendant pleads title to land in himself, by alleging that Peter devised the land to him, and then died seised in fee; and the plaintiff replies that Peter died seised in fee intestate, and alleges title in himself, as heir of Peter without this, that Peter devised the land to the defendant; the traverse is special. Here the allegation of Peter's intestacy, &c., forms the special inducement; and the absque hoc, with what follows it, is a special denial of the alleged devise, i. e. a denial of it in the words of the allegation. Lawes on Pl. 119, 120; Gould, Pl. ch. 7, §6, 7; Steph. Pl. 188. Vide Traverse; General Traverse.

SPECIAL TRUST. A special trust, is one where a trustee is interposed for the execution of some purpose particularly pointed out, and is not, as in the case of a simple trust, a mere passive depositary of the estate, but is required to exert himself actively in the execution of the settler's intention; as, where a conveyance is made to trustees upon trust to reconvey, or to sell for the payment of debts. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1896. See Trust.

SPECIAL VERDICT, practice. A special verdict is one by which the facts of the case are put on the record, and the law is submitted to the judges. Vide Verdict; Bac. Ab. Verdict, D.