AB INITIO, from the beginning.

2. When a man enters upon lands or into the house of another by authority of law, and afterwards abuses that authority, he becomes a trespasser ab initio. Bac. Ab. Trespass, B.; 8 Coke, 146 2 Bl. Rep. 1218 Clayt. 44. And if an officer neglect to remove goods attached within a reasonable time and continue in possession, his entry becomes a trespass ab initio. 2 Bl. Rep. 1218. See also as to other cases, 2 Stra. 717 1 H. Bl. 13 11 East, 395 2 Camp. 115 2 Johns. 191; 10 Johns. 253; ibid. 369.

3. But in case of an authority in fact, to enter, an abuse of such authority will not, in general, subject the party to an action of trespass, Lane, 90 ; Bae. Ab. Trespass, B ; 2 T. It. 166. See generally 1 Chit. PI. 146. 169. 180.

AB INTESTAT. An heir, ab intestat, is one on whom the law casts the inheritance or estate of a person who dies intestate.

AB IRATO, civil law. A Latin phrase, which signifies by a man in anger. It is applied to bequests or gifts, which a man makes adverse to the interest of his heir, in consequence of anger or hatred against him. Thus a devise made under these circumstances is called a testament ab irato. And the suit which the heirs institute to annul this will is called an action ab irato. Merlin, Repert. mots Ab irato.

ABANDONMENT, contracts. In the French law, the act by which a debtor surrenders his property for the benefit of his creditors. Merl. Rep. mot Abandonment.

ABANDONMENT, contracts. In insurances the act by which the insured relinquishes to the assurer all the property to the thing insured.

2. – No particular form is required for an abandonment, nor need it be in writing; but it must be explicit and absolute, and must set forth the reasons upon which it is founded.

3. – It must also be made in reasonable time after the loss.

4. – It is not in every case of loss that the insured can abandon. In the following cases an abandonment may be made: when there is a total loss; when the voyage is lost or not worth pursuing, by reason of a peril insured against or if the cargo be so damaged as to be of little or no value; or where the salvage is very high, and further expense be necessary, and the insurer will not engage to bear it or if what is saved is of less value than the freight; or where the damage exceeds one half of the value of the goods insured or where the property is captured, or even detained by an indefinite embargo ; and in cases of a like nature.

5. – The abandonment, when legally made transfers from the insured to the insurer the property in the thing insured, and obliges him to pay to the insured what he promised him by the contract of insurance. 3 Kent, Com. 265; 2 Marsh. Ins. 559 Pard. Dr. Coin. n. 836 et seq. Boulay Paty, Dr. Com. Maritime, tit. 11, tom. 4, p. 215.