in 



CONVERSION'. 



CONVOCATION. 



M 



rimpl* convenes true, the student doe* not sufficiently reflect upon 

 thin being contingent and not necessary. 



In mathematical propositions there it species of conversion which 

 hat no name. consisting in the interchange of the predicate with a part 

 only of the aubject Thu if P, Q, R, and 8 be four circumstances, of 

 which the mrnmrrt of any three make* the fourth akw exit, we may 

 observe thin specie* of convenion in passing from the fintt to the 

 neond of the follow ing propositions : 



Erery (thins which give* P, Q, and R) U (a thing which give* 8). 



Every (thing which giro P, Q. and S) U (a thing which gives It). 



Thus of the following art of circumstances : 1. That two figure* be 

 parallelogram* ; 2. That they be equiangular ; 3. That the sides about 

 equal angle* be reciprocally proportional ; 4. That the areas be equal : 

 exhibit the possibility of this conversion. For (1) (2) and (3) give (4) ; 

 (1) (S) and (4)give (8) ; (1) (3) and (4) give (2). 



The subject of converse is discussed by Aristotle, 'Analytic. 

 Prior.,' L cap. 2, Ac. See the editions of the ' Organon,' by Paciux, 

 1597, Ac. 



CONVERSION. [TROVER.] 



CONVEX. {CONCAVE.] 



CONVEYANCE (in Law) is a deed or instrument in writing which 

 passes real or personal property. The only conveyances used in the 

 earlier periods of English history seem to have been feoffmenU and 

 grants, though leases were soon used to pass a limited interest The 

 possession of land, as well as property of a moveable nature, passed by 

 tradition or actual transfer. The possession of land was given sym- 

 bolically, by the delivery of a twig, a turf, &c., the charter of feoffment 

 being the evidence merely of the transaction, and not essential to its 

 validity. Hence, in the charter of feoffment, the operative words, or 

 those which expressed the gift or transfer of the property, were used in 

 the past tense, hath < iroi, &c. : these terms are still used by some 

 practitioners, although the reason for them has long since passed away. 



A grant was applied to the conveyance of incorporeal hereditaments 

 which did not admit of actual delivery into possession. From this 

 difference in their application, a diversity was supposed to exist in the 

 innate qualities of the two modes of conveyance, the feoffment being 

 used to convey the actual possession of land, and operating upon the 

 possession without any regard to the estate or interest of the feoffor ; 

 the grant to transfer the right of the grantor to the grantee : the 

 former was formerly defined as a tortious, the latter a rightful con- 

 veyance. This definition however was not always recognised by the 

 courts (see Goodright r. Forrester, 1 Taunt, 613). The stat. 8 & 9 Viet. 

 c. 106, formally abolished a distinction which often led to inconvenient 

 consequences, and now no feoffment can have a tortious operation. 



Sir William Blackstone distinguishes conveyances aa original or 

 primary, which are those by means of which the benefit or estate is 

 created, or first arises; and derivative or secondary, whereby the 

 benefit or estate originally created is enlarged, restrained, transferred, 

 or extinguished. This division however is of little practical import- 

 ance. Conveyances operate either according to the rules of the common 

 law, or under the statute of uses. Conveyances may be further 

 divided into those made by matter of record and by deed. As ex- 

 amples of those by matter of record, we may mention private acts of 

 parliament, and the queen's grant; and, until those modes were 

 abolished by the statute 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 74, fine and recovery. 

 Those by deed are by feoffment, grant, bargain and sale, covenant to 

 stand seised, lease, release or confirmation, exchange, surrender. Con- 

 veyances simply transferring personal property are called assignments. 



By the statute 13 Eliz., c. 5, voluntary or fraudulent conveyances of 

 real property are rendered void, as against the creditors of the party 

 making the transfer : and the 27th Eliz., c. 4, extends similar, and in 

 some instances more extensive, relief to subsequent purchasers of the 

 same property, although they may have had notice of the prior con- 

 veyance. The bankrupt and insolvent laws also provide for the 

 relief of creditors against certain conveyances of real and personal 

 property in derogation of their claims, or made within a specified time 

 previous to the bankruptcy or insolvency. 



The old system of conveying by lease and release has been effectually 

 uprooted by the simple enactment of the statute 849 Viet, c. 106, 

 to the effect that " all corporeal tenements and hereditaments shall, as 

 regards the immediate freehold thereof, be deemed to lie in grant as 

 well as in livery." 



In many of the states of North America a simple bargain and sale in 

 the usual mode of conveying real property. In New York it is called 

 a grant ; and the conveyance by feoffment and livery of seisin, and 

 also the statute of uses, are expressly abolished by the legislature. 



Conveyances in Scotland are made according to the strict principles 

 of the feudal law there established, which imparts to them the appear- 

 ance of far greater speciality and quaintness than those used in modern 

 English practice. 



(Bl. Comn. ; ButL Co. Lilt.; Kent's Comm.) 



CONVEYANCING is the business of preparing conveyances of real 

 or personal property, of investigating the title of the vendors and pur- 

 chasers of property, and of framing those multifarious deeds and 

 contract* which govern and define the rights and liabilities of families 

 and individuals. It U carried on by barristers, or by members of the 

 Inns of Court, who having kept twelve terms, obtain a certificate 

 according to the provisions of the 9 Oeo. IV., c. 49, and are called 



certificated conveyancer*. [BARRISTER; INNS or COURT.] The in- 

 creased number of transactions in this branch of the law has rendered 

 a division of labour and a special course of study necessary. 



There axe two opposite systems, by which the transfers and trans- 

 actions of the owners of real property are capable of being carried on ; 

 and between the extreme points of which, in some portion or other of 

 the intermediate ground, all existing systems must arrange themselves. 

 In one of these systems, as in the present sytem of England, every 

 transaction is accomplished and evidenced by means of instruments in 

 writing, varying infinitely, and governed by a scientific and ascertained 

 mode of construction. In the other, the effect is accomplished some- 

 what like the transfer of stock, by a comparatively mechanical opera- 

 tion, a process of book-keeping, of which the evidence is to be kept, 

 not in private muniments, but in the ledger-books or registers of the 

 State. 



The respective objects of these systems are, in the one, to protect 

 the rightful owner; in the other, the innocent purchaser. In the 

 latter the State takes upon itself the duty of seeing to the title of the 

 owner whom it admits to registration, and consequently takes upon 

 itself the risk of being deceived ; in the former, it leaves the parties to 

 concert titles and transfers in secret and in silence, leaves them un- 

 restrained and unchecked to transact with one another, but compensates 

 this want of interference by the alternative of following the right, by 

 its judicial machinery, against all parties, however ignorant, however 

 innocent, who m.iy have had the misfortune, at any time subsequent 

 to a defective transaction, or wrongful succession, to become the owners 

 or purchasers of the property ; limiting that restoration or succession 

 only by reference to certain durations of adverse possession. (Parke's 

 ' Lect. ) 



In the time of the feudal law, and the period immediately succeeding, 

 restraint was placed on every species of alienation ; landed property 

 was rarely the subject of barter. Every transfer of land took place in 

 open court, that is, on the land itself coram paribta (before the pares 

 or peers), who were the other tenants of the feudal lord, and who sub- 

 scribed the instrument of investiture as witnesses (Sulliv. ' Lect.,' 

 p. 58) ; so that, in the words of Lord Mansfield, it was as notorious 

 who was feudal tenant de fafto, as who is now de facto incumbent of a 

 living, or mayor of a corporation. Land was " of a stubborn nature." 

 money portions were unknown, and personal property did not exist in 

 sufficient quantities to be made the subject of settlement, and con- 

 sequently conveyancing transactions were few and simple. But the 

 devices of the ecclesiastics to evade the statutes of mortmain, the 

 invention of uses and trusts, and subsequently the passing of the 

 statutes of uses and wills, which enabled the possessor of land to 

 provide for the contingencies which might occur in his family, and to 

 mould his estate according to his whim or fancy, controlled only t>y 

 the lawn from time to time established to guard against the abuse of 

 the privilege, the power of devising real estate, and the multifarious 

 wants of a large and wealthy population, laid the foundation of the 

 system of modern conveyancing. " By means of this system," says a 

 late eminent professor, "there is no device, arrangement, settlement, 

 or disposition which imagination cau conceive, or ingenuity construct, 

 which the machinery of the law of England cannot carry into effect 

 with certainty. There is no conceivable purpose to which property 

 may not be applied or rendered instrumental ; no event, or combi- 

 nation of events, which con possibly happen in a family, of whatever 

 rank or number, which may not be provided for and met, by a family 

 settlement framed by a master of his art." 



Modern conveyancing is conducted on principles which in general 

 are well defined and accurately settled. Of this a remarkable proof 

 wax afforded by a statement in Mr. Parke's ' Contre-Projet to the 

 Humphreysian Code,' p. 199, upon the authority of Mr. Preston, that 

 of the coses which came before him (averaging thirty a week), three 

 per cent, only went on to judicial litigation. 



The great endeavour, from the earliest times, on the part of the 

 owners of property, has been to be enabled to effect sales and dispo- 

 sitions with secrecy and dispatch, without incurring that publicity 

 which it was the policy of the common law to enforce. Whether it be 

 desirable, for the sake of mercantile credit, to favour secrecy, or pro- 

 mote publicity, in the sale and disposition of property, has been lately 

 much discussed ; a general registry has been proposed, and bills for 

 establishing it have been from time to time introduced and thrown out 

 of the House of Commons. [KKGISTHATION.] 



CONVICT. [PKSAL SERVITUDE ; TRANSPORTATION.] 



CONVICTION. [JUSTICE OP THE PEACE.] 



CONVOCATION. The assembling of the clergy of the Established 

 Church, in obedience to a writ from the crown, which issues on the 

 meeting of every new parliament. In former times, the archbishops, 

 bishops, and the most considerable abbots, were an integral part of Uie 

 great council of the nation, and as such took their Keats with the barons, 

 with whom they were classed. The bishops who now sit in the House 

 of Lords do so by the same prescription. When the burgesses were 

 summoned to assemble by Edward 1., to aid in providing supplies for 

 the public service, the inferior clergy were al*o called upon to do the 

 same, but they objected to do so under the writ of the king, lest they 

 should acknowledge thereby the authority of the temporal power of 

 the sovereign. The expedient was therefore devised of directing the 

 writ to the two archbishops, so that they might compel the clergy to 



