way or stream is vested in such owner. As to this, see Highway; Rivers; Riparian Rights; Water Rights. Consult Gould, Treatise on the Law of Waters (Chicago, 1900).
ACCES'SION (Lat. ad, to + cedere, to go, move). In the law of property, a mode of acquiring title to land or goods by their annexation to the real or personal property of another, whereby the thing annexed loses its separate identity. It occurs where land is gradually increased by accretion (q.v.) or alluvion (q.v.), where a tenant or stranger erects a building or attaches a fixture (q.v.) to land, and where a chattel belonging to one is improved by the addition of materials or labor of another, as in the repair of a wagon by adding a wheel or by painting it, or in the conversion of leather into shoes. The legal effect of the annexation is to transfer the title of the thing annexed to the owner of the property so improved or increased, the identity of the former having been merged in the latter; the wheel, the paint, and the labor, in the examples given above, having disappeared as separate articles and being now inseparable parts of the wagon and the leather. The rule governing accessions is that the ownership of the principal thing carries with it that of the inferior thing. But, as the question of superiority or inferiority is not always one of price or value, the rule is sometimes difficult of application. Thus, additions and improvements to land, however extensive and valuable they may be, always accrue to the owner of the soil, and a chattel may be doubled or trebled in value by the expenditure of skill and labor without changing its ownership. But where the identity of a chattel is completely changed by the labor expended upon it, as by the conversion of malt into beer, or where it is enormously increased in value, as by the manufacture of pig iron into watch-springs, the product belongs to the person whose money and labor have effected the transformation. See the article on Confusion; and consult Schouler, Treatise on the Law of Personal Property (Boston, 1896).
ACCES'SORY. At common law, a person who was not the chief actor in a crime, nor present at its performance, but was concerned in its commission, was an accessory. Treason and misdemeanors did not admit of accessories, however: the former, Blackstone says, because of the heinousness of the crime, and the latter because the law docs not descend to distinguish the different shades of guilt in petty offenses. An accessory before the fact is one who counsels or procures the commission of a crime, but who is neither present nor engaged in furthering the transaction when the crime is committed. An accessory after the fact is one who, knowing a felony has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the felon. Several reasons are assigned by Blackstone for the common law distinction between principals and accessories, but the tendency of modern legislation is to convert accessories before the fact into principals, and to permit the trial and conviction of an accessory, whether the principal has been tried and convicted or not. Consult the authorities referred to under the title Criminal Law; also, Wharton, Criminal Law (Philadelphia, 1896); Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of England (London, 1883); Harris, Principles of the Criminal Law, (London, 1899).
ACCIDENT (Lat. ad, to + cadere, to fall, happen, occur). In the law of torts, a transaction in which one is harmed by another while the latter is acting lawfully and in the exercise of due care adapted to the exigency of the case. For example, A's and B's dogs are fighting: A beats them in order to separate them, and, as he raises his cane, unintentionally and without negligence hits B, who is standing behind him. B has no cause of action against A, as the injury was accidental. This is now the undisputed law both in England and in the United States, although formerly there was much apparent authority in England for A's liability in such a case. See the authorities referred to under the title Tort.
In equity accident denotes an unforeseen event, loss, act, or omission, not the result of negligence or misbehavior in any of the parties; such as the loss of negotiable or other papers; or where some part of a document has been omitted, in which case the court can require its insertion. In penalties and forfeitures, where the injury caused by omission of duty can be reasonably compensated, as in case of failure to pay rent on a given day, the court may relieve the offending party against the penalty of forfeiture. Where there has been neglect or omission through want of information or through negligence to defend a suit, the court may permit the proper steps to be taken. But as a rule, a court of equity will interfere only in favor of persons paying a consideration; so if a seal should he omitted from a conveyance made without consideration, or a clause should be left out of a will, no relief would be extended. It is also ruled that no relief will be granted against a purchaser who has acquired legal rights in good faith for a consideration of value. Consult: Bispham, Principles of Equity Jurisprudence. See Tort; Crime; Accident Insurance; Contract.
ACCIDENT (in logic and philosophy). See Chance; Logic, and Predicable.
AC'CIDEN'TAL. In music, a symbol placed before a note and intended to alter its pitch.
ACCIDENT INSUR'ANCE. A form of insurance which indemnifies the insured in case of disablement or death as the result of bodily accident. Under the usual contract of accident insurance the only injuries insured against are those caused by violent, accidental, external, and visible means. It does not therefore cover cases of intentional injuries, whether self-inflicted or not, nor cases of injury or death resulting from surgical operations, where the operations were themselves rendered necessary by natural disease or weakness and not by external accident. The fact that the accident was incurred through the misconduct or negligence of the insured will not, in general, affect his rights under the policy, though some companies seek to protect themselves by stipulations that they shall not be liable in cases where the accident was due to the intoxication of the insured, or was incurred while wilfully exposing himself to unnecessary danger. The general principles governing accident insurance are the same as those of fire, marine, and life insurance (q.v.). Employers' liability (q.v.), under recent English statutes, is a form of accident insurance. Consult: May, Law of Insurance (Boston, 1900); Porter, Law of Insurance (London, 1898).
