Caducity - A failure or lapse of a testamentary gift, for example, where a TESTAMENT is revoked by the subsequent birth of a LEGITIMATE child to the testator, unless the testator has made testamentary provision to the contrary or has made testamentary provision for such child.

 

 

Cause - A CONVENTIONAL OBLIGATION (i.e., those that arise from contracts) cannot exist without a lawful cause. Cause is the reason why a party obligates himself.  Cause is not the same thing as consideration. The reason why a party binds himself need not be to obtain something in return or to secure an advantage for himself. An obligor may bind himself by a gratuitous contract, that is, he may obligate himself for the benefit of the other party without obtaining any advantage in return.

 

 

Civil Fruits - See FRUITS.

 

 

Civil law, Civilian - Often, the term civil law refers to laws concerned with private rights and remedies, as opposed to criminal laws. In Civil Law jurisdictions, however, “civil law” (or “civilian” or related expressions) is usually used to distinguish a system of law based upon the Roman legal tradition from a system based on the English common law. A civil law lawyer is also referred to as a civilian.

 

 

Civil possession - Once possession of a THING is acquired, possession is retained by the intent to possess as owner even if the possessor ceases to possess CORPOREALly. This is known as civil possession, and is similar in some respects to constructive possession.

 

 

Codicil - A modification or addition to an existing will. (from www.la-legal.com)

 

 

Collateral relations/Propinquity of consanguinity - Collaterals are relatives of one another who descend from a common ancestor.  The number of degrees or generations separating two collaterals via a common ancestor is the propinquity of consanguinity. The number of degrees is equal to the number of generations between the heir and the common ancestor, plus the number of generations between the common ancestor and the deceased.

 

 

Collateral mortgage, Collateral mortgage note, Collateral mortgage package, Handnote -

A collateral mortgage note is a note secured by a mortgage, itself called a collateral mortgage, where the note is pledged to secure a principal obligation. The principal obligation secured by the pledged collateral mortgage note is often evidenced by a note, called the hand note. The collateral mortgage note, the collateral mortgage, and any written pledge agreement are called the collateral mortgage package.

See PARAPH; CONVENTIONAL OBLIGATION—PRINCIPAL CONTRACT.

 

 

Collation - Collation of goods is the return to the succession of property that an heir received in advance of his share, so that the property may be divided properly among heirs. Goods are collated because it is presumed that the testator intended equality among his descendants, so that the goods were given as an advance upon what the descendants could expect from the testator's succession.

 

 

Commodatum, Mutuum - A commodatum, also called a loan for use, is an agreement by which a person delivers a thing to another, to use the thing and then to return it after he is done using it. A mutuum, or loan for consumption, is an agreement by which one person delivers to another a certain quantity of things that are consumed by their use, under the obligation, by the borrower, to return to the other as much of the same kind and quality.

See CONSUMABLES, NONCONSUMABLES.

 

 

Common, Public, and Private things- Common THINGS, similar to communia or commons, such as air and the high seas, may not be owned by anyone. Public things, similar to public domain, public lands, or common property, such as running waters and the seashore, are owned by the state in its capacity as a public person. Private things, a residuary category, are owned by individuals, other private persons, and by the state or its political subdivisions in their capacity as private persons, and are similar to private

property.

 

 

Commorientes - The phenomenon of several persons respectively entitled to inherit from one another dying simultaneously in the same event, such as a wreck, without any possibility of ascertaining who died first. Commorientes is also used to refer to the dying persons themselves.

 

 

Community of acquets and gains, Community property - The community of acquets and gains is the community property matrimonial regime in Louisiana, under which spouses are co-owners of certain property that either acquires during the marriage.

 

 

Commutative contract - See CONVENTIONAL OBLIGATION.

 

 

Compensation – An act which takes place by operation of law when two persons owe to each other sums of money or quantities of fungible THINGS identical in kind, and extinguishes both obligations to the extent of the lesser amount. Similar to the Common Law set-off,

 

 

Component parts, Deimmobilization of component parts -  Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered FRUITS of trees, are component parts of a tract of land if they belong to the owner of the ground. Component parts of immovables are immovables.  Component parts are similar to fixtures.  An owner may deimmobilize the component parts of an immovable, thereby giving them the status of distinct movables, by an act translative of ownership and delivery to acquirers in good faith, or by detachment and removal of the component parts.

 

 

Compromise - See TRANSACTION.

 

 

Concubinage - Living together or cohabiting without the authority of marriage.(from www.la-legal.com)

 

 

Concursus - See PROCEDURE.

 

 

Conditional obligation - See OBLIGATION.

 

 

Confusion - A PREDIAL SERVITUDEis extinguished by confusion when the dominant and the servient estates are acquired in their entirety by the same person. Similar to merger of title. When the qualities of obligee and obligor are united in the same person, the obligation is extinguished by confusion. Similar to merger of rights or extinguishment.

 

 

Conjunctive obligation - See OBLIGATION.

 

 

Consumables, Nonconsumables - Consumable THINGS are those that cannot be used without being expended or consumed, or without their substance being changed, such as money, foodstuffs, and beverages. Nonconsumable things are those that may be enjoyed without alteration of their substance, although their substance may be diminished or deteriorated naturally by time or by the use to which they are applied, such as lands, houses, shares of stock, animals, furniture, and vehicles.  See COMMODATUM.

 

 

Conventional obligation: Conventional obligations arise from contracts,although contracts are themselves sometimes erroneously referred to as conventional obligations.

Synallagmatic - A contract is a synallagmatic or bilateral (or reciprocal) contract when the parties obligate themselves reciprocally,so that the obligation of each party is correlative to theobligation of the other.

Onerous - A contract is onerous when each of the parties obtains an advantage in exchange for his obligation. An exchange is the very essence of an onerous contract.  See CAUSE.

Commutative - A contract is commutative when the performance of the OBLIGATION of each party is correlative to the performance of the other. A distinction is made between correlative obligations, which make a contract bilateral, and correlative performances, which make the contract not only bilateral but also commutative.

Aleatory - A contract is aleatory when the performance of either party's obligation, or the extent of the performance, depends on an uncertain event.  See SUSPENSIVE CONDITION.

Principal and Accessory contracts- A contract is accessory when it is made to provide security, such as mortgage or pledge, for the performance of an obligation. If the secured obligation arises from a contract, that contract is the principal contract.

Nominate and Innominate contracts - Nominate contracts are those given a special designation, such as sale, lease, loan, or insurance. Innominate contracts are those with no special designation.

 

 

Co-owners - See INDIVISION.

 

 

Corporeals, Incorporeals - Corporeals are THINGS that have a body, whether animate or inanimate, and can be felt or touched. Incorporeals are things that have no body, but are comprehended by the understanding, such as the rights of inheritance, servitudes, obligations, and intellectual property rights. The corporeal/incorporeal distinction is similar to the distinction between tangibles and intangibles; incorporeal property is also similar in some respects to a chose in action.

 

 

Counter-letter - See SIMULATIONS.

 

 

Curator (female - Curatrix)  - Person appointed to be a guardian of a minor or other person not regarded as able to manage his own affairs. (from www.la-legal.com) 

 

Curatorship - See INTERDICTION.

 

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