Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

CRATES

299

CREDITOR

writs were returnable on the day after. 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 56. CRATES. An iron gate before a prison. 1 Vent. 304. CRAVE. To ask or demand; as to crave over. See OYEB. CRAVEN. In old English law. A word of disgrace and obloquy, pronounced on either champion, in the ancient trial by battle, prov ing recreant, i. e., yielding. Glanville calls it" infestum et inverecundum verbum. " His condemnation was amittere liberam legem, i. e., to become infamous, and not to be ac counted liber et legalis homo, being supposed by the event to have been proved forsworn, and not fit to be put upon a jury or admitted as a witness. Wharton. CREAMER. A foreign merchant, but generally taken for one who has a stall in a fair or market. Blount. CREAMUS. We create. One of the words by which a corporation in England was formerly created by the king. 1 Bl. Comm. 473. CREANCE. In French law. A claim; a debt; also belief, credit, faith. CREANCER. One who trusts or gives credit; a creditor. Britt. cc. 28, 78. CREANSOR. A creditor. Cowell. CREATE. To create a cYiaxter or a cor poration is to make one which never existed before, while to renew one is to give vitality to one which has been forfeited or has ex pired; and to extend one is to give an exist ing charter more time than originally limited. 21 Pa. St. 188. CREDENTIALS. In international law. The instruments which authorize and estab lish a public minister in his character with the state or prince to whom they are addressed. If the state or prince receive the minister, he can be received only in the quality attrib uted to him in his credentials. They are, as it were, his letter of attorney, his mandate patent, mandatum manifestum. Vattel, liv. 4. c. 6, § 76. CREDIBILITY. Worthiness of belief; that quality in a witness which renders his evidence worthy of belief. After the com petence of a witness is allowed, the consid eration of his credibility arises, and not be fore. 1 Burrows, 414, 417; 3 Bl. Comm.

As to the distinction between competency and credibility, see COMPETENCY. CREDIBLE. Worthy of belief; entitled to credit. See COMPETENCY. CREDIBLE WITNESS. One who. be ing competent to give evidence, is worthy of belief. 5 Mass. 229; 17 Pick. 154; 2 Curt. Ecc. 336. CREDIT. 1. Theabilityofa business man to borrow money, or obtain goods on time, in consequence of the favorable opinion held by the community, or by the particular lender, as to his solvency and reliability. 2. Time allowed to the buyer of goods by the seller, in which to make payment for them. 3. The correlative of a debt; that is, a debt considered from the creditor's stand-point, or that which is incoming or due to one. 4. That which is due to a merchant, as dis tinguished from debit, that which is due by him. 5. That influence connected with certain social positions. 20 Toullier, n. 19. The credit of an individual is the trust reposed in him by those who deal with him that he is of ability to meet his engagements; and he is trusted because through the tribunals of the country he may be made to pay. The credit of a government is founded on a belief of its ability to comply with its engagements, and a confidence in its honor, that it will do that voluntarily which it cannot be com pelled to do. 3 Ala. 258. Credit is the capacity of being trusted. S N. Y. 844,356. CREDIT, BILLS OF. See BILLS OF CREDIT. CREDIT FONCIER. Fr. A company or corporation formed for the purpose of car rying out improvements, by means of loans and advances on real estate security. CREDIT MOBILIER. Fr. Acom pany or association formed for carrying on a banking business, or for the construction of public works, building of railroads, opera tion of mines, or other such enterprises, by means of loans or advances on the security of personal property. CREDITOR. A person to whom a debt is owing by another person, called the "debt or. " The creditor is called a "simple contract creditor," a "specialty creditor," a "bond creditor," or a "judgment creditor," accord ing to the nature of the obligation giving rise to the debt; and, if he has issued execu tion to enforce a judgment, he is called an "execution creditor." He may also be a sole or a joint creditor. Sweet.

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