Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

ALTIUS NON TOLLENDI

64

ALTARAGE

ALTERNAT. A usage among diploma tists by which the rank and places of differ ent powers, who have the same right and pretensions to precedence, are changed from time to time, either in a certain regular order or one determined by lot. In drawing up treaties and conventions, for example, it is the usage of certain powers to alternate, both in the preamble and the signatures, so that each power occupies, in the copy intended to be delivered to it, the first place. Wheat. Int. Law, § 157. ALTERNATIM. L. Lat. Interchange ably. Litt. § 371; Townsh. PL 37. Alternativa petitio non est audienda. An alternative petition or demand is not to be heard. 5 Coke, 40. ALTERNATIVE. One or the other of two things; giving an option or choice; al lowing a choice between two or more things or acts to be done. ALTERNATIVE OBLIGATION. AE obligation allowing the obligor to choose which of two things he will do, the perform ance of either of which will satisfy the in strument. Where the things which form the object of the contract are separated by a disjunctive, then the obligation is alternative. A prom ise to deliver a certain thing or to pay a specified sum of money, is an example of this kind of obligation. Civil Code La. art. 2066. ALTERNATIVE REMEDY. Where a new remedy is created in addition to an ex isting one, they are called "alternative" if only one can be enforced; but if both, "cu mulative. " ALTERNATIVE WRIT. A writcom manding the person against whom it is is sued to do a specified thing, or show cause to the court why he should not be compelled to do it. ALTERNIS VICIBUS. L. Lat. By alternate turns; at alternate times; alter* nately. Co. Litt. 4a; Shep. Touch. 206. ALTERUM NON LiEDERE. Not to injure another. This maxim, and two oth ers, honeste eivere, and suum cuique tribuert, (q. v.,) are considered by Justinian as funda mental principles upon which all the rules of law are based. Inst. 1, 1, 3. ALTIUS NON TOLLENDI. la the civil law. A servitude due by the owner of a house, by which he is restrained from build

ALTARAGE. In ecclesiastical law. Of ferings made on the altar; all profits which accrue to the priest by means of the altar. Ayliffe, Parerg. 61. ALTEB. To make a change in; to mod ify; to vary in some degree; to change some of the elements or ingredients or details, without substituting an entirely new thing or destroying the identity of the thing af fected. This term is to be distinguished from its synonyms "change" and "amend." To change may import the substitution of an entirely different thing, while to alter is to operate upon a subject-matter which con tinues objectively the same while modified in some particular. If a check is raised, in re spect to its amount, it is altered; if a new check is put in its place, it is changed. To "amend" implies that the modification made in the subject improves it, which is not nec essarily the case with an alteration. An amendment always involves an alteration, but an alteration does not always amend. ALTERATION. Variation; changing; making different. An act done upon a written instrument, which, without destroying the identity of the document, introduces some change into its terms, meaning, language, or details. This may be done either by the mutual agree ment of the parties concerned, or by a person interested under the writing without the con sent, or without the knowledge, of the others. In either case it is properly denominated an alteration; but if performed by a mere stranger, it is more technically described as a spoliation or mutilation. The term is not properly applied to any change which involves the substitution of a practically new docu ment. And it should in strictness be re served for the designation of changes in form or language, and not used with reference to modifications in matters of substance. An alteration is an act done upon the in strument by which its meaning or language is changed. If what is written upon or erased from the instrument has no tendency to produce this result, or to mislead any per son, it is not an alteration. 5 Neb. 444. An alteration is said to be material when it affects, or may possibly affect, the rights of the persons interested in the document. Alterius oircumventio alii non pree bet actionem. The deceiving of one person does not afford an action to another. Dig. 50, 17, 49.

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