act of attainder

Act \Act\ ([a^]kt), n. [L. actus, fr. agere to drive, do: cf. F.
   acte. See {Agent}.]
   1. That which is done or doing; the exercise of power, or the
      effect, of which power exerted is the cause; a
      performance; a deed.
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            That best portion of a good man's life,
            His little, nameless, unremembered acts
            Of kindness and of love.              --Wordsworth.
      [1913 Webster] Hence, in specific uses:
      (a) The result of public deliberation; the decision or
          determination of a legislative body, council, court of
          justice, etc.; a decree, edit, law, judgment, resolve,
          award; as, an act of Parliament, or of Congress.
      (b) A formal solemn writing, expressing that something has
          been done. --Abbott.
      (c) A performance of part of a play; one of the principal
          divisions of a play or dramatic work in which a
          certain definite part of the action is completed.
      (d) A thesis maintained in public, in some English
          universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show
          the proficiency of a student.
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   2. A state of reality or real existence as opposed to a
      possibility or possible existence. [Obs.]
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            The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in
            possibility, what they afterward grow to be.
                                                  --Hooker.
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   3. Process of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on
      the point of (doing). "In act to shoot." --Dryden.
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            This woman was taken . . . in the very act. --John
                                                  viii. 4.
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   {Act of attainder}. (Law) See {Attainder}.

   {Act of bankruptcy} (Law), an act of a debtor which renders
      him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt.

   {Act of faith}. (Ch. Hist.) See {Auto-da-F['e]}.

   {Act of God} (Law), an inevitable accident; such
      extraordinary interruption of the usual course of events
      as is not to be looked for in advance, and against which
      ordinary prudence could not guard.

   {Act of grace}, an expression often used to designate an act
      declaring pardon or amnesty to numerous offenders, as at
      the beginning of a new reign.

   {Act of indemnity}, a statute passed for the protection of
      those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them
      to penalties. --Abbott.

   {Act in pais}, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the
      country), and not a matter of record.
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   Syn: See {Action}.
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