Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

181

CAUSA

CAUSE

Causae dotis, vitse, libertatis, ftscf sunt inter favorabilia in lege. Causes of dow er, life, liberty, revenue, are among the things favored in law. Co. Litt. 341. CAUSAM NOBIS SIGNIFICES QUARE. A writ addressed to a mayor of a town, etc., who was by the king's writ com manded to give seisin of lands to the king's grantee, on his delaying to do it, requiring him to show cause why he so delayed the per formance of his duty. Blount; Cowell. CAUSARE. In the civil and old En glish law. To be engaged in a suit; to liti gate; to conduct a cause. CAUSATOR. In old European law. One who manages or litigates another's cause. Spelman. CAUSE. That which produces an effect; whatever moves, impels, or leads. The ori gin or foundation of a thing, as of a suit or ac tion; a ground of action. 1 N. Y. 47. The consideration of a contract, that is* the inducement to it, or motive of the con tracting party for entering into it, is, in the civil and Scotch law, called the "cause." The civilians use the term "cause," in relation to obligations, in the same sense as the word "con sideration " is used in the jurisprudence of England and the United States. It means the motive, the inducement to the agreement,— id quod inducet ad contrahendum. In contracts of mutual interest, the cause of the engagement is the thing given or done, or engaged to be given or done, or the risk incurred by one of the parties. 1 La. Ann. 192. In pleading. Reason; motive; matter of excuse or justification. In practice. A suit, litigation, or action. Any question, civil or criminal, contested before a court of justice. Cause imports a judicial proceeding entire, and is nearly synonymous with lis in Latin, or suit in English. Although allied to the word "case,"it differs from it in the application of its meaning. A cause is pending, postponed, appealed, gained, lost, etc.; whereas a case is made, rested, argued, decided, etc. Case is of a more limited significa tion, importing a collection of facts, with the oon clusion of law thereon. Both terms may be used with propriety in the same sentence; e. g., on the trial of the cause, the plaintiff introduced certain evidence, and there rested his case. 18 Conn. 10. A distinction is sometimes taken between "cause" and "action." Burrill observes that a cause is not, like an action or suit, said to be com menced, nor is an action, like a cause, said to be tried. But, if there is any substantial difference between these terms, it must lie in the fact that "action" refers more peculiarly to the legal pro cedure of a controversy; "cause" to its merits ox the state of facts involved Thus, we cannot say "the cause should have been replevin." Nor

CAUSA JACTITATIONIS MARITA GII. A form of action which anciently lay against a party who boasted or gave out that he or she was married to the plaintiff, where by a common reputation of their marriage might ensue. 3 Bl. Comm. 93. CAUSA MATRIMONII PR-ELO CUTI. A writ lying where a woman has given lands to a man in fee-simple with the intention that he shall marry her, and he re fuses so to do within a reasonable time, upon suitable request. Cowell. Now obsolete. 3 Bl. Comm. 183, note. CAUSA MORTIS. In contemplation of approaching death. In view of death. Com monly occurring in the phrase donatio causa mortis, (q. v.) CAUSA PATET. The reason is open, obvious, plain, clear, or manifest. A com mon expression in old writers. Ferk. c. 1, §§ 11,14. 97. CAUSA PROXIMA. The immediate, nearest, or latest cause. Causa proxima, non remota, spectator. The immediate, not the remote, cause, is looked at, or considered. 12 East, 648; 3 Kent, Comm. 302; Story, Bailm. § 515; Bac. Max. reg. 1. CAUSA REI. In the civil law. The accessions, appurtenances, or fruits of a thing; comprehending all that the claimant of a principal thing can demand from a de fendant in addition thereto, and especially what he would have had, if the thing had not been withheld from him. Inst. 4, 17, 3; Mackeld. Bom. Law, § 166. CAUSA REMOTA. A remote or mediate cause; a cause operating indirectly by the in tervention of other causes. CAUSA SCIENTLSI PATET. The reason of the knowledge is evident. A tech nical phrase in Scotch practice, used in depo sitions of witnesses. CAUSA SINE QUA NON. A necessary or inevitable cause; a cause without which the effect in question could not have hap pened. CAUSA TURPIS. A base (immoral or Illegal) cause or consideration. Causa vaga et incerta non est causa rationabilis. 5 Coke, 57. A vague and un certain cause is not a reasonable causa.

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