AMI; AMY– A friend; as alien ami, an alien belonging to a nation at peace with us; prochain ami, a next friend suing or defending for an infant, married woman, etc.
Henry Campbell Black. A Dictionary of Law… (St. Paul: West Publishing Co.), 1891.[2]
AMY – An infant’s next friend. [p. 9]
Percy C. Rushen, The Genealogist’s Legal Dictionary(Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau), 1909.[3]
[1]Familiarity with legal terms relating to women is critical to the success of your research. This may not be as simple as one would hope partially because terminology changed over time. This series will attempt to make use of two available resources to assist researchers in finding the meaning of what may now be an obsolete term.
[2]The standard work recommended for genealogists is Henry Campbell Black’s A Dictionary of Law. This work has numerous editions and for the purposes of general reference, genealogists tend to prefer the 4thor the 3rdedition. For the purposes of this blog however, the 1stedition includes historical terms that may not have survived into the later editions of the work.
[3]For an added perspective on usage and terminology, Percy C. Rushen’s The Genealogist’s Legal Dictionaryadds terms that were in use in the early modern period, as well as terms that may not have made it into Black’s. Also, as a British attorney, Rushen’s dictionary includes terms used in British records that may or may not have crossed the pond and made it into colonial American records. Pulling terms relating to women from both sources makes for a more complete understanding of the relationship between women and the law.