KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

243

CONFESSION

CONFIRMATIO

inal law of England, "is where the accused con fesseth and appealeth others thereof, to be come an approver," (2 Hale, P. C. c. 29,) or in other words to "turn king's evidence." This is now obsolete, but something like it is practiced in modern law, where one of the persons accus ed or supposed to be involved in a crime is put on the witness stand under an implied promise of pardon. Com. v. Knapp, 10 Pick. (Mass.) 477; 20 Am. Dec. 534; State v. Willis, 71 Conn. 293, 41 Atl. 820. A simple confession is merely a plea of guilty. State v. Willis, 71 Oonn. 293, 41 Atl. 820; Bram v. U. S., 168 U. S. 532, 18 Sup. Ct. 183, 42 L. Ed. 568. A voluntary confession is one made spontaneous ly by a person accused of crime, free from the influence of any extraneous disturbing cause, and in particular, not influenced, or extorted by vio lence, threats, or promises. State v. Clifford, 86 Iowa, 550, 53 N. W. 299, 41 Am. St. Rep. 518; Roesel v. State, 62 N. J. Law, 216, 41 Atl. 408; State v. Alexander, 109 La. 557, 33 South. 600; Com. v. Sego, 125 Mass. 213; Bullock v. State, 65 N. J. Law, 557, 47 Atl. 62, 86 Am. St. Rep. 668; Colburn v. Groton, 66 N. H. 151. 28 Atl. 95, 22 L. R. A. 763. — Confession and avoidance. A plea in con fession and avoidance is one which avows and confesses the truth of the averments of fact in the declaration, either expressly or by implica tion, but then proceeds to allege new matter which tends to deprive the facts admitted of their ordinary legal effect, or to obviate, neu tralize, or avoid them.— Confession of de fense. In English practice. Where defendant alleges a ground of defense arising since the commencement of the action, the plaintiff may deliver confession of such defense and sign judg ment for his costs up to the time of such plead ing, unless it be otherwise ordered. Jud. Act 1875, Ord. XX, r. 3.— Confession of judg ment. The act of a debtor in permitting judg ment to be entered against him by his creditor, for a stipulated sum, by a written statement to that effect or by warrant of attorney, without the institution of legal proceedings of any kind. —Confessing: error. A plea to an assignment of error, admitting the same. In equity practice. An order which the court of chancery makes when the defendant does not file an answer, that the plaintiff may take such a decree as the case made by his bill warrants. An ecclesiastic who re ceives auricular confessions of sins from per sons under his spiritual charge, and pro nounces absolution upon them. The secrets of the confessional are not privileged com munications at common law, but this has been changed by statute in some states. See 1 Greenl. Ev. §§ 247, 248. Lat. In the civil law. An action for enforcing a servi tude. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 324. Confess-as in judicio pro judicato habe tnr, et qnodammodo sua sententia dam natnr. 11 Coke, 30. A person confessing his guilt when arraigned is deemed to have been found guilty, and is, as it were, con demned by his own sentence. CONFESSO, BILE TAKEN FRO. CONFESSOR. CONFESSORIA ACTIO.

word is considered peculiarly appropriate to create a trust. "It is as applicable to the subject of a trust, as nearly a synonym, as the English language is capable of. Trust is a confidence which one man reposes in another, and confidence is a trust." Appeal of Coates, 2 Pa. 133. Intrusted with the confidence of another or with his secret af fairs or purposes; intended to be held in confidence or kept secret. —Confidential communications. See COM MUNICATION.— Confidential creditor. This term has been applied to the creditors of a fail ing debtor who furnished him with the means of obtaining credit to which he was not entitled, involving in loss the unsuspecting and fair-deal ing creditors. Gay v. Strickland, 112 Ala. 567, 20 South. 921.— Confidential relation. A fiduciary relation. These phrases are used as convertible terms. It is a peculiar relation which exists between client and attorney, prin cipal and agent, principal and surety, landlord and tenant, parent and child, guardian and ward, ancestor and heir, husband and wife, trus tee and cestui que trust, executors or adminis trators and creditors, legatees, or distributees, appointer and appointee under powers, and part ners and part owners. In these and like cases, the law, in order to prevent undue advantage from the unlimited confidence or sense of duty which the relation naturally creates, requires the utmost degree of good faith in all transactions between the parties. Robins v. Hope, 57 Cal. 493; People v. Palmer, 152 N. Y. 217, 46 N. E. 328; Scattergood v. Kirk, 192 Pa. 263, 43 Atl. 1030; Brown v. Deposit Co., 87 Md. 377, 40 Atl. 256. Confinement may be by either a moral or a physical restraint, by threats of violence with a present force, or by physical restraint of the person. U. S. v. Thompson, 1 Sumn. 171, Fed. Cas. No. 16,492; Ex parte Snodgrass, 43 Tex. Cr. R. 359, 65 S. W. 1061. CONFIRM. To complete or establish that which was imperfect or uncertain; to ratify what has been done without authority or insufficiently. Boggs v. Mining Co., 14 Cal. 305; Railway Co. v. Ransom, 15 Tex. Civ. App. 689, 41 S. W. 826. Confirmare est id firmum facere quod prius infirmnm fnit. Co. Litt. 295. To confirm is to make firm that which was be fore infirm. Confirmare nemo potest prius qnam jus ei acciderit. No one can confirm be fore the right accrues to him. 10 Coke, 48. Confirmat nsum qui tollit abusum. He confirms the use [of a thing] who re moves the abuse, [of it] Moore, 764. The conveyance of an estate, or the communication of a right that one hath in or unto lands or tenements, to another that hath the possession thereof, or some other estate therein, whereby a void able estate is made sure and unavoidable, or whereby a particular estate is increased or CONFIDENTIAL. CONFINEMENT. CONFIRMATIO.

CONFIDENCE. Trust; reliance; ground of trust In the construction of wills, this