Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

DECANUS

337

DEBT

sum of money arising upon a oontract, express or Implied. In its more general sense, it is defined to be that which is due from one person to another, whether money, goods, or services; that which one person is bound to pay or perform to another. Un der the legal-tender statutes, it seems to import any obligation by contract, express or implied, which may be discharged by money through the voluntary action of the party bound. "Wherever he may be at liberty to perform his obligation by the payment of a specific sum of money, the party owing the obligation is subject to what, in these statutes, is termed "debt. M 45 Barb. 618. The word is sometimes used to denote an aggregate of separate debts, or the total sum of the existing claims against a person or company. Thus we speak of the "national debt," the "bonded debt" of a corporation, etc. Synonyms. The term "demand" is of much broader import than "debt," and em braces rights of action belonging to the debt or beyond those which could appropriately be called "debts." In this respect the term "de mand" is one of very extensive import. 2 Hill, 223. The words "debt" and "liability" are not synonymous. As applied to the pecuniary relations of parties, liability is a term of broader significance than debt. The legal acceptation of debt is a sum of money due by certain and express agreement. Liability is responsibility; the state of one who is bound In law and justice to do something which may be enforced by action. This liability may arise from contracts either express or implied, or in consequence of torts committed. 36 Iowa, 226. "Debt" is not exactly synonymous with "duty." A debt is a legal liability to pay a specific sum of money; a duty is a legal obligation to perform some act. 1 Minor, 120. In practice. The name of a common law action, which lies to recover a certain specific sum of money, or a sum that can readily be reduced to a certainty. 3 Bl. Comm. 154; 3 Steph. Comm. 461; 1 Tidd. Pr. 3. It is said to lie in the debet and detinet, (when It is stated that the defendant owes and detains,) or in the detinet, (when it is stated merely that he detains.) Debt in the detinet for goods differs from detinue, because it is not essential in this action, as in detinue, that the specific property in the goods should have been vested in the plaintiff ftt the time the action is brought. Dyer, 24b. DEBT BY SIMPLE CONTRACT. A debt or demand founded upon a verbal or Implied contract, or upon any written agree ment that is not under seal. AM.DIOT.LAW—22

DEBT BY SPECIALTY. A debt due, or acknowledged to be due, by some deed or instrument under seal; as a deed of covenant or sale, a lease reserving rent, or a bond or obligation. 2B1. Comm. 465. See SPECIALTY. DEBT EX MUTUO. A species of debt or obligation mentioned by Glanville and Bracton, and which arose ex mutuo, out of a certain kind of loan. Glan. lib. 10, c. 3; Bract, lol. 99. See MUTUUM; EX MUTUO. DEBT OF RECORD. A debt which appears to be due by the evidence of a court of record, as by a judgment or recognizance. 2 Bl. Comm. 465. DEBTEE. A person to whom a debt is due; a cieditor. 3 Bl. Comm. 18; Plowd.. 543. Not used. DEBTOR. One who owes a debt; he who may be compelled to pay a claim or de mand. DEBTOR'S ACT 1869. The statute 32 & 33 Viet. c. 62, abolishing imprisonment for debt in England, and for the punishment of fraudulent debtors. 2 Steph. Comm. 159 164. Not to be confounded with the Bank ruptcy Act of 1869. Mozley & Whitley. DEBTOR'S SUMMONS. In English law. A summons issuing from a court hav ing jurisdiction in bankruptcy, upon the creditor proving a liquidated debt of not less than £50, which he has failed to collect after reasonable effort, stating that if the debtor fail, within one week if a trader, and within three weeks if a non-trader, to pay or com pound for the sum specified, a petition may be presented against himprayingthathemay be adjudged a bankrupt. Bankruptcy Act 1869, § 7; Robs. Bankr.; Mozley & Whitley. DECALOGUE. The ten commandments given by God to Moses. The Jews called them the "Ten Words," hence the name. DECANATUS. A deanery. Spelman. A company of ten persons. Calvin. DECANIA. The office, jurisdiction, territory, or command of a decanus, or dean. Spelman. DECANUS. In ecclesiastical and old European law. An officer having super vision over ten; a dean. A term applied not only to ecclesiastical, but to civil and mili itary, officers. Decanus monasticus; a mo nastic dean, or dean of a monastery; an offi cer over ten monks. Decanus in majori ecclesia; dean of a cathedral church, presid

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