ORIGINAL JURISDICTION1, practice. That which is given to courts to take cognizance of cases which may be instituted in those courts in the first instance. The constitution of the United States gives the supreme2 court of the United State original jurisdiction in cases which affect ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls3, and to those in which a state is a party. Art. 3, s. 2; 1 Kent, Com. 314.
ORIGINAL WRIT4, practice, English law. A mandatory5 letter issued in the king's name, sealed with his great seal, and directed to the sheriff of the county wherein the injury was committed or supposed to have been done, requiring him to command the wrongdoer or party accused, either to do justice to the complainant, or else to appear in court and answer the accusation6 against him. This writ is deemed necessary to give the courts of law jurisdiction.
2. In modern practice, however, it is often dispensed7 with, by recourse, as usual, to fiction, and a proceeding8 by bill is substituted. In this country, our courts derive9 their jurisdiction from the constitution and require no original writ to confer it. Improperly10 speaking, the first writ which is issued in a case, is sometimes called an original writ, but it is not so in the English sense of the word. Vide 3 Bl. Com. 273 Walk. Intr. to Amer. Law, 514.
ORIGINALIA, Eng. law. The transcripts11 and other documents sent to the office of the treasurer-remembrancer in the exchequer12, are called by this name to distinguish them from records, which contain the judgment's of the barons13.
ORNAMENT14. An embellisment. In questions arising as to which of two things is to be considered as principal or accessory, it is the rule, that an ornament shall be considered as an accessory. Vide Accessory; Principal.
ORPHAN15. A minor16 or infant who has lost both of his or her parents. Sometimes the term is applied17 to such a person who has lost only one of his or her parents. 3 Mer. 48; 2 Sim. Stu. 93; Lo Man. Inst. B. 1, t. 2, c. 1. See Hazzard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. 14, pages 188, 1 89, for a correspon-dence between the Hon. Joseph Hopkinson and ex-president J. Q. Adams as to the meaning of the word Orphan, and Rob. 247.
ORPHANAGE18, Engl. law. By the custom of London, when a freeman of that city dies, his estate is pided into three parts, as follows: one third part to the widow; another, to the children advanced by him in his lifetime, which is called the orphanage; and the other third part may be by him disposed of by will. Now, however, a freeman may dispose of his estate as he pleases; but in cases of intestacy, the statute19 of distribution expressly excepts and reserves the custom of London. Lov. on Wills, 102, 104; Bac. Ab. Custom of London, C. Vide Legitime.
