Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/679

* FINDLAY. 62] FINGER-AND-TOE DISEASE. board of (.'ducat ion arc chosen by populai rote The city owns and operates H watei works. Population, in 1890, 18,553; in 1900, L7.613. FINE (OF., I''r. /in. from Lat. finis, end. sup- plementary payment, fine). A form of cod anee of lands at common law through the a dium of a fictitious suit. fine is defined .by Coke as "an amicable composition and final aj mem by leave and license of the King or his justiciaries;" and if was called a fine because it put a termination [finis) to all litigation be- tween the parties, and those claiming through them, in regard to all matters touching the suit. The proceedings in a line were shortly as follows: The party to whom the land was to be conveyed commenced a fictitious suit against the vendor. But the case was no sooner in court than tin; plaintiff asked leave to agree or settle with tie- defendant. This leave having been obtained, a covenant was entered into whereby the vendor or defendant, called the cognizor, recognized the right of the plaintiff, called the <<«/». ... In I he lands, of which he admitted that the plaintiff was wrongfully kept from the possession. These proceedings, which at first were real, were after- wards adopted universally without having a shadow of foundation in fact. The solemn farce having been completed, a note of the fine, being an abstract of the covenant, the names of the parties, and the parcels of the land, was entered on the rolls of the court; and the business was concluded by what was called the foot of the fine, setting forth the parties, the time and place of agreement, and before whom the tine was levied. The whole was embodied in indentures commenc- ing heec est finalis Concordia. It was necessary that a fine should be levied openly in the Court of Common Pleas, or before the Chief Justice of that court, or before two or more commissioners, duly appointed. In order that a fine should have full effect, it was required to be levied with procla- mation, i.e. open proclamation of the transaction in court. A fine so levied cut off the right even of strangers who failed to assert their claim dur- ing the period allowed by law ; hence an estate was said to be barred by fine and non-claim. A tine levied by a married woman had the effect of cutting off all right she might have in the lands, and was the only mode by which a married woman could convey her lands or her dower right, in her husband's lands. Like the feoffment and the common recovery (q.v.), a fine was known as a tortious conveyance; that is, it had the extraor- dinary operation of conveying whatever estate it purported to convey, irrespective of whether the vendor was seised of the estate conveyed, or had any right to transfer it. The effect of such a tortious conveyance was to vest a defeasible title in the vendee, leaving the person entitled to the possession to pursue his remedy by entry or ap- propriate action. The practice of conveying lands by fine, as well as the process of common recovery, was abolished by the Fines and Recoveries Act. 3 and 4 Will. rV., eh. 74. Both of these modes of conveyance were in use in the Colonial period of American history, but have become obsolete or have been abolished by statute. The fine was recognized and confirmed by legislative act in New York, and was not done away with until 1830. See Conveyance. FINE, in .i law, a pecuniar} mulct of pu an offende n icti d ol a ci one oi no tneanor. 'I he tei m came into u in En Is nd during the reign oi Edward I.. « h i me common for a court i o short, term of impri hi and i hen to iin i" "make line," i hat is, i" n ake an end ,,i fact re) to h 'i 'Hi ■ .' in am oi d i the i. ui - -el this n;i - con elei, -I j joi I oi I'. 1 1 ga iii i" l nd iii- imprisonment, and not as an infliction o pecuniarj pena I ired to avoid i hi po ibili ice being with that of an ii i hi ., . .I be fixed by I he assessment "i the offender's The practii f allowing a culprit convicted of a trivial offense thus t,, have In- opti if line or imprisonment prevails to a lai ge i - tent I he present lime. This is true especially in 1 1 j< - punishment of misdemeanors, the pena usually prescribing as the punishment a short term of imprisonment or a moderate line, in the discretion "f the court, in the less aggravated cases the magistrates usually impose the line, but if the culprit is unable to pay id. amount b< i remanded to prison, and a certain amount of his fine is considered as discharged for each day of confinement. For example, in New York il magistrate imposed a line of $10, on default payment the culprit would be confined in a penal institution for ten days, his line being consid ered as reduced si each day. H i- provided in the United Stales Constitution (Eighth mend ment i thai "excessive hail shall not he required nor excessive lines imposed." This doe. mil set any definite limitation on the power of Congress to impose such pecuniary penalties as may se expedient, but it affords grounds for attacking i lie constitutionality of a statute whii oppressive in this particular, and thus makes the legislative act subject to review b the courts, which is our great safeguard. Main of the States have inserted similar provisions in their constitutions. Sec AMERCEMENT; FORFEITURE; Penalty/. FINE, fen, or FINE, fe'na', Oboxci Oroxtivn Ftneus. FINE-EAR. A servant of Fortunio, in the fairy tale Fortunio, who could hear the grass or a sheep's wool grow. FINET'TA. A fairy tale, bj the Comtesse d'Aulnoy (1682). It is only a slightly altered version of Ciml< i ella. FINGAL. fin'gal. The name of the hen. in Macpherson's Pi Ossian. (See Macpi son, James.) Ii represents an original Gaelic Fionn Gaidheal, 'Finn the Gael,' and appeared as Fionnghael in the 1763 editioi ora. But in the collected edition of Macpherson's Gaelic texts (1807) the spelling is regularly Fionnghal. [n all genuine Ossianic literature t] I the leader is simply Fionn (earlier Finn), but this regular form incurs very rarely in Macpherson. FINGAL. Another, but unauthorized, name for the Gaelic hero fionn Maccumhail (q FINGAL'S CAVE. See Staita. FINGER. See II -xn. FINGER-AND-TOE DISEASE. See Ci.rn- ROOT.