ABETTOR. 



ABLUTION. 



13 



ditt'ereut foci ; for the cause and phenomeua of which see ACHROMATIC. 

 The aberrations arising from these two causes are generally known by 

 the names of spherical aberration and chromatic aberration. 



ABETTOR. The etymology of this word is somewhat uncertain ; it 

 may be derived from the Saxon betan, to push forward, or incite. Ail 

 abettor is ail instigator or setter on one that procures another to 

 commit a crime. If an abettor, or, as he is then usually termed, aider 

 and abettor, be present at the time of committing the crime, he is 

 treated as a principal ; if absent, he becomes an accessary before the fact. 

 [ACCESSARY.] 



ABEYANCE is a legal term, derived from the French buyer, which, 

 says Richelet, means to " look at anything with mouth w ide open." 

 C"k.- ('Co. Litt.' 342, b.) explains the term thus, " En abeiancc, that is, 

 in expectation, of the French bai/er, to expect. For when a jarsou 

 dieth, we say that the freehold is in abeyance, because a successor is in 

 exjiectation to take it ; and here note the necessity of the true inter- 

 pretation of words. If tenant pur terme cTautre vie dieth, the freehold 

 is said to be in abeyance until the occupant eutereth. If a man makes 

 a lease for life, the remainder to the right heirs of J. S., the fee-simple 

 is in abeyance until J. S. dieth. And so in the case of the parson, the 

 fee and right is in abeyance, that is, in expectation, in remembrance, 

 entendinent or consideration of law, in comideratione sire intelligentia 

 legii ; because it is not in any man living." 



The expression that the freehold or the inheritance of an estate is in 

 abeyance, therefore, means that there is no person in whom the free- 

 hold or inheritance is vested at the moment, and that the freehold or 

 inheritance is waiting or expecting for an owner who is to be ascertained. 

 This doctrine of the suspense of the freehold or inheritance is repug- 

 nant to the general principles of the tenure of land in England. By 

 the old law, it was necessary that some person should always be in 

 existence as the representative of the freehold, for the discharge of the 

 feudal duties, and to answer the actions which might be brought for the 

 fief ; and thus the maxim arose that the freehold could never be in 

 abeyance. The case of glebe lands belonging to parsons, and of lands 

 held by bishops and other corporations sole were scarcely exceptions, 

 for the corporation always existed, although the individual parson or 

 bishop wan not yet named. 



Titles of honour are also sometimes said to be in abey.-uiLV, 

 which occurs when the persons next in inheritance to the last pos- 

 sessor are several females or co-parceners. In this case, the title is 

 not extinct, but is said to be in abeyance ; and may be called out 

 of abeyance at any time by the crown. Several instances of the 

 exercise of this prerogative are on record both in ancient and modern 

 times. 



(Camay*'* Cote, 5 Bing. N. C. 754 ; Cote npon lililftun, 165; Cniise, 

 Digest, vol. i. pp. 62, 55 ; Report of Committee nf Jlouse af Lord*, 

 ' S58.) 



ABIB, the first month of the Hebrew year, now more generally 

 known by the Chaldee name Nisan. [NlSAN.] 



ABIETIXE (Formula unknown), a neutral resin, extracted from 

 < '.inada balsam and Strasbourg turpentine. It is inodorous and taste- 

 lew ; soluble in alcohol, concentrated acetic acid, ether, and naphtha, 

 but insoluble in water. It fuses on being heated, and assumes the 

 form of a crystalline mass on cooling. Caustic potash has no action 

 upon it. (See ' Jouru. de Pharm.,' xvi. 436.) 



ABJURATION OF THE REALM signifies a sworn banishment, ur 

 the biking of an oath to renounce and depart from the realm for ever. 

 By the common law of England, if a person guilty of any felony, 

 excepting sacrilege, fled to a parish church or churchyard for sanc- 

 tuary, he might, within forty days afterwards, go clothed in sackcloth 

 before the coroner, confess the full particulars of his guilt, and take an 

 oath to abjure the kingdom for ever, and not to return without the 

 king's licence. Upon making his confession and taking this oath, he 

 became attainted of the felony ; he had forty days from the day of his 

 Appearance before the coroner to prepare for his departure, and the 

 r assigned him such port as he chose for his embarkation, to 

 which he was bound to repair immediately with a cross in his hand, 

 and to embark with all convenient speed. If he did not go immediately 

 out of the kingdom, or if he afterwards returned into England without 

 licence, he might suffer death as a felon, unless he happened to be a 

 clerk, in which ca.-fe he was allowed the benefit of clergy. This practice, 

 which has obvious marks of a religious origin, was by several regula- 

 tions in the reign of Henry "VIII., in'agreat measure discontinued, and 

 .it length, by statute 21 James I. c. 28, the privilege nf sanctuary was 

 'iitin-lv iit.'iljslx-d. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, however. I.'.HIMH 

 lies and 1'rotestant Dissenters convicted of having refviscd to 

 tin- divine sen-ice of the Church of England, might be required 

 li<! realm, and if they refused to swear, or to depart, or 

 returned without licence after their departure, they were to be 

 .'djndged felons, and to suffer death without benefit of clergy. The 

 punishment inflicted by stat. 35 Eliz. c. 2, was thus more severe than 

 that imposed for a return after adjuration at the common law, for in 

 the latter case the felon had the benefit of clergy ; in the former, it 

 was exprewly taken away ; but the circumstances which called for the 

 act must not be forgotten. Protestant Dissenters were exempted from 

 this statute by the Toleration Act, 1 Wm. III. c. 18; but Popish 

 recusant* convict continued liable to be called upon to abjure the 

 realm for their recusancy, until the statute 31 Oeo. III., c. 32 (1791), 



ARTS AND net. niv. vni . i. 



relieved them from that and many other penal restrictions, upon their 

 taking the oaths of allegiance and'abjuration. 



ABJURATION, OATH OF, is an oath which asserts the title of the 

 present royal family to the crown of England. It was first imposed by 

 13 & 14 Will. III., c. 6; altered by 1 Anne, st. 1. c. 22, and amended 

 again by 1 Geo. I., stat. 2, c. 13. The person taking the oath recog- 

 nised the right of the king under the Act of Settlement, engaged to 

 support him to the utmost of the juror's power, promised to disclose 

 all traitorous conspiracies against him, and disclaimed any right to the 

 crown of England by the descendants of the Pretender. The juror 

 next declared that he rejected the opinion that princes excommunicated 

 by the Pope might be deposed and murdered; that he did not believe 

 that the Pope of Rome or any other foreign prince, prelate, or person, 

 had or ought to have jurisdiction, directly or indirectly, within the 

 realm. Persons required to take the oath of abjuration were generally 

 obliged to take at the same time the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. 

 All these oaths have now been simplified and reduced to one form by 

 the statute 21 & 22 Viet., c. 48. The form of oath to be taken by a 

 Roman Catholic is given in 10 Geo. IV., c. 7 (the Roman Catholic 

 Relief Act). The first part of the oath is similar in substance to the 

 form required by 6 Geo. III. c. 53. The taker disclaims, disavows, 

 and solemnly abjures any intention to subvert the present Church 

 Establishment as settled by law within the realm; and solemnly 

 swears that he will never exercise any privilege to which he is or 

 may become entitled to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion or 

 Protestant government in the United Kingdom ; and solemnly, in the 

 presence of God, professes, testifies, and declares that he makes this 

 declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of 

 the words of the oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental 

 reservation whatever. 



The word abjuratio does not occur in classical Latin writers, and the 

 verb abjurare, which often occurs, signifies to deny a thing falsely 

 upon oath. 



ABLATIVE CASE, a term borrowed from the grammatical system 

 of the Latin language, and occasionally employed in teaching our own. 

 In the English Language there are many little words, such as with, in, 

 tn, at, &c., which are called prepositions, because they are preposcd or pre- 

 fixed to the words with which they are connected. The name however 

 is an unfortunate one, as they are sometimes found postponed or placed 

 after such words, especially in the older specimens of our language. 

 We say with which or wherewith, in which or wherein, from which or 

 wherefrom. So, in the Latin language, a certain set of little words, 

 with the force of prepositions, were tacked on to the end of their 

 nouns : thus, while the three letters, reg, meant ling (whence our 

 word reij-al), reg-i meant nf or from a kin g reg-i, with, in. or near a, 

 king reg-em, to a Hint/. Thus the three little words, it, i, em, were 

 equivalent to prepositions. It pleased the grammarians however, who 

 are fond of multiplying names, to call these words reg-is, reg-i, &c., 

 by the name of cae. The meaning of the endings of these words was 

 not always definite enough. Thus with the case in i for instance, it 

 was found necessary to mark the relation of place more precisely by 

 the addition of other words, as in, in pro, before CK, with. Thus 

 they would have, in regi, in the king ; pro regi, before the king : cam 

 regi, with the king. Now, as in, pro, cum, were much more definite 

 than the termination i, it became unnecessary to make the i distinctly 

 heard. It was no longer necessary to the meaning, and might there- 

 fore be slurred over : hence the pronunciation was reduced to in rege 

 (the last e very faintly pronounced), pro rege, cum rege. But we have 

 so far dealt only with those cases where the so-called ablative grew 

 out of a case in i, commonly called the dative. There was, however, 

 another case-ending, of different form and very different power, which 

 in the end got similarly corrupted. This, in old Latin, had a final d, 

 as Gnaivod patre prognatus, afterwards C'naeo, &c., sprung from c, 

 father Cnaeus. In Sanscrit this d is represented by a t, as mat, from me, 

 teat, from thee. Bopp indeed (V. G. 340) regards the original suffix 

 of the Sanscrit as tas, afterwards reduced to a t, and further holds that 

 this ta corresponds on the one hand to the Homeric Gw of f,uefltp, 

 <rt&fv, and on the other to the Latin Ins, as seen in caclittis, from heaven. 

 Be this as it may, it seems pretty certain that in the so-called ablative 

 of the Latin there are blended what were originally two distinct cases ; 

 first, a true ablative, once ending in d with the sense of from, so as 

 to justify the use of the case after prepositions of removal, as ex rcgc, 

 ab rege, de rege, as well as Corintho fugit , he fled from Corinth ; secondly, 

 what was more properly a dative, or rather locative, answering to tin-. 

 question where, as in the examples already given with the prepositions 

 of rest, cum, with, pro, before, in, in. The fact that two independent 

 cases have slipped into an identity of form is not rare in language, 

 We have an example of such confusion in one of our own pronouns, 

 as in he gave him a book, where him is a dative, corresponding to thn 

 German ihm; and he gave him to the constable, where him is an 

 accusative, corresponding to the German ilai. 



ABLUTION, literally a washing away a religious ceremony, con- 

 sisting in bathing the body, or a part of it, in water, which has been 

 practised more or less extensively by the disciples of almost eveiy form 

 of faith. Among outward types, none can be conceived more natural 

 or appropriate as a sign or attempted representation of mental purity. 

 The custom, particularly in the warni climates where it was first 

 introduced, had also the further advantage of being highly conducive to 



