ESC 



ESO 



diet, confession, or outlawry ; otherwise 

 it might happen, that the officer should 

 be punished for treason or felony, and 

 the party escaping turn out to be an 

 innocent man. But, before the convic- 

 tion of the principal party, the officer 

 thus neglecting his duty may be fined 

 aiK ! imprisoned for a misdemeanor. 4 

 Black. 129. 



If any person shall convey, or cause 

 to be conveyed, into any gaol, any dis- 

 guise, instrument, or arms, proper to 

 facilitate the escape of prisoners attaint- 

 ed or convicted of treason or felony, al- 

 though no escape or attempt to escape be 

 made, such person so offending, and con- 

 victed, shall be deemed guiity of felony, 

 and be transported for seven years. 16 

 Geo. II. c. 31. 



ESCAPEMENT. See SCAPEMENT. 



ESCHALOT. See ALLIUM 



ESCHEAT, in our law, denotes an 

 obstruction of the course of descent, and 

 a consequent determination of the te- 

 nure, by some unforeseen contingency; 

 in which case, the land naturally results 

 back, by a kind of reversion, to the ori- 

 ginal grantor or lord of the fee. This 

 happens, either for want of heirs of 

 the person last seized, or by his attainder 

 for a crime by him committed; in 

 which .latter case, the blood is tainted, 

 stained, or corrupted, and the inherit- 

 able quality of it is thereby extin- 

 guished. 



ESCHEAT, for want of heirs, is where 

 the tenant dies without any relations on 

 the part of any of his ancestors, or where 

 he dies without any relations of those an- 

 cestors, paternal or maternal, from whom 

 his estate descended ; or where he dies 

 without any relations of the whole blood. 

 Bastards are also incapable of inherit- 

 ance ; and therefore, if there be no other 

 claimant than such illegitimate children, 

 the land shall escheat to the lord ; and as 

 bastards cannot be heirs to themselves, 

 so neither can they have any heirs but 

 those of their own bodies ; and therefore, 

 if a bastard purchase lands, and die seiz- 

 ed, without issue and intestate, the land 

 shall escheat to the lord of the fee. 

 Aliens, also, that is, persons born out of 

 the King's allegiance, are incapable of 

 taking by descent ; and, unless naturaliz- 

 ed, are also incapable of taking by pur- 

 chase ; and therefore, if there be no natu- 

 ral born subjects to claim, such lands shall 

 in like manner escheat. By attainder for 

 treason or other felony, the blood of the 

 person attainted is corrupted and stained, 

 and the original donation of the feud is 



thereby determined, it being always 

 granted to the vassil on the implied con- 

 dition of his well demeaning himself. In 

 consequence of which corruption and ex- 

 tinction of hereditary blood, the land of 

 all feions would immediately revert in 

 the lord, but that the superior law of for- 

 feiture intervenes, and intercepts it in its 

 passage ; in case of treason, for ever; in 

 case of other felony, for only a year and 

 a day; after which time it goes to the 

 lord in a regular course of escheat. 2 

 Black, c. 15. 



ESCHEATOR was an ancient officer, 

 so called, because his office was properly 

 to look to eschoats, wardships, and 

 other casualties, belonging to the crown. 

 This office, having its chief dependance 

 on the courts of wards, is now out of 

 date. 



ESCUAGE, signifies a kind of knights* 

 service, called service of the shield, 

 whereby the tenant is bound to follow his 

 lord into the Scotch or Welsh wars, at 

 his own expence. He who held a whole 

 knights-' fee was bound to serve with 

 horse and arms 40 days at his own charge, 

 and he who held half a knights' fee was 

 to serve 20 days. 



ESCUTCHEON, in heraldry, is deriv- 

 ed from the French escussion, and that 

 from the Latin scutum, and signifies the 

 shield whereon coats of arms are repre- 

 sented. Most nations, of the remotest 

 antiquity, were wont to have their shields 

 distinguished by certain marks painted 

 on them ; and to have such on their 

 shields was a token of honour, none be- 

 ing permitted to have them till they had 

 performed some honourable action. The 

 escutcheon, as used at present, is 

 square, only rounded oK at the bottom. 

 As to the bearings on shields, they might 

 at first be arbitrary, according to the 

 fancy of the bearer ; but, in process of 

 time, they came to be the gift of kings 

 and generals, as the reward of honourable 

 actions. 



ESCUTCHEON of pretence, that on which 

 a man carries his wife's coat of arms, be- 

 ing an heiress, and having issue by her. 

 It is placed over the coat of the husband, 

 who thereby shews forth his pretensions 

 to her lands. 



ESOX, the pike, in natural history, a 

 genus of fishes of the order Abdominales. 

 Generic character : head flattish above, 

 mouth and throat large ; teeth sharp, in 

 the jaws, palate, and tongue ; nostrils 

 double, near the eyes ; gill-membrane 

 with from seven to twelve rays ; body 

 elongated; dorsal fin near the tail. Gme- 



