formula of reply by a prisoner, when arraigned at the bar. to the question, "Culprit, how wilt thou be tried?"
BY-LAWS. Regulations, ordinances, or rules enacted by a private corporation for its own government.
A by-law is a rule or law of a corporation, for its government, and is a legislative act, and the solemnities and sanction required in the charter must he observed. A resolution is not necessarily a by-law though a by-law may be in the form of a resolution. Peek v. Elliott, 79 Fed. 10. 24 C. C. A. 425, 38 L. R. A. 616; Mining Co. v. King, 94. Wis. 439. 69 N. W. 181, 36 L. R. A. 51; Bagley v. Oil Co., 201 Pa. 78, 50 Atl. 760, 56 L. R. A. 184; Dairy Ass'n v. Webb, 40 App. Div. 49, 57 N. Y. Supp. 572.
"That the reasonableness of a by-law of a corporation is a question of law, and not of fact has always been the established rule; but in the case of State v. Overtun. 24 N. J. Law, 435, 61 Am. Dec. 671, a distinction was taken in this respect between a by-law and a regulation, the validity of the former being a judicial question, while the latter was regarded as a matter in pais. But although, in one of the opinions read in the case referred to, the view was clearly expressed that the reasonableness of a corporate regulation was properly for the consideration of the jury, and not of the court, yet it was nevertheless stated that the point was not involved in the controversy then to be decided. There is no doubt that the rule thus intimated is in opposition to recent American authorities. Nor have I been able to find in the English books any such distinction as that above stated between a by-law and a regulation of a corporation." Compton v. Van Volkenburgh. 34 N. J. Law, 135.
The word has also been used to designate the local laws or municipal statutes of a city or town. But of late the tendency ls to employ the word "ordinance" exclusively for this class of enactments, reserving "by-law" for the rules adopted by private corporations.
BY LAW MEN. In English law. The chief men of a town, representing the inhabitants.
BY-ROAD. The statute law of New Jersey recognizes three different kinds of roads:
A public road, a private road, and a by-road. A by-road is a road used by the inhabitants, and recognized by statute, but not laid out. Such roads are often called "drift-ways." They are roads of necessity in newly-settled countries. Van Blarcom v. Frike, 29 N. J. Law. 516. See, also, Stevens v. Allen, 29 N. J. Law, 68.
An obscure or neighborhood road in its earlier existence, not used to any great extent by the public, yet so far a public road that the public have of right free access to it at all times. Wood v. Hurd, 34 N. J. Law. 89.
BY THE BY. Incidentally; without new process. A term used in former English practice to denote the method of filing a declaration against a defendant who was already in the custody of the court at the suit of a different plaintiff or of the same plaintiff to another cause.
BYE-BIL-WUFFA. In Hindu law. A deed of mortgage or conditional sale.
