EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words), a word signifying that which is clearly and definitely set forth or represented, explicit, and thus used of a meaning, a law, a contract and the like, being specially contrasted with “implied.” Thus in law, malice, for which there is actual evidence, as apart from that which may be inferred from the acts of the person charged, is known as “express.” The word is most frequently used with the idea of something done with a definite purpose; the term “express train,” now meaning one that travels at a high speed over long distances with few intermediate stoppages, was, in the early days of railways, applied to what is now usually called a “special,” i.e. a train not running according to the ordinary time-tables of the railway company, but for some specific purpose, or engaged by a private person. About 1845 this term became used for a train running to a particular place without stopping. Similarly in the British postal service, express delivery is a special and immediate delivery of a letter, parcel, &c. , by an express messenger at a particular increased rate. The system was adopted in 1891.
In the United States of America, express companies for the rapid transmission of parcels and luggage and light goods generally perform the function of the post office or the railways in the United Kingdom and the continent of Europe. Not only do they deliver goods, but by the cash on delivery system (see [Cash]) the express companies act as agents both for the purchaser and seller of goods. They also serve as a most efficient agency for the transmission of money, the express money order being much more easily convertible than the postal money orders, as the latter can only be redeemed at offices in large and important towns. The system dates back to 1839, when one William Frederick Harnden (1813-1845), a conductor on the Boston and Worcester railway, undertook on his own account the carrying of small parcels and the performance of small commissions. Obliged to leave the company’s service or abandon his enterprise, he started an “express” service between Boston and New York, carrying parcels, executing commissions and collecting drafts and bills. Alvin Adams followed in 1840, also between Boston and New York. From 1840 to 1845 the system was adopted by many others between the more important towns throughout the States. The attempt to carry letters also was stopped by the government as interfering with the post office. In 1854 began the amalgamation of many of the companies. Thus under the name of the Adams Express Company the services started by Harnden and Adams were consolidated. The lines connecting the west and east by Albany, Buffalo and the lakes were consolidated in the American Express Company, under the direction of William G. Fargo (q.v.), Henry Wells and Johnston Livingston, while another company, Wells, Fargo & Co., operated on the Pacific coast. The celebrated “Pony Express” was started in 1860 between San Francisco and St Joseph, Missouri, the time scheduled being eight days. The service was carried on by relays of horses, with stations 25 m. apart. The charge made for the service was $2.50 per ½ oz. The completion of the Pacific Telegraph Company line in 1861 was followed by the discontinuance of the regular service.
The name “express” is applied to a rifle having high velocity, flat trajectory and long fixed-sight ranges; and an “express-bullet” is a light bullet with a heavy charge of powder used in such a rifle (see [Rifle]).
EXPROPRIATION, the taking away or depriving of property (Late Lat. expropriare, to take away, proprium, i.e. that which is one’s own). The term is particularly applied to the compulsory acquisition of private property by the state or other public authority.
EXPULSION (Lat. expulsio, from expellere), the act of driving out, or of removing a person from the membership of a body or the holding of an office, or of depriving him of the right of attending a meeting, &c. In the United Kingdom the House of Commons can by resolution expel a member. Such resolution cannot be questioned by any court of law. But expulsion is only resorted to in cases where members are guilty of offences rendering them unfit for a seat in the House, such as being in open rebellion, being guilty of forgery, perjury, fraud or breach of trust, misappropriation of public money, corruption, conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, &c. It is customary to order the member, if absent, to attend in his place, before an order is made for his expulsion (see May, Parliamentary Practice, 1906, p. 56 seq.). Municipal corporations or other local government bodies have no express power to expel a member, except in such cases where the law declares the member to have vacated his seat, or where power is given by statute to declare the member’s seat vacant. In the cases of officers and servants of the crown, tenure varies with the nature of the office. Some officials hold their offices ad vitam aut culpam or dum bene se gesserunt, others can be dismissed at any time and without reason assigned and without compensation. In the case of membership of a voluntary association (club, &c. ) the right of expulsion depends upon the rules, and must be exercised in good faith. Courts of justice have jurisdiction to prevent the improper expulsion of the member of a voluntary association where that member has a right of property in the association. In the case of meetings, where the meeting is one of a public body, any person not a member of the body is entitled to be present only on sufferance, and may be expelled on a resolution of the body. In the case of ordinary public meetings those who convene the meeting stand in the position of licensors to those attending and may revoke the licence and expel any person who creates disorder or makes himself otherwise objectionable.
Expulsion of Aliens.—Under the Naturalization Act of 1870, the last of the civil disqualifications affecting aliens in England was removed. The political disqualifications which remained only applied to electoral rights. In the very exceptional cases in which it was retained in the statute book, expulsion was considered to have fallen into desuetude, but it has been revived by the Aliens Act of 1905 (5 Edw. VII. c. 13). Under this act powers are given to the secretary of state to make an order requiring an alien to leave the United Kingdom within a time fixed by the order and thereafter to remain outside the United Kingdom, subject to certain conditions, provided it is certified to him that the alien has been convicted of any felony or misdemeanour or other offence for which the court has power to impose imprisonment without the option of a fine, &c. , or that he has been sentenced in a foreign country with which there is an extradition treaty, for a crime not being an offence of a political character. There are also provisions applicable within one year, after the alien has entered the United Kingdom in the case of pauper aliens. Precautions are taken to prevent, as far as possible, any abuse of the power of expulsion. Under the French law of expulsion (December 3, 1849) there are no such precautions, the minister of the interior having an absolute discretion to order any foreigner as a measure of public policy to leave French territory and in fact to have him taken immediately to the frontier.
EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out; tendere, to stretch), in general, the action of straining or stretching out. It is usually employed metaphorically (cf. the phrase an “extension of time,” a period allowed in excess of what has been agreed upon). It is used as a technical term in logic to describe the total number of objects to which a given term may be applied; thus the meaning of the term “King” in “extension” means the kings of England, Italy, Spain, &c. (cf. [Denotation]), while in “intension” it means the attributes which taken together make up the idea of kinghood (see [Connotation]). In psychology the literal sense of extension is retained, i.e. “spread-outness.” The perception of space by the senses of sight and touch, as opposed to semi-spatial perceptions by smell and hearing, is that of “continuous expanse composed of positions separated and connected by distances” (Stout); to this the term “extension” is applied. The perception of separate objects involves position and distance, but these taken together are not extension, which necessarily implies continuity. To move one’s finger along the keys of a piano gives both the position and the distance of the keys; to move it along the frame gives the idea of extension. By expanding this idea we obtain the conception of all space as an extended whole. To this perception are necessary both form and material. It should be observed the actual quality of a stimulus (rough, smooth, dry, &c. ) has nothing to do with the spatial perception as such, which is concerned purely with what is known as “local signature.” The elementary undifferentiated sensation excited by the stimuli exerted by a continuous whole is known as its “extensive quantity” or “extensity.” The term has to do not with the kind of object which excites the sensation, but simply with the vague massiveness of the latter. As such it is distinguishable in thought from extension, though it is not easy to say whether and if so how far the quantitative aspect of space can exist apart from spatial order. Extensity as an element in the complex of extension must be carefully distinguished from intensity. Mere increase of pressure implies increase of intensity of sensation; to increase the extensity the area, so to speak, of the exciting stimulus must be increased. Thus the extensity (also called “voluminousness,” or “massiveness”) of the sensation produced by a roll of thunder is greater than that produced by a whistle or the bark of a dog. It should be observed that this application of the idea of extensity to sensation in general, rather than to the matter which is the exciting stimulus, is only an analogy, an attempt to explain a common psychic phenomenon by terminology which is intrinsically suitable to the physical. As a natural consequence the term represents different shades of meaning in different treatises, verging sometimes towards the physical, sometimes towards the psychic, meaning.