428 



CONSERVES 



CONSOLIDATION ACTS 



Conserves. See PRESERVED PROVISIONS. 



Conside'rant, VICTOR-PROSPER, a French 

 Socialist, was born in 1808 at Salins, in the depart- 

 ment of Jura. After being educated at the Poly- 

 technic School of Paris, he entered the army, which, 

 however, he soon left to promulgate the doctrines of 

 the socialist Fourier. On the death of his master 

 (1837), Considerant became the head of his school, 

 and undertook the management of the Phalange, 

 a review devoted to the spread of their opinions. 

 Having gained the support of a young English- 

 man, Mr Young, who advanced the required sum 

 of money, Considerant established, on a large 

 estate in the department Eure et Loire, a social- 

 ist colony or Phalanstere; but the experiment 

 failed, and with it the Phalange fell to the ground. 

 Thereafter he continued to promote his views in 

 the Democratie Pacifique. Among his numerous 

 writings, the chief is the Destinee Sociale, dedicated 

 to Louis-Philippe. In 1849 Considerant was ac- 

 cused of high treason, and fled from France. La 

 Reunion, his socialistic community in Texas, flour- 

 ished temporarily, but has since come to nothing. 

 He returned to France in 1869, wrote occasional 

 political pamphlets, and died 27th Dec. 1893. See 

 FOURIER, SOCIALISM ; and Life by Coignet ( 1895 ). 



Consideration, in Law, the thing given, 

 or done, or abstained from by agreement with 

 another, and in view of that other doing, giving, or 

 abstaining from something. An obligation in- 

 curred without consideration is, in England, termed 

 voluntary, in Scotland gratuitous ; if for considera- 

 tion, it is so styled in England, but in Scotland it 

 is called onerous. Considerations are divided in 

 England into good and valuable, the former being 

 affection for a near relative, the latter a pecuniary 

 or other tangible benefit, or marriage. But ' good ' 

 as distinguished from ' valuable ' consideration has 

 now no legal effect in England. There is no cor- 

 responding division in Scotland, but the fulfilment 

 of a natural obligation, such as that of aliment, is 

 often recognised as supporting a transaction which 

 would otherwise be inoperative against creditors. 

 In Scotland, however, there is, as a general rule, 

 no need for consideration to make a contract valid, 

 while in England no action lies for breach of a 

 contract not under seal, unless there has been valu- 

 able consideration, and the courts never enforce 

 specific performance of a gratuitous contract, 

 even though it is under seal. This doctrine does 

 not mean that consideration must be adequate in 

 view of the court. But the excess of consideration 

 is an important fact in the setting aside of obliga- 

 tion obtained by means of pressure or undue in- 

 fluence. The English doctrine of unconscionable 

 bargains is not, however, recognised in Scotland. 

 Where the consideration for an obligation totally 

 fails, an action of repetition lies. 



There are some circumstances which, in both 

 countries, warrant the setting aside of obligations 

 without consideration, whether made by deed or 

 not. In England they are void as against bond-fide 

 purchasers, and void as against creditors where the 

 grantor is indebted to such creditors at the time 

 to the extent of insolvency. A similar rule to the 

 latter, with respect to creditors generally, is estab- 

 lished in Scotland by the Act 1696, chap. 5, and 

 by 1621, chap. 18, without proof of insolvency when 

 the deed is granted to a near relation, or a person 

 in a confidential situation. As regards sales of 

 land in Scotland, these are made on the faith of the 

 records, and the first registered conveyance prevails. 

 And all obligations for which the consideration is 

 illegal or immoral are in both countries void. 



In the United States, consideration in law has 

 the same general signification as in England, and 

 is subject to the same general divisions, ' good ' or 



'meritorious' and 'valuable.' A consideration is- 

 an essential element enforceable in law, and must 

 be actual and expressed, or the instrument must be 

 such as to bear evidence of a consideration. By 

 common-law statutes re-enacted in the United 

 States, negotiable paper and sealed instruments are 

 declared to bear this evidence ; but in some states 

 by usage, and in others by statute, courts of equity 

 are empowered to set aside these instruments for 

 want of, or a failure of, a valid and legal considera- 

 tion upon the ground that the instrument was exe- 

 cuted upon a promise or stipulation not fulfilled. 



Consignment, in Mercantile Law, is the term 

 applied to goods which are placed hi the hands of 

 an agent or factor for sale, or for some other speci- - 

 fied purpose. If the consigner fails, the consignee 

 has generally a lien on the unsold goods for 

 advances ; if the consigner has to pay bills granted 

 by consignee for advances, he may generally get 

 back his consignment so far as unsold. 



Consistory (Lat. consistorium), properly a- 

 place of assembly, but in the later Latinity the 

 word came to signify the particular place where 

 the privy-council or cabinet of the Roman emperor 

 met, and after the time of Diocletian and Con- 

 stantine, the council itself. The form of the 

 imperial consistory passed over into the early 

 Christian church. The bishops established their 

 consistories ; and the highest ecclesiastical court, 

 composed only of cardinals (the College of Car- 

 dinals), which meets in the Vatican, under the 

 presidency of the pope, to determine all such 

 matters as the appointment of cardinals, arch- 

 bishops, bishops, &c., still bears this name, as do-- 

 also the private councils which the pope can call 

 at will. The Protestant Church of Germany per- 

 petuated the consistorial courts, chiefly because the 

 territorial princes who came into episcopal authority 

 were unfamiliar with ecclesiastical affairs. The 

 Lutheran consistories (the first was established at 

 Wittenberg in 1542) exercise supervision and dis- 

 cipline over religion and education, the clergy and 

 the schoolmasters, regulating divine worship, ad- 

 ministering church property, and examining theo- 

 logical candidates on their trials for license ahd 

 ordination ; they had formerly a certain jurisdic- 

 tion in regard to marriage. In the French Prot- 

 estant churches their jurisdiction is more re- 

 stricted. The word denotes in England the court 

 Christian or spiritual court. Every archbishop or 

 bishop holds in his cathedral or other convenient 

 place a consistorial court before his chancellor or 

 commissary, for ecclesiastical causes. In Scotland 

 the consistorial courts have lapsed into the com- 

 missary-courts. See COMMISSARY. 



Consolacion del Sur, a city of Cuba, 13 

 miles by rail ENE. of Havana. The finest of to- 

 bacco is grown in the 

 vicinity. Pop. ( 1899 ) 

 3062. 



Consolato del 

 Ma're". See MER- 

 CANTILE LAW. 



Console ( Fr. ), in 

 Architecture, a pro- 

 jection resembling a 

 bracket, frequently in 

 the form of the letter 

 S, used to support 

 cornices, or for plac- 

 ing busts, vases, or figures on. Consoles were often' 

 richly ornamented in the under part. The illustra- 

 tion, from Parker's Glossary, is from the palace of 

 Diocletian at Spalatro. 



Consolidation Acts, acts of parliament 

 which combine or consolidate into one general 

 statute the enactments of several special measures,. 



Console. 



