CO-ADMINISTRATOR1. One of several administrators2. In general, they have, like executors, the power to act singly to the personal estate of the intestate. Vide Administrator.
CO-ASSIGNEE. One who is assignee with another.
2. In general, the rights and duties of co-assignees are equal.
CO-EXECUTOR. One who is executor of a will in company with another. In general each co-executor has the full power over the personal estate of the testator, that all the executors have jointly4. Vide Joint3 Executors. But one cannot bring suit without joining with the others.
COAST. The margin5 of a country bounded by the sea. This term includes the natural appendages6 of the territory which rise out of the water, although they are not of sufficient firmness to be inhabited or fortified7. Shoals perpetually covered with water are not, however, comprehended under the name of coast. The small islands, situate at the mouth of the Mississippi, composed of earth and trees drifted down by the river, which are not of consistency8 enough to support the purposes of life, and are uninhabited, though resorted to for shooting birds, were held to form a part of the coast. 5 Rob. Adm. R. 385. .
COCKET, commerce. In England the office at the custom house, where the goods to be exported are entered, is so called, also the custom house seal, or the parchment sealed and delivered by the officers of customs to merchants, as a warrant that their goods are customed. Crabbe's Tech. Dict.
COCKETTUM, commerce. In the English law this word signifies, 1. the custom- house seal; 2. the office at the custom where cockers are to be procured9. Crabbe's Tech. Dict.
CODE, legislation. Signifies in general a collection of laws. It is a name given by way of eminence10 to a collection of such laws made by the legislature. Among the most noted11 may be mentioned the following:
CODES, Les Cing Codes; French law. The five codes.
2. These codes are, 1st. Code Civil, which is pided into three books; book 1, treats of persons, and of the enjoyment12 and privation of civil rights; book 2, of property and its different modifications13; book 3, of the different ways of acquiring property. One of the most perspicuous and able, commentators14 on this code is Toullier, frequently citedin this work.
3. - 2d. Code de procedure civille, which is pided into two parts. Part 1, is pided into five books; 1. of justices of the. peace; 2. of inferior tribunals; 3. of royal courts; 4. of extraordinary means of proceeding15; 5. of execution and judgment16. Part 2, is pided into three books; 1. of tender and consignation; 2. of process in relation to the opening of a succession; 3. of arbitration17.
4. - 3d. Code de Commerce, in four books; 1. of commerce in general; 2. of maritime18 comraerce; 3. of failures and bankruptcy19; 4. of commercial jurisdiction20. Pardessus is one of the ablest commentators on this code.
5. - 4th. Code d'Instructions Criminelle, in two books; 1. of judiciary police, and its officers; 2. of the administration of justice.
6.-5th. Code Penal21, in four books; 1. of punishment in criminal and correctional cases, and their effects; 2. of the persons punishable, excusable or responsible, for their crimes or misdemeanors; 3. of crimes, misdemeanors, and their punishment; 4. of contraventions of police, and their punishment. For the history of these codes, vide Merl. Rep. h. t.; Motifs22, Rapports23, Opinions et Discours sur les Codes; Encyclop. Amer. h. t.
7. Henrion de Pansey, late a president of the Court of Cassation, remarks in reference to these codes: In the midst of the innovations of these later times, a system of uniformity has suddenly engrossed24 all minds, and we have had imposed upon us the same weights, the same measures, the same laws, civil, criminal, rural and commercial. These new codes, like everything which comes from the hand of man, have imperfections and obscurities. The administration of them is committed to nearly thirty sovereign courts and a multitude of petty tribunals, composed of only three judges, and yet are invested with the right of determining in the last resort, under many circumstances. Each tribunal, the natural interpreter of these laws, applies them according to its own view, and the new codes were scarcely in operation before this beautiful system of uniformity became nothing more than a vain theory. Authorite Judiciaire, c. 31, s. 10.
