discharge

Discharge normally means termination of the employment relationship or loss of a position. In common parlance and in industrial parlance a person who has been laid off by operation of a seniority system and put on a waiting list for reassignment would hardly be considered as having been 'discharged'.

To free from a charge or load; to remove; to satisfy or pay; to set free, dismiss, or absolve; to carry on or perform. The term has many applications, the principal being: Of Cargo. The unloading of a cargo from a ship. 5 Wall. (U, S.) 557. Of Debt or Obligation. Full and final release from and termination of the obligation in whatever manner; a receipt or other instrument acting as a discharge. 147 Mass. 585. Of Prisoner. The setting at liberty of one held in confinement under process of law. 68 Mich. 331. Of Jury. The dismissal of a jury when, for any cause, the rendition of a verdict becomes impossible.

The opposite of charge; hence to release; liberate; annul; unburden; disincumber. In the law of contracts. To cancel or unloose the obligation of a contract; to make an agreement or contract null and inoperative. As a noun, the word means the act or instrument by which the binding force of a contract is terminated, irrespective of whether the contract is carried out to the full extent contemplated (in which case the discharge is the result of performance) or is broken off before complete execution. Cort v. Railway Co.., 17 Q. B. 145; Com. v. Talbot, 2 Allen (Mass.) 162; Rivers v. Blom, 163 Mo. 442, 63 S. W. 812. Discharge is a generic term; its principal species are rescission, release, accord and satisfaction, performance, judgment, composition, bankruptcy, merger, (q. vt) Leake, Cont. 413. As applied to demands, claims, rights of action, incumbrances, etc., to discharge the debt or claim ls to extinguish it, to annul Its obligatory force, to satisfy It. And here also the term is generic; thus a debt, a mortgage, a legacy, may be discharged by payment or performance, or by any act short of that, lawful in itself, which the creditor accepts as sufficient. Blackwood v. Brown, 29 Mich. 484; Rangely v. Spring, 28 Me. 151. To discharge a person is to liberate him from the binding force of an obligation, debt, or claim. Discharge by operation of law is where the discharge takes place, whether it was intended by the parties or not; thus, if a creditor appoints his debtor his executor, the debt is discharged by operation of law, because the executor cannot have an action against himself. Co. Litt 264b, note 1; Williams, Ex'rs, 1216; Chit Cont. 714.

In civil practice. To discharge a rule, an order, an injunction, a certificate, process of execution, or in general any proceeding in a court, Is to cancel or annul it, or to revoke it, or to refuse to confirm its original provisional force. Nichols v. Chittenden, 14 Colo. App. 49, 59 Pac. 954. To discharge a jury Is to relieve them from any further consideration of a cause. This Is done when the continuance of the trial ls, by any cause, rendered impossible; also when the jury, after deliberation, cannot agree on a verdict In equity practice. In the process of accounting before a master in chancery, the discharge is a statement of expenses and counter-claims brought in and filed, by way of set-off, by the accounting defendant; which follows the charge in order.

In criminal practice. The act by which a person in confinement, held on an accusation of some crime or misdemeanor, is set at liberty. The writing containing the order for his being so set at liberty is also called a "discharge." Morgan v. Hughes, 2 Term, 231; State v. Garthwaite, 23 N. J. Law, 143; Ex parte Paris, 18 Fed. Cas. 1104.

In bankruptcy practice. The discharge of the bankrupt is the step which regularly follows the adjudication of bankruptcy and the administration of hls estate. By it he is released from the obligation of all his debts which were or might be proved in the proceedings, so that they are no longer a charge upon him, and so that he may thereafter engage in business and acquire property without its being liable for the satisfaction of such former debts. Southern L. & T. Co. v. Benbow (D. C.) 96 Fed. 528; In re Adler, 103 Fed. 444; Colton v. Depew, 59 N. J. Eq. 126, 44 Atl. 662.

In maritime law. The unlading or un-livery of a cargo from a vessel. The Bird of Paradise v. Heyneman, 5 Wall. 557, 18 In Ed. 662; Kimball v. Kimball, 14 Fed. Cas. 486; Certain Logs of Mahogany, 5 Fed. Cas. 374.

In military law. The release or dismissal of a soldier, sailor, or marine, from further military service, either at the expiration of his term of enlistment, or previous thereto on special application therefor, or as a punishment. An "honorable" discharge is one granted at the end of an enlistment and accompanied by an official certificate of good conduct during the service. A "dishonorable" discharge is a dismissal from the service for bad conduct or as a punishment imposed by sentence of a court-martial for offenses against the military law. There is also in occasional use a form of "discharge without honor," which implies censure, but is not in itself a punishment. See Rev. St. U. S. §§ 1284, 1342, 1426 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 913, 944, 1010); Williams v. U. S., 137 U. S. 113, 11 Sup. Ct 43, 34 L. Ed. 590; U. S. v. Sweet, 189 U. S. 471, 23 Sup. Ch 638, 47 L. Ed. 907.

To set free or release; to dismiss or send away; to dissolve, cancel or put an end to; to unload; to take out.

The opposite of charge, hence te release; liberate; annul; unburden; disincumber. In the law of contracts. To cancel or unioose the obligation of a contract; to make an agreement or contract null and inoperative. As anoun, the word means the act or instrument by which the binding force of a contract is terminated, irrespective of iW discharge is the result of performance) or is broken oif before complete execution. Discharge isa generic torm; its principal species are rescission, release, accord and satisfaction, performauce, judgment, composition, bankruptcy, merger, (g.v.) Leake, Cont. 413. As applied to demands, claims, rights of action, incumbrances, etc., to discharge the debt or claim is to extinguish it, to annul its obligatory force, to satisfy it. And here also the term is generic; thus a debt, a mortgage, alegacy, may bedischarged by payment or performance, or by any act short of that, lawful in itself, which the creditor accepts as sufficient. Todischarge a person is to liberate him trom the binding force of an obligation, debt, or claim. Discharge by operation of law is where the discharge takes place, whether it was intended by the parties or not; thus, if a creditor appoints his debtor his executor, the debt is discharged by operation of law, because the executor canuot have an action against himself. Co. Litt. 264), note 1; Williams, Ex'rs, 1216; Chit. Cont. 714. In civil practice, To discharge a rule, #n order, an injunction, a certificate, process of execution, or in general any proceeding in a court, is to cancel or annul it, or to revoke it, or to refuse to confirm its original provisional force. To discharge a jury is to relieve them from any further consideration of a cause. This is done when the continuance of the trial is, by any cause, rendered impossible; also when the jury, after deliberation, cannot agree on a verdict.

In equity practice. In the process of accounting before a master in chancery, the discharge igs a statement of expenses and eounter-claims brought in and filed, by way of set-off, by the accounting defendant; which follows the charge in order.

In criminal practice. The act by which a person inconfinement, held on an accusation of some crime or misdemeanor, is set at liberty. The writing containing the order for his being so set at liberty is also called a “discharge.” In bankruptey practice. The discharge of the bankrupt is the step which regularly tollows the adjndication of bankruptey and the administration of his estate. By it he is released from the obligation of all his debts which were or might be proved in the proceedings, so that they are no longer a charge upon him, and so that he may thereafter engage in business and acquire property with- In maritime law. The unlading or unlivery of a cargo from a vessel. Story, J., 2 Sum. 589, 600.

Setting free; acquittance, v. Charge, Plea.

A setting free; a clearing, acquittance, release or delivery. The instrument by which a person is discharged from a debt or obligation, or an encumbrance is cancelled; as the discharge of an insolvent, the discharge of a mortgage, &c. See Charge. In maritime law. The unlading or unlivery of a cargo from a vessel. Story, J., 2 Sumner's R. 589, 600.

In equity practice. A statement of disbursements, and an offset of counter claims, brought in and filed on accounting before a master in chancery, and which follows the charge in the order of the proceedings, though not properly a defence to it. Hoffman's Mast. in Chanc. 38. See Charge and discharge. To DISCHARGE, [from L. Lat. discargare.] To set free or release; as to discharge a person from arrest or imprisonment, or from the obligation of his debts. To dismiss or send away; as to discharge a jury from further attendance in court. To dissolve, cancel or put an end to; as to discharge a contract, a mortgage, &c. To unload; as to discharge a vessel; to take out; as to discharge a cargo. Webster. See Discharge.

practice, is the act by which a person in confinement under some legal process, or held on an accusation of some crime or misdemeanor, is set at liberty; the writing containing the order for his being so set at liberty is also called a discharge. The discharge of a defendant in prison under a ca. sa., when made by the plaintiff, has the operation of satisfying the debt, the plaintiff having no other remedy, 4 T. R. 526; but when the disin prison, the debt is not satisfied; in tho first case the plaintiff has a remedy against the property of the defendant, acquired after his discharge, and, in the last case, against the executors or administrators of the debtor. 2 Bac. Ab. 7 19;; Bingh. on Exec. 266.