ESTHONIA. 226 ESTOPPEL. the raising of live stock, which is also a thriving industry. Manufacturing has reached a consid- erable development. Cotton goods and liquors are chiefly produced. The trade is mostly tran- sit, but of great importance. Reval, the chief seaport and capital, has considerable shipping, and is connected by rail with Saint Petersburg. Population, in 1807, 413,000, consisting princi- pally of Esthonians (nearly 90 per cent.), but in- cluding also Germans, Russians, Swedes, and Jews. The Esths, a Finnish people, are blond, and dolichocephalic, resembling the Germans and Russians, by whom they have been profoundly modified. When they first appear in history they are primitive, having no domestic animals, no grain except barley, and living in skin tents. They are the only group south of Finland that preserve the native speech. Most of the inhabi- tants are Protestant. Divided between the Danes and the Germans in the thirteenth century, Esthonia came entirely into the possession of the Germans with the purchase of the Danish portion by the Teutonic Knights in 1346. In 1561 it passed to the Swedes, from whom it was taken by Peter the Great in 1710, being formally ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad, in 1721. From 1721 to 1882 Esthonia had the title of a duchy. Consult: Jordan, Beitriige zur Geographic wnd Statistik Esthlands (Reval. 1880) f Rutenberg, Geschichte der OstseeprovAnzen (Leipzig, 1880). ESTHS. See Esthonia. ESTIENNE, a'tyen'. See Stephanus. ES'TIVA'TION (from Lat. cestivare, to pass the summer, from wstas, summer; connected with Gk. aXBav, aithein, to blaze, Skt. idh, to kindle). A suspension of activity, or assumption of dormancy, availed of by some small animals, such as land-snails, as a means of escaping drought and heat in excessively warm climates. See Hibernation. ESTLANDER, est'land-er, Cabl Gustav (1834 — ). A Finnish author. He was appoint- ed professor of modern literature at the Univer- sity of Helsingfors in 1860. He founded and be- came editor of the Finland Review in 1876, and wrote a number of valuable works which have contributed to the industrial and artistic prog- ress of his country. Among his works are: The History <>l tht Plastic Irts from the Middle of the Eighteenth, Century Until Our Oum. Time (1867) ; The Development Prist and Future of the Art and Industry of Finland (1871) ; Rich- mil t'inir tie I, iuit in History and Poetry ( 1858) ; and some researches into the romance of Tristan, in French (1866). ESTOC (OF., from OHO.. MHO. sine. Ger. Stock, Eng. slock). A small dagger worn at the girdle, and called in Eizabethan times a 'tucke.' ESTOILE, Is-toil', Fr. pron. a'stwal' (OF., stall, nr STAB. A bearing in heraldry. It dif- fers from the mullet (q.v.) in having six waved r;iy*. the mullet consisting of five plain rays. ES'TON. A town in the North Hiding of York- shire, England, about four miles east-southea i Middlesbrough (Map: England, E 2). Its i industry i the manufacture of steel rails. Population, in 1901, i 1,200. ESTOPPEL (from estop, from OF. estoper, niper, IV. itouper, from ML. stoppare, Lat. tufl with I"" . ■ram, from stuppa, stupa, Gk. ariinrn, styppe. arvvri, stype, oakum). A legal impediment or bar which pre- cludes a person from alleging or denying a fact because of his previous conduct. Estoppels are divided into three classes, which will be con- sidered separately. ( 1 ) By Record. Tiiis class includes not only the formal and final judgment in a judicial proceeding, but the pleadings of the parties and all other papers or orders which go to make up the record of the case. If any mistake has been made in the record, the party injuriously affected by it must obtain relief by an application to the court to correct it, or by an appeal to a higher court. When the record is allowed to stand, it is conclusive evidence of its truth. If the judg- ment is one in rem (q.v.), that is, if it is an adjudication as to the status of a person or thing, it is conclusive against the whole world. Every one is estopped from setting up the truth at variance with the judgment. If A is duly adjudged a bankrupt, no one is allowed, while such judgment stands, to dispute his condition of bankruptcy. If the judgment is in personam (q.v.), for example, a judgment for a sum of money, it is conclusive upon the parties, but not upon strangers. (2) By Deed. Where a person has entered into a solemn engagement by deed, that is by written instrument under seal, he is not allowed, while the deed remains unimpeached, to deny the truth of any assertion which he has made therein. If the grantor of land recites in his deed that he is the owner of it, he will be pre- cluded from showing that he was not. (3) In Pais, or by Conduct. At present, this is by far the most extensive of the three classes of estoppel, although in Lord Coke's time it was limited to estates in land acquired by livery of seisin, by entry, by acceptance of rent, and by acceptance of an estate. Estoppels by record and estoppels by deed are often spoken of as 'odious,' because, being of a technical character, the}' operate harshly at times. Estoppels in pais do not rest upon con- siderations of general policy, such as have led to the establishment of the other classes, but upon the doctrine that where one by his conduct causes another to believe the existence of a certain state of things, and induces him to act on that belief so as to alter his previous position, the former is precluded from averring, as against the hitter, that a different state of things existed at the time in question. These estoppels are treated with favor by the courts, and their scope is increasing constantly. They an- known also as 'equitable estoppels' and have their founda- tion in fraud. But while the conduct which produces an estoppel in puis is generallj Fraudu- lent, it is not always nor necessarily of that character.
example is afforded l> one who
withdraws from a partnership, lie must give notice Of his withdrawal or he will he estopped from showing thai he has ceased to he a member as againsi one who has b me creditor of the firm upon the assumption that he was still a member. Nor will it he any defense that his former partner agreed to give the proper notice of dissolution. Jt is his duty to he active in the matter; to see that such notice is given OS will in the ordinary course of business proteel third persons from trusting the linn on the assumption that he i- siill a partner.
