•iocs C O N 
Hob. 230. Thefe valuable confiderations are divided by 
the civilians into four fpecies— Do ut da—Facio ut facias 
■—Facio ut da.—Do ut facias. 
A confideration is fo abfolutely necelTary to the form¬ 
ing of a contrail, that a nudum■ paclum, or bare agree¬ 
ment to do or pay any thing on one fide, without any 
compenfation on the other, is totally void in law : and a 
man cannot be compelled to perform it. As if one man 
promifes to give another one hundred pounds, here there 
is nothing contrafted for or given on one tide, and there¬ 
fore there is nothing binding on the other. And how¬ 
ever a man may or may not be bound to perform it in 
honour or confcience, which the municipal laws do not 
take upon them to decide,' certainly thole laws will not 
compel the execution of what he had no vilible induce¬ 
ment to engage for, and therefore our law has adopted 
the maxim of the civil code, cx undo paElo non oritur abho. 
But any degree of reciprocity will prevent the pad from 
being nude: nay, even if the promife be founded on a 
prior moral obligation, as a promile to pay a juft debt, 
though barred by the ftatute of limitations, it is no lon¬ 
ger nudum paclum. And as this rule was principally efta- 
blifhed to avoid the inconvenience that would arife from 
fetting up mere verbal promifes, for which no good rea- 
fon could be afiigned, it therefore does not hold in fome 
cafes where fuch promile is authentically proved by 
written documents. 2 Comm. 445, 6. Deeds all’o mull be 
founded upon good and fufficient confideration, not upon 
an ufurious contract. 13 Eliz. c. 8. Nor upon fraud or 
collulion either to deceive purchafers, bond fde, or juft 
and lawful creditors. 13 Eliz. c. 5. 27 Eliz. c. 4. Any 
of which bad confiderations will vacate the deed, and 
fubjeft-fuch perfons as put the fame in ure, to forfeitures, 
and often to imprifonments. A deed alfo, or other grant 
made without any confideration is, as it were, of no elfeft: 
for it is conftrued to enure or to be elfeftual, only to the 
ufe of the grantor himlelf. Perk. 533. The confideration 
of deeds alfo, like that of contrafts, may be either a good 
or valuable one. Deeds made upon good confideration 
only, are conlidered as merely voluntary, and are fre¬ 
quently let afide in favour of creditors, and bond fde pur¬ 
chafers. 2 Comm. 296. See the article Deed. 
A confideration ought to be matter of profit and bene¬ 
fit to him to whom it is done ; by reafion of the charge 
or trouble of him who doth it. Cro. Car. 8. If a perfon 
hath dilburfed feveral fums for another, without Iris re- 
queft, and afterwards fuch others fays, that in confidera¬ 
tion he hath paid the laid fums for him, he promiles to 
pay them: this is no confideration, becaufe it was exe¬ 
cuted before. But it will be otherwife, if the fums were 
paid at the requeft of the other. Cro. Eliz. 282. A mere 
voluntary curtefy will not be a good confideration of a 
promife : but the value and proportion of the confidera¬ 
tion is not material, to maintain an aftion ; for a Ihilling 
or a penny, is a 5, much binding as one hundred pounds, 
though in thefe cafes, the jury will give damages pro- 
portionably to the lofs. Hob. 5. 10 Rep. 76. A confideration 
that is void in part, is void in the whole : and if two 
confiderations be alleged, and one of them is found 
falfe by the jury, the aftion fails. Cro. Eliz. 848. But if 
there be a double confideration, for the grounding of a 
promile, for the breach whereof an aftion is brought ; 
though one of the confiderations be not good, yet if the 
other be good, and the promife broken, the aftion will 
lie upon that breach : for one confideration is enough to 
fupport the promife. 1 l.ill. 297. A confideration muft 
be lawful, to ground an alfumplit. 2 Lev. 161. Where 
confiderations are valuable, and confift of two or , more 
parts, there the performance of every part ought to be 
ll ewn. Cro. FJiz. 579. In cafe a deed of feoffment be 
made of lands ; or a fine and recovery be palfed, and no 
confideration is exprelfed in the deed, &c. for the doing 
thereof, it lhali l e intended by the law, that it was made 
in trull, for the ufe of the feoffer or conufor ; for it lhali 
he prelumed he would not part with his land without a 
C O N 
consideration ; and yet the deed fiiall be conftrued to 
operate fomething, and that which is mod reafonable. 
1 Lill. Abr. 299. 
CONSI'DERER,/ A man of reflection ; a thinker.— 
A vain applaufe of wit for an impious jell, or of real'on 
for a deep confdcrer. Government of the Tongue. 
CONSIDERING. [This is a kind of conjunftion : it 
had been been more grammatically, written confdered ; 
t'u, French ; but cortf dering is always uled.] If allowance 
be made for.—It is not pofiible to aft otherwife, conf dering 
the weaknefs of our nature. Spoliator. 
CONSI'DERING,/. Doubt: 
Many maz’d confdcrings did throng, 
And ppfs’d in with this caution. Shakefpcare. 
CONSIGLIO'NE, a town of the illand of Sicily, in 
the valley of Mazar : nineteen miles fouth of Palermo. 
To CONSI'GN, v. a. [ confgno , Lat.] To give to ano¬ 
ther any thing, with the right to it, in a formal manner; 
to give into other hands; to transfer: fometimes with 
to, fometimes over to. —At the day of general account, 
good men are then to be confgncd over to another ftate, u 
ftate of everlafting love and charity. Atterbury. 
Muft I pafs 
Again to nothing, when this vital breath 
Ceafing, confgns me o’er to reft and death ? Prior. 
To appropriate; to quit for a certain‘purpofe.—The 
French commander configned it to the ufe lor which it was 
intended by the donor. Drydcn .—To commit; to entruft. 
.—The four evangelifts confgncd to writing that hiftory. 
Addifon. 
Atrides, parting for the Trojan war, 
Confgn'd the youthful confort to his care. Pope. 
To CONSI'GN, v. n. To fubmit to the fame terms 
with another. Not now in ufe. 
All lovers young, all lovers muft 
Confgn to thee, and come to duft. Shakefpcare. 
To fign ; to confent to. Obfolcte.—A maid yet rofed over 
with the virgin crimfon of modefty : it were a hard con¬ 
dition for a maid to confgn to. Shakefpcare. 
CONSIGNATION,/ The aft of configning ; the 
aft by which any thing is delivered up to another.—As 
the hope of falvation is a good dilpofition towards it, fo 
is defpair a certain confgnation to eternal ruin. Taylor. — 
The aft of figning.-—If we find that we increafe in duty, 
then we may look upon the tradition of the holy facra- 
mental fymbols as a direft confgnation of pardon. Taylor. 
CON SIGNIFICATION,/ United fignification.— He 
calls the additional denoting of time by a truly philolo. 
phic w'ord, a confgnifcation. Harris's Philolog. lnq. 
CONSIGNMENT,/ The aft of configning. The 
writing by which any thing is configned. 
CONSI'MILAR, adj. [from conf mills, Lat. ] Having 
one common refemblance. 
To CONSI'ST, v.n. \_conffo, Lat.] To fubfift; not to 
perilh.—He is before all things, and by him all things 
conjif. Colo fans.- —To continue fixed, without diflipation. 
—It is againlt the nature of water, being a flexible and 
ponderous body, to confifi and ftay itfelf, and not fall to 
the lower parts. Brcrcwood.- —To be comprifed ; to be 
contained.—I pretend not to tie the hands of artifts, 
whole thill conffs only in a certain manner which they 
have aftefted. Drydcn. —To be conipofed.*—The land 
would conff of plains, and vallies, and mountains, ac¬ 
cording as the pieces of this ruin were difpoled. Burnet. 
■—To have being concurrently ; to co-exift.—Neceflity 
and election cannot conff together in the fame aftt. Bram- 
hall. —To agree ; not to oppote ; not to contradift ; not 
to counteraft 1 it has with before the thing compared, or 
co-exiftent.—It cannot conff with the Divine Attributes, 
that the impious man’s joys Ihould, upon the whole, ex¬ 
ceed thole of the upright. Atterbury. —Health conffs with 
temperance alone. Pope, 
CONSISTENCE, 
