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brought, as it were, together from preceding years, and put on the present sberifl."s charge. Wharton.

OBLATA THREE. Half an acre, or, as some say, halt a perch, of land. Spelman.

OBLATI. In old European law. Voluntary slaves of churches or monasteries.

In the civil law. An action given to a party against another who had offered to him a stolen thing, which was found in his possession. Inst, 3, 1, 4.

Lat. In the civil law. A tender of money in payment of a debt made by debtor to creditor. Whatever is offered to the church by the pious. Calvin.

Olilationes dicuntnr qnaeunnque I piil fldelibusque Chi-isI:ia_ni.s ofleruntnr Den at ecnlesiaz, sive res solids; live mobiles. 2 Inst. 389. Those things are called "oblations" which are offered to God and to the church by pious and faithful Christians, whether they are movable or immovable.

OBLATIONS, or obventions, are offerings er customary payments made, in England, to the minister of a church, including fees on marriages, burials, mortuarles, etc., (q. 1:.) and Easter offerings. 2 Steph. Comm. 7-10; Pbillini. Hcc. Law, 1506. They may be com- muted by agreement.

OBLIGATE. To bind or constrain; to bind to the observance or performance of a duty; to place under an obligation. To hind one's self by an obligation or promise; to assume a duty; to execute a written promise or covenant; to make a writing obligatory. Wachter v. Famachon, 62 Wis. 117, 22 N. W. 160; Maxwell v. Jacksonville Loan & Imp. 00., 45 Flu. 425, 34 South. 255.

OBLIGATIO.'''}} Lat. In Roman law. The legai relation existing between two certain persons whereby one (the creditor) is authorized to demand of the other (the debtor) a certain performance which has a money value. In this sense obligatia signifia not only the duty of the debtor, but also the right of the creditor. The fact establishing such claim and debt, as also the instrument evi- dencing it, is termed "obligation." Maclreld. Rom. Law, 9 300.

That legal relation subsisting between two persons by which one is bound to the other for a certain performance. The passive re- lation sustained by the debtor to the creditor is likewise called an "obligation." Sometimes, also, the term "abl1'yaii'o" is used for the causa ablir/alionts, and the contract it- self is designated an ‘‘obligation.'’ There are passages in which even the document which sflords the proof of a contract is call- ed an "ohligation." Such applications, how-

842

OBL IGATION

ever, are but a loose extension or the ter

debt relationship, in its totality. active on passive, subsisting between the creditor an the debtor. Tomk. & J. Mod. Rom 301.

Obligations, in the civil law, are of the several descriptions enumerated below.

Obligatio c-z'vi'li.v is an obligation cnfor b,_v _nciion, whether it derives its origin from omits, as the obligation engendered by fo contracts or the obligation enforceable by bl erally penal suits, or from such portion of jury gentumi as had been completely naturalifl in the civil law and protected by all its reins dies, such as the obligation engendered by forni- iess contracts

Obligiztiu miluralis is an obligation not ininfib diately enforceable by action, or an obli,. imposed by that portion of the im gcniiiuy which is only imperfectly recognized by er I

law.

Obligatin em contractu, an obligation arising from contract, or an antecedent iua in perm- mim. In this there are two stages.—first, a primary or sanctioned personal right antecedent to wrong, and. afterwards. a secondary or sanctioning personal right consequent on a wrong. I’oste’s Gains’ Inst. 3559.

Obliyatia ea: delicto, an obligation founded on wrong or tort, or arising from the invasion of n jmz in rem. In this there is the second stage. a secondary or sanctioning personal right consequent on a wrong, but the first stage is not I personal right, (ius in pereonum.) but a real right, (jus in rem,) whether a primordial right, right of status, or of property. l"osle's Gains‘ Inst. 359.

Obliyutiom.-ii em dclido are obligations arising from the commission of a wrongful injury to the person or property of another. "Deiiotum" is not exactly synonymous with "tort." for. while it includes most of the wrongs known in the common law as torts, it is also wide enough to cover some olfenses (such as theft and robbery) primarily injurious to the individual, but now only punished as crimes. Such acts gave rise to an obligiztia, which consisted in the llability_to pay damages.

Obligations: quasi ea colltraotii. Often ersons who have not contracted with each or er, under a certain state of facts, are regarded by the Roman law as if they had actually concluded a convention between themselves. The legal relation which then takes place between these persons, which has always 8. similarity to a contract obligation, is therefore termcd "oblim1tia

uaai no con-truotu." Such a relation arises

mm the conducting of affairs without authority. (negaiiorum ye.rti'a;) from the management of property that is in common when the cornrnunity arose from casualty, (communix i'ncillem,') from the payment of what was not due, (solutio in- rlel2i'ti;) from tutorsbip and cnratoiship: and from taking possession of an inheritance. Mack- eld. Rom. Law, 9 491.

Obligniiomza quasi em itelicto. This class embraces all torts not coming under the denomination of "delieta," and not having a speiinl form of action provided for them by law. They differed widely in character, and at common law would in some cases give rise to an action on the case; in others to an action on an implied contract. Ort. Inst. 95 1781-1702.

OBLIGATION. An obligation is a legal duty, by which a person is bound to do or not to do a certain thing. Civ. Code (lai. § 142?; Civ. Code Dali. § 793.

The binding power of a vow. promise, oath, or contract or of law, civil, political, or mor-