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ABIGEUS

ABIGEUS. (Lat. abigere). steals cattle in numbers.

One who

This is the common word used to denote a stealer of cattle in large numbers, which latter circumstance distinguishes the abigeus from the fur, who was simply a thief. He who steals a single animal may be called fur; he who steals a flock or herd is an abigeus. The word is derived from abigere, to lead or drive away, and is the same in signification as Abactor (q. v.), Abigeatores, Abigatores, Abigei. Du Cange; Guyot, Rép. Univ.; 4 Bla. Com. 239.

A distinction is also taken by some writers depending upon the place whence the cattle are taken; thus, one who takes cattle from a stable is called fur. Calvinus, Lex, Abigei.

ABJUDICATIO (Lat. abjudicare). A removal from court. Calvinus, Lex. It has the same signification as foris-judicatio both in the civil and canon law. Coke, Litt. 100 b. Calvinus, Lex.

ABJURATION (Lat. abjuratio, from A renunciation of abjurare, to forswear). allegiance, upon oath.

In Am. law. Every alien, upon application to become a citizen of the United States, must declare on oath or affirmation before the court where the application is made, amongst other things, that he doth absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity which he owes to any foreign prince, state, etc., and particularly, by name, the prince, state, etc., whereof he was before a citizen or subject. Rawle, Const. 93; 2 Story, U. S. Laws, 850.

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In Eng. law. The oath by which any person holding office in England was formerly obliged to bind himself not to acknowledge any right in the Pretender to the throne of England; 1 Bla. Com. 368; 13 and 14 W. III. c. 6. Repealed by 30 and 31 Vic. c. 59. It also denotes an oath abjuring certain doctrines of the church of Rome.

In the ancient English law, it was a renunciation of one's country and taking an oath of perpetual banishment. A man who had committed a felony, and for safety fled to a sanctuary, might within forty days confess and take the oath of abjuration and perpetual banishment; he was then transported. This was abolished by stat. 21 Jac. I. c. 28. Ayliffe, Parerg. 14; Burr. L. Dic., Abjuration of the Realm; 4 Bla. Com. 332. But the doctrine of abjuration has been referred to, at least, in much later times; 4 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 56, 124, 332; 11 East, 301; 2 Kent, 156, n.; Termes de la Ley.

ABLEGATI. Papal ambassadors of the second rank, who are sent with a less extensive commission to a court where there are

no nuncios. This title is equivalent to envoy,

ABORTION

In the civil, French, and German law, abolition is used nearly synonymously with pardon, remission, grace. Dig. 39. 4. 3. 3. There is, however, the generic term; pardon, this difference: grace according to those laws, is the clemency which the prince extends to a man who has participated in a crime, without being a principal or accomplice; remission is made in cases of involuntary homicides, and self-defence. ent: it is used when the crime cannot be remitted. The prince then may by letters of abolition remit the punishment, but the infamy remains, unless letters of abolition have been obtained before sentence. Encycl. de D'Alembert.

ABORDAGE (Fr.).

vessels.

Abolition is differ

The collision of

If the collision happen in the open sea, and the damaged ship is insured, the insurer must pay the loss, but is entitled in the civil law, at least, to be subrogated to the rights of the insured against the party causing the damage. Ordonnance de la Marine de 1681, Art. 8; Jugements d'Oléron; Emer. Ins. c. 123, 14.

ABORTION. The expulsion of the fœtus at a period of utero-gestation so early that it has not acquired the power of sustaining an independent life.

Its natural and innocent causes are to be

sought either in the mother-as in a nervous, ir

ritable temperament, disease, malformation of the pelvis, immoderate venereal indulgence, a habit of miscarriage, plethora, great debility; or in the fœtus or its dependencies; and this is usually disease existing in the ovum, in the membranes, the placenta, or the fœtus itself.

which

The criminal means of producing abortion are of two kinds. General, or those which seek to produce the expulsion through the constitution of the mother, which are venesection, emetics, cathartics, diuretics, emmenagogues, comprising mercury, savin, and the secale cornutum (spurred rye, ergot), to which much importance has been attached; or local or mechanical means, consist either of external violence applied to the abdomen or loins, or of instruments introduced into the uterus for the purpose of rupturing the membranes and thus bringing on premature action of the womb. The latter is the more generally resorted to, as being the most effectual, These local or mechanical means not unfrequently produce the death of the mother, as well as that of the fœtus.

At common law, an attempt to destroy a child en ventre sa mere, appears to have been held in England to be a misdemeanor. Rosc. Cr. Ev. 4th Lond. ed. 260; 1 Russ. Cr. 3d At an early period it was Lond. ed. 671. held to be murder, in case of death of the In this child. Whart. Cr. L. § 1220. country, it has been held that it is not an indictable offence, at common law, to administer a drug, or perform an operation upon a pregnant woman with her consent, with the intention and for the purpose of causing an ABNEPOS (Lat.). A great-great-grand-abortion and premature birth of the fœtus of son. The grandson of a grandson or grand-which she is pregnant, by means of which an daughter. Calvinus, Lex. abortion is in fact caused, unless, at the time ABNEPTIS (Lat.). A great-great-grand- of the administration of such drug or the perdaughter. The granddaughter of a grandson formance of such operation, such woman was or granddaughter. Metc. 263; 11 Gray, 85; Calvinus, Lex. quick with child; ABOLITION (Lat. abolitio, from abolere, 2 Zabr. 52; 3 Clarke (Iowa), 274; 15 Iowa, A recent case in Kento utterly destroy). The extinguishment, ab- 177; 49 N. Y. 86. tucky citing all the earlier cases holds that rogation, or annihilation of a thing.

which see.

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ABORTIVE TRIAL

this is the rule at common law, and must prevail in the absence of statute; 10 Cent. L. J. 338. But in Pennsylvania a contrary doctrine has been held; 13 Penn. St. 631. Wharton supports the latter doctrine on principle. See, also, 116 Mass. 343.

The former English statutes on this subject, the 43 Geo. III. c. 58, and 9 Geo. IV. c. 51, § 14, distinguished between the case where the woman was quick and was not quick with child; and under both acts the woman must have been pregnant at the time. 1 Mood. Cr. Cas. 216; 3 C. & P. 605. The terms of the recent act (24 and 25 Vic. c. 100, s. 62) are, "with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman whether she be with child or not." See 1 Den. Cr. Cas. 18; 2 C. & K. 293.

When, in consequence of the means used to secure an abortion, the death of the woman ensues, the crime is murder. And if a person, intending to procure abortion, does an act which causes a child to be born so much earlier than the natural time that it is born in a state much less capable of living, and afterwards dies in consequence of its exposure to the external world, the person who by this misconduct so brings the child into the world, and puts it thereby in a situation in which it cannot live, is guilty of murder; and the mere existence of a possibility that something might have been done to prevent the death will not render it less murder; 2 C. & K. 784.

A woman who takes a potion given to her to cause a miscarriage, is not an accomplice with the person administering it; 39 N. J. L. 598.

Consult 1 Beck. Med. Jur. 288-331, 429435; Rosc. Cr. Ev. 190; 1 Russ. Cr. 3d Lond. ed. 671; 1 Briand, Méd. Leg. pt. 1, c. 4; Alison, Scotch Cr. Law, 628; 2 Whart. & Still. Med. Jur. § 84 et seq.; 2 Whart. Cr. L. § 1220 et seq.

ABORTIVE TRIAL. Used "when a case has gone off, and no verdict has been pronounced without the fault, contrivance, or management of the parties." Jebb & B. 51.

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ABORTUS. The fruit of an abortion; the child born before its time, incapable of life. See ABORTION; BIRTH; BREATH; DEAD-BORN; GESTATION; Life.

ABROGATION

of the demand and pray that the tenant answer to the rest. This was allowable generally in real actions where the writ was de libero tenemento, as assize, dower, etc., where the demandant claimed land of which the tenant was not seized. See 1 Wms. Saund. 207, n. 2; 2 id. 24, 330; Brooke, Abr. Abridgment; 1 Pet. 74; Stearns, Real Act. 204.

ABRIDGMENT. An epitome or compendium of another and larger work, wherein the principal ideas of the larger work are summarily contained.

Copyright law. When fairly made, it may justly be deemed, within the meaning of the law, a new work, the publication of which will not infringe the copyright of the work abridged. The abridgment must be something more than a mere copy of the whole or parts of the original. It must be the result of independent labor other than copying, and there must be substantial fruits of authorship on the part of the maker; Drone on Copyright, 158; 4 McLean, 306; 2 Am. L. T. R. U. S. 402. See 16 U. C. B. 409. For a discussion of this subject, in which it is maintained that an abridgment is piratical, see Drone, Copyright, p. 44. See, also, 5 Am. L. T. R. 158; L. R. 8 Exch. 1.

An injunction will be granted against a mere colorable abridgment. 2 Atk. 143; 1 Brown, Ch. 451; 5 Ves. 709; Lofft, 775; Ambl. 403; Story, 11; 3 id. 6; 1 Y. & C. Ch. 298; 39 Leg. Obs. 346; 2 Kent, 382.

Abridgments of the law or digests of adjudged cases serve the very useful purpose of an index to the cases abridged; 5 Coke, 25. Lord Coke says they are most profitable to those who make them; Coke, Litt., in preface to the table at the end of the work. With few exceptions, they are not entitled to be considered authoritative. See 2 Wils. 1, 2; 1 Burr. 364; 1 W. Bla. 101; 3 Term, 64, 241; and an article in the North American Review, July, 1826, pp. 8-13, for an account of the principal abridgments, which was written by the late Justice Story, and is reprinted in his "Miscellaneous Writings," p. 79. Warren Law Stud. 778 et seq.

ABROGATION. The destruction of or lative power, or by usage. annulling a former law, by an act of the legis

A law may be abrogated, or only derogated ABOUTISSEMENT (Fr.). An abuttal from: it is abrogated when it is totally annulled; or abutment. See Guyot, Répert. Univ. it is derogated from when only a part is abroAboutissans. gated; derogatur legi, cum pars detrahitur; abABOVE. Higher; superior. As, court 1. 102. Lex rogatur dum fertur (when it is rogatur legi, cum prorsus tollitur. Dig. 50. 17. above, bail above.

passed); abrogatur dum tollitur (when it is reABPATRUUS. (Lat.). A great-great-pealed); derogatur idem dum quoddam ejus caput uncle; or, a great-great-grandfather's brother. Du Cange, Patruus. It sometimes means uncle, and sometimes great-uncle.

ABRIDGE. In practice. To shorten a declaration or count by taking away or severing some of the substance of it; Brooke, Abr. Abridgment; Comyn, Dig. Abridgment; 1 Viner, Abr. 109.

To abridge a plaint is to strike out a part

aboletur (when any part of it is abolished); subis added to it); abrogatur denique, quoties alirogatur dum aliquid ei adjicitur (when any thing quid in eâ mutatur (as often as any thing in it is changed). Dupin, Proleg. Jur. art. iv.

Express abrogation is that literally pronounced by the new law either in general terms, as when a final clause abrogates or repeals all laws contrary to the provisions of the new one, or in particular terms, as when it

ABSCOND

abrogates certain preceding laws which are named.

Implied abrogation takes place when the new law contains provisions which are positively contrary to the former laws, without expressly abrogating such laws; for it is a maxim, posteriora derogant prioribus; 10 Mart. La. 172, 560; and also when the order of things for which the law had been made no longer exists, and hence the motives which had caused its enactment have ceased to operate; ratione legis omnino cessante, cessat lex; Toullier, Dr. Civ. Fr. tit. prel. § 11, n. 151; Merlin, Répert., Abrogation.

ABSCOND. To go in a clandestine manner out of the jurisdiction of the courts, or to lie concealed, in order to avoid their process. ABSCONDING DEBTOR. One who absconds from his creditors.

The statutes of the various states, and the decisions upon them, have determined who shall be treated in those states, respectively, as absconding debtors, and liable to be proceeded against as such. A person who has been in a state only transiently, or has come into it without any intention of settling therein, cannot be treated as an absconding debtor; 2 Cai. 318; 15 Johns. 196; nor can one who openly changes his residence; 3 Yerg. 414; 5 Conn. 117; 43 Ill. 185. For the rule in Vermont, see 2 Vt. 489; 6 id. 614. It is not necessary that the debtor should actually leave the state; 7 Md. 209. It is essential that there be an intention to delay and defraud cre

ditors.

ABSENCE. The state of being away from one's domicile or usual place of resi dence.

A presumption of death arises after the absence of a person for seven years without having been heard from; Peake, Ev. c. 14, § 1; 2 Starkie, Ev. 457, 458; Park, Ins. 433; 1 W. Bla. 404; 1 Stark. 121; 2 Campb. 113; 4 B. & Ald. 422; 4 Wheat. 150, 173; 15 Mass. 305; 18 Johns. 141; 1 Hardin, 479.

In Louisiana a curator is appointed under some circumstances to take charge of the estate of those who are out of the state during their absence; La. Civ. Code, art. 50, 51. ABSENTEE. A landlord who resides in a country other than that from which he draws his rents. The discussions on the subject have generally had reference to Ireland. McCulloch, Polit. Econ.; 33 British Quarterly Review, 455.

ABSOILE. To pardon; to deliver from excommunication. Staunford, Pl. Cr. 72; Kelham. Sometimes spelled Assoile, which

see.

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere). Complete, perfect, final; without any condition or incumbrance; as an absolute bond (simplex obligatio) in distinction from a conditional bond; an absolute estate, one that is free from all manner of condition or incumbrance. See CONDITION.

A rule is said to be absolute when on the hearing it is confirmed and made final. A conveyance is said to be absolute, as distin

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guished from a mortgage or other conditional conveyance; 1 Powell, Mort. 125.

Absolute rights are such as appertain and belong to particular persons merely as individuals or single persons, as distinguished from relative rights, which are incident to them as members of society; 1 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 123; 1 Chitty, Pl. 364; 1 Chitty, Pr. 32.

Absolute property is where a man hath solely and exclusively the right and also the occupation of movable chattels; distinguished from a qualified property, as that of a bailee; 2 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 388; 2 Kent, 347. ABSOLUTION. In Civil Law. A sentence whereby a party accused is declared innocent of the crime laid to his charge.

In Canon Law. A juridical act whereby the clergy declare that the sins of such as are penitent are remitted. The formula of absolution in the Roman Church is absolute; in the Greek Church it is deprecatory; in the Reformed Churches, declaratory. Among Protestants it is chiefly used for a sentence by which a person who stands excommunicated is released or freed from that punishment. Encyc. Brit.

In French Law. The dismissal of an accusation.

The term acquitment is employed when the ac cused is declared not guilty, and absolution when he is recognized as guilty but the act is not punishable by law or he is exonerated by some defect of intention or will; Merlin, Rep.

ABSOLUTISM. In politics. That government in which public power is vested in some person or persons, unchecked and uncontrolled by any law or institution.

The word was first used at the beginning of this century, in Spain, where one who was in favor of the absolute power of the king, and opposed to the constitutional system introduced by the Cortes during the struggle with the French, was called absolutista. The term Absolutist spread over Europe, and was applied exclusively to absolute an aristocracy and in a democracy as well. Dr. monarchism; but absolute power may exist in Lieber, therefore, uses in his works the term Absolute Democracy for that government in which the public power rests unchecked in the multi

tude (practically speaking, in the majority).

ABSQUE ALIQUO INDE REDDENDO (Lat. without reserving any rent therefrom). A term used of a free grant by the crown; 2 Rolle, Abr. 502.

ABSQUE HOC (Lat.). Without this. See TRAVERSE.

ABSQUE IMPETITIONE VASTI (Without impeachment of waste). A term indicating freedom from any liability on the part of the tenant or lessee to answer in damSee ages for the waste he may commit. WASTE.

ABSQUE TALI CAUSA (Lat. without such cause). In pleading. A form of replication in an action ex delicto which works a general denial of the whole matter of the defendant's plea of de injuria; Gould, Plead. c. 7, § 10.

ABSTENTION. In French Law. The

ABSTRACT OF A FINE

tacit renunciation of a succession by an heir; Merlin, Répert.

ABSTRACT OF A FINE. A part of the record of a fine, consisting of an abstract of the writ of covenant and the concord; naming the parties, the parcel of land, and the agreement; 2 Bla. Com. 351.

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ACCEPTANCE

It is sometimes written acetiam. 2 Stra. 922. This clause is no longer used in the English 2 Will. IV. c. 39. courts. See Burgess, Ins. 149-157; 3 Bla. Com. 288.

AC ETIAM BILLÆ. And also to a bill. See AC ETIAM.

ACCEDAS AD CURIAM (Lat. that you go to court). In Eng. law. An origi

ABSTRACT OF A TITLE. An epitome, or brief statement of the evidences of owner-nal writ issuing out of chancery and directed ship of real estate. to the sheriff, for the purpose of removing a replevin suit from the Hundred Court or Court Baron before one of the superior courts of law. It directs the sheriff to go to the lower court, and there cause the plaint to be recorded and to return, etc. See Fitzherbert, Nat. Brev. 18; Dy. 169.

An abstract should set forth briefly, but clearly, every deed, will, or other instrument, every recital or fact relating to the devolution of the title, which will enable a purchaser, or mortgagee, or his counsel, to form an opinion as to the exact state of the title.

In England this is usually prepared at the expense of the owner; 1 Dart, Vend. and Purch. 279. The failure to deliver an abstract in England relieves the purchaser from his contract in law; id. 305. It should run back for sixty years; or, since the Act of 38 and 39 Vic. c. 78, forty years prior to the intended sale, etc.

In the United States, where offices for registering deeds are universal, and conveyancing much less complicated, abstracts are much simpler than in England, and are usually prepared at the expense of the purchaser, etc., or by his conveyancer.

See Whart. Law Dict.; 7 W. Va. 390. ABUSE. Every thing which is contrary to good order established by usage. Merlin, Répert.

Among the civilians, abuse has another signifi

cation; which is the destruction of the substance

of a thing in using it. For example, the borrower of wine or grain abuses the article borrowed by using it, because he cannot enjoy it without consuming it.

ABUSE OF A FEMALE CHILD. An injury to the genital organs in an attempt at carnal knowledge, falling short of actual penetration. 58 Ala. 376. See RAPE.

ABUT. To reach, to touch.

ACCEDAS AD VICE COMITEM

(Lat. that you go to the sheriff). In Eng. law. A writ directed to the coroner, com manding him to deliver a writ to the sheriff, when the latter, having had a pone delivered him, suppressed it; Reg. Orig. 83.

ACCELERATION. The shortening of the time for the vesting in possession of an expectant interest. Wharton.

ACCEPTANCE (Lat. accipere, to receive). The receipt of a thing offered by another with an intention to retain it, indicated by some act sufficient for the purpose; 2 Parsons, Contr. 221.

The element of receipt must enter into every acceptance, though receipt does not necessarily mean in this sense some actual manual taking. To this element there must be added an inten

tion to retain. This intention may exist at the time of the receipt, or subsequently; it may be indicated by words, or acts, or any medium understood by the parties; and an acceptance of goods will be implied from mere detention, in many instances.

An acceptance involves very generally the idea of a receipt in consequence of a previous undertaking on the part of the person offering to deliver such a thing as the party accepting is in some manner bound to receive. It is through this meaning that the term acceptance, as used in reference to bills of exchange, has a relation

In old law, the ends were said to ebut, the to the more general use of the term. As distinsides to adjoin. Cro. Jac. 184.

guished from assent, acceptance would denote

satisfactory fulfilment of, a contract to which assent had been previously given. See ASSENT.

To take a new direction; as where a bound-receipt of something in compliance with, and ing line changes its course. Spelman, Gloss. Abuttare. In the modern law, to bound upon. 2 Chitty, Pl. 660.

ABUTTALS (Fr.). The buttings or boundings of lands, showing to what other lands, highways, or places they belong or are abutting. Termes de la Ley.

AC ETIAM (Lat. and also). The intro duction of the statement of the real cause of action, used in those cases where it was necessary to allege a fictitious cause of action to give the court jurisdiction, and also the real cause in compliance with the statutes. It was first used in the K. B., and was afterwards adopted by Lord C. J. North in addition to the clausum fregit writs of his court upon which writs of capias might issue. He balanced awhile whether he should not use the words nec non instead of ac etiam.

Under the statute of frauds (29 Car. II. c. 3) delivery and acceptance are necessary to complete an oral contract for the sale of goods, in most cases. In such cases, it is said the acceptance must be absolute and past recall ; 2 Exch. 290; 5 Railw. Cas. 496; 1 Pick. 278; 10 id. 326, and communicated to the party making the offer; 4 Wheat. 225; 6 Wend. 103, 397. As to how far a right to make future objections invalidates an acceptance, see 3 B. & Ald. 521; 5 id. 557; 10 Bingh. 376; 10 Q. B. 111; 6 Exch. 903.

Acceptance of rent destroys the effect of a notice to quit for non-payment of such rent; 3

Taunt. 78; 4 Bingh. N. c. 178; 4 B. & Ald. 401; 13 Wend. 530; 11 Barb. 33; 1 Bush. 418; 2 N. H. 163; 19 Vt. 587; 1 Washb. R. P. 322; and may operate a waiver

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Absolute, which is a positive engagement to pay the bill according to its tenor. Conditional, which is an undertaking to pay the bill on a contingency.

The holder is not bound to receive such an ac

ceptance, but if he does receive it, must observe its terms; 4 M. & S. 466; 1 Campb. 425; 2 Wash. C. C. 485; Dan. Neg. Inst. 411. For some examples of what do and what do not constitute conditional acceptances, see 1 Term, 182; 2 Strange, 1152, 1211; 2 Wils. 9; 6 C. & P. 218; 3 C. B. 841; 15 Miss. 245; 7 Me. 126; 1 Ala. 73; 10 Ala. N. s. 533; 1 Strob. 271; 1 Miles, 294; 4 Watts & S. 346; 105 Mass. 401; 10 C. B. N. s. 214; 44 Ga. 513; 73 Ill. 469; 62 Me. 498; 14 Cal. 407.

Express or absolute, which is an undertaking in direct and express terms to pay the bill. Implied, which is an undertaking to pay the bill inferred from acts of a character fairly to warrant such an inference.

Partial, which is one varying from the tenor of the bill.

An acceptance to pay part of the amount for which the bill is drawn, 1 Strange, 214; 2 Wash. C. C. 485; or to pay at a different time, 14 Jur. 806; 25 Miss. 376; Molloy, b. 2, c. 10, § 20; or at a different place, 4 M. & S. 462, would be partial. Qualified, which are either conditional or partial, and introduce a variation in the sum, time, mode, or place of payment; 1 Dan. Neg. Inst. 414.

Supra protest, which is the acceptance of the bill after protest for non-acceptance by the drawee, for the honor of the drawer or a particular indorser.

When a bill has been accepted supra protest for the honor of one party to the bill, it may be accepted supra protest by another individual for the honor of another; Beawes, Lex Merc., Bills of Exchange, pl. 52; 5 Campb. 447.

The acceptance must be made by the drawee or some one authorized to act for him. The drawee must have capacity to act and bind himself for the payment of the bill, or it may be treated as dishonored. See AcCEPTOR SUPRA PROTEST; Marius, 22; 2 Q. B. 16. As to when an acceptance by an agent, an officer of a corporation, etc., on behalf of the company, will bind the agent or officer personally, see 15 Jur. 335; 20 Law Jour. 160; 6 C. B. 766; 10 id. 318; 9 Exch. 154; 4 N. Y. 208; 6 Mass. 58; 8 Pick. 56; 11 Me. 267; 2 South. 828; see also 17 Wend. 40; 5 B. Monr. 51; 2 Conn. 660; 19 Me. 352; 16 Vt. 220; 2 Metc. Mass. 47; 7 Miss. 371.

It may be made before the bill is drawn, in which case it must be in writing; 3 Mass. 1; 9 id. 55; 15 Johns. 6; 10 id. 207; 2 Wend. 545; 1 Bail. 522; 2 Green, 239; 2 Dana,

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ACCEPTILATION

95; 5 B. Monr. 8; 15 Penn. St. 453; 2 Ind. 488; 3 Md. 265; 1 Pet. 264; 4 id. 121; 2 Wheat. 66; 2 McLean, 462; 2 Blatchf. C. C. 335. See 1 Story 22; 2 id. 213. It may be made after it is drawn and before it comes due, which is the usual course, or after it becomes due; 1 H. Bla. 313; 2 Green, 339; or even after a previous refusal to accept; 5 East, 514; 1 Mas. 176. It must be made within twenty-four hours after presentment, or the holder may treat the bill as dishonored; Chitty, Bills, 212, 217. And upon refusal to accept, the bill is at once dishonored, and should be protested; Chitty, Bills, 217.

It may be in writing on the bill itself or on another paper; 4 East, 91; and it seems that the holder may insist on having a written acceptance, and in default thereof consider the bill as dishonored; 1 Dan. Neg. Inst. 406; or it may be oral; 1 East, 67; Rep. temp. Hardw. 74; 6 C. & P. 218; 1 Wend. 522; 2 Green, 339; 1 Rich. 249; 3 Mass. 1; 2 Metc. 53; 22 N. H. 153; 115 Mass. 374; 91 U. S. 406; 75 Ill. 595; 11 Moore, 320. An acceptance by telegraph has been held good; 87 Ill 98; 109 Mass. 414; but must now be in writing, in England and New York; Stat. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 97, § 6. The usual form is by writing "accepted across the face of the bill and signing the acceptor's name; 1 Parsons, Contr. 223; 1 Mann. & R. 90; but the drawee's name alone is sufficient, or any words of equivalent force to accepted. See Byles, Bills, 147; 1 Atk. 611; 1 Mann. & R. 90; 21 Pick. 307; 3 Md. 265; 9 Gill, 350.

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Consult Bayley, Byles, Chitty, Parsons, and Story, on Bills; Parsons on Contracts; Dan. Neg. Inst.

In Insurance. Acceptance of abandonment in insurance is in effect an acknowledg ment of its sufficiency, and perfects the right of the assured to recover for a total loss if the cause of loss and circumstances have been

truly made known. No particular form of acceptance is requisite, and the underwriter is not obliged to say whether he accepts; 2 Phillips, Ins. § 1689. An acceptance may be a constructive one, as by taking possession of an abandoned ship to repair it without authority so to do; 2 Curt. C. C. 322; or by retaining such possession an unreasonable time, under a stipulation authorizing the underwriter to take such possession; 16 Ill. 235.

ACCEPTILATION. In Civil Law. A release made by a creditor to his debtor of his debt, without receiving any consideration. Ayliffe, Pand. tit. 26, p. 570. It is a species of donation, but not subject to the forms of the latter, and is valid unless in fraud of creditors. Merlin, Répert.

Acceptilation may be defined verborum conceptio qua creditor debitori, quod debet, acceptum fert; or, a certain arrangement of words by which, on the question of the debtor, the creditor, wishing to dissolve the obligation, answers that he admits The acceptilation is an imaginary payment; Dig. 46. 4. 1, 19; Dig. 2. 14. 27. 9; Inst. 3. 30.1.

as received what in fact he has not received.

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