Consols

Funds formed by the consolidation (of which word it is an abbreviation) of different annuities, which had been severally formed into a capital. See "Consolidated Fund." CONSORTIO MALORUM ME QUOQUE malum facit. The company of wicked men makes me also wicked. Moore, 817.

See Consolidateo Fund. CONSORTIUM (Lat. a union of lots or chances). A lawful marriage. Union of parties in an action. The right of the husband and wife respectively to the conjugal fellowship, company, cooperation and aid of the other. Company; companionship. It occurs in this last sense in the phrase per quod consortium amisit (by which he has lost the companionship), used when the plaintiff declares for any bodily injury done to his wife by a third person, 3 Bla. Com. 140. It is not property, but "a marital right growing out of the marriage relation"; Hodge v. Wetzler, 69 N. J. L. 490, 55 Atl. 49; but is treated as property in a broader sense in some cases; Jaynes v. Jaynes, 39 Hun (N. Y.) 40; Deitzman v. Mullin, 10S Ky. 610, 57 S. W. 247, 50 L. R. A. SOS, 94 Am. St. Rep. 390; Warren v. Warren, 89 Mich. 123, 50 N. W. 842, 14 L R. A. 545. "It usually includes the person's affection, society and aid," and, as to it, the husband and wife are equal; Bennett v. Bennett, 116 N. Y. 5S4, 23 N. E. 17, 6 L. R. A. 553, where the term is discussed at length. See Husband and Wife. CONSPIRACY (Lat. con, together, spiro, to breathe). A combination of two or more persons by some concerted action fo accomplish some criminal or unlawful purpose, or to accomplish some purpose, not in itself criminal or unlawful, by criminal or unlawful means. Pettibone v. U. S., 148 U. S. 203, 13 v. Mather, 4 Wend. (N. Y.) 229, 21 Am. Dec. 122; State v. Burnham, 15 N. H. 396; State v. Buchanan, 5 H. & J. (Md.) 317, 9 Am. Dec. 534; Collins v. Com., 3 S. & It. (Pa Stale v. Rowley, 12 Conn. 101; 11 CI. & F. 155; Alderman v. People, 4 Mich. 411. 69 Am. Dec. 321; Breitenberger v. Schmidt, 3S 111. App. 168. Lord Denman defines conspiracy as a combination for accomplishing an unlawful end or a lawful end by unlawful means; 4 B. & Ad. 345. Criminal Conspiracy. Conspiracies formed to commit crimes, or to do anything unlawful, were first treated as substantive offenses by the Star Chamber; 2 Steph. II. C. L. UU7; before that, a conspiracy only extended to taking civil and criminal proceedings maliciously; 3 Holdsw. II. E. L. 313. In a prosecution for a conspiracy at common law it was neither necessary to aver nor to prove an overt act; Bannon v. U. S., 156 U. S. 468, 15 Sup. Ct. 467, 39 L. Ed. 494. So long as the design to do an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means, rests in intention only, it is not indictable; but when two or' more agree to carry it into effect, the very plot is an act in itself and the act of each of the parties, promise against promise, act against act; L. R. 3 H. L. 317, approved in [1901] A. C. 529; [19051 2 K. B. 746. An indictment for a conspiracy to compass or promote a criminal or unlawful purpose must set forth that purpose, fully and clearly; and an indictment for a conspiracy to compass or promote a purpose not in itself criminal or unlawful, by the use of criminal or unlawful means, must set forth the means intended to be used; Com. v. Hunt, 4 Mete. (Mass.) Ill, 38 Am. Dec. 346. The participation in a common plan by two or more persons is not in itself a criminal conspiracy; in order to make it such, the motives of those who enter into the combination must be corrupt; People v. Flack. 126 N. Y. 324, 26 N. E. 267. 11 L. R. A. 807; Wood v. State, 47 N. J. L. 461, 1 Atl. 509; but if one member of the combination has no corrupt motive when entering into it. but afterward becomes aware of its Illegality and remains a member, he is criminally liable; U. S. v. Mitchell, l Hughes 439, Fed, Caa No. 15,790. So persons who agree in faith to do an act innocent in itself do n<>t become guilty of conspiracy if it is afterwards ascertained that the act is f- n-hidden by statute: People v. Powell. 63 X. V. 88. In the definitions the terms criminal or unlawful are used, because it is manifest that many acts are unlawful which are i i « • r punishable by indictment or other public prosecution, and yet there is no doubt that a combination by numbers to do them is an unlawful conspiracy and punishable by indictment: Stale v. Rowley, 12 Conn. 101; Q. B. 245; Twitchell v. Com., 9 Pa. 211; State v. Shooter, 8 Rich. (S. C.) 72. Of this character was a conspiracy to cheat by false pretences without false tokens, when a cheat by false pretences only by a single person was not a punishable offence; 11 Q. B. 245. So a combination to destroy the reputation of an individual by verbal calumny of itself is not indictable; per Shaw, C. J., Com. v. Hunt, 4 Mete. (Mass.) 123, 38 Am. Dec. 346. So a conspiracy to induce and persuade a young woman, by false representations, to leave the protection of her parent's house, with a view to facilitate her prostitution; Mifflin v. Com., 5 W. & S. (Pa.) 461, 40 Am. Dec. 527; 2 Den. C. Cas. 79; and to procure an unmarried girl of seventeen to become a prostitute; 4 F. & F. 160; to procure a woman to be married by a mock ceremony, whereby she was seduced; State v. Savoye, 48 la. 562. And see Anderson v. Com., 5 Rand. (Va.) 627, 16 Am. Dec. 776; State v. Murphy, 6 Ala. 765, 41 Am. Dec. 79. So a conspiracy, by false and fraudulent representations that a horse bought by one of the defendants from the prosecutor was unsound, to induce him to accept a less sum for the horse than the agreed price; 1 Dearsl. 337. A conspiracy by traders to dispose of their goods in contemplation of bankruptcy, with intent to defraud their creditors; 1 F. & F. 33. The obtaining of goods on credit by an insolvent person without disclosing his insolvency, and without having any reasonable expectation of being able to pay for such goods in and by means of the fair and ordinary course of his business, is not of itself such an unlawful act as may be the subject of an action for conspiracy; though it would be otherwise, it seems, in the case of a purchase made without any expectation of payment. But the obtaining possession of goods under the pretence of paying cash for them on delivery, the buyer knowing that he has no funds to pay with, and appropriating the goods to his own use in fraud of the seller, is such a fraud or cheat as may be the subject of a charge of conspiracy; Com. v. Eastman, 1 Cush. (Mass.) 189, 48 Am. Dec. 596. A combination to go to a theatre to hiss an actor; 2 Campb. 369; 6 Term 628; to indict for the purpose of extorting money;" 4 B. & C. 329; to charge a person with being the father of a bastard child; 1 Salk. 174; to coerce journeymen to demand a higher rate of wages; 6 Term 619; People v. Fisher, 14 Wend. (N. Y.) 9, 28 Am. Dec. 501; to charge a person with poisoning another; F. Moore S16; to affect the price of public stocks by false rumors; 3 M. & S. 67; to prevent competition at an auction; 6 C. & P. 239; to cheat by a fraudulent prospectus ol a projected company and by false accounts; 11 Cox, Cr. Ca. 414; by false aceach been held indictable for conspiracy; as was an association of retail coaldealers in a city to fix prices and prevent a person not a member from obtaining coal from wholesalers; People v. Sheldon, 66 Hun 590, 21 N. Y. Supp. 859; id., 139 N. Y. 251, 34 N. B. 785, 23 L. R. A. 221, 36 Am. St. Rep. 690. So it is a crime for two or more persons to conspire to cheat and defraud another out of his property, but in such case the indictment must set forth the means proposed to be used to accomplish the purpose; U. S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 558, 23 L. Ed. 588. In order to render the offence complete, it is not necessary that any act should be done in pursuance of the unlawful agreement entered into between the parties, or that any one should have been defrauded or injured by it. The conspiracy is the gist of the crime; 9 Co. 55; 28 L. T. N. S. 75; Com. v. Judd, 2 Mass. 337, 3 Am. Dec. 54; Com. v. Tibbetts, 2 Mass. 538; Collins v. Com., 3 S. & R. (Pa.) 220; People v. Mather, 4 Wend. (N. Y.) 259, 21 Am. Dec. 122; State v. Norton, 23

An abbreviation of the expression “consolidated annuities,” and used in modern times as a name of various funds united in one for the payment of the British. Consortio malorum me quoque ma- Tum facit. Moore, 817. The company of wicked men makes me also wicked.