KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

DEBT

DEBET QUIS JURI SUBJAOERE

334

DEBITTJM.

Something due, or owing; a

lie brings Ms writ in the debet et sole*. Reg. Orig. 144a; Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 122, M. Del»et quis juri subjacere ubi delin quit. One [every one] ought to be subject to the law [of the place] where he offends. 3 Inst. 84. This maxim is taken from Bracton. Bract fol. 1546. Debet sua cnique

debt.

Debitum et contractus sunt nullius loci. Debt and contract are of [belong to] no place; have no particular locality. The obligation in these cases is purely personal, and actions to enforce it may be brought anywhere. 2 Inst. 231; Story, Oonfl. Laws, § 362; 1 Smith, Lead. Cas. 340, 363. DEBITUM IN PRJBSENTI SOLVEN DUM IN FUTURO. A debt or obligation complete when contracted, but of which the performance cannot be required till some fu ture period. L. Lat. Debt without writ; debt without a declara tion. In old practice, this term denoted an action begun by original bill, instead of by writ. In modern usage, it is sometimes ap plied to a debt evidenced by confession of judgment without suit. The equivalent Nor man-French phrase was "debit sans breve." Both are abbreviated to d. 8. 6. A sum of money due by certain and express agreement; as by bond for a de terminate sum, a bill or note, a special bar gain, or a rent reserved on a lease, where the amount is fixed and specific, and does not depend upon any subsequent valuation to settle it. 3 Bl. Comm. 154; Camden v. Allen, 26 N. J. Law, 398; Appeal of City of Erie, 91 Pa. 398; Dickey v. Leonard, 77 Ga. 151; Hagar v. Reclamation Dist, 111 U. S. 701, 4 Sup. Ct 663, 28 L. Ed. 569; Appeal Tax Court v. Rice, 50 Md. 302. A debt is a sum of money due by contract It is most frequently due (by a certain and ex press agreement, which fixes the amount, in dependent of extrinsic circumstances. But it is not essential that the contract should be express, or that it should fix the precise amount to be paid. U. S. v. Colt, 1 Pet O. C. 145, Fed. Cas. No. 14,839. Standing alone, the word "debt" is as applica ble to a sum of money which has been promised at a future day, as to a sum of money now due and payable. _ To distinguish between the two, it may be said of the former that it is a debt owing, and of the latter that it is a debt due. Whether a claim or demand is a debt or not is in no respect determined by a reference to the time of payment. A sum of money which is certainly and in all events payable is a debt, without regard to the fact whether it be pay able now or at a future time. A sum payable upon a contingency, however, is not a debt, or does not become a debt until the contingency has happened. People v. Arguello, 37 Cal. 624. The word "debt" is of large import, includ ing not only debts of record, or judgments, and debts by specialty, but also obligations arising under simple contract, to a very wide extent; and in its popular sense includes all that is due to a man under any form of obligation or promise. Gray v. Bennett, 3 Mete. (Mass.) 522, 526. "Debt" has been differently defined, owing to the different subject-matter of the statutes in which it has been used. Ordinarily, it imports DEBITUM SINE BBEVI. DEBT.