PETITION 



Petition (Lat. petere, to seek). 

 Term used for a request, generally 

 one from an inferior to a superior. 

 The word appears much in English 

 history. The right of petitioning 

 the king was claimed at an early 

 date and was established in the time 

 of Henry IV, the reason for this in- 

 sistence being the fact that many 

 evils could only be redressed by 

 the personal action of the sovereign. 

 In 1689 the right of subjects to 

 petition the king was laid down 

 in the Bill of Rights. Until the 

 time of Henry VII, legislation was 

 usually based on petition, the laws 

 being drafted by the judges from 

 the petitions received. In certain 

 cases the crown still receives 

 petitions. 



The modern petition is usually to 

 one of the Houses of Parliament, 

 generally the Commons. This 

 became a frequent practice in the 

 time of Charles I, and petitions are 

 still presented, urging members 

 to act in a certain way. To protect 

 itself from violence, Parliament 

 enacted, in 1662, that not more 

 than ten persons shall present a 

 petition. See Commons, House 

 of ; Parliament. 



Petition of Right. In English 

 law, the method of proceeding 

 to obtain redress against the 

 crown, e.g. compensation for a 

 wrong, damages for breach of con- 

 tract, possession of property and 

 the like. The king cannot, techni- 

 cally, be sued in his own courts. 

 Therefore the aggrieved subject 

 presents a petition, setting out 

 briefly his claim. This is sent to 

 the attorney-general, who writes 

 on it " Let right be done " ; and 

 thereafter, under Bovill's Act, 1860, 

 the proceedings are carried on al- 

 most exactly as in an ordinary 

 action between ordinary litigants. 



Petition of Right. Statement 

 of constitutional claims presented 

 to King Charles I. Having during 

 the first three years of his reign 

 raised money without consent of 

 parliament, and done other arbi- 

 trary acts, Charles I encountered 

 a stiff resistance when, in 1628, he 

 called his third parliament. Went- 

 worth, Pym, and others drew up 

 the Petition of Right, which passed 

 through both Houses, and was 

 signed by the king on June 7. By 

 signing it Charles promised never 

 again to raise money without con- 

 sent of parliament or to imprison 

 anyone for refusing to pay an illegal 

 tax; not to billet soldiers in pri- 

 vate houses, or put martial law 

 into operation. The Petition of 

 Right is frequently confused with 

 the Bill of Rights of 1689. 



The Humble Petition and Ad- 

 vice was the name given to an 

 address presented to Cromwell in 



1657, urging him to accept the 

 crown and suggesting certain 

 changes in the constitution. See 

 Forced Loan. 



Petitio principii (Lat., beg- 

 ging the question). In logic, the 

 fallacy of assuming what is to be 

 proved as the premise of a syllog- 

 ism, or making use of a premise, 

 the truth of which is not admitted. 

 An instance of this is Aristotle's 

 argument : All bodies tend to- 

 wards the centre of the world ; all 

 bodies tend towards the earth ; 

 therefore the earth is the centre of 

 the world. How can it be affirmed 

 that all bodies tend towards the 

 centre of the world, without assum- 

 ing what it is desired to prove, viz. 

 that the earth is that centre ? It 

 is akin to arguing in a circle, or 

 using a premise to establish a con- 

 clusion and then proving the 

 premise by the same conclusion. 

 See Logic. 



Petit Journal, LE. Paris morn- 

 ing newspaper, established Feb. 2, 

 1863, and the pioneer of the popu- 

 lar press in France. It is rivalled in 

 circulation by Le Petit Parisien, 

 founded in 1876. By 1917 the 

 circulation of each of these journals 

 exceeded 1,250,000. In 1889 Le 

 Petit Journal started a weekly 

 illustrated supplement in colours, 

 and in 1896 the weekly Petit 

 Journal agricole and lie Petit 

 Journal illustre de la Jeunesse. 

 Le Petit Parisien began a weekly 

 illustrated supplement, Le Miroir, 

 in 1912. 



Petit Mai. Mild form of epi- 

 lepsy, not associated with convul- 

 sions. The condition is character- 

 ised by sudden short attacks of 

 unconsciousness, or complete ob- 

 livion to the surroundings. Some- 

 times during an attack unusual acts 

 are performed. In some cases the 

 attacks are accompanied by sen- 

 sations of faintness and giddiness. 

 The condition may last for many 

 years, or may pass into ordinary 

 epilepsy with convulsions. The 

 patient should live a careful life, 

 avoiding excess, and should not 

 follow any occupation which would 

 be dangerous in the event of an 

 attack coming on. 



Petits Chevaux (!>.. little 

 horses). Gambling machine. It 

 is a miniature representation of 

 horses with their jockeys, which 

 revolve round a circular space in 

 the centre of a long table. The 

 mechanism is so contrived that 

 each horse revolves independently, 

 and the momentum is applied in 

 such a manner as to leave the 

 result of each spin a matter of pure 

 chance. There are nine horses, 

 No. 1 being on the outermost and 

 No. 9 on the innermost circuit. 

 The middle horse, No. 5, resembles 



Sir Samuel Peto, 

 British contractor 



PETONE 



omewhat the zero in roulette 

 (q.v.) ; it can only be backed to 

 win outright, cannot be coupled 

 with any other " runner," and 

 when it wins, all stakes on the 

 even -money chances are lost and 

 go to the bank. See Petits Chevaux 

 and how to play it, Aitch, 1904. 



Peto, SIR SAMUEL MORTON 

 (1809-89). British contractor and 

 politician. Born at Woking, Aug. 

 4, 1809, he in- 

 herited in 1830 

 a share in his 

 uncle's busi 

 ness, built the 

 Reform and 

 several other 

 London clubs, 

 and the Nelson 

 Column. In 

 1846 he found- 

 ed the firm of 

 Peto and Betts, which constructed 

 railways in many countries. He was 

 made a baronet in 1855. In 1866 

 financial disaster overtook his firm, 

 which was obliged to suspend pay- 

 ment. Peto gave up his seat in 

 parliament, and passed the rest of 

 his life in retirement, dying Nov. 13, 

 1 889. Peto was a leader among the 

 Baptists, and M.P. for Norwich, 

 1847-54, for Finsbury, 1859-65, 

 and for Bristol, 1865-68. He was 

 responsible for Peto's Act, 1850, 

 by which religious bodies can hold 

 property by a simpler title than 

 heretofore. 



Petofi, SANDOR ( 1823-49). Hun- 

 garian poet. He was born at Kis 

 Koros in the province of Pest, 

 Jan. 1, 1823. 

 He lived for a 

 time by acting 

 and by trans- 

 lating French 

 and English 

 novels, and 

 in 1844 he 

 brought out a 

 volume of 

 poems which 

 procured him 

 fame. In 1848, having served the 

 revolutionary cause as poet, orator, 

 and journalist, he joined the Hun- 

 garian army, becoming captain and 

 aide-de-camp to General Bern. He 

 fell at the battle of Segesvar, July 

 31, 1849. A leader of the Roman- 

 tics, he wrote fine epics like Janos 

 Vitfz and The Apostle : but his 

 fame rests on his shorter poems of 

 love and war, and he is generally 

 regarded as the greatest Hun- 

 garian lyrical poet. Sir John Bow- 

 ring translated hi.s best poems, 1 866. 

 Petone. Suburb of Wellington, 

 New Zealand. Standing on Port 

 Nicholson, it has government rly. 

 works,large refrigerating works,and 

 woollen mills. The first settlement 

 was made in 1840. Pop. 7,000. 



Sandor Petofi, 

 Hungarian poet 



