contraband 
lion, ban: sec html, n.\ I. a. Prohibited or 
excluded by proclamation, law, or treaty. 
Men who gain subsistence by >-iili-ilf>finrl dealing. 
And a mode of abstraction strict people nil! " -it :ilin-. 
llarlintii, In^oMsby l.c-. -nd-. I. :10S. 
To restrain contra l><n/ in!rlli-t m r ;unl trade, a system 
of searches, sri/iii-cs. perm it s. :ni'i parses had been intro- 
duced, I think, by <_!cli. Fremont. 
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 404. 
Articles by general consent th-cninl tu In- contraband 
are such as appertain immediately tu tin- uses of war. 
HWm'i/, Introil. to Inter. Law, J 179. 
Contraband goods, such i:ooils as are prohibited to l>e 
imported or exported by tin laws of a particular kingdom 
or state, or by the law of nations, or by special treaties. 
In time of war, anus and munitions of war, ami such other 
articles as may direct ly aid belligerent operations (called 
anil ntfm nil of icilr}. are not permitted by one belligerent 
to lie ti-ansporte.l by nctitruls to the other, but are under 
the law of nations held to be contraband and liable to cap- 
ture and condemnation. 
tiilrn>tml of war perhaps denoted at first that which 
a bellijrerent publicly prohibited the exportation of into 
his enemy's country, and now those kinds of (foods which 
by the law of nations a neutral cannot semi into either of 
the countries at war without wrong to the other, or which 
by conventional law the states making a treaty agree to 
put under this rubric. 
Woolsey, In trod, to Inter. Law, $ 178. 
In the very first commercial treaty made by the United 
States, that with France, . . . tha definition of amtmtand 
good* was also laid down as being solely munitions of war. 
E. .Sr/mi/o'r, American Diplomacy, p. 308. 
II. n. 1. Illegal or prohibited traffic. 
Persons most bound ... to prevent contraband. 
Burke, State of the Nation, App. 
This [the ocean] is a prodigious security against a direct 
contralmnd with foreign countries ; but a circuitous con- 
traband to one state, through the medium of another, 
would be both easy and safe. 
A. Hamilton, Federalist, No. 12. 
2. Anything by law prohibited to be imported 
or exported. 
At this date the hawker lx>re a bad character for dealings 
in contraband. S. Dowell, Taxes in England, III. 35. 
3. In the United States, during the civil war, a 
negro slave, especially an escaped or a captured 
slave : so called from a decision of General B. F. 
Butler, in 1861. that slaves coming into his lines 
or captured were contraband of war, and so sub- 
ject to confiscation. 
What I have said of the proportion of free colored per- 
sons to the whites in the District [of Columbia] is from the 
census of I860, having no reference to persons called con- 
trabands. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 326. 
Occasional contraband, goods treated as contraband by 
a belligerent, upon the pretext or justification that, though 
not ordinarily contraband, they arc in effect such by rea- 
son of the peculiar circumstances of the occasion ; doubt- 
ful articles put into the list of contraband by a belligerent 
merely because they are not the product of the exporting 
country, or liecause they are intended for a naval or mili- 
tary port, or for similar reasons. 
The doctrine of occasional contraband, or contraband ac- 
cording to circumstances, is not sufficiently established to 
be regarded as a part of the law of nations. 
Woolsey, Introil. to Inter. Law, 180. 
COntrabandt (kon'tra-band), v. t. [< contra- 
band, a.] 1. To declare prohibited ; forbid. 
The law severely contrabands 
Our taking business off men's hands. 
S. Butler, Hudibras. 
2. To import illegally, as prohibited goods; 
smuggle. 
Christian shlppes . . . are there also searched for con- 
cealed Slaues, and goods contrabamlrd. 
Sandys, Travailcs, p. 87. 
contrabandism (kon'tra-ban-dizm), n. [< cpn- 
trtihatul + -ism.] Trafficking in contravention 
of the customs laws ; smuggling. 
contrabandist (kon'tra-ban-dist), n. [= Sp. 
I'g- coittrabantlista ; as contraband + -ist.] One 
who traffics illegally ; a smuggler. 
It was proved that one of the contrabandists had provided 
tb.' vessel in which the rutlian O'Brien hail carried Scum 
Goodman over to France. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxlii. 
contrabass (kon'tra-bas), a. and n. [See co- 
trabasso."\ I. it. lii mimic, sounding an octave 
lower than another instrument of the same 
class, or furnishing the lowest tones in a family 
of instruments: as, a contrabass trombone, sax- 
horn, etc. -Contrabass tuba. * ''/. 
II. . The largest instrument of the viol 
class ; the double-bass (which see). Also con- 
trabatum. 
contrabassist (kon'tra-bas-ist), . [< con I rii - 
ion + -ixt. \ A performer on the contrabass 
or doublo-lmss. 
contrabasso (kon-tra-bas'so), H. [It., < contra 
(see contra-) + 6nso,bass : see bans*.] Same as 
contra bonOS mores (kon'trjj bo'nos mo'rez). 
[1-. : contra, against ; IIOHOU, ace. pi. masc. of 
lioniis, good; more*, ace. pi. of mox (mor-), cus- 
tom, etc. : see contra, bona, and morals."] Op- 
1231 
]iii<c<l to or inconsistent with good morals: im- 
moral: frequently used in legal discussions: 
as, if not an infraction of law, it is certainly 
c/ni Ira bonos mores. 
Contracts contra bonoi inure* are void. 
Rapaljt and Lawrence, Law Diet, I. 279. 
contract (kon-trakf), r. [= F. contractcr = Sp. 
Pg. eatttnciar, <->nitr<itar= It. rontrattari; < L. 
cottfracttu, pp. of contrahcre, draw together, col- 
lect, occasion, cause, make a bargain, < com-, to- 
gether, + tranere, draw: see tract. Cf. attract, 
detract, extract, protract, retract.] I. trans. 1. 
To draw together or closer; draw into a smaller 
compass, either by compression or by the omis- 
sion of parts; shorten; abridge; condense; 
narrow; lessen: as, to contract a space or an 
inclosure ; to contract the period of life ; to con- 
tract a word or an essay. 
But I must contract my thoughts . . . that I may have 
room to Insist on one plain, useful inference. 
Up. Atterlniry, Sermons, I. ix. 
It is painful to hear that a state which used to be fore- 
most in acts of liberality ... Is contracting her ideas, 
and pointing them to local and independent measures. 
Washington, in Bancrofts Hist. Const, I. 422. 
A government which contract* natural liberty less than 
others is that which best coincides with the alms attrib- 
uted to rational creatures. Brougham. 
2. To draw the parts of together; wrinkle; 
pucker. 
Thou cry'dst, Indeed? 
And didst contract and purse thy brow together. 
Skat., Othello, lit. S. 
3. In gram., to shorten by combination of con- 
current vowels into one long vowel or a diph- 
thong. 4. To betroth; affiance. 
I'll be marry'd to Morrow, I'll lie contracted to Night. 
Congrcve, Way of the World, ill. B. 
He has undertaken, should it lie necessary', to swear and 
prove that Charles is at this time contracted by vows and 
honour to your ladyship. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. :;. 
5. To make, settle, or establish by contract or 
agreement. 
They say there is an Alliance contracted already 'twixt 
Christian V. and the Duke of Sax's Daughter. 
Hamll, Letters, I. vi. 2. 
6. To acquire, as by habit, use, or contagion; 
gain by accretion or variation ; bring on ; in- 
cur: as, to contract vicious habits by indul- 
gence; to contract debt by extravagance; to 
contract disease. 
Each from each contract new strength and life. Pope. 
He had apparently contracted a strong and early passion 
for the stage. Qiford, Int. to Ford's Plays, p. xlx. 
It is a bad thing that men should hate each other; but 
it Is far worse that they should contract the habit of cut- 
ting one another's throats without hatred. 
Miii'inilnii, Mitford's HUt. Greece. 
To contract a pair formed of two members of a linear 
series, in math., to put the prior member one place later 
in the scries and the posterior memlier one place earlier. 
TO contract marriage, to enter into marriage, as dis- 
tinguished from making an engagement or precontract of 
marriage. = Svn. 1. To condense, reduce, diminish. 
II. intrans. 1. To be drawn together; be re- 
duced in compass ; become smaller, shorter, or 
narrower; shrink. 
Whatever empties the vessels (rives room to the fibres 
to contract. Arbuthnot, Ailments. 
Years contracting to a moment. Wordsworth. 
2. To make a bargain ; enter into an agree- 
ment or engagement ; covenant : as, to contract 
for a load of flour; to contract to carry the 
mail. 
This Dutchman had contracted with the Genoese for all 
their marble. JSttlyn, Diary, Sept. 19, 1676. 
3. To bind one's self by promise of marriage. 
Although the young folks can contract against their pa- 
rents' will, yet they can be hindered from possession. 
Jer. Taylor, Ductor Duhitantium, Hi. S. 
= Syn. 1. lliniiiii-^i. l>iriit<ll<'. etc. See decrease. 
contract! (kon-trakf), a. [< L>. contractor, pp. : 
see the verb.] 1. Condensed; brief. 
I have In n. v larger in these things, . . . (thong in 
other things I shal labour to lie more contracte), that 
their children may see with what difficulties tht-ir fathers 
wrastled. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 58. 
2. Concrete. 
Niinilwr Is first divided as yon see, 
For number abstract, and number contr,i<-t. 
T. //,/< (1600). 
3. Contracted; affianced; betrothed. 
lii-t ua- li'' ,'>.utrii<-t to l.ady I.uey 
Your mother liv, -s a \\ itne-s t<> hi- \n\\ . 
Slmli.. Rich. III., ill. 7. 
Contract forms, contract conjugation, contract 
verbs, (onus, etc., exhibiting contraction of different 
\ ,,u els into a long vowel or diphthong. 
contract 
contract (kon'trakt), n. [= F. contrat = Sp. 
I't;. fontrato =: It. contralto = 1). kontrakt = G. 
ma tract = Dan. Sw. kontrakt, < I,, innlrin-lua, a 
drawing together, LL. a contract, agreement, 
< conlruhcrc, pp. controctus, draw together, <-<m- 
tract : see contract, r.] If. A drawing together; 
mutual attraction ; attractive force. 
For nearer contract* than general Christianity, had made 
us to much towards one, that one part cannot escape the 
distemper of the other. Donne, Letters, vl. 
2. An agreement between two or more parties 
for the doing or the not doing of some definite 
thing. 1'arsons, Contracts, I. 6. See def. 5. 
Every Law is a Contract between the King and the Peo- 
ple, and therefore to be kept. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 05. 
We may probably credit the Church with the compara- 
tively advanced development of another conception which 
we Ilnd here -the con. 'eplin of a Cofri 
Maine, Early Hint, of Institutions, p. 56. 
A contract Is one of the highest acts of human free will : 
It Is the will bending iUelf In regard to the future, and 
surrendering the right to change a certain expressed in- 
tention, >o that It becomes morally and jurally a wrong to 
act otherwise ; it is the act of two parties in which each 
or one of the two conveys power over himself to the other, 
in consideration of something done or to be done by the 
other. Woolney, Introd. to Inter. Law, { 97. 
Specifically 3. Betrothal. 
Ola. Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children ? 
r.in-k. I did ; with his contract with Lady Lucy. 
Shale., Rich. III., lii. 7. 
4. The writing which contains the agreement 
of parties, with the terms and conditions, and 
which serves as evidence of the obligation. 
The interpretation of contracti is controlled, according 
to the prevailing opinion, by the law and custom of the 
place of performance. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, 9 72. 
6. Specifically, in lam, an interchange of legal 
rights by agreement, (a) In the most general sense, 
any agreement or obligation whereby one party becomes 
bound to another, whether by record or judgment, or by 
assent, or even impliedly, to do or to omit to do an act. 
In this sense it is used in contradistinction to obligations 
arising out of torta or wrongs. (M The legal obligation 
resulting from the drawing together of minds until they 
meet in an agreement for the doing or the not doing of an 
act. In its narrowest use in this sense it implies an agree- 
ment where both parties become bound. Contracts of this 
sort are sometimes called bilateral, to distinguish them 
from unilateral contracts, which bind but one party. (<) 
An agreement in which a party undertakes to do or not to 
do an act. In this sense it includes unilateral contract*, 
such as promissory notes. (</) In the most strict sense, an 
agreement enforcible by law ; an agreement upon sultl- 
cient consideration, and in such form, and made under 
such circumstances, that a breach of it is a g(>od cause of 
action. In this sense it includes the Idea of validity, as dis- 
tinguished from those contracts which lack some element 
necessary to constitute a legal obligation, (e) In civil law, 
as denned by modern authors, the union of two or more 
persons resulting in an accordant declaration of the will, 
with the object of creating a future obligation lietwecn 
them. In the Pandects the generic word was conrentio, 
and the word contractus was used for those particular con- 
ventions which were accompanied by such formalities as 
to fall within one of the classes recognized by the law as 
binding : the other conventions, the recognition of which 
was of later growth, and which were of imperfect effect, 
were called pacta. Accessory contract, aleatory con- 
tract, bare contract, commutative contract, etc. See 
the adjectives. Contract of record, a contract made and 
entered of record liefore a judicial tribunal, as a judgment, 
recognizance, etc. Executed contract, a contract In re- 
spect of which the thing agreed has been done ; a contract 
by or under which the possession of and right to the chose 
or thing are transferred together, as a deed conveying land. 
Executory contract, a contract in respect of which the 
thing agreed remains yet to lie done, as a contract to convey 
land at a future day. A mutual contract (which see) may 
be executed as to one party, and remain executory as to the 
other. Express contract, a contract in which the agree- 
ment is made in express words or by writing. Gambling 
contract, a contract to pay at a certain future time an 
amount equal to any rise In the market price of any article 
of commerce, in consideration that the other party will 
pay the amount equal to any fall. Bisbee and Sitnond*. 
Implied contract, a contract which the law imputes or 
raises by construction, by reason of some value or service 
rendered, and because common justice requires the party 
to be treated as if he had agreed : as, where one person re- 
ceives the money of another, a contract to pay it over may 
be implied. ~ Indeterminate contract, a contract the 
terms of which cannot be fixed by all the parties acting for 
their true interests, because the circumstances are such 
that no agreement (nor acquiescence in a non-agreement) 
can he reached until other motives act. Innominate con- 
tracts. 9#e nominate contract *, lielow. Joint contract, 
a contract in which the contractors are jointly bound to 
perform the promise or obligation therein contained, or en- 
titled to receive the lieneflt of such promise or obligation. 
Bouvier. Literal contract, in Rom. law, an agreement 
the validity of which was recognized by the tribunals pro- 
vided the agreement was entered in the account-book of 
one, or it may have been of Itoth, of the parties. Mari- 
time contract. B Marriage contract. 
See marriage. Mutual contract, a contract in which 
each party assumes his obligation in consideration of the 
obi igation assumed by the other. Gmuinn it. Nominate 
contracts, in >Vv^ laic, are loan, commodate, deposit, 
!>i>'<l_c. sale, permutation, location, society, and mandate. 
Contracts not distinguished by s|>ecial names are termed 
innominate, all of which are obligatory on the contracting 
parties from their date. Open contract, in Kng.con- 
veyanciitfj, a contract for the sale of real property which 
does not by special conditions restrict the extent to which 
