FRACTIO
Digest or Pnndects in the Corpus Juris Cl- cilis of Justinlnn, the several extracts from juristic writings of which it is composed being so called.
FRACTIO. Lat. A breiiking; division: fraction; 3 portion of a thing less than the whole.
FRACTION. A hrezihing, or hreaking up; :1 fiiigment or hroireu part; :1 portion of ii thing, icss thin) the whole. Jory v. Pal- ace Dry Goods Co.. 30 Or. 196. (16 Pzic. 786. —l‘rnction of a «lay. A portion of a day. The dliiding a day. Generally, the law does not allow the fraction of B day. 2 Bl. Comm. -11.
FRACTIONAL. As implied to tracts of land. pzirtii-nliirly townships, sections. quorter Keltions, and other divisions nccoi-ding to the go\ernment survey, and also mi_ni_ug claims, this term means that the exterior hoiindnrv lines are laid down to include the whole of such 8. division or such a claim, but that the tract in question does not ine.-isure up to the full extent or include the whole iicreage, because a portion of it is cut off by an overlapping survey, :1 river or lake. or some other external interference. See Talleston Cluh v. Stnte. 141 Ind. 197. 38 I\'. E. 214; Parke v. Meyer. 28 Ark. 287; Goltermann v. Schlermeyer, 111 M0. 404. 19 S. W. 487.
Fractionem diei lion 1-ecipit lex. Lolft. 572. The law does not take notice of a portion of a day.
PEACTITIUM. Arable land. Mon. Angl.
Lot. The the same as
PRACTUEA NAVIUM. breaking or wreck of ships: nu-ufrayiunt. ((1. 1:.)
FRAGMENTA. Lat. Fragments. A name sometimes applied (especially in citations) to the Digest or Pandects in the Corpus Juris Cluilis of Justinian, as being made up of numerous extracts or "fragments" from the writings of various jurists. Mackeld. Rom. Law, 5 74.
PRAIS. Fr. Expense; charges; Frais il'un p1'ncn:‘.9. costs of a suit.
—I‘ra.is de justice. In French and Canadian liiu. Posts incurred incidentally to the action. —Fi-iii: ;iu.sqn'n bard. Fr. In French com- mcrcidl law. Expenses to the board; expenses incurred on a shipment of goods, in packing. ca rings-, commissions. etc.. up to the point where they are nctually ill on honrd the vessel. Burtels v. Redlieid ( . C.) 16 Fed. 336.
costs.
PRANC. A French coin of the value of II little over eighteen cents.
PRANC ALEU. In French fendai law. An 2111041; 21 free inheritance; or an estate held free of any services except such as were due to the sovereign.
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FRANCHISE
FRANCHILANUS. A freeman. Chart. Hen. IV. A free tenant. Spelman.
FRANCHISE. A special privilege conferred by government upon an individual or corporation, and which does not belong to the citizens of the country generally, of common right. It is essential to the character of a franchise that it should be a grant from the sovereign authority, and in this country no franchise can be held which is not derived from a law of the state. In England, a franchise is defined to be a royal privilege in the hands of a subject. In this country, it is a privilege of a public nature, which cannot be exercised without a legislative grant. See Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 13 Pet. 595. 10 L. Ed 274: Dike v. State, 38 Minn. 366, 38 N. W. 95; Chicago Board of Trade v. People, 91 Ill. 82; Lasher v. People, 183 Ill. 226, 55 N. E 663. 47 L. R. A. 802, 75 Am. St. Rep. 103; Southampton v. Jessup, 162 N. Y. 122, 56 N. E 538; Thompson v. People. 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 578; Black River Imp. Co. v. Holway. 87 Wis. 584, 59 N. W. 126; Central Pac. R. Co. v. California. 162 U. S. 91. 16 Sup. Ct. 766, 40 L. Ed. 903: Chicago & W. I. R. Co. v. Dunbar, 95 Ill. 575; State v. Weatherby, 45 Mo. 20; Morgan v. Louisiana, 93 U. S. 223. 23 L. Ed. 860.
A franchise is a privilege or immunity of a public nature, which cannot be legally exercised without legislative grant. To be a corporation is a franchise. The various powers conferred on corporations are franchises. The execution of a policy of insurance by an insurance company, and the issuing a bank-note by an incorporated bank, are franchises. People v. Utica Ins. Co., 15 Johns. (N. Y.) 387, 8 Am. Dec 243.
The word "franchise" has various significations. both in a legal and popular sense. A corporation is itself a franchise belonging to the members of the corporation, and the corporation, itself a franchise, may hold other franchises. So, also, the different powers of a corporation, such as the right to hold and dispose of property, are its franchises. In a poplar sense, the political rights of subjects and citizens are franchises, such as the right of suffrage, etc. Pierce v. Emery, 32 N. H. 484.
The term "franchise" has several significations, and there is some confusion in its use. When used with reference to corporations, the better opinion, deduced from the authorities, seems to be that it consists of the entire privileges embraced in and constituting the grant. It does not embrace the property acquired by the exercise of the franchise. Bridgeport v. New York & N. II. R. Co., 36 Conn. 233, 4 Am. Rep. 63.
—General and special. The charter of a corporation is its "general" franchise, while a "special" franchise consists in any rights granted by the public to use property for a public use but with private profit. Lord v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc., 194 N. Y. 212. 87 N. E. 443. 22 L. R. A. (N. S.) 420.—Elective franchise. The right of suffrage; the right or privilege of voting in public elections.Franchise tax. A tax on the franchise of a corporation, that is on the right and privilege of carrying on business in the character of a corporation, for the purposes for which it was created, and in the conditions which surround it. Though the value of the franchise, for purposes of taxation, may be measured by the amount of business done, or the amount of earnings or dividends, or by the total value of the capital or stock of the cor-
