It was

YEAR, DAY, AND WASTE. formerly a part of the king's prerogative to take the profits of the lands of felons for a year and a day, and to make waste of the same lauds, unless the lord of the felon redeemed the king's waste. But the king was restricted of this right of waste by Magna Charta, 9 Hen. 3, c. 22, and after taking the profits for a year and a day, he was to deliver them over to the lord. This prerogative of the king was abolished altogether by the stat. 54 Geo. 3, c. 145, which enacted that no future attainder for felony, except in cases of high treason or murder, should extend to the disinheriting of any heir, or to the prejudice of the right or title of any person other than the right or title of the offender himself during his life.

YEAR-BOOKS. Reports in a regular series from the reign of King Edward II. inclusive to the time of Henry VIII., said to have been taken by the prothonotaries or chief scribes of the Court at the expense of the Crown; they were published annually, whence their name.

YEARS, LEASES FOR. See title LEASES.

YEOMAN. A grade of society next in order to that of gentleman (6 Ric. 2, c. 4, and 20 Ric. 2, c. 2). The word etymologically means a common man, i.e., commoner.

Yeoman also designates an officer of the Queen's household, holding a middle place between serjeant and groom. Also, there are yeomen of the Queen's guard, being a body of soldiers first established in the reign of Henry VIII.

YEOMANRY: See title VOLUNTEERS.

YEW. A tree of which bows were commonly made for warfare; whence the tree was commonly planted in the churchyards, to ensure its protection.

YIELDING AND PAYING. The phrase which commonly expresses the reservation of rent in a deed of lease.

YULE-continued.

Christmas. The word is still in common use in Scotland, and is part of the local dialect.

Z.

ZEALOT. This word is commonly taken in a bad sense, as denoting a separatist from the Church of England, or a fanatic.

ZEALOUS WITNESS. When a witness is over-zealous on behalf of his party, the counsel who calls him ought to interrogate him with an appearance of indifference, to repress the witness's readiness to give evidence, and to prevent him from diminishing the effect or weight of his testimony; and he ought to dismiss him so soon as he has obtained all the evidence that he wants from him. Of such a witness Quintilian says,-"Nec nimium instare interrogationi [debet], ne ad omnia respondendo testis fidem suam minuat; sed in tantum evocare eum, quantum sumere ex uno satis sit." Best's Evidence, 819. Over-zeal in a witness is clearly a matter affecting his trustworthiness. Tayl. Evid. p. 70.

These

ZOLLVEREIN. Is the name of the trade-league constituted by twenty-five of the states of the German Empire, until recently of the German Confederation. It comprises the kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Wurtemberg, together with one electorate (Hesse), three grand duchies, seven duchies, seven principalities, one landgraviate, and the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main. states have agreed upon a general system of law with regard to commerce, the effect of which is to override the particular laws of the particular states, excepting where the general law is silent. See the Convention with regard to Letters Patent, dated the 21st of September, 1842, and ratified the 29th of June, 1843. (Johnson's Patentees' Manual, p. 356.) And see Wheaton's International Law, 70, 78 (n.)