Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/108

ACCOUNT. law, as in the case of an administrator or public officer. A mutual account is one containing reciprocal demands or charges against the parties; as the account between two merchants, or between a niercliant and a customer, each of whom has sold goods to the other. Before an account is rendered or adjusted, it is spoken of as "open" or "current." A stated account is one which has been accepted as correct by the party against whom it states a balance. The debtor's'assent to the correctness of the account as stated need not be express; it may be implied from his retention of an account rendered with- out an objection to it within a reasonable time. The acceptance of an account stated, or. to use the ordinary legal phrase, the stating of an account, is said to be in the nature of a new promise: and the creditor suing upon such an account need not set forth the subject matter of the original debt. Originally an account stated was confined to transactions between merchants: but in England and in most of our jurisdictions its scope has been extended to accounts between all creditors and debtors. In some States, however, stating an account between others than merchants does not create a new cause of action, but is available to the creditor only as an admission by the debtor. Even after an account has been stated it may be corrected for fraud or mutual mistake.

The action of account at common law has fallen into disuse, partly because it was difficult, dilatory and expensive, but chiefly because a court of equity possessed more extended authority and better machinery in cases involving an account. Equity will entertain an action for an accounting where a fiduciary relation exists between the parties, such as that of principal and agent (q.v.), trustee, and cestui que trust, guardian (q.v.) and ward; or where there is a mutual account between plaintiff and defendant; or where there are circumstances of complication, as in partnership (q.v.) accounts. So an accounting may be had as incidental to the exercise of other equity jurisdiction, as in mortgage foreclosures.

ACCOUNT'ANT. In the United States a term applied widely to any one who keeps accounts, i.e., a bookkeeper, though there is a tendency to restrict it to those whose accounts present" a certain difficulty and complexity. In England the term designates an officer employed by railway companies, banks, etc., from time to time to inspect and verify their books and accounts, and to make out periodical statements and balance sheets. It is recognized as a special branch of business. Generally speaking, the work of an accountant may be classified under two divisions: (1) All those matters that involve the investigation of the books of a firm or company, with the making up of balance sheets, statements of all kinds, and reports: and (2) the management of estates, whether of bankrupts or others. While the last named function is not known in the United States, the practice of a periodical report by accountants not permanently connected with the business is growing among the larger financial institutions. With this practice there have arisen professional accountants whose function it is to act as im- partial witnesses to the accuracy of the accounts of corporations and similar enterprises, and to make expert investigations in controversies at law involving accounts.

ACCRA. See Akkra.

ACCRE'TION (Lat. accretio, an increase, from ad, to + crescere, to grow). In law, the gradual extension of the boundaries of land at the expense of the sea, or of a neighboring owner, by the imperceptible action of natural forces, as by the recession of the ocean, the deposit of silt and earth by a stream, the drying up of a pond, etc. The word is sometimes, though im- properly, used to include the various kinds of accession (q.v.) and as the equivalent of that term; but it is in its legal sense properly applic- able only to that form of accession in which land is added to other land by the process above described. Where the land so gained is washed up by the sea, or deposited by a running stream, or left bare by the gradual drying up or retire- ment of the water boundary, it is known as alluvion (q.v.). As above indicated, the process must, in order to result in an accretion, be so slow as to be imperceptible in its progress. If sudden, no change of ownership results, the land so exposed remaining the property of the sovereign or of the neighboring proprietor af- fected thereby. Thus a boundary stream may. by changing its course gradually, little by little transfer the ownership of the land on one side to the opposite proprietor, whereas a sudden change of course would not affect the boundaries of the two parcels of land in the slightest degree. Consult: Gould, Treatise on the Law of Waters (Chicago, 1900): Angell, Treatise on the Law of Watercourses (Boston, 1877).

AC'CRINGTON. A manufacturing town in Lancashire, England. It has recently increased much in size and importance, and lies in a deep valley, surrounded by hills, about 20 miles north of Manchester and 5 miles east of Blackburn, on the banks of the Hindburn (Map: England, D 3). Among its notable buildings are Christ Church, a fine Gothic edifice, erected in 1838, and the town hall, a handsome building in the Italian style. The town was incorporated in 1878. The gas and water supply are owned jointly by the town of Accrington and several other neighboring towns. The town owns public baths, markets, slaughter-houses, and cemeteries, and maintains a technical school. It also owns its street railways, which are leased to private companies. The inhabitants are mostly employed in cotton factories, dye-works, chemical works, weaving, and calico-printing. Accrington is con- sidered the centre of the cotton-printing industry. There are coal mines in the neighborhood, in which many of the people find employment. Accrington is advantageously situated in regard to communications, being a station on the Lan- cashire and Yorkshire Railway. Its growth of population has been very rapid. From less than 9000 in 1841 it rose to 38,000 in 1891, and in 1901, to 43,100.

AC'CUBA'TION (Lat. ad, to + cubare, to lie down). The reclining posture of Greeks and Romans at table. Among the Greeks a low table was placed beside each couch, on which usually two persons reclined, resting on the left arm, which was supported by cushions. Among the Romans three couches were placed, so as to form three sides of a square, and three persons reclined on each couch. The middle couch was the most honorable. Respectable women did not adopt this position until the time of the Roman Empire.