Causa

Lat. 1. A cause, reason, occasion, motive or inducement 2. In the civil law and in old English law. The word signified a source, ground, or mode of acquiring property; hence a title; one's title to property. Thus, "Titulus est justa causa possidendi id quod nostrum est;" title is the lawful ground of possessing that which is ours. 8 Coke, 153. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, §§ 242, 283. 3. A condition; a consideration; motive for performing a juristic act. Used of contracts, and found in this sense in the Scotch law also. Bell. 4.

In old English law. A cause; a suit or action pending. Causa testamentaria, a testamentary cause. Causa matrimonialis, a matrimonial cause. Bract fol. 61. 5.

In old European law. Any movable thing or article of property. 6. Used with the force of a preposition, it means by virtue of, on account of. Aiso with reference to, in contemplation of. Causa mortis, in anticipation of death.

— Cansa cansans. The immediate cause ; the last link in the chnin of causation.

— Cansa data et non secnta. In the civil law. Consideration given and not followed, that is, by the event upon which it was given. The name of an action by which a thing given in the view of a certam event was reclaimed if that event did not take place. Dig. 12, 4; Cod. 4, 6.

— Cansa hospitandi. For the purpose of being entertained as a guest. 4 Maule & S. 310.

— Cansa jactitationis maritagii. A form of action which anciently lay against a party who boasted or gave out that he or she was married to the plaintiff, whereby a common reputation of their marriage might ensue. 3 Bl. Comm. 93.

— Causa matrimonii praelocuti. A writ lying where a woman has given lands to a man in fee-simple with the intention that he shall marry her, and he refuses so to do within a reasonable time, upon suitable request. Cowell. Now obsolete. 3 Bl. Comm. 183, note.

— Causa mortis. In contemplation of approaching death. In view of death. Commonly occurring in the phrase donatio causa mortis, (q. v.)

— Causa patet. The reason is open, obvious, plain, clear, or manifest. A common expression in old writers. Perk. c. 1, §§ 11, 14, 07.

— Causa proxima. The immediate, nearest, or latest cause.

— Causa rei. In the civil law. The accessione, appurtenances, or fruits of a thing; comprehending ali that the claimant of a principal thing can demand from a defendant in addition thereto, and especially what he would have had, if the thing had not been withheld from him, Inst. 4, 17, 3; Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 166.

— Causa remota. A remote or mediate cause ; a cause operating indirectly by the intervention of other causes.

— Causa scieutiæ patet. The reason of the knowledge is evident. A technical phrase in Scotch practice, used in depositions of witnesses.

— Causa sine qua non. A necessary or inevitable cause ; a cause without which the effect in question could not have happened. Hayes v. Railroad Co., Ill U. S. 228, 4 Sup. Ct. 369, 28 In Ed. 410.

— Cansa turpis. A base (immoral or illegal) cause or consideration.

I. A cause; an occasion; a reason; by reason of; on account of; in contemplation of. Causa adulterii: by reason of adultery. Cansa consaiis, or remota: the original or remote cause. Causa causata, or proxima: the immediate or next cause. Causa causae: the cause of a cause; — est cansa causati: the cause of a cause is the cause of the thing caused. Cansa consangninitatis: by reason of consanguinity. Causa et orig^o est materia negotil: the cause and origin of a thing are material parts of it Cansa frigiditatis: by reason of frigidity. Causa inipotentia;: by reason of impotence. Cansa mortis: in contemplation of death. Cansa patet: the reason is plain; — ex prajmissis: the reason is plain from the premises. Cansa prascontractus: by reason of precontract Cansa proxima, non remota, spectatnr: the immediate cause is considered, not the remote. Causa saivitse: by i-eason of cruelty. Cansa sine qua non: a cause without which a thing cannot exist Cansa tnrpis: an unlawful motive or purpose; an illegal or immoral consideration.

In old English law. A cause; an occasion; a condition; a consideration; a title; a source or mode of acquisition; a suit pending; by reason of. Causa Iiospitaiidi: for the purpose of being entertained as a guest Cansa jactitationis matrimonii: a suit of jactitation of marriage, to enjoin silence upon a person claiming to be married to the libellant Causa matrlmonialis: a matrimonial cause. Cansa matrimonii prselocnti: by reason of a marriage before treated of; a writ of entry that lay for a woman who had given a man lands in fee with intent that he should marry her, where he refused. Cansa testamentaria: a testamentary cause.

In Scots law. Cansa scientia; patet: the reason of the knowledge is evident — a technical phrase in depositions.

In the civil law. Cansa data et non secuta: consideration given and not followed, — that is, by the event upon which it was given; an action by which a thing given in vie%v of a certain eveiit was reclaimed if the event did not take placa Cansa rei: the accessions, appurtenances or fruits of a thing, — all those things which the claimant would have had if the principal thing had not been withheld from him.

That which operates to produce an effect; that on account of which a thing is done; that which supplies a motive, or constitutes a reason. Causa causans. The originating, efficient cause; the immediate cause. Causa causae causantis. The cause of the cause operating; i. e., the near, not the direct, cause, 2 See Cause, 1. Causa mortis. See Donatio, Mortis, etc. Causa proxima, non remota, speetatur. The near cause, not the removed, ia considered. See at length Cause, 1, Proximate, etc. Causa sine qua non. A cause without which a thing cannot be or exist: as, a cause without which an injury could not have occurred.' Causa turpis. An unlawful motive or purpose: an immoral or illegal consideration. Ex turpi causa non oritur actio. Out of an illegal consideration an action cannot arise: no court will aid a party who founds his claim for redress upon an illegal act.* See further Delictum, In pari, etc.

I. Cause; occasion; reason; a suit. Causa causans or remota: the original or remote cause. Causa causata or prozima: the immediate or next cause. Causa mortis, adulterii, impotentisB: by reason of death, adultery, impotence. Causa proxima, non remota, spectatur: the immediate cause is considered, not the remote. Causa et origo est materia negotii: the cause and origin of a thing are material parts of it. Causa matrimonii prselocuti: an old writ of entry which lay for a woman who had given a man lands in fee with intent that he should marry her, and he refused. Causa jactitationis maritagii: in ecclesiastical law, a suit of jactitation of marriage, to enjoin silence on one claiming to be married to the libellant. A writ that lay against the mayor of a town who had refused to deliver seisin to the grantee of the King.

Lat. A cause, occasion or reason. Causa proxima; the next or immediate cause, sometimes called causa causata; a cause produced by a previous cause. Causa remota; the remote or original cause; sometimes called causa causans, a cause producing another cause. In actions on the case, a distinction was formerly made between causa causans, the remote cause, and causa causata, the consequential damage, or immediate cause of the action. 3 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 244. Where a man is interrupted in exercising an office, that is causa causans, by which he loses his fees, &c., and that is causa causata, the immediate cause or point of the action. 9 Co. 50, 51; The Earl of Shrewsbury's case. Causa proxima, non remota spectatur. The immediate, not the remote cause, is looked at, or considered. 3 Kent's Com. 302. Story on Bailm. § 515, and notes. Or, in the language of Lord Bacon, In jure non remota causa, sed proxima spectatur. In law, not the remote but the immediate cause is considered. Bac. Max. Reg. 1. "It were infinite for the law to judge the causes of causes, and their impulsions one of another; therefore it contenteth itself with the immediate cause, and judgeth of acts by that, without looking to any further degree." Id. ibid. Lord Bacon has illustrated this maxim by examples of covenants, leases, feoffments and other conveyances. In modern practice, however, it is chiefly applied to the law of marine insurance, in which it is an established rule that the loss must be a direct or immediate, and not a remote consequence of the peril insured against. Park on Ins. (8th ed.) 131. Broom's Max. 104. Thus, if a ship be driven ashore by the wind, and in that situation be captured by an enemy, the loss is to be imputed to the capture, and not to the stranding. 3 Kent's Com. 302, and note. In this instance, the stranding is the causa remota, or causans; the capture the causa proxima, or causata. But see 2 Bing. 205. 1 Story's R. 157. The same maxim is applied in the law of agency; an agent not being responsible for a loss occasioned by an act or omission on his part, where the loss is merely a remote consequence of such act or omission. Story on Agency, § 217 c. Causa et origo est materia negotii. The cause and origin is the substance of the thing; the cause and origin of a thing are a material part of it. The law regards the original act. 1 Co. 99, Shelley's case. This is substantially the same with the maxim of the civil law: Cujusque rei potissima pars principium est. The chiefest part of every thing is the beginning. Dig. 1. 2. 1.