Demonstratio

Description. Falsa demonstratio non nocet, a false description does not injure.

I Description addition, v. Falsa, etc. Demonstrative legacy. cific fund.

A showing, pointing out: designation, description, demonstration, q. V. Falsa demonstratio non nocet. Erroneous description does not vitiate. Spoken of as the maxim falsa demonstratio. When an instrument contains an adequate description of a thing, with convenient certainty as to what was intended to be specifled, a subsequent erroneous reference or addition will not vitiate the instrument. This qualification is sometimes expressed by the phrase cum constat de corpore or de persona: when it comports with the subject-matter or with the person. ^ ' 2 Bl. Com. 106. s Butricki). TUton, 141 Mass. 94 (1886). ' F. dimettre, to put away, lay down: L. dismittere, demittere. « Stott V. Rutherford, 102 U. S. 109 (18r5), cases, Conrad V. Morehead, 89 N. C. 34 (1883). » Foster v. Peyser, 9 Cush. 246-47 (1852), cases; Me^ calf, J., quoting Parker, B., in Hart v. Windsor, 12 M. & W. 68 (1844); Wilkinson v. Clauson, 29 Minn. 93 (1882); 8 Ala. 320; 50 Conn. 509; 18 Mass. 201; 9 N. H. 219; 7 Wend. 210; 26 Mo. 112; 5 Whart. 278; 103 Pa. 472. " 5 Pet. 23-3 (1831); 7 T. E. 886. ' See Thomas v. Thomas, 6 Durnf. & E. 676 (1769), A false description, whether of subject-matter or parties, does not vitiate the instrument where the error appears upon its face and the waiting itself supplies the means of making the correction. ' Applied to a devise the rule means that if there be a sufficient description, with reasonable certainty of what was meant to pass, a subsequent erroneous addition will not vitiate the devise. The characteristic of cases within the rule is that the description as far as false applies to no subject at all, and as far as true applies to one only.^ The maxim is of universal application as far as it means that we may reject, as surplusage, u, false description not vital to the object of the controversy.* Falsa demonstratione legatnm non perimi. By erroneous description a legacy is not destroyed. A bequest is not to be held void because of inaccurate language used in speaking of it.* See further Demonstration, 2.

/. Description; designation.

Lat. [from demonstrare, to point out, or show.] Demonstration; description, denomination or addition; the designation of a person or thing by words of addition, or reference; or what Lord Bacon calls " notes " and " s^s to call;"— as, "J. S. son and heir of G. S;" or, " clerk of such a court;*' or, " my close called Dale, in the parish of Hurst, in the county of Southampton." Bacon's Max. 99, 100, 101. To this head belong the following maxims, (qq. v.) Falsa demonstratio non nocet* False description does not injure. Pnn«Miia carp«ris t«llit erraram naml MlSy at rcritas aami Mis tallU ar^ raram damaiiatratia Bia. The presence of a thiug itself takes away the eJQfect of error in the name of it, and the truth of the name takes away the effect of error in the demonstration or description. Bac. Max. 96, reg. 25. Nan accipi dabaat rarba la dama Mstratianam falaam «■!• aampat Mat i« limitatianam raram. Words ought not to be taken to import a false demonstration, when they can be understood as words of true limitation. Id. 59, reg. 13. Demansiratio is defined in the civil law, "an accessory designation of persons or things by circumlocution." 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law. 169, § 175. This occurred often in testaments; as *' Stichus, my slave, bom in my family," {Stichum servum meum vemam;) "Stichus my slave, whom I bought of Seius," {Stichum serwim quern a Seio emi.) Inst. 2. 20. 30. And the rule respecting it was the same as in the common law: Falsa demonstratione legatum non perimitur. A legacy is not rendered null by a false description. Id. ibid.