CHE 
CHE 
tions, with the power of making by-laws 
for their own interior regulation, not con- 
trary to the laws of England; and with 
such rights and authorities as are specially 
given them in their several charters of in- 
corporation. The form of government is 
borrowed from that of England. They 
have a governor named by the King, (or in 
some proprietary colonies by the proprie- 
tor) who is his representative or deputy. 
They have courts of justice of their own, 
from whose decision an appeal (as some 
say, in the nature of a reference by way of 
arbitration) lies to the King in council here 
in England. Their General Assemblies, 
which are their House of Commons, toge- 
ther with their Council of State, being 
their Upper House, with the concurrence 
of the King, or his representative, the Go- 
vernor, make laws suited to their own emer- 
gencies. But it is particularly declared, 
by stat. 7 and 8 William III. c. 22. that all 
laws, by-laws, usages, and customs, which 
shall be in practice in any of the planta- 
tions, repugnant to any law made, or to be 
made, in this kingdom, relative to the said 
plantations, shall be utterly void and of 
none elfect. 
CHEAT, in law, is one who defrauds, or 
endeavours to defraud, another of his known 
right, by means of some artful device, con- 
trary to the plain rules of common honesty. 
By the 30 Geo. II. all persons who know- 
ingly or designedly, by false pretence or 
pretences, shall obtain from any person 
money, goods, wares, or merchandises, 
with intent to cheat or defraud any person 
of the same, or shall knowingly tend or de- 
liver any letter or writing, with or without 
a name subscribed thereto, or signed with 
a fictitious name, threatening to accuse any 
person of a crime punishable by law with 
death, transportation, pillory, or other infa- 
mous punishment, with intent to extort 
from him any money, or other goods, shall 
be deemed offenders against law and the 
public peace ; and the court before wliom 
any such offender shall be tried, shall, on 
conviction, order him to be fined and im- 
prisoned, or be put in the pillory, or pub- 
licly whipped, or to be transported for se- 
ven years. 
CHECK, or Check roll, a roll or book, 
wherein is contained the names of such per- 
sons as are attendants and in pay to the 
King, or other great personages, as their 
household servants. 
CHECKS, or drafts on bankers, are in- 
struments by means of which a creditor 
may assign to a third person, not originally 
party to the contract, the legal as well as 
equitable interest in a debt raised by it, so 
as to vest in such an assignee a right of ac- 
tion against the original debtor. These in- 
struments are uniformly made payable to 
bearer, which constitutes a characteristic 
difference between them and bills of ex- 
change ; and the legislature has considered 
them in a more favourable point of view, 
by exempting them from the stamp duties. 
They are equally negotiable with bills. 
When given in payment they are consider- 
ed as cash ; and, it is said, may be declared 
upon hs a bill of exchange ; and the mo- 
ment this resemblance begins, they are go- 
verned by the same principles of law as 
bills of exchange. Checks payable on de- 
mand, or when no time of payment is ex- 
pressed, are payable on presentment, with- 
out any indulgence or days of grace ; but 
the presentment should be made within a 
reasonable time after the receipt, otherwise 
the party upon whom the check is drawn 
will not be responsible, and the person 
from whom the holder received it will be 
discharged. Therefore, where circum- 
stances will allow of it, it is advisable for 
the holder of a check to present it on the 
same day it is received. 
CHECK Y, in heraldry, is when the 
shield, or a part thereof, as a bordure, &c. 
is chequered, or divided into chequers or 
squares, in the manner of a chess-board. 
CHEEK, in anatomy, that part of the 
face situated below the eyes, on each side. 
See Anatomy. 
Cheeks, among mechanics, are almost 
all those pieces of their machines and in- 
struments tirat are double, and perfectly 
alike ; as the cheeks of a mortar, which 
are made of strong wooden- planks, of 
a semicircular form, bound with tliick 
plates of iron, and fixed to the bed with 
four bolts : these cheeks rise on each side 
the mortar, and serve to keep it at what 
elevation is given it : the cheeks of a print- 
ing-press are its two principal pieces, placed 
perpendicular and parallel to each other, 
and serving to sustain the three sommers, 
&c. 
Cheeks, in ship building, two pieces of 
timber, fitted on each tide of the mast, at 
the top, serving to strengthen the mast 
there, and having holes in them, called 
hounds, through which the ties run to hoist 
the yards. 
CHEESE is made from the curd formed 
by mixing rennet w ith milk, the quality of 
