subscribe

To write under, 54 L. J. Q. B. 213; 14 Q. B. D. 667; to give assent to; to attest; 24 L. J. Q. B. 171; 4 E. & B. 450; placing a signature at the end of an instrument, 4 Colo. 282. While the idea of a written signature is involved, yet by common usage it is often employed to include an agreement, written or oral, to some purpose for the promotion of which numerous persons are uniting their means and effort. 143 Iowa 13, 19; 136 Am. St. Rep. 731n. See "Sign; Signature; Subscription."

To write underneath. Wild Cat Branch v. Ball, 45 Ind. 213. To affix a signature. In re Strong’s Will, 16 N. Y. Supp. 104. It may sometimes be construed to mean to give consent to or to attest. 24 L.

s 1. To sign one's ov.n name beneath or at the end of an instrument; also, to write one's name as attesting witness. ^ To set one's hand to a wi-iting.' The purpose of a law requiring the subscription to a will to be at the end of the paper is to prevent fraudulent additions before or after execution, and a statute of wills should be so construed as to accomplish this purpose.* The subscribmg witnesses to a deed being dead, the execution is to be established by prooi of their handwriting.* A summons issued by an attorney with his name printed at the end of the paper, is subscribed by him.'" See Attest; Hand, 3: Sign; Witness. 2. To agree in writing to furnish a sum of money, or its equivalent, for a designated purpose; as, to assist a charitable or religious object, or to take stock in a corporation. Applied to a contract for stock in a railroad company, has a definite technical sense, including the idea of a promise to pay the 549-51 (1888), Miller, J., approving the statement of the doctrine in Gadsden v. Brown, Speer, Eq. 41 (S. Car.. 18i:i). ' Hauser v. King, 76 Va. 733-35 (1882), cases. As to collateral securities, see Exp. Dover, 53 L. T. 131 (1685): 21 Cent. Law J. 460, 464 (1885), cases. 2 Carithers v. Stuart, 87 Ind. 433 (ISSS), cases. « Gerrish v. Bragg, 55 Vt. 337 (1883). See generally Wadsworthu Lyon, 93 N. T. 214 (1883), Gans v. Thieme, ib. 225, 232 (1883); Hampton v. Phipps, 108 U. S. 263-66 (1883), cases; Dering v. Earl of Winchelsea, 1 Cox, 318 (1787)': 1 W. & T. Ld. Cas. Eq 120-88, cases; 25 Am. Law Reg. 465-68 (1886), cases; 20 Cent. Law J. 472-73 (1888), cases; 2 Colum. Jur. 38. ■■ Phoenix Ins. Co. u Erie, &c. Transportation Co., 117 U. S. 312, 331 (1886), cases; Pearman v. Gould, 42 N. J. E. 9-10 (1886), cases. 6 L. sub-scribere, to write under or beneath. • James v. Patten, 6 N. Y. 12 (1851). ' Riley v. Riley, 36 Ala. 502 (1860): Pridgen v. Pridgen, 13 Ired. L. 260 (1852). « Younger v. Duffle, 94 N. Y. 539 (1884), Eari, J. » Stebbinsu Duncan, 108 U. S. 44 (1882), cases. 10 Barnard v. Heydrick, 49 Barb. 62 (1866); Mezchenv. Herrick v. Morrill, 37 Minn. amount subscribed in the manner agreed upon.i A claim for a " subscription " to stoclc implies that the subscription is a writihg, and it must be set out as written.^ A promise to pay a subscription to a charity is a mere offer, revocable anytime before acceptance — some act whereby a legal liability is incurred or money expended on the faith of the promise. The death of a promisor revokes his oiler; but not so if thereby his co-subscribers would have to pay his subscription.^ Where an advance has been made or an expense or liability incurred by others in consequence of a subscription, before notice given of a withdrawal, the subscription becomes obligatory, provided the advances were authorized by a reasonable dependence on the subscription. When the subscription is made on the condition that it is not to bind unless a specified sum is raised, all subscribers are equally liable, and if some subscribe only to make up the sum or to induce others, they themselves not to be called upon, no subscription is binding. The sum is raised when the subscriptions of solvent and responsible {q.v.) persons are received to the full amount. A seal to each name, or one seal with a written declaration that each subscriber adopts it as his own seal, will preclude a defense on the ground of want of consideration.* A gratuitous subscription cannot be enforced unless the promisee, in reliance on the promise, "has incurred or assumed some liability or obligation.^ An actual manual subscription on the books of a railroad company is not indispensably necessary to bind a municipality as a subscriber to the capital stock. The contract may be effected by the acceptance of a copy of an ordinance or resolution making a subscription on behalf of the municipality.* pee Consideration, 2; Stock, 8 (2); Sdnday.

To write underneath. Subscription: a writing under, or underwriting; a writing of the name under or at the bottom of an instrument by way of adoption, attestation, or ratification. Subscriber: one who writes his name underneath some engagement, by way of adopting or assuming it. Subscriber is used in a very different sense from underwriter, though the two words are so analogous in etymology. Two questions as to the meaning of subscribe and its inflections are made in the cases, — whether they require a writing underneath the paper, or are satisfied by a writing of the name in the body; and whether they require a writing by the individual in person. The first question is partly presented under the word sign (j. ».); and the current of the decisions appears to favor maintaining the use of these words in their etymological meaning of a writing underneath. Thus, in New Hampshire, affidavit, a case arose in which they swore to the affidavit, having personally written their names in the body of it, filling up the blanks left for the names in the printed form; but they had not signed it underneath. The court held this insufficient, declaring that the word " subscribed," when used with reference to the authentication of a writing, ordinarily implies that the name of the party who subscribes is set by him, or by his authority, at the bottom or end of it; and this meaning must be assigned to the term, in a statute, unless there is something requiring a different construction. Stone V. Marvel, 45 N. H. 481. It seems impossible to reconcile the numerous cases on the question how far a requirement that a person shall subscribe demands an actual writing by his own hand, or whether it may be satisfied by an adoption of a signature written by another. These cases arise under various statutes; such as a statute of frauds, requiring a memorandum of agreement to be subscribed; procedure acts, requiring a summons to be subscribed; charters regulating subscription to stock of corporations; statutes of w Uls, directing a testator or witnesses to be subscribed. Many of the decisions depend on the context in which the word occurs in the statute; and the question can hardly be said to turn upon the meaning of the word. Two representative cases will illustrate the opposite views: In Alabama, the statute expressly allows a will to be signed by another person for the testator; but the witnesses are required to subscribe their names. Accordingly, the court held that the difference in language raised a strong presumption that the legislature meant to require actual personal writing by each witness; and, while they declined to lay down a rule as to a case of a witness unable to write, they held that, where a witness is well able to write, the subscription of his name by another witness, without his participation in the act, ought not to be deemed a subscribing by him. To satisfy the word subscribe, making his mark, or holding the pen while another guides his hand. Kiley V. Riley, 36 Ala. 496. But under the New York code of procedure, which requires the summons in an action to be subscribed by the plaintiff or his attorney, a summons issued by an attorney, with his name printed at the end thereof, has been held to be subscribed by him, within the law, on the ground that there is no good reason why the general rule, that a statute requiring an instrument to be in writing and subscribed is satisfied by a signature adopted by the party to be bound thereby, should not apply to a statute prescribing the form of legal process. Barnard v. Heydi-ick, 49 Barh. 62. To subscribe is to write the name under; to write the name at the bottom or end of a writing. Wild Cat Branch v. Ball, 45 Ind. 213. Subscription is the act of the hand, while attestation is the act of the senses; to subscribe a paper published as a will is only to write on the same paper the name of the witness; to attest a will is to know that it was published as such, and to certify the facts required to constitute an actual and legal publication. Matter of Downie's Will, 42 Wis. 66, 76. The word subscriber, in a statute imposing personal liability upon the subscribers to the capital stock of an incorporated company, was held to include stockholders of every description, in Gay v. Keys, 30 lU. 413. Subscribing Tvitness. A person who puts his name to an instrument as attesting witness.