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Post v. Pearsall, 22 Wend. (N.

Pnesnmptio violentn plena. prnbatin. Co. Liti; 61;. Strong presumption is toil proof.

Przeoumptiu violenta valet in loge. Strong presumption is of weight in law. lent. Cent. p. 56, case 3.

Prnesnmptiones aunt eonjectlu-at ex dgno veriaimill ad probantium nssnmptse. Presumptions are conjectures from probable proof, assumed for purposes of evidence. J. Voet, Com. ad Pond. l. 22, tit 3, n. 14.

Lat. A passing over or omission. Used in the Roman law to de scribe the act of a testator in excluding a. given heir from the inheritance by silently passing him by, that is, neither instituting nor foinially djsinheiitlng him. See Mack- eid. Rom. Law, 5 711.

Prretextu lieitl non iiebet admitti illicltnm. Under pretext of legality, what is illegal ought not to be admitted. Wing. Max. p. 728, max. 196.

PRETEXTUS. Let. A pretext; a pretense or color. Pr(l:Ic.'rl1L cujus, by pretense, or under pretext whereof. I Ld. Ritvm. 412.

PRETOR. Lot. In Roman law. A muuicipsii officer of the city of Rome. being the chief judicial magistrate, and possessing an extensive equitable jurisdiction. —Px-setor fliiei-commissurins. In the civil law. A sped-ll 11l".B|0l‘ created to pronounce judgnicut in cases of trusts or fidvi-commieau. Inst. 2, 23, L

PREVARICATOR. Lat. In the civil law. One who betrays his trust, or is un- faithful to his trust. An advocate who aids the opposite party by betraying his client’: cause. Dig. 47. 15. 1.

PRIEVENTO TERMINO. In Old Scotch practice. A form of action known in the forms of the court of session, by which a- deiay to discuss a suspension or advocation was got the better of. Bell.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION. In French law. An expression used to designate those ordinances which concern the most importaut objects of the civil or ecclesiastical od- mlnlstrntion. Merl. Répert.

In the civil law. The answer given by the emperors on questions of law, when eonsulted by a corporation or the citizens or a. province or of a municipality, was called it "pragmatic sanction." Lec. EL Dr. Rom.

5 53. PRAGMATICA. In Spanish colonial law. An order emanating from the sov-

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PREA UDIENCE

erelgn, and d.ii1'erin,g from a eedula only In form and in the mode of promulgation Schin. Civil Law, Introd. 93, note.

PRAIRIE. An extensive tract of level or roiling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized bya deep, fertilesoil. Webster. See Buxton v. Railroad C0,, 58 Mo. 45; Bi-unell v. Hop- kins, 42 Iowa, 429.

PRATIQUE. A license for the master of a ship to traffic in the ports of i1 given country, or with the inhabitants of a given port, upon the lifting of quarantine or pro- duction of a clean iiill of health.

PRAXIS. Lat. Use;pi-actice.

Praxil Judienm est interpres legnm. Hob. 98. The practice of the judges is the interpreter of the laws.

PRAY IN AID. In old English practice. To call upon for assistance. In real actions, the tenant might pray in aid or call for assistance of another, to help him to plead, because of the feeinleness or imhecility of his own estate. 3 Bl. Comm. 300.

PRAYER. The request contained in 3 bill in equity that the court will grant the process, aid, or relief which the coniphiiinnt desires. Also, by extension, the term is applied to that purl: of the biii which contains this request.

PRAYER OF PROCESS is I]. petition with which a bill in equity user] to conclude, to the ei1'ect that a writ of suiipcona might issue against the defendant to compel him to answer upon oath aii the matters charged against him in the bi.iL

PREAMBLE. A ci'iuse at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the ob- jects sought to be accnuipiisiied. See ‘Downsend v. State. 147 Ind. (524. 47 N E. 19, 37 L. R. A. 294. 62 Am. St. Rep. 477: Fe-iine1' v. Luzerne County. 1G7 Pa. (‘.32. 31 Ati. 802; Lloyd v. Urison, 2 ‘\i. J. Law, 224: (‘overdale v. Edwards, 155 Ind. 374, 58 N. E. 495.

PREAPPOINTED EVIDENCE. kind and degree of evidence p -ribed in advance (as, by statute) as requi its for the proof of certain facts or the establislinient of certain instruments. It is opposed to casua-1 evidence. Vi].ii(‘i.l is ieft to grow naturally out of thc surrnumlliig circumstances.

PREAUDIENCE. The right of being heard before another. A privilege belonging to the English bar, the members of which are entitied to be heard in their order, according to rank, beginning with the king's attorney general, and ending With barristers at iai-ge. 3 Steph. Comm. 387, note.