FID. DEF. 



pleadings that the defendant had 

 been arrested for a supposed 

 trespass, and so, being in the 

 custody of the marshal, could be 

 proceeded against for any other 

 personal injury. 



Similarly in the court of ex- 

 chequer, personal actions were 

 gradually admitted by the fiction 

 that the plaintiff was the king's 

 debtor, and was prevented from dis- 

 charging his liability by the failure 

 of the defendant to pay. By another 

 fiction, actions for ejectment were 

 made to serve the purpose of 

 claimants to land, the names John 

 Doe and Richard Roe (q.v. ) being 

 employed as those of an imaginary 

 lessee and wrongful ejector. 



Other fictions impose a con- 

 ventional rule where exact facts 

 are difficult to be ascertained, e.g. 

 the law takes no notice of fractions 

 of a day, so that if a thing is to be 

 done on a certain day, as payment 

 of rent on quarter day, the whole 

 day is allowed for its performance. 

 Again, an infant becomes 21 the 

 day before his 21st birthday, be- 

 cause on that day he completes 21 

 years of existence ; but because it - 

 would be highly inconvenient to 

 ascertain the precise moment of 

 his birth, he becomes 21 legally 

 on the first moment of that day. 



Fictions tend to disappear by 

 legislation. Surviving examples 

 that may be cited are found in the 

 lord mayor's court, London, where 

 the plaintiff always avers that the 

 defendant promised him in the 

 parish of S. Helen's, so as to bring 

 the matter within the city juris- 

 diction. See Jurisprudence ; Law. 



Fid. Def. Abbrev. for fidei de- 

 j'ensor, defender of the faith (q.v. ), 

 a title of the British sovereign. 



Fiddle. Old English name for 

 the violin and its ancestors. Gen- 

 erically, it denoted sometimes any 

 stringed instrument played with a 

 bow, but latterly the word was 

 applied chiefly to the smaller sizes 

 of such instruments. The etymo- 

 logy is doubtful, but fiddle, with 

 viol, is connected with the Latin 

 vitulari, to celebrate a feast. 



Fidei Commission (Lat. com- 

 missum, entrusted ; fidei, to good 

 faith). Term of Roman law. By 

 the civil law of Rome, a citizen 

 could neither make a foreigner his 

 heir nor leave him any legacy. 

 As foreign settlers (peregrini) be- 

 came more numerous in Rome, 

 citizens often desired to leave their 

 property, or part of it, to some 

 foreign friend. The only way to do 

 this was to leave the property to a 

 citizen, asking him to carry out 

 the testator's wishes, and hand the 

 property over to the foreigner. At 

 first it was entirely optional on the 

 heir whether he carried out the 



3136 



request or not. It was left to his 

 faith. But, in the end, fidei com- 

 missa became legally enforceable. 



Fidelity Guarantee. Contract 

 by which a person or persons un- 

 dertake to make good losses due to 

 fraud or negligence on the part of 

 another person occupying a posi- 

 tion of trust. Banks and business 

 houses frequently require a guar- 

 antee of this kind on behalf of 

 such of their employees as handle 

 large sums of money, and many in- 

 surance offices, in return for an an- 

 nual premium, enter into guaran- 

 tees of this kind. Guarantee socie- 

 ties exist for the same purpose. 

 See Guarantee ; Insurance. 



Fidenae. Italian town of Latium. 

 It was' situated about 5 m. N.E. 

 of Rome, on a hill between the 

 Anio and the Tiber. Frequently at 

 war with Rome, it was finally con- 

 quered 438 B.C., and destroyed in 

 the year following. Thereafter, 

 though rebuilt, it never became a 

 place of importance. 



Fides. In Roman mythology, 

 the goddess held as symbolical of 

 faith and honour. 



Fief. Name given to an estate 

 held under the feudal system. 

 It was, therefore, one which was 

 held on condition of rendering 

 certain services to an overlord, and 

 which in certain eventualities re- 

 verted to that lord. The word is 

 sometimes rendered in English as 

 feu or fee. From it come feoffee, 

 the one who receives the estate, 

 and feoff ment (q.v.), the act of 

 granting it to him. See Feudalism : 

 Land Laws. 



Field. Anglo-Saxon word, mean- 

 ing the open country. It is now 

 used for a piece of enclosed land, 

 e.g. a wheatfield, and by analogy 

 we speak of a coalfield or oilfield. 

 It is employed also in a military 

 and sporting senss. In the former, 

 field is a synonym for battle or 

 battleground, e.g. the field of 

 Waterloo. This use has many com- 

 pounds, such as field ambulance, 

 relating to war. In sport the field 

 has various meanings, e.g. the 

 horses in a race or the riders at a 

 hunt meeting are the field ; field 

 sports are hunting, racing, and the 

 like. See Cricket ; Horse- Racing. 



Field. In heraldry, the surface 

 of an armorial shield on which 

 charges are placed. The same term 

 is applied to the body of a flag, e.g. 

 the British white ensign is a red 

 cross on a white field, with the 

 union jack in a canton (q.v.). 



Field, THE. London weekly 

 newspaper devoted to all forms 

 of sport, natural history, and 

 country life occupations. Founded 

 Jan. 1, 1853, by Bradbury and 

 Evans, its first editor was Mark 

 Lemon. Its prosperity dates from 



FIELD 



its acquisition, in Nov., 1854, by 

 Mr. Serjeant Cox, and the appoint- 

 ment in 1857 of J. H. Walsh 

 ( " Stonehenge " ), as editor. Fred- 

 erick Toms succeeded to the editor- 

 ship in 1888, being followed in 

 1900 by William Senior (Red 

 Spinner), who resigned at the close 

 of 1909, when Theodore A. Cook 

 (who was knighted in 1916) took 

 over the editorship. Early in 1913 

 George Binney Dibblee became 

 general manager. In 1919, with The 

 Queen and The Law Times, The 

 Field was purchased by the pro- 

 prietors of Land and Water (q.v. ). 

 Field, SIR ARTHUR MOSTYN (b. 

 1855). British sailor. Born June 27, 

 1855, he entered the navy in 

 1868, becoming commander, 1889, 

 and admiral, 1913. His chief work 

 was done in surveying, notably 

 on the W. African coast, Strait 

 of Magellan, S.E. American coast, 

 Strait of Malacca, and the China 

 Sea. He was hydrographer of the 

 navy from 1904-9. 



Field, CYRUS WEST (1819-92). 

 American financier. Born at 

 Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Nov. 

 30, 1819, he 

 made a for- 

 tune and re- 

 tired from 

 business at 

 the age of 33, 

 when he be- 

 came interest- 

 ed in the idea 

 of the trans - 

 Atlantic cable. 

 In 1854 he 

 organized the 

 New York, 

 Newf o un d- 

 land,andLondon Telegraph Co., and 

 10 years later persuaded the U.S.A. 

 and British governments to con- 

 firm by soundings the existence of 

 Telegraph Plateau in the Atlantic. 

 After various attempts the first 

 cable was laid in 1859. Heavy 

 financial losses necessitated Field's 

 return to business, and he was an 

 originator of the New York ele- 

 vated rly. He died at New York, 

 July 12, 1892. See Atlantic Cable. 

 Field, EUGENE (1850-95). Ameri- 

 can poet and journalist. Born at 

 St. Louis, Missouri, Sept. 2, 1850, 

 from 1883-95 

 he contributed 

 to The Chicago 

 Daily News a 

 column en- 

 titled Sharps 

 and Flats, in 

 which most of 

 his best work 

 first appeared. 

 His poems in- 

 clude A Little 

 Book of West- 

 ern Verse, 



