Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/274

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CONVENIT

CONVENIT. Lat. In civil and old English law. It is agreed; it was agreed.

CONVENT. The fraternity of an abbey

or priory, as sot.-ictas is the number of fei- lows in a college. A religious house. now re- garded as a merely voluntary association, not impoiting civil death. 33 Law J. Ch. 308.

CONVENTICLE. A priiate assembly or meeting for the exercise of religion. The \\’0l'd was first an appellation of reproach to the religious assemblies of Wycliffe in the reigns of Eduard 111, and Richard 11., and was afterwards applied to a meeting of dissenteis from the established church. As this word in strict propriety denotes an unlawful as-‘-enihly, it cannot be justly applied to the ussenlhling of persons in places of worship licensed according to the requisitions of law. Wharton.

CONVENTIO.}} ]'.n canon law. The act of summoning or calling tnirellier the parties by summoning the defendant.

In the civil law. A compact, agreement, or convention. An ngreenieut between two or more persons respecting a legal relation between them. The term 15 one of very wide scope, and applies to all classes of subjects in which an engagement or liuslness relation niny he founded by agreement. it is to be distinguished from the negotiations or preliminary transactions on the object of the con- vention and fixing its extent, which are not binding so long as the convention is not cocnluded. llluclzeld. Rom. Law. §§ 385. SS6.

]'.n contracts. An agreement: acovenant.

Covseli.

—Conw-entio in nnnni. In the civil law. The ngrecinent between the two parties to a contrsct upon the sense of the contract prunnseil. It is an essential purl of the contract. following the pollirltuilnn or pmposal en1annl'in_1 from the one, and followed by the consenslon or agreement of the other.

Conventio private:-nnl non potent pnb- lico jnri derogare. The agreement of pri- vate persons cannot derogate from public right, 1‘. 2., cannot prevent the spplimtion of general rules of law, or render valid any contravention of law. Co. Litt. 166:1; Wing. Max. p. 746. max. 201.

Conventin vincit legem. The express agreement of parties overcomes [prevails against] the law. Story, Ag. 5 368.

CONVENTION. In Roman law. An agreement between parties: a pact. A can- vention was a mutual engagement between two persons, possesing all the subjectl\ereq- nisites of a contract, but which did not give rise to an action, nor receive the sanction of the law, as bearing an “oliiignfion," until the objective requisite of a solemn ceremonial, (such as stipulatio) was supplied. In other

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CON VENTIONB

woitls, convention was the informal agreement of the parties, which formed the basis of a contract, and which became a contract when the external formalities were superimposed. See Maine, Anc. Law. 313.

“'l"he division of conventions into contract! and pacts was lmponant in the Roman law. The former were such coiircnflons as already, by the older civil law, founded an obligation and action; all the other conventions were termed ‘pacts! Those generally did not produce an at tionnble obligation. Actionability wx: subse- quently given to several pacts, whereby they received the same power and eliicacy that cry‘. tracts received." Mackeld. Rani. Law. 5 1-36

In English law. An extraordinary assembly of the houses of lords and common without the assent or summons of the sovereign. It can only be justified at nrN:sl'- tote mi, as the parliament which rcstored Charles IL, and that which disposed of the crown and kingdom to William and Mary. Wharton

Also the name or an old writ that lay for the breach of a covenant.

]'.n legislation. An assembly of delegates or representatives chosen by the people for special and extraordinary legislative purposes, such as the framing or i’e\'lSlDl'l of :1 state constitution. Also an assembly of dele- gates chosen by I1 political party, or by the party organization in a larger or smaller territnry, to nominate candidates for an upproacliing election. State v. Metcalf, 18 S D. 393, 100 N. W. 925, 67 L. R. A. 331; State v. Tool r. 18 Mont. 540. 46 Pac. 530, 3-1 L. R. A. 315; Schafer v. Whipple. 25 Colo. 400. 55 Pac. ISO.

Constitutional convention. smrunon.

See Con.

In public and international law. A part or agreement between states or nations in the nature of I1 treaty; usually applied (ii) to agreements or arrangements preliminary to a formal treaty or to serve as its basis, or (b) international agreements for the regulation 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. 358.‘): U. S. v. Hunter (0. C.) 21 Fed. 615.

CONVENTIONAL. Depending on. or arising from, the mutual agreement of parties; as distinguished from legal, which means created by, or arising from, the act of the law.

As to conventional "Estates," “Inierest." "Mortg.-ige." "Subrogation," and “'I‘rnstees." see those titles.

CONVENTIONE. The name of a writ for the breach of any covenant in writing, whether real or personal. Reg. Orig. 115; Fltzh. Nat. Brev. 145.

CONVENTIONS. This name is some times given to compacts or treaties with for-