UBERRIMA FIDES. Perfect good faith; abundant good faith.2. This phrase is used to express that a contract must be made in perfect good faith, concealing nothing; as in the case of insurance, the insured must observe the most perfect good faith towards the insurer. 1 Story, Eq. Jur. §317; 3 Kent, Com. 283, 4th ed.
UKAAS, or UKASE. The name of a law or ordinance emanating from the czar of Russia.
ULLAGE, com. law. When a cask is gauged, what it wants of being full is called ullage.
ULTIMATUM. The last proposition made in making a contract, a treaty, and the like; as, the government of the United States has given its ultimatum, has made the last proposition it will make to complete the proposed treaty. The word also means the result of a negotiation, and it comprises the final determination of the parties concerned in the object in dispute.
ULTIMUM SUPPLICIUM. The last or extreme punishment; the penalty of death.
ULTIMUS HAERES. The last or remote heir; the lord. So called in contra-dis-tinction to the haeredes proximus, (q. v.) and the haeredes remotiores. (q. v.) Dalr Feud. Pr. 110.
UMPIRAGE. The decision of an umpire. This word is used for the judgment of an umpire, as the word award is employed to designate that of arbitrators.
UMPIRE. A person selected by two or more arbitrators. When they are authorize to do so by the submission of the parties, and they cannot agree as to the subject-matter referred to them, whose duty it is to decide the matter in dispute. Sometimes the term is applied to a single arbitrator, selected by the parties themselves. Kyd on Awards, 6, 75, 77 Caldw. on Arb. 38; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; 3 Vin. Ab. 93; Com. Dig. Arbitrament, F; 4 Dall. 271, 432; 4 Sco. N. S. 378; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
UNA VOCE. With one voice unanimously.
UNALIENABLE. The state of a thing or right which cannot be sold.
2. Things which are not in commerce, as public roads, are in their nature unalienable. Some things are unalienable, in consequence of particular provisions in the law forbidding their sale or transfer, as pensions granted by the government. The natural rights of life and liberty are unalienable.
UNANIMITY. The agreement of all the persons concerned in a thing in design and opinion.
2. Generally a simple majority (q. v.) of any number of persons is sufficient to do such acts as the whole number can do; for example, a majority of the legislature can pass a law: but there are some cases in which unanimity is required; for example, a traverse jury, composed of twelve individuals, cannot decide an issue submitted to them, unless they are unanimous.
UNCERTAINTY. That which is unknown or vague. Vide Certainty.
UNCONDITIONAL. That which is without condition; that which must be performed without regard to what has happened or may happen.
UNCONDITIONAL CONTRACT, contracts. One which does not depend upon any condition whatever. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 730.
UNCONSCIONABLE BARGAIN, contracts. A contract which no man in his senses, not under delusion, would make, on the one hand, and which no fair and honest man would accept, on the other. 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 3848.
UNCONSTITUTIONAL. That which is contrary to the constitution.
2. When an act of the legislature is repugnant or contrary to the constitution, it is, ipso facto, void. 2 Pet. R. 522; 12 Wheat. 270; 3 Dall. 286; 4 Dall. 18.
3. The courts have the power, and it is their duty, when an act is unconstitutional, to declare it to be so; but this will not be done except in a clear case and, as an additional guard against error, the supreme court of the United States refuses to take up a case involving constitutional questions, when the court is not full. 9 Pet. 85. Vide 6 Cranch, 128; 1 Binn. 419; 5 Binn. 355; 2 Penns 184; 3 S. & R. 169; 7 Pick. 466; 13 Pick. 60; 2 Yeates, 493; 1 Virg. Cas. 20; 1 Blackf. 206 6 Rand. 245 1 Murph. 58; Harper, 385 1 Breese, 209 Pr. Dee. 64, 89; 1 Rep. Cons. Ct. 267 1 Car. Law Repos. 246 4 Munr. 43; 5 Hayw. 271; 1 Cowen, 550; 1 South. 192; 2 South. 466; 7 N H. Rep. 65, 66; 1 Chip, 237, 257; 10 Conn. 522; 7 Gill & John. 7; 2 Litt. 90; 3 Desaus. 476.
UNCORE PRIT, pleading. This barbarous phrase of old French, which is the same with encore pret, yet ready, is used in a plea in bar to an action of debt on a bond due at a day past; when the defendant pleads a tender on the day it became due, and adds that he is uncore prit, still ready to pay the same. 3 Bl. Com. 303; Doct. Pl. 526 Dane's Ab. Index, h. t. Vide tout temps prist.
UNDE NIHIL HABET. Of which she has nothing. When no dower had been assigned to the widow during the time prescribed by law, she could, at common law, sue out a writ of dower unde nihil habet. 3 Bl. Com. 183.
UNDERLEASE, contracts. An alienation by a tenant of a part of his lease, reserving to himself a reversion; it differs from an assignment, which is a transfer of all the tenant's interest in the lease. 3 Wils. 234; S. C. Bl. Rep. 766. And even a conveyance of the whole estate by the lessee, reserving to himself the rent, with a power of re-entry for non-payment, was held to be, not an assignment, but an underlease. Str. 405. In Ohio it has been decided that the transfer of only a part of the lands, though for the whole term, is an underlease; 2 Ohio, R. 216; in Kentucky, such a transfer, on the contrary, is considered as an assignment. 4 Bibb. R. 538.
2. In leases there is frequently introduced a covenant on the part of the lessee, that he will not underlet the premises, nor assign the lease. This refers to the voluntary act of the tenant, and the covenant is not broken when the lease is transferred without any act on his part; as, if it be sold by the sheriff on execution, or by assignees in bankruptcy, or by an executor. 8 T. R. 57; 3 M. & S. 353; 1 Ves. 295.
3. The underlessor has a right to distrain for the rent due to him, which, the assignor of a lease has not. The under-lessee is not liable personally to the original lessor, nor is his property subject to his claim for rent longer than while it is on the leased premises, when it may be distrained upon. The assignee of the lessee stands in a different situation. He is liable to an action by the landlord or his assignee for the rent, upon the ground of privity of estate. 1 Hill. Ab. 125, 6; 4 Kent, Com. 95; 9 Pick. R. 52; 14 Mass. 487; 5 Watts, R. 134. Vide 2 Bl. R. 766; 3 Wils. 234; 4 Campb. 73; Bouv. Inst. Index, tit. Underletting. Vide Estate for years; Lease; Lessee; Notice to quit; Tenant for years.
UNDER-SHERIFF. A deputy of a sheriff. The principal is called high-sheriff, and the deputy the under-sheriff. Vide 1 Phil . Ev. Index, h. t.
UNDER-TENANT. One who holds by virtue of an underlease. (q. v.) See Subtenant.
UNDERTAKING, contracts. An engagement by one of the parties to a contract to the other, and not the mutual engagement of the parties to each other; a promise. 5 East, R. 17; 2 Leon. 224, 5; 4 B, & A. 595.
UNDERTOOK. Assumed; promised.
2. This is a technical word which ought to be inserted in every declaration of assumpsit, charging that the defendant undertook to perform the promise which is the foundation of the suit; and this though the promise be founded on a legal liability, or would be implied in evidence. Bac. Ab Assumpsit, F; 1 Chit. Pl. 88, note p.
UNDER-TUTOR, law of Louisiana. In every tutorship, there shall be an undertutor, whom it shall be the duty of the judge to appoint at the time letters of tutorship are certified for the tutor.
2. It is the duty of the under-tutor to act for the minor, whenever the interest of the minor is in opposition to the interest of the tutor. Civil Code, art. 300, 301; 1 N. S. 462; 9 M. R. 643; 11 L. R. 189; Poth. Des Personnes, partie prem. tit. 6, s. 5, art. 2. Vide Pro-curator; Protutor.
UNDERWRITER, insurances. One who signs a policy of insurance, by which he becomes an insurer.
2. By this act he places himself as to his responsibility, in the place of the insured. He may cause a re-insurance (q. v.) to be made for his benefit; and it is his duty to act with good faith, and, without quibbling, to pay all just demands against him for losses. Marsh. Ins. 45,
UNDIVIDED. That which is held by the same title by two or more persons, whether their rights are equal, as to value or quantity, or unequal.
2. Tenants in common, joint-tenants, and partners, hold an undivided right in their respective properties, until partition has been made. The rights of each owner of an undivided thing extends over the whole and every part of it, totum in toto, et totum in qualibet parte. Vide Partition; Per my et per tout.
UNICA TAXATIO, practice. The ancient language of a special award of venire, where of several defendants, one pleads, and one lets judgment go by default, whereby the jury, who are to try and assess damages on the issue, are also to assess damages against the defendant suffering judgment by default. Lee's Dict. h. t.
UNILATERAL CONTRACT, civil law. When the party to whom an engagement is made, makes no express agreement on his part, the contract is called uni-lateral, even in cases where the law attaches certain obligations to his acceptance. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 1758. Code Nap. 1103. A loan of money, and a loan for use, are of this kind. Poth. Obl. part 1, c. 1, s. 1, art. 2; Lee. Elemen. §781.
UNINTELLIGIBLE. That which cannot be understood.
2. When a law, a contract, or will, is unintelligible, it has no effect whatever. Vide Construction, and the authorities there referred to.
UNIO PROLIUM. A species of adoption used among the Germans; it signifies union of descent. It takes place when a widower, having children, marries a widow, who also has children. These parents then agree that the children of both marriages shall have the rights to their succession, as those which may be the fruits of their marriage. Lec. Elem. §187.
UNION. By this word is understood the United States of America; as, all good citizens will support the Union.
UNITY, estates. An agreement or coincidence of certain qualities in the title of a joint estate or an estate in common.
2. In a joint estate there must exist four unities; that of interest, for a joint-tenant cannot be entitled to one period of duration or quantity of interest in lands, and the other to a different; one cannot be tenant for life, and the other for years: that of title, and therefore their estate must be created by one and, the same act; that of time, for their estates must be vested at one and the same period, as well as by one and the same title; and lastly, the unity of possession: hence joint-tenants are seised per my et per tout, or by the half or moiety and by all: that is, each of them has an entire possession, as well of every parcel as of the whole. 2 Bl. Com. 179-182; Co. Litt. 188.
3. Coparceners must have the unities of interest, title, and possession.
4. In tenancies in common, the unity of possession is alone required. 2 Bl. Com. 192; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1861-83. Vide Estate in Common; Estate in Joint-tenancy; Joint-tenants; Tenant in Common; Tenants, Joint.
UNITY OF POSSESSION. This term is used to designate the possession by one person of several estates or rights. For example, a right to an estate to which an easement is attached, or the dominant estate, and to an estate which an easement encumbers, or the servient estate, in such case the easement is extinguished. 3 Mason, Rep. 172; Poph. 166; Latch, 153; and vide Cro. Jac. 121. But a distinction has been made between a thing that has being by prescription, and one that has its being ex jure naturae; in the former case unity of possession will extinguish the easement; in the latter, for example, the case of a water course, the unity will not extinguish it. Poth. 166.
2. By the civil code of Louisiana, art. 801, every servitude is extin-guished, when the estate to which it is due, and the estate owing it, are united in the same hands. But it is necessary that the whole of the two estates should belong to the same proprietor; for if the owner of one estate only acquires the other in part or in common with another person, confusion does not take effect. Vide Merger.
UNIVERSAL LEGACY. A term used among civilians. An universal legacy is a testamentary disposition, by which the testator gives to one or several persons the whole of the property which he leaves at his decease. Civil Code of Lo. art. 1599; Code Civ. art. 1003; Poth. Donations testamentaires, c. 2, sect. 1, §2.
UNIVERSAL PARTNERSHIP. The name of a specie's of partnership by which all the partners agree to put in common all their property, universorum bonorum, not only what they then have, but also what they shall acquire. Poth. Du Contr. de Societe, n. 29.
2. In Louisiana, universal partnerships are allowed, but properly which may accrue to one of the parties, after entering into the partnership, by donation, succession, or legacy, does not become common stock, and any stipulation to that effect, previous to the obtaining the property aforesaid, is void. Civ. Code, art. 2800.
UNIVERSITY. The name given to certain societies or corporations which are seminaries of learning where youth are sent to finish their education. Among the civilians by this term is understood a corporation.
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