BASTARD. A word derived from bas or bast, signifying abject, low, base; and aerd, nature. Minshew, Co. Lit. 244; a. Enfant de bas, a child of low birth. Dupin. According to Blackstone, 1 Com. 454, a bastard in the law sense of the word, is a person not only begotten, but born out of lawful matrimony. This definition does not appear to be complete, inasmuch as it does not embrace the case of a person who is the issue of an illicit connection, during the coverture of his mother. The common law, says the Mirror, only taketh him to be a son whom the marriage proveth to be so. Horne's Mirror, c. 2, §7; see Glanv. lib 8, cap. 13 Bract. 63, a. b.; 2 Salk. 427;, 8 East, 204. A bastard may be perbaps defined to be one who is born of an illicit union, and before the lawful marriage of his parents.

2. A man is a bastard if born, first) before the marriage of his parents; but although he may have been begotten while his parents were single, yet if they afterwards marry, and he is born during the coverture, he is legitimate. 1 Bl. Com. 455, 6. Secondly, if born during the coverture, under circumstances which render it impossible that the hushand of his mother can be his father. 6 Binn. 283; 1 Browne's R. Appx. xlvii.; 4 T. R. 356; Str. 940 Id. 51 8 East, 193; Hardin's R. 479. It seems by the Gardner peerage case, reported by Dennis Le Marebant, esquire, that strong moral improbability that the hushand is not the father, is sufficient to bastardize the issue. Bac. Ab. tit. Bastardy, A, last ed. Thirdly, if born beyond a competent time after the coverture has determined. Stark. Ev. part 4, p. 221, n. a Co. Litt. 123, b, by Hargrave & Butler in the note. See Gestation.

3. The principal right which bastard children have, is that of maintenance from their parents. 1 Bl. Com. 458; Code Civ. of Lo. 254 to 262. To protect the public from their support, the law compels the putative father to maintain his bastard children. See Bastardy; Putative father.

4. Considered as nullius filius, a bastard has no inheritable blood in him, and therefore no estate can descend. to him; but he may take by testment, if properly described, after he has obtained a name by reputation. 1 Rop. Lew. 76, 266; Com. Dig. Descent, C, l2; Ie. Bastard, E; Co. Lit. 123, a; Id. 3, a; 1 T. R. 96 Doug. 548 3 Dana, R. 233; 4 Pick. R. 93; 4 Desaus. 434. But this hard rule has been somewhat mitigated in some of the states, where, by statute, various inheritable qualities have been conferred upon bastards. See 5 Conn. 228; 1 Dev. Eq. R. 345; 2 Root, 280; 5 Wheat.. 207; 3 H. & M. 229, n; 5 Call. 143; 3 Dana, 233.

5. Bastards can acquire the rights of legitimate children only by an act of the legislature. 1 Bl. Com. 460; 4 Inst. 36.

6. By the laws of Louisiana, a bastard is one who is born of an illicit union. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 27, 199. There are two sorts of illegitimate cbildren; first, those who are born of two persons, who, at the moment such children were conceived, might have legally contracted marriage with each other; and, secondly, those who are born from persons, to whose marriage there existed at the time, some legal impediment. Id. art. 200. An adulterous bastard is one produced by an unlawful connexion between two persons, who, at the time he was conceived, were, either of them, or both, connected by marriage with some other person or persons. Id. art. 201. Incestuous bastards are those who are produced by the illegal connexion of two persons who are relations within the degrees prohibited by law. Id. art. 202.

7. Bastards, generally speaking, belong to no family, and have no relations; accordingly they are not subject to paternal authority, even when they have been acknowledged. See 11 East, 7, n. Nevertheless, fathers and mothers owe alimony. to their children when they are in need. Id. art. 254, 256. Alimony is due to bastards, though they be adulterous or incestuous, by the mother and her ascendants. Id. art. 262.

8. Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an incestuous or adulterous connexion, may be legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have legally acknowledged them for their children, either before the marriage or by the contract of marriage itself. Every other mode of legitimating children is abolished. Id. art. 217. Legitimation may even be extended to deceased children who have left issue, and in that ease, it enures to the benefit of that issue. Id. art. 218. Children legitimated by a subsequent marriage, have the same rights as if born during the marriage. Id. art. 219. See, generally, Vin. Abr. Bastards Bac. Abr. Bastard; Com. Dig. Bastard; Metc. & Perk. Dig. h. t.; the various other American Digests, h. t.; Harr. Dig. h. t.; 1 Bl. Com. 454 to 460; Co. Litt. 3, b.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t., And Access; Bastardy; Gestation; Natural Children.

BASTARD EIGNE', Eng. law. Elder bastard. By the old English law, when, a man had a bastard son, and he afterwards married the mother, and by her had a legitimate son, the first was called a bastard eigne, or, as it is now spelled, aine, and the second son was called puisne, or since born, or sometimes he was called mulier puisne. See Mulier; Eigne, 2 Bl. Com. 248.

BASTARDY, crim. law. The offence of begetting a bastard child.

BASTARDY, persons. The state or condition of a bastard. The law presumes every child legitimate, when born of a woman in a state of wedlock, and casts the onus probandi (q. v.) on the party wlio affirms the bastardy. Stark. Ev. h. t.

BASTON. An old French word, which signifies a staff, or club, In some old English statutes the servants or officers of the wardens of the Fleet are so called, because they attended the king's courts with a red staff. Vide Tipstaff.

BATTEL, in French Bataille; Old English law. An ancient and barbarous mode of trial, by Bingle combat, called wager of battel, where, in appeals of felony, the appellee might fight with the appellant to prove his innocence. It was also used in affairs of chivalry or honor, and upon civil cases upon certain issues. Co. Litt. 294. Till lately it disgraced the English code. This mode of trial was abolished in England by stat. 59 Geo.,III. c. 46.

2. This mode of trial was not peculiar to England. The emperor Otho, A. D. 983, held a diet at Verona, at which several sovereigns and great lords of Italy, Germany and France were present. In order to put a stop to the frequent perjuries in judicial trials, this diet substituted in all cases, even in those which followed the course of the Roman law, proof by combat for proof by oath. Henrion de Pansey, Auth. Judic. Introd. c. 3; and for a detailed account of this mode of trial see Herb. Antiq. of the Inns of Court, 119-145.

BATTERY. It is proposed to consider, 1. What is a battery; 2. When a battery, may be justified.

2. §1. A battery is the unlawful touching the person of another by the aggressor himself, or any other substance put in motion by him. 1 Saund. 29, b. n. 1; Id. 13 & 14, n. 3. It must be either wilfully committed, or proceed from want of due care. Str. 596; Hob. 134; Plowd. 19 3 Wend. 391. Hence an injury, be it never so small, done to the person of another, in an angry, spiteful, rude or insolent manner, as by spitting in his face, or any way touching him in anger, or violently jostling him, are batteries in the eye of the law. 1 Hawk. P. C. 263. See 1 Selw. N. P. 33, 4. And any thing attached to the person partakes of its inviolability if, therefore, A strikes a cane in the hands of B, it is a battery. 1 Dall. 1 14 1 Ch. Pr. 37; 1 Penn. R. 380; 1 Hill's R. 46; 4 Wash. C. C. R. 534 . 1 Baldw. R. 600.

3. - §2. A battery may be justified, 1. on the ground of the parental relation 2. in the exercise of an office; 3. under process of a court of justice or other legal tribunal 4. in aid of an authority in law; and lastly, as a necessary means of defence.

4. First. As a salutary mode of correction. For example: a parent may correct his child, a master his apprentice, a schoolmaster his scholar; 24 Edw. IV.; Easter, 17, p. 6 and a superior officer, one under his command. Keilw. pl. 120, p. 136 Bull. N. P. 19 Bee, 161; 1 Bay, 3; 14 John. R. 119 15 Mass. 365; and vide Cowp. 173; 15 Mass. 347.

5. - 2. As a means to preserve the peace; and therefore if the plaintiff assaults or is fighting with another, the defendant may lay hands upon him, and restrain him until his anger is cooled; but he cannot strike him in order to protect 'the party assailed, as he way in self-defence. 2 Roll. Abr. 359, E, pl. 3.

6. - 3. Watchmen may arrest, and detain in prison for examination, persons walking in the streets by might, whom there is reasonable ground to suspect of felony, although there is no proof of a felony having been committed. 3 Taunt. 14.

7. - 4. Any person has a right to arrest another to prevent a felony.

8. - 5. Any one may arrest another upon suspicion of felony, provided a felony has actually been committed and there is reasonable ground for suspecting the person arrested to be the criminal, and that the party making the arrest, himself entertained the suspicion.

9. - 6. Any private individual may arrest a felon. Hale's P. C. 89.

10. - 7. It is lawful for every man to lay hands on another to preserve public decorum; as to turn him out of church, and to prevent him from disturbing the congregation or a funeral ceremony. 1 Mod. 168; and see 1 Lev. 196; 2 Keb. 124. But a request to desist should be first made, unless the urgent necessity of the case dispenses with it.

11. Secondly. A battery may be justified in the exercise of an office. 1. A constable may freshly arrest one who, in, his view, has committed a breach of the peace, and carry him before a magistrate. But if an offence has been committed out of the constable's sight, he cannot arrest, unless it amounts to a felony; 1 Brownl. 198 or a felony is likely to ensue. Cro. Eliz. 375.

12. - 2. A justice of the peace may generally do all acts which a constable has authority to perform hence he may freshly arrest one who, in his view has broken the peace; or he may order a constable at the moment to take him up. Kielw. 41.

13. Thirdly. A battery may be justified under the process of a court of justice, or of a magistrate having competent jurisdiction. See 16 Mass. 450; 13 Mass. 342.

14. Fourthly. A battery may be justified in aid of an authority in law. Every person is empowered to restrain breaches of the peace, by virtue of the authority vested in him by the law.

15. Lastly. A battery may be justified as a necessary means of defence. 1. Against the plaintiffs assaults in the following instances: In defence of himself, his wife, 3 Salk. 46, his child, and his servant. Ow. 150; sed vide 1 Salk. 407. So, likewise, the wife may justify a battery in defending her hushand; Ld. Raym. 62; the child its parent; 3 Salk. 46; and the servant his master. In these situations, the party need not wait until a blow has been given, for then he might come too late, and be disabled from warding off a second stroke, or from protecting the person assailed. Care, however, must be taken, that the battery do not exceed the bounds of necessary defence and protection; for it is only permitted as a means to avert an impending evil, which might otherwise overwhelm the party, and not as a punishment or retaliation for the injurious attempt. Str. 953. The degree of force necessary to repel an assault will naturally depend upon, and be proportioned to, the violence of the assailant; but with this limitation any degree is justifiable. Ld. Raym. 177; 2 Salk. 642.

16. - 2. A battery may likewise be justified in the necessary defence of one's property; if the plaintiff is in the act of entering peaceably upon the defendant's land, or having entered, is discovered, not committing violence, a request to depart is necessary in the first instance; 2 Salk. 641; and if the plaintiff refuses, the defendant may then, and not till then, gently lay hands upon the plaintiff to remove him from the close and for this purpose may use, if necessary, any degree of force short of striking the plaintiff, as by thrusting him off. Skinn. 228. If the plaintiff resists, the defendant may oppose force to force. 8 T. R. 78. But if the plaintiff is in the act of forcibly entering upon the land, or having entered, is discovered subverting the soil, cutting down a tree or the like, 2 Salk. 641, a previous request is unnecessary, and the defendant may immediately lay hands upon the plaintiff. 8 T. R. 78. A man may justify a battery in defence of his personal property, without a previous request, if another forcibly attempt to take away such property. 2 Salk. 641. Vide Rudeness; Wantonness.

BATTURE. An elevation of the bed of a river under the surface of the water; but it is sometimes used to signify the same elevation when it has risen above the surface. 6 M. R. 19, 216. The term battures is applied, principally, to certain portions of the bed of the river Mississippi, which are left dry when the water is low, and are covered again, either in whole or in part by the annual swells. The word battures, in French, signifies shoals or shallows, where there is not water enough for a ship to float. They are otherwise called basses or brisans. Neuman's Marine Pocket Dict.; Dict. de Trevoux.

BAWDY-HOUSE, crim. law. A house of ill-fame, (q. v.) kept for the resort and unlawful commerce of lewd people of both sexes.

2. Such a house is a common nuisance, as it endangers the public peace by drawing together dissolute and debauched persons; and tends to corrupt both sexes by an open profession of lewdness. 1 Russ. on Cr.; 299: Bac. Ab. Nuisances, A; Hawk. B. 1, c. 74, §1-5.

3. The keeper of such a house may be indicted for the nuisance; and a married woman, because such houses are generally kept by the female sex, may be indicted with her hushand for keeping such a house. 1 Salk. 383; vide Dane's Ab. Index, h. t. One who assists in establishing a bawdyhouse is guilty of a misdemeanor. 2 B. Monroe, 417.

BAY. Is an enclosure to keep in the water for the supply of a mill or other contrivance, so that the water may be able to, drive the wheels of such mill. Stat. 27 Eliz. c. 19.

2. A large open water or harbor where ships may ride, is also called a bay; as, the Chesapeake Bay, the, Bay of New York.

BEACH. The sea shore. (q. v.)

BEACON. A signal erected as a sea mark for the use of mariners; also, to give warning of the approach of an enemy. 1 Com. Dig. 259; 5 Com. Dig. 173.

TO BEAR DATE. In the description of a paper in a declaration, to say it bears date such a day, is to aver that such date is upon it; and if, on being produced, it is dated at another day, the variance will be fatal. But if it be averred it was made on such a day, and upon its production it bears date on another day, it will not be a variance, because it might have been made one day and dated another. 3 Burr. 904.

BEADLE. Eng. law. A messenger or apparitor of a court, who cites persons to appear to what is alleged against them, is so called.

BEARER. One who bears or carries a thing.

2. If a bill or note be made payable to bearer, it will pass by delivery only, without endorsement; and whoever fairly acquires a right to it, may maintain an action against the drawer or acceptor.

3. It has been decided that the bearer of a bank note, payable to bearer, is not an assignee of a chose in action within the 11th section of the judiciary act of, 1789, c. 20, limiting the jurisdiction of the circuit court. 3 Mason, R. 308.

4. Bills payable to bearer are contra-distinguished from those payable to order, which can be transferred only by endorsement and delivery.

5. Bills payable to fictitious payees, are considered as bills payable to, bearer.

BEARERS, Eng. crim. law. Such as bear down or oppress others; maintainers. In Ruffhead's Statutes it is employed to translate the French word emparnours, which signifies, according to Kelham, undertakers of suits. 4 Ed. III. c. 11. This word is no longer used in this sense.

BEARING DATE. These words are frequently used in conveyancing and in pleading; as, for example, a certain indenture bearing date the first day of January, 1851, which signifies not that the indenture was made on that day, but simply that such date has been put to it.

2. When in a declaration the plaintiff alleges that the defendant made his promissory note on such a day, he will not be considered as having alleged it bore date on that day, so as to cause a variance between the declaration and the note produced bearing a different date. 2 Greenl. Ev. §1610; 2 Dowl. & L. 759.

BEAU PLEADER, Eng. law. Fair pleading. See Stultiloquium.

2. This is the name of a writ upon the statute of Marlbridge, 52 H. III. c. 11, which enacts, that neither in the circuit of justices, nor in counties, hundreds, or courts baron, any fines shall be taken for fair pleading; namely, for not pleading fairly or aptly to the purpose. Upon this statute this writ was ordained, directed to the sheriff, bailiff, or him who shall demand the fine; and it is a prohibition or command not to do it. Now Nat. Br. 596 2 Inst. 122; Termes de la Le 2 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 70 Cowel; Crabb's Hist. of the Eng. Law, 150. The explanations given of this term are not very satisfactory.

BEDEL, Eng. law. A cryer or messenger of a court, who cites men to appear and answer. There are also inferior officers of a parish or liberty who bear this name.

BEE. The name of a well known insect.

2. Bees are considered ferae naturae while unreclaimed; and they are not more subjects of property while in their natural state, than the birds which have their nests on the tree of an individual. 3 Binn. R. 546 5 Sm. & Marsh. 333. This agrees with the Roman law. Inst. 2 1, 14; Dig. 41, 1, 5, 2; 7 Johns. Rep. 16; 2 Bl. Com. 392 Bro. Ab. Propertie, 37; Coop. Justin. 458.

3. In New York it has been decided that bees in a tree belong, to the owner of the soil, while unreclaimed. When they have been reclaimed, and the owner can identify them, they belong to him, and not to the owner of the soil. 15 Wend. R. 550. See 1 Cowen, R. 243.

BEGGAR. One who obtains his livelihood by asking alms. The laws of several of the states punish begging as an offence.

BEHAVIOUR. In old English, haviour without the prefix be. It is the manner of having, holding, or keeping one's self or the carriage of one's self with respect to propriety, morals, and the requirements of law. Surety to be of -good behaviour is a larger requirement than surety to keep the peace. Dalton, c. 122; 4 Burn's J. 355.

BEHOOF. As a word of discourse, Signifies need, (egestas, necessitas, indigentia.) It comes from behoove, (Sax. behoven,) to need or have need of. In a secondary sense, which is the law sense of the word, it signifies use, service, profit, advantage, (interesse, opus.) It occurs in conveyances of land in fee simple.