INTESTATE. One who, having lawful power to make a will, has made none, or one which is defective in form. In that case, he is said to die intestate, and his estate descends to his heir at law. See Testate.

2. This term comes from the Latin intestatus. Formerly, it was used in France indiscriminately with de-confess; that is, without confession. It was regarded as a crime, on account of the omission of the deceased person to give something to the church, and was punished by privation of burial in consecrated ground. This omission, according to Fournel, Hist. des Avocats, vol. 1, p. 116, could be repaired by making an ampliative testament in the name of the deceased. See Vely, tom. 6, page 145; Henrion De Pansey, Authorite Judiciare, 129 and note. Also, 3 Mod. Rep. 59, 60, for the Law of Intestacy in England.

INTIMATION, civil law. The name of any judicial act by which a notice of a legal proceeding. is given to some one; but it is more usually understood to mean the notice or summons which an appellant causes to be given to the opposite party, that the sentence will be reviewed by the superior judge.

2. In the Scotch law, it is an instrument, of writing, made under the hand of a notary, and notified to a party, to inform him of a right which a third person had acquired; for example, when a creditor assigns a claim against his debtor, the assignee or cedent must give an intimation of this to the debtor, who, till then, is justified in making payment to the original creditor. Kames' Eq. B. 1, p. 1, s. 1.

INTRODUCTION. That part of a writing in which are detailed those facts which elucidate the subject. In chancery pleading, the introduction is that part of a bill which contains the names and description of the persons exhibiting the bill. In this part of the bill are also given the places of abode, title, or office, or business, and the character in which they sue, if it is in autre droit, and such other description as is required to show the jurisdiction of the court. 4 Bouv. Inst. n. 4156.

INTROMISSION Scotch law. The assuming possession of property belonging to another, either on legal grounds, or without any authority; in the latter case, it is called vicious intromission. Bell's S. L. Dict. h. t.

INTRONISATION, French eccl. law. The installation of a hishop in his episcopal see. Clef des Lois Row. h. t. Andre.

INTRUDER. One who, on the death of the ancestor, enters on the land, unlawfully, before the heir can enter.

INTRUSION, estates, torts. When an ancestor dies seised of an estate of inheritance expectant upon an estate for life, and then the tenant dies, and between his death and the entry of the heir, a stranger unlawfully enters upon the estate, this is called an intrusion. It differs from an abatement, for the latter is an entry into lands void by the death of a tenant in fee, and an intrusion, as already stated, is an entry into land void by the death of a tenant for years. F. N. B. 203 3 Bl. Com. 169 Archb. Civ. Pl. 12; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.