Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

CHARGE

194

CHANTRY

stituted not only to assist the bishop in man ner aforesaid, but also anciently to rule and govern the diocese in the time of vacation. Burn, Diet. CHARACTER. The aggregate of the moral qualities which belong to and distin guish an individual person; the general re sult of the one's distinguishing attributes. That moral predisposition or habit, or ag gregate of ethical qualities, which is believed to attach to a person, on the strength of the common opinion and report concerning him. The opinion generally entertained of a per son derived from the common report of the people who are acquainted with him. 3 Serg. & R. 336; 3 Mass. 192. Character and reputation are not synonymous terms. Character is what a man ov woman is mor ally, while reputation is what he or she is reputed to be. Yet reputation is the estimate which the community has of a person's character; and it is the belief that moral character is wanting in an individual that renders him unworthy of belief; that is to say, that reputation is evidence of char acter, and if the reputation is bad for truth, or rep utation is bad in other respects affecting the moral character, then the jury may infer that the char acter is bad and the witness not reliable. General character has always been proved by proving gen eral reputation. 6 Or. 213. The word "character" no doubt has an objective and subjective import, which are quite distinct. As to the object, character is its quality. As to man, it is the quality of his mind, and his affec tions, his capacity and temperament. But as a subjective term, certainly in the minds of others, one's character is the aggregate, or the abstract, of other men's opinions of one. And in this sense, when a witness speaks of the character of another witness for truth, he draws not upon his memory alone, but his judgment also. It is the conclusion of the mind of the witness, in summing up the amount of all the reports he has heard ofthe man, and declaring his character for truth, as held in the minds of his neighbors and acquaintances, and in this sense character, general character, and general report or reputation are the same, as held in the books. 26 Vt. 278. CHARGE, v. To impose a burden, ob ligation, or lien; to create a claim against property; to claim, to demand; to accuse; to instruct a jury on matters of law. CHARGE, n. In general. An incum brance, lien, or burden; an obligation or duty; a liability; an accusation. In contracts. An obligation, binding upon him who enters into it, which may be removed or taken away by a discharge. Termes de la Ley. An undertaking to keep the custody of an other person's goods. An obligation entered into by the owner of an estate, which binds the estate for its per

CHANTRY. A church or chapel en dowed with lands for the maintenance of priests to say mass daily for the souls of the donors. Termes de la Ley; Cowell. CHAPEL. A place of worship; a lesser -or inferior church, sometime? a part of or subordinate to another church. Webster. CHAPEL OF EASE. In 5 iglish eccle siastical law. A chapel founded in general at some period later than the parochial church itself, and designed for the accommo dation of such of the parishioners as, in course of time, had begun to fix their resi dence at some distance from its site; and so termed because built in aid of the original church. 3 Steph. Comm. 151. CHAPELRY. The precinct and limits of a chapel. The same thing to a chapel as a parish is to a church. Co well; Blount. CHAPERON. A hood or bonnet an ciently worn by the Knights of the Garter, as part of the habit of that order; also a little escutcheon fixed in the forehead of horses drawing a hearse at a funeral. Wharton. CHAPITRE. A summary of matters to be inquired of or presented before justices in eyre, justices of assise, or of the peace, in their sessions. Also articles delivered by the justice in his charge to the inquest. Brit. c. iii. CHAPLAIN. An ecclesiastic who per forms divine service in a chapel; but it more commonly means one who attends upon a king, prince, or other person of quality, for the performance or clenc.l duties in a pri vate chapel. 4 Coke, 90. A clergyman officially attached to a ship of war, to an army, (or regiment,) or to some public institution, for the purpose of per forming divine service. Webster. CHAPMAN. An itinerant vendor oi small wares. A trader who trades from place to place. Say. 191, 192. CHAPTER. In ecclesiastical law. A congregation of ecclesiastical persons in a cathedral church, consisting of canons, or prebendaries, whereof the dean is the head, all subordinate to the bishop, to whom they act as assistants in matters relating to the church, for the better ordering and disposing the things thereof, and the confirmation of such leases of the temporalty and offices relating to the bishopric, as the bishop shall make from time to time. And they are termed "capitulum," as a kind of head, in

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