Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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Page 521 - Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them;...
Page 199 - ... all actions of debt grounded upon any lending or contract without specialty...
Page 110 - All the laws which have heretofore been adopted, used and approved in the Province, Colony or State of Massachusetts Bay, and usually practised on in the courts of law, shall still remain and be in full force, until altered or repealed by the legislature; such parts only excepted as are repugnant to the rights and liberties contained in this constitution.
Page 71 - No will shall be valid, unless it shall be in writing, and executed in manner hereinafter mentioned, (that is to say) : It shall be signed at the foot or end thereof, by the testator or by some other person in his presence, and by his direction, and such signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, and such witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator and of each other but no form...
Page 358 - Insurance Company shall be answerable only for so much as the amount of such prior insurance may be deficient towards fully covering the property hereby insured.
Page 278 - ... order or certificate, or any book of accounts for or concerning money or goods due or to become due, or to be delivered...
Page 120 - And all these circumstances of justification, excuse or alleviation, it is incumbent upon the prisoner to make out, to the satisfaction of the court and jury : the latter of whom are to decide whether the circumstances alleged are proved to have actually existed ; the former, how far they extend to take away or mitigate the guilt. For all homicide is presumed to be malicious, until the contrary appeareth upon evidence1.
Page 499 - ... in actions of debt or upon the case grounded upon any simple contract, no acknowledgment or promise by words only shall be deemed sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract, whereby to take any case out of the operation of the...
Page 105 - Malice, in common acceptation, means ill will against a person ; but in its legal sense it means, a wrongful act, done intentionally, without just cause or excuse.
Page 274 - It was reasonable and sufficient was a question of law, to be decided by the court, and not by the jury.

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