F I N 
F I N 
F 1 & 
r+7 
FINDING : any person finding any thing, i tern turn; 3. $nr concessit; 
Fas a special property therein, but he is an- 
swerable to the person in whom is the general 
property, but has a right against every per- 
son but the loser. 4 he finder is not an- 
swerable for a mere nonfeasance or neglect: 
yet if he makes gain of, or abuses, or spoils 
t>ln* thing’ lie finds, he shall be answerable. 
If bank-bills, tickets, &c. stolen or lost, are 
paid to or delivered to another, without con- 
sideration, an act on lies against any one in 
whose hands they are found; and the law 
seems to be the same,, though a consideration 
was given, if the party had previous notice of 
their being lost or stolen. Str. 505. 
But tlje property of goods found or stolen, 
jnav be changed by sale for a valuable con- 
sideration, and without notice, in a market 
overt; and the party purchasing them ob- 
tains a title to them, against the original 
owner. 
FINES, a mode of transferring property. 
By the ancient common law, a charter of 
feoffment was the only written instrument 
by which lands were conveyed; but the in- 
convenience sometimes arising from the loss 
of the charter, or the difficulty of proving 
it from a lapse of years, induced men to look 
out for some more secure and lasting assur- 
ance. For this purpose fines were adopted, 
that is, a fictitious process ; a suit is instituted 
concerning the lands intended to be convoy- 
ed ; and after the writ is issued and the par- 
ties appear in court, the suit is compound- 
ed with the consent of the judges-, whereby 
the lands in question are acknowledged to be 
the right of one of the contending parties. 
This agreement is inrolled among the records 
of the court, and being substituted in the 
place of the sentence which would have been 
given had the action continued, is of equal 
force with the judgment of a court, puts an 
end not only to that su.f but to all others re- 
specting the same matter; a writ is then is- 
sued to the sheriff of the county in which 
the lands lie, in the same form as if judgment 
had been obtained, commanding him to de- 
liver possession to the person who thus ac- 
quires the land, which renders the ceremony 
of livery of seisin unnecessary. We are in- 
debted to the civilians for the first idea of 
this method of conveyance, by whom it was 
called transactio, and was introduced by the 
French into their law. A fine consists of 
five parts: 1st. The original writ ; 2nd. The 
licencia concordandi ; 3rd. The concord ; 
4. The note; 5. The foot. A fine can be 
levied on any writ which in any sort concerns 
lands, but the writ chiefly' in use, is the writ of 
covenant. When the sheriff of the county 
where the lands lie is a party to the fine, the 
wait must be directed to the coroner ; the 
licentia concordandi is the permission from 
the court to accommodate the suit. The 
concord comes in lieu of the sentence which 
would have been given had the action con- 
tinued. The note is only the abstract of 
the writ of covenant, and the concord, nam- 
ing the parties, the lands, and the agree- 
ment ; and the foot chirograph or indenture 
includes the whole matter. Sir Edward 
Coke says, a fine is said to be levied when 
the writ of covenant is returned, and the 
concord duly entered. Fines are divided 
into executed and executory ; and subdivided 
into, 1st. Fines sur cognizance de droit 
tommtt ceo ; 2. sur cognizance de droit 
and 4. sur done 
cognizance de 
grant 4' render. A fine sur 
Vlroit conwne ceo, &c. is the best and surest 
kind of fine, for thereby the d fondant in 
order to keep his covenant with the plaintiff, 
of conveying to him the lands in question, 
and at the same time to avoid the formality 
of an actual feoffment and livery, acknow- 
ledges in court a former feoffment to have 
been made by him to the plaintiff, so that 
this assurance is rather a confession of a 
former conveyance, than a conveyance now 
originally made. A ! ne sur cognizance de 
droit tahtum, is merely the acknowledge- 
ment of the right v. ithout the circumstance 
of a preceding gilt from the cognizor, and is 
commonly used to pass a reversionary inte- 
rest which is in the cognizor. A fine sur 
concessit, is where the cognizor, though he 
acknowledges no precedent right, yet grants 
to the cogmzee on estate de novo usually for 
life or years by way of supposed composition ; 
and this may be done reserving a rent or the 
like, for it operates as a new grant. A fine 
sur done grant & render, is a double fine, 
comprehending the fine sur cognizance de 
droit comme ceo, and the fine sur concessit, 
and may be used to create particular limi- 
tations of estate ; whereas the first conveys 
nothing but an absolute estate, and is the 
most used on that account: this is called a 
fine executed, and the others- are but ex- 
ecutory 7 . 
Fines were formerly levied in all the 
courts; but by Magna' Charta they 7 were 
usually thenceforth levied in the common 
pleas, and before two justices of that court ; 
and the lord chief justice of the common 
pleas may alone take the acknowledgment of 
a fine out of court : but if he is a party to the 
writ, he cannot quia judex in propria causa. 
T his rule extends to all our judges and com- 
missioners. They are also taken by commis- 
sioners in the country, empowered by cledi- 
nius potestatem, who may be punished for 
abuses, and the fine taken before them set 
aside : and it may be levied- of any things 
whereof a precipe quod reddat or precipe 
quodfaciat lies, or a precipe quod permitted 
or precipe quod teneat may be brought. The 
force and effect of a fine depend principally 
on the common law, and the two statutes 
4 Hen. VII, c. 24, and 32 Henry VIII. c. 
36. The ancient common law as set forth 
in 18 Edward I. says, “ the fine is so high a 
bar, and of so great force, and of a nature 
so powerful in itself, that it precludes not 
only those who are parties and privies to the 
fine, and their heirs, but all other persons 
in the world who are of full age, out of prison, 
of sound memory, and within the seas, the 
day of the fine levied, unless they put in 
their claim within a year and a day.” But 
by a statute made in the reign of Edward I. 
persons were allowed to claim and falsify a 
line at any indefinite time; but this giving 
rise to much contention and insecurity,, a 
statute' 6 Henry VII. wisely steered between, 
the rigour of the common law and the lati- 
tude allowed by the former act, and limited 
the right- of claim to five years, exceptfennne- 
coverts, infants*, prisoners, persons beyond 
the seas, or lunatics, who have five years 
after the death- of their husbands,, their at- 
taining full age, recovering their liberty, or 
being restored to their right mind. The 
persons bound by a. fine, are parties,, privies, 
and strangers: the parties are the rognizors' 
and cognizees, and ail persons v ho may law- 
fully grant by deed may levy a fine, and this' 
is almost the only act that a femme covert is 
allowed to do (when she is privateh ex- 
amined as to her voluntary consent), and is 
therefore the most usual and safe method 
v, hereby she can join in the sale, settlement, 
or incumbrance of any estate. Privies to a 
fine are such as are am wise related to the 
parties who levy the line, and claim und< r 
them by any right of blood or other right i f 
representation. Strangers to a fine are all 
other persons in the world except only par- 
ties and privies, who are also bound bv a 
fine unless they prefer their claims within the 
space of five years. Persons who have not a 
present but future interest only have also five 
years allowed them to claim in from the time 
that right accrues; thus this conveyance not 
only binds the parties themselves and their 
heirs, but also yll mankind whether concerned 
or no, if they fail to put in their claims within 
the time allowed by law. 
Fines for offences .. Originally all punish- 
ments were corporal ; but after the use of" 
money, when the profits of the courts arose 
from the money paid out of the civil causes r 
and the fines and confiscations in criminal 
ones, the commutation of punishments was 
allowed of; and the corporal punishment 
which was. only in terrorem, changed into the 
pecuniary, whereby they found their ov.n 
advantage. This begat the distinction be- 
tween the greater and the less offences; for 
in the crimina majora there was at least a 
line to the king, which was levied by a capi- 
atur ; but upon the less offences there was- 
only an amercement, which was affeered, and 
for which a distringas, or action of debt only 
lay. 2 Bac. Abr. 502. 
By the Bill of Rights 1 XV. st. 2. c. 2. ex- 
cessive fines ought not to be imposed ; and all 
grants and promises of fines and forfeitures- 
of particular persons, before conviction, are 
declared to be- illegal and void. 4 Black. . 
379. 
All courts of record may fine and impri- 
son an offender, if the nature of the offence 
is such as deserves such punishment. 8 Co. 
39. But no court, unless of record, can fine 
or imprison. 11 Co. 43. And all courts of 
law that have power given them to fine and-, 
imprison, are thereby made courts of record. 
1. balk. 200. 
The sheriff in his torn, may impose a fine 
on all such as are guilty of any . contempt 
in the face of the court; and may also impose 
what reasonable fine ho shall think fitting, 
upon a suitor refusing to be -sworn, or upon 
a bailiff refusing to make a panel, & c. or upon 
a tithingman neglecting to make his pre- 
sentment, or upon one.-ot the jury refusing to- 
present the articles . wherewith they are 
charged, or upon a person -duly chosen con- 
stable refusing, to be swornw 2' Inst. 142. 
Also the steward of a court-leet may by 
recognizance bind any person to the peace 
'.who shall make>an affray in his presence, sit- 
ting the court ; . or may commit him to ward, 
either for want of sureties, or by way of pu- 
nishment, without demanding any sureties c ft 
him; in which, ease he may afterwards im- 
pose a fine according to Ins discretion. F. 
N. B. 82„ 
Also the sheriff in his torn, and the steward, 
of a court-leet, have a discretionary power. 
