Date

The designation or indication in an instrument of writing of the time and place when and where it was made. When the place is mentioned in the date of a deed, the law intends, unless the contrary appears, that it was executed at the place of the date. Plowd. 7b. The word is derived from the Latin datum, given; because, when instruments were in Latin, the form ran datum, etc., given the day of, etc. The date of an instrument is that stated therein as that of its execution, rather than the actual time of execution. 32 N. J. Law, 515.

The designation or indication in an instrument of writing of the time and place when and where it was made. In the Anglo-Saxon land charters dates were given by the year of the Indiction (q. v.). Dating by the year of our Lord was invented in 532. At a council in 816 it was adopted for the acts of the synod and became general in documents from that date; 2 Holdsw. Hist. E. L. 19. Some early charters were not dated; some referred to the regnal year, or a church festival, or a remarkable event; 3 id. 196. When the place is mentioned in the date of a deed, the law intends, unless the contrary appear, that it was executed at the place of the date; Plowd. 7 6. The word is derived from the Latin datum (given); because when the instruments were in Latin the form ran datum, etc. (given the day of, etc.). A date is necessary to the validity of a policy of insurance; but where there are separate underwriters, each sets down the date of his own signing, as this constitutes a separate contract; Marsh. Ins. 336; 2 Pars. Marit. Law 27. Written instruments generally take effect from the day of their date, but the actual date of execution may be shown, though different from that which the instrument bears; and it is said that the date is not of the essence of a contract, but is essential to the identity of the writing by which it is to be proved; 2 Greenl. Ev. §§ 12, 489, n.; Cloyes v. Sweetser, 4 Cush. (Mass.) 403; Jackson v. Mc Kenny, 3 Wend. (N. Y.) 233, 20 Am. Dec. 690; Gammon v. Freeman, 31 Me. 243; Bement v. Mfg. Co., 32 N. J. L. 513; Mc Sparran v. Neeley, 91 Pa. 17; 17 E. L. & Eq. 548. See Knisely v. Sampson, 100 111. 573; 19 L. J. Q. B. 435. And if the written date is an impossible one, the time of delivery must be shown; Shepp. Touchst. 72; Cruise, Dig. c. 2, s. 61. An indictment charging the commission of a crime on an impossible date (in the year 18903) was held fatally defective; Terrell v. State, 165 Ind. 443, 75 N. E. 884, 2 L. R. A. (N. S.) 251, 112 Am. St. Rep. 244, 6 Ann. Cas. 851; see also State v. Sexton, 10 N. C. 184, 14 Am. Dec. 584; State v. Litch, 33 Vt. 67; even when the mistaken date appears to have been merely a clerical error; Robles v. State, 5 Tex. App. 347; and one charging the commission of an offense upon a date not yet arrived was held to allege no offense as having been already committed; Com. v. Doyle, 110 Mass. 103. Where the date alleged for the commission of a statutory ofber of the Union, it was held an impossibla date; State v. O'Donnell, 81 Me. 271, 17 AtL 06. See Indictment; Time. A date in a note or bill is required only for the purpose of fixing the time of payment. If the time of payment is otherwise indicated, no date is necessary; 1 Ames, Bills and Notes 145, citing Brewster v. Mc- Cardell, 8 Wend. (N. Y.) 478; Walker v. Geisse, 4 Whart. (Pa.) 252, 33 Am. Dec. 60. When a note payable at a fixed period after date has no date, a holder may fill the date with the day of issue; ibid. It is usually presumed that a deed was delivered on the day of its date; but proof of the date of delivery must be given if the circumstances were such that collusion might be practised; Steph. Dig. Ev. 138; Raines v. Walker, 77 Va. 92; Harman v. Oberdorfer, 33 Gratt. (Va.) 497; Saunders v. Blythe, 112 Mo. 1, 20 S. W. 319. See 6 Bing. 296; Ellsworth v. R. Co., 34 N. J. L. 93; Cutts v. Mfg. Co., 18 Me. 190. But this presumption does not hold in respect to deeds in fee, unattested and unacknowledged; Genter v. Morrison, 31 Barb. (N. Y.) 155. Parol evidence is admissible to show that the date stated in the in testimonium clause of a mortgage deed of personal property is not its true date; Shaughnessey v. Lewis, 130 Mass. 355; Orcutt v. Moore, 134 Mass. 52, 45 Am. Rep. 278. There is a presumption as to a note that it was delivered on the day of its date; Cranson v. Goss, 107 Mass. 439, 9 Am. Rep. 45. Where a date is given, both as a day of the week and a day of the month, and the two are inconsistent, the day of the month governs; Minor v. Michie, Walker (Miss.) 27.

/. fr. and eng. Primarily, given or executed; hence from 4ts use as the initial and emphatic word of the clause by which the time and place of execution were expressed, the time when a deed or other instrument is made or delivered, etc.; also the clause of the instrument which specifies the fact with time and place, v. Bearing.

The specification or mention, in a written instrument, of the time (day and year) when it was made. Also the time so specified. That part of a deed or writing which expresses the day of the month and year in which it was made or given. 2 Bl. Comm. 304; Tomlins. The primary signification of date is not time in the abstract, nor time taken absolutely, but time given or specified; time in some way ascertained and fixed. When we speak of the date of a deed, we do not mean the time when it was actually executed, but the time of its execution, as given or stated in the deed itself. The date of an item, or of a charge in a book-account, is not necessarily the time when the article charged was, in fact, furnished, but rather the time given or set down in the account, in connection with such charge. And so the expression "the date of the last work done, or materials furnished," in a mechanic's lien law, may be taken, in the absence of anything in the act indicating a different intention, to mean the time when such work was done or materials furnished, as specified in the plaintiff's written claim. 32 N. J. Law, 518.

2 The primary signification is time " given " or specified, — in some way ascertained and fixed.' The time when an instrument was made, acknowledged, delivered, or recorded; the clause or memorandum which specifies that fact; and the time from which its operation is to he reckoned.* In the ancient form the clause ran: datum apud, etc., specifying the place and time; thence called the datum clause, afterward shortened to " date." False date. Implies a date purposely incorrect. Misdate. An erroneous date, made so intentionally or unintentionally. A date is not a necessary part of a document. Another day than that named may be shown to be the true date, except where there is collusion.' A deed is considered as executed on the nominal date, unless the contrary be made to appear; it speaks from the day of delivery; and it is valid whether it bears no date, or has a false or an impossible date, provided the real day when it was given can be established.• • The purpose of a date in a bill or note is to fix the day of jayment; it such day is indicated, that is sufficient.' See Description; Relation, 1.

is the designation or inof the time when it was made. This word is derived from the latin, datum, because when deeds and agreements were written in that language, immediately before the day, month and year in which they were made, was set down, it was usual to put the word datum, given. All writings ought to bear a date, and in some it is indispensable, in order make them valid, as in policies of insurance; but the date in these instruments is not inserted in the body of the writing, because as each subscription makes a separate contract, each underwriter sets down the day, month and year, he makes his subscription. Marsh. Ins. 336. Deeds, and other writings, when the date is an impossible one, take effect from the time of delivery, the presumption of law is, that the deed was dated on the day it bears date, unless, as just mentioned, the time is impossible; for example, the 32d day of January. The proper way of dating, is to put the day, month, and year of our Lord, the hour need not be mentioned, unless specially required; an instance of which may be taken from the Pennsylvania act, of the 16th of June, 1836, sect. 40, which requires the. sheriff on receiving a writ of fiert facias, or other writ of execution, to endorse thereon the day of the month, the year and the hour of the day whereon he received the same. In public documents, it is usual to give not only the day, the month and the year of our Lord, but also the year of the United States, when issued by authority of the general government, or of the commonwealth, when issued under its authority. Vide, nerally, Bac. Ab. Obligations, C; Com. Dig. Fait, B 3; Cruise, Dig. tit. 32, c. 20, s. 1-6; 1 Burr. 60; 2 Rol. Ab. 27,1. 22; 13 Vin. Ab. 34; Dane’s Ab. Index, h. t. the act of giving something. It differs from donation, which is a gift; dation, on the contrary, is giving something without any liberality, as the giving of an office. Dation in payment, datio in solutum, which was the giving one thing in payment of another, which was due, corresponds nearly to the accord and satisfaction of the common law. - DATIVE, that which may be given or disposed of at will and pleasure.