MAYHEMAVIT. Maimed. This is a term of art which cannot be supplied in pleadings by any other word; as, mutilavit, truncavit, c. 3 Tho. Co. Litt. 548.
MAYOR, officer. The chief or executive magistrate1 of a city who bears this title.
2. It is generally his duty to cause the laws of the city to be enforeed, and to superintend inferior officers, such as constables2, watchmen and the like. But the power and authority which mayors possess being given to them by local regulations, vary in different places.
MAYOR'S COURT. The name of a court usually established in cities, composed of a mayor, recorder and aldermen, generally having jurisdiction3 of offences committed within the city, and of other matters specially4 given them by the statute5.
MEASURE. That which is used as a rule to determine a quantity. A certain quantity of something, taken for a unit, and which expresses a relation with other quantities of the same thing.
2. The constitution of the United States gives power to congress to fix the standard of weights and measures. Art. 1, B. 8. Hitherto this has remained as a dormant6 power, though frequently brought before the attention of congress.
3. The states, it seems, possess the power to legislate7 on this subject, or, at least, the existing standards at the adoption8 of the constitution remain in full force. 3 Sto. Const. 21; Rawle on the Const. 102.
4. By a resolution of congress, of the 14th of June, 1836, the secretary of the treasury9 is directed to cause a complete set of all weights and measures adopted as standards, and now either made or in the progress of manufacture, for the use of the several custom-houses and for other purposes, to be delivered to the governor of each state in the Union, or to such person as he may appoint, for the use of the states respectively, to the end that an uniform standard of weights and measures may be established throughout the United States.
5. Measures are either, 1. Of length. 2. Of surface. 3. Of solidity or capacity. 4. Of force or gravity, or what is commonly called weight. 5. Of angles. 6. Of time. The measures now used in the United States, are the same as those of England, and are as follows
1. MEASURES OF LENGTH.12 inches = l foot3 feet = l yard51/2 yards = l rod or pole40 poles = 1 furlong8 furlongs = l mile 69 1/15 miles = l degree of a great circleof the earth.
An inch is the smallest lineal measure to which a name is given, but subpisions are used for many purposes. Among mechanics, the inch is commonly pided into eighths. By the officers of the revenue and by scientific persons, it is pided into tenths, hundredths, c. Formerly10 it was made to consist of twelve parts called lines, but these have fallen into disuse.
