KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

178

CAUSES CELEBRES

CAUSA ECCLESLE

In practice. A suit, litigation, or action. Any question, civil or criminal, contested before a court of justice. Cause imports a judicial proceeding entire, and is nearly synonymous with Us in Latin, or suit in English. Although allied to the word "case," it differs from it in the application of its meaning. A cause is pending, postponed, ap pealed, gained, lost, etc.; whereas a case is made, rested, argued, decided, etc. Case is of a more limited signification, importing a collection of facts, with the conclusion of law thereon. Both terms may be used with propriety in the same sentence; e. g., on the trial of the cause, the plaintiff introduced certain evidence, and there rested his case. See Shirts v. Irons, 47 Ind. 445; Blyew v. U. S., 13 Wall. 581, 20 L. Ed. 638; Erwin v. U. S., 37 Fed. 470, 2 L. R. A. 229. A distinction is sometimes taken between "cause" and "action." Burrill observes that a cause is not, like an action or suit, said to be commenced, nor is an action, like a cause, said to be tried. But, if there is any substantial dif ference between these terms, it must lie in the fact that "action" refers more peculiarly to the legal procedure of a controversy; "cause" to its merits or the state of facts involved. Thus, we cannot say "the cause should have been replev in." Nor would it be correct to say "the plain tiff pleaded his own action." As to "Probable Cause" and "Proximate Cause," see those titles. As to challenge "for cause," see "Challenge." CAUSE-BOOKS. Books kept in the cen tral office of the English supreme court in which are entered all writs of summons issued in the office. Rules of Court v 8. CAUSE LIST. In English practice. A printed roll of actions, to be tried in the order of their entry, with the names of the solicitors for each litigant. Similar to the calendar of causes, or docket, used in Amer ican courts. CAUSE OF ACTION. Matter for which an action may be brought. The ground on which an action may be sustained. The right to bring a suit. Cause of action is properly the ground on which an action can be maintained; as when we* say that such a person has no cause of ac tion. But the phrase is often used to signify the matter of the complaint or claim on which a given action is in fact grounded, whether or not legally maintainable. Mozley & Whitley. It sometimes means a person having a right of action. Thus, where a legacy is left to a mar ried woman, and she and her husband bring an action to recover it she is called in the old books the "meritorious cause of action." 1 H. Bl. 108. The term is synonymous with right of action, right of recovery. Graham v. Scripture, 26 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 501. Cause of action is not synonymous with chose in action; the latter includes debts, etc., not due, and even stocks. Bank of Commerce v. Rutland & W. R. Co., 10 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 1. CAUSES CELEBRES. Celebrated cases. A work containing reports of the decisions of interest and importance in French courts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Secondarily a single trial or decision is

of the effect 4 Camp. 284; Marble v. City of Worcester, 4 Gray (Mass.) 398. Causa ecclesiae publicis sequiparatur; et nunma est ratio quae pro religione facit. The cause of the church is equal to public cause; and paramount is the reason which makes for religion. Co. Litt. 341. Causa et origo est materia negotii. The cause and origin is the substance of the thing; the cause and origin of a thing are a material part of it The law regards the original act 1 Coke, 99. Causa proarima, non remota, spectator. The immediate, not the remote, cause, is looked at, or considered. 12 East, 648; 3 Kent, Comm. 302; Story, Bailm. § 515; Bac Max. reg. 1. Causa vaga et incerta non est causa rationabilis. 5 Coke, 57. A vague and un certain cause is not a reasonable cause. Causae dotis, vitae, libertatis, fisci sunt inter favorabilia in lege. Causes of dow er, life, liberty, revenue, are among the things favored in law. Co. Litt. 341. SIGNIFICES QUABE. A writ addressed to a mayor of a town, etc., who was by the king's writ com manded to give seisin of lands to the king's grantee, on his delaying to do it, requiring him to show cause why he so delayed the per formance of his duty. Blount; Cowell. In the civil and old En glish law. To be engaged in a suit; to liti gate ; to conduct a cause. CAUSATOR. In old European law. One who manages or litigates another's cause Spelman. CAUSE. That which produces an effect; whatever moves, impels, or leads. The ori gin or foundation of a thing, as of a suit or action; a ground of action. Corning v. Mc Cullough, 1 N. Y. 47, 49 Am. Dec. 287; State v. Dougherty, 4 Or. 203. The consideration of a contract, that is, the inducement to it, or motive of the con tracting party for entering into it, is, in the ?lvil and Scotch law, called the "cause." The civilians use the term "cause," in relation to obligations, in the same sense as the word "consideration" is used in the jurisprudence of England and the United States. It means the motive, the inducement to the agreement,— id quod inducet ad contrahendum. In contracts of mutual interest, the cause of the engagement is the thing given or done, or engaged to be given or done, or the risk incurred by one of the par ties. Mouton v. Noble, 1 La. Ann. 192. In pleading. Reason; motive; matter of excuse or justification. CAU S AM NOB I S CAUSARE.