KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

266

CONVENTIONS

CONVENIT

CONVENIT. Lat. In civil and old Eng lish law. It is agreed; it was agreed. CONVENT. The fraternity of an abbey or priory, as societas is the number of fel lows in a college. A religious house, now re garded as a merely voluntary association, not importing civil death. 33 Law J. Ch. 308. CONVENTICLE. A private assembly or meeting for the exercise of religion. The word was first an appellation of reproach to the religious assemblies of Wycliffe in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and was afterwards applied to a meeting of dis senters from the established church. As this word in strict propriety denotes an unlawful assembly, it cannot be justly applied to the assembling of persons in places of worship licensed according to the requisitions of law. Wharton, CONVENTIO. In canon law. The act of summoning or calling together the parties by summoning the defendant. In the civil law. A compact, agreement, or convention. An agreement between two or more persons respecting a legal relation between them. The term is one of very wide scope, and applies to all classes of subjects'in which an engagement or business relation may be founded by agreement. It is to be distinguished from the negotiations or prelim inary transactions on the object of the con vention and fixing its extent, which are not binding so long as the convention is not con cluded. Mackeld. Rom. Law, §§ 385, 386. In contracts. An agreement; a covenant Cowell. — Conventio in nnnm. In the civil law. The agreement between the two parties to a con tract upon the sense of the contract proposed. It is an essential part of the contract, follow ing the pollicitation or proposal emanating from the one, and followed by the consension or agreement of the other. Conventio privatorum non potest pub lico jnri derogare. The agreement of pri vate persons cannot derogate from public right, i. e., cannot prevent the application of general rules of law, or render valid*any con travention of law. Co. Litt. 166a; Wing. Max. p. 746, max. 201. Conventio vincit legem. The express agreement of parties overcomes [prevails against] the law. Story, Ag. § 368. CONVENTION. In Roman law. An agreement between parties; a pact. A con vention was a mutual engagement between two persons, possessing all the subjective req uisites of a contract, but which did not give rise to an action, nor receive the sanction of the law, as bearing an "obligation," until the objective requisite of a solemn ceremonial, (such as stipulatio) was supplied. In other

words, convention was the informal agree ment of the parties, which formed the basis of a contract, and which became a contract when the external formalities were superim posed. See Maine, Anc. Law, 313. "The division of conventions into contracts and pacts was important in the Roman law. The former were such conventions as already, by the older civil law, founded an obligation and action; all the other conventions were termed 'pacts.' These generally did not produce an ac tionable obligation. Actionability was subse quently given to several pacts, whereby they re ceived the same power and efficacy that con tracts received." Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 395. In English law. An extraordinary as sembly of the houses of lords and commons, without the assent or summons of the sov ereign. It can only be justified ex necessi tate rei, as the parliament which restored Charles II., and that which disposed of the crown and kingdom to William and Mary. Wharton. Also the name of an old writ that lay for the breach of a covenant. In legislation. An assembly of delegates or representatives chosen by the people for special and extraordinary legislative pur poses, such as the framing or revision of a state constitution. Also an assembly of dele gates chosen by a political party, or by the party organization in a larger or smaller ter ritory, to nominate candidates for an ap proaching election. State v. Metcalf, 18 S. D. 393, 100 N. W. 925, 67 L. R. A. 331; State v. Tooker, 18 Mont. 540, 46 Pac. 530, 34 L. R. A. 315; Schafer v. Whipple, 25 Colo. 400, 55 Pac. 180. Constitutional convention. See CON STITUTION. In public and international law. A pact or agreement between states or nations in the nature of a treaty; usually applied (a) to agreements or arrangements preliminary to a formal treaty or to serve as its basis, or (b) international agreements for the regula tion of matters of common interest but not coming within the sphere of politics or com mercial intercourse, such as international postage or the protection of submarine cables. U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3589; U. S. v. Hunt er (C. C.) 21 Fed. 615. CONVENTIONAL. Depending on, or arising from, the mutual agreement of par ties; as distinguished from legal, which means created by, or arising from, the act of the law. As to conventional "Estates," "Interest," "Mortgage," "Subrogation," and "Trustees," see those titles. CONVENTIONE. The name of a writ for the breach of any covenant in writing, whether real or personal. Reg. Orig. 115; Fitzh. Nat Brev. 145. CONVENTIONS. This name is some times given to compacts or treaties with for-