from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
INTENDMENT OF LAW. The true meaning, the correct understanding, or intention
of the law; a presumption or inference made by the courts. Co. Litt. 78. 2.
It is an intendment of law that every man is innocent until proved guilty,
vide Innocence; that every one will act for his own advantage, vide Assent;
Fin. Law, 10, Max. 54; that every officer acts in his office with fidelity
that the children of a married woman, born during the coverture, are the
children of the husband, vide Bastardy; many things are intended after
verdict, in order to support a judgment, but intendment cannot supply the
want of certainty in a charge in an indictment for a crime. 5 Co. 1 21; vide
Com. Dig. Pleader, C 25, and S 31; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; 14 Vin. Ab. 449;
1 Halst. 132; 1 Harris. 133.