Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

596 IMPOTENTIA EXCUSAT LEGEM

IMPLIED COVENANT

law implies a contract or undertaking on A.'s part to pay B. as much as his labor or service deserves. 2 Bl. Comm. 443. IMPLIED COVENANT. One which is not set forth explicitly, but is raised by im plication of law from the use of certain terms ("grant," "give," "demise," etc.) in the con veyance, contract, or lease. See COVENANT. IMPLIED MALICE. Malice inferred by legal reasoning and necessary deduction from the res gestce or the conduct of the party. Malice inferred from any deliberate cruel act committed by one person against another, however sudden. Whart. Horn. 38. What is called "general malice" is often thus in ferred. IMPLIED TRUST. A trust raised or created by implication of law; a trust im plied or presumed from circumstances. IMPLIED USE. See RESULTING USE. IMPLIED WARRANTY. A warranty raised by the law as an inference from the acts of the parties or the circumstances of the transaction. Thus, if the seller of a chattel have possession of it and sell it as his own, and not as agent for another, and for a fair price, he is understood to warrant the title. 2 Kent, Comm. 478. A warranty implied from the general tenor of an instrument, or from particular words used in it, although no express warranty is mentioned. Thus, in every policy of insur ance there is an implied warranty that the ship is seaworthy when the policy attaches. 3 Kent, Comm. 287; 1 Phil. Ins. 308. IMPORTATION. The act of bringing goods and merchandise into a country from a foreign country. IMPORTS. Importations; goods or other property imported or brought into the coun try from a foreign country. IMPORTUNITY. Pressing solicitation; urgent request; application for a claim or favor which is urged with troublesome fre quency or pertinacity. Webster. IMPOSITION. An impost; tax; contri bution. IMPOSSIBILITY. That which, in the constitution and course of nature or the law, no man can do or perform. Impossibility is of the following several •orts: An act is physically impossible when it is contrary to the course of nature. Such an

impossibility may be either absolute, t. «., impossible in any case, (e. g., for A. to reach the moon,) or relatice, (sometimes called "impossibility in fact,") i. e., arising fiom the circumstances of the case, (e. g. t for A. to make a payment to B., he being a deceased person.) To the latter class belongs what is sometimes called " practical impossibility," which exists when the act can be done, but only at an excessive or unreasonable cost. An act is legally or juridically impossible when a rule of law makes it impossible to do it; e. g., for A. to make a valid will before his majority. This class of acts must not be confounded with those which are possible, although forbidden by law, as to commit a theft. An act is logically impossible when it is contrary to the nature of the transaction, as where A. gives property to B. expressly for his own benefit, on condition that he transfers it to C. Sweet. Impossibilium n u l l a obligatio est. There is no obligation to do impossible things. Dig. 50, 17, 185; Broom, Max. 249. IMPOSSIBLE CONTRACTS. An im possible contract is one which the law will not hold binding upon the parties, because of the natural or legal impossibility of the per formance by one party of that which is the consideration for the promise of the other. 7 Wait, Act. & Def. 124. Impossible contracts, which will be deemed void in the eye of the law, or of which the performance will be excused, are such con tracts as cannot be performed, either because of the nature of the obligation undertaken, or because of some supervening event which renders the performance of the obligation either physically or legally impossible. 10 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, 176. IMPOSTS. Taxes, duties, or impositions. A duty on imported goods or merchandise. Story, Const. § 949. Impost is a tax received by the prince for such merchandises as are brought into any haven within his dominions from foreign nations. It may in soma sort be distinguished from customs, because customs are rather that profit the prince maketh of wares shipped out; yet they are frequently oon founded. CowelL IMPOTENCE. In medical jurispru dence. The incapacity for copulation or prop agating the species. Properly used of the male; but it has also been used synonymous ly with "sterility." Impotentia excusat legem. Co. Lltt. 29. The impossibility of doing what is re

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