Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/698

* NONCONFORMISTS. 598 NONSUIT. open to its younj; men in 1871. ;iihI a system of State schools reiuleriiig them iiulcpendent uf the Church for primary eilucatioii. The Burials Act of 1880, allowing ttieir ministers access to the churchyards for funerals, was another conces- sion that had been loudly demanded by them. Generally of an aggressive liberal type in politics, and still smarting under a sense of social in- feriority, they form a compact body of no small political power. See Establishments, Eccle- siASTifAL; Liberty, Religious. NON-EFFECTIVE. Tliis term in its mili- tary sunsi; api>lics lo all ollicers or men not avail- able for etl'ective service. Retired or half-pay officers, pensioners, deserters, sick or wounded, and those held prisoner by an enemy are rejjorteil as nonelVectivcs. NONES. S<'<. Kalends. NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY. See Geometiiv. NONFEASANCE (from non-. not -|- fea- sance, deed, from Fr. faisant, pros. part, of faire, from Lat. facere, to do, make). The omission to do an act which one is under a legal obligation to do. It is the view of some writers that non- feasance never amounts to a tort (q.v. ); that to avoid committing a tort one need only to for- bear to act. But this is clearly erroneous: as. if an owner of a facttuy fails to comply with a law requiring him to equip it with fire-escapes, in case of fire he is liable in damages to the per.son burned. His nonfeasance is a tort. The term is frequently used in connection with the liability of an agent or servant to third persons. The owner of property employs an agent to manage it and keep it in proper re))air. The agent omits to make repairs. Clearly he has violated his contract with his principal, who may call him to acccuuit therefor; but the weight of judicial authority in this country holds there is no privity between the agent and a third person, and that in such a case there must be misfeasance or nuilfeasance by the agent to render him liable. On the other hand, it has been held by a number of courts that the agent is liable to the injured person. His liability should be determineil by the rules applicable to negligence (q.v). not by a dictum of two hun- dred years, although its author was the distin- guished Lord Chief .Tustice Holt (q.v.), that "a servant or deputy cannot be charged for non- feasance, but for a misfeasance an action will lie against him." Consult: .Tagganl, lldiiilHunh of the Law of Tnrts (Saint Paiil, ISflf.) ; HulTcut, Thr I, (lit- "f Afiniri/ (Boston, lillH). NO'NIUS. See Vernier. NO'NIUS MARCEL'LUS. . Latin gramma- rian, born at TlMilnn^ic-um N'limidaruni, in Africa, at the lM>ginning of the fourth century A.». iiis wfirk entitled Dc Compendiosa Doc- trina consisted originally of twenty books, of which the sixteentli is now lost, and was in- fended as a book of referi'nce on points of lexi- cography, grammar, ami antiipiities. Though it shows little critical sagacity, the work is valued for its citations from the lost authors, particu- larly of the archaic period. There are editions hyMercier (Paris. 1.58.'}: reprinted lS2t!), by Quieherat (Paris, 1871), and by L. Milller (I^eip- zig, 188S). Consult also Nettleship, Kssai/a in Latin lAtcrature (London, 1885). NON-JUROR, The. A comedy by Colley Ciblier, produced in 1717. It was adapted from -Molifre's Tartiife. Tartufe, transformed into an English Catholic priest, tampers with the loyalty of an English gentleman. It gained for Cibbcr much favor from the ILanoverian party. NONJURORS (from non-, not -f juror, from Lat. jurator, swearer, from jurarc, to swear, from jus, law, right). The name given to those clergy of the Church of England who refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, believing themselves still bound by their allegiance to James IL They had been avowed champions of the doctrine of passive obedience on the part of subjects toward kings; indeed. Lake, Bishop of Chichester, said on his deatblied that he looked on the doctrine as the distinguisli- ing character of the Cluirch of England, for which he would lay down his life. The House of Commons allowed the clergy six months longer than the laity to take the oath. Saneroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, with seven bishops and about 400 other clergy, refused it, and were deprived of their sees and benefices. The most distinguished of the Nonjurors was the saintly Bishop Ken: the scholars Hiekes and Dodwcll were also Nonjurors. They treated all who took the oath as schismatics, and themselves and their adherents as the only true members of the Church of England, and even went so far as to draw up a new liturg>' of their own. Their organiza- tion, unsubstantial as it was. lingered for over a century, its last bishop dying in 1805. Two of the early missionaries in America. Welton and Talbot, were said to have received episcopal consecration from them, and there is evidence that the latter occasionally exercised episcopal functions in the United States half a century liefore Bishop Seabury's consecration. Consult Lathbury. Ilistori/ of the Xnnjiirors (London, 1845), a careful work, as far as it goes, supple- mented rather than superseded In' the most recent authority. Overton, The Xonjurors (ib.. lOO^). NON'NUS (Lat., from Gk. Sovvos, Xonnos). A Greek poet of Panopolis, in Egypt, probal)ly of the fifth century A.n. While a pagan he wrote a vast epic, preserved under the name of Dion;/- siaca (AionxrmKd) in forty-eight books. Though somewhat bond)astic in style, the work is not without poetic s]>irit, and is one of the chii'f sources of information on the growth and de- velopment of the Uionysiac cycle of myths. After adojiting Christianity, he nia<le a paraphrase of the Gospel of Saint .John in Greek hexameters. The l)est editions of the Dioniixinca are tho.se of Graefe (Leipzig, 1819-20) and Kiichly (ib., 1858). The paraphrase has been edited by Pas- sow (Leipzig, 1834), Consult: Kiihier, Uclnrilie Dioni/siaka drs A'oiihi/.s (Halle. 1853) ; and Liul- wich. licitniqc zur Krilik des yonniix (Kiinigs- berg, 187.?),' NONPAREIL, See Printing. NONSUIT. The termination of an action by entry of judgment against the plnintifT upon his failure to ap]>ear or prosecute the action, or liccaiHe of his inability to sustain his ca-^e .it the trial, in consequence of which the action is eniled without a determination of the merits. I'nder the early system of conunon-law practice a nonsuit was entered only on motion of the defendant when the plaintilT was in default in prosecuting his action, and if the latter wished