Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/1083

Rh

Int. Severally; separately; individually; one by one.

SERIOUS. Important; weighty; moment- ous, and not trifling; as in the phrases "serious bodily harm," "serious personal injnry," etc Lawior v. People, 14 Ill. 231; Union lilut. L. Ins. Co. v. Wilkinson, 13 Wall. 230. 20 L. Ed 617.

SERJEANT. The same word etymologically with "sergeant," but the latter spelling is more commonly employed in the designstion of military and" police officers, (see SEE- G'EANT,) while the former is preferred when the term is used to describe certain grades of legal practitioners and certain officers of legislative bodies. See infra.

—Comman sorjeant. A judicial officer attaciied to the corporation of the cit_v of London. who assists the recorder in disposing of_ t criminal hualness at the Old Bailey sessions. or central criminal court. Brown.—Serjeant at arms. An executive officer appointed hy. and attending on, a legislative body, wbose pricnipiil duties are to execute its vtarrants, preserve order, and arrest offenders.-—Se:-jeant at law. A barrister of the common-inw courts of high standing, and of -much the same rank as a. doctor of law is in the ecclesiastical courts. These serjeants seem to have derived their title from the old knights templar, (among whom there existed a peculiar class under the denomination of "frérea aergeils." or "fratrea ae1'vi'mlcii, and to have continued as a separ- ate fraternity from a very early period in the history of the legal profcssion. The barristers who fiist assumed the old monastic title were those who proctlced in the court of common p as and until a recent period (the 2‘ith of April. ISR4, 9 8: 10 Vict. c. 54) the st-rjeants at law always had the exclusive privilege of practice in that court. Every judge of a cominon-law court. previous to his elevation to the bench. used to be created a serjeant at law; but since the judicature act this is no longer necessary. I‘.rowri.—Sc1-jeant of the mace. In English law. An officer who attends the lord mayor of London, and the chief magistrates of other corporate towns. Hoitlioiise.—Ser- Jeants’ Inn. The inn to which the aerjeants at law belonged. near Chancery lane; formerly called "Fax-yndon Inn."

Serjeantin Idem est quad oervitinm. Co. Lltt. 105. Serjeanty is the same as service.

SERJEANTY. A species of tenure by knight service, which was due to the king oulv, and was distinguished into grand and petlt scrjeanty. The tenant holding by grand serjeanty was bound. instead of attending the king generally in his wars. to do some honoraiy service to the king in person, as to carry his banner or sword, or to be his but- ler, champion, or other oihcer at his coronation. Pcti! serjeonty diifered from gr'1nd serjcanty. in that the service rendered to the king was not of a personal nature, but consisted in rendering him annually some small implement of war, as a bow, sword, arrow, lance, or the ‘like. Cowell; Brown.

SERMENT. an oath.

In old English law. Oath;

1075

SERVANT

Sermo index nnimi. 5 Coke, 118. Speech is an index of the mind.

Sermo telntna ad personam intelligi debet do conditions peraonse. Language which is referred to a person ought to be understuod of the condition of the person. 4 Cake, 16.

Ser-monea Iemper nccipiendi aunt se- onndum snbjeotam mnteriam, at conditinnem personarnm. 4 Coke. 14. Lun- guage is always to be understood according to its subject-matter, and the condition of the persons.

SERPENT—VENOM REACTION. A test for insanity by means of the breaking up of the red corpuscles of the blood of the suspected person on the injection of the venom of cobras or other serpents; recently employed in judicial proceedings in some European countries and in Japan.

SERRATED. Notched on the edge; cut in notches like the teeth of a saw. This was anciently the method of trimming the top or edge of a deed of indentnre. See Iunuur, 11.

SERVAGE, in feudal law, was where a tenant. besides payment of a ceitaiii rent, found one or more workmen for his lord’s service. Toinlins.

Servanda. est consnotudo loci nbi unusn agitur. The custom of the place where the action is brought is to be observed. Decouche v. Savetier, 3 Johns. Ch. (N. Y.) 190, 219, 8 Am. Dec. 418.

SERVANT. A servant is one who is employed to render personal services to his employer, otherwise than in the pursuit of an independent calling, and who in such service remains entirely under the control and direction of the latter, who is called his master. Clv. Code Cal. § 2009.

Servants or domestics are those Who receive wages, and stay in the house of the person paying and employing them for his services or that of his family; such are vul- ets, footmen, cooks, bntiers, and others who reside in the house. Civ. Code La. art. 3205.

Free SEIVLIHIS are in general all free persons who let, hire, or engage their services to another in the state, to be employ ed there- in at any Work, commerce, or occupation whiitever for the benefit of him who has contracted wltb them, for a certain price or retribution, or upon certain conditions. Civ. Code La. art. 163.

Servants are of two kinds,—meniai serv- ants. being persons retained by others to live within the Walls of the house, and to perform the worl: and business of the house- hold; and persons employed by men of trades and professions under them, to assist them in their particular callings Mozley 8: Whit- ley. See, also, Flesh v. Lindsay, 115 Mo. 1,