“Knight-errantry,” nītˈ ĕr-rant-re. The character, manners and adventures of wandering knights.
“Butler,” Samuel. (1612-1680.) An English poet. He led an uneventful life, being employed at different times as amanuensis or secretary to men of high standing. When fifty-one years of age he wrote Hudibras, his “fine satire.” The hero, Sir Hudibras, is said to have been drawn from Sir Samuel Luke, a Puritan officer. The poem ridicules by satire and exaggeration the actions, severity, morals and dress of the Puritans. It was never entirely finished. Butler was very popular with Charles II., and his court for a time, but finally died in poverty.
COMMERCIAL LAW.
P. 260, c. 1.—“Inhibition,” ĭn-he-bĭshˈun. Restraint, hinderance.
“Judicature,” jūˈdi-ca-tūre. The administration of justice.
P. 260, c. 2.—“Common-law.” According to the American Cyclopædia, common-law in the United States means the entire English law, including even the foreign elements intermingled with it, in distinction from the civil law generally received among European nations, and from the canon law, except so far as adopted in the ecclesiastical courts of England. Burrill defines it as “the unwritten law, or that body of customs, rules and maxims which have acquired their binding power and the force of law, in consequence of long usage, recognized by judicial decisions, and not by reason of statutes now extant.” Of its origin, Sir Matthew Hale says it is as “undiscoverable as the head of the Nile.”
“Norman-French.” The language of Normandy, a former northwestern province of France. By the Norman conquest (1066) Norman French became the language of the court and of equity in England.