Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/844

* YAZOO FEATJD. 714 YEABDLEY. was $500,000, and the area of the tract conveyed was about 35,000,000 acres. The territory was described as extending from the ALibama and Coosa rivers to the ilississippi and from the thirty-fifth to the thirty-first paral- lel of latitude. It was believed that the Legis- lature had acted from corrupt motives, as it ap- peared that every member of that body except one was a shareholder in one or more of the com- panies. Jlany of the buyers were notorious speculators, and many were residents of other States. The people of the State were indignant and a party was formed to agitate for the repeal of the sale. A new Legislature was elected, and the repeal was brought about. By the statute of February 13, 179G, the records of the transaction were burned in the presence of the Governor and I.«gislature, and in 1798 a State convention made the repealing act a part of the Constitution, on the ground that the State had the right to re- pudiate a contract founded on improper motives. Tlie territory in question was ceded by Georgia to the United States in 1802. In 1803 a com- mission was appointed by President Jefi'erson under an act of Congress to investigate the Yazoo claims. Madison as chairman recom- mended a compromise, but Georgia refused to compensate the claimants. Tlieir claim, however, was sustained by the fnited States Supreme Court in the case of Fletcher rs. Peck, 6 Cranch. 87 (1810), Chief Justice Marshall holding that the charge of bribery in 1795 could not be brought before the coi:rt as a collateral issue, that the Legislature could not in 1796 declare invalid its own act of 1795, that the grant of 1795 was in the nature of a contract, and that the law' of 1796 was unconstitutional as in effect an ex post facto law destiuctive of the vested estate of the grantees under the act of 1795. Accordingly in 1814 Congress ordered the lands to be sold' and appropriated .$5,000,000 for ex- tinguishing the rights of the claimants. Three years later the Treasury reported a final settle- ment, which involved the pavment of $4,282,151. Consult: liaskin, Yazoo Land Companies (New York, 1891 ) ; and Henry Adams, History of the United litates, vols. i. and ii. (ib., 1889-01). YEAMANS, ye'manz, Sir John (c.1610- 74). . colonial Governor of South Carolina, born in Bristol, England. In 1605 the proprie- tors of Carolina appointed him Governor of the county called Clarendon, extending from San Mateo to Cape Fear. In Ihc same year he sailed with three ships from Barbados, and at Cape Fear established a short-lived colony. In 1009 he was reappointed Governor, but soon named William Sayle in his stead. In 1671 he was once more given that position. During the next few years many new settlers arrived and negro slaves were introduced. In 1C74 the propri- etors became dissatisfied with Ycamans's manage- ment of affairs and removed him. YEAH (AS. gear, ger, Goth, jcr, OHG. jar, Ger. Jahr, year; connected with OChurch Slav. yarii, spring, Gk. ijpa, hOra, season, spring, hour, Av. i/iird, year). In general, a space of time equal in length to the period occupied by the earth in completing a circuit of its orbit around the sun. Astronomers distinguish several dif- ferent kinds of years. The tropical year is the year of chronologists and of the calendar (q.v. ), and is defined as the interval of time between two successive passages of the sun through the vernal equinox (q.v.). Its length is 305 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 40 seconds. The sidereal year is the actual period of the earth's orbital revolution, and differs from the tropical year on account of the precessional motion of the equinoxes themselves. (See Precession.) It is 305 days 6 hours 9 minutes 9 seconds in length. The anomalistic year is the time elapsing Ije- twcen two successive returns of the earth to its perihelion (q.v.) point. It is a little longer than the sidereal year, on account of the motion of the earth's perihelion. (See Pebtvbbatio.ns.) Its length is 305 days 6 hours 13 minutes 48 seconds. The light year is a unit of linear measure, used by astronomers in stating the distances of the fixed stars. (See Stab.) It is the linear space traversed by light in one year, and as light moves at the rate of about 186,000 miles per second, the light year furnishes a linear unit large enough to measure even the vast cosmic distances of interstellar space. Bissextile, or leap-year (q.v.), is a calendar year in which the ordinary number of days has been arbitrarily increased by one, making it contain 366 days instead of 365. The commencement of the year among the .lews and ilohammedans has no fixed position in relation to the sun's course or the seasons, it be- ing a lunar year. See Calendab. YEAB AND A DAY. Under a peculiar rule of tlie common law, a fraction of a day was not recognized, and the last day of any given period of time was considered to be completed for legal purposes as soon as it began, and there- fore, in order to provide for the actual expira- tion of a full calendar year, it was necessary to add a day. This period was adopted as the limi- tation of many rights and liabilities. YEAR BOOKS. A collection of reports of cases decided in the English courts of common law from the reign of Edward I. to Henry VIII. The reports were made by the prothonotaries or cliief scribes of the courts and piiblished annual- ly by them at the expense of the Crown. They were written in Korman French and are the ear- liest reports having any substantial value as precedents. There are somewhat fragmentary memoranda of litigation antedating the Norman Conquest, and there are official records of liti- gation beginning with the reign of Richard I., but these for the most part constitute a record only of the results of the litigation as determin- ing the riglits of the parties, and are consequently of little or no value as legal precedents. The Year Hooks are not now often cited in the opinions of courts, liut they are of great historical value and a thorough study of them in recent years has thrown much light on many abstruse legal )iroh- lems. Tliej' were originally ))ublished in eleven parts. An edition of the Year lioolc of Edward l.-If. by Maynard, published in 1(>78, has since been edited and published in English. A trans- lation from manuscript reports of the cases in the various years of Edward I. 11-35 inclusive rt-as published by Alfred J. Ilarwood (London, 1866). YEABDLEY, yerd'li (or YARDLEY). Sir Gkokcik (e.1577-1627), A !)ep>lty (invcvnor of the Colony of Virginia, born in England. He ser'ed in the Low Countries; sailed for ^'irginia