† O. Ni, oni, phr. Obs.
An abbreviation of the Latin words oneratur, nisi habeat sufficientem exonerationem ‘he is charged, or legally responsible, unless he have a sufficient discharge’, with which the account of a sheriff with the King was formerly marked in the Exchequer; sometimes used subst. as a name for this phrase or the fact itself.
| 1644 Coke On Litt. iv. 116 The course of the Eschequer is, that as soon as a Sheriffe or Escheator enter into his account for issues, amerciaments and mean profits, to mark upon his head O. Ni., which is as much to say, as Oneratur, nisi habeat sufficientem exonerationem, and presently he is become the kings debtor, and a Debet set upon his head, and thereupon the parties peravaile are become debtors to the Sheriffe or Escheator, and discharged against the King. 1706 Phillips, Oni. a 1726 Gilbert Treat. Crt. Exchequer (1758) 150 As to the Sheriff's Discharge first he may discharge himself by an O'ni'; (that is to say) by Order of Court, upon any particular Article, or by shewing the King's Great or Privy Seal, discharging it out of the Account. |
Hence † oni, o'ni v., trans. to mark with O. Ni; to charge to the sheriff.
| a 1726 Gilbert Treat. Crt. Exchequer (1758) 13 The Sheriff was o' ni'd on his Account, and shewed the Book of the Clerk of the Pells in his Discharge. Ibid. 116 Margin, Rent paid on Tally to be Onied. Ibid. 149 The Sheriff pays in Proffers to the Value of the County Rents, because these he must Tot or O'ni' before the Cursitor Baron. |