KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

348

DELEGATION

DELICT

DELEGATION. A sending away; ft put ting into commission; the assignment of a debt to another: the intrusting another with a general power to act for the good of those who depute him. At common law. The transfer of au thority by one person to another; the act of making or commissioning a delegate. The whole body of delegates or representa tives sent to a convention or assembly from one district, place, or political unit are col lectively spoken of as a "delegation." In the civil law. A species of novation which consists in the change of one debtor for another, when he who is indebted substi tutes a third person who obligates himself in his stead to the creditor, so that the first debtor is acquitted and his obligation extin guished, and the creditor contents himself with the obligation of the second debtor. Delegation is essentially distinguished from any other species of novation, in this: that the former demands the consent of all three parties, but the latter that only of the two parties to the new debt. 1 Domat,. § 2318; Adams v. Power, 48 Miss. 454. Delegation is novation effected by the in tervention of another person whom the debt or, in order to be liberated from his cred itor, gives to such creditor, or to him whom the creditor appoints; and such person so given becomes obliged to the creditor in the place of the original debtor. Burge, Sur. 173. Delegatus son potest delegare. A del egate cannot delegate; an agent cannot dele gate his functions to a subagent without the knowledge or consent of the principal; the person to whom an office or duty is delegat ed cannot lawfully devolve the duty on an other, unless he be expressly authorized so to do. 9 Coke, 77; Broom, Max. 840; 2 Kent, Comm. 633; 2 Steph. Comm. 119. DEIiESTAGE. In French marine law. A discharging of ballast (lest) from a vessel. DELETE. In Scotch law. To erase; to strike out. DELF. A quarry or mine. 31 Ellz. c. 7. Deliberandum, est din qnod statnen dnm est semel. 12 Coke, 74. That which Is to be resolved once for all should be long deliberated upon. DELIBERATE, if. > To weigh, ponder, discuss. To examine, to consult, in order to form an opinion. DELIBERATE, adj. By the use of this word, in describing a crime, the idea is con veyed that the perpetrator weighs the mo tives for the act and its consequences, the nature of the crime, or other things con nected with his intentions, with a view to a decision thereon; that he carefully considers

all these; and that the act Is not suddenly committed. It implies that the perpetrator must be capable of the exercise of such men tal powers as are called into use by de liberation and the consideration and weigh ing of motives and consequences. State v. Boyle, 28 Iowa, 524. "Deliberation" and "premeditation" are of the same character of mental operations, dif fering only in degree. Deliberation is but pro longed premeditation. In other words, in law, deliberation is premeditation in a cool state of the blood, or, where there has been heat of pas sion, it is premeditation continued beyond the period within which there has been time for the blood to cool, in the given case. Delibera tion is not only to think of beforehand, which may be but for an instant, but the inclination to do the act is considered, weighed, pondered upon 5 for such a length of time after a provoca tion is given as the jury may find was sufficient for the blood to cool. One in a heat of passion may premeditate without deliberating. Delib eration is only exercised in a cool state of the blood, while premeditation may be either in that state of the blood or in the heat of passion. State v. Kotovsky, 74 Mo. 249; State v. Lind grind, 33 Wash. 440, 74 Pac. 565; State r. Dodds, 54 W. Va. 289. 46 S. E. 228; State y. Fairlamb, 121 Mo. 137, 25 S. W. 895; Miltoo v. State, 6 Neb. 143; State v. Greenleaf, 71 N. H. 606, 54 Atl. 38; State v. Fiske. 63 Conn. 388, 28 Atl. 572; Craft v. State, 3 Kan. 481; State v. Sneed, 91 Mo. 552, 4 S W. 411; Debney v. State, 45 Neb. 856, 64 N. W. 446, 34 L. B. A. 851; Cannon v. State, 60 Ark. 564, 31 S. W. 150. DELIBERATION. The act or process of deliberating. The act of weighing and ex amining the reasons for and against a con templated act or course of conduct or a choice of acts or means. See DELIBEBATE. Delicatns debitor est odiosns in lege. A luxurious debtor is odious in law. 2 Bulst. 148. Imprisonment for debt has now, however, been generally abolished. DELICT. In the Roman and civil law. A wrong or injury; an offense; a violation of public or private duty. It will be observed that this word, taken in its most general sense, is wider in both direc tions than our English term "tort." On the one hand, it includes those wrongful acts which, while directly affecting some individual or his property, yet extend in their injurious conse quences to the peace or security of the commu nity at large, and hence rise to the grade of crimes or misdemeanors. These acts were termed in the Roman law "public delicts;" while those for which the only penalty exacted was compensation to the person primarily in jured were denominated "private delicts." On the other hand, the term appears to have in cluded injurious actions which transpired with out any malicious intention on the part of the doer. Thus Pothier gives the name "quasi delicts" to the acts of a person who, without malignity, but by an inexcusable imprudence, causes an injury to another. Poth. Obi. 116. But the term is used in modern jurisprudence as a convenient synonym of "tort;" that is, a wrongful and injurious violation of a jus i* rem or right available against all the world. This appears in the two contrasted phrases, "actions em contractu" and "actions em delicto" Quasi deliet. An act whereby a person, without malice, but by fault, negligence, or inv