(409) bria, Cumberland, in old English pleadings Steph. Com. 88. It is the lowest degree and records. Towns. Pl. 147. 1 Instr. in the church. Id. Cler. 28. Cowell, Appendix. A common abbreviation of CUcurably sick persons, were also put under ADV. VULT. An abbreviation of curia advisari vult, frequent in the reports. See Curia advisari vult. (410) cute or defend a suit for another. Inst. 1. 23. 2. Hence the modern phrase guardian ad litem, (q. v.) (411) • Latch, 133. So, in the phrases per curiam, records. and curia contra, (qq. v.) 3 How. St. Trials, 654. 1 Pite. Crim. Trials, part 1, p. 143. See (412) ( 413 ) sources, however, not having been made out, the correctness of the ancient opinion as to its local origin in England, seems to be not materially affected. 2 Wooddes. Lect. 13. As to the meaning of the term curtesy itself, it is by some writers understood in its ordinary sense of favor, (gratia,) the estate being enjoyed rather by favor of law, (ex gratia legis,) than as a matter of right. Spelman, voc. Jus curialitatis. Skene de Verb. Sign. voc. Curialitas. 2 Wooddes. Lect. 13. Sir J. Jekyll, 2 P. Wms. 703. Others trace it to curtis or curia, (a court,) as denoting an attendance by the husband on the lord's court, in capacity of his vassal or tenant, in respect of his wife's land. 2 Bl. Com. 126. Bisset on Estates, 37. Others, adopting the same etymology, give it a different application, considering tenant by curtesy as signifying as much as tenant by the courts of England. Crabb's Hist. Eng. Law, 86. 2 Chitt. Bl. Com. 126, note. But this last seems a strained derivation. ing of the term, and cites an old record showing garden to be distinct from curtilage. Blount cites an old statute to the same effect, and is followed by Jacob. It certainly is not the modern meaning 1 Chitt. Gen. Pr. ub. sup. Cowell confounds the two meanings. * **The radical signification of this term, as clearly shown by Spelman, is an enclosed space about a house, an area actually fenced in, (intra septum). Fleta uses the terms curia (court,) and curtilagium, in such connection as to show that their meaning was similar, applying both to the arrangement of ground about a farm-house. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 20, § 6. Neither Cowell, Blount nor Jacob, however, admit the idea of enclosure into their definitions. And see Shep. Touch. 94. In the late case of The People v. Taylor, (2 Michigan, (Gibbs) R. 250,) the signification of the term "curtilage" was made the subject of very particular consideration. The court (Wing, J.) seemed disposed to depart from the strict idea of an actual enclosure, as maintained in England, and held, on this point, the following language: "It is perhaps unfortunate that this term, which is found in the English statutes, and which is descriptive of the common arrangement of dwellings and the yards surrounding them in England, should have been perpetuated in our statutes. It is not strictly applicable to the common disposition of enclosures and buildings constituting the homestead of the inhabitants of this country, and particularly of farmers. In England, the dwellings and out-houses of all kinds are usually surrounded by a fence or stone wall, enclosing a small piece of land, embracing the yards and out-buildings near the house, constituting what is called the court. This wall is so constructed as to add greatly to the security of the property within it; but, as such precautionary arrangements have not been considered necessary in this country, they have not been adopted. Hence the difficulty, in this case,