ATT 



off the roll, and then he may be fued as a common perfon 

 (ih 2 Hen. iV. c. S.), and cannot be proceeded agair.il by 

 bill. On making fatisfaftion to the pliiiiitifF, an attorney 

 . fo forejudged may be reilorcd. Impey's InTlruclor Cleri- 

 calis, C. P. 521. 



Attorneys are fometimes ftnick off the roll on their own 

 ap;)l:cation, for the purpofe of being called to the bar, S;e. ; 

 and ill this cafe, they muft be difbnrred by their inn, before 

 they are re-admitted attornies. Uougl. 144. Au attorney 

 convifted of felony is ilruck off tlie roll. Cowp. 829. At- 

 torneys are alfo liable to be puniflied for bafe and unfair 

 dealings towards their clients in the way of bufmefs, as for 

 protrading fnits by little fluftj and devices, and putting the 

 parties to unneceffary expence, in order to raife their bills ; 

 or demanding fees for biifinefs that was never done ; or for 

 refiifing to deliver uj) their clients' writings with wiiich they 

 had been intrullcd in the way of bufinefs, or money which 

 has been recovered and received by them to their clients' 

 ufe, and for other fuch like grofs and palpable abufe. 

 2 Hawk. P.C. 14.).. 8 Mod. 306. 12 Mod. 516. 



Attorn EV of the Duchy Court of Lancojler, attoniatus 

 curiii: ducalus Lancnfiria, is the fecoud officer in that court ; 

 beinp; there, for his fl-cill in law, placed as alTefibr to the 

 chancellor of the court, and chofen for fome fpecia! truft 

 repofed in him, to deal between the king and his tenants. 

 Cowel. 



Attok^v.^ -Gaicra!, is a great officer under the king, 

 made by letters patent. It is his province to exhibit inform- 

 ations, and profecute for the crown, in matters criminal ; 

 and to file bills in the Exchequer, for any thing concerning 

 the king in inheritance or profits ; and others may bring 

 bills againll the king's attorney. His proper place in court, 

 .upon anv fpecial matters of a criminal nature, in which.his 

 attendance is acquired, is under the judges, on the left hand 

 .of the clerk of the crown ; but thia is only upon folemn 

 and extraoidinary occafiuns ; for ufually he does not lit 

 there, but within the bar in the face of the court. 

 Attorney, Letter of. See Letter. 

 Attorney, IVarrurt of. See Warrant. 

 ATTOURNMENT, or Attorn mejjt, a transferring 

 cf duty and fervice to another lord; or an acknowledg- 

 ment which a tenant makes of homage and fervice to a new 

 lord. 



By the nature of the feudal connexion, it was not thought 

 reafonable nor allowed, that a feudatory fhoidd transfer liis 

 lord's gift to another, and fubftitute a new tenant to do the 

 fervice in his own Head, without the confent of the lord ; 

 and, as the feudal obligation w.is confKlered as reciprocal, 

 the lord "alfo could not alienate his feignory without the 

 confent of his tenant, which confent of his was called an- 

 " attornment." This dottrlne of attornment was afterwards 

 extended to all leflecs for life or years. For if one bought 

 an eftate with any leafe for life or years Handing out thereon, 

 and the Icfiee or tenant refufed to attorn to the purehafer, 

 and to become Ids tenant, the grant or contradl was in moil 

 cafes void, or at leail incomplete (Lit. ^. 551.) : which 

 was an additional clog upon alienations. Eut after the 

 ftatute " qina emptnra terrarum" (iS Ed. L il. I.), was 

 paflcd, by which fubinfeudation was prohibited, it became 

 jieceffary that when the reverfion or remainder-man alter an 

 eftate for years, for life or in tail, granted his reverfion or 

 remainder, the particular tenant (hould attorn to the grantee. 

 The neceflity of attornment was, in fome jneafure, avoided 

 by the ftatute of ufes (27 Hen. VIIL c. 10.), as by that 

 ftatute, the poffeffion was immediately executed to the ufc ; 

 and by the ilatute of "Wills" (34 Sc 35 Hen. VHL c. 5.), 

 by wliichthe legal eilateis immediately veiled iu the devifce. 



ATT 



Attornments, however, ftill continued to be neceffary ii) 

 many cafes ; but both their necefp.ty and efficacy are now 

 aliuoft wholly taken away : for by Hat. 4 & 5 Ann. c. 16. 

 it is enafted, that all grants and conveyances of manors, 

 lands, rents, and reverfions, &c. by fine or otherwife, fliall 

 be good, without the attornment oi the tenants ; but notice 

 muit be given of tiie grant to the tenant, before vvb.ich he 

 Ihall not be prejudiced by the payment cf any rent to the 

 gtantor, or for breach of the coiidittBn for non-payment. 

 And by Hat. ii Geo. II. c. 19. attornments of lands, &c. 

 made by tenants to flrangers claiming title to the ellate of 

 their landlords Qiall be null and void, and their landlord'? 

 polfeflion not affefted thereby ; though this (hall not extend 

 to vacate any attornment made pnrfuant to a judgment at 

 law, or with confent of the landlord ; or to a mortgagee on 

 a forfeited mortgage. Till theft ftatutes were paffed, the doc- 

 trine of attornment was one of the mofl copious and abfind'e 

 points of the law. But thefe adts having made attonuncnt 

 both unneceffary and inoperative^ the learning upon it may 

 be deemed almoll entirely ufelefs. i Inlt. 309. Jacob's 

 Law Dift. by Tomlyns, tit. Ailurtuncnt. 



ATl'OWAI, in 'Gec'rrnphy. See Atooj. 



ATTRACTION, w Natural Philoffhy, a general term 

 ufed to denote the power or principle, by which all bodies 

 mutually tend towards esch other, without regarding the 

 caufe or kind of aftion that may be the means cf producing 

 this effeft. 



The exigence of a principle of this kind is fo clea-iv 

 juanifLftcd by many of the moll common phenomena of 

 nature, which fall under our daily infpeclion, that it niuil 

 Lave been known in very early times ; but the information 

 we have hitherto obtained of the progrefs made by the an- 

 cients in phyfical invefligations, is too vague and obfcure to 

 afford any proof of their ever having applied the ailion or 

 influence of this power to the purpofcs of fcienee. The 

 philofoplier Anaxagoras, who flourifiied about 500 years 

 before the Chriflian xra, is reported, by Diogei.es Lacrtius, 

 to have attributed to the celclli.il bodies a tendency towards 

 the earth, which he conlidered as the centre of their motions ; 

 and the doftrines of D^mocritus and Epicurus are founded 

 upon the fame principle, as appears from their elegant in- 

 terpreter Lucretius, who thence derives the confequence of 

 the univerfe being without bounds. But though fome bold 

 and original charafflcrs had embraced thefe opinions, it is 

 no lefs certain, from the teilimonies of other writers, that 

 they were far from being generally received in the ancient 

 world. 



The firft, among the moderns, who appears to have had 

 juft notions of this dot'trine, was Nicholas Copernicus, the 

 celebrated rellorer of the old Pythagorean fyftem of the 

 univerfe; who in his work " De Revohit. Orb. Cieleft." 

 (lib. i. C.9.), expreffes himfelf thus: " I confider gravity 

 as nothing more than a certain natural appetence [eippctentia) 

 that the Creator has impreffed upon all the parts of matter, 

 in order to their uniting and coalelcing into a globular form, 

 for their better prefervation ; and it is probable that the 

 fame power is alfo inherent in the fun, moon, and planets, 

 that thofe bodies may conftantly retain that round iigure in 

 which we behold them." He alfo confidertd the fun as 

 the chief governing power of all the reil, as may be inferred 

 from fome of the lafl words of Tycho Crahe, who perceiv- 

 ing the approach of death, called for the celebrated Kepler 

 (then a young man, and his afliftant in his >)brervaLory at 

 Prague), and after charging liim with completing the Ailro- 

 nomical Tables which he had left unfinifhcd, thus addrcffed 

 him : '* My friend, although what I afcribe to a voluntary, 

 and as it were, an obfequious motion of the planets round 



the 



