Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/906

* CLAIBORNE STAGE. 798 CLAIBORNE STAGE (from Claiborne, in Alnhania). .^ sululivision of the Eocene Ter- tiary iu American geology. The rocks of this stage are found along the Alabama and Toni- bigbee rivers, in Alabama and in Arkansas. See Tertiary Svsteii. CLAIU (OF. claim, demand, from Lat. i-lamare, to call out). A demand of a right;, sometimes used of the legal right asserted, as a creditor's claim to be paid the amount due him, sometimes of the amount alleged to be due. In both these sen.ses the term is commonly em- l)loyed iu bankruptcy and other creditors' pro- ceedings against an insolvent debtor, and in the administration of the estates of deceased per- sons. In all such cases the claim must be proved — i.e. verified by oath — in order to share in the distribution of the assets; the duty of the trustee in the former ca.se, and of the executor or ad- juinistrator in the latter, being limited to the payment of duly authenticated claims against the estate. At the common law, a claim was a fornuil as- sertion of title to, or of interest in, property, real or personal, which was in the possession of another. It was not a mere protest against an unlawful seisin or detainer of property, but vas a recognized i)rocess for preserving the rights of the claimant against extinction by reason of lapse of time or other cause. It had, therefore, much of the effect of an actual entry u]inn land, and was available to one wluj, by reason of his interest being a future and not a present one (as a remainder or reversion), was not entitled to make an immediate entry; or, as Coke explains, "when a person dares not make an entry on land for fear of being beaten or other injury-, he may approach as near as he can to the land and claim the same, and that shall be sufficient to vest the seisin in him." In other cases, however, in which the claimant's right depended on possession, it seems to have been considered that, to make a claim to an estate effective, there must be an actual entry into some part of the lands claimed. Continual claim was the process whei'eby one ■who had been disseised of lands prevented his claim from lapsing Ijy reason of the death of his disseisor, and the transmission of the lands to the latter's heir by descent. In order to avoid tills consequence, it was necessary to make claim within a year and a day of the disseisor's death, and, to insure this, to repeat the formality con- tinually within that interval until the descent took place. Sec Auver.se Po.sse.ssion ; Dis- SEI.SIX. In the United States the term 'claim' has acquired a distinctive sense as applied to the initial or prima-faiic title acquired by settlers to Government lands, and by prospectors to min- eral lands, under I'nited States statutes. The term is also a]i])lied to the land so secured. These claims may, upon the performance of the terms of sale, ripen into complete and valid titles; but, in the meantime, they confer on the claimant or hohh'r a recognized though defea- silde property right, which may be bought and sold and administered u])on, like any other property. Because of its precarious nature, it is generally considered personal rather than real property. See GoraBNMENT Lands; PREiiiip- TION. CLAIMS. In atlniiralty proceedings the statement of rights of the defendant or other party to |)rop- eity attached under process of the court is called the 'claim.' tStalcmcnt of claim is the pleading in which the plaintiff sets forth the facts constituting his cause of action. It supersedes the declara- tion in England, and corres])onds to the com- plaint in the code practice of most of the United States. The facts are alleged in it iu a plain, c-oncise, and natural way. avoiding the arbi- trary forms that characterized the declaration in common-law pleading. The phrase is used in some jurisdictions to designate any narrative of facts that is made the basis of a judicial or official proceeding. See Declaration; PLEAmxc. Claim of liberty, in English law, is a petition to the sovereign, filed in the Court of Ex- chequer, claiming a privilege or inuuiniity, as freedom from jury duty, by virtue of custom or the petitioner's rank. The claim was made under an actual or supposed grant, as these 'liberties or franchises' (q.v.) were said to have originally been a part of the Crown's preroga- tive, which could only be enjoyed by a subject by virtue of a grant from the sovereign. CLAIMS, Court of. In the United States, a tribunal created by act of Congress, or by the legislatures of the several States, to cnleryin and adjudicate claims against the General Gov- ernment or against the States .so authorizing them. A State, being sovereign, can of course not I)e sued, or subjected to legal process. It is perfectly obvious that, under ordinary circum- stances, the tribunals that are instituted by the sovereign i)ower for the adjiulication of contro- versies and the punishment of offenses against itself cannot be employed, either by a citizen or by another scKvereignty. to enforce claims against such power. Indeed, in the legal sense of the term, there can be no such thing as a 'claim' against a sovereign State. In recent times, how- ever, it has become customary for governments voluntarily to submit alleged claims of a civil nature — such, i.e., as involve a demand for a money compensation — to tribunals of limited powers for consideration and determination. Where the controversies are international, the tribunal may be a board or commission of arl)i- tration. Where the claim is that of an indi- vidual citizen, the State may either authorize the ordinary tribunals to hear ami determine the question at issue, or may create sejiarate tri- bunals for that purpose. The latter method is the one that has been generally adopted in the United States, lioth by the Federal Government and the several States. The tribunal so created is variously termed a 'court of claims' or a 'board of claims.' It must be borne in mind, however, that the State does not abdicate its sovereign authority to these courts, and that no process lies for enforcing their decrees. The judgments of a court of claims are in the nature of recommendations only, certifving that the adjudicated claim is, or "is not, under the rules established by the statute, a valid and proper claim. If the judgment is in favor of the claim- ant and against the State, the payment thereof IS, like the payment of an award made in an international arbitration, a voluntary act. lender the American system, such payment calls for an appropriation by Congress or the Legisla- ture of the State affected bv the decision.