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language, the adroit and plausible advocacy of a client's case in court. Stimson, Law Gloss.

The pleadings are the formal allegations by the parties of their rc-=mctlve claims and defenses, for the judgnivnt of the court. Code Civ. Proc Cal. 5 420.

The individual allegations of the respective parties to an action at common law. proceeding from them alternately. in the order and under the distinctive names following: The plaintiffs dcclamrloii, the defendant's pica, the plaintlEE's replication, the defendant's rejoinder, the plaintiff's surrcjnlnricr the defendant's rcbuttcr, the pl-iintlEf's surrzebvirtcr; after which they have no distinctive names. Burrill.

The i'("|'m "pleiidings" has in technical and ivcll-defined meaning. Plnadings are written nlle-rations of vihat is iiilirmeil on the one side. or rlcnieil on the other. disclosing to the court or jury lmvins to irv the cause the real matter in dispute lictween the parties. Desnover v. iierenx. 1 Minn. 17 (Gil. Ii.

PLEBANUS. In old English ecclesiastic- Ii law. A rural dean. Cowell.

I-‘LEE!-JIAN. flue who is classed among the common people, as distinguished from the nobles.

PLEBEITY, or PL]-IBITY. The com- mon or meaner sort of people; the plebeians.

PL‘!-JBEYOS. In Spanish law. Com- mons: those who exercise any trade, or who cultivate the soil, White, New Recop. h. 1. tit. 5, c. 3. § 6, and note

PL!-IBIANA. in old records. A mother church I-‘LEBISGITE. In modern oonstitutinnni

law, the name "7iieln'scite" has been given to a vote of the entire people. (that is, the aszregate of the enfranchised individuals COlil]'lnS'il'I_L' a state or nation.) evpresslng their choice for or against a proposed law or enaotiiicnt. suiimitted to them, and which, if adopted, will work a radical change in the cmistltntinn, or which is lieyonri the powers of the regular legislntive body. The proceeding is extrnoriliuarv, and is generally revolutionary in its character: an example of which may be scan in tho picbiscitrs sub- mitted to the French ,people by Louis Na- poleon, wlierchy the Second Empire was estalilished. But the principle of the plebiscite has been incorporated in the modern Swiss constitution. (under the name of "ref- ea-emIinn..") by which :1 revision of the cou- stitntion must be undertaken when demanded by the vote of fifty thousand Swiss citi- zens. Maine, Popular Govt. 40, 96.

PLEBISGITUM. Lat. In Roman law. A law enacted by the plebs or commonalty, (that is, the citizens, with the exception of

905

PLEDGE

the patricians and senators.) at the request or on the proposition of a plebeian magistrate. such as a "tribnne." Inst. 1, 2, 4.

PLEIBS. Lat. In Roman law. The com- monalty or citizens, exclusive of the patricians and senators. Inst. 1, 2, 4.

PLEDABLE. I... I-‘r. That may he brought or conducted: as an action or "pica," as it was formerly called Britt. c. 32.

PLEDGE. In the law of liaiiment. A bailmeut of goods to a creditor as security for some deiit or engagement. A hailiucut or delivery of goods by a delitor to his cred- itor. to be kept till the debt he discharged. Story, Bailni. § 7; Clv. Code La. ait. 3.133; 2 Kent, Comm. 577; Stezirns v. Marsh. 4 Denio (N. Y.) 229, 47 Am. Dec. 2748; Sheridan v. Presas, 18 Misc. Iiep. 180. 41 N. Y. Supp. 451; Bank of Rochester v. Jones, 4 N. Y. 507, 55 Am Dec. 290: Eastman v. Avery, 23 Me. 250: Beiden v. I’€‘1‘i{ii.lS, 78 I11. 452; Wil- cox v. Jackson, 7 Colo. 521, 4 Pac. 966; Glou- cester Bank v. Worcester, 10 Pick. (l\iass.) 531-, Liiienthal v. Ballou, 125 Cal. 183, 57 Pac. 897.

Pit-due is a deposit of personal property by way of security for the performance of anntlr er act. Clv. Code Cal. § 2936.

The specific article delivered to the cred- itor in security is also called a "pledge" or "pawn."

There is a clear distinction between mortgages and pledizcs. In a pledge the legal title remains in the pledgor; in a mortgage it passes to the mortgagee. In a mortgage the mortcngce need not have possession; in a ledge the pledges must have possession, thong it be only canstructive. In a mortgage, at common law, the property on non-payment of the debt passes wholly to the mortgagee; in a pledge the prop- erty is sold, and only so much of the proceeds as will pay his debt passes to the picdgee. mnrtg:i,r:e is a conditional conveyance of prop- erty, which becomes -ihsointe nnlcss redeemed at a specified time. A pledge is not strictly a con- veyance at all, nor need any day of redemption he appointed tnr it. A mortgagee can sell and deliver the thin: mortgaged, suliject only to the riclit of reilomption. A plcdgcc cannot sell and deliver his paun until the debt is due and payment denied. Bonvicr.

There are two varieties of the contract of pledge known to the law of Ionlsiana, vlz.. pawn and anticlzrcsls; the former relating to chattel securities, the latter to landed securities. See -Civ. Code La. art. 3101: and see those titles.

—P1edges of prosecution. In old English law. No person could prosecute a civil action without having in the first stage of it two or more persons as pledges of prosecution; and if judgment was given against the plaintiff, or he tl_esorted his suit. hoth he and his pledges were

liable to amercement to the kinghpro flzlso clay-_

more In the course of time, owever, these pledges were disused, and the names of actitious persons substituted for them. two ideal gersons, John Doe and Richard Roe. having econie the common pledges of every suitor; and now the use of such pledges is altogether