KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

191

CHARACTER

CHARGE DES AFFAIRES

In the law of wills. A responsibility or liability imposed by the testator upon a dev isee personally, or upon the land devised. In equity pleading. An allegation in the bill of matters which disprove or avoid a defense which it is alleged the defendant is supposed to pretend or intend to set up. Story, Bq. PI. § 31. In equity practice. A paper presented to a master in chancery by a party to a cause, being a written statement of the items with which the opposite party should be debited or should account for, or of the claim of the party making it. It is more compre hensive than a claim, which implies only the amount due to the person producing it, while a charge may embrace the whole liabilities of the accounting party. Hoff. Mast. 36. In common-law practice. The final ad dress made by a judge to the jury trying a case, before they make up their verdict, in which he sums up the case, and instructs the jury as to the rules of law which apply to its various issues, and which they must ob serve, in deciding upon their verdict, when they shall have determined the controverted matters of fact. The term also applies to the address of the court to a grand jury, in which the latter are instructed as to their duties. In Scotch law. The command of the king's letters to perform some act; as a charge to enter heir. Also a messenger's ex ecution, requiring a person to obey the order of the king's letters; as a charge on letters of horning, or a charge against a superior. Bell. —General charge. A charge or instruction by the court to the jury upon the case as a whole, or upon its general features or charac teristics.—Special charge. A charge or in struction given by the court to the jury, upon some particular point or question involved in the case, and usually in response to counsel's request for such instruction. Under the former system of equity practice, this phrase was used to characterize the usual method of taking an account before a master. After the plaintiff had presented his "charge," a written statement of the items of account for which he asked credit, the de fendant filed a counter-statement, called a "discharge," exhibiting any claims or de mands he held against the plaintiff. These served to define the field of investigation, and constituted the basis of the report The title of a diplomatic representative of inferior rank, He has not the title or dignity of a minister, though he may be charged with the functions and offices of the latter, either as a temporary substitute for a minister or at a court to which his government does not accredit a minister. In re Baiz, 135 U. S. 403, 10 Sup. CHARGE AND DISCHARGE. CHARGE DE S AFFAIRES, or CHARGE D'AFFAIRES.

son derived from the common report of the people who are acquainted with him. Smith T. State, 88 Ala. 73, 7 South. 52; State v. Turner, 36 S. C. 534, 15 S. B. 602; Fahnestock v. State, 23 Ind. 238; State v. Parker, 96 Mo. 382, 9 S. W. 728; Sullivan v. State, 66 Ala. 48; Kimmel v. Kimmel, 3 Serg. & R. (Pa) 337, 8 Am. Dec. 672. Character and reputation are not synonymous terms. Character is what a man or woman ia morally, while reputation is what he or she is reputed to be. Yet reputation is the estimate which the community has of a person's charac ter; and it is the belief that moral character is wanting in an individual that renders him unworthy of belief; that is to say, that reputa tion is evidence of character, and if the reputa tion is bad for truth, or reputation is bad in other respects affecting the moral character, then the jury may infer that the character is bad and the witness not reliable. General char acter has always been proved by proving gener al reputation. Leverich v. Frank, 6 Or. 213. The word "character" no doubt has an ob jective and subjective import, which are quite distinct. As to the object, character is its qual ity. As to man, it is the quality of his mind, and his affections, his capacity and tempera ment. But as a subjective term, certainly in the minds of others, one's character is the ag gregate, or the abstract of other men's opin ions of one. And in this sense when a witness speaks of the character of another witness for truth, he draws not upon his memory alone, but his judgment also. It is the conclusion of the mind of the witness, in summing up the amount of all the reports he has heard of the man, and declaring his character for truth, as held in the minds of his neighbors and acquaintances, and in this sense character, general character, and general report or reputation are the same, as held in the books. Powers v. Leach, 26 Vt. 278. To impose a burden, ob ligation, or lien; to create a claim against property; to claim, to demand; to accuse; to instruct a jury on matters of law. In the first sense above given, a jury in a criminal case is "charged" with the duty of trying the prisoner (or, as otherwise ex pressed, with his fate or his "deliverance") as soon as they are impaneled and sworn, and at this moment the prisoner's legal "jeop ardy" begins. This is altogether a different matter from "charging" the jury in the sense of giving them instructions on matters of law, which is a function of the court. Tom asson v. State, 112 Tenn. 596, 79 S. W. 803. An incum brance, lien, or burden; an obligation or duty; a liability; an accusation. Darling v. Rogers, 22 Wend. (N. Y.) 491. In contracts. An obligation, binding up on him who enters into it, which may be removed or taken away by a discharge. Termes de la Ley. An undertaking to keep the custody of an other person's goods. State v. Clark, 86 Me. 194, 29 Atl. 984. An obligation entered into by the owner of an estate, which binds the estate for its per formance. Com. Dig. "Rent," a 6; 2 Ball & B. 223. CHARGE, v. CHARGE, n. In general.