CON 



1: 



Contracted knowledged the receipt of a sum of money, and bound 

 II himself to repay it to the creditor. Consensual con- 



Convey- tracts, according to the Roman law, were such as might 

 ^ iC ' nS il' De perfected by consent alone. Of this species were 

 ' * the contracts of Sale, Location, Society, and Man- 

 date ; for an account of which the reader is referred to 

 those articles. 



The wi-iters on the law of Scotland have adopted the 

 Roman division of contracts into real, consensual, and 

 written ; but, in the law of Scotland, there is nothing 

 analogous to the ve.rbornm obligatio of the civilians ; 

 and therefore, as Mr Erskine observes, {Inst, b. iii. t. 

 2. § 1.) we may, without impropriety, apply the appel- 

 lation of verbal to all such obligations, not requiring 

 writing, as have no special name to distinguish them ; 

 and, contrary to the doctrine of the civil law, all such 

 obligations will be effectual, provided no exception is 

 made by positive institution. By the law of Scotland, 

 writing is essential to all obligations or contracts rela- 

 tivetoheritable rights, which are utterly ineffectual when 

 merely verbal : (See Deed.) In Scotland also, there are 

 certain contracts which require to be perfected in a pe- 

 culiar form, and which will fall to be explained under 

 their respective titles. See Feu Contract, Marriage 

 Contract, and Copartnery. 



Contracts, according to the writers on the law of Eng- 

 land, are either express or implied. Of the former de- 

 scription, are debts, covenants, and jiromises. Of the 

 latter species, which in some degree resemble the quasi 

 contracts of the Romans, are such as the law presumes 

 that every man has contracted to perform. Among these 

 may be reckoned, 1 . The presumed contract or obliga- 

 tion, which every person is supposed to have come un- 

 der, to pay such sums of money as are charged on him 

 by the sentence of the law ; and 2. All presumptive un- 

 dertakings, which have been already explained under 

 their proper title. See Assumpsit, (z) 



CONTRACTED Vein, or Vena contracla. See Hy- 

 drodynamics. 



CONTUSION. See Surgery. 



CONVALLARIA, a genus of plants of the class Hex- 

 andria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 188. 



CONVENT. See Monastery. 



CONVERGENCY of Meridians. See Earth, and 

 Surveying. 



CONVEYANCE, in Law, is a deed or writing, by 

 which property is conveyed, or transferred, from one 

 person to another. See Deed. 



Conveyances, according to the law of England, are 

 either original, as Feoffment, Gift, Grant, Lease, 

 Exchange, and Partition ; or derivative, as Release, 

 Confirmation, Assignment, andDEFEAZANCE. By the 

 former, the benefit or estate is created ; by the latter it is 

 enlarged, restrained, transferred, or extinguished. (z) 



CONVEYANCING, is the art' of framing legal 

 deeds or conveyances. This is an art, which necessa- 

 rily presupposes a considerable progress in civilization ; 

 for as, in the rude state of society, possession can be the 

 only certain evidence of property, so, previous to the 

 use of writing, must its transmission be accompanied 

 either with actual delivery, or with certain symbolical 

 forms or ceremonies, indicating the surrender of the 

 subject from the one party to the other. Among the 

 Jews, we find the evidence of a purchase thus defined 

 in the book of Ruth, (Ch. 4, v. 7.) " Now this was the 

 manner in former time in Israel, concerning redeem- 

 ing, and concerning changing, for to confirm all things ; 

 a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neigh- 

 bour, and this was a testimony in Israel." Among the 



8 CON 



ancient Goths and Swedes, contracts for the sale of C< 

 lands were made in the presence of witnesses, who ex- 

 tended the cloak of the buyer, while the seller cast a "" 

 clod of the land into it, as a symbol of the transference 

 of possession ; and a staff or wand was also delivered 

 from the vender to the buyei-, which passed through 

 the hands of the witnesses. Among the Saxons, .tire 

 delivery of a turf was a necessary solemnity, to render 

 effectual the conveyance of lands. In England, to this 

 day, the conveyance of copyhold estates is usually made 

 from the, seller to the lord, or his steward, by delivery 

 of a rod or verge, and then from the lord to the purcha- 

 ser, by re-delivery of the same in the presence of te- 

 nants. Many traces, indeed, of these symbolical forms 

 of conveying property survived the introduction of writ- 

 ten conveyances, and are still to be found among the 

 legal customs of modern nations. But as the evidence 

 of the mere delivery of possession, whether actual or 

 symbolical, depended on the ocular testimony and re- 

 membrance of the witnesses, the conveyance must have 

 been extremely liable to be forgotten or misrepresent- 

 ed, and must often, indeed, have become totally inca- 

 pable of proof. Besides, in the progress of civilization 

 and commerce, the new wants and necessities of men 

 required means to be devised of charging and encum- 

 bering estates, without having recourse to an absolute 

 sale or transference of the property ; and similar devi- 

 ces were sometimes found convenient and useful, in or- 

 der to enable a proprietor to make suitable provisions 

 for the numerous branches of a family. These growing 

 wants and necessities gradually gave rise to the various 

 forms of written deeds and conveyances. Most of these 

 forms sprung out of the Roman jurisprudence, and 

 were thence transmitted to the ecclesiastical notaries ; 

 who, during the dark ages of Europe, which suc- 

 ceeded the f?ll of the Roman empire, were the sole 

 depositaries of that species of learning. When a new 

 dawn of civilization began to spread over the Eu- 

 ropean horizon, and the rapid advancement of soci- 

 ety and commerce multiplied the transactions of civil 

 life, writing was again introduced into business ; many 

 of the ancient institutions were revived ; and the legal 

 language, and forms of the Romans, were drawn forth 

 from the recesses of the church, and applied to the ex- 

 isting state of policy and manners. The feudal system, 

 too, by diversifying the modes of conveying and of 

 holding landed property, and introducing more intri- 

 cate relations between proprietors and tenants, made 

 the use of written documents ■ an indispensable requi- 

 site ; and the transmission of property has thus become 

 infinitely more capable of evidence, and its possession 

 consequently more secure. 



If we consider the objects which the art of convey- 

 ancing has in view ; the important relations of society 

 which must depend upon tire degrees of perfection to 

 which it has been brought ; and the intricate questions 

 which we see every day arise, with regard to the vali- 

 dity, import, and construction of deeds ; the study of 

 this art will undoubtedly appear to be a matter of no 

 little consequence. There are two objects of import- 

 ance, to which the attention of the conveyancer ought 

 to be especially directed; 1st, The form of the writing, 

 which, in every species of deed, is fixed by practice, in 

 so far as regards all the general or secondary clauses. 

 i2d, The technical language in winch those clauses are 

 to be framed, which are intended to express the parti- 

 cular purposes for which the deed is granted. With a 

 view to this object, it is of the most essential import- 

 ance to the conveyancer, to have a clear, intimate, and 



nveyan- 

 cmy. 



